F.E.A.R. Extraction Point Q&A

It's always been my view that out of any entertainment medium that really tries to scare you, books and video games have the best chance of success. Books toy with your imagination; they make you see the monster under your bed without really showing it to you. Video games go a step further by actually forcing you to be the poor sap who has to look under the bed. If there's something under there, it's not going to be some B-movie actor who may or may not bite the dust. That's your neck on the line, buddy. It's the interactivity that makes horror video games, when done properly, so bloody terrifying. Of course, it's hard to actually inspire real fear. The pacing, atmosphere, musicÂ…. It's the mood that does it, and one game in particular that nailed mood for me was 2005's F.E.A.R. from Monolith Productions. You see dead people, and then the flesh-and-blood peeps pop out to start shooting you in the face. Many times it was the game's pacing that really got to me. You'd go for long stretches of minutes at a time just wandering around, waiting, growing more tense, jumping at shadows. It was very well done, and because of this, there are many hopes riding on the forthcoming expansion: F.E.A.R. Extraction Point. In development by TimeGate Studios rather than Monolith, Extraction Point aims to build on the success of the original F.E.A.R. by sticking with what works, and adding a new layer of icing on the fright cake with new enemies, weapons, and environments. Will it succeed? I spoke with Tom Hall, producer at TimeGate Studios, to find out more.

Shack: What's the storyline for F.E.A.R. Extraction Point? Tim Hall: F.E.A.R. Extraction Point picks up right where F.E.A.R. left off but with the main difference that in the original game you were exploring and trying to figure out what was going on. In F.E.A.R. Extraction Point you already know what's going on and it knows about you so you are running to get out of there as fast as possible. Shack: Will Extraction Point contain new single player and multiplayer elements? Tim Hall: Extraction Point will only contain new single player elements. We have been updating the MP portion of the game all along with new maps and gameplay modes and we did just release F.E.A.R. Combat, the multiplayer component of F.E.A.R., for free so we felt that the Extraction Point should just concentrate on the single player aspect of the game. Shack: Is the pacing of Extraction Point any different than the original game? Tim Hall: You still want to be careful going through the levels because you never know what's going to appear but we do have a lot more ranged combat and some much larger areas for the player to explore so the pacing is a little different this time around. Shack: A common complaint about the original F.E.A.R., even among fans such as myself, is that most, if not all, of the environments were rather drab and repetitive. Have any new environments been created to give Extraction Point a new, fresh, and unique look? Tim Hall: No. Just kidding! With the ranged combat we have some larger outdoor environments and some new fun and creepy areas like the catacombs. All of the environments in F.E.A.R. Extraction Point are new and we took the communities' feedback into consideration when building them. Shack: What new combat mechanics have been added to F.E.A.R.? Tim Hall: Larger areas mean ranged combat and that provides for some new situations with F.E.A.R. We also some nice little touches like the gas canisters that now take off like RPGs if shot. These can be great when they shoot off towards a group of enemy units but also very deadly when they spin back on you. Since you can't control them after they are hit it's a very chaotic but extremely fun mechanic.

Shack: What is the new crate system all about? Tim Hall: We have added some crates that tie in with the story line so the player is able to destroy Armacham crates and find things like boosters, medkits, weapons. Shack: Have any of the original F.E.A.R.'s game play mechanic been tweaked for the expansion? Tim Hall: We have enhanced the AI for F.E.A.R. Extraction Point so now they are even more proactive about taking cover and flanking. Shack: What new enemies have been crafted to strike F.E.A.R. into our hearts? Tell us about them. Tim Hall: [There are] several new AI units ranging from some very heavily armored with big weapons, you didn't think we would just give you the new weapons easily did you? And some more supernatural enemies like the Shadow Creatures who are sort of like poltergeists. Shack: Any new weapons? Tim Hall: We have 3 new weapons including a mini-gun, a laser rifle which does a nice good job of severing limbs, and a turret based grenade. Shack: Why was the development of Extraction Point handled by TimeGate Studios instead of Monolith? Tim Hall: Monolith is now owned by another publisher so continuing to work with them solely was not a possibility but Timegate have proven to be a great developer and I've enjoyed working with them on this project. Thanks for your time. F.E.A.R. Extraction Point will be released for the PC on October 24, 2006.