F.E.A.R. Extraction Point
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| F.E.A.R. Extraction Point | |
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| Developer(s) | TimeGate Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Vivendi Universal |
| Release date(s) | ( ) October 24, 2006(  ) October 27, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter, Horror |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (17+) BBFC: 18 PEGI: 18+ |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
F.E.A.R. Extraction Point is an expansion pack for the horror themed first-person shooter computer and video game F.E.A.R., published by Vivendi Universal and developed by TimeGate Studios, rather than Monolith Productions, the developers of F.E.A.R.. It was released on October 24, 2006 for Windows and requires the full original game in order to be played. Also, a stand-alone single player demo has been previously released. This expansion owes its name to the game's ultimate goal for the player, to reach the extraction point and leave the city where the adventure takes place. Extraction Point adds new weapons, enemies, and single-player levels, but no new multiplayer content. Additional improvements were also made to the enemy artificial intelligence.
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[edit] Plot
The plot of the expansion starts off exactly where the original game left off; while the huge explosion of the "Origin Facility" has flattened the Auburn district and devastated the city, the helicopter evacuating the survivors of the F.E.A.R. team crash land in the midst of the chaos. It is implied that one day has passed since the crash and the player has recently regained consciousness, as the original game ended at sunrise but Extraction Point is set against a nighttime background. There are also various references to the media coverage of the explosion, including the public's reaction as well as how unusually fast the city was evacuated. It is also suggested during the intro to the game that Alma resurrects Paxton Fettel back from the dead.
The player is reunited with SFOD-D Douglas Holiday and FEAR medic Jin Sun-Kwon. They mention that a SFOD-D extraction point has been established at the roof of Auburn Hospital and that is their destination point, informing the Point Man that he should proceed there as well. Continuing, the player reunites with his brother Fettel in a nearby church. Fettel reactivates his Replica soldiers, who have been dormant since his death, and sends them after the player. Meanwhile, Kwon is captured by Fettel's Replicas, but she is later able to escape while being transported via the subway; from there, she proceeds on her own to Auburn Hospital. The player and Holiday eventually meet up at a warehouse. As the Point Man and Holiday navigate through the warehouse, Alma, through her apparitions, kills Holiday.
The player is forced to proceed alone through the subway, which leads directly to Auburn Hospital. Replica forces are seen transporting large amounts of supplies via the subways. During the player's journey through the winding tunnels, Alma, in her younger form, clears the way for the player multiple times by killing Replica soldiers impeding the player's path. Replica forces eventually become desperate and place demolition charges in the subway tunnels with the hope that the resulting explosions will kill the player. While initially unsuccessful, the player is eventually caught in one of these demolition explosions and is ejected from the tunnels onto a nearby parking structure. From here, the player proceeds to the hospital which neighbors the parking structure. Along the way, he is ambushed by helicopters, REV8 Leviathans and squads of Replica soldiers.
After finally reaching Auburn Hospital, the Point Man hears a scream from one floor above him. He bursts into the room, only to find four ghostly figures floating around Jin's dead body. Now, with nothing to fight for but his own survival, the Point Man proceeds to the life service elevator. Suddenly, a power outage occurs and the player must find a way to restore it. While walking around the dark basement, and fighting off demons and other horrors, the Point Man witnesses several hallucinations (thought to be the physical form of what is in Alma's mind) which include a series of prison cells, containing the dead ATC victims of Alma's murders in the previous game. Eventually, the Point Man witnesses a hallucination that involves the older and younger Alma reuniting in a blue light. This leads to the blood that covered the walls, floor, and ceiling in the hospital to suddenly disappear as if it never existed in the first place. Communications with F.E.A.R. team coordinator Betters are reestablished at this point. The elevator is then reactivated and the player finally reaches the roof of the hospital. Fettel tells the player he does not understand the situation and proceeds to unleash a squad of Replica Elites on the player. As the player finishes dispatching the squad, a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter proceeds to evacuate him. However, when the player nears the Blackhawk, Fettel, through unknown methods, destroys the Blackhawk, sending the Point Man into unconsciousness. When he awakens, he staggers to the roof railing, to witness the entire city in flames. The credits roll, ending with Fettel's line from F.E.A.R. "A war is coming, I've seen it in my dreams. Fires sweeping through the earth, bodies in the streets, cities turned to dust. Retaliation..."
In retrospect, the plot alludes to Alma being in two states through the game - a younger child, violent but benevolent to the Point Man, in contrast to her older, adolescent self, naked, indiscriminately violent, scrawny and smeared with blood stains. F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. Extraction Point hints that Alma was a young girl that was somehow subjected to terrible experiments, leading her to a life of horror and madness of the older Alma (as hinted by the insane asylum related more to the older Alma than the younger Alma). Paxton Fettel and the Replicas appear to be simply tools used by the older Alma to unleash more horror and mayhem upon the city and, possibly soon, the world.
[edit] Release date problems
Originally listed as an October 24th release, many stores had still not received their shipments of the game by the end of the 25. The issue as to the game not actually being available in many locations on its scheduled release date confused many gamers who had eagerly awaited the game. In-store and even online pre-orders went unfilled as the release date came and went. The issue has come up on the Sierra forums, though no official answer has been given as to the reason behind the late shipments. According to many of the retailers, there was a problem with FedEx.[citation needed]
[edit] Gameplay
Gameplay remains essentially the same as in the original F.E.A.R., though Extraction Point touts some new additions, including 3 new weapons (a minigun, a laser weapon, and a deployable turret), a few new enemies, as well as new locales (though frequently similar to the original game's environments, a common complaint of reviewers). Firefights are still cinematic and usually on a grander scale than in F.E.A.R. - there are frequently a larger number of enemies to deal with and lengthier battles. Another new feature of Extraction Point is the ability to bash open doors by using the mêlée function, as well as blast them open with explosives. The 'hallucination' sequences are notably more gratuitous and frequent than they were in the first game. In addition, certain supply crates bearing the ATC logo can be bashed open, revealing weapons or health packs.
Extraction Point also has higher system requirements than the original F.E.A.R., and users may notice signs of system overload (such as graphical slowdown) if they run Extraction Point using the same performance settings as the original game. The increased performance requirements are a result of increased use of large, out-door areas (which the engine is not optimized for), as well as a lack of product optimization in general before release.[citation needed]
[edit] Reviews
Initial reviews, though few because of the release date problems, were generally good, but not as high as the original F.E.A.R. The main complaints were the short gameplay time of approximately 4 to 6 hours, the fact that story progression was left at a minimum, leaving nearly all questions unanswered, and the lack of any additions to the multiplayer component of F.E.A.R. Despite these shortcomings, the game did receive strong reviews in terms of its sound, atmosphere and overall fun-factor.[citation needed] Many critics were quick to point out Dell's obvious product placement, with in-game laptops and desktops prominently displaying the Dell XPS product line.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
- F.E.A.R. - original game
