F.E.A.R. - Interval 06: Afterimage (Extreme Difficulty)

This is the Part 13 of my playthrough of the 2005 FPS Masterpiece: F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon) on the highest difficulty: Extreme Difficulty without using any quick saves. F.E.A.R. is created by Monolith Productions, the same developers behind the hit FPS games Blood and No One Lives Forever (As well as Condemned Criminal Origins). It is a first-person shooter with horror elements (Hence the name). So I don't need to keep anyone in suspense, this is not only my favorite game of all time, but imo it's the greatest shooter ever made (With DOOM Eternal being a very close second). Simply put, everything front to back is perfection. The combat is top notch, you have amazing weapons that all have their own niche and each one is satisfying as hell to use. The Slowmo adds good strategy as using it well is key to success and the game is non linear and not scripted which is great. Story here is good and engaging too, it's not a deep story, but what's here is told very well and I love that it's also told bit by bit via computers and phone calls you find. The horror is also great, the first time playing I legit pissed myself. What makes F.E.A.R. truly special is the unmatched enemy ai in this game. Simply put it's the best you'll ever see and especially on Extreme Difficulty where they're at their fullest (Which is why Extreme is the only real way to play the game). Enemies are smart, they'll always react to your movements, they can spot your flashlight, they'll flank you, flush you out, take formations or hold the line to stop you. This is greatly accommodated by the game's level design which has open arenas that have multiple pathways into each room. This ensures that not only can you find various ways to approach any given combat situation, but so can the enemy ai. It also means you cannot camp. What's great about the ai is that you really feel like each fight is a proper gun battle, like you're fighting an actual war against enemies. You get punished for your mistakes, any time you die, it's your fault and each death is a learning experience. I can't praise this game's combat and ai enough, it's just perfect..it feels better than anything in existence. Throw in some amazing visuals for the time with killer lighting and visual effects alongside an engaging and well told story and great pacing and horror..and well you have a masterpiece. So yeah this playthrough is on Extreme Difficulty and not using quick saves, this means that I played each level or "Interval" as they're called in 1 go without quick saving. Due to the nature of this playthrough, any and all deaths that I have are left in the video, so this is an unedited playthrough, it also means there will be no fail compilation. I made this to show off the game as I feel younger folks should know about this game, plus I wanted an excuse to play my favorite game. I also hope this playthrough helps show off to struggling players what strategies I use in order to help them out. This is the first time in the game we get the Particle Cannon (Or the Railgun as I call it..I mean it is basically just like the Railgun from Quake) which is probably the best weapon in the game. Those of you Quake players know what to expect here. But it just hits different in this game, the sound is great, the reload sounds, the scope in sound just awesome. But I love it's range capabilities, it works even in close encounters if your aim is good and it also just fucking incinerates the enemy's body leaving behind a burning skeleton. THAT IS FUCKING AWESOME. It becomes addictive using this thing, you truly feel like an unstoppable badass. But the game keeps your power in check by ensuring enemies wielding this thing can just as equally destroy you too which is good. It's also the first encounter with the REV 6 Power Armor or just the giant mechs if you want to be more efficient I guess. Yeah these fuckers are tanky and they fire rockets at you which deal a decent amount of damage. Now obviously the rocket launcher that I found in one of the earlier levels works on these well, but I don't use the rocket launcher cause it feels like a wasted slot (Not a bad weapon, just others are better suited long term) so instead I used the ASP Rifle and yeah..it shreds these things. Trust me the REV 6 Power Armors look intimidating..but they're really not that hard to take out as long as you focus fire. Plus just like Heavy Armors, they won't dodge grenades either, so you can chuck those if you have any.