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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It's clear as you play through Project Origin that Monolith has spent some time thinking about the science of horror. With a goal to walk a delicate tight rope with the game's design to ensure that the transitions between straight-up shooting and a foreboding, malevolent atmosphere with semi-frequent scares is executed with style. It's a line that the team has managed to tread with some aplomb. Project Origin may have its weaknesses, but in terms of its blend of shooter and horror, it has the weighting just right. Backing up the general melting of reality that is Project Origin's horror motifs, is a rock solid shooter.There's an awful lot to like, however. There's a much greater variety in locales than in the original, and the way you progress through the world is excellent. The story is really well handled and intriguing too. There's regular radio chatter from your team mates and other characters, as well as intel pick-ups that fill you in on Alma, Armacham, Replica soldiers and everything else. Perhaps most impressive is the city itself. You arrive on the surface a while after the explosion, in a dilapidated warehouse with a car embedded halfway through a second storey wall, with most of its corrugated iron roof panels missing, exposing a muddy brown, broken sky. The sound design is every bit as good as the visual design, if not better. From roaring rushes and pained moans, to frenzied whispers in your ear as you creep down a corridor, HUD juddering, the effects do wonders for the atmosphere. So too does the strong soundtrack.
In the end, Project Origin is a fantastic piece of work and deserves to be applauded in many ways. Taking the original much loved game and transforming it into a suspenseful, adrenaline pumping sequel. A very entertaining game that ought to be tested and highly recommended.
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The Good: Amazing atmosphere, stripped away the bad stuff from FEAR 1, awesome mechs, well balancedThe Bad: Mostly same weapons, a tad short, lame multiplayer, stupid cliffhanger ending (FEAR 3?), more or less the same as FEAR 1
FEAR was a hyped up FPS back in 2006 that started the whole "creepy girl with the black hair over her face" thing. FEAR was so great, not because of it's FPS action, but because of it's well executed disturbing atmosphere. FEAR 2 is no exception with everything bad stripped from the first and lots of new things thrown in. FEAR 2 is your basic FPS at heart, but if you look beyond the veil you'll see something truly wonderful and that's, once again, the incredible atmosphere FEAR 2 portrays. If you didn't already know, Alma is the creepy girl we are after that is somehow connected to soldiers called Replicas, whilst she can control them telepathically. While the story in the first game was almost impossible to follow the same problem infects FEAR 2 until toward the last few chapters where the developers stop playing mind games and finally spill the beans on what and who Alma really is.
The main thing here I need to talk about though is atmosphere, you walk through school hallways hearing lockers slam and things swirling around with darkness all around you. Disturbing ghostly apparitions appear that you must shoot, creepy super humans infect certain areas, and just overall the flashbacks you get of Alma are pretty damn creepy. The most scary parts in the game were when your flashlight somehow stopped working and all you can do is find your way around with flickering lights. While the atmosphere is great (especially with headphones on and the lights off!) FEAR 2 has some new gameplay mechanics that make the game even better. While new guns are added a lot of the older ones are improved (along with the difficulty toned WAY down). Most of your guns are average such as machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles etc. The only unique guns are the Hammerhead (shoots green needles that impale enemies to walls), the Laser rifle (a giant laser that shreds through everything), and the Pulse rifle (which shoots giant blue orbs that disintegrate everything in it's path). Of course these guns are harder to find and are rarer, but they have their uses.
My favorite addition are the mech sections...yes who would have thought FEAR would have mechs. Remember those annoying mechs in the first FEAR? Well now you can ride them! Hop into these heaping piles of metal and you get your standard machine gun and rockets, but the mech controls so well and the machine gun feels so powerful. It's great to see your enemies explode in a gory mess after a few machine guns rounds and you really feel you're more powerful for them for once. If your health starts running low hop out for a few minutes and your health will be restored. Included with old mechanics are the slow-mo, health injectors (that are really hard to find), easier to unlock achievements, and still lame multiplayer. I also have to mention how firefights are nicely balanced with just wondering around enjoying the atmosphere.
Everything is just superb cosmetically with great voice acting, beautiful visuals (although they could still be better), and great lighting effects. Of course the campaign is a tad short running in at about 6-8 hours and the cliffhanger ending is really retarded (aren't they all? *HALO 2*) Overall the game just builds up into a nice climax and that's what we usually love with shooters. While I recommend FEAR 2 for a great weekend rental it's nothing really more than that. The game is still (to it's core) FEAR 1 which was monotonous shooting and FEAR 2 kind of feels that way towards the end.
Honest reviews on Fear 2: Project Origin - Xbox 360
I ordered this game after my brother-in-law gave me the first one and I was very happy to find that it built on the already fantastic game play. I was a little thrown at first because the controller operations were different from the first (I'm not a pro gamer, so jumping back and forth from different games gets me discombobulated enough to blow myself up or stand there looking silly while enemies pound me). Once I got the hang of it though I could focus on the crisp new ways to interact with the environment.I'm not going to recap other reviewers info about the storyline and the creep-factor; both are very, very cool and this is a fun game for those that like virtual violence and gory, Gothic themes. Here's my "like-the-most" list:
-grenades are newer and the "cook" feature is great...even though i blew myself up a couple of times
-great new selection of weapons....loved the sniper rifle
-the flashlight stays on...no more "recharging", I know it sounds petty but it made a difference to me to not have that annoying feature. I know it was supposed to add to the anxiety factor of the first F.E.A.R., but I just found it a pain
-upgraded actions like leaping over barriers are a nice touch
the mech-suit is very cool, I especially enjoyed blasting my way down the street feeling invulnerable
The save points seem closer together, which is also a nice improvement. Like the first one, I still find running around the insides of buildings boring and to be honest, I think that they should have focused more on moving the game forward and the gore action rather than "problem solving" your way out of a basement. But it seems less prevalent than the first one and you generally can find your way and get back to the action. Being able to slide furniture and whatnot to make cover is cool, though I really rarely used it at all. The story line is intriguing and the flashbacks and movie-cuts are top notch. I'm looking forward to getting the third episode.
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The game itself is fine. It is a good shooter. I wouldn't put it up there with Rainbow Six, or Gears of War, but it is good with a good story line.My only issue with the game is that out of two FEAR 2 discs, and using two new Xbox360s machines, the discs will not play on either. They play fine on two older machines that I have access too. The only way I could get it to work on an Xbox360s was to download it from Xbox Live.
So, Microsoft was of little help here. They don't recognize an issue. I am not a computer whiz, so I might be missing something, but I think there is an issue with this game and the new consoles.
I'd recommend not buying the disc if you have an Xbox360s until Microsoft resolves the issue. If you have an older Xbox360, by all means, it is a very playable game.
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