Review of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

If any of you played the original, you remember many of the WTF Mate moments that made the game.It's rare that an FPS actually succeeds in making a horror game that works.Others have tried, but failed miserably (This means you Condemned 2!!) whereas FEAR captivated many gamers with creepy atmospheres, bizarre moments of hallucinations, and one strange little girl that you wanted to either hug or give a swift kick to.

In other words, for us gamers FEAR 2 had a lot to live up to and they did alright but I fear the FEAR franchise is going the way of Halo; letting it go to their head.

The story is simple.You are Delta Operator Beckett sent in to extract a bad CEO from some company doing bad things in a town plagued by weirder things.In the process, all goes to hell and so does reality and the story as well.The story keeps you reeled in w/o the main character engaging in any dialog and without any cut scenes scene outside of first person.This is what made the first FEAR and Project Origin does a good job of staying faithful.The ending, however, is a Halo 2 "that's it?!" since it ends so bloody abruptly.When the credits started to roll, my brother and I looked at each other and spent a whole minute exchanging "uhhhs" and "huh."Like a rug in The Big Lebowski, endings are supposed to tie the story together but perhaps I am spoiled by RPG endings.

Despite the WTFness of the ending, Project Origins does sport some major improvements.The animations are top-notch and true to reality.When you have to press a button, move something, or open a door, you actually have to temporarily move your weapon while your other hand does the action.This grounds the animation in reality and is executed properly, especially when you use the ladder (which is automatic instead of requiring you to carefully place your aimer).The aiming reticules are also improved as the weapons have red-dot or neon iron sights similar to actual firearms.Even the recoil is accurate and the movement through the sights as movement causes the red dot to move around since they are never really fixed but projected.

Another improvement is the weapons and their balance.The shotgun is no longer an end-all weapon and you can hold more then 100 rounds of assault rifle ammo as opposed to the first FEAR.Grenades are also more abundant and you don't accidentally shoot incoming grenades (which causes them to explode in midair) as easily as the first game, which caused me more deaths than anything else.The special weapons are also more abundant such as the penetrator (now the Hammerhead) and the sniper rifle.Not to mention new weapons such as the laser.Sadly though, the particle weapon seems only to come at the end of the game.

And yet another improvement is the enemy AI.Replicants are no longer just small obstacles but considerably smarter opponents.In the first FEAR, you could slow time down through "reflex time" (which is in Project Origin), dash into a crowd of Replicant soldiers, lay waste, and then take cover.Not in Project Origin... or as much.Now the enemy will actively try and outflank you so it is easier to get pincer in by enemy troops.Sadly, they no longer talk like Half-Life marines but still scream like them.The stealth ninjas only appear towards the end of the game and are a lot easier to handle as they appear in better lighting so it's easier to recognize the distortion they create.No more hiding in wait.

They also created three new, and very annoying, enemies.The first are what I crawl "non-tongue lickers," a play on the Resident Evil version but they do not have tongues.They will, however, crawl agilely across floors and walls and lunge at you.The second are what I call "puppet masters," civilians that have little stringy tentacle thingies that resurrect the dead to kill you.To me, these guys were the most annoying because they usually soak up the bullets like a sponge and will continually bring back those you just killed.The third are the power units, similar to those in the first FEAR, but a lot more dangerous as they have shields and will chase you down.However, you get to drive two later on!!That was my favorite part as I was driving the armor down the street, laying waste to... everyone, almost casually.The only features missing in the power armor is a Mr. Coffee and an MP3 player since I was humming "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson while launching rockets.

The last improvements, and probably the most important, are the atmosphere and the freaky moments.The first FEAR executed this almost flawlessly so how do you improve upon that without going overboard?Simple, Monolith simply spread them out so the player, who probably played the first one, will keep expecting it and then lower his guard since it doesn't happen as much.I noticed there weren't nearly as many freaky apparitions or lunge in front of you moments, although you do wrestle with Alma more.My personal favorite scene involved an elementary school and a crap load of lockers.There is also a lot more blood and gore as the first one.

Now, despite all these advantages, there are three distinct complaints I wish to bring up.

The first is the length of the game or the lack thereof.My brother and I started at 3pm, played until 5:30, stopped until 7pm, resumed then, and beat the game at 11pm.If you do not count restroom and food breaks, our total completion time was (rounded up) 6 ½ hours.The first time around in FEAR, which had around 13 intervals as opposed to Project Origin's 7, took twice as long and then half the time the second time around.An FPS should take longer than that but, as they did with Halo 3, they figured quality would trump quantity.It doesn't quite work this time around.They could have expanded significantly or, oh I don't know, MADE THE ENDING LONGER!!

The second is how the wacky linear nature of the environment is hard to tell at times.By that, I mean it can be very hard to find the hidden ladder needed to advance, or the door, or even see the lock you have to shoot out.Dead Space did an amazing thing with the interface by allowing the player to press a button to see where they had to go and it did not take away from the overall experience.This isn't Resident Evil 2, where you bounce back and forth in the police station like a ping pong ball.

The third, and probably my biggest complaint, are the blatant transition glitches.I swear, my brother and I are glitch magnets.When Alma attacks and you have to fend her off your person it ALWAYS effects the environment whether it be opening an elevator door or knocking some boxes down.However, three times the transition did not occur and we were stuck to either wander around endlessly or reset to the last checkpoint.The first time was in the elementary school right after we fought the principle.We went back to the elevator and fought off Alma.Normally, she opens the doors but this time they did not and we wandered around for 20 minutes trying to figure out where to go.Once we restarted, we did the fending off again and this time the doors opened.GLITCH!!This happened two more times during the same play through.THIS is bad.

All in all, FEAR 2 will dazzle previous FEAR fans with brilliance while no players will be dazzled with BS as you seemingly have to be a fan to appreciate it.Nonetheless, if you're a new player then do yourself a favor and get the first FEAR, THEN get this one.It is well worth it, I promise you.

Overall, an 80/100
-10 for glitches
-5 for lack of length
-2 for hard to find paths
-3 for bad ending




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