Community reviews....

[fatalend]

Graphics: Well, to be very basic about it, this is easily the second best looking game on my PC, behind only Crysis, which isn't a bad thing at all, actually pretty great. Everything looked so smooth, and it never gets old shredding up replicas because of the amounts of blood that pour out of them. The environments are some of the most detailed I've ever seen, so many things like easter eggs to find, applause for Monolith on the graphics, only reason for a point reduction is because they aren't the best I've ever seen.

9/10

Gameplay: The FEAR series remains my favorite FPS action games due to the slow-mo, and completely shredding enemies with this installment. Has all of the same great action as the first game, and then some. The only reason I'm taking off any points here is because the physics from the first game seem to be reduced, it's not as destructible, and less blood remains on the walls when you kill someone.

8.7/10

Story: This section will contain spoilers, you have been warned. I found it to be very interesting playing as Michael Beckett, originally a story to find Aristide, she manipulates you and links you to Alma in order to use you as bait into trapping Alma so Aristide can save her own ass. The story was easier to follow this time around, and having a PDA where you could go back and read story elements at any time is a welcome addition. The ending of this game was the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in a game. It was highly unexpected, and when I found out what was going on, all I could say was wow. It was also very fulfilling to me to see Alma succeed. The 2 major problems with the story being not many questions were answered from the first game, and Pointman did not make an appearance, which isn't a huge negative because I'm sure Monolith will make another game to tie all this together. Following true to a real horror story, alot of good people die, and there is an indefinite ending.

8/10

Multiplayer: The little I played of Multiplayer was fun. I won't go into much detail, because when I buy a FEAR game I don't really have an expectation of multiplayer, I get it mainly for the single player experience. That said, I am still grading it because of the fun I did have, and how much better it could be with anti-cheat and dedicated servers.

7/10 (would be 2 points higher with the stuff mentioned)

Overall Score: 8.8/10

With the same great things I remember from FEAR, Project Origin is a worthy sequel. Same great action that never gets old, combined with some kickass scares make this worth a buy to any new and old fans of the series. I look forward to getting my questions answered about the story line in the followup, whether it be FEAR 3, or an expansion pack.

[kRoOkEd OnE]

8/10

graphics <8.5> great looking game if your not looking at the rest of 'em.

gameplay< 8 > (360) jerky aim, no controller mapping, 30fps.. 9 (PC) no support for mouse buttons.

presentation< 8 >easy menu navigation, str8 forward options, no friend list in game?

sound< 8.5 >crystal clear, awesome, and eerie, but guns sound fake

lasting appeal< 7 >single player worth playing on hardest level a 2nd time, but the multiplayer isnt to be taken serious. No server files and anti cheat, very few maps, lack of a serious progression system, no hardcore mode, no slo-mo variants, and xp based leaderboards ignore true skilled players..

[The Black Ghost]

FULL REVEIW: (Xbox 360)

Overall, I felt the game was pretty good. I was almost crying from terrible first impressions, but the game really grows on you as you go on. Still, it does not compare to the first game, and while it has some things better than other games, it doesnt exactly beat the games it is trying to copy in some case (cod 4) for instance. However, it trumps Halo 3 in my mind...but that isnt saying much because I hated Halo 3...such a failed ending. I guess, my final thoughts are melancholy, dissapointment, but fun many times. The game seems to have lost its original feel and gone more for a straight out shooter, interspersed with other elements that dont fit in quite as well as the last game. I'll go over each individual area, and everything that needs improvement.

Story: 5/10
(no spoilers)
I think the story was about as weak as could possibly be made...maybe not that bad...but it was not very appealing. It basically tried to capitalize on Alma, the star of FEAR. However she is no longer very mysterious, and she no longer feels scary--as much as "showing off" (maybe a bit too literally) to the player. There is no driving plot, simply the main character going from point A to B to C without any motivation. There is a bit to learn about some of Aracham's science in the past, but it tells you nothing new or interesting. Also, the method of information gathering is generally less interesting. Having to pick up and read notes is a lot more tedious and boring than having someone read it aloud...also, you cannot pick the notes up on a second play through, forcing you to go back to your journal if you want to reread information---making levels far less interesting to play though, being unable to hear the story and information again. All of this nonsense ending in a pathetic 'climax' (ironic level naming) ending. Not only is the premise ridiculous, but the several key elements of the story seem to contradict themselves here, opening up not only huge plotholes, but leaving little room for the possibility of a good story in any final sequel. It feels like nothing new was added, and old concepts were being recycled over and over.

Gameplay mechanics (discluding gunplay): 6/10

It seems like there was an overzealous attempt to "improve" elements of gamplay in the sequel, which contradicts the saying "dont fix what aint broke". The original FEAR had a perfect feel to it, and enough customability options that you could play the game in whatever fashion you wished. Not only has that customability been taken away, but more elements have been added that cannot be adjusted.

First of all, I will say what I consider to be improvements: The ability to interact more with the environment: pushing over cover, moving objects, pushing buttons, vaulting over low objects and walls---all of these seem to enchance the feeling that the player is "in" the character and it was a good addition to the game, in my mind.

However, equal numbers of things detract from this feeling. I begin to feel this at the very beginning, after learning that I now have a "HALO 3" visor HUD that annot be adjusted or taken down. This blue box continued to aggravate me throughout the game, spoiling scary scenes and generally getting in my way, as well as taking me out of the game in general. I think that is one of the worst things changed about the game. Secondly, the "letterboxed" screen is just an overall poor choice--benefiting virtually no one except widescreen console users (i myself am not one of those). I felt that the screen could have been larger, making the world look larger and more immersive. The head bob of the character is unadjustable now as well, and it was a terrible feeling to run around the game like that. At the same time, the motion blur is excessive and irritating. All of the above things combined made me feel both sick and disoriented at many times while playing the game. Eventually I was able to adjust to this by playing in short intervals over a length of time, but these things initially gave me a very negative veiw of the game.

Other visual choices seem like very poor changes to me. While using "bullet-time" all enemies will glow, highlighting targets for you. This is a terrible visual error in my mind, and makes slow-mo much less fun. Grenades release "grenade trails" which are very unrealistic looking. When shooting enemies, you will see a series of blue 'sparks' that seem very reminiscent of Halo 3 when shooting sheilded enemies, instead of blood, the player gets sparks. Some times when shooting walls and objects, there will be no visual sign of impact--noticably many set peices and cars. Blood effects, while sticking to their "over the top" feel, are now very cartoony looking, and dont give the eerily realistic feel that the first game had. On their own, these design changes are not much of an issue, but when put together, they become very noticable and detract from the game greatly.

Options to change and alter some of these points of concern are nonexistant for consoles, which is disapointing.

Gunplay: 7/10

I actually liked most of the fighting sequences of the game, but they still do not live up to the original in some aspects. In other aspects they are improved. The enemy A.I is very poor, and at other times annoying. They do not use cover well at all, and continually charge you, being killed off easily and getting in your way. While it was indeed a good idea to add "iron-sight" down-the-sights aiming, the extreme zoom makes targeting far to easy. It seems that in order to remedy these flaws, the ability to "lean" was taken from the game. This is a terrible change, and makes the use of cover almost redundant, as you are forced to pop up to shoot anyways. Another tactic of challenging the player seems to be to throw more enemies at you...literally swarming the player...as a challenge, or making enemies take far too many hits, or cause much more damage than their puny brains seem capable of. The balance of difficulty and mechanics and AI here is atrocious.

Still, battles are very entertaining at times and can be quite fun. The addition of new enemies is very nice to see, and they are much more intersting this time around. Still, previous elements such as the glowing enemies in slow-motion greatly hampers this fun to a degree. At the same time, many battles become repetetive, with far too many enemeis to fight, and enemeis that are not interesting or difficult to kill. The lack of an extreme level of difficulty allows the player to breeze through the majority of the game. Also, many elements such as Turret-defense and mechs seem tacked on, unnecessary, and not in the genre that FEAR is.

Overall, fighting was fun, but other design changes and poor difficulty/AI balancing takes that away many times. You will find some dramatic moments though, and some fun enemies to fight at times.

Sound: 9/10

A brilliant soundtrack, good voice acting for the most part. I did not like the Replica voices though, but overall I was impressed in this area. Also, I heard the over-loud in your face radio static sound far too often.

Graphics: 8/10

I was generally impressed by the graphics. I think most things looked great: lighting, shadows, etc... A few things come to mind though: the excessive use of odd black and white, red and orange colors while exploring parts of the world, which seemingly would be contributing to the "scare" factor--but really do not.

During combat, glowing enemies, grenade trails, and sparks off of enemies take away from the visual look. At other times, the letterboxing, "visor" HUD, and highlighted interactive objects take away from the beauty of the world.

Environment: 10/10

Sadly, at many times I found myself playing this game just to explore certain parts of the levels. I enjoyed the school at lot, and even the hospital and subway were fun place to play. There was a lot of care taken for detail, and level design showed this. Cinematic battle elements could many times blend into the subtle sounds and looks of a classroom, deserted and eerie. Books and posters on the walls have wording, and there is a lot of stuff here. Some parts became repetetive and uninteresting--the above ground areas and the final levels didnt offer very much, but overall I am glad that things were improved here in my mind. Its a shame that other features could not have been implemented so well.

Scare Factor: 4/10

There really was nothign scary about the game this time around. The mystery is already solved, and there really are no moments that mess with your mind as much as the first game did. It seems to have abandoned the far superior japanese horror style for the western horror. I did find a few remaining sequences of the old style in the world, which scared the hell out of me, but they were vitually nonexistant. There was an excess of "in your face" scares, which were predictable and not scary to me. I will admit, some of the new enemies provided the majority of the times I did feel afraid--the abominations and the new nightmares. A few sequences are done well, but the overall lack of the supernatural, and the lack of a mystery to go along with it takes away and makes you prepared for the few times that sometime tries to scare you. The excessive use of Alma's "red world" and the sound and camera effects completely go against the saying "show dont tell". I was really never scared in this game.

Overall rating: 7.5/10 (being generous here)

[OverAnalyzer]

The evil you know, the evil you don’t...
F.E.A.R. 2 Review

F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin has been arguably one of the most difficult games for me to judge. Usually, after one or two playthroughs I will have formed a general opinion on a game; however, after three full times through Project Origin, I still could not quite express what I was feeling about my experience. F.E.A.R. 2 is unique in that while typically I can point out specific strengths or weaknesses of a game, every time I tried to write down what was bothering me about this sequel, I hit writer’s block. Many of the complaints I had about the first game had been fixed, so I should have been happy, but overall I found it to be beneath the quality of the original and was somewhat disappointed - but I couldn’t say why, and it was driving me crazy.

First of all, allow me to clarify about myself: I played the first F.E.A.R. and found it enjoyable, although somewhat repetitive (a common complaint), and eventually bought it used. I never played the spin-off or expansion packs from Vivendi, so I went straight into F.E.A.R. 2 without any... I suppose “contamination” would be the word, or perhaps “bias”, at what I was expecting from Monolith. Having played the original game before renting Project Origin, I went into the experience with a fresh view. Unfortunately, this only further confused me when I couldn’t identify what bothered me about the sequel, I figured a recent playing of F.E.A.R. would help point out differences in F.E.A.R. 2, but alas, it didn’t.

I was able to narrow the problem into two issues: I was less frightened than in the first game, and I did not feel as drawn into the story. These are symptoms, though, and in the chance the developers actually read these reviews for ideas, I wanted to be able to specifically list the source of these problems. Eventually, the light bulb (or thunderbolt, whichever you prefer) struck when I read on these forums someone mentioned “which is scarier, the evil you know, or the evil you don’t?” It was at this point I realized what was wrong with Project Origin: F.E.A.R. had been an action/horror/mystery game, F.E.A.R. 2 was only the first two.

Crumbs, and Dollar-on-a-String
What makes a book, game, or movie worth experiencing more than once? To use another famous quote “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. Think of your favorite film, you already know how the story unfolds, but you love watching it because of how it plays out.

F.E.A.R. was compelling to play because the story was like following a trail of breadcrumbs, every so often a new clue would pop up explaining just a hint of what was going on, so you wanted to keep going to find the next clue, and the next, until finally it all came together in the finale. The horror sequences, Fettel’s speeches, they served as constant proddings, urging you to move onto the next level. “What’s Fettel’s goal, why am I seeing this hospital room, who is this girl?” You felt like you had to play the whole game to be satisfied, and finally at the end you were treated to a conclusion, all the loose threads came together. Additionally, this added replay value. F.E.A.R. is as entertaining to play the fourth time as it is the first, because every time you step into the game you are reliving a story the entire course of the time.

Project Origin suffered from answering all the questions in the story by the third level. We start out with a compelling question: why does Alma have an interest in Beckett? Unfortunately, rather than this being led into a unfolding mystery throughout the whole of the game, we are given an enormous clue less than an hour into the story (via the Harbinger reports in Arestiede’s safe room), and the complete explanation (via Snake Fist) by the end of the hospital area. The breadcrumb style of the first game is replaced with a dollar-on-a-string. “Alma wants to absorb you, start running.” You are chasing after an objective, but you never actually get any close to reaching it. The player is simply going through the motions of the game without any interest in what is occurring.

Additionally, by concluding the plot elements early, the ending of the game lacks a feeling of cohesion and closure. Because there was no development of the Alma-Beckett relationship for the past four levels, the discovery of the tree swing elicits no emotional response. The finale of F.E.A.R. resulted in a feeling of “Oh, so THAT’S why we kept seeing that hallway!” Project Origin feels lackluster “Huh, this is where they took her from. OK, what’s that got to do with me?”. The problem is further complicated when the cliffhanger ending is included to make the story have a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, the ending raises more questions than it answers. Rather than a feeling of closure, the ending leaves the player confused, so the second half of the game feels like a waste of time. The plot structure of the first game was a mystery that unfolded clue-by-clue until the mystery was solved. Project Origin’s plot sets up a mystery, but then answers it halfway through, stagnates through the rest of the game, then dumps a new can of worms into your lap in the last 5 minutes. The result is a less compelling, incohesive plot. F.E.A.R. 2 becomes dependent on gameplay rather than story to maintain interest after the first playthrough.

Tension and Rubber Bands
One of the best analogies of generating fear in film is to compare it to a rubber band: if you want the greatest impact, you need to stretch it out. Project Origin contains segments of well-crafted horror, but it begins to stumble when it trades out creating tension in favor of shock value.

Alma’s scariness is at its best when she’s hovering just outside your grasp, unpredictable, in the shadows. You have no clue what she’s about to do, she may vanish or just as easily melt the flesh off your bones. The segments in F.E.A.R. 2 that generate the greatest tension are those that involve the ghostly, mysterious Alma, such as in the apartment building, hospital, or in the basement of the school. By not shoving the scare into your face instantly and letting your imagination run wild, the rubber band becomes taught, and you get a better result when Alma finally appears.

That being said, I would like to clarify that I did appreciate the greater amount of interaction with Alma over the first game. I felt that F.E.A.R. eventually lost its initial creepiness by keeping Alma out of reach for too long. However, F.E.A.R. 2 knee-jerks too far in the other direction, removing too any shadows towards the latter section of the game. The key is balance: balance, balance, balance. When Alma has no interaction and poses no threat, she’s not scary. When she gets degraded to “big endgame baddie”, she’s not scary.

Conclusions
So far, this review comes across as largely negative. I want to point out that I don’t consider F.E.A.R. 2 as a “bad” game. On a 1 - 10 scale I’d give it an 8. Project Origin fixes a lot of things that were flawed in the first game. Gameplay is spot-on. The slow-mo bullet fights were as entertaining this time as they were the first. When I shoot a gun, I want it to be like I’m actually shooting the real deal, so I was ecstatic with the realistic down-the-sights aiming. (There should be a law requiring it to be in every first-person shooter.) Varying the environments was a well-needed change, along with the new armored powered segments. It also had the most important element of any game: it was fun.

I also have a few nitpicks with the game. It’s too easy compared to the first. I dislike not being able to start over completely fresh. Having all the intelligence and weapon descriptions in your HUD throws off the storytelling and removes the desire to explore. Beginning fully reflex boosted makes the already easy enemies even easier. As a side effect of adding variability to the environments, the campaign has also been shortened compared to the original. I was able to make it through the game in one afternoon on Hard. Overall, F.E.A.R. 2 does more things correct than it does wrong, it’s just that what it messes up are two of the most important factors in the experience: plot and scariness.

F.E.A.R. 3 and the Future
Before finally bringing my overanalyzed review to a close, I’d like to quickly condense and restate what I believe Monolith can do in their next sequel to make it a more solid successor to the first F.E.A.R.

1. Put the mystery back in the game. Keep the plot flowing and save the answers for the end.
2. Conclude and explain all the story elements. Don’t reward the gamer with more questions.
3. Make Alma unpredictable. Add tension by using our imaginations against us, don’t constantly throw her in our face, but also don’t keep her hidden for too long.
4. Bridge between the games. We still have a lot of remaining mysteries from the first game, draw us into a new story by allowing us to follow up on these enigmas.

[{MoS}xEliminatorf(x)]

My Review of the single player component:

I like the beginning. You'll see. Hint: it's a little scary. I just like the idea of the way Monolith has set up the story, the beginning feels like the beginning and the end feels like the game is coming to and end, so that is quite commendable.

The other thing that is immediately noticeable is the complexity of the level design. Monolith has definitely gone to great lengths to improve the level design beyond anything I ever expected. It's rich, complex, and beautiful. And it has color this time around! Good job, guys.

The combat is great, although I did find some of the battles a bit repetitive at times. But the combo of different ways the enemies can be killed and the generous helping of rich, lush graphics definitely makes sure that all that slowmo firing doesn't get boring.

As far as the scares go, they are not as often as I would have liked to see, but very deep and scarily realistic. The graphics postprocessing during some of them make Alma just seem all too real and Becket's dreams beautifully crafted.

Speaking of the graphics, Monolith's engine is one of the best I've seen yet. It runs very fast for the quality and complexity of the graphics in this game. It ain't Crysis, but the addition of motion blur, depth of field, and HDR definitely make for an impressively realistic game. It's only missing soft shadows, but that didn't bother me too much. The slowmo finally smoothes out the individual frames of the character animations and I love the kind of sparkly effects around the edge of the screen during use of slowmo. It also doesn't cause your computer to dip below 15 fps at times like the original did to mine. The game still feels like F.E.A.R. to me. Just much more beautiful than the original.

Overall, I give the single player a 9/10. I say it's a must-play for fans of the series, and decent for the rest who aren't familiar with the original. The only drawbacks I can see is some repetitiveness, less scares, and the lack of a few graphics options such as ahem ahem soft shadows, soft smoke edges, and film grain on/off. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is still a rich, visually impressive and chaotic shooter that everyone should have a chance to play.

My rig:

ASUS M3A-78 EM AM2+ Socket
Athlon x2 6000+ 3.1 GHz
EVGA GeForce 9600GT dual-slot edition PCI-E 2.0
4 GB DDR2 800 Corsair XMS2
@ All stock clocks on a highly optimized Windows XP Pro installation. (I have Vista on a separate partition for doing my college work).

[Fear360]

Game is alot of fun but i wish there were more armored front maps and ranked parties and game would be like a 9/10 without it it's an 7 or 8

[deep]

Also, the method of information gathering is generally less interesting. Having to pick up and read notes is a lot more tedious and boring than having someone read it aloud...also

Am I correct in assuming that the game uses the "tell" approach rather than showing it to you?

[PSPSoldier534]

Didn't both FEAR games do that?

[Uno Ill Nino]

Last week, we talked about FEAR 2 on my podcast "The Moofcast". It can be found at www.moofpack.com or on the iTunes store. Its a FREE weekly show aimed at adults where friends gather to sound of on games and everyday life.

This week, I'll be talking about it again, from the perspective of somebody who has finished the game and had a decent amount of time in multiplayer. Come have a listen and be ready to laugh! The new episode goes up tomorrow morning!

www.moofpack.com

[VGER]

Sorry it took so long, here is the MP section of my review...

First off, I will say that this MP is significantly slower paced then I remembered from the first F.E.A.R., having said that, I did switch platforms between games, and it is still quite fast compared to a lot of other games, (Halo, CoD, being the foremost).

If you can master the loadouts, you can master the game, the trick is finding three different combinations that complement the different map types, short-range, mid-range, long-range. Short range weapons include the shotguns, (combat and automatic), as well as weapons like the SMG, pistol, and even the Hammerhead (nailgun). Mid range would see such weapons as the Assault Rifle, SMG and Hammerhead, ASP Rifle, (and possibly the Automatic Shotgun). Finally long range weapons, which are a rather exclusive class, all weapons except for the ASP and Sniper Rifles drop in accuracy the farther away your target is, the Sniper Rifle is a sure fire way to gib foes from distance, however its Bolt Action reloading system make it slightly slower to reload, making it rather useless in close quarters combat. And of course there are grenades and Armour, the grenades range from a Flashbang style 'Shock Grenade', to the IED'ish 'Proximity Mine', and armour consisting of three models, two if you don't count the Bedsheet armour (see sig for description), which are the medium and heavy models. All weapons are balanced by a 15 point cost system, the 9mm and Shock Grenade being the least expensive at 1, and the most expensive being the Sniper Rifle at 9. So finding the right combo for the map your on is critical, at first it might take some experimentation, but you get the hang of it. This is a very balanced system, much more balanced than CoD's loadout system, where each weapon is unlocked by gaining more XP, (while F.E.A.R. 2 does use an XP system it is for ranking purposes only).
WEAPON LOADOUT SYSTEM: 9.0

Weapons in the game were exceptional (mostly), with only a few being overpowered. Accuracy in the game has been significantly downgraded from the original F.E.A.R., almost every gun having near perfect accuracy and low recoil, players now have to hone they're aiming skills a little more, but this has resulted in less quick kills and has therefore gone toward slowing the game considerably. Weapons in general feel slightly less powerful than in the first game, sounds and force feedback are weaker, grenades no longer explode on contact, and while all the kickass melee moves from the first game have returned but enemies no longer do backflips after a flying bicycle kick/spinning back kick. The overpowered weapons include the ASP Rifle, and most of the pickup weapons throughout the maps, these include, the Napalm Launcher, Plasma Rifle, and Rocket Launcher, all of which in the right hands, can do outrageous amounts of damage, however you cannot spawn with them, which if not greatly does level the playing field a little bit. Underneath all of this is still the F.E.A.R. we know and love, but with a new arsenal of weapons comes new downsides, and whether these setbacks effect the overall experience is up to the player to decide....
WEAPON ARSENAL: 7.5

Maps are balanced with three basic types, the long range maps, medium range maps, and close quarters maps all well designed. Each map contains different areas of the game, a hightech office combination, an underground experimentation facility, a factory setting etc., overall the maps contained imagination, and provided excellent playing fields, this is the only part of the game that will get a perfect 10 from me.
MAP DESIGN: 10

Game modes were pretty standered for a modern FPS, DM, TDM, Blitz (CTF), Control, Failsafe (bomb planting/defusal game), and one new mode Armoured Front, basically a 5 control point version of Control, featuring an Elite Powered Armour that can be found near each team's base, while this mode is one of the most fun in the game, it has given way to the standard modes which seem to be more popular, nonetheless it is well balanced out, the Mechs from each team offset eachothers power, and both team bases are equipped with Rocket Launchers, all in all, fun fun fun!
GAME MODE'S: 9.0

Controls in the game are average, (if you haven't figured it out already then I should specify that this is an Xbox 360 review, and therefore this aspect is unique to the system I play on), I found that the left trigger did not bring up the aiming immediately, (which is rather annoying in a combat situation), but other than that, not a whole lot to say here, fairly standered console controls which, while not revolutionary, are quite functional and solid...except for that aiming.
CONTROLS(360): 8.0

Finally comes the game servers themselves, and there aren't a whole lot, dedicated servers would have been nice but I guess Monolith couldn't afford them, in any case, I have found quite a few laggy servers out there which have made for some poor matches, however since it mostly depends on the host you can always just host your own matches and bypass that problem for the most part.
SERVER QUALITY: 8.0

OVERALL GAMESCORE: 8.5

[Uno Ill Nino]

THE SHOW IS UP!

Episode 36 of the Moofcast talks FEAR 2 in the 2nd half of the show. Check it out, check it out! I also spliced in some sweet music tracks from the game for effect during the discussion.

We'll probably talk about it again next week during episode 37 as a wrap up with ending discussion since not everyone had it completed in time for this week.

Go check it out!

WWW.MOOFPACK.COM
http://moofcast.libsyn.com/rss
Search "Moofcast" on iTunes Store

[Oyster]

okey, finally got around to getting the game, so here's my review of the SP, major spoiler free.


I was a big fan of the first FEAR, and I have been pumped for this game for a long time. Now that the (real) sequel has finally shown its creepy little face, I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Not that FEAR 2 isn't a great game. I highly recommend picking it up and giving the whole campaign a go. But I expect sequels to improve on their predecessors, and I'm not sure that Project Origin is as good as it should be, given its great prequel.


The heart and soul of any shooter is, of course, the shooting. FEAR 2 is merely average in this regard. The arsenal is fairly standard with a couple of extra sci-fi-ish ones thrown in for good measure. Some weapons, like the shotguns, rocket launcher, sniper rifle, SMG, and Hammerhead (the new penetrator) feel good. Other's are let down by some confusing design decisions. The Assault Rifle is still your bread and butter for replica battles, but it sounds horrid, a lot lighter and quieter in tone than I would expect. The laser has a sight that points away from the middle of the screen. And the particle weapon has been modified into something that is a dick to use not even remotely as satisfying as the old one. Lets not even talk about the flamethrower...

In another ridiculous decision, actual recoil (like what was present in the first FEAR) has been abandoned in favour of a "send the bullets out of the barrel in a random direction but leave the player facing forward" system. I noticed it most with Hammerhead's glowing bullets, and I'm disgusted. Instead of controlling recoil on automatic weapons, I point the cursor at something and hold down the button and watch bullets landing inches away from the centre of my screen. Very weak Monolith, easily the worst part of the game in my books.

As I'm sure most of you know, simple sights have been replaced by the "iron-sights" style (although holo-sights of various types are present on most of the weapons). Although I don't have a particular presence, looking down the sights in FEAR 2 is approaching broken in it's unresponsiveness. On more than one occasion it took so long for the sights to activate that I would press the button again and the game would interpret both and jump me in and out of the zoom in an instant. It felt horrible and really took away from the fast-paced crazy action that is otherwise completely intact from the first game.

Fighting the soldiers is pretty much unchanged from before. They still take intelligent cover, flush you out with grenades, and punch you in the face when you get too close. Interestingly enough they seem very light on the trigger finger, sometimes peering at you for seconds before letting fly with a hail of bullets. Still wickedly fun to kill though.

The extra enemies are a welcome addition. I especially enjoyed the remnants, but abominations are a good variation early in the game and lead up to the top-notch assassins. And when I say "top-notch", I mean "best part of the game". Seriously, they are more fun than a barrel of dangerously aggressive electrical monkeys.


Of course apart from the crazy gunplay, FEAR is all about creepy atmosphere and piss-your-pants scares. In this way FEAR 2 delivers a stronger experience than the gunplay, even if it is still littered with small problems. You'll spend a lot more time interacting with NPCs, and this works only occasionally. Where sometimes the writing will be good and immersive, other times it feels extremely forced and unnatural. The actors do as good a job as they can with the given script, but it is remarkably lame at some points. Throw in the fact that Beckett is mute like the Point Man and a lot of conversation sounds really bad. Integrating a silent character into a direct relationship with NPCs isn't handled nearly as nice here as Half Life did. Characters also jump back and forth from reacting realistically to crazy shit going on to simply standing around and not commenting on it. At one point you're supposed to walk under a fence to grab some guy 5 feet away and he evaporates into thin air. I turned around to see what Stokes would say but she just stood there and apparently waited for me to return with the dude. When I had travelled hundreds of metres down subway lines she just seemed to assume that was the logical course of events and didn't express any concern. Bleh.

Lighting and sound are still top of the heap though. Atmosphere doesn't suffer one bit from the visuals or noises (with the exception of a perplexing piece of mood breaking music towards the end). Textures are not as pretty as I've seen in other games, but perfectly acceptable. Animation glitches still pup up, but over all excellent, especially with concern to Abominations and Assassins. The visuals of the game truly shine in the special effects department. Alma hallucinations fade in and out with incredible shader effects. Shooting assassins erupts with electric crackling energy that damages your visor if you're too close. But in contrast fire is un-extraordinary and the glowy effect generated by slow-mo looks terrible. Pity. Some of the favourite music tracks from FEAR 1 are back, complimented by excellent new ones. Sound effects yet again range from excellent to crappy. Bad gun sounds and lame new replica voices bring otherwise great experience here down a few notches. Although still not as varied as they might have been, environments were beautiful and a welcome change from the first game's endless offices. Would have loved to have seen a bit more of the last one...

The scares themselves are different than the first game's, which is fine by me. A few notable ridiculously freaky longer sequences and occasional jump-out-of-seaters fill the edges of the game nicely. The way Alma treats you is VERY different than how she treated the point man. There are various reasons injected into the story that sort of make sense to explain this, but not enough is told at the conclusion. Overall the sequence of events was exciting but there was no sense of mystery like in the first game, which was unfortunate. Its fairly well connected to the FEAR's story even though it involves completely different people, and the PDA does a good albeit glitchy job of storing that information. The biggest problem with it for me was how easily everyone (particularly Stokes) accepted all the crazy shit that was going down. I guess they had the benefit of playing the first game as well.


Final Verdict

FEAR 2 is a great game. It's a shame that almost everything that's been improved is accompanied by some weird glitch or design mistake. Letterboxing, bad mouse support, no server files: these are things that shouldn't show up in any high budget game. Which is why it's almost surprising that the other parts of the game can be so good. With all of the delays I wish that Lith had actually finished polishing it, but as it is it can still be enjoyed. Easily.

Please though, PC games need recoil. Please.


8.2/10

[PlastAh]

over all game was pretty good, now im trying to get used to the Multiplayer, i keep getting raped badly lol.

[onelifecrisis]

I've completed FEAR2 on the PC (on "Hard") and here's my review. Please note that I only play SP games, so this review is for SP only.

I'm a big fan of the first game which was excellent but of course not perfect. For me FEAR2 really improves on some of the first game's shortcomings, but also loses a lot of the first game's charm. The level design is much better and so are the set peices, but a lot of things feel a bit "toned down" as if to suit a younger audience. It's almost as if Monolith were intentionally trying to make the game less immersive/scary. For example, the soldiers in the second game seem (in their audio and visual design) like robotic cartoon caricatures of those found in the first. Much worse is the way that Alma has been transformed from a terrifying ghostly presence into an awful button-mashing mini-game. I was genuinely scared of Alma ("again", like in the trailer) until about an hour into FEAR2, which is when I first had to fight her off. At that point I realised I could fight her off anytime I needed to, and she lost all of her ability to be scary (although the in-game visions of her remained impressive). Furthermore, the dialog in FEAR2 feels tongue-in-cheek rather than serious. Badly written lines like "she wants to consume you" and "she's the mother of the apocalypse" are never going to be very convincing, no matter how they're delivered, but I'd think that a decent voice actor would at least TRY to sound serious delivering them. Instead, these lines (and many others) are served with a massive dollop of cheese, adding to the feeling that FEAR2 is a comical B-movie gore-fest rather than a truly scary horror flick. Whether this is because of the acting or the direction I couldn't say, but it comes as an unexpected disappointment following the generally high standard of dialogue and voice acting in the first game. Throw in the text messages (TEXT, FFS!) and you've got some of the worst story delivery I've seen in a long time. By the halfway mark I had stopped caring about what was happening and where I was and who I was shooting, and why... which is just as well, because the game seemed to stop bothering explaining any of it. What are those guys with the tendrils all about? What are those ghost-like things in the school and why are they ripping the soldiers to shreds but leaving me alone? Is any of that explained? Maybe it was and I had simply stopped paying attention.

The combat also suffers a little, in some ways, in comparison to the first game. I miss leaning around corners. In fact, I miss the feeling that cover has some sort of benefit. It's strange that FEAR2 allows you to make cover by tipping things over given that (A) doing so takes much longer than simply shooting the bad guys and (B) cover is hardly required anyway - you can pretty much stand in the open and just waste everyone. I also miss the tactical decisions of which weapons to carry and which ones to leave, and the variation in the handling of the different weapons (all weapons in FEAR2 seem to handle about the same). Finally, I miss the "Extreme Difficulty" setting, which provided a decent challenge.

Apart from those things I did enjoy the combat in FEAR2: it's fairly fast-paced, with great death animations and physics and some nice particle effects. The turret sections were boring, and some of the new weapons seemed rather pointless, but the rest of the weapons were great fun to use. In fact, if I had to sum up the combat of both games with one word each then I'd describe FEAR as "tactical" and FEAR2 as "fun".

One last gripe: OPTIONS! Or lack thereof. Why can't I choose to enable/disable things like Film Grain, Enemy Highlighting, Letterbox Mode, and so on? Options like those should be extremely easy for the developers to add, and it's wierd that they've been omitted.

And now for the good stuff...
I love the new special effects! The hallucination effects, in-game visions, electric fields around the assassins, and so on... these all look terrific IMO. The sound is excellent as well, and helps to keep some small amount of tension in the game long after Alma shows her hand in that silly mini-game. FEAR2 performs remarkably well for me, with high framerates even on my minimum-spec machine. I also like... ummm... actually, I think that's all. There's possibly something else that's really good about FEAR2, but I can't think what it might be at the moment.

7/10

[deelon]

(For more details click here)

Review

Monolith's games are always richly multi-layered and F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is no exception. Different game types- intense action, puzzle solving, horror elements- are seamlessly blended together and enhanced by intelligent level design, brilliant music & sound effects, smart AI and the controversial story. Every aspect is worth a separate praise, but F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is more than the sum of its parts- it's very creative & inspired experience.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is the sequel to F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon (2005). It starts shortly before the first ended- half an hour before the explosion of Auburn. But this time the protagonist isn't Point Man- you're playing as Michael Becket, member of a different military unit. But don't relax- Alma is back. And she's meaner and more powerful than ever before...

Plot Overview

From the very first seconds F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin dives you into the universe of Alma- she walks you through a dreamlike vision of ruined city's fires, so you would feel like being led by Beatrice in the modern version of Dante's Hell. Though, this hell was ignited at Armacham laboratories and mastered by their raging victim- Alma...

However, the new protagonist Michael Becket doesn't know that yet- neither does the peaceful city of Ausburn. His squad's task is simple- to take Genevieve Aristide, head of Origin Project, into protective custody. But you won't be enjoying her posh penthouse for long- Armacham Corporation sends in their own black ops. And like it wasn't enough, strange visions and even apparitions of Alma don't leave you for long. Finally Becket finds Aristide, but their conversation is short- explosion of Ausburn (F.E.A.R. Point Man detonates reactors of Origin labs) changes everything.

And from here all hell breaks loose. Armacham's forces are eager to 'clean-up' the mess from all evidences and witnesses. Becket has to fight them and escape the secret background hospital, but on surface he encounters additional enemies- the reactivated Replica troops. Like it wasn't enough, the liberated Alma is also constantly pursuing Becket and his comrades. And they die one by one in this blood bowl, where edge between reality and nightmare becomes thinner with every your step.

Undead remnants with paranormal psychic powers, super-quick almost-invisible assassins, the haunted school with ATC research labs in its basement, Still Island- all these and many more other odds will stand between Becket and Alma. And she really 'likes' him. But you even can't imagine how much Alma will like him in the end...

Gameplay

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a genuine horror game and it does everything to make your pants wet. That's a difficult task if to consider that most of the game is a first person shooter and you get not only the most powerful weapons, but also the famous 'reflex time' skill (consider it as 'bullet time'). The action is truly cinematic and even epic, especially when you're operating Elite Powered Armor (EPA) with mounted rocket launchers and chain guns and devastating the remains of Auburn. Also you better don't use a shotgun in short ranges, otherwise your visors will be all covered in blood.

There're few nice'n'easy puzzles in F.E.A.R. 2 too- otherwise it wouldn't be a Monolith's game, would it? And you'll be grateful for them- they give you some little cool down time from otherwise intense (and very, very bloody) game.

Horror

As I mentioned before, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is heavy on action, but the game is definitely not for easily heart-fainted. There are many moments that will make even 'horror veterans' jumping (I confess- I did, though generally I'm horror-immune). I don't want to start spoiling, but better get ready for a few surprises from Alma.

AI & Game Difficulty

The vast majority of F.E.A.R. 2 the gameplay is pleasingly balanced and very hooking thankfully to smart AI and brilliant level design. Those, who are complaining about the game being too easy, wait till the last levels- that's where F.E.A.R. 2 shows off its true teeth. AI and level designs create genuine survival experience- waves of smart Replica Soldiers and other 'experiments' will force you to become really careful with ammo and health. And the amazing thing is that Monolith managed to avoid cheap tricks: everything's fair- that's just you and good AI.

Pay attention: NPCs know how to use the environment for their advantage. They will flip tables to create covers (you can do that as well- in fact, there's even a dedicated achievement/trophie for that), they will crawl to get behind you and use different fight strategies.

Environments

Monolith Team listened to fans and put extra efforts into environments- maps are not only huge and diverse, but also awesome and mysterious. My personal top favourites are Outer Shell of ATC facilities and streets of the devastated Auburn. Most surprisingly, the much larger environments didn't loose the eerie and dreamlike feeling to them- I spent a lot of time just exploring and enjoying them. Falling debris from upper floors, beautifully rendered flames, dust & sparks in the air, rats running by your feet- all these details really help in creating very memorable experience.

Graphics

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is not a mega-billion-polygon game, but it's rather the true evidence that the polygon-count isn't everything. I really liked that the developers, instead of pushing geometry till processors are red, used instead many layers of cinematic visual effects like film grain, blur, motion blur and such. In this way, F.E.A.R. 2 looks much more organic and consistent visually. Well, that also helps to smooth a little bit compressed textures, but you wouldn't notice that anyway- neither Alma nor Replica guys will give you the time for that.

Music

Soundtrack of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin deserves a separate praise- it's so good. The music of Nathan Grigg is always subtle, yet very captivating and easily winning your attention. I would describe his music as 'alternative', though I think Nathan would disagree with me Nevertheless, it's a real shame that Nathan Grigg's music isn't available on separate CDs or on iTunes/Amazon.

Multiplayer

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is more about the story and Alma, but multiplayer is a great party too. The modes should be familiar to FPS fans: Deatmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the point. However, the fourth mode- Armored Front- gives Enhanced Powered Armors to players, so you could try the Hell Machine on your friends Plus, most of the trophies/achievements are earned from online games. My only nitpicking would be that getting into ranked matches takes sometimes too long

The Bottom Line

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is many times more than just a horror shooter with paranormal mysteries and over-the-top amount of blood. Monolith's consistent vision and creativity from the very details to overall Alma's tale brings you an unforgettable and very artistic experience. There's only one excuse for you not to play F.E.A.R. 2- it could be too scary for you. Otherwise, you don't want to miss this very special 'date' with Alma

(For more details click here)

[mmatsuk31]

I have successfully beaten F.E.A.R. 2 now on the hardest difficulty and it really didn't take that long. The game was very fast paced and a lot of fun, but you guys should put a prime focus on the horror and have some really scary levels in the next game (beat the game and watch the ending if you don't think there will be a sequel). Here's an idea and please look into this. Why not make a level where you go through a graveyard where Alma's headstone is. Maybe have Armacham hide some vital information in there that you need to know to destroy her. Along the way, you encounter remnants raising the dead in the graveyard and abominations jumping out from behind headstones and spectres popping out of random headstones. There are plenty of options with this type of level. Think about it. One of the main problems with the first game for me was how the game went from horror to action to horror to action and so on. There weren't really many enemies that scared me other than the occasional assassin jumping out at random, but this was clearly solved with the abominations, remnants and spectres. These enemies added some good mix of action and horror to the game. Another problem in the first game was the lack of detail and variety in the environments. This is anything but true in the sequel. Each environment is pretty awesome and has its own unique characteristics. Mainly the lab under the elementary school was the best. Great job guys. Another thing I liked was the questions you answered from the first game. This was something I was looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. The powered armor parts were awesome as well, but you should make it so the A.I. is ridiculously smart. This would make the game more difficult and the powered armor scenes much more satisfying when you finally reach them.
Here's my problems with the game. First, the new enemies were good, but you should have expanded on them more. The abominations were cool, but you should have made them tougher and had them doing more to scare you (possibly grabbing you from under a door or something). Also, you should have explained what the hell happened to the point man or at least mention him or release an expansion pack allowing us to play as him after the crash. I know he could possibly have died, but I expect that Alma would probably have saved him. Another thing that could use improvement is the A.I. I know that the A.I. is a big part of this series, but I want them to be ridiculous. I want them to adjust to you and the way you play, rush at you when you reload, slide kick you, create diversions and flank you, etc. This would have made the game last longer. Finally, I think that you should try and implement Paxton Fettel back into the game and make Aristide less of a factor. I would like to see Fettel return and cause some havoc among the Armacham top executives who were trying to kill Aristide. This would make the game much more interesting.
Overall, the campaign was a lot of fun, but way too short. I felt that Becket needed more of a backstory. This was however an excellent game and I am already looking forward to the next game.
9.2/10
M.P. review coming soon.

[mmatsuk31]

This is my multiplayer review. Now that I have had the chance to play every gametype, I really admire the improvements that you tried to make on the multiplayer and I have to say I'm impressed. I looked at some other reviews by "top critics" (who are morons that give awful too human a good rating) and they said that the lack of slow-mo in multiplayer is a problem. I say screw them because you don't need slow-mo when you have new weapons like the sniper and the rocket launcher. This would make slow-mo extremely unfair. I love the powered armor game type. This makes the game much more strategic because you have destroy the armor before you advance or you'll get slaughtered. Also, gametypes like failsafe, capture the phlag and obviously team deathmatch make you work as a team or die by yourself. There is usually so much mayhem going on that you'll get kills without even realizing it. Now, the thing I could see making this game much more awesome is almost a halo-style multiplayer set-up where you can have guests online, have objective or slayer options (hell maybe even snipers that would rock) and have new dlc almost every 6 months to keep the game fresh and longlasting. It'll take long enough to get the ranks anyway. Overall, I feel that multiplayer is one of the strongest aspects of the game, but I can't say it's perfect.
9.9/10
lol, great job guys
p.s. - condemned 3 at E3 09???????

[the_tanuki]

Based on the PC version:

I found it to be a nice and satisfying game but I feel it falls a bit short compared to the original FEAR. The combat, while having better (awesome) blood effects than the original don't feel as good as the original (mabe it's because of the weapons sounds or mabe their overal kick wich felt better in the first game, and the physics too... the perfect combat (for me) would be a mix between the first FEAR and the second). The AI felt less impressive than in FEAR 1, mabe that it's the level design wich feels less open and gives less oportunities to the AI to flank you and be bastards (they didn't really seem to want to flush me out of cover with their grenades.
Some of the effects seem toned down (shadows, sparks, dust, the physics don't seem as over the top as before, the shockwaves now only appear in slow mo,...). The plot was nice (not breathtaking) but the ending was awesome!!!
Some scares were good but there weren't enough moments where you go somewhere and Alma is right in your face just when you turn your around. I was disappointed that the little Alma was not very present. The creepy atmosphere sometimes wasn't present enough. Sometimes, it felt like an actionpacked fps and I would almost forget that the game has scary parts in it (parts were I wasn't even in the EPA). Mabe it's because the environements feel less dark and oppressive. Sometimes, I expected longer hallucination sequences (5 minutes of crazy non-stop hallucinations would have been awesome). I think it could have been even scarier (it was a scary game, but it could have been so much more frightening if some scary opportunities were more often used (it would have terrorized me if I noticed Alma following me around when I would look behind me).
The EPA felt nice, especially the first EPA sequence of the game. The turret sequences were fun (especially the last one). Carrying 4 weapons is much better than in FEAR 1, there is more choice but it's disappointing to see that some weapons were taken out and not really replaced well enough. The expansions had all the FEAR 1 weapons and added some neat new ones. A greater number with more variety and originality in the weapons would have been a welcome addition.
The flash light was much better than in the first game. Not too strong nor too weak.
One bad thing for the PC version is the lack of cheats for the single player. Most of the PC fps games I know have sp cheats.

Overall, I would give FEAR 2 an 8 to 8,5 out of 10 (knowing that FEAR 1 would have a 9 or 9,5 for me). I love FEAR 2, but when I come back to fear 1, I feel more impressed by it (knowing it came out in 2005) than its sequel. It's an awesome shooter but just a slightly above average FEAR game (a bit better than the expansions (because of the plots and some other touches), but the expansions had the strenghs of the FEAR 1 gameplay, engine, physics,...).

[deep]

Also, blood doesn't make a game scary, especially when you put it on almost every surface texture of the game. What makes a game scary is the tension and the STORY, both are missing here. Developers, you shouldn't leave a games story telling to a bunch of random data pickups. Try integrating it into the gameplay a bit. I know this takes a little more effort on your part, but you are asking us to pay 60 bucks for this garbage.

This is a little harsh, but I think that you got it spot on.


I'll try to be as fair as I can...
Graphics
Frankly, the graphics are stunning.. The environments definitely have the "wow" factor down. The shiny penthouse is gorgeous and the lighting is fantastic. Everything looks very crisp. It almost seems like a waste that such mind blowing aesthetic prowess only serve as the framework for combat. The reduction of shadows on the PC is a shame, but pretty minor. My biggest issue is with some of the game's effects. The explosions and the flame look a bit bland (too much like mere flashes of light.) The flame lacks detail.. I was hoping for something like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNu0sR89_BM
and for some explosions like this (but obviously toned down in scale)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15UwvcMt8NM

Both explosions and fire have a certain fluid quality, which FEAR2 (to be honest most games) fail to capture. Notice the complex flamelike aspect at the beginning, which is following by cascading shrapnel...

In this case, I think hollywood style explosions are definitely warranted.

The weapons and the enemies all look much more visually interesting than those of the original FEAR though.

Many things do appear to be significantly scaled back however. The environmental destruction is down substantially (I miss the jets of dust being ejected every time one of my bullets collided with concrete or brick, this kind of simple thing brought a cinematic feel to the game's combat presentation.) Other aspects seem kind of over exaggerated in a very implausible way and only serve to detract from the believability... Just like the original, hitting certain surfaces with the assault rifle can result in gigantic craters as if it was hit by a small grenade or something.. As I've said many times before, each hit should have unique (somewhat realistic) effects, depending on the kind of surface being hit and the weapon used. Craters are okay for shotguns and explosives, but preferably not for other weapons. The environments, while visually stunning seem very static. In FEAR, almost everything flew around when hit by gunfire. This does not seem to be the case in FEAR2. This isn't helped by the fact that all evidence of combat disappears in a few seconds and things revert to a sterile state. Given the long time between the two games, I would have also expected FEAR2 to push the envelope more in this department. I would have loved it if weapons could tear apart the environment, matrix l lobby scene style (think of the part where you blew up those explosives the replicas were in the process of using to blow up the hospital, which exposed the steel rebar underneath.

Fortunately, the game's characters look much better. The original's looked a bit too plastic and the usage of subtle facial imperfections greatly helps to enhance their believability.

Other aspects of the games presentation seem much more cinematic and immersive, like the part where the bus nearly falls on you and you have to evade it..

The HUD is slightly disappointing too. I loved the concept of using a visor as a HUD, but it's a bit underwhelming for what it is. I would have expected something more compelling/creative, like a holographic hud or something..

9/10

Gameplay
I found the gameplay to be somewhat lacking. The AI offers significantly less of a tactical challenge than the original FEAR. To that end, the enemies seem to lack distinction. I would be hard pressed to point out even a few differences between the way ATC soldiers and replicas behave or what they are capable... Given the advanced nature, I was expecting replicas to get some high tech, interesting abilities (like maybe a multiple grenade launcher built into their suit or something.) The paranormal enemies don't require any difference in approach either. FEAR seems to have forgotten that it was about the paranormal and this very intriguing concept of a counter paranormal team. I wish that idea could have taken a larger role in the story and even the gameplay. There doesn't seem to much paranormal activity either.. I missed the subtle, yet creepy unexplainable occurrences from the original, like random stuff falling down, or a tv showing alma.. Likewise, the intel items are interesting, but it would be nice if the game emphasized showing over telling and we got to experience or see these things as well (maybe even play a role in the story.) So, if the game gives us info on the weapons, maybe take us to a firing range, where through our own experiences, with them the differences between the weapons, as expressed in the PDA are illustrated.

Given how complex Alma is, I would have expected a multitude of a paranormal enemies... Because after all, she can manifest her nightmares? I miss Alma's nightmares from the original FEAR.. Maybe some creepy flying demon of some sort.. I just was let down by the paranormal side of the game..
7/10

Story
I haven't played through the whole game (the fact that the game forgets my progress every time I try to make any might have something to do with that..), but the game's characters seem much more interesting and seem to have a unique personality of themselves. The part with the squad sitting in the APC was a great way to introduce you to them.. I only wish it lasted more and you could see some of the city from inside it. I felt kind of isolated.

The game, however, seems relatively reluctant to capitalize on the counter paranormal underpinning's of it's sequel. I mean, the F.E.A.R team was government funded and presumably they had a pretty well established base of operations? Would be pretty hard to hide something like that. It would be very interesting to be able to go in and explore it, like in Hellboy movie. They just didn't let you read about it. They took you indoors and showed you all their unique equipment and the people.. It was also really neat to see how they hide their organization within society. The game seems much more intent to focus on corporate conspiracy/morality, which isn't a bad thing, it just leaves me feeling like there was something left out.

7/10


Scares
The tension is largely gone. The paranomral side of the game could have really been used to ramp up the scares, especially now that alma was released.. For example :
1) Lots of people were killed in the explosion right? How about a vision of all of them walking the city as ghosts?

2) Creepy dead creatures crawling up buildings..

3) Seeing wierd/creepy things in the clouds/windows

4) Opening a door and being met by a dead person which grabs you and whispers...

5) Having a dead body come alive (waking the dead seems like something alma would do.. right?)

6) Hearing a whispering noise, and then turning around to find a dead person standing threre..

7) More whispers.. Creepy shadows.. etc.

8) Stuff falling off shelves and possibly even moving.. More things being physically manipulated by unforeseen means.

9) The morgue part scared the shit out me (one of the few parts that did), but what if they (the dead bodies) all slowly came alive? Like you heard little subtle noises and it all slowly built up?

I was hoping FEAR2 would push the envelope in this department as well, making more use of systematic psychological buildup, like in hollywood horror, such as Event Horizon. Horror Movies have always been much scarier than horror games... Why do you think this is? Ask yourselves..

The game just felt like it could have been a lot scarier.. Like it was holding back a lot of the time.. The game should have used horror from every vein.. Morbid horror (dead stuff), realistic horror (every day things made scary), paranormal horror, etc.

5/10

Overall score : 7/10. It's definitely a good game, but it seems to have been held back by mutliplatform development and the unwillingness to narratively indulge players in certain aspects of the it's universe.

[JRamirez35]

I've avoided these boards as of late out of fear of unmarked spoilers, but I just finished the game, which I must say, is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.
FEAR 2 seems to capitalize on a different type of scare system than the first FEAR,   seeing Alma suddenly walk right by you is creepier than anything the first game presented.   The scares, IMHO, work better than the first game, though there should have been more.   The scene in the school where the lights are flickering is honestly the creepiest scene I have ever seen in any game  
The graphics are stunning. Looking at the burned out city and then seeing the world through Alma's eyes was just... wow.
I liked that the gameplay wasn't so difficult that I got annoyed and felt the need to just turn the game off for the night... usually I had to stop playing because I looked at the clock and realized I had some unreasonable number of hours to sleep (3, on one night) before I had to get up for work. Kudos to Monolith for remembering that there are those of us out there who don't want the game to be crazy hard!
Overall, a 9/10 The ending... as I stated in another thread- WTF
On a side note, I loved how they kept music from the first game, while also combining it with new music. This is similar to so many other aspects of FEAR 2. It keeps the good stuff from the first game while adding to it, becoming a better game.