F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin

Shooting bullets at things

The sequel to First Encounter Assault Recon seems like it is quite an old game to be released, and that I'm behind on the times. However, I feel that now is the perfect time to review it, due to the imminent release of F.E.A.R 3, and the fact that until now I hadn't played it. Those who read my reviews of the expansions to the original F.E.A.R game know that my opinion of those is particularly low – and I needed quite a long break after playing those train wrecks to be able to bring myself to play F.E.A.R 2!

What I Liked

• More than 2 weapons at once!

This absolutely shocked me – this would be the first modern shooter I have played in quite a long time that aims for realism (to a degree) and yet allows a player to hold more than two weapons at once! Admittedly, it is still restricted (4 guns, 4 types of grenade), but it allows much more choice than, for example, Call of Duty, or Duke Nukem Forever (the latter being very disappointing in this regard, due to its roots).

In addition to this, a fair few of the guns are quite satisfying to use. My jaw dropped when I got hold of the Napalm Launcher. While its not particularly powerful, I always enjoy being able to set things on fire in a game – and a fire launching gun is something I never see often enough in shooters! The sniper rifle would immediately gib an enemy soldier if you get a good shot on them. In fact, the only disappointing weapon was the Hammerhead – the successor to the first game's “Penetrator”. It is essentially a nailgun, and is quite powerful. However it doesn't feel as powerful as it should be.

The plasma weapon you get late in the game is particularly awesome.

Alma just loves to ruin your day

• Plot

The plot for this game is utterly insane. To be honest, I found it quite difficult to follow, but it was entertaining nonetheless. It began to fall into place by the end, and made a semblance of sense by the end, leading up to one of the strangest game endings I have ever seen. I won't spoil it for anyone (obviously), except to say that it leaves a sequel a foregone conclusion (and really... the sequel's out at time of writing, so meh). It's also kind of disturbing, but that's the aim of the game really.

• Mechs

The first game had a bunch of mech-like power armours to battle against. These battles were frustrating, and forced the player to rely on explosives due to their increased damage (they could be taken down purely with bullets, but it would take a lot of them). Of course, you destroy them all and continue on your merry way.

Why do I mention this? Well in F.E.A.R 2, you have two sequences where you are lucky enough to pilot these. These sections are fairly easy in comparison to the on-foot sequences, but I found it quite fun to run around blasting these guys in a mech. Variety is always a blessing in an FPS, and these sections were much needed short bursts of destruction.

What I Hated

• The Fear is a Lie

For a game titled FEAR, there was a surprising lack of it. This may be the jaded gamer in me talking, but I found that the game didn't creep me out in the slightest until quite late. The sections that did creep me out were creepy due to random ghosts attacking (and dealing damage) out of nowhere than to the actual game. They get a lot of atmospheric things right – there a lots of corridors of corpses and blood, and the occasional dive into the mind of the psychic (and psycho) girl who is chasing you. However, it occasionally feels like they're just going through the motions.

I find it quite difficult to describe why it didn't scare me – since such a thing is quite subjective. I have spoken to other people about this game, and some have been scared, and others were very not scared. I was scared the first time I played the original game, but since then it seems to have become simply run and gun to me.

Admittedly, a FPS where you are allowed weapons (some of these weapons being extremely powerful – not to mention the aforementioned mech piloting segments) makes a horror game feel much less horror oriented, since you are able to fight back against the bad guys. The game attempts to wrench this from you when you have the sequences where Alma exerts her influence over you, but before long you realise that these are all scripted, and you will be returned full control of yourself before long.

If you want a game that will scare the pants off you, this is not it. Play Amnesia: Dark Descent instead.

• Mostly Generic Enemies

This is a complaint I had with the first game – with the exception of the ninjas and the mechs, every fightable enemy is a generic soldier. Some have small arms, some have bigger guns, some have sniper rifles, some are wearing helmets, and some are not. This is about as much as the enemies vary.

In addition to this, there is only one type of ninja (fair enough), and one fightable monster/mutant type. It begins to feel very samey after a while, after you have gunned down generic replica soldier #8445674. Admittedly, the replica soldiers are supposed to be replicas of each other – that's part of the plot. However they are not the only enemies you have in the game, and the sameness of the other enemies seems unjustified, and simply not fun, to me.

• Certain Environments are Boring

A lot of the early game environments are much like they were in the first game – empty warehouses, underground laboratories, and deserted hospitals. These places are all well and good, but they feel too over-utilsed in horror games nowadays (particularly since Silent Hill made hospitals scarier than they have ever been before). Compound this with the fairly bland enemies, and the early game feels like a chore. It wasn't until about halfway through the game (where I reached the streets of the city) that I began to really enjoy the game at all. Unfortunately, first impressions matter – people will stop playing if they get bored unless they're pedantic and want to finish the game.

• Conflicting Goals

This is partially covered above, but the game doesn't seem to be able to decide whether it wants to be a balls to the wall shooter, a realistic simulation, or a horror game. As a result, it has a tendency to flip between the three. Whilst not necessarily a bad thing, some of the transitions feel kind of clumsy.

The AI is fairy strong on some points, forcing you to think tactically (to a degree) about what you're doing. When to reload, when to hide, when to shoot. However, this is blown by giving you an activate-at-will slow-mo ability which gives you a limited amount of time where you can essentially charge at the enemies without regard to sense.

You are repeatedly shown scenes of random soldiers being dragged away by an invisible force, and ripped apart in an attempt to scare you (or at least creep you out). Moments later, this tension is broken with an all out gunfight, or a terribly placed line of dialogue. An actual line from the game: “You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She smells you, and she will consume you.”

Uh... what?

The protagonist of F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin

• Retarded Default Controls

This is a minor gripe, but the default controls reek of console port. Right click is the melee button by default, while I cannot remember the initial setting for scoped sighting (which you will want to use a lot, since, you know, aiming when shooting is a good thing). The middle mouse click opens a very consoleriffic gun selection "quick menu", which felt very wrong to use early on, and didn't get much easier as the game continued. I found myself simply ducking behind a corner and scrolling to find the gun I wanted!

All in all, F.E.A.R 2 is a huge improvement over the first game, particularly the terrible expansions it had. While completely disregarding those expansions plotwise makes me all the more bitter about suffering through them, it was for the best. However, don't come to this party expecting to be sent home crying to your Mummy.