Post by Setre on Mar 6, 2009 21:45:24 GMT -5
The only sound I hear is the beating of my own heart. It’s a sound I’ve come to know and trust. Whenever I hear my heartbeat as clearly as I do now I know something bad is about to happen. As if on cue she appears out of nowhere, not giving me enough time to even get a single shot off. The only thing I have time to do is lift my arm up to protect me self. I’m not sure what she’s trying to do but I know if I don’t get her off me soon I’m going to be dead. With all of my strength I push back against her, successfully knocking her backwards. She stands there for just a moment then disappears again. What the hell is this Alma woman?
- Private thoughts of Michael Becket
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Review
F.E.A.R. was one of my favorite games of 2005 so when I heard a sequel was coming out I was excited. As the release date drew closer my excitement grew and as if to seal the deal Monolith released a demo. I enjoyed the demo enough that I decided I was going to buy F.E.A.R. 2, so when February 10th of 2009 rolled around I went out and bought my copy. After several hours with the game I came to a realization: it was just more of the same old shit but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
While some may complain that the scares in Project Origin are too few I liked how the developers chose to do them. Instead of throwing them at you like in the first game you have to explore to find your scares. Usually in a game I will buzz right by areas to simply get to the next part but in PO I found myself exploring the levels to find dear sweet Alma. I felt that I got so see more of the game this way then I would have if Monolith had stuck with the simple in your face scares of the first game. The only scare I missed, or didn’t find, was going down a ladder and seeing Alma staring down at me. This did have an advantage though. Because I remembered this scare from the first game I was always tense going down or up ladders, expecting Alma to be there waiting.
The sound in PO is something that stood out to me a lot. Often times I could hear something in the distance that would make me tense and I’d start to prepare myself for something to happen. Sometimes a soldier would pop out from around the corner or nothing would happen at all. The sound is what gives this game one of its creepy factors. There’s nothing to memorial about the soundtrack however although I did enjoy the credits ending song. My only complaint in the sound department is the voice work. Not the acting but the volume and static you get when a character talks. I often time had to rely on the subtitles to know what the characters were saying and trying to read subtitles during a firefight is pretty hard.
Speaking of firefights the combat in F.E.A.R. 2 is solid. The aiming works well and I never had much of a problem shooting my enemies. My complaints about combat are that how come the enemy can take so many hits? I understand the heavily armored guys but the regular grunts can take up to several headshots. That is one of the reasons I was glad to have slow-mo. While the enemies took several shots to die the slow-mo allowed me to at least get a few of them down before more arrived. I’ve heard people complain about the slow-mo being different from in the first F.E.A.R. but I didn’t notice anything about it, worked just as good if not better. Another thing I loved about the combat in PO was the mecha action. If Monolith plans on making a F.E.A.R. 2 I want more mecha. Although oddly enough it still took several shots from its machineguns to bring down regular enemies.
Now for the final part of this review; the story. In the first game you came across telephones that helped advance the story along while in PO you come across notebooks, or whatever they were. The big difference is one you listened to and the other you read. In F.E.A.R. even when you listened to the telephone you were still in the game, you could move around and such that’s not the case in PO. When you find one of the notebooks it opens it and goes to the pause menu where you read it some text, it kills some of the emersion. I honestly didn’t mind it that much but I would have preferred the telephones. Overall though the main story in the game was enjoyable. I don’t want to spoil anything but I’m not quite sure what happened there at the end. Regardless Monolith left it open for a third game and while a lot wasn’t resolved I still enjoyed it.
I’d say if you were a fan of the first F.E.A.R. you’d probably like Project Origin if you never played the first game you’d probably like it as a shooter but nothing else. I’d say buy it if you’ve got the money to spare and enjoyed the first game otherwise stick to a rent.
I hope you enjoyed the review.
