Game review: FEAR 2: Project Origin

March 5, 1:13 PMPC Game ExaminerBryan Edge-Salois

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F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin doesn't bring any new innovations to the FPS genre and doesn't stray far from the original F.E.A.R., it still improves on virtually every aspect of its predecessor and delivers a fun and occasionally thrilling experience. If you liked the original, you'll probably enjoy the sequel.
 

The Good
F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin keeps all the strengths of its predecessor in place. The larger, tactical gunfights against the reasonably competent enemies are very fun and generally well-paced in between shorter skirmishes and creepy sequences.  

This wonderful fellow wants to eat your face.

The environments are vast improvement over the original F.E.A.R.'s drab, tedious office halls and parking garages. The locations in F.E.A.R. 2  are far more detailed, and you can interact with them much more realistically -- but only up to a point, because the game largely keeps you 'on rails', which is unfortunate. The environments are so detailed and interesting that I frequently found myself wanting to explore them more.

You can also use your environment more in combat -- for example, you can knock down things like vending machines, or open car doors and use them for cover. You can even -- with sufficient firepower -- blast away parts of support columns, walls, and other obstacles. (Truthfully, however, I never needed more than bullet time and quick snap shots from cover to deal with most enemies.)

All of your weapons pack a significant punch and a hefty, satisfying 'boom' of one kind or another. The sniper rifle and shotguns pretty much cause enemies to violently explode. The machine gun and assault rifle provide plenty of punch for nearly any gunfight, and the 'special' weapons -- which include a flame thrower, laser, energy weapon, and missile launcher -- all fry, blast, and explode your enemies in highly satisfying ways. Even your pistol is powerful and doesn't feel like the useless fall back weapon such weapons are usually assigned to.

This is your ultimate nemesis. Bust a cap in her...
I dare ya.

You also have a variety of grenades at your disposal, including frag grenades, incendiary, and proximity mines, and shock grenades (useful against mechs). You also get to pilot a mech through a couple sequences, raining death and destruction on your enemies via massive chainguns and rocket launchers. It's terrifically satisfying, although not terribly challenging.

Combined with your special 'bullet time' ability, every gunfight can be approached with a variety of strategies -- whether you like to sneak and snipe or run in guns-blazing. Enemy AI is fairly competent, however, and makes good use of cover, flanking, and their grenades to flush you out of hiding spaces.

The Bad
Although I generally enjoyed F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin from beginning to end, it's not without several flaws. Fortunately, most of them are minor enough that they don't ruin the game, but some of them could have been avoided and delivered an overall better experience. 

The first and probably most major -- but forgivable -- flaw is the lack of any real innovation. FPS games have come a long way in recent years, and games like Crysis and Far Cry 2 have really expanded on how the genre can be played. F.E.A.R. 2 sticks to its original -- but fairly safe-- formula. It's still fun, but it doesn't bring much new to the table since the original F.E.A.R. launched in 2004.

The 'normal' difficulty setting is also a little too easy, in my opinion. (Maybe I should have played 'hard'.) Although it ramps up a bit after about 1/3 of the way into the game, it was seldom overly difficult.

Say hello to my little friend.

A big gripe (for me) is the use of checkpoint-based saved games. The checkpoints are actually very generously spaced; the game saves right before and after virtually every major sequence. Unfortunately, you have no way to go back and load a new saved game if you'd just like to revisit certain parts of the game. It's like having a book that you can never turn back the pages in -- unless you want to start the entire story from the beginning and go through the whole game again.

And now that we've mentioned the story, let's talk about it a little: It sucks.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has great source material for a story, but it never offers anything beyond 'Alma is coming for you' set against a backdrop of gore, creepy thrills and NPC deaths. Intelligence data gathered in the mission serves to give you background information, but your story in the game is weak.

And the ending is at best disappointing and at worst a lousy copout for a sequel -- which I'd probably still play anyway.

Overall
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin improves on virtually every aspect of its predecessor and delivers some great thrills and chills. If you liked the original, you'll probably enjoy the sequel. But it's flaws ultimately relegate it to the video game equivalent of a 'popcorn flick' -- fun enough while it lasts, but ultimately shallow and quickly forgotten. 

Score: 7.5/10

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