F.E.A.R. - Point Man Insertion

F.E.A.R. - Point Man Insertion is the title of the video in which Civvie reviews F.E.A.R.. It is the nineteenth episode of season five.
== Synopsis ==
Civvie must navigate the extremely fraught family life of a supernatural supersoldier in Monolith's masterpiece of action horror.
== Video ==
== Transcript ==
*creepy horror music*
[CIVVIE] What do you mean they think it's Condemned? I showed them FEAR in the last video. You know what, screw it, let's do Condemned!
You are John Condemned, some kind of law enforcement official I think. The world is a very dark place.
Monolith made this, right, on the same version of LithTech as FEAR, and while LithTech is still weird, it gets less janky with every iteration.
Like FEAR and Condemned are less janky than No One Lives Forever and AVP 2, which were less janky than Blood 2 and Shogo, because those games were broken,
this was before Warner Brothers stepped in and cleaned house over there to make sure that everything was running efficiently and that no one was allowed to do anything interesting
without a very long and thorough internal review by a specialized team of treasure goblins. Look, if they're not making all possible money, they might as well be making no money.
Is that what you want? Sad goblins? Actually this game is kinda weird and confusing.
I guess sometimes Monolith is hit or miss. Let's move on to…
=== Interval 02 - Conglomeration ===
Before Monolith was sent to the Lord of the Rings mines, or, I guess now the DC mines to make what will absolutely be an Arkham style third person action game,
there's no doubt about that, and it will probably be very well made because it's Monolith, Warner Brothers owns Monolith now
and when reached for comment a representative from WB said, [JAMES VENAMUN] He is inside with us!
And he will never get away! His pain won't end!
[CIVVIE] Classic Warner Brothers! So Monolith's Craig Hubbard, a man who had been there since nearly the beginning,
designing levels for Blood and Blood II and he was the project lead on Shogo, you know, Monolith's dark times,
the RAW years as I like to call them, and I guess the failure of these games to be, you know, good,
led to him deciding to do better games and eventually one of those better games, widely regarded as Monolith's crown jewel,
was F.E.A.R., and what a game it is! I know there's people in my comments right now talking about Tron 2.0,
and how that's really Monolith's best game. I haven't played that, I know nothing about it and you're still wrong.
Anyone who likes Tron 2.0 is a sex predator. So Craig Hubbard says that the primary goal of FEAR
was to "make combat as intense as the tea house shootout at the beginning of John Woo's Hard Boiled". And if you've never seen that despite me telling you to watch it because it's the apex of human achievement…
And you're thinking, "But Max Payne did this!" You're right, but not in first person. And instead of blending a film noir narrative with the gun play,
they decided to mix it with some Asian horror influences and BAM, you got FEAR, and there's a quote from this Eurogamer article,
I just want to highlight it because it's a simple thing people tend to forget, when they're talking about video games, and I want Craig Hubbard to get a Presidential Medal of Freedom for saying it.
[AX3 reading]
[CIVVIE] And like 99% of the time, frustration and tedium play no part in FEAR. Unless you play on Extreme difficulty, whereas I did Hard, because I wanted to have fun,
apparently that's illegal, as pointed out by some Australian plagiarist called In-dee-mus, who's probably… I don't know… upside down, emu war, queen on your money,
Australia jokes, fuck you. Look, Blood might be my favorite Monolith game but FEAR is the GOAT.
FEAR is Monolith looking at the competition, like Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 and saying, We're gonna make our own graphically impressive triple-A shooting game
"and we're gonna do it with bullet time, "a thing that's already wearing out its welcome in 2005 after two Max Payne games,
"and we're gonna make it awesome. "Not just awesome, legendary." And so on October 18th, 2005, about 17 years ago,
Monolith released FEAR on an unsuspecting public, and rode that success to FEAR 2, and then FEAR 3,
"fuh-three-are", was farmed out to a company that wasn't Monolith, because Monolith, being a supremely talented studio,
went the way of other supremely talented studios with legendary franchises : a big media conglomerate bought them and now they work on their IPs exclusively.
I hear those Middle Earth games are really good, especially when they patched out the shitty micro-transactions from Shadow of War,
proving that Warner Brothers, at one point, had some shame, a feature that has now been patched out.
If you're sick of this show discussing talented studios being bought out and forced to serve the whims of giant, faceless, amoral corporations
and you'd like it if I stopped talking about that… so would I!
=== Interval 03 - Inception ===
"SITUATION: A HIGH LEVEL ALERT HAS BEEN ISSUED. "You have just been transferred to the unit as point man.
"This will be your first assignment with F.E.A.R." "Point man" means "man who takes point", which means "man who is the first in front of enemy bullets."
[reading]
This was 2002, so those threats were mostly terrorist ghosts. First Encounter Assault Recon is a clunky acronym but this is the government we're talking about.
*Alma is whispering* Yeah, we're already into Alma and her son Paxton
and the story of this game isn't important so let's get into the story a little more. *Alma is whispering*
*scared ravens* [ALMA] Kill them all! *Paxton screams*
[CIVVIE] This is Paxton Fettel… *Whomp 'Em Boss Theme*
I'm not even gonna bother waiting because this game gives its twist away before you fire a single shot. So anyway, Point Man is Paxton's brother and Alma's son.
If you didn't guess that during the literal introductory cutscene of this game…
[PAXTON] What's the first thing you remember? [ALMA] Noooooo!
Where are you taking him?! [HARLAN WADE] You will be a god among men.
[CIVVIE] So, taken away from your mother, a weird doctor, that's Harlan Wade, by the way, the first thing Point Man remembers is his actual birth.
The hospital room. Game's wasting no time letting you know what's up and I refuse to continue this video without getting everyone up to speed.
Alma, who is, maybe, mentally, a child, this one here, in the red dress, because if you've got a horror game, you need a creepy child,
and if you've got a sequel to a horror game, you need the adult version of that creepy child doing stuff to the protagonist I can't show on YouTube.
You know. Paxton is a creep with tread-less boots who eats people and kills because his mommy told him to.
And he controls a battalion of psychic soldiers. I wouldn't say the soldiers themselves are psychic, even if the AI is…
I'm getting ahead of myself, we've got a mission briefing. [JIN] What's his story? [BETTERS] Property of Armacham Technology Corporation.
They're working on a military contract to develop an army of clones that respond to a psychic commander. Top secret, of course. Fettel is one of the commanders.
[JANKOWSKI] You've gotta be fucking kidding me. This is why nobody takes us seriously. Military clones?
[CIVVIE] Yeah, it does sound pretty out-there. [BETTERS] A full battalion of them! Highly trained and heavily armed. [JANKOWSKI] A battalion?!
What are we supposed to do against a thousand super soldiers? [CIVVIE] Okay, you're starting to bum me out, dude, this is a shooty-game, we shoot them!
What's your name, scumbag? Spencer… JANK-OWSKI?!
*laughs* NO… NO WAY! [BETTERS] Fortunately, the whole point of the program
is to give commanders first hand knowledge of the battlefield without putting them in danger. That means we should be able to corner the bastard without having to wade through all those soldiers.
[CIVVIE] I don't see why not, Harlan was able to… Wade through them. *laugh track*
[CIVVIE] - I'm so sorry. [AX3] - Actionable pub detected. [H4MM3R] COLD ROOM. NOW. AND GET RID OF THAT LAUGH TRACK BUTTON.
[CIVVIE] Be right back, kids. *Super Mario Bros. 3 Sky Land Theme* There, laugh track button is gone. I'm replacing it with a Jankowski button.
[JANKOWSKI] You've gotta be fucking kidding me! [BETTERS] What about you, buddy? Ready to go to work? [JANKOWSKI] You're putting him in the field? Are you crazy?
[CIVVIE] You know what, I don't like your attitude, Jankowski. [BETTERS] You've seen his training results. His reflexes are off the charts.
[CIVVIE] Totally off the charts, dontcha know. Also, just kinda funny lookin' in general. [BETTERS] I think he can handle himself.
[JANKOWSKI] Whatever, man, it's your call. [BETTERS] Goddamn right it is. [CIVVIE] Yeah, we'll see who gets killed and who spends the next six hours doing cool slow-mo John Woo shit…
bitch. [BETTERS] We've tracked Fettel to an abandoned building just up ahead.
No sign of enemy activity on the satellites, but don't take any chances. [CIVVIE] Here we go, this top-of-the-line 2005 experience right here.
This pretty lighting, the slightly- better-than-Quake 3-looking meshes, environments with just the right touch of detail, the "look we have physics too!"
No ADS, only zoom, which works similarly but is less intrusive. And absolutely essential to playing this game because it makes your weapon more accurate.
We've already found a health booster that will permanently increase your max HP. The game is mostly linear so if there's some branching path you see,
chances are it has one of these or a reflex booster that permanently increases your bullet time pool. Nothing is happening yet, I'm ready for some action.
[JANKOWSKI] Come on. You ready? [CIVVIE] YEAH! [JANKOWSKI] Go!
[PAXTON] You were born here… [CIVVIE] Yeah, I know. [PAXTON] …in this place…
[PAXTON] I was there. [CIVVIE] So was I. You ain't special. We got a very, very dead guy here and-
[JANKOWSKI] Jin! We need you up here! [CIVVIE] Jesus, Jankowski, where did you come from?! You turned into particles two rooms back, you okay man?
[JANKOWSKI] Looks like we're too late, boss. Just leftovers. [CIVVIE] Oh, no, Paxton is the brother that eats people, he's always been the weird one.
[JANKOWSKI] I'll wait here for Jin. You take a look around. [CIVVIE] Okay. What could go wrong? I'm quick on my feet. [BETTERS] His reflexes are off the charts!
[CIVVIE] Really, Paxton? [PAXTON] The dead man's name was Charles Habegger.
*sighs* I remember him. But are the memories mine or hers?
It makes no difference. He deserved to die. They all deserve to die.
[CIVVIE] Oh, you have ALWAYS been like this! Ever since I was born, you're always murdering people! I was really enjoying the sherry that Doctor Gorman bought for me, and I was going to share it,
but no, because YOU ATE HIM PAXTON! That's the kind of social faux-pas that could RUIN THIS FAMILY!
[BETTERS] What's going on? I've lost Fettel's signal. [PASSALAQUA] Tomcat, this is Den Mother. I hope you aren't busy. We've got a situation down at the harbor.
=== Interval 04 - Point Man Insertion ===
[HOLIDAY] These men are from F.E.A.R. They're a special attachment to our unit for the duration of this op.
They will be on point. Their mission is to assess the nature of the threat. Our job is to keep them alive.
DO NOT engage the enemy. *Super Mario Bros. 3 Sky Land Theme*
*distant machine gun fire* [NICULESCU] What the hell is that?! [PASSALAQUA] Over there! [NICULESCU] Look out! [SHEPERD] Little Bird, what's your situation, over?
[CIVVIE] Well, they wanted me to get the gate open and now they're dead! Looks like Alma… waded through them!
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! [H4MM3R] I swear to god, Civvie… *Super Mario Bros. 3 Sky Land Theme* [CIVVIE] Looks like all of my buddies are dead.
We still haven't been killing anything except rats, which I did on instinct because this is a Monolith game… So far, they've given away the twist at the end,
all the environments, while beautifully rendered with great atmosphere, are kind of same-y industrial corridors and boxy rooms,
and according to the cutscenes we're gonna be facing off against a lot of featureless soldier goons. Sounds like this game doesn't have a lot going for it,
so the combat loop had better be really, really fucking good! [REPLICA SOLDIER] Command, this is Echo-7, should we investigate?
[REPLICA SOLDIER] Contact! [REPLICA SOLDIER] He's too fast!
[CIVVIE] Oh yeah! That's the stuff! That's the slow-motion first person gunplay that launched a thousand imitators.
And it was never, ever done better. I don't even need to show you more to explain.
I will, but… this room tells the whole story. FEAR's soldiers do this thing called Goal Oriented Action Planning
and I'm gonna put a link in the description to a video that explains it way better than I can but I'm gonna give you the jist.
The AI is given a set of circumstances depending on the environment. Their goal is to murder you. They can do this by ambushing, flanking, patrolling, taking cover, reacting to you pointing a gun at them.
The AI finds a problem, you, and creates a plan to deal with that problem. If the plan is for this clown to shoot you,
but instead you shoot him, then the plan is altered, when that plan is cooked, the AI checks to see if that plan is still viable,
and if it isn't, they try something else. Their next goal might be to not die, so they take cover. After that, their goal is, again, to murder you.
And I know it sounds like they're talking to each other, they're not! None of the enemies individually know what's going on, but they might have the same goals.
Their teamwork is an illusion but it's a really, really convincing one. You see, Randy, this is what real magic looks like.
Your enemies are, in a very basic and artificial way, strategizing against you. Their plans exist, but they're not long-term.
They're basically doing the same thing that you're doing, which is stumbling in and flying by the seat of your pants.
They're basically doing the same thing that I'm doing, anyway. This makes aggressive plays, murdering them as quickly as possible,
say, interrupting their first goals, the way to do it. The enemy noticing you in this game should happen within a few seconds of half of their squad dying.
I'm not tech-brained, I'm no host organism for the consciousness of an ageless space-turtle and person who could easily understand, explain, and probably recreate FEAR's AI in an afternoon
with a pizza and a 2-liter of diet Coke, John Carmack. The AI's response to the player is only half of what's important about FEAR's combat.
The other half is the John Woo shit. As I've mentioned before in videos discussing games that use bullet time,
usually badly, the John Woo style requires your environment to go absolutely fucking crazy when anything is hit with a bullet.
Observe, the humble fuse box. That fuse box doesn't just get shot, it explodes, sparks, shoots lightning,
and produces more smoke than a Sublime concert. In slow-mo, you see the bullet trails, when you hit an enemy in the face, the blood spray is so pronounced
that it starts as a six-foot geyser coming out of the enemy's helmet, meaning that it is readable to the player from very far away.
And it just isn't John Woo shit unless you've got two pistols.
I don't even care about taking fall damage, that was awesome! I'm not big on the assault rifles in this game. I'll use them if I have to.
You're only allowed to carry three weapons at a time, which sucks, and I dump the SMG from the start first because it's low-power and low-accuracy.
The pistols are good enough for right now. Unless Alma shows up.
[JIN] He's alive. [BETTERS] Should I call in a med-evac? [JIN] He doesn't appear to be injured. Although I don't know how he survived.
[CIVVIE] Two guns and zero fucks, that's how. [BETTERS] I'm reading Fettel's transmitter near that position. We've gotta take that fucker out, fast!
Jin, keep looking for Jankowski. I'm still reading his life signs. [JIN] You can't send him in alone. That's crazy!
[BETTERS] He can take care of himself. Now, move! [CIVVIE] I want to stop for a second and marvel at how Monolith made another game
where you're running through the city chasing one specific bad guy the whole time. Except GT didn't ship it halfway through development.
It sucks that the phone messages start off not being plot relevant. They get there once you're inside Armacham but for right now they're barely world-building.
[RECORDER] You have ONE new message. [???] Mike, what the hell's going on over there? It sounded like an explosion. I can't get through to anybody!
Call me back. [RECORDER] End of messages. [CIVVIE] Hmmm… South River Treatment Plant, huh?
*spray painting* [CIVVIE] When I talk about LithTech jank, I still have to include stuff from their most famous game, like what is this lean?
It looks like the Point Man is rolling his torso in a way it really shouldn't move. [JANKOWSKI] You've gotta be fucking kidding me.
[CIVVIE] Still, nothing is better than dropping three of these guys with dual pistols in slow-mo.
I still can't believe you can pistol-whip these guys TO DEATH. [REPLICA SOLDIER] Nothing to report.
[CIVVIE] Or you can do jump-kicks or slide kicks, both of which I rarely use because I have guns. I know how effective they are,
but if I wanna get right in their face, there's another weapon in my arsenal that I can use for close encounters.
Oh, yeah, you knew it was coming… *nice R&B guitar solo*
=== Interval 05 - Liquification ===
This is the scariest monster in the game. The VK-12 Combat Shotgun. You may have seen it before in every list of "Best Video Game Shotguns" on the Internet.
It's in the top 5. Easily. That Monolith occupies two spaces on that list is itself an achievement.
Maybe it's not as powerful as the super shotgun from Doom 2. But it sure feels like it is.
The road from pulling the trigger to making a rag-doll fly across the room has never been smoother and more satisfying than right here.
It's the instant gratification. It's the power. It's the trail of all the pellets as they connect,
a stray one catching a piece of concrete and blowing off a small chunk of it. The sparks from the impact lighting up the area.
The impact being more devastating than some other game's explosive weapons. The red-mist cloud from a direct hit.
The visual and auditory assurance that anything not immediately killed by it has suffered such grievous bodily harm that Armacham's insurance provider will drop them.
If it isn't dead, it's gonna wish it was. Someone, somewhere along the line during this game's development
decided that there would always be plentiful ammo for this thing and that it would hold not 6, not 8, but 12 rounds of white-hot buckshot!
That you can reload in less than two seconds! [BETTERS] His reflexes are off the charts!
[CIVVIE] No shit! Ridiculous. Overpowered.
Legendary.
[BEETLEJUICE in slow-mo] Nice fucking model! *honk honk in slow-mo* I love the penetrator too, don't get me wrong.
Until they start introducing super weapons like the particle beam or the rocket launcher, my load-out is pistols, shotgun, and penetrator.
The difference is that the shotgun never once leaves my inventory until the game forces it out.
Look I spend a lot of time in slow-mo with dual pistols. If you don't, you're playing it wrong.
The penetrator is some kind of military-grade nail gun that does what bullets don't.
Armor piercing, for when the heavy armor boys show up, so it stays in my inventory as much as possible.
You know, but I finish this one off with the shotgun because it looks cool. I haven't talked about the grenades, which are a lot of fun.
You can't just toss them and expect everything to work out because the clones will run if they see them. So you have to make sure that the grenade goes off before their dumb computer brains can formulate that plan.
There's also remote bombs and proximity mines, which is… kinda Blood-like, right? I have yet to reliably lead the AI out to a remote bomb trap.
The AI is too good to follow you into a place where you've holed up. They will never do it, instead they'll- FUCK!
I can't usually get them to go after mines either.
We get a flashback to Paxton interrogating someone. Like I'm some kind of psychic soldier or something. [PAXTON] Where is Alma?
[MOODY] I don't know what you're talking about! [PAXTON] Some secrets get buried deeper than others. But I know where to dig.
[MOODY] No wait, you've got the wrong guy!
[CIVVIE] Oh, hi mom. Oh, hello Paxton… You know you're only mother's favorite because you have an army of soldiers from the government.
[PAXTON] They all deserve to die. [CIVVIE] Ehh… maybe Jankowski.
The "scary" parts of FEAR take place between combat encounters when like Alma crawls around in vents,
like mother like son I guess. I wonder why she isn't dual-wielding pistols too. It would be more effective than trying to scare me.
I'm not scared, you know what happens when I get scared in this game? We're about to be done with these warehouses and sewage treatment plants.
There's something weird going on over at Armacham, no wait a second…
God, that's good! [BETTERS] Looks like the HLZ is clear. [COTTON] Copy, I'm on approach.
=== Interval 06 - Exasperation ===
[BETTERS] Any news on the bad guys? [SHEPHERD] We know they hit the main building shortly before 5 PM. No estimate on enemy strength, but we should assume it's a sizable force.
[CIVVIE] Not for long. What amazes me about this section is that the helicopter doesn't get shot down. Everyone else on it dies, yeah, but the chopper is still intact.
Still on my penetrator-shotgun-pistol bullshit. If it ain't broke…
Here's where you get to fight the Assassins. Stealth soldiers with cloaking devices. They climb on walls and I will suffer none of their shit.
For I walk through the shadow of the halls of Armacham, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, my buckshot rod, my staff of liquification,
prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, cause I'm serving lead!
OVER THERE, SHOOT IT! [MAPES] Don't shoot! My name is Norton Mapes! I'm an engineer!
[BETTERS] Shit, it's a civilian! Give him a comm-link.
[MAPES] Hello? Who are you people? [BETTERS] The good guys. Are you all right? [MAPES] Oh, sure. I'm having a hell of a time.
[BETTERS] You said you're an engineer? Can you help me get into the network? [MAPES] What am I? An IS lackey?
[MAPES] Tell you what… you disable the local security system and I'll see what I can do about the server.
[CIVVIE] Fuck you, Norton Mapes you piece of shit with your clownish leitmotiv, you ginger meat boulder.
[BETTERS] Why do you want us to bring down the security system, anyway? [MAPES] Nevermind why. You want my help? That's the price.
[CIVVIE] Don't do it, he's just gonna steal the dinosaur embryos. I'm convinced that Monolith had an IT guy in their offices who was just the worst.
And they're sharing him with us as a digital phantom, an icon of smug power-douchery. I fucking hate Norton Mapes with every fiber of my being.
He is a cowardly slob. A festering pustule of a character. A treacherous, Cheeto-dust covered polyp.
An absolutely insufferable, pompadour-topped spunk balloon smuggled up this game's asshole to avoid the creep-sniffing dogs at the airport.
And he's a sex pest. [IAN HIVES] Norton, it's Ian Hives. Look, um… Alice Wade stopped by my office this morning and I feel a little awkward saying this, but uh,
I really need you to tone down the innuendo around her. It's not that I personally give a rat's ass
but the last thing we need is a sexual harassment case drawing unwanted attention to this task force.
[CIVVIE] I guess if you're gonna creep on one of Harlan Wade's daughters, Alice was the safer choice. [BETTERS] Okay, I'm shown that the network has been rebooted. Good job.
It'll take a minute for the system to come back online. [CIVVIE] You know there's ghosts in this building? That seems strange.
You think I'm scared by the sounds of a baby crying? I hear that shit every day. I'm used to it.
*baby crying* Yeah, yeah, I know, you want your mommy, and I have to make sacrifices to Moloch, blah blah blah.
You know at least Ramses is educational.
You know what, I think you're bullshitting me about the Battle of Kadesh and I don't appreciate it. Kinda weird that one of the few enemies included in this game
is ghosts that get vaporized in one hit from any weapon, not just the holy boomstick.
[PAXTON] She is a prisoner, floating in darkness. Like in unborn in the womb.
Soon I will find her and I will set her free. [CIVVIE] Listen, whatever issues you have with mom is your business,
do what everybody else does and marry a girl just like her and there's a 50/50 chance you'll grow old and miserable together or get a divorce.
But this psychic soldier shit isn't a healthy coping mechanism. Shit, elevator incoming!
Oh, fuck. Sorry! [JIN] There was a lot of anger in this room. [CIVVIE] Really, Counselor Troi, there was a lot of anger in this room of blood.
[BETTERS] That's great. Got anything useful to add? [JIN] I don't see any bullet holes. There's no brass lying around either.
These guys didn't fire a shot. [CIVVIE] So that's a "no" on useful info. This game's combat is so goddamn good that I can pick a clip from anywhere and it works.
You know the AI notices your flashlight? [REPLICA SOLDIER] Flashlight!
[CIVVIE] Now that we're at Armacham, the phone messages are actually plot relevant and good. Harlan Wade, an Armacham scientist,
who I guess is technically worse than Norton Mapes for reasons we'll learn about later, has some choice words on this whole mess.
[HARLAN WADE] Now I don't know which one of you shit heels over there is calling the shots, but you'd better stop dicking around fast, because the readings are getting worse by the minute.
It's really a simple choice. You can either listen to the expert advice you're being given or you can brace yourselves for the assfuck of the century.
Cause it's coming, you mark my words on that. [CIVVIE] All right, grandpa, take your pills, you're getting a little salty.
Oh, right, so… *Whomp 'Em Boss Theme*
Alma is Harlan Wade's daughter, which means that Harlan Wade is Point Man's grandfather,
because every terrible thing that could possibly happen leading up to the story of this game has happened.
=== Interval 07 - Exposition ===
FEAR's story is told through audio logs mostly, phone messages of mostly dead people who probably deserved to die.
Alma Wade was born to Harlan and Elizabeth Wade. Her mother died during childbirth and as soon as her father found out she had psychic powers,
he thought that the best course of action was to do an indefinite "bring your daughter to work day" where Armacham would experiment on her for the rest of her life.
When I say that Harlan Wade is technically worse than Norton Mapes, I mean he is very much worse than Norton Mapes.
When she started using her psychic powers against them, she was put into a coma and they thought, "You know, we have kidnapped a child and done horrible experiments on her for like five years,
"we're already going to hell, "let's forcibly impregnate her twice with DNA from Harlan Wade,
"so I guess Harlan Wade is also Point Man's and Paxton's father, and grandfather, "and this whole horrifying mess was called "Project Origin".
Weyland Yutani is over here going, "Jesus, dude, dial it back." Alma, still in a coma, merged her consciousness with Paxton,
in what they called a "synchronicity event". And so obviously after that they kill her. But that doesn't work.
Her body dies but… Enter Armacham President Genevieve Aristide, who says "we've got this real estate underground we're not using",
cracks open the Origin bunker, and everyone she sends in there dies. So she sends more people in who also die.
She seals the place back up, but it's too late because Alma got to Paxton and now they're both looking for the Origin Facility so they can get Alma's body and spirit and set them both free.
The moral of the story is don't be cartoonishly evil.
=== Interval 08 - Elevator Tribulation ===
[BISHOP] Is anybody there? Finally! Can you do something about these bombs?
[CIVVIE] Uhhhh… yeah, but my normal method is to explode them and if I did that my boss would- [BETTERS] All right! Another civilian!
Den mother, we've found another hostage. Sounds like he's wired up with explosives. [SHEPERD] Roger, I'll send somebody to help out.
[BETTERS] Give him a comm-link. [CIVVIE] Oh, for fuck's sake… [BETTERS] Okay, buddy, there's some elevators near your position. Secure the area and escort the team back to Bishop.
[HOLIDAY] Hold your fire! Hey! Good to see you again! [CIVVIE] JESUS, DON'T DO THAT!
[BISHOP] You're the bomb expert? [HOLIDAY] That's right. Don't worry, you'll be fine. [HOLIDAY] A fire alarm?
[BETTERS] It was triggered at a security office on that floor. You'll need to shut it off to get the elevators back online.
[CIVVIE] Okay, I guess that's my problem since I'm bomb activation and not bomb disposal.
[ALMA] I know who you are… [CIVVIE] MOOOOOM! I told you never to bother me at work.
I'm listening to voice mails, I'll be with you in a minute. [RECORDER] You have ONE new message.
[CIVVIE] Before I know it, the Armacham rent-a-cops show up to kill Bishop, because the super-villain method of strapping a bomb to him didn't work.
I wanna say they're less of a threat than the clones but this one takes a spike to the dome without any adverse effects.
The trick is to hit the side of his head, which sends him flying over that way somehow. 2000's rag-dolls are funny.
[MAPES] Hello? Who's there? Oh… it's you. Christ, I thought I was a goner.
[CIVVIE] Day ain't over yet. [BETTERS] What are you doing here? [MAPES] The elevators are offline and those soldiers are everywhere.
Now you've got to find a security office and override the lock-down! [BETTERS] You stay put this time?
[MAPES] On my honor. [CIVVIE] Hey, Mapes, I got a place you can put that cactus. All right, goons killed, security overridden, what now?
[MAPES] Sayonara, sucker! [CIVVIE] MAPES, YOU SHITSACK! [BETTERS] At least he's predictable. [CIVVIE] Goddamn Mapes, making me climb elevator shafts and go through vents,
I'm literally the only person in this building not trying to kill you, and not just because I killed the Armacham security that Genevieve sent.
[MAPES] Oh, perfect, you again! See this button?
[CIVVIE] Don't you do that, Mapes. You son of a bitch, don't you push that button. [MAPES] Ooopsie!
[CIVVIE] I would make the human race extinct if it meant getting rid of Norton Mapes. He turns the security system on to slow me down.
Time to deal with the turrets, you know, with violence. There are ways to avoid some of them, but it's better to be safe than sorry.
In some Valve-style blue-balling, you get to control turrets later and mow down hapless clone soldiers for a while.
Here's a tip, if you see a big elevator that you need to hit a switch to lower, 9 times out of 10, there's a big tough enemy coming down with it.
So…
=== Interval 09 - Humiliation ===
And FUCK YOU TOO! This combat never gets old. And now I have a particle beam, which might as well be a railgun in terms of functionality.
[HARLAN WADE] Alice? It's your father. You've got to get out of there. You're in danger. [CIVVIE] Yeah, Mapes is still creeping around this building somewhere.
We shouldn't take any chances. [HARLAN WADE] Get to my office and find my laptop. There's a text file called "proteus", hurry!
[ALICE WADE] You're not one of them! I'd pretty much given up on being rescued. [BETTERS] Thank god she's okay. Give her a comm-link.
[CIVVIE] How many comm links do I have? Anyway, Betters, this is my aunt… and sister Alice.
[ALICE WADE] Hello? [BETTERS] Miss Wade, we're gonna get you out of there but you have to move quickly. [ALICE WADE] I need to get to my dad.
[BETTERS] Where is he? [ALICE WADE] Some kind of classified facility. I've never heard of it. [BETTERS] First things first. Get to the roof. A helo is on the way.
[ALICE WADE] You mean a helicopter? Can we drive instead? My car's downstairs in the parking garage.
[CIVVIE] Can you just say "no" to special forces? Just fuck their plans right up while they're trying to save your life from killer psychic soldiers?
[ALICE WADE] Yeah, right. [RECORDER] You have TWO new messages.
[ALICE WADE] Hurry! Let's go get my dad. [CIVVIE] Hey! Shh! Zip it! I'm checking his messages. To Alice's credit, she never gets in my way,
never goes anywhere near a firefight, and isn't a horrible pain in my ass, meaning she's easily the best character I've met so far.
=== Interval 10 - Elevator Humiliation ===
[ALICE WADE] Why are all the floors lighting up? [CIVVIE] Because god hates us and the devil thinks it's funny. [ALICE WADE] Uh oh… somebody's pressing the call buttons.
[REPLICA SOLDIER] - Fire in the hole! [ALICE WADE] - Get ready! [ALICE WADE] Close!
[ALICE WADE in slow-mo] What are you doing?! Hurry! [CIVVIE in slow-mo] Trust me, I'm a professional, and I've got a shotgun. [CIVVIE in real time] Trust me, I'm a professional, and I've got a shotgun.
[ALICE WADE] Here we go again! [CIVVIE] You know you're awfully calm about this? [in slow-mo] Look I hate to have to tell you about this
but your father is kind of an asshole and he's done some really terrible stuff, [in real time] you have a sister, who I guess is the one trying to kill us right now through your nephew, your other nephew, Paxton,
my name is Point Man by the way, I'm also your nephew, and I really didn't want to drag you into the family drama but here we are.
[ALICE WADE] You don't have to kill everybody! [CIVVIE] I literally have to kill everybody to get this elevator going again.
Probably. [ALICE WADE] What's going on? What happened to the power? [CIVVIE] Don't worry, I'll fix it…
Yeah, you guys should catch up. [ALICE WADE] There you are! How did we get separated?
[CIVVIE] How are you still alive? [BETTERS] You should have a visual on the evac chopper.
[ALICE WADE] Oh my god! [CIVVIE] Yep, there it is. I've been waiting all night for that. [ALICE WADE] This is crazy, I am not waiting here, my dad's in danger.
[CIVVIE] Fun thing about that particle beam, it leaves behind spooky charred skeletons. Happy Halloween, asshole!
I'm not sure exactly where they got flying death robots, but they've got flying death robots. You're all destroying your own office building at this point.
HEY FUCKERS, I'M THE VALET, I'M HERE FOR MISS WADE'S CAR!
[HOLIDAY] This way! [JIN] It's good to see you in one piece. [CIVVIE] You're lucky I'm out of grenades.
=== Interval 11 - Desolation ===
[BETTERS] I don't think Armacham was interested in what's on the property. They wanted what was under it. I'm guessing it has something to do with Origin.
[COTTON] We're hit! [CIVVIE] AHHHH! THERE IT IS! [HOLIDAY] You sure you want to send him alone? These guys ain't fucking around.
[BETTERS] We don't have a choice. Fettel could be anywhere and Alice is out there on her own. By the time backup reaches you, she could be dead.
[CIVVIE] Yeah, we kind of suck at this. [HOLIDAY] We're still a couple of clicks away from the Rammelmeier compound so you're gonna have to get there on foot.
[CIVVIE] What else is new? OH, SHIT!
Okay, that one caught me by surprise. The snipers… well, they try.
[CIVVIE] You see, the trick is to play so aggressively that the AI thinks you must be an absolute idiot,
running up on a truck full of soldiers and hitting it like it was a German trench.
If you enjoyed the first part of this game in the industrial areas, this is basically that with more dickish enemy placement.
And more assassins, who are in the running for Least Valuable Player in Paxton's army because I don't remember a single time during any playthrough of this game that one of them has managed to kill me.
Assassins, kids. [ATC] We can't stop it!
[CIVVIE] Amateurs.
All right guys, I took care of it. Really?
Elevator's broken! Oh, nevermind, I had to shoot some ghosts. Got me a repeating cannon…
Not even Mapes can stop me now. [MAPES] Look, I'm just doing my job!
[HARLAN WADE] And I'm doing what has to be done.
[CIVVIE] DAMN IT! NO! HE WAS MINE, WADE! HE WAS MINE!!!
[MAPES] That fuckhead… he locked you out. The only way in is to divert power to the door.
[CIVVIE] Like I know he doesn't actually die right now, because he's in the exp-
Ugh. Fine. I'll go hit some switches. The game doesn't actually let me kill Mapes. Or Harlan Wade for that matter.
Actually, the end of this game kind of sucks. Paxton took all my weapons away, except for a pistol, in the ghost dimension over here…
[PAXTON] You must have sensed it. She cannot see in your mind, but perhaps you can see into hers.
A life of waking from one nightmare only to find herself deep in another…
[PAXTON] I will set her free.
[HARLAN WADE] We put her in there two days before her 8th birthday. [COMPUTER] Error. No life signs detected.
[HARLAN WADE] She died six days after we pulled the plug.
[COMPUTER] Release sequence complete. [HARLAN WADE] This is how it ends…
Alma? AHHHHH!
[CIVVIE] Oh… so we're done here? Now that I think about it, I had absolutely no effect on the outcome of this story.
That's a bummer. What's worse is that the rest of this game, as you're escaping the facility, you're only shooting these specters that explode into a particle effects
like the cheapest of trashy Unity games. It's not even fun when you've got two pistols. I mean, REALLY!
You do fight Alma. Briefly. It is kind of fucked up that you end this game by shooting your mother in the face a bunch of times,
that's brutal as hell. And the cherry on top? The Origin facility explodes.
[LO WANG] Be proud, Mister Woo.
[CIVVIE] No worries, Point Man survives this. And so do Holiday and Jin, which is nice. [HOLIDAY] I don't know how you lived through that.
We still don't know the extent of the damage. [JIN] We haven't been able to get through to anyone since the explosion.
What about Alma? What happened to her? What was that sound?!
[CIVVIE] She's pulling a Jason!
*TV buzzing*
Oh, I am gonna pay for this one. I gotta stop putting cursed shit into my PC.
End Credits
*end credits*
== Trivia ==
== Behind the Scenes ==
Civvie has commented on Reddit that he does not want to cover F.E.A.R. 2, as it would naturally lead to having to cover F.E.A.R. 3.https://www.reddit.com/r/Civvie11/comments/17qrroo/comment/k8efa4s/
Category:Episodes
Category:Season 5
Category:Monolith