F.E.A.R. Basic combat and weapon guide.

So you bought FEAR and you died instantly? Here's what you need to know to live. Today we'll cover the game's combat mechanics, weapons, AI, tips and tricks, And maybe more.

Introduction.

This guide is intended to assist new or returning players with the game's fairly unique combat system and tactics as well as help them choose weapons and use them efficiently.

Weapons

The bread and butter of any shooter. The weapons in FEAR are similar to most shooters with a few exceptions. This guide will list weapons and their usefulness and ideal situations. Weapon kill rates are listed for basic enemies.

Pistol:
This weapon can beat the game. This is by far the best weapon you'll have for most of the game if you use it right. On recruit or normal it kills in 1 to the head or 2/3 to the chest. On hard/exetreme it kills in 2 to the head. It's very accurate and stable when firing and the best part is you can DUAL WIELD them for double firing rate/ammo. This weapon has ammo littered around every map from the start to the end of the game. Slow-mo, headshot, repeat.

You start with this weapon.

SMG
Not nearly as good as the pistol or autoburst rifle but it holds it's own in the early levels. This weapon suffers fromg the game's age and unlike FEAR 2 has exetremely limited use at medium/long range. It suffers from early shooter "fake spread" meaning that when you fire it it's rounds are shot in a predetermined cone with a great deal of randomness. This makes it hard to aim and get headshots with regardless of how well you control recoil or burst fire. This weapon shines at close range suprises though.

You start the game with this weapon (after tutorial it's handed to you)

Auto Burst rifle (ABR)
The game's best primary weapon. This rifle fires in 3 round bursts HOWEVER is also full auto (Hence my calling it the autoburst rifle). It has great stopping power, accuracy, rate of fire, and overall a great gun. Use the 3 round bursts on medium/longe range enemies and full auto for up close. This is one of my 3 most carried weapons (Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun/special weapon) Best used for mid to long range headshots and generally kills if 2 rounds hit the chest and one hits the head (very easy due to the guns accuracy and limited muzzle climb).

You get this weapon in the first combat mission around halfway through.

Shotgun
It's a semi-auto shotgun. It kills in 1 hit at close/medium range and has suprisingly high accuracy (for a shotgun anyway) due to low spread. This is an amazing weapon with very common ammo that you will likely use throughout the game.

ASP
The ASP is a mix between a sniper rifle and an assault rifle. It fires 3 round bursts like the ABR but has no full aotu function. It deals fairly high damage and has a scope but takes 2 bursts to the chest to kill making it less than ideal. It's rate of fire and fairly scarce ammo mean you won't get much use out of it and are generally better off with the ABR which by the time you get this gun you're probably very skilled with.

HV-Penetrator

This is one of 3 "special" or "heavy" weapons with limited ammo but high power. This weapon shoots giant metal spikes that almost completely ignore armor making it a must carry for the later levels of the game. Unlike the rocket launcher and energy weapon this one actually has enough ammo to use for most heavy armor enemies. This is a VERY good weapon to use against power armor and elite/heavy soldiers. This weapon has NO recoil when firing down sights meaning you can pump an entire magazine into your enemy's skull with no effort.

Rocket launcher

This weapon is a rocket launcher that fires 3 rockets per shot. It's arguably the most powerful weapon in the game however it only carries 10 shots (30 rockets) and you will almost never find ammo for it unless a power armor is in the next room (hint hint wink wink*)

Great against power armor or for overkill room clearing shenanigans. Bad weapon to carry around. pick it up, use it, replace it.

This is a special weapon

Energy weapon

My favorite weapon. It's a sniper rifle that fires a beam of energy that kills almost every enemy in the game in a single hit (and completely vaporizes them to boot). You can get lucky and kill multiple enemies in a single shot. It has a scope making it a great sniper rifle and has semi rare ammo. If you use it sparingly it will be a must carry.

Speacial weapon.

Grenades
You'll get these in mission one and have them throughout the game. These deal a LOT of damage and are very useful. Best used against enemies that are hiding behind cover rather than for kills. Enemies will quickly run away from grenades usually before they detonate making them best used as anti cover weapons (throw at hidden enemies and shoot them when they run).

Grenades detonate instantly if they touch you or an enemy (it's very frustrating on hard or exetreme).

Ideal loadout
Early game: Pistol,shotgun,ABR
Mid game: ABR, shotgun, Special weapon
Late game: ABR, HV penetrator, energy weapon

Tactics

This section explains the game's combat and ideal tactics. This section is much more relevant on normal+ difficulties than on recruit.

Cover, shoot, move, repeat.
This is the bread and butter of FEAR 1 and 2. Enemies will flank and react realisticly to you in combat (the biggest selling point of the game). If you're hiding in a corner you'll eat a grenade. If you wait for enemies to come to you with a shotgun you'll be waiting forever.

Take cover behind something durable (more on that later), Pop out, pop Slow-mo, get headshots on as many targets as possible, crouch back down and MOVE. Do not be where enemies think you are. Move while crouched and avoid line of sight to confuse enemies. Even on normal if an enemy gets the jump on you you're probably dead. Enemies understand the map and terrain very well and will often shoot at even a single pixel of your exposed body. They will flank you from every possible direction in a way that reflects their weapon.

Pay attention to your surroundings
The first way you see is rarely the best. Enemies are placed with the intention of not letting you suprise them. Scouting an area usually reveals hidden enemies with better weapons designed to flank you when you attack the obvious enemies. If you passed a door on your way in count on an enemy coming from that direction when combat starts.

USE THE JUMP KICK
By pressing the melee button mid air while moving forward you perform a mid air scissor kick that one hit kills any standard enemy. This is a great way to start a fight and has a homing mechanic. If an enemy is not acing you this is a great way to open. DO NOT USE IT ON A GROUP OF ENEMIES THAT SEE YOU. They will back away and fill you with holes.

Unaware enemies take 50% more damage
Stealth is a great opener on a group. popping slow mo and headshotting 3-5 enemies in it's duration will kill them if they weren't alerted to you before hand.

Know the difference between light and heavy cover
Light cover (boxes, thin metal, ect) can be shot through by most weapons and break after so much damage. This is an important thing for both offence and defense.

Health kits restore 50 hp. You can hold 10 of them and they aren't even close to rare.
One of the biggest issue with fear one is the healthkits. You effectively have 5 health bars from early on if you play defensively. Only use a kit if you're under 50 hp and/or have no armor. An exception is on higher difficulties where enemies deal much more damage.

CROUCH
Crouching is silent. Enemies will not hear you if you are crouching. Unaware enemies take 50% more damage. Common sense says crouch around for most of the game and check corners slowly.

Don't use the flashlight near enemies

Enemies are realistic. They will see your flashlight and instantly begin combat. Just don't.

[TUROK]

another tip: be careful while using grenades they make up a whole lot of smoke and enemies are immune to it. You blind yourself with that

[Weird Pumpkin]

"Auto Burst rifle (ABR) - The game's best primary weapon"
Stopped reading there. Shotgun always best.

[Goatmanpig]

You're missing the autocannon

[ShiftymcSwifty]

how the fuck is a game so old.... have better AI and enemy mechanics than 90% of modern games.... what the fuck went wrong

[᲼᲼]

Do not shoot extinguishers when one is next to it in combat lol XD

[Neonetik]

Man, been a long time since I wrote that last comment. Just wanted to mention a very late thanks to the person above who replied to me and gave me that tip. I never forgot it, and due to it, I ended up pretty much maining the pistols, shotgun, and penetrator in every run since then. That trick really helps a hell of a lot with keeping topped up on Pistol/Penetrator ammo. Good stuff.

OP, I'd add that bit of info into your "tactics" section. It's well worth documenting.

[Wikloe]

Also just gonna add doors are your friend. Stand behind one, wait for it to start to open, slow mo and shotgun the enemy as they are in the opening animation then close it and repeat. If a particular section is giving you trouble on extreme difficulty and has a door (as many early areas do which are the hardest for extreme imo) you can make use of this to get through the fight. Letting things come to you is actually a very safe and effective tactic, you will NOT be waiting forever as the guide says. They will actively hunt you down. The only one that may take some time is the last man standing as he saw 4 of his allies run down a corridor then be shot to so he isn't going to make the same mistake.

[new acc: Roobz]

How do you switch weapons faster though? Say I wanna go to the energy weapon and then to the shotgun? How do I do that faster?

[St. Haborym]

Seriously, just use slowmo. That makes this entire game a cakewalk even on the hardest diff.

[Brecor]

Did you forget the MP-50 Repeating Cannon?