Community reviews....

[Killjoy]

Didn't get too play multi yet and can't for a few weeks so I give it a 5. Now don't get mad I give it a five because single player earns its full five, I'll add the other five when I get on multiplayer so it may be a 10 out of ten so thats not my final score though

[Valfaroth]

Trimming this thread to be Only Reviews....(Good and Bad)

I cleared out the spot holding. Hope you don't mind TOO much. That way we can easily see when things are added.

I just wanted to get a nice easy to read review thread. (This thread will be heavily moderated to maintain that. Please post only Reviews. The rest will be trashed.)

Discuss the Reviews HERE!

PS- Thanks for the reviews guys...Keep em comin'.

[Deadbeat]

my fear review:

the game first starts off with the usual swearing special task force whatever. the beginning level was a good tutorial the ai was incredibly bad as a training ground with lots of health and armor everywhere. thats fine.

then as soon as you get out of there you realise they crippled this game by dropping ammo/health/armor everywhere so that on even hardest difficulty there is no challenge. the ai has this stupid delay that never reacts fast enough even out of slomo. the levels are more linear than fear 1(didnt know that was possible). the shogo mech was awesome and sadly the only memorable thing. everything else is super linear and shallow. the weapons are decent and I like how some weapons come and go and you never see them again. like an environment binds them.

the story is horrible told but with good voice acting(green latern guy is here) but the scares are no longer scary just annoying. the pressing melee button at certain times to survive is good. the environments are varied and I like finding reflex injectors. but where did the health injectors go? the boosters? I miss those.

the graphics are missing many effects on full settings. you can see it was nerfed so all platforms were the same. no lean, letterbox, and many other issues are completely apparant that pc suffered cause of consoles. considering thats all you devs showed on the playtester blog its not surprising.

the multiplayer is broken. no voice chat, no dedicated servers, menus as stupid as possible to navigate. if you lag out you have to go through 4 menu screens that take forever. no sdm or stdm anymore. you removed one of the best modes for no reason at all.

overall I am quite disappointed. the game was wrecked for no reason. if the first fear came fine to consoles, why would you dumb it down? you ruined the ai, the balance of ammo/health/armor, the gameplay movement of leaning and made the environments more on rails akin to gears of war. its pathetic.

I suggest anyone interested to expect this game to be inferior in many ways to the original. pick it up when it drops in price and you have nothing better to play. that is sadly all this game has to offer.

[spm1138]

Cripes. You'd really have to be trying hard to be unimpressed to give F2 5/10.

It was "Good" at the very least.

Horror + action is in theory an odd mix but FEAR does manage to pull it off. The mix of the two actually really helps the pacing. Still works here. The horror works on a level beyond "It's dark and things are scuttling" which is cool too.
Really felt it in some of the level design too. The  school  developed a narrative through the level for example. Finding the  classrooms with the two way glass was very effective . And finding  Alma's zoo enclosure after seeing it all the way through the game  was really memorable too. Those weren't the only bits but they're what are springing to mind as I'm typing this right after finishing the game.

The gunplay still had a good feel to it on the whole. The weapons generally felt "right" with the smaller guns at least. I think I used everything ingame.
Slight disappointment with the heavy weapons in that the environment didn't feel quite destructible enough. Ideally I'd like to be hacking the whole street apart with the laser but it was like "no effect, no effect, no effect" until I hit one of the magical destructible objects. The other heavy weapons felt gimmicky and unsatisfying too tbh. Obviously there's limits to environmental interactivity you can do.
Perhaps sticking to conventional weapons and scaling up how powerful they are and feel would have worked better because I'm sure you could show that quite well with the engine. Bullet penetration, cover that will stop different kinds of round etc. etc.

The mech section was cool. VRRRATATATATATATTATAATATAT! *stomp stomp stomp*. Make another Shogo or get a license for a mech game IP. Heavy Gear or something Shirow could work.

The voice acting and cut scenes were well done.

Seeing yourself in first person was cool. Helps make it immersive.

I liked all the little touches of humour in the game. I laughed a lot when the  abomination jumps on top of the lift and promptly gets pureed by the fan . I also loved the line about pizza.

The music was a bit overdone towards the end. It's quite loud, it repeats, it drowns out the sound of everything else. I think a sparser approach and more environmental sound might have been better there. It's not bad music, but I could live with hearing it less.

The story was better told than F1. Hmmm. I'm not sure what to say about the story itself. I wasn't disappointed from a fanboy perspective (I mean really with Bucket there, a cameo by  Pointman etc.  would have been fan service only) but I feel like still more could have been done to convey what you were actually going for if that makes sense. Perhaps that is unfair, given it's a FPS game and integrating story into a shooty level is tricky.

The AI was decent enough. Felt a little like it was rat-maze AI dumped in bigger spaces at times though because of their tendency to rush. Maybe squad-level AI and tricks like them fixing you and flanking you?

Graphics were good, or as good as my rig can make them look. I liked the more variety but I also felt like it being in a city wasn't exploited as much as it could have been. Part of the fun of a disaster movie is seeing familiar territory in ruins but there wasn't *that* many different types of scenery in F2. Perhaps that's just because I played it one sitting and I guess the story content does prescribe certain settings (medical research facilities, creepy underground vaults) but there's lots of places the middle section of the game could have taken us in the city.

Yeah, I enjoyed it. A lot to like. Call it 7.5 out of 10 if you have to have a number.

[trophyxscars]

Multiplayer -5/10 Boring, slow, uninteresting, loadout makes the battle random every time. Nades and power weapons are cheaper than they used to be. Iron Sights and Sprint really make the game feel tacked on, I'm backing out of gamebattles to keep playing fear 1. Maps are terrible, large, winding, no sightseeing or appreciation there. Hated the futuristic feel. Don't like playermodels/looks. Weapons feel bad... ruined the F.E.A.R. essence. EPA was the worst idea ever IMO.

Singleplayer -8/10

AI isn't as great as I expected, playing on hard is quite easy. I do enjoy flipping tables. The graphics are great(in most places) and the enviorments far surpass the maps on multiplayer. I really enjoyed continuing the story, and some of the death scenes and corpse litters were awesome.

My big gripe on singleplayer is lack of scary music, the first game, each map had it's own creepy melody and it doesn't really have that anymore.


Overall 7/10, good compared to others, but F.E.A.R. 1 beats by a longshot.

[PSPSoldier534]

*CAUTION* May contain spoilers (and sorry for the excessive smileys and occasional (possibly) inflammitory statements. They aren't directed to any one on the boards):

So, for a long time, I've been saying that the removal of kinetic sense, leaning, quicksave, and glowing enemies would bring this game down. And Eurogamer agreed with these statements as do some others and some other "trolls". So I beat the game today, and I can safely say that I think Eurogamer can go suck a big, fat cocksickle because this game is wonderful. As a matter of fact, the afformentioned statements are the only things that I don't like! Let me break it down:

Graphics: 9

Among the best. And the image is crystal clear after the first 2 levels because of the film grain removal .

Gameplay: 9

Like I said, leaning, quicksave, etc. are the only things that brought this game down. It could've only been better after by letting classic weapons return!
Won't say much on the scares.
And unbelievablely, the quick time events sequences were very well implemented. I honestly don't have trouble with them and never have. And I normally like quick time events, but few games can actually do them right (a la Condemned 2, Mercenaries 2, FEAR 2).

Story: 8

A very well designed story. The  killing off of characters was a bit extreme, but it still  was a decent ending.

Overall: 8.5 (Total Average. Experience wise it'd be a 9.)

I really enjoyed this game. It deserves a spot in the "canon" section .

Please note that I rated scares as part of gameplay, as I don't scare easily. You could have a guy pointing a pistol at me before I start getting nervous. (I took a lot of care to hide any spoilers. Unless the tags are clicked, nothing will be revealed and are not necessary to understand the rest of the review. This is directed to those that don't know about the spoiler tag... but really, who doesn't? )

[StrikerZero]

First Encounter Assault Recon debuted back in 05. It revolutionized how games Implemented A.I. No scripts were needed, The action was hardcore and made everyone one of us Hate the Replicas.The Story was intense and deep.What really made the game was Atmosphere which was scarier then some Horror Movies. Now the question stands, does F.E.A.R.2 Measure up.


Well yes, it does very good.F.E.A.R.2 Project Origin, is a good Squeal, while it ignores Elements from both previous expansions, no one not even monolith can not admit it took the highlights of both and implemented a lot better.Lets Start with A.I. The A.I. is improved from a technical aspect, with them implementing more realistic movements/Response.Sadly their is some aspects of the A.I. That was turned down, the most noticeable was the Aggressive Factor.While this does weaken some fire fights, Majority of the time their is a lot of enemies that will make up for this.The action remains just as intense, the Multiple enemies each bring a unique brand of destruction and amazement.The abominations are the funnest, they always come up behind, and on Hardest can kill you in only 4 hits.The best part is they are never alone and come in packs


The Atmosphere for F.E.A.R. 2 is vastly different, while it tries to recreate the original, it can't.Its not the Developers fault, its because its a Sequel.While Extraction Point had kept the horror aspect of F.E.A.R implemented perfectly (At the cost of rehash), F.E.A.R. 2 Combines a total of 5 aspects serious, Action, Anarchy, Comedy, and Horror.

Action - Action is implemented well always.Its always intense and leaves you wanting more.Best part is they deliver it.

Anarchy - This is implemented on the city, sadly this isn't implemented as good, this is implemented some what OK.We never see the Anarchy because we are in a Mech (Which while adds to the fun factor/Action, cost us the anarchy aspect of the world).Over all its good but it will leave you wanting more

Comedy - This aspect of the atmosphere is over done, while each of it is funny, they choose the worse times to implement it, Serious moments are destroyed (as well as some horror) because of it. Over all its good but a lot of us who expect a serious follow up to the original (which had no comedy and was very serious) well either hate it or disappointed.

Serious - This aspect is destroyed because of the comedy, every serious moment we could of had was wreaked because of the Comedy (Which its self over stepped boundaries).Many people I'd talked to have mixed filling some say it was good enough, others wanted more.

Horror - This aspect lacked a lot. What made the Original FEAR was atmosphere of the unknown, now a course we know everything. They implemented it a hell of a lot better then FEAR or any of its expansions when it came to the horror moments.The scares are either to far or too close together.Chances are you won't be scared but will still enjoy it just visually speaking.

Story (no spoilers don't worry). F.E.A.R 2 is mixed, F.E.A.R 1 implemented so well cause we had no prior knowledge.In this 1 we are forced to relearn the 3 original Projects (Icarus, Pesues, Project Origin) plus a forth ORIGINAL 1 (Which in the end literally has no baring on the plot, but the ending makes up for this).The sad thing we won't learn about most of our Characters in F.E.A.R. 2 itself, the only way I learned about some of these guys was the Aracham Fieldguide, sadly that very Fieldguide fucks up the games main storyline.So its up to you if you think its important enough to have back round on some stuff at the cost of some small spoilers/enjoyment (IE Rehashing us knowledge we already know because of the guide).Overall the story ends on very strange note (It leaves the way for F.E.A.R. 3 please note its not a crappy halo 2 ending in any way).The main story draws us to the final mission, in the end though nothing from F.E.A.R. 1 is resolved, nor explained.We do get to see some cool shit, like the Replica facility and some of the evolution of their development, as well as a variety of other endeavors introduced yet not expanded in F.E.A.R. 1 but don't expect anyone, after all this was made back when FEAR wasn't in Monolith Copy right (this may explain why we don't see any FEAR members) they had required the name LONG into production, so it would be to late to continue it from the pointmans point of view, or to introduce FEAR members.
Enemies are improved and more intense then ever.You can tell which is evolved from FEAR1 and the newest additions are amazing.

Overall single gets a 8.0

10 Prevention - Only thing that prevented it higher, was the comedy aspects kept interfering, the main story adds small stuff, but nothing to US personally in the long run, and is merely a device for the final level (which makes up for it but still shouldn't be a excuse). Also a variety of stuff from here is was already implemented in the to expansions, in fact you can do a side by side aspect for comparisons on how much this had in common with the expansions.

Multiplayer - Its addictive, if your a fan of F.E.A.R. Combat (before it was even called that, and before Punk Buster failed us and the hackers came in groves) You probably like this.The game just like its predecessor barrows many elements from other games out today. Sadly the trademark features of the original are not in this.Their are no Slow Mo games.The game uses a Hybrid version of Regen/Medkits which is implemented very good.The maps themselves are excellent, they are huge, vibrant and are very fun to play on.The best part, were as every game forces you do do something on 1 map, F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin allows all but 1 game play type to be played on ANY MAP! That's right, you can play Blitz,Teamdeath match, deathmatch, ON ANY MAP when you Customize it.Only 1 game (which is the trademark here) CAN'T be changed. The MECH maps! These maps are special and are only for the mechs.These maps bring the intense of the mech to us, and shows us just how much hell we put the replicas through in the single player.its addictive its balanced, and it also fixed the LAG problem of starting your own server, Seriously I started a server got people as far as New York to play on it. Now currently their is no Dedicated servers (Coming soon in a post release).Not a anti-cheat, sadly their is some problems with this.

Overall - Its a 9 its amazing you will replaying this a lot, its damn well no COD4 and its a great multi for this game.If you think it fails compared to F.E.A.R. Combat, then just ReDL FEAR combat, Its free. lol

10 Prevention - No Dedicated server files, No admin controls, only 3 fucking skins, Armor choice = Skin choice, they should be separate.Plus some problems in terms of Chat font/Clutter.


General Gameplay

The guns are good, in Multiplayer the kick back reminds me of Counter-Strike.Some guns seem underpowered.But every gun is done respectable and non is over powered (The sniper Rifle is a 50. CAL, its not over powered, its perfect BECAUSE ITS A 50 FUCKING CAL!)You can jumpKick, you can punch, you can vault over objects (A strong request fulfilled after we saw replicas in FEAR1) Cook grenades (as well as get 4 different 1s),Slide Kick.Lean and holstering as well as Duel wielding (These features we HUGE in 05, and are not as popular today) are removed.Multiplayer guns ARE NOT the same as their single player counterparts (Which is very good in this case) and they ALL appear not a single one is absent from multiplayer.

General Gameplay = 10 its amazing, I have enjoyed every single aspect of it.

Over all F.E.A.R. gets a 9, I can sum it up basically like this: Its pretty much a very good, very thought out sequel, that feels more like a expansion.While it has some pitfalls, its good and is a worthy successor to FEAR 1, while it did fail to capture some stuff of F.E.A.R.1 it makes up for it with its own unique brand of fun/features. My recommendation. Buy it if your looking for a good time, its a great game for Multiplayer which is bound to last a long time when Monolith adds the required detracts.


Please note F.E.A.R .2 uses steam and requires a online activation.

[T-6000]

I myself made a review of the game from my own experience. I held off on posting my review since I was a bit concerned with much of the flaming and personal attacks occurring. But on the other hand perhaps my feedback will be of help with Monolith in regards to any of their future projects. I haven't gotten around with trying out the multiplayer just yet, and I may make a separate review of it in the future. So, for better or for worse, here is my review:

The Good:

-The Weapons. The weapons are *MUCH* better in this game. They all sound and feel much better and more powerful (and appropriate) than their counterparts in the first F.E.A.R. Both shotgun varriants are powerful and feel powerful, the Assault Rifle is designed much better in F.E.A.R. 2, the Sub-Machinegun is more accurate and easier to handle, the Hammerhead feels more powerful than the Nailgun in the first game (and the tracers help for more accurate shots), The Laser rifle is just as every bit as awesome as it's counterpart from Extraction Point (and it's my favorite weapon in the game), The Sniper Rifle is powerful and accurate, the Rocket Launcher is *much* more accurate and easier to handle (not to mention looks better) than the rocket launcher in the first game, and the successor for the Particle rifle (I forgot it's name at the moment) is significantly more powerful as each shot can kill multiple enemies. The one weapon I don't like is the flame thrower. It's quite weak and it fires in bursts instead of a constant stream of flame. I never pick this weapon up after I used it for the first time.But the other weapons, I am happy to say, look, sound, and feel better than the weapons in F.E.A.R. The .50 Caliber Machinegun is a blast to use also, but it's too bad you only use the sucker twice. Plus on top of this, you can now cook grenades! Horray for cooking. Grenades, that is.

-Solid A.I. Actually, the A.I. is kept intact for the most part, though they can be a bit more agressive when the situation calls for it. All in all, this is good news for me. Even to this day, the A.I. in F.E.A.R. is one of the best if not the best in most shooters out there. So it would seem appropriate for F.E.A.R. 2 to have the same great A.I. in the first game. They rarely do anything stupid and there is almost no bugs accosiated with the A.I. They do act a bit more agressive, as they will jump to another cover to get a better fix on you more quickly than in the first F.E.A.R. game. They also throw grenades at you at a more frequent rate. In the first game, they rarely ever used their grenades but in F.E.A.R. 2, they'll use grenades to flush you out significantly more often. Uh oh.


-Intact action and Gameplay. The fast paced action and great slo-mo combat is still intact in this game. In fact, combat feels more smooth in this game so you actually don't have to rely on your slo-mo abilities as much in the second F.E.A.R. game.

-Great Special Effects. The special effects in this game are better and more enhanced, especially the HD Lighting. Unfortunatly there doesn't seem to be as much dynamic shadows as the first game.

-Level Design. The level design is better and more diverse. And thankfully the levels don't seem to be as dark.

-The Mech. The Mech in F.E.A.R. 2 is hella great! It looks, sounds, and feels like you are operating a large and powerful mech! This sucker is armed with dual mini-guns and twin rocket pads to shoot a volley of rockets at your enemies! With destructible enviorments, you really do feel like an unstopable killing machine hellbent on destruction! Bring on the Cloverfield Monster!
.................Ok, maybe I'm getting carried away.

Some people don't like the mech, as it breaks the gameplay feel for them. I suppose I can understand, since the mech can take out the tactical gameplay, as well as make combat a bit too easy. But for Mech enthusiasts like myself, it's a blast to play!

-The Ending. I have mixed feelings about the ending, and I'll reflect on both feelings. I won't spoil anything, but the ending is so bizzare and out of the ordinary my jaws literally dropped. And it's something I'll be thinking about for the next few days.

-Game Case. It may seem silly for me to put this in here, but I thought it was quite silly that F.E.A.R. nor it's expansions didn't each have their own jewel case. Just cheap paper covers. I'm glad that this game comes in it's own slim down DVD case. Horray!

Review continued below......

[T-6000]

The Bad:

-Letterbox only Format. This has to be one of the most annoying problems I have with this game. If I had a large monitor or a monitor that supports widescreen format, I wouldn't mind. But I have a 17 inch CRT monitor (yeah, I'm still old school when it comes to monitors) so the letterbox view is small and annoying for me. It actually hinders my experience, as it makes spotting enemies and items more difficult for me, and I can miss items and hidden areas easier. I don't understand why you can't just switch between fullscreen and widescreen, and you're just stuck with Letterbox only resolution. I am really hoping that you'll have the option to switch between fullscreen and widescreen in a future update.

-No Manual Saves & Quick Saves. I just accidently dropped a grenade on my feet and I want to quickload before I made such a mistake. I also screwed up in my battle planning fighting against a
group of replicas and i want to load up my quicksave. But I can't. Why? There is no quicksave nor manual saves in this game. I'm sorry, but this has to be a pretty bad decision. If I make a mistake durring a fight or after it, I have to load the last checkpoint save. That means I have to start the fight all over again, or in some cases redo the last 2 or 3 fights. It doesn't feel right that you have to rely on a checkpoint system, especially since we're still using the classic healthbar and armor bar system.

-Not as scarry as the first F.E.A.R. F.E.A.R. scared the hell out of me, with both sudden jump scares and creepy levels. Extraction Point, the 'unofficial' expansion for F.E.A.R., scarred the hell out of me alot. But in F.E.A.R. 2 only a couple of jump scares got my heart beating. The majority of the scares seem to recycle the same scare forumas from the first F.E.A.R. game. Hell, even the parts with the appirations didn't really scare me, and it was starting to feel a bit cliche.

-No Character Profiles. I usually am the only one that plays on my gaming PC, but sometimes my brother plays on it too. With F.E.A.R. it made things much easier as it would assign profiles. This way, we could customize the graphics settings and controls to our liking and not worry about having to redo the controls and graphics settings under 1 account. But why is there no option to chose different profiles in F.E.A.R. 2? Especially since we can't manually save. It was a bad idea to leave out Profile selection.

-Story. The Story in the first F.E.A.R. was deep, and full of twists. It took a simple uprising in ATC and had you uncover the many dirty truths and secrets behind Fettel and His uprising, not to mention the truth about youe character. Though there are some interesting, though predictable, twists in this game it isn't as deep as in the first F.E.A.R. game. And that is what gets me, the story isn't as surprising and deep, and it's predicatable. Also, most of the characters don't hardly have any depth to them, most of them seem only 1 dimensional. Sure, many of the characters weren't exactly deep nor interesting but I had thought this problem would be resolved in the sequel, especially since you're now part of a squad. I'm not saying the story is bad, but it just isn't as good as it could have been I felt. The story was ok, but inadequate.


-Story Narration. I really liked how F.E.A.R. handled the narration in the game. Some of the story was uncovered through phonecalls, but much of it was aquired through laptops. You would access the info on a laptop, and Betters would reveal the info in the laptop to you and thus reveal a bit more on the plot. This worked great because you could still proceed through the level and kick Replica ass while listening a bit more on the story. But in F.E.A.R. 2, much of it is in books and PDAs that you pick up and have to read about in your PDA. This would break a bit from the pacing of the game as you have to stop and read the info. It can get annoying especially when you're so caught up in the action and you want to proceed on to fight more replicas. Though this isn't exactly a game killing problem for me, it would have been nice to keep the same narration as in the first game to not break the pacing.

-Clifhanger ending. I'm use to Cliffhanger endings in games nowadays ever since Half-Life and Quake 2, but I'm starting to get a bit sick and tired of cliffhanger endings.

-Unpolished Controls. Even though the combat is very smooth, Controlling Beckett can be a bit wonky at times. Beckett can get stuck in corners easily, he doesn't always leap over objects like he should, and it's a bit tricky to get him to stop sprinting since he'll still sprint even when you release the sprint key. Thankfully, this problem rarely interferes with combat, and it even hasn't gotten me killed (yet) but it can get a bit annoying nonetheless.

-Film grain. The Film grain, to me, feels a bit out of place and strange in F.E.A.R. 2. It's fitting in the condemned series, with it's own unique settings and atmosphere, but it feels a bit too out of place in F.E.A.R. 2. It would have been nice to have the option to take out the film grain, but at least I managed to get a Mod that takes out the film grain.

-Placement of Slo-Mo meter. The Slo-Mo bar in F.E.A.R. 2 is placed in a bit of an unconvenient place. I can understand why they placed the Slo-Mo meter around the crosshair, to make it a little easier to see the bar in the heat of combat. The porblem is that since it is thin and white, the muzzle flash tends to obscure the slo-mo bar too much. And thus making it difficult to see how much slo-mo energy you have in the heat of battle.

-Grenades not exploding on impact. I do miss Grenades exploding on impact, but it's not much of an impact on me. I'm just nit picking a little.

-Leans left out. Again, for me, this is just nit picking but on the other hand I find it puzzling as to why this feature was left out.

Conclusion:

All in all, as a fan of the first F.E.A.R. Game the sequel was a bit disappointing for me. As a game itself it's good and as a sequel it's adequate. But it's nowhere near as good as the first F.E.A.R.

P.S. I'm real sorry about the double post, but my post was too long for the forums to accept. So I had to split it in two parts.

[S0l0mon]

The Bad

- Letterbox - its distracting on a 4:3 screen.
- Hud - again its distracting and takes away from immersion.
- No mouse button 4 & 5 support.
- Multiplayer is a wash without dedicated servers and anti-cheat.
- No horror tension in single player - I never felt that uneasiness like I did in fear 1. Alma did not feel like a threat.
- Shotguns are pretty much useless compared to the other guns.
- Picking up intel. Some of it was interesting or funny but it felt a bit dry compared to the voice recordings on phones in the first.

The Good

- Level design was great. It gave you a focused direction but was not so confined as to feel like a standard corridor shooter.
- Graphics overall looked great from texture work to shader effects.
- Voice acting was excellent.
- New characters are interesting and blend well with established characters from the original.
- Game engine is well optimized.
- The story was interesting and kept me playing.
- The ending was great IMO.

Overall I enjoyed the single player. Multiplayer seems to be a wash on PC. I won't add a arbitrary score here because I hate that shit. I hope you make a expansion that continues the current story and lets us find out what happened to Pointman, Jinn and Holiday.

[Pappi_man]

Pappi_man reviews F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin

About me!
I'll be brief about this. I'm long fan of F.E.A.R. and I loved everything about that game.
Review is based only on F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin campaign.

Gameplay
Gameplay works great as always, but it misses something. Oh yeah! Leaning. I remember that I always leaned and watched Replicas movements, before making my move. Now I just rush in that room and shoot everyone in slo-mo. It was fun for few battles, but then I got bored and tried using stealth style. It didn't work, because I couldn't lean and enemies always saw me.

Melee works great, but I don't understand why I have to use Sprint + Melee keys for Slide attack? F.E.A.R. Sliding is bit more easier than Project Origin, I only had to press Crouch + Melee and it worked perfectly everytime.

Gun battles works perfectly without any flaws so far.

Score 4.5/10

Graphics
F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin definitely works 2x times better than the first game. I love this game graphics, but I miss the super darkness that first game had. Destroyed city looks absolutely awesome and there is much more detail.

Motion Blur is the best I have ever seen in any other games so far.

Score 9.0/10

Scary Factor
Okay.. I either lost my scariness or this game lacks any scariness.
First game was so damn scary that I actually stopped playing for a minute before playing it again. Project Origin fails at scariness, because there is way too much action going on than scariness.

I didn't like that super-fast-weirdo-bright-flashing-flickering on HUD. I actually liked more flashback memories and other scary than suddenly appearing Alma. I thought you guys said on a F.E.A.R. directors commentary that you guys didn't like monsters coming out of closet thing.

I think this game should be more darker than brighter.

Score 2.0/10

Comparing F.E.A.R. 1 to F.E.A.R. 2

Feeling
First game has phones and it went real time while you were listing peoples conversation.
Second game has disc which will stop the time while you are reading.
= Gamers want to listen conversation than reading bunch of texts.

Enemies
First game has bunch of different enemies and their voice is loud, but in a good way.
Second game has 4 different looking + Assasin and their voice is low as it should be.
=It's fifty/fifty, but I still liked Replica voices in first game.

Animations
Why did you guys stopped using motion-capture animation? Right now their animation is like in Halo 3, but worse.

Story
What happened to Point man, Holiday or that Korean girl? I would rather play Point man again than Beckett, because he is a member of a F.E.A.R. team and this game is called F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin. Why the hell I'm playing as delta force or something.

Overall
It was fun ride, but the game length is same as Expansion packs were in the first game. It took me 6.3 hrs on Hard mode.

F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin pro and cons

+ Grenades
+ Gun model and sounds
+ Level design
+ Killing Replicas
+ More enemies to kill
+ Enemy accuracy aren't sharpshooters anymore
+ Graphics

- No Leaning
- Shorter than first game ( Gears of War 1 is shorter than Gears of War 2. Sequels must be always longer than the first game )
- Enemy A.I reaction time is slower
- It's not scary anymore
- Animation is robotic style like in Halo 3
- Fewer particle effects
- You are not Point Man anymore

Ending is the most f*cked up ever in a video game, but in a good way.
Overall score 57/100

Aftermath
If the third game is anything like this I'm not buying it.

[FEAR3Hopeful]

Since I'm still.....absorbing what all just happened in the game...I'll keep it simple for now.

Pros:
Alma!
Insane storyline...all the power to you guys. You took a mountain of a story line, and just it even more whopping huge.
Beautiful design, even for older generation graphics engines.
Good sound quality despite not using an EAX or SB compatible sound engine.
Longer (felt like it to me) gameplay.
Kept fairly well to what you said by keeping players on their toes by never letting them get settled into a routine.
Specters, Remnants, Abominations carried out fairly well. Specters the best.
EPA fun.
Again...insane storyline....REALLY REALLY hope to get an official word/description of the story from the dev team if it all possible.
Decent use of visual interaction with environment & objects.
Intel: Answered questions about stuff in the game.
AI: Not quite as good as it was made out to be, but having enemies come at you from behind, sides, and from places that are not accessible to you...definitely something to contend with.

Inds:
Film Grain.....does hurt the quality & the scare to a degree, but far from being unbearable.
Hud: Not bad really, just don't like having cross hairs & red dots. Though, I understand them being there, being a fancy set of goggles.
Letterboxing: Really stinks at first, but easy to get used to. I for the most part forgot it was there. However, in my opinion, it does take away from the scare factor considerably. Though, I also understand the complications considering the HUD that one would have if it were truly full screen. I'm not saying I support the letterboxing being there, I'm just saying I understand why and that its not an utter horror.
Cover system: Felt no real need for it.

Cons:
Weapons: Sound more like sacks of paper being dropped, slapped around. Or someone tapping on glass. (Favs: SMG & Sniper)
Grenades: Sound like water balloons popping. Weak. Decent bounce potential though.
Mouse commands per particular situations: Detrimental to scare factor. Could be moved to lower part of hud so as not to take away from the moments.
Not quite as much being out in the destroyed epicenter of the city as one would like, but not something to burn the game over.
Specter scenes scarier than Alma scenes.
Seems like a lot of scenes in trailers, especially those involving Alma's 8 year old form were cut.
Nowhere near as man Alma scenes as expected. Considering that she's been released, her powers are off the charts, I was hoping to see more of her and for her to be scarier. Kinda had too much warning for when she was about to show up.
Enemies did not seem as aggressive towards you in personality compared to first game.
Not enough remnants.
No mention of the original F.E.A.R. team, but understandable that they were not involved considering this story. No spoilers, but imagine PM in Beckett's place and what happens, it would be illogical considering Alma's motives.

Bugs encountered thus far:
Red aiming dot disappearing at times.
Laser targeting laser being off center.

Overall: Good job development team! Seriously, words, are not enough. I wish there was more to the game, but still, overall I'm satisfied. I really hope the game comes as a success, and you guys can bring us more story as has been mentioned more than once before. Afterall, there are soooo many questions unanswered, and you just made that list 10x longer. But, thats part of F.E.A.R. epicness. I know there are a lot of people with complaints, many legitimate, so I'll keep tuned for updates. Really hope to see some word on what might be to come in the next couple months...depending on how the game goes.

[Ocelot]

Graphic: FEAR:8/10
FEAR2 9/10 (Where are beauty shadows and lights efect?)
Sounds and music: FEAR 10/10
FEAR2 9/10 (Multiplayer sounds?WTF?Where are sounds like DIE Motherf****,,You like that,,Enemy neutralize,,What the mess,,I love the give it back PLEASE
Combat: FEAR:9/10
FEAR2 10/10 (perfect)
Story FEAR 8/10 (Who is Alma?Who am I?Where am I?)
FEAR2 9/10 (Fettel miss me,telefons was better than read info,End...WTF?
Scary moments: FEAR 10/10 (oh my god WOW)
FEAR2 7/10(too much action,no pause between scary-action like in FEAR
Multiplayer FEAR 9,5/10 (totally awesome)
FEAR2 3/10 (too quiet[no atmosfere],where are all these FEAR efect?,no ping numbers?,wierd,borrng,BUT mods like blitz or ,,sabotage,,are great!



FEAR : 94%/100%
FEAR ExtractionPoint : 98%/100%
FEAR Perseus Mandate : 89%/100%
FEAR Combat : 95%/100%
FEAR 2 Project Origin 91%100% -meaby will be better (a lot of patches)

[Profesh]

Aggregated critique:

While the interface and game-mechanics aren't problematic, even by 360 standards F.E.A.R. 2's presentation leaves something to be desired; and, notwithstanding a few notable setpieces, much of the level-design is repetitious and overwrought. The A.I., though arguably more sophisticated, seems less intelligent; this is corroborated by the game's decision to ply you (particularly in the later stages) with wave upon wave upon wave of similarly hapless and indecisive adversaries, trivialising any innovation in that department, and moreover perpetrating the cardinal sin of making combat - previously a lynchpin of the franchise - feel like something to be endured, rather than enjoyed. What relatively few horror elements punctuate the otherwise unremitting Bruckheimer-esque carnage are typically well-executed, but suffer from an excess of telegraphing and exposition ('Snake Fist', I'm looking at you), which mars the requisite sense of paranoia/isolation and ultimately serves to undermine their efficacy.

It's a good game, interspersed occasionally with moments of undeniable brilliance, but it doesn't hold a candle to F.E.A.R.

I find it somewhat ironic that F.E.A.R. 2, despite (or perhaps because of) its much-touted overhaul in the areas of interior and exterior decor, seems to have opted for style over substance as regards the actual mechanics of compelling level-design. I mean, sure; compared with its predecessor, it positively exudes personality - but the character (and I'm not referring to the Point Man) is altogether absent.

[Damien_Azreal]

In 2004 the first FEAR was original announced with a single screenshot and the caption "They say bullets taste like chicken.. hope your hungry." I was immediately hooked.
I followed the game's development cycle closely, viewing every screenshot, reading every preview and watching every trailer. I participated in all three waves of the MP beta testing hosted by Fileplanet. And when the game was finally released in October of 2005 I had my copy pre-ordered and delivered that morning.
To me FEAR was game of the year in 2005, all around. I've since played in multiple times, enjoyed the MP in small games with select friends, tried mods and various other things to try and change things up.

So in early 2007 when it was announced that Monolith was working on the official follow up I damn near jumped for joy. Again I followed the development very closely, participating in the naming contest, registering at the community forums, viewing all screens and videos, reading and waiting. Well, finally the game is here and I've played it from start to finish.

It's good. It's damn good, it's f**king great.

May contain spoilers

STORY:
FEAR 2 originally started it's life as Project ORIGIN, as a new story set in the FEAR universe. Starting roughly thirty minutes before The Point Man destroys the Origin facility at the end of the first game.
You play as Micheal Beckett, a member of a delta task force sent to take Genevieve Aristide into protective custody. But during the mission the Origin facility is annihilated, nuking a majority of the city of Fairport, knocking you unconscious and separating you from your team... and releasing Alma, completely unbinding her powers.

The game's story takes you from Genevieve's penthouse through a nice mix of different locals. Giving the story a good sense of progression, helping to drive along the feeling of accomplishment.
In the original FEAR a majority of the story played out through radio chatter, answering machine messages and laptop entries. It left the story, while informative, a bit flat. In FEAR 2 the story is played out through some radio chatter, but actual interaction with other characters, intel scattered throughout the levels and a few cutscenes that play out through Beckett's eyes but you can't interact with.

A main piece of the story is Alma's connection to Beckett. Due to Beckett's psychic signature, or his abilities, Alma is drawn to him. She wants to have him. I won't spoil the ending and give away why she ultimately wants him... but giving the events of the first game and the sequel, I found the ending fitting. Even if it was a bit abrupt.

Some small issues with the story, with so much backstory given out in the intel it's a lot to read. And a lot of players won't take the time to go through it all, so some players may miss out on information that can make certain events a bit more understandable. Also, the ending is a bit abrupt and definitely leaves you hanging. It's a big cliffhanger and is made to leave you wondering. So any players wanting so sense of conclusion won't get it. Also, the story's focus is Alma... not Beckett. Some players may have issue with that.

I enjoyed the story, I felt it was portrayed to the player much better than in the original. And is a very well written addition to the FEAR universe.

Graphics/Visuals:
When was released in 2005 on the Jupiter EX engine (the latest incarnation of LithTech) it was the standard. Easily one of the most demanding and best looking games on the market.
FEAR 2 uses the same engine, although updated with the latest effect such as HDR, motion blur, depth of field and various others. And while Monolith has done a great job updating the engine, it's not going to be able to compete with games like Gears of War or Crysis.
Graphically, what the game may lack in technological abilities... it makes up for with art direction. Listening to the complaints of the original game Monolith not only brightened up the game a bit, but added a nice addition of color. Taking the player out of the old dark, dank hallways of browns, grays and blues.
And with some great texture work, detailed enemy and weapon models it really helps to bring the world alive.

The particle effects specifically look fantastic. From the subtle glow of the fire, to the sparks of electricity or a downed power line... it all seems to have been given a healthy amount of attention.
My favorite new visual effects in the game as the new blood and the updated cloak effect of the Assassin enemy. These updated effects look great, but look absolutely fantastic in slowmo.
And with slowmo comes more visual cues and features. Form the bullet trails, clouds of smoke and debris, it all takes on a different look when the world slows down, colors glow brighter and you focus in.

A few visual effects that I could do without are possibly the film grain and enemy highlight in slowmo. While neither are game breaking effects, they do their own to slightly take away form the visual wonder of the game. The film grain for the most part is not overly obnoxious... but it can detract form the crispness of some textures.
The enemy highlight, while I don't really mind the effect... it can make combat a bit to easy when in slowmo, making the enemies seem to pop out. While it is a cool looking effect since the enemies seem to reflect the light sources around them... it does tend to make the a bit to easy to notice in a big fight.

Also, the game is presented in Letterbox format. Meaning black bars, roughly an inch think, will be across the top and bottom of the screen for those without widescreen monitors. It is a minor annoyance, but it does not detract form the game in my opinion.

Sound:
Awesome. That's all I really have to say about the sound, it's awesome.

Gunshots pack enough punch to sound deadly, but not so much bass they simply sound overdone. From the ambient sounds to enemy chatter... it's all handled wonderfully.
Little whispers from behind you, giggling and laughter in a school hallway... the crackling of your visor display and static over your radio. They do great bits to drive home the atmosphere.

Music... perfect. A good majority of the music is reused from the first FEAR, with some new additions spread throughout the game. I love the music and want to be able to download it.

Gameplay:
Finally, the last bit.
It's FEAR. Honestly, it is. The game took everything that was great about the first game and fixed what was not. Everything form the frantic combat to the creepy sections of horror are back to drive home an experience you won't find in other shooters.

There are some small changes to the gunplay. You can now carry four weapons instead of three, grenades no longer explode on impact with enemies and you can cook them off... to time out that perfect throw. Add in incendiary and stun grenades for a bit of variety. It all works very nicely.
The melee attacks are back, and they work just as well as before. Minor issue with them is the enemy reaction or ragdolls reaction to the melee attacks.
The enemies body no longer flies back, they seem to simply slump over. It seems to detract a little form the force of the kick.

The horror sections are back and done with nice fit of flare. The player is no longer safe during these scenes as the game cues the player to rapidly tap a button with certain events. This helps to make boss fights and other events a bit more plausible in the context of the story.

And then there's the EPA sections. Jumping into the seat of a giant armored mech and taking to the streets. From the duel machine guns to the shoulder mounted rocket launchers... during these sequences the player is walking death. The enemy soldier run around your feet, throw grenades and frantically try to take you down with everything they have. On occasion you are forced to fit an enemy EPA and smaller Power Armor's, these are the few times you are actually challenged when driving the EPA... but it helps to mix up the gameplay.

The enemy AI seems just as sharp as it did back in the original FEAR. Taking cover, flanking, throwing grenades and retreating when outgunned. Nothing much really seems to have changed here.
But the addition of new enemy types helps to keep things fresh. Abominations are fast, creepy humans that have been mutated and tested upon. They crawl on walls and floors, leaping at distances and can pin you down, forcing you to tap the melee button to beat them off.
Another new addition is the Remnant. Former humans that are not dead or alive, people going about the normal lives that were caught in the blast of Alma's rage... transforming them into shambling versions of who they used to be.
They will continue on their past lives, playing piano or trying to wave down a taxi, until you provoke them. At which time they will attack with a powerful psychic blast that can seriously hurt you and reanimate any nearby dead bodies. Puppet masters of sorts, they are connected to the dead bodies through psychic "strings" to the bodies weapon... dragging the body around by it's weapon, using them to fight you.

Overall:
FEAR 2: Project Origin is an excellent follow up to the 2005 original FEAR, taking all the good and doing it's best to fix the bad. A top notch shooter that I shall be enjoying for a long time to come. FEAR 2 has the misfortune of following up a classic game, which leaves it some huge shoes to fill. But it does it's best, and it's best damn near tops the original.
And with some future patches or updates to fix any glitches, bugs, or things that could be changed to improve the experience.. the game will be a classic.
Good: Story, graphics, combat, scares
Bad: Minor audio glitches with surround sound, lack of five button mouse support, lack of quicksave/quickload.

9/10

[Xtyfe]

This is not a professional review by any means, just my overall impression.

I finally finished the game just now, I had a lot of trouble though due to gamebreaking glitches that popped up (Which I hope will be fixed in a patch) I somehow managed to get around them and experience it fully like everyone else.

Graphics: I can't really say. I haven't played a lot of new games so I don't know how it compares. But comparing to the original FEAR, FEAR 2 beats the crap out of it by far. I liked the different environments as well, they were so detailed compared to FEAR, which mainly took place in an office building (boring srsly).

Combat: I found it to be too easy with slo-mo. This was a shortcoming of the first game as well where I could easily beat it on the hardest difficulty. But being almost godlike is also cool in a way. I didn't really see a difference between FEAR and FEAR2 with the AI, I guess being in slo-mo all the time you don't notice stuff like that.

Music/Sound: I liked how the old music was reused (And also remixed) for the new game, It felt like it was still taking place in the same universe. Sounds we also reused in the same way, but for some weapons for example, I think they should have changed since the weapons were not the same.

Horror Effect: I have played so many FPS games that stuff like this wont even make me flinch. However, I think the special effects for this were a lot better compared to FEAR.

Story: I wont spoil anything, but I will say that this was a major WTF for me. It doesn't bother me that F.E.A.R didn't really have a place in this part of the story, It would have been nice to see what happened to them at the end of the first game though. I can see how an SFO-D team could be connect to the story, if you read all the backstory in the intel items it all makes sense, but the ending could have been better.

Multiplayer: I really won't touch this, I didn't by this game for the multiplayer. But I may pop my head in and check it out once all the issues are worked out with it.

Overall: This is a worthy sequel, but it could have been better I think. There are a lot of issues in the PC version of the game which should have been fixed before release, but I hope Monolith will fix this for us in the coming weeks.

[ImTylerDurden99]

just check out my video for my full review, it's located at youtube.com/user/ImTylerDurden99

[ewaldorph]

Originally Posted by Valfaroth

Trimming this thread to be Only Reviews....(Good and Bad)

I just posted an Email to Lith (my first ever to a developer) and then remembered this site. Most of the game forums I have participated in are fan sites. I forgot that you folks actually have the cajones to personally expose yourselves to the madding crowd.

You have my deepest respect and sincere condolences.

Since I am only a couple of hours in I can't speak with much authority on the entire game, but several things stand out.

First and foremost is the lack of player saves. I hate automatic way-point saves. In fact, I would not have spent 18 hours (why do I spend extra for a 6 MB connection when your servers trickle out at under 200 KB?) and 50 bucks downloading this.

If you have the idea that incessant replays—made excruciatingly longer by miserly way-point saves—increases playability, you need to get some new focus groups.

I made the mistake of relying on you not to screw up what works in a fantastic franchise. I won't make that mistake again.

Having said all that, besides a few nits already mentioned in these threads, you have upheld and improved on the franchise. Graphics, story, atmosphere all get an A+.

Since this is a review I will refrain from a list of plaudits and brickbats and find a better suited thread. In sum: For gamers who don't mind being hobbled by way-point saves, this is an excellent addition to the F.E.A.R. franchise

[Foggle]

Originally Posted by ewaldorph

I just posted an Email to Lith (my first ever to a developer) and then remembered this site. Most of the game forums I have participated in are fan sites. I forgot that you folks actually have the cajones to personally expose yourselves to the madding crowd.

You have my deepest respect and sincere condolences.

Since I am only a couple of hours in I can't speak with much authority on the entire game, but several things stand out.

First and foremost is the lack of player saves. I hate automatic way-point saves. In fact, I would not have spent 18 hours (why do I spend extra for a 6 MB connection when your servers trickle out at under 200 KB?) and 50 bucks downloading this.

If you have the idea that incessant replays—made excruciatingly longer by miserly way-point saves—increases playability, you need to get some new focus groups.

I made the mistake of relying on you not to screw up what works in a fantastic franchise. I won't make that mistake again.

Having said all that, besides a few nits already mentioned in these threads, you have upheld and improved on the franchise. Graphics, story, atmosphere all get an A+.

Since this is a review I will refrain from a list of plaudits and brickbats and find a better suited thread. In sum: For gamers who don't mind being hobbled by way-point saves, this is an excellent addition to the F.E.A.R. franchise

I understand your distaste for checkpoint saves, however, they're so close to each other that you'll almost never have to reply too much of the game when you die, in my experience.

Anyway, here's my review of the game:

I remember back in 2005 when one of my friends was talking about how awesome the new game he had just bought was. "MAN THIS SHIT IS GANGSTA LEAN CHECK IT OUT YOU CAN BICYCLE KICK THIS GUY'S FUCKING HEAD IN SLOW MOTION AND DAMN LOOK AT THAT GORE WHEN I THROW MAH GRENADES HOLY FUCK THIS IS MY SHIT!" Of course, the game in question was the original F.E.A.R. I can only imagine what he'd say about the sequel. "HOLY BALLS LOOK AT THIS SHIT YOU CAN DRIVE THIS FUCKING MECH AND STEP ON PEOPLE AND SHIT AND THESE DUAL FUCKING CHAIN GUNS RIP THOSE ASSHOLES APART HOLY SHIT WATCH ME SHOOT THIS GUY WITH A GAS CANISTER ON HIS BACK FUCK YEAH LOOK AT HIM EXPLODE!" Frankly, I'd be inclined to agree.

Despite a few minor complaints, F.E.A.R. 2 (the single-player, anyway) exhibits a level of polish much higher than most other recent triple-A FPS titles, and contains some of the most exhilarating firefights ever seen in a video game.

Gameplay: 9.5/10
Well, it's F.E.A.R. As with the first game, it's as close to perfect as a FPS is ever gonna' get. Slow down time, watch some awesome gore effects, set people on fire, throw a few grenades, the works. We also get to use a huge mech suit and a rocket turret now, leading to some of the most fun sequences I could ever ask for in a shooter. It would be a 10/10 if not for the fact that the game is simply too easy, even on Hard, and the fact that you can only pick up Intel and reflex boosters once (they don't reappear when you start a new game, detracting from the story experience and strategy used in the game). Some people may be saddened by the lack of leaning or holstering, but I never used those anyway, so they don't bother me.

Sound: 9/10
"I don't care if it's a goddamn water buffalo, kill that son of a bitch!"
"He's behind the fucking barn!"
"You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you. She wants to consume you."
Those are just a few examples of the excellent and hilarious dialogue from the game. The voice acting is top notch, especially from the VAs for Genevieve Aristide, Snake Fist, and Colonel Vanek. Unfortunately, the new Replica voices aren't quite as cool as the old ones. The guns mostly sound great, though the shotguns could pack more of a punch.

Graphics: 9/10
It's not Crysis or Killzone 2, but thanks to some impressive art design (and I really love the ATC security guard models), the graphics can hold their own against other games of this generation, and best of all, don't look like everything is made of plastic *cough*Halo 3*cough*.

Story: 7.5/10
It won't win any awards, and it isn't quite as interesting as F.E.A.R.'s story, but it's definitely good, and told extremely well. Unlike the first game where you had to listen to a bunch of answering machine messages to even get an idea of what was going on, the plot is very cinematic this time around. The ending is one of the most fucked up things I've seen in a video game (though not quite as whacked out as the mechanical insect rape in Fear Effect 2), but overall the story is more serviceable than masterful.

Design: 8/10
The level design was exceptional, especially when you compare it to the endless offices of the first game. Not only that, the cinematic scenes are in a class of their own (the assassin introduction was the coolest thing ever). The QTEs are much better implemented and less frustrating than in most games, too. However, Project Origin just flat-out isn't scary. Believe me, there are a few creepy parts, and the atmosphere is amazing, but it just doesn't have the mystery or suspense of F.E.A.R.

Multiplayer: 6/10
It's fun, but forgettable, and the lack of server files and abundance of pirates playing on servers I can not access is disheartening. I'll be playing it for months to come, I'm sure, but it won't replace Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament, Left 4 Dead, or Counter-Strike Source.

Overall, despite my criticisms, F.E.A.R. 2 is definitely one of my favorite games of all time, right next to the first one. Monolith has made yet another winner in their ever-growing repertoire of awesome FPS titles.
The Good: Gameplay, voice acting, level design, atmosphere, EPA segments, cinematic sequences
The Bad: Multiplayer could use a little work, scares aren't scary, disappearing intel/reflex boosters on subsequent playthroughs
The Ugly: Creepy naked Alma, the Replicas without helmets, Abominations, Remnants
Overall Score: 9.5/10

Please make F.E.A.R. 3 ASAP.

[ChildofAlma]

My review of FEAR 2:
NOTE: I have not yet finished the game, but I'm very close. This is singleplayer only:

I'll start with the qualms. It's not scary at all. There are like, what, five Alma scenes? Seriously.
Then, it doesn't feel like FEAR anymore. The movement and such has changed so much that the overall feel of the game has changed.
Lastly, why the hell did the blood switch? Allow me to explain: FEAR had a system where you could spill as much blood as possible then have it disappear within 40 seconds or so. FEAR 2 has one of those systems where some blood needs to disappear to make room for the new blood. This doesn't allow you to create bloody messes anymore. They really should have kept the blood stain system the way it was.
And now, pros. The gore... I came the first time I blew a guy up with a shotgun.
The firefights still maintain their original intensity, even if the type of intensity has changed. It used to be like, "Wow look at all this smoke, Ah! They're rushing me!" Now it's like, "Z0mg there are so many enemies!"
The weapons are nice.
The levels are awesome. (School ftw!)
EPA is awesome!
Abominations are fun to fight.

Just some things now: I think the motion blur is just right. Grain filter? Where is it? I don't notice it at all.

Stay tuned for more. ChildofAlma out.