Project Origin, a review and a rant

[Calax]

Now I'm posting this now while it's in my head. I'll be adding parts as this goes on, and then do a full cumulative review of the overall product at the end.

I've only played about 1 1/2 hours worth of gameplay, but just from that little amount of time it appears that Monolith has gotten MUCH better at combining combat with horror. I've had a couple of gunfights where at least one of my enemies died in a scripted sequence by being eaten by a creature. They also have changed how Alma and the ghosts appear. Where in FEAR we'd have alma as a girl doing slow walking and disintegrating her enemies, now she's running around in her physical body and you get flashes seeing her. Now the flashes can sometimes be a bad thing because I've found that several times I've missed her appearance because I was looking another direction (they made it so that a filter goes over your vision as a sort of "HORROR INCOMING" warning when ever a supernatural effect or horror segment goes balls to the walls mindfuckery on you).

The combat is... ok. It's not as brutal as the originals probably because this came out with the consoles in mind. But that's somewhat made up for by the fact that there are ALOT more enemies per fight (where as in FEAR you'd fight a total of five opponents max, before a respawn brought more in or you moved to the next section) Usually anywhere between 7-15 guys are fighting. One of the biggest differences I've seen (at least in the enemies you face early on, I just got to the replicas) is that they don't get that weird "I see you so I've got more life" effect going on. By this I mean that where in FEAR you'd head shot one guy when he didn't know you were there and he'd die instantly, but the others with him you'd pop in the head and they'd dive for cover, living with a bullet cranial intrusion. In Project Origin most of the non-replica troopers are CAKE to murder (usually taking about 6 shots from the SMG), and their skins give away exactly how armored they are (the weakest ones don't have much armor and have their faces explode, in the dark they look like they were ripped from Gears or Final Fantasy: Spirits within.) Another interesting thing is that certain enemies have hazard suits that you can blow up by hitting their O2 tank, it's pretty awesome.

Weapons so far have been standard fare, but it seems like they've started to mix it up more. You've got your SMG, AR, Shotty (two types so far, auto and combat), and pistol (no duel wield this time however, you aren't that awesome). But I've found at least one newer weapon, the FLAMETHROWER! Now flames look incredible in this game, and the flame thrower just adds to the beauty. You hit enemies and they don't die instantly, instead they run around like chickens with their heads cut off as their health slowly dwindles and you take pot shots at them. Grenades also have different types, Landmines have returned, as have your standard frag, missing however are the useless remote detonation nades. In their place we've got Shock Grenades, and incendiaries (which light an entire area on fire).

Character wise they have created distinct personalities for your squad. But you don't get to see much of them because you go solo until the Point Man blows everything to hell and gone, and then you're separated into a hospital after being given your reflex abilities. I have thus far found three of the group again. Two I was immediately separated from again, but (and this is MINOR MINOR MINOR spoilers) I do wonder what it is that the games industry in general HATE about anyone named Jankowski? First we had Leo Jankowski from Invisible war, who by the end of the game, was nothing more than a part of a collective, and then we had the Point Man's partner from the first game who got killed and his brain eaten, and now the new Jankowski DIES within the first hour of the game! Seriously WTF do you guys have against that family!? Haven't you put them through enough!?

...


Sorry.

Anyway, back to the combat in general. The difficulty has been lowered but the sheer numbers has been heightened. The biggest problem I've been finding that makes this so easy is that the AI seems programed to accept something that's got holes in it (like shelving that's got cubby holes that go through the entire thing) as acceptable cover. So you simply pop the guys through their "cover" and keep moving. The game has an overall sense of polish so far but there are a few points with enemy AI and enemy interactions with the environment that seem like they missed. The AI I mentioned before, but I've seen an enemy take cover behind a towel dispenser (no I'm not kidding) leaving his entire lower half showing, but the weirdest part was that rather than him pressing up against it (you know how guys in cover press against the cover for leverage? Or at least press against something!?) he just kinda stood there leaving half his torso in full view. I just stood there and stared as he calmly waited for me to either cap him or something, before he leaned out of cover and shot at me with three bullets. Then he popped back and stood there again. Now this seems like it's a minority or less compared to the overall enemy interactions but it was jarring and ejected me from the mood because this guy wasn't even acting human (and most of the opponents seem to act at least somewhat life like).

I've only died once, and that was because I got careless and didn't hit my Medkit for an extended period of time. The health system has been changed so that you no longer have numerical values and instead have bars. You can only carry 3 medkits total (where in FEAR you could carry 10 of the buggers), but they also added in health injectors that will restore a certain amount of health every time you walk over it. I ended up not popping much because my armor has been absorbing so much damage and the availability for said armor is just stupid (particularly for a hospital).

I would also like to note that the Yahtzee reviled Quick Time events have appeared, but not in the standard format. Instead certain enemies will attack you and if they are close enough and under the right circumstances they'll grapple you and try to bite your face (literally). The way you knock them off is by rapidly hitting the melee button (there's a fairly large margin for error thus far) and this causes you to start punching like a crazy man to knock the thing off (Only one enemy type and an Alma appearance have cause this thus far. Alma was the only one to get a chomp in because I was so freaked out by her appearance.)

That's all for now. As I get further and the gameplay develops (with differing enemies and the mech combat) I'll add more, and when I beat it I'll throw out a full review after I pick up some perspective on it (usually this means that I'll spend a day or two chewing over the experience)

 

[Calax]

Having completed the game I'll finish this up.

As the game progresses the combat gets harder and the amount of medkits gets fewer. Thus there is a very nicely ramping difficulty curve. Enemies get tougher by increased health and a little more intelligent use of the environment to shield themselves.

The sniper rifle (as seen in the demo) is an INCREDIBLE toy with you being able to slaughter anything with just it and slow-mo. Only problem is that you only pick it up later in the game and don't really have much in the way of ammo for it. There are also a Laser cannon that you can carve enemies up with, a new version of the 10mm Penetrator cannon, the afore mentioned flamethrower, and a plasma cannon. I usually ended up saving all my ammo for the heavier weapons because I was like yahtzee in his Mercs 2 review, I sat on enough munitions to shame an entire battalion but I was afraid that a more powerful enemy would show up and I'd need to use the heavier stuff. Unfortunately the heavy weapons don't really need to be used, as your Assault Rifle can kill literally anything in the entire game, and you get enough ammo for it to simply run with it once you find it the first time.

FEAR has always been known for it's good mixture of Horror and FPS, and Project origin got it half right. I always found that in the original FEAR I was scared out of my wits because Alma's destructive abilities were showcased through out the game, making her unpredictable that first time through, and it seemed like she was actually trying to kill you. In Origin, you get scared for the first couple of "intervals" but then once I hit interval five, I wasn't jumping out of my skin because it didn't feel like the ghosts and other supernatural elements could hurt me. Alma was always shown in flashes for most of the game and didn't do anything like in the first game (where you would see her disintegrate people, and blow up the warehouse you were in), it Alma and her cohorts who were supposed to scare you didn't actually seem to have any teeth. I think that if I hadn't played the first game I would think that Alma was just an apparition that was brought on by psychosis rather than a human being who could kill just by looking (well, until the last level really).

The mech combat, while fun, also detracted from the overall environment. If the game had been a regular shooter, the mech stuff would have easily been perfect for it's role. But FEAR, being based upon the concept that you're supposed to be scared, doesn't really have a role for "god mode" segments.

The overall plot is disjointed, and sometimes it seems like you're given a filler objective to make your way to the next segment that'll give you a more pressing objective. By this I mean there are several instances where you're told to rally with your team, but on the way to them something happens that makes you have to go in another direction and do something else. FEAR always had the overall objective of killing Fettel, Origin doesn't have that overarching driving force. Instead Origin has you being told to get from point a to point b and once you get there you're told "Thank you for saving me, now head to point c!" It didn't give me that feeling that I accomplished something because every time I fufilled my objective a different one was handed down to me. At least in FEAR I felt like I'd accomplished something when I killed Fettel because all the Replica troops shut down and the entire dynamic of the game changed.

A couple other things I'd like to nitpick. At the VERY end of FEAR, the point man, Jin, and the SFOD-D guy, were all on a helicopter when Alma popped up on the vehicle with them (the last scene being you see her clawing her way into the passenger compartment). Now I don't know about you guys, but after FEAR I actually wanted to know exactly what happened to those three characters. They were well built (except for the Point Man, but I sympathized with him because he was "me"), and showed enough personality that I loved them all. In Origin, their fates are ignored completely, with Beckett wandering through the ruins of the town trying to rally with his squad.

Also, Armacham (the company who's offices you spent all of FEAR haunting) has gone from a company that has defense contracts and a single dirty secret, to being the Umbrella Corporation's illegitimate twin. By this I mean that where in FEAR the company seemed to be somewhat standard and by the book, with their only moral lapse being the Origin/Perseus programs, but in Project Origin, Armacham became the giant controlling corporation that had no morals or bounds and could make the country dance a little jig. The addition of Paragon, and Harbinger programs, Armacham has gone from a defense contracter based around missiles and satellites and other high tech stuff, who's attempts to diversify lead to the Origin debacle, to being more interested in genetics and "growing" armies that can accept and relay tactical information so fast that they can win a war. In FEAR I was able to suspend disbelief because of the fact that the company didn't seem entirely corrupt and without morals, Project Origin took that part of the company and threw it in the trash in favor of the standard faceless corporation that has no morals and just wants to make money.

I'm now going to say something about the ending, Just warning you so you don't hit the spoiler tag and then yell at me for giving it away.

Spoiler

Ok, the last part of the game has you chasing one of your last remaining teammates to the Still Island facility where your psychic powers will be amplified to take on Alma on a level playing field. The teammate like the others who died before him, is following the sound of a woman's voice (two of the other teammates heard her calling and crying about her stolen babies). Obviously the woman is Alma projecting into their minds. Anyway you get to the facility and are strapped into the amplifier when Genevieve Aristede shows up, grumps about not having leverage to keep her job, shoots the LT (who I'd come to love personally... NOT THAT WAY YOU PERV!) and does her best to lock you into a vault where your mind will contain Alma (with the help of the Vault). Then you proceed to a psychic landscape where the teammate you were following attacks you (and you're trying to unlock the amplifier to get out) because he's jealous of Alma's interest in you. You beat him three times and activate a switch each time. When you activate the switches (and first get to the plane) he attacks you yelling and throwing you around (which serves to get you away from the switch) and then several apparitions of him appear and start shooting at you (you shoot back and kill them all). But every time you get into the fisticuffs with him, you see images of Alma. Now when you finally disconnect from the amplifier/vault thing and are released, the vault opens to a hellscape made by Alma, who's apparently raped you while you were fighting off your partner in your head, and now she looks six months pregnant with Beckett's child.

I personally didn't like this very much. Mainly because Alma can't seem to decide if she's a dessicated corpse, or her body is smooth as silk. She'll flicker between the two every time you actually see her (not in the flashes) and I would think that her dessicated corpse wouldn't be capable of carrying a child, much less having a six month gestation in the seeming span of 30 minutes (I don't know, maybe the entire psychic battle took place over the course of six months?) It also set itself up AGAIN for an expansion/sequel, which personally I don't mind if they freaking tell us there's going to be said sequel coming along (for example, Assassins Creed, Too Human, and Mass Effect all told us we were going to be seeing trilogies for each game well before the first one came out).

I also wanted to mention something. One of the reasons Alma was so scary in the first game was that she looked eight years old. Now she always is in her "I'm nude and have so much hair every reproductive organ on my body is covered by the hair on my head" body. Even the psychic visions, which I would think would manifest her in her mental image of herself that she has (which would be the eight year old in a red dress).

Btw, this game does show a surprising amount of polish on some parts, by this I mean that while the level of blood got ramped up to a surprising degree, the blood would often be splattered in a specific way (tribal images, and words written in the blood). However the gore level does get in the way (for example you just finish off a guy right in front of you, and his blood splatters all over your view. They also have an explanation this time for the fact that you have a HUD, Beckett is wearing glasses that hook into his vitals, ammo count, and comlink to keep everyone informed as to what the heck is happening.

Anyway, a few speculations and suggestions. Monolith, if you're going to continue this, I'd suggest doing it from the point mans perspective. Mainly because of his link to Alma, but also because he's a blank slate (and is supposed to be that way), where as Beckett would normally have a personality and actually talk to his teammates rather than being mute (see my various posts about FPS main characters). If you give a character a name, it's no longer OK to simply leave him mute. He would have a personality even if it was solely based off his name.

Also if you bring back the point man, maybe have him fighting through ATC and spec ops personnel, but also getting help from Alma (similar to in Extraction point, but done better and without the weird dichotomy between the 'adult' and 'child' forms of Alma.) I mean Alma seems to have a thing about having her children stolen from her, I would expect that she'd do everything thing she could to protect her children and get them back.

And finially, remember that one of the parts of horror is that in order to be frightened, you've got to have some vulnerability. Making the creatures that you're supposed to be scared of either do nothing, or killable, simply makes the entire thing less scary (like how in bioshock you could wrench your way to success, because of the lack of a penalty for dying, and thus things ceased to be challenging). If you want people to FEAR Alma, you make Alma display her power WHILE SHE'S THERE, you don't have things just happen and explain it as "alma did it!" In order for someone to take credit for slaughtering an army, they've got to be there to do the slaughtering rather than being halfway across the world from the killings. Power and it's application should frighten people, but with the way Origin tried to pull it off, all sense that she was there was gone, and you didn't feel vulnerable to the supernatural because bullets would kill anything she set against you.

TL;DR version: Good tactical shooter, who's horror elements need some reworking.