F.E.A.R. 3, AKA F.3.A.R., Officially Announced, Trailer Released

Rumours of the title have been going around for at least a year about this title now, but Warner Bros. has officially announced yet another of the industry’s worst kept secrets: F.E.A.R. 3.

However, Monolith, developer of the previous two games will not be handling this sequel. It will in fact be developed by Day 1 Studios, who had a hand in the console ports of the first game.

John Carpenter and Steve Niles, who worked on The Thing and 30 Days of Night, respectively, will be contributing consultants on the creative side of things on the project, making sure the game is scary enough. Carpenter is handling the cinematic, and Niles on the script. If you want scary, you should give Clive Barker a call sometime.

F.E.A.R. 3 will also feature co-operative play and will get with the times and bring in a proper cover mechanic- something which F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin toyed with a bit. It let you kick over obstacles and hide behind them, but the effectiveness of such an action was nearly zero, seeing as you couldn’t hug the obstacle. Oh damn it, just play Gears of War or something and you’ll get my drift.

Alma makes a return in this title, as does Paxton Fettel and Point Man, her sons from the first game, one of which was the antagonist and the other the protagonist, respectively. There is speculation that the two will be on the same side this time, evident in the trailer below, and even play a part in the co-operative mode, with play differing depending on which character you choose. They also sat that Point Man will again be the playable character this time.

As for characters from the second game like Michael Becket and his baby whom he shares with Alma, will have to be seen or heard about at a later date.

Apparently the logo is still F.3.A.R., but it’s pronounced the other F.E.A.R. 3. I say turn the 3 around so it looks more like an E. Confirmation on the alleged Project Hades subtitle remains, but it might not be a subtitle – just a project in the game like Project Icarus, Origin, and Perseus.

The game is set for a release in “Fall” this year, which for us in the southern hemisphere probably means Q3, 2010. F.E.A.R. 3 will be available for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Oh, I just remembered that a live-action announcement trailer with a smattering of gameplay footage has been released as well.

Watch the trailer and you’ll see Alma screaming in the hospital while giving birth to Michael’s Becket’s baby, which was conceived after she raped him at the end of F.E.A.R. 2, and this is followed by the creepy narration by Paxton Fettel who sounds quite cheery about the whole situation, as he teams up with Point Man to off some soldiers.

The end of the trailer has the phrase:

“BLOOD RUNS DEEP,

F.E.A.R. RUNS DEEPER.”

Perhaps it could be argued that this is a reference to either blood as in family, which it likely is, but I find it quite ambiguous in that it could also refer to another series of Monolith’s, called Blood, which only received two games, whereas F.E.A.R. has three. Just a thought.

Despite a change of developer, this might well be the return of the goodness that we saw in the first game. A surprising amount of people thought that the expansions and the sequel, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, were lacklustre additions to the series.

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Source: whatisfear.com – Joystiq – IGN [Trailer]

F.E.A.R. 3, AKA F.3.A.R., Officially Announced, Trailer Released