We are proud to bring you our February Man of the Hour who is Arkke with his review of F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin.
In more recent years, a paradigm has begun to arise in the world of game development, one that emphasizes the value of player immersion in the overall gaming experience. FEAR 2 takes this expectation and completely blows it out of the water; the mixture of suspense, action, and sheer terror that Monolith brings to the table is something that will certainly not disappoint. While this game is certainly not for the faint of heart, it's a first-person experience that no gamer in their right mind should pass up.
For those who are behind the times, FEAR 2 picks up around where the original FEAR ends - Alma Wade, a girl with dangerous mental power, has been released from her vault underneath Still Island, and threatens to destroy everything in sight with her army of telepathically-controlled Replica soldiers. At the climax of the first FEAR, a bomb was set off in hopes of destroying Alma in the blast, and your story as Delta Squad member Michael Becket begins shortly before the detonation occurs. You witness the detonation first-hand, and spend a decent portion of the game climbing through the shattered remains of the city. The story unfolds through conversations with the game's cast, as well as by reading piece of intel scattered around the game. These pieces of intel can be anything from a manual on how to operate a weapon to a chat log between two characters.
You'll spend the majority of the game in standard first-person fashion, fighting a half-dozen soldiers at any given time, be they Replica soldiers or Armacham Black Ops soldiers attempting to find and contain Alma. Cover is pivotal for survival in FEAR; many objects can be tipped over or slid into place to create makeshift cover for yourself, and any enemies you encounter will do the same. The AI in this game can be brutally smart. I frequently found myself being flanked by enemy troops, running for new cover when a grenade lands just inches away. Especially because you find yourself going up to upwards of 6 or 7 enemies at some points, the combat is fast-paced and unforgiving of mistakes. Fortunately, by way of telekinetic powers earned early in the game, you'll have the option to temporarily slow down time, making headshots and tricks combat maneuvers laughably simple. But this power isn't to be taken lightly; in some of the most difficult encounters in the game, your 'slow-mo' is almost mandatory for success. The entire experience is enhanced by an arsenal of weapons that are fun and easy to use, most with their own different firing settings to help fine-tune the way you play.
The horror sequences provide temporary reprieve from the game's numerous firefights, but certainly don't let down on the tension. In addition to having to shoot away spirits that will attack you and drain your health, you'll frequently find yourself in a mental struggle with Alma herself, and will need to use 'action commands' to escape her grasp. You may recall this sort of gameplay from cutscenes in Resident Evil 4, when you were prompted to press certain buttons in order to escape death. The system is much more simplified in FEAR 2 - you'll only end up jamming one of two different buttons in these sequences - but the urgent feelings associated with this sort of gameplay are no less strong in FEAR than they were in Resident Evil. Throughout the game's horror portions, you'll find yourself jumping as Alma zooms down a hallway towards you, or as the remains of a soldier's limbs fall from the ceiling. Between the threat of Alma's psychic attacks and the constant pressure of the Replica and Black Ops forces, FEAR is a game that keeps you on your feet at all times.
The entire FEAR experience is brought together by the game's various locales. Of course, all the creepy haunted places you've come to know and love from previous horror games are included - a school, a hospital, a subway, etc. - and are illustrated with a particular attention to detail. In the school building, for example, you can read the signs outside the classrooms, and see the artwork of students. There's even a 50's-style educational video outside of the nurse's office. Some of the scenes from the game are absolutely breathtaking. The blast zone from the first game's explosion comes to mind; you get to see first-hand the scale of the destruction, and climb down the rubble a piece at a time. The stages are also smartly designed; without having a solution written out for you in stone, players can devise a way to reach their next objective using ingenuity. Often you'll find yourself taking unconventional exits, and chuckling to yourself about how clever your escape route was. My only criticism here is that you can always recognize when there's gonna be some kind of firefight or ambush; if the room is big and has lots of boxes, columns or shelves, you're probably shooting someone there. Overall, it never feels like you're walking in a straight line; the routes you take are always creative and exciting and make you use your head to reach your destination.
FEAR does indeed have a multiplayer mode, which queues you up for matches with random players to play in maps based on stages in the game. There's a "class creation" system, that lets you spent points to buy guns, grenades, armor and med kits, and a ranking system to show your progress, along with it's own achievements. However, like many first-person console shooters, the multiplayer aspect is merely a backdrop to the single-player mode, where the focus was clearly placed. I'm not at all saying that the online action is bad, but it certainly doesn't bring anything new or exciting to the table. Long in the short, the multiplayer isn't anything to write home about. If you don't own Halo 3 or another comparable multiplayer shooter, going online with FEAR may not be a terrible idea.
If I had to sum up the overall FEAR 2 experience in a single word, it would have to be "surprising". Just when you think you have everything figured out about this game, there's always something new waiting for you down the next hallway. FEAR has set a very high standard for shooters in 2009. Whether or not the competition will be able to stack up or not, however, will be the real surprise. Maybe when Valve gives up the ghost and puts out Half-Life 3, or Duke Nukem Forever escapes development hell, we'll be able to stack up just how solid of a title FEAR really is. Regardless of how the comparison turns out, FEAR 2 will continue to be a prime example of how a first-person shooter should play, and you can bet I'll be personally looking forward to FEAR 3.
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