F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - Review and Rating

F.E.A.R. 2 is Monolith’s horror shooter sequel to 2005’s F.E.A.R. but rather than feeling like an expansion of the franchise--and despite some fairly obvious improvements (graphical, AI, and gameplay) -- F.E.A.R. 2 feels like just more of the same.  While the combat is still a heck of a lot of fun, the storyline (or absence of one) really doesn’t give players anything to sink their teeth into.  Ultimately the game is a bit of a letdown.

When Monolith unleashed the first F.E.A.R., nobody really knew what to expect.  Was it a shooter?  Was it a horror game?  Was it revolutionary?  It ended up being all three but never really got the acclaim it should have.  The addition of supernatural horror and psychic elements into a shooter hadn’t really been done successfully before and the inclusion of bullet-time made the game a load of fun.  Unfortunately, the sequel follows the same formula only this time players know what to expect going into it.

Was the game hurt by corporate politics?  During the process of creating the sequel, Monolith was gobbled up by Warner.  While it retained the rights to all of the characters it had created, the rights to the F.E.A.R. name stuck with Vivendi.  Shortly before the game’s release, Vivendi merged was assimilated by Activision and Monolith was allowed to reclaim its game’s name.  It seems like a lot of hassle but was the product worth it?

Gameplay

Players enter the game just before the climax of the prequel (the big atomic explosion hasn’t happened yet—but it will) as Sergeant Michael Becket, a spec-ops soldier tasked with tracking down Genevieve Aristide, the president of Armacham, and placing her into protective custody.  Everything is going smoothly until some of the loveable F.E.A.R. baddies pop up and slowly whittle away Becket’s team right before his eyes.  Everybody starts having psychic hallucinations and Alma returns to spice things up a little.

How, you may ask, do two spec-ops team members have the exact same time bending abilities and link to the dead/undead Alma?  Well, F.E.A.R. 2 explains your cares away:  Becket is knocked unconscious, rushed to an operating room, and implanted with some nasty bits of bio-chemical experimentation which “link” him to Alma.  The whole convention feels rather forced and unnecessary (why not just use the character from the first game?)  Plus, it leaves players to fight their way out of this nightmarish hospital which is all-too reminiscent of the claustrophobic hallways that fans hated in the first game.  

The surgery/hospital bit feels like it was ripped straight out of Psi-Ops and, in fact, the whole game feels a bit like a mashup of the best bits from popular games and movies:

•    Alma—the little girl from The Ring
•    Bullet-Time—a la Max Payne
•    Underground facilities—can anyone say Half Life
•    A deserted brainwashing school for the “gifted”—tastes like Fallout (complete with the cheesy fifties slideshows and cheesy voiceovers

But the game has Alma, right?  She’s unique.  Yes but Alma is nowhere near as scary as she was in the first game.  Developers decided to give her three avatars:  You see her as a little girl (as before) but she also appears as a rather attractive naked version of her older self (relax, you can see any naughty bits) and a desiccated corpse-like hellish version.  She runs around wreaking havoc but generally players don’t have to interact with her until the very end.  It’s almost as if developers forgot that she was the whole point of the game.  She’s really just there to remind you that the game is a sequel.

While the rest of Project Origin feels a bit weak compared to the first game, F.E.A.R. was not known for its riveting storyline and wonderfully detailed plot.  F.E.A.R. was a shooter and so is the sequel.  In that respect, the game is quite good.  The weapons are great, the bullet-time gives you wonderful opportunities to plot extremely elaborate deaths for your enemies, and the first person viewpoint really works well.  It’s quite a lot of fun to use bullet-time to blast three enemies with the shotgun to keep them preoccupied while the grenade you tossed at their feet has time to cook itself off.  The resulting shockwave propels the ragdoll corpses out, smashing them into all sorts of obstacles and chowders them into giblets.

And speaking of enemies, there’s a great variety of them this time around from big bruisers in battle armor, to flame thrower-toting dorks just waiting to get barbecued by their own weapons, and even several quasi-bosses spread out through the levels.  The invisible assassins return as well but they seem extremely easy to spot and kill this time around.  Just equip the shotgun, wait until they pounce, enter slow-motion, and cap them with a single blast to the face.  Rinse and repeat.
Generally, the enemy AI is great.  They will use cover, flank you, and coordinate their attacks with each other doing their best to catch you unawares.  However, they seem rather easy to kill—in spite of developer’s frustrating decision to allow them to take multiple shots in the head—and don’t really offer that much of a challenge.

The cover system (as far as the player is concerned) bites.  You can flip over desks, push filing cabinets, etc. but you can’t attach yourself to the cover well enough to make it of use.  You can’t even peak around corners!
The game really stumbles when the horror elements are introduced.  In fact, most of the “scares” aren’t really all that scary and hinge on players reaching a trigger point.  Walk past the fire extinguisher on the wall and a headless corpse falls from the balcony above to land at your feet—cue the chilling musical bleat.  However, I found that I was constantly “slicing the pie” and “checking my six” for enemies and often missed these supposedly scary tidbits.   
There are also quite a few gotcha moments that are preceded by clues (shadows streaking across the wall or eerie music) that let you know something is coming.  Why bother?  You should never tell an audience you’re going to scare them before you do.  It’s ridiculous.
The game culminates in a rather boring climax (though developers do throw in a twist) which leaves the door open for another sequel.


Graphics

Though the games graphics are improved over its predecessor, they’re really not all that good.  The lack of detail and poor textures are quite disconcerting but makes turning the architecture into shrapnel possible.  While the character models are actually quite good, and the external environments are fairly well done, the interiors are just bland.  I remember actually having to upgrade my old PC to play the first F.E.A.R. but Project Origin plays without a hitch, even at high graphical settings.  While the X-Box 360 and PS3 versions do take a bit of a hit in the graphics department, it’s not really enough to make me choose one version over another.


Sound

The sound effects in the game are great.  Dripping water, shuffling feet, shells hitting the floor, muffled grunts and screams lend an air of realism to the game and even work well in slow-mo.  However, the score is rather annoying and features far too many audio clues that something scary is either about to happen or, supposedly, already has.


Value

Hardcore F.E.A.R. fans will buy the game (most will be disappointed) but the game really doesn’t offer anything new or exciting.  While it’s a solid game with decent playability, it’s not revolutionary and is just sort of mediocre.  Multiplayer is available but it’s really a joke and lacks the slow-motion feature that makes the game anything but a cookie-cutter shooter.


Final Verdict

F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin is a sequel but somehow ends up feeling like the annoying little sister of the first game.


Pros:  Solid combat, nice slow motion feature, satisfying physics.

Cons: same old same old, horror element has been dumbed down, normal difficulty is far too easy.



Overall Score: 8/10