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F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Review--

FEAR 2: Project Origin invites you back to the city of Auburn for more shoot-‘em up, body splattering glee and moments of abject terror. However, this time around there are less locked doors and boxes, far more interesting environments and diverse gameplay.

A History Lesson

If you remember the end of the first FEAR, you remember a giant explosion devastating the city of Auburn. In FEAR 2, you start right before the blast goes off and follow the events that take place in the aftermath of Alma’s revenge.  The character? Michael Becket, the Delta Force’s n00b and the unfortunate focus of Alma’s attention, thanks to the interference of Armacham in an attempt to clean up their mess. Confused? Yeah, trying to wrap your head around the plot at this point is slightly daunting. Just remember: kill anything that makes your reticle turn red and the creepy little girl is not your friend.

Nothing to Fear, But FEAR 2 Itself

Right off the bat, FEAR 2 presents an excellent balance between fast paced shooting sprees and wandering around near-abandoned remnants of Auburn waiting to have the s*@& scared out of you. Monolith has always done “scary” well. Sure, the game catches you with the always cheap jump scares from time to time but it excels at, much like the Condemned series (also Monolith) incorporating audio and lighting perfectly, to keep you on edge even when nothing is happening. The moments of quiet, the building music that leads to nothing, the way your flashlight glances off nearly human shapes and of course, the remnants of people in the wake of tremendous violence, make this more than your average first person shooter.

The audio in the game is phenomenal. Sound effects, music...these are things FEAR 2 gets absolutely right. You hear objects falling around you, the music roars to somewhat panic inducing crescendos building expectations then ending in…nothing. It’s just enough to get your adrenaline flowing and keep you on your toes, which the game definitely does.

Now, most of your human interaction in the game comes from your NPC Delta Squad and the few survivors that remain after the blast. More engaging than the plot is the Delta Squad’s humorous banter while approaching a rather FUBAR situation. One NPC in particular stands out but hey, no spoilers. You’ll know him when you see him.

Déjà Vu All Over Again?

In many ways, FEAR 2 feels like an extremely polished version of the first game. While previous concerns are addressed, there isn’t that much new here. What’s new? For brief periods of time you’ll be piloting a mech suit, and while I was skeptical, as I always am when FPS games try to shake up their core gameplay, the thermal-vision equipped mech is a blast (literally and figuratively) and a welcome addition to the action.

There is also a cover system and the ability to move certain objects to open up doorways. The cover system is not implemented into the control. In FEAR 2, cover system means you can throw over items and crouch behind them, which is not actually what we’ve come to understand as taking cover in games anymore. It’s not really a hindrance to gameplay, but it doesn’t really add to it either. The AI, on the other hand, actually gets to take full advantage of cover and ducking and rolling and, well, all the things Becket can’t do.

Teenage Mutant Mechanical Ninja Ghosts

The other game elements, as previously stated, feel like significant improvements on their predecessors. The brilliant AI of the first game is back. They’ll use anything in the environment to navigate into a better position to kill you and that makes for an interesting (and replayable!) challenge.

Did I mention the mechanical ghost ninjas? When dealing with regular bad guys, you won’t need to overly rely on your ability to stop time, but it does help you see all the glorious chunky bits of gore as an enemy dissolves into a pool of blood. For mechanical ghost ninjas (my words, not FEARs) you’ll need to slow time to avoid being taken down fast. They appear out of the shadows, move quickly, have tremendous acrobatic ability and appear cloaked as hazy patches of light. They’re pretty badass and a great evolution of the ones in the first game.

Out of My Way, Box!

Of course, for those of you who got really sick of rooms filled with boxes, and nondescript hallways and cubicles followed by more rooms with boxes, hallways with boxes and offices with boxes, FEAR 2 has a far greater variety of levels with much more detail that make for a way more visually interesting game.

Hospitals, the abandoned city streets, an elementary school…those places makes for great horror environments and the level of detail is vastly improved. You won’t find yourself getting lost in the ruins of Auburn. FEAR does an excellent job of directing you through the maps with *gasp* more than just another locked door. Don’t worry, they didn’t get rid of all of them but FEAR 2 definitely has a more cinematic approach to guiding you through the levels.

The More The Scarier

When you’re all done with the single player campaign, there’s always multiplayer. First, I should make it abundantly clear that the multiplayer doesn’t detract from the overall score or quality of the game. It’s your standard, solid multiplayer mode with exactly what you’d expect from an FPS game—Deathmatch and point-capturing modes, well constructed maps and some bonus mech play.

The problem is that multiplayer exists completely separately from the FEAR universe and the unique qualities that the series possesses aren’t brought to life here. For a game with such an overarching horror ambience, it doesn’t show through in the multiplayer. The blood and gore splattered walls of the campaign don’t make an appearance here and one of the cruxes of FEAR’s single player, the slow down of time, isn’t implemented either.

Of course, that’s a very difficult undertaking I’m sure, but it has been done. One thing the time-meddling shooter TimeShift did right was the inclusion of time slowing grenades in its multiplayer, which helped bring the single player into that experience. It’s worth taking some time to enjoy fragging other players, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself gravitating back to your favorite online shooter fairly quickly.

Embrace the FEAR

In short, if you like FEAR, you will love FEAR 2. It may be too scary for some and the wobble of your character walking might induce a slight bit of motion sickness, but it’s a well constructed horror/action title. A few more subtle scares rather than the “jump out and jar you” scares might improve the game, but it’s all over well constructed and engaging, even if you can’t begin to wrap your head around the plot anymore.

You probably won’t find COD4/Halo-echelon lasting enjoyment out of the multiplayer, but it should entertain you a bit past finishing the single player campaign (at least until  you earn your achievements, right?). But if you’re a fan of the FPS genre, the FEAR series has always been and will continue to be worth playing for the ambience and AI alone.

Article Written By: Abbie Heppe