Zero Punctuation: Fear 2
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
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Liked the review, although I don't think sequels should be banned per se, but that sequels have to be run through a stringent "Actually Makes Worthwhile Improvements to the Game Mechanics" filter before allowed out the door. Any who fail this test shall be bludgeoned to death by Yahtzee with a sack of fan hate mail.
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Is Yahtzee making a crack about console gamers there? If not, my bad, but if so....I bring to your attention, Mr. Croshaw: Exhibit A: Any console controller of the last four generations save the Wii. Exhibit B: The keyboard and mouse on your PC. Scientific control: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I am a console gamer because every game that I have ever played that has ever required real-time control of a character is a hundred times less aggravating and a thousand times more enjoyable playing it with a console controller than a PC set up.
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Is Yahtzee making a crack about console gamers there? If not, my bad, but if so....I bring to your attention, Mr. Croshaw: Exhibit A: Any console controller of the last four generations save the Wii. Exhibit B: The keyboard and mouse on your PC. Scientific control: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I am a console gamer because every game that I have ever played that has ever required real-time control of a character is a hundred times less aggravating and a thousand times more enjoyable playing it with a console controller than a PC set up.
Well, I agree with the over-the-top amount of armor and health. I'm playing on Hard and have no trouble at all - which might also have something to do with the way bullet time makes you invulnerable if used right.
It is more of the original FEAR but I enjoy it, since I also liked the first part very much.
And the Horror is, imho, better implemented than in the first game, where you always had some static on your comm-system before anything scary happens. Which makes you dread the static itself, but not so much what comes afterwards.
In FEAR 2, Alma seems to be present more continously and it's a lot more oppresive now (in a positive way).
It's true that sometimes I actually MISS the scary stuff because I look somewhere else at the time.
Can't be helped, I guess, unless the corridors/areas right before the scary stuff are very, very confined, kinda forcing you to look in the right direction. Hm.
It is more of the original FEAR but I enjoy it, since I also liked the first part very much.
And the Horror is, imho, better implemented than in the first game, where you always had some static on your comm-system before anything scary happens. Which makes you dread the static itself, but not so much what comes afterwards.
In FEAR 2, Alma seems to be present more continously and it's a lot more oppresive now (in a positive way).
It's true that sometimes I actually MISS the scary stuff because I look somewhere else at the time.
Can't be helped, I guess, unless the corridors/areas right before the scary stuff are very, very confined, kinda forcing you to look in the right direction. Hm.
Half life 2 and Super Mario Galaxy (I haven't played civ) are rare exceptions to the non-sequel rule. Firstly Mario is a mascot character, so games named "Mario" function by a completely different rule set.Sewblon said:
Mario 1 and then Mario 2 (and 3 and 64 and RPG and Galaxy and all the rest) make use of solid and well defined platforming mechanics, have independent and isolated story lines (which is the primary issue referred to in the vid) and offer significant evolution in the game-play from title to title. F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. 2 doesn't have any of this, neither do a majority of the other sequels being released right now. Mario was also a franchise before the time of industry sequelitis.
Half-life was being designed as a episodic gaming experience (though the timeline on releases still needs to be figured out) quite some time ago as well. Furthermore the Half Life 2 franchise plays like a game that is going to have sequels to it (i.e. not much play-time).
Civ 3, I would assume, is comparable to the elder scrolls or fallout or starcraft / warcraft series. A sequel every five to ten years is completely different from a sequel every one to two years.
Exceptions always exist. Movies were in the sequel phase in the eighties (Friday the thirteenth five, Police Academy 6, Revenge of The Nerds 3) and that passed. Movies like Spider Man and batman and Harry Potter are rare exceptions to this rule. Transformers and the fantastic four remind us why we shouldn't revisit that period again.
The only time I ever remember quick-time events being even slightly effective was Soul Calibur 3, where you would have to press X to not lose a little health going into the next battle. An effective QTE because you couldn't die outside of battle but failing the QTE would put you at a disadvantage. Of course, they shiny gold star is taken off when you realize that you will play three QTEs almost everytime you play the game with any character. Gets repetitive and makes you wonder why they thought it was a good idea.
Te only time I will ever accept QTEs are this: "Press X to stop developers from using quick-time events." And even then, they'd expect you to press some 40-button combination, simply because QTE-using developers are retards.
Oh, and great review. Yahtzee seems to be getting his spark back. Must be crawling out of the New Year Blues.
Also, while I am for deleting bad sequels from all existance, only -ilogies like the Star Wars franchise or Halo, that mercilessly drag out their story should be euthanized. Good sequels, where they tell a different story using different characters, or using the same character in a slightly but not significantly related story, are all right. Mario and Mega Man proved that.
But for games that recycle the same material (Tomb Raider) ad nauseum, ie. more than once, deserve to meet "the man resembling a shaved bear" from Painkiller.
Te only time I will ever accept QTEs are this: "Press X to stop developers from using quick-time events." And even then, they'd expect you to press some 40-button combination, simply because QTE-using developers are retards.
Oh, and great review. Yahtzee seems to be getting his spark back. Must be crawling out of the New Year Blues.
Also, while I am for deleting bad sequels from all existance, only -ilogies like the Star Wars franchise or Halo, that mercilessly drag out their story should be euthanized. Good sequels, where they tell a different story using different characters, or using the same character in a slightly but not significantly related story, are all right. Mario and Mega Man proved that.
But for games that recycle the same material (Tomb Raider) ad nauseum, ie. more than once, deserve to meet "the man resembling a shaved bear" from Painkiller.
I think instead of saying "No Sequels at all," I think a better declaration would be, "Don't drag out stories over multiple games." For example, the Resident Evil series has lived long past it's welcome in terms of story. It's amazing how a story that is so bad and flawed has spanned like 6+ games with so many unlikeable and unrelatable characters. Final Fantasy gets a slide by having tons of games that simply share a name as opposed to a plot that won't end. I think better consolidation and closure is better than simply wiping away all sequels.
On a side note: Why do people still post "first" and such, although it's pretty clear by now they'll be suspended...
OK, on to the ZP vid! I have no urge to play F.E.A.R 2 now.. Thanks alot Ben...No irony..
OK, on to the ZP vid! I have no urge to play F.E.A.R 2 now.. Thanks alot Ben...No irony..
Well done Mr. Croshaw, a very entertaining and accurate review.
I think part of F.E.A.R. 2s problem was that they originally designed the game without access to the F.E.A.R. name. I think they were just going to call it 'Project Origin' before their former publisher gave/sold them back the right to use F.E.A.R. So in all honesty this game was supposed to be about Project Origin and not about the point man or the F.E.A.R. team. This may have had a hand in the mediocrity of the games story.
However, even with that understanding, I can not forgive the ending. I mean I sort of saw it coming after Alma assaults the PC in the school, but it still kind of made me feel dirty inside.
When all is said and done, FEAR 2 feels more like a side story or episode than a complete game to me, and is nothing I wouldd actually buy.
I think part of F.E.A.R. 2s problem was that they originally designed the game without access to the F.E.A.R. name. I think they were just going to call it 'Project Origin' before their former publisher gave/sold them back the right to use F.E.A.R. So in all honesty this game was supposed to be about Project Origin and not about the point man or the F.E.A.R. team. This may have had a hand in the mediocrity of the games story.
However, even with that understanding, I can not forgive the ending. I mean I sort of saw it coming after Alma assaults the PC in the school, but it still kind of made me feel dirty inside.
When all is said and done, FEAR 2 feels more like a side story or episode than a complete game to me, and is nothing I wouldd actually buy.
Another great review from ZP. XP
I can see Yahtzee's point about a world with no sequels. Instead of making sequels, just put multiple discs in one case similar to games such as FF7 and Tales of Symphonia.
I can see Yahtzee's point about a world with no sequels. Instead of making sequels, just put multiple discs in one case similar to games such as FF7 and Tales of Symphonia.
Sorry Yahtzee but you have commited a sin...One thing I loath is people saying when in reference to a movie/game that came before a sequel or whatever as "GhostBusters One" or "Jaws One" There called Ghostbusters and Jaws respectivly. Makes my piss boil it does.
That aside another stonkingly solid review
That aside another stonkingly solid review
Hehe, I couldn't help but laugh at the "no sequels" thing. Even when I eat my favorite food, I still prefer it be fresh and not a leftover, despite it being the same food.
Hell, I wonder - "Baww it's like, the same as the first" - so they change it - "Baww it's too different"
Sequels = damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Hell, I wonder - "Baww it's like, the same as the first" - so they change it - "Baww it's too different"
Sequels = damned if you do, damned if you don't.
To be fair, FEAR 2 isn't exactly a high level of intellectual game design either. Fear 1 had a few effective sequences, but most where cheap scares, like Alma popping up right at the top of a ladder.
Since you're pretty much the epitome of super soldiers there's never anything to be afraid of, and since you're nothing but a gun transportation unit without a voice interface it's not really possible to care about your own relation to the various goings on. It might get better, but so far it's more of them same, only now the cheap scares are gone too.
Eh, it's a servicable shooter. I run, I shoot things, I run some more, I shoot some bigger things. Seems like I'm renting more nowadays....
My question though, is why, if this is supposed to take place directly after the events in the first F.E.A.R. did the clones soldiers suddenly upgrade their armor and weapons? Shouldn't the look exactly like the clone soldiers from the first game, and be using the exact same weapons?
My question though, is why, if this is supposed to take place directly after the events in the first F.E.A.R. did the clones soldiers suddenly upgrade their armor and weapons? Shouldn't the look exactly like the clone soldiers from the first game, and be using the exact same weapons?
