F.E.A.R. Files

F.E.A.R.’s origin story has its share of twists and turns leading up to the release of F.E.A.R. Files, including a musical-chairs legal match over the rights to the name and characters of F.E.A.R. between original developer (Monolith) and publisher (Sierra). But one thing remains constant: it still kicks ass to tear through an assortment of potty-mouthed goons and baddies in slow-mo using hyper-realistic weaponry.

F.E.A.R. Files delivers two standalone micro-campaigns brand-new to the 360 — the new Perseus Mandate and the previously released PC expansion Extraction Point. Neither deviates from the F.E.A.R. playbook much — you still slog through countless dark corridors, office complexes, and warehouse facilities taking out hordes of enemies, supernatural and otherwise. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Both campaigns feel fairly similar and are short (you can blow through both in about six to eight hours), but new online-multiplayer maps and eight Instant Action scenarios will keep you playing after you’ve moved beyond the campaigns. Each introduces new story arcs, new weapons (mini-guns, laser carbines, advanced rifles, grenade launchers), and new enemies (phantasmic ghosts, creepy Pan’s Labyrinth–looking dudes, Nightcrawlers, and beefed-up biped Rev 6s and 8s).

The game looks and sounds great (and deserves a midnight playthrough with your stereo cranked!), but we were honestly hoping for more variety in the environments and more revelation in the plotline. We got very little of either. Of the two campaigns, we preferred Extraction Point, which picks up right where F.E.A.R. left off with Paxton Fettel and Alma — the cannibalistic telepath and psycho-explosive little girl in the red dress, respectively — running amok. It develops from there into a diet pre-sequel of sorts, heavy on do-this, do-that objective-based story progression. In similar fashion, Perseus Mandate has you sleuthing out the true purpose of Perseus (something to do with using Alma’s DNA for no good) in a storyline that runs almost parallel to the timeline of F.E.A.R. The Perseus campaign is entertaining overall, especially once you get to the funhouse scares of the fourth and fifth intervals; one moment in particular will have you yelping like a little girl.

Like the first F.E.A.R., both campaigns serve up heavy doses of profanity and gore, with frequent beheadings, dismemberments, and worse. We won’t give away any spoilers because, well, what slim info you’ll gain is intentionally cryptic enough to keep the story open for more sequels.