F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
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F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
We all like to be scared, that burst of adrenaline, heart pounding moments and edge of your seat excitement is always fun. The first F.E.A.R. was scary for many people as it introduced a scary as hell 8 year old girl who can and did kick some serious ass and the game series continues with this almost as scary sequel and continues the story of Alma in a new situation. F.E.A.R. 2 takes place 30 minutes before the end events of the first game as you play a member of a secondary unit; similar to the unit you were part of in the first game. Alma has become attached to you and when you attempt to leave she becomes angry and all hell breaks loose once again.
F.E.A.R. 2 is one of those games which has awesome gameplay and does not rely on its graphics to be considered a good game in many gamer’s minds. There is wide variety of weapons to use in the game from machine guns, a pistol, sniper rifle, laser rifle, pulse cannon, two shot guns and more. Each weapon has a strength and weakness so you are not left with a couple of useless weapons when your good weapon runs out of ammo.
Slow-motion bullet time has returned and it works just as well as the first game, it is not a required gameplay mechanic to use if you play on easy, but on the harder difficulty levels it is and you should be prepared to ration your slow motion or pull back while it recharges. Slow motion is nice when you can use combat situations to kill the bad guys, such as electrical transformers, exploding barrels (are there any other kind of barrels) and of course the stand by fire extinguisher.
Cover systems have been all the rage in games for a couple of years now and F.E.A.R. 2 has a great cover system which can easily be called a dynamic cover system because almost any table, hospital gurney, couch, chair and more can be moved and kicked over for cover. The great thing is the enemy uses this as well and is very adaptive in situations since the soldiers will use cover more than you will and when they flank you and use cover it forces you to adapt quickly during some quick and hectic firefights.
The AI (Artificial Intelligence) is very smart and the enemies use suppression, flanking, and cover and move all the time in order to kill you quick and if you are not paying attention you will die, die fast and die often. It is great. Creatively the game designers gave the AI a boost, basically allowing them to climb ladders and use height against you as well and when this happens there is almost no way kneeling behind a table will offer enough cover for you to stay safe behind. You will have to move very fast and of course like I said earlier, adapt to the situation at hand.
Most of the game you travel around on foot, but there are a couple of times when you hop into a Mech which is loaded with big machine guns and rockets. You can lay waste to everything in the game quickly in these fun, but sadly short levels and I would have liked to have seen more of the them, but then again, if there were more the game might have become boring.
I hate crappy multiplayer and F.E.A.R. 2 has some bad and boring multiplayer which is basically the same multiplayer game we have seen several times in countless games. It is not even as good as F.E.A.R. 1’s multiplayer which was just ok at best. Sadly I have to say next time, when they make another F.E.A.R. game, if they cannot do something revolutionary multiplayer wise do not do it period and spend more of those resources on the single player experience. This is just another game which added multiplayer because they must add a feature off a first person check list. Multiplayer in every game is something gamers have to stop expecting or we will rarely see good multiplayer games and just a ton of mediocre ones with the odd great one.
The first F.E.A.R. was a great looking PC game and the Xbox 360/PS3 version was no slouch either. After a couple of years Monolith has crafted a much better looking game visually, bringing an entire range of graphic effects for the mental pain and suffering, environment destruction, character design, character animation and of course a new set of weapons. F.E.A.R.’s main premise is about environmental destruction on a massive scale, even more then what we saw in the first F.E.A.R.
Walls and pillars will disintegrate and, bodies will tear apart or even vaporize depending on the amount of firepower you use and more. It is disappointing that the damage modeling is not 100 percent for everything in the game so everything is destructible in some way or effected by the physics system. But what can be destroyed looks great during its several phases of destruction.
The level design is very good and at times it’s bloody brilliant but it suffers from the same minor issues the first game had with way too many corridors, followed by rooms and more corridors. While the game designers have done a better job offering more options and directions to travel and the corridors are larger and even some wide open areas to blow the hell out of, in the end F.E.A.R. 2 is still a corridor shooter.
Scary games require a good soundtrack to help scare the hell out of the player and Monolith has a great soundtrack with F.E.A.R. 2. From the music, environment sounds, general sound effects for weapons, to the screams and the voice acting all enhance the overall game immersing you in what can best be described as pure Hell.
The music in F.E.A.R. 2 at times is not your normal music but the use of a wide variety of environment sound effects and the screams of the dying and the already dead. This combination of horrific sounds creates a memorable and fearsome sound track to enjoy. So if you have a good sound system, then turn off the lights, crank the volume and be prepared to suffer at the hands of Alma.
The replay value of the game is hard to describe. For some players it will be just a great game to play over and over again single player wise, but for those looking for a long term multiplayer game, look elsewhere because the overall multiplayer value is very low.
There have been very few original first person shooters in the last few years and if you were a fan of the original F.E.A.R., be prepared to fall in love once more. Graphically and audio wise the game impresses on many levels and if it was not for the average (below average) multiplayer experience this would be a perfect all around game for action junkies. Hopefully next time they will either give us a real F.E.A.R. Multiplayer experience or drop it and put all of that effort into the single player game. Buy this game and enjoy blasting everything in sight.Pros
+Graphics and audio just rock
+Can be scary at times
+Alma… is an evil little b*tch… I love her
+Great over the top “John-Wooish” action mixed with destructible environments
+FEAR 2 never lets up on the action and being very captivating a game you will play again and again
+Good story, if you can follow it
+Fulfilling play experience
Cons
-Game is a bit short… dedicated gamers can beat it in a single sitting (but every game now days is like that almost)
-Tries a bit too hard to scare you and the thrills are cheap at times
-Needed more Mech levels
-Story needs a third part to finish the saga of Alma
-Average multiplayer, we have seen this and done this so many times before
Final Verdict
Here's a small guide to help you understand our evaluation of games.
PRESENTATION GRADE
Can be from the game's box to the contents of the booklet, and even the game introduction. (Intro, menus, options, etc)
GRAPHIC GRADE
Up to what point the graphics have been worked on my the developper. The design type, the effort used for textures and environments, as well as animations and framerate.
AUDIO GRADE
Is the soundtrack a good match to the game's style, he ambient sounds keeping with the gameplay and the sound effects clear and convincing?
GAMEPLAY GRADE
Placement of the controls and the inferface that the player with be using during the game.
REPLAY VALUE GRADE
The most important factor in the evaluation of a game. It identifies the lifespan of the game and the fun of coming back again and again.
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