I was a little hesitant to purchase this game as I had heard some fairly harsh criticisms of the first one and it's subsequent expansions, but I feel my trust in Monolith was well placed as this is overall a very competent shooter. The horror aspect of the game also lead to a couple of brown trouser moments, but it was ultimately flawed in the execution of a few scare scenes.
In case you didn't know, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin sees you initially going to find a scientist in an office block, somewhere near the end of events depicted in the original. The turd soon hits the turbine and you and the remaining members of your team are tasked with dispatching the psychotic psychic Alma after the failure of the initial squad.
The face of pure evil: an 8 year old goth girl.
The rest of the story appears very thin for the remainder of the game until the expletive inducing finale. A great deal of backstory and extra info is given about a lot of the characters in the series through intel packages you find throughout the game. You also earn achievements by picking them up. This at least shows they tried to give the game some depth, but I ultimately felt quite disconnected from the events occurring, and to be honest didn't really care. Around half of the levels consist of "Oh you've got to make it through this town/building/tunnel...why?...because Alma! That's why!". The rest of your motivation for the missions is supposed to come from you having to clean up the mess created by some of the truly idiotic characters (giving the impression you're more like the team carer then an actual operative), which is difficult when you either don't care for them or find them so stupid you wish they'd just die so you could be rid of them. Just as a general rule I think that anybody in a tactical strike team that suggests splitting up Scooby-Doo style should be shot on site. That being said most of them do cop it in one amusing manner or another, usually as a result of said foolish decision making, making this the first time I'd have to give a game marks for killing off most of the cast.
The opposing cast on the other hand is quite different. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and design of many of the soldiers and ghouls you encounter on your travels. The two distinctive armies of soldiers each have at least 4 different classes, with their own weaponry, armour and AI tactics, which tends to keep you on your toes in a firefight if every level or so a new type of threat is thrown into the fray. The mutated beasties you have to slay are pretty unique to F.E.A.R. as far as I'm aware, and are usually fun and challenging to fight. My only gripe with them is that they generally lose their scare factor after the first encounter.
It is amazing how many game and film developers will fall into the age-old trap of "Well if it jumps out at you, and you get a shock, it's scary!". I'd hate to burst their bubble but no, it really isn't, that is just giving me a shock, like somebody unexpectedly tapping you on the shoulder or rolling over after a Saturday night out and seeing what you've brought home in your amorous state of intoxication. Those things aren't horrific (well except from the latter sometimes...) and F.E.A.R. tries to utilise this tactic a little too often for my liking, and the occasionally resulting quick time events are far too easy and grow tiresome after the first few because you only ever need two buttons for them all throughout the whole game.
That being said a few genuinely frightening moments of suspense and bowel voiding terror are present, such as when walking down a dimly lit school corridor, Alma appears at the end and as you approach the lights begin to falter and flicker, then the lockers on either side of the hallway start to slam in a wave-like motion towards you with objects flying around the hallway in a state of chaos until you are enveloped in almost total darkness. But then the lights come back on and you continue on your way. These interludes also give the game a nice pacing, reminiscent of Half-Life 2 I felt, where you can spend a good half an hour simply traversing the surroundings without firing a single shot, before you are thrown into a bloody battle with a battalion of soldiers.
During both the fire fights and the horror sections, the controls felt adequate, even though I did initially have to turn my sensitivity up a tonne because it took so long to turn it felt like my guy was wearing a neck brace and concrete shoes. The shooting handled well and had a visceral, connected feeling to it, as opposed to say Unreal Tournament 3 which felt very floaty. The Mech (or EPA as they are called in this game) sections felt particularly satisfying in this respect, due to you being able to mince any ground troops in a few fractions of a second.
Well there used to be an enemy somewhere in that red cloud...
The slow motion mechanic I found a nice addition as it has been a while since I played a game where I could manipulate time that didn't suck. Unfortunately it is overpowered just a touch, as I demonstrated to myself when I killed 7 opponents in one use of it. This is made more apparent as it is supposed to be an achievement on that game to kill a measly 4 with one shot of slo-mo juice.
I have not played the multiplayer for F.E.A.R. 2 extensively yet, but from initial impressions it seems pretty unspectacular. There's nothing wrong with it per se (aside from the occasional monstrous lag spike) just the style of the game and control scheme does not make for a particularly enthralling experience when confronted by sentient opposition. There are also a very limited number of levels and weapons available, meaning you will be repeating the same routines and tactics on the same levels after about an hour, effectively ruining some of the lifespan of this game. There is however a nice equipment selection mechanic, by which you are given a number of points that you can spread out between grenades, guns, health and armour. This makes the gameplay more balanced than a lot of online shooters and generally stops people using overpowered weapons all the time, as this means sacrificing armour or something else useful. Whenever I assess a game's multiplayer I always measure it against the greatest yardstick I have to date in Call Of Duty 4, and F.E.A.R. 2 just comes no where near in terms of simple fun or depth.
Really though I have to recommend F.E.A.R. 2, because in spite of some of it's flaws it was a very fun experience playing through the story. My final criticism of it would be that the game is a little too short and doesn't have much replayability, so if possible I would definitely rent it.
In case you didn't know, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin sees you initially going to find a scientist in an office block, somewhere near the end of events depicted in the original. The turd soon hits the turbine and you and the remaining members of your team are tasked with dispatching the psychotic psychic Alma after the failure of the initial squad.
The face of pure evil: an 8 year old goth girl.
The rest of the story appears very thin for the remainder of the game until the expletive inducing finale. A great deal of backstory and extra info is given about a lot of the characters in the series through intel packages you find throughout the game. You also earn achievements by picking them up. This at least shows they tried to give the game some depth, but I ultimately felt quite disconnected from the events occurring, and to be honest didn't really care. Around half of the levels consist of "Oh you've got to make it through this town/building/tunnel...why?...because Alma! That's why!". The rest of your motivation for the missions is supposed to come from you having to clean up the mess created by some of the truly idiotic characters (giving the impression you're more like the team carer then an actual operative), which is difficult when you either don't care for them or find them so stupid you wish they'd just die so you could be rid of them. Just as a general rule I think that anybody in a tactical strike team that suggests splitting up Scooby-Doo style should be shot on site. That being said most of them do cop it in one amusing manner or another, usually as a result of said foolish decision making, making this the first time I'd have to give a game marks for killing off most of the cast.
The opposing cast on the other hand is quite different. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety and design of many of the soldiers and ghouls you encounter on your travels. The two distinctive armies of soldiers each have at least 4 different classes, with their own weaponry, armour and AI tactics, which tends to keep you on your toes in a firefight if every level or so a new type of threat is thrown into the fray. The mutated beasties you have to slay are pretty unique to F.E.A.R. as far as I'm aware, and are usually fun and challenging to fight. My only gripe with them is that they generally lose their scare factor after the first encounter.
"Hi, it's good to see you again, thanks for coming to your NHS checkup."
It is amazing how many game and film developers will fall into the age-old trap of "Well if it jumps out at you, and you get a shock, it's scary!". I'd hate to burst their bubble but no, it really isn't, that is just giving me a shock, like somebody unexpectedly tapping you on the shoulder or rolling over after a Saturday night out and seeing what you've brought home in your amorous state of intoxication. Those things aren't horrific (well except from the latter sometimes...) and F.E.A.R. tries to utilise this tactic a little too often for my liking, and the occasionally resulting quick time events are far too easy and grow tiresome after the first few because you only ever need two buttons for them all throughout the whole game.
That being said a few genuinely frightening moments of suspense and bowel voiding terror are present, such as when walking down a dimly lit school corridor, Alma appears at the end and as you approach the lights begin to falter and flicker, then the lockers on either side of the hallway start to slam in a wave-like motion towards you with objects flying around the hallway in a state of chaos until you are enveloped in almost total darkness. But then the lights come back on and you continue on your way. These interludes also give the game a nice pacing, reminiscent of Half-Life 2 I felt, where you can spend a good half an hour simply traversing the surroundings without firing a single shot, before you are thrown into a bloody battle with a battalion of soldiers.
During both the fire fights and the horror sections, the controls felt adequate, even though I did initially have to turn my sensitivity up a tonne because it took so long to turn it felt like my guy was wearing a neck brace and concrete shoes. The shooting handled well and had a visceral, connected feeling to it, as opposed to say Unreal Tournament 3 which felt very floaty. The Mech (or EPA as they are called in this game) sections felt particularly satisfying in this respect, due to you being able to mince any ground troops in a few fractions of a second.
Well there used to be an enemy somewhere in that red cloud...
The slow motion mechanic I found a nice addition as it has been a while since I played a game where I could manipulate time that didn't suck. Unfortunately it is overpowered just a touch, as I demonstrated to myself when I killed 7 opponents in one use of it. This is made more apparent as it is supposed to be an achievement on that game to kill a measly 4 with one shot of slo-mo juice.
I have not played the multiplayer for F.E.A.R. 2 extensively yet, but from initial impressions it seems pretty unspectacular. There's nothing wrong with it per se (aside from the occasional monstrous lag spike) just the style of the game and control scheme does not make for a particularly enthralling experience when confronted by sentient opposition. There are also a very limited number of levels and weapons available, meaning you will be repeating the same routines and tactics on the same levels after about an hour, effectively ruining some of the lifespan of this game. There is however a nice equipment selection mechanic, by which you are given a number of points that you can spread out between grenades, guns, health and armour. This makes the gameplay more balanced than a lot of online shooters and generally stops people using overpowered weapons all the time, as this means sacrificing armour or something else useful. Whenever I assess a game's multiplayer I always measure it against the greatest yardstick I have to date in Call Of Duty 4, and F.E.A.R. 2 just comes no where near in terms of simple fun or depth.
Really though I have to recommend F.E.A.R. 2, because in spite of some of it's flaws it was a very fun experience playing through the story. My final criticism of it would be that the game is a little too short and doesn't have much replayability, so if possible I would definitely rent it.
