This review contains spoilers
When I make reviews, I usually aim to talk about games I love rather than ones I hate. Today, however, is an exception.
F.E.A.R. 2 isn't just one of the worst sequels ever made, but it's one of the worst games ever made as well. It's honestly kind of comical how Monolith decided to pretty much abandon everything that made the first game good when making its sequel.
Those well designed levels that worked perfectly in conjunction with the AI? Gone.
The raw presentation of the first game with its closed, atmospheric, and industrial environments? How gunfights would rip rooms apart with their sheer amount of chaos? The incredible lighting? Gone.
Somehow they even made slow motion lame, something that I didn't even think was possible. Now it has an insane amount of VFX to the point where it honest to god just becomes nauseating.
The difficulty balancing is also a huge issue. With normal mode being too easy, and hard mode being too hard. This became insanely apparent to me in the mech section, where said mech jumps from being Death Megatron 9,000 to a fucking paperweight.
The horror aspect of this game is also just like hilariously bad. The game just turns orange and like every single post processing effect is turned to fifty million with absolutely no build up.
When playing this game, I really can't help but think that Monolith tried to make the most boring and homogenized game to ever exist. It's almost as if they realized that they had a winning formula in the first game and shot themselves in the foot with a SPAS-12 by going completely backwards.
I really could keep going on about stuff I hate in this game, but there's one last thing I wanted to talk about. If you've played the game, you probably already know what it is. If you haven't, don't worry, because I saved the worst for last.
In order to keep their game from being completely forgettable, Monolith decided to include a scene where the player gets sexually assaulted for nothing other than sheer shock value. Not only that, but they had the gall to include what is one of the worst lines I've ever heard in reference to it.
"You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you. And she wants to consume you."
F.E.A.R. 2 isn't just one of the worst sequels ever made, but it's one of the worst games ever made as well. It's honestly kind of comical how Monolith decided to pretty much abandon everything that made the first game good when making its sequel.
Those well designed levels that worked perfectly in conjunction with the AI? Gone.
The raw presentation of the first game with its closed, atmospheric, and industrial environments? How gunfights would rip rooms apart with their sheer amount of chaos? The incredible lighting? Gone.
Somehow they even made slow motion lame, something that I didn't even think was possible. Now it has an insane amount of VFX to the point where it honest to god just becomes nauseating.
The difficulty balancing is also a huge issue. With normal mode being too easy, and hard mode being too hard. This became insanely apparent to me in the mech section, where said mech jumps from being Death Megatron 9,000 to a fucking paperweight.
The horror aspect of this game is also just like hilariously bad. The game just turns orange and like every single post processing effect is turned to fifty million with absolutely no build up.
When playing this game, I really can't help but think that Monolith tried to make the most boring and homogenized game to ever exist. It's almost as if they realized that they had a winning formula in the first game and shot themselves in the foot with a SPAS-12 by going completely backwards.
I really could keep going on about stuff I hate in this game, but there's one last thing I wanted to talk about. If you've played the game, you probably already know what it is. If you haven't, don't worry, because I saved the worst for last.
In order to keep their game from being completely forgettable, Monolith decided to include a scene where the player gets sexually assaulted for nothing other than sheer shock value. Not only that, but they had the gall to include what is one of the worst lines I've ever heard in reference to it.
"You're like free pizza at an anime convention. She can smell you. And she wants to consume you."
Es sorprendente el hecho de que el mismo equipo que trajo el F.E.A.R. original pudiera arruinar un montón de cosas que hicieron bien en el primero ahora en la secuela, esto se puede notar en varias partes, el diseño de los niveles ahora esta lleno de zonas espaciosas las cuales hacen notar que el diseño tan minucioso de la inteligencia artificial que vienen trabajando desde el 1 no esta hecho para peleas en lugares grandes ya que los enemigos se quedaran en cobertura lejos o trataran de correr en linea recta hacia ti, lo cual termina haciendo que no se pueda aprovechar bien el sistema de combate, y los problemas con los niveles o zonas no solo se quedan en los lugares espaciosos, si no que también en los lugares pequeños, cerrados y lineales, ya que en estos los enemigos muchas veces no demuestran ninguna otra estrategia que no sea atacar al jugador en linea recta o quedarse tras cobertura, muy pocas veces vi a un enemigo tratar de flanquearme o intentando una estrategia que cree la ilusión de que sea un enemigo pensante, algo por lo que el original es muy conocido, no se si sea solo culpa del diseño de niveles o puede que tenga que ver con que quisieron cambiar como funciona la IA de los enemigos (incluso cuando se nota que sigue teniendo parte del mismo comportamiento) pero de todas formas en términos generales el combate de esta secuela es funcional pero bastante genérico la gran mayoría de las veces y de vez en cuando muestra destellos de genialidad como los que hacían tan bueno el combate del primero. Hay un montón de cambios extraños que de verdad no entiendo, ahora uno no se puede inclinar hacia un lado para apuntar afuera de una esquina, por alguna razón ya no se puede usar la pistola en modo akimbo, algo que se podía en el primero, y aunque la pistola ciertamente es el arma mas débil del juego, poder usarla de esta forma la volvía bastante útil en ciertas ocasiones, quitar esta mecánica solo hace que no haya ninguna razón por la cual un jugador la quiera volver a agarrar, otra cosa que parece que no funciona ahora es disparar a tus propias granadas mientras están en el aire para que exploten en momentos específicos, o mas bien, parece que no funciona de forma correcta, porque varias veces que yo intente hacer esto la granada tardaba en explotar después de haberle disparado y en ciertas ocasiones explotaba justo cuando le disparaba, no si eso sea algo que solo me paso a mi, pero sinceramente sentí esta mecánica inconsistente, por lo que casi nunca intentaba hacerlo, tengo la teoría de que simplemente no se puede hacer y trataron de intercambiarlo con una mecánica de cocinar granadas, hablando de nuevas mecánicas que sinceramente no aportan nada, ahora se puede correr, pero la velocidad que aporta no es mucha en comparación con solo caminar y ademas cuando uno corre, toda acción que quiera hacer mientras corre tendrá un cierto retraso haciendo que cosas como deslices, patadas aéreas o saltos después de correr sean incómodos de ejecutar, yo diría que en general la mecánica de correr se siente torpe, otra cosa que añadieron es que ahora se puede apuntar desde el retículo del arma, lo cual no suena como algo malo si no fuese porque al usarla junto con el slow-mo cubre buena parte de la pantalla haciendo que sea difícil ver todo el daño que estas causando, no estoy diciendo que te quita la visión del enemigo, si no que esto cubre buena parte del espectáculo visual algo que no pasaba en el original, esto no seria molesto si no fuese porque ahora disparar desde la cadera es impreciso, haciendo que muchas veces sea completamente necesario usar la mirilla, otro cambio que no entiendo es que ahora los enemigos brillan cuando usas slow-mo, esto seria algo útil si no fuese porque ya de por si todos los enemigos llevan luces en sus uniformes haciendo que este cambio se sienta muy estúpido e innecesario, por ultimo en cuanto a adiciones quiero mencionar el mech suit, el cual de por si no es malo si no que las secciones en que lo puedes usar son idénticas y de verdad son de las mas genéricas que hay, eso si, quiero saber quien pensó que fue una buena idea añadir un mech suit en este juego para luego no permitirte usar el slow-mo mientras lo montas, es que de verdad no entiendo quien pensaría en esto. Ahora hablando meramente de las armas, casi todas si no todas son versiones inferiores de las armas del juego original, el rifle de asalto es peor, la ametralladora es mas o menos, el remplazo del arma de partículas es una desgracia, el nuevo lanzacohetes es aburrido, la nailgun es peor y lo peor de todo, se cagaron completamente en la escopeta, las nuevas armas son decentonas pero de verdad nada especial. En cuanto a enemigos, aunque la mayoria son muy parecidos a los originales, ahora los asesinos replica son un fastidio y salen en momentos que no dan espacio para que te puedan sorprender, y por alguna razón ahora hay enemigos rápidos que trepan por los muros y tratan lanzarse encima tuyo, son una molestia mas que nada.
Para terminar de hablar de este juego simplemente puedo decir, que aunque no es terrible porque mantiene varias cosas del original, como se caga en el resto de cosas que hicieron bien anteriormente, termina dejando una experiencia que no resalta en nada, una experiencia funcional pero de verdad una que no puedo recomendar ni a un fan del original, tiene sus momentos pero de verdad no vale la pena, ni hablar de la historia y de lo mal balanceado que están las dificultades.
Para terminar de hablar de este juego simplemente puedo decir, que aunque no es terrible porque mantiene varias cosas del original, como se caga en el resto de cosas que hicieron bien anteriormente, termina dejando una experiencia que no resalta en nada, una experiencia funcional pero de verdad una que no puedo recomendar ni a un fan del original, tiene sus momentos pero de verdad no vale la pena, ni hablar de la historia y de lo mal balanceado que están las dificultades.
Se o primeiro F.E.A.R já não dava tanto medo assim, aqui abraçaram quase que totalmente a temática de um Call of Duty com só aquela pegada e temática leve de "terror" nesse F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin, que não é nem um pouco um jogo ruim, e não sabia que ele tinha um certo hate quase igual ao terceiro jogo da trilogia quanto ele tem, que é compreensível gostarem mais do primeiro, mas na minha visão, esse jogo é tão bom em história e até melhor quando se trata de fazer ela parecer mais épica e ter fases com mais intensidade e valor quanto as do primeiro jogo, só perdendo para algumas questões relacionadas as mecânicas da Inteligência Artificial dos inimigos, que virou algo bem "COD" mesmo sem tanta identidade quanto antes, e discutivelmente um pouco da sua ambientação, que não sei se renuncio em dizer isso, porque realmente achei o jogo tão de "terror" quanto o anterior e acho que estou só quando digo que gostei mais dele do que do primeiro game (apesar de achar os dois bons em suas devidas proporções).
O começo desse game é basicamente no mesmo momento do final do primeiro jogo, onde Alma é liberta pelo "Harlan Wade", e logo após rola aquela explosão massiva na "Origin Facility", onde vemos na perspectiva do novo protagonista da vez que agora é o Sargento "Michael Becket". Aqui, em questão da estrutura da história, eles fazem basicamente o mesmo que fizeram em relação ao primeiro jogo, apresentam um novo vilão para compartilhar a ameaça com a Alma e ficar no lugar do ameaçador "Paxton Fettel" do primeiro game, que agora em vez de ser alguém que está lado-a-lado com a Alma, é só um general qualquer (Richard Vanek) que pelo que eu entendi está tentando acobertar todo o caso em relação à Alma e seu projeto fracassado de controle nela, eliminando a tudo e a todos com seus agentes clones que já tinham sido estabelecidos e agora estão na mão desse general desse segundo jogo, que sinceramente não chega nem perto da ameaça que o "Paxton" tinha e fica sobrando quando se trata da ameaça principal e marca de toda essa trilogia que é a "Alma Wade", onde desenvolvem ela ainda mais aqui e é obviamente a melhor coisa desse game, tendo um dos finais mais bizarros e confusos que eu já vi (que é meio estranho se você pensar demais mas dá para passar), e muitos momentos épicos e legais em toda a campanha que me fazem valorizar e reconhecer o trabalho que fizeram nesse jogo.
Os gráficos continuam bons até para os dias de hoje, e o jogo novamente é dividido em Intervals (Intervalos), em que nesse aqui, são apenas 7 (em vez de 11 igual no anterior) ao todo. Foi nesse game que apresentaram o tema mais sinistro e macabro dessa trilogia, o da "Alma's Music Box", que meu amigo que trilha marcante e arrepiante, igualmente poderosa há de muitos temas de filmes do gênero de terror que ficam na cabeça por horas e horas, que acho que até usei ela para um dos meus vídeos de terror que eu fazia na época no meu canal, que sinceramente é tão boa que para mim podia ter sido mais usada em toda a história do game. Mas enfim, o único ponto que realmente foi o que "pesou na balança" de muita gente, é o fato de terem caído de cabeça na estrutura de um Call of Duty e perdido ainda mais toda aquela carga de "terror" que "ainda tinha" (mesmo que pouco) no anterior, mas sinceramente, eu acho aceitável a proposta que abordaram nesse aqui pelo fato do primeiro jogo já não parecer e sentir que se considerava um jogo de terror completo e sim com uma pegada disso com ficção científica, tanto que o nível que tive de susto desse para o primeiro jogo foi basicamente o mesmo, de apenas um "jumpscare" que no caso daqui, foi no comecinho do jogo dentro do "APC", e foi isso.
Por fim, como dito acima, acho que o povo pega um pouco pesado com esse game, na minha visão, ele é tão bom e até mais épico com seus eventos do que seu antecessor, sendo para mim, o meu favorito de toda a trilogia. Ok, eu até posso entender que ele "se perde" no conceito de terror, mas ainda sim toda a abordagem dele não fica para trás e consegue se sustentar dentro do que ele se inspirou que foi a de um bom Call of Duty, só que numa pegada leve de terror, fora que, ele desenvolve bem toda a trama da garotinha "Alma" e de como ela é sinistra! Além de que, F.E.A.R, desde o primeiro nunca teve muito do conceito de algo de fato puro de terror como um Silent Hill ou algo do tipo, então essa abordagem foi tão aceitável, nos meus olhos, quanto a que exploraram anteriormente, e a ideia de fases épicas e a progressão divertida de uma para outra me prenderam bem do início ao fim nesse game, até mais que do próprio F.E.A.R 1.
O começo desse game é basicamente no mesmo momento do final do primeiro jogo, onde Alma é liberta pelo "Harlan Wade", e logo após rola aquela explosão massiva na "Origin Facility", onde vemos na perspectiva do novo protagonista da vez que agora é o Sargento "Michael Becket". Aqui, em questão da estrutura da história, eles fazem basicamente o mesmo que fizeram em relação ao primeiro jogo, apresentam um novo vilão para compartilhar a ameaça com a Alma e ficar no lugar do ameaçador "Paxton Fettel" do primeiro game, que agora em vez de ser alguém que está lado-a-lado com a Alma, é só um general qualquer (Richard Vanek) que pelo que eu entendi está tentando acobertar todo o caso em relação à Alma e seu projeto fracassado de controle nela, eliminando a tudo e a todos com seus agentes clones que já tinham sido estabelecidos e agora estão na mão desse general desse segundo jogo, que sinceramente não chega nem perto da ameaça que o "Paxton" tinha e fica sobrando quando se trata da ameaça principal e marca de toda essa trilogia que é a "Alma Wade", onde desenvolvem ela ainda mais aqui e é obviamente a melhor coisa desse game, tendo um dos finais mais bizarros e confusos que eu já vi (que é meio estranho se você pensar demais mas dá para passar), e muitos momentos épicos e legais em toda a campanha que me fazem valorizar e reconhecer o trabalho que fizeram nesse jogo.
Os gráficos continuam bons até para os dias de hoje, e o jogo novamente é dividido em Intervals (Intervalos), em que nesse aqui, são apenas 7 (em vez de 11 igual no anterior) ao todo. Foi nesse game que apresentaram o tema mais sinistro e macabro dessa trilogia, o da "Alma's Music Box", que meu amigo que trilha marcante e arrepiante, igualmente poderosa há de muitos temas de filmes do gênero de terror que ficam na cabeça por horas e horas, que acho que até usei ela para um dos meus vídeos de terror que eu fazia na época no meu canal, que sinceramente é tão boa que para mim podia ter sido mais usada em toda a história do game. Mas enfim, o único ponto que realmente foi o que "pesou na balança" de muita gente, é o fato de terem caído de cabeça na estrutura de um Call of Duty e perdido ainda mais toda aquela carga de "terror" que "ainda tinha" (mesmo que pouco) no anterior, mas sinceramente, eu acho aceitável a proposta que abordaram nesse aqui pelo fato do primeiro jogo já não parecer e sentir que se considerava um jogo de terror completo e sim com uma pegada disso com ficção científica, tanto que o nível que tive de susto desse para o primeiro jogo foi basicamente o mesmo, de apenas um "jumpscare" que no caso daqui, foi no comecinho do jogo dentro do "APC", e foi isso.
Por fim, como dito acima, acho que o povo pega um pouco pesado com esse game, na minha visão, ele é tão bom e até mais épico com seus eventos do que seu antecessor, sendo para mim, o meu favorito de toda a trilogia. Ok, eu até posso entender que ele "se perde" no conceito de terror, mas ainda sim toda a abordagem dele não fica para trás e consegue se sustentar dentro do que ele se inspirou que foi a de um bom Call of Duty, só que numa pegada leve de terror, fora que, ele desenvolve bem toda a trama da garotinha "Alma" e de como ela é sinistra! Além de que, F.E.A.R, desde o primeiro nunca teve muito do conceito de algo de fato puro de terror como um Silent Hill ou algo do tipo, então essa abordagem foi tão aceitável, nos meus olhos, quanto a que exploraram anteriormente, e a ideia de fases épicas e a progressão divertida de uma para outra me prenderam bem do início ao fim nesse game, até mais que do próprio F.E.A.R 1.
This is just F.E.A.R. but worse really. It's fine I guess, the low rating is mostly because I have no idea who it's for? The very meaty and sandbox-ish feeling to the shooting in the first game is replaced with something a lot more timid where you peak out, aim down sights and get a quick headshot to win. The horror stuff is also so in your face that it's not scary it's more irritating. I guess it was designed more for consoles but I don't see what about the first's gameplay wouldn't have worked on console.
It's also funny how much this contrasts with Monolith's other sequel from the year before, Condemned 2. That adds bears and clowns and stuff to ruin Condemned 1's quiet atmosphere but I like Condemned 2 as its own thing. This on the other hand just does F.E.A.R. again and I don't really care.
It's also funny how much this contrasts with Monolith's other sequel from the year before, Condemned 2. That adds bears and clowns and stuff to ruin Condemned 1's quiet atmosphere but I like Condemned 2 as its own thing. This on the other hand just does F.E.A.R. again and I don't really care.
I remember when F.E.A.R. 2 was first announced and it blew up the gaming world. It was a long anticipated sequel to one of the best FPS games on PC, and surprisingly it was also coming to current consoles which I felt held the game back some, and this infuriated some longtime fans. You continue where the first game left off and must go back into the destruction that the nuke caused and try and stop Alma once and for all.
The story and characters are worse than the first game and make absolutely zero sense. I still don’t know why Alma wants to kill everyone and who Beckett really is (your main character). The game focuses more on action over atmosphere and scares, unlike the first game. There are some really creepy scenes with the elementary school being by far the best with poltergeists chasing you in dark hallways. It’s sad that the horror element took a back seat and the game just doesn’t feel as good as the first game.
The shooting, however, has improved a lot with more responsive controls, faster paced gunplay and a slightly higher variety of weapons. The enemies are still generic soldiers called Replicas that are just bullet sponges and don’t offer anything interesting to the game. There are two mech sequences added to the game where you can crawl inside one and devastate foes. Outside of feeling powerful, these scenes felt more like filler than anything else. Another continuing issue is the level design. The game is full of generic desolate city streets, hallways, metal and concrete buildings with catwalks and industrial decor. It’s the same as before just with more detail and better visuals.
Slo-mo does make a return here, but I didn’t need to use it as often as the first game as this game is much easier. Instead of hoarding 10 medkits you get up to 3 and body armor to help absorb damage. You can still upgrade your Reflex meter by finding syringes and data pads are scattered everywhere for story tidbits. I have to say I miss the answering machines and Alienware laptops scattered around as it felt more organic and required less reading in such a fast-paced game.
The game looks really good even today. Larger environments, higher resolution textures, better models, physics, and overall lighting effects really stand out and this game looks far from ugly, just boring and generic. The game tried to switch up the setting with more outdoor environments and less indoor, but it doesn’t really matter as the game is still highly linear. It just doesn’t feel like F.E.A.R. did and that’s a shame as you can tell there was a careful placement of each scare and less focus on action.
Overall, F.E.A.R. 2 is a great sequel and worth your time for a weekend playthrough. It isn’t memorable, there’s nothing special, but the occasional scare and interesting horror elements, as well as fantastic shooting, make for a good game.
The story and characters are worse than the first game and make absolutely zero sense. I still don’t know why Alma wants to kill everyone and who Beckett really is (your main character). The game focuses more on action over atmosphere and scares, unlike the first game. There are some really creepy scenes with the elementary school being by far the best with poltergeists chasing you in dark hallways. It’s sad that the horror element took a back seat and the game just doesn’t feel as good as the first game.
The shooting, however, has improved a lot with more responsive controls, faster paced gunplay and a slightly higher variety of weapons. The enemies are still generic soldiers called Replicas that are just bullet sponges and don’t offer anything interesting to the game. There are two mech sequences added to the game where you can crawl inside one and devastate foes. Outside of feeling powerful, these scenes felt more like filler than anything else. Another continuing issue is the level design. The game is full of generic desolate city streets, hallways, metal and concrete buildings with catwalks and industrial decor. It’s the same as before just with more detail and better visuals.
Slo-mo does make a return here, but I didn’t need to use it as often as the first game as this game is much easier. Instead of hoarding 10 medkits you get up to 3 and body armor to help absorb damage. You can still upgrade your Reflex meter by finding syringes and data pads are scattered everywhere for story tidbits. I have to say I miss the answering machines and Alienware laptops scattered around as it felt more organic and required less reading in such a fast-paced game.
The game looks really good even today. Larger environments, higher resolution textures, better models, physics, and overall lighting effects really stand out and this game looks far from ugly, just boring and generic. The game tried to switch up the setting with more outdoor environments and less indoor, but it doesn’t really matter as the game is still highly linear. It just doesn’t feel like F.E.A.R. did and that’s a shame as you can tell there was a careful placement of each scare and less focus on action.
Overall, F.E.A.R. 2 is a great sequel and worth your time for a weekend playthrough. It isn’t memorable, there’s nothing special, but the occasional scare and interesting horror elements, as well as fantastic shooting, make for a good game.
Misses the cold subdued atmosphere of the first game, gameplay has been streamlined to adhere to console trends at the time which makes the game less tactical
"A Botched Sequel"
This one was particularly tough for me to evaluate, largely due to how controversial of a game it is to begin with. I did not like the first F.E.A.R. title upon my first short time with the game, but I really warmed up to that game, with it serving as a very good Action-FPS in my opinion. I believed that the sequel's main goal would have been to diversify the level environments, provide a slightly stronger and more cohesive story, and preserve the original title's gameplay while refining bits and pieces to it. What the sequel actually accomplished was...a mixed bag to say the least.
Upon starting a new game, I immediately noticed that the surface-level graphical fidelity was improved. Characters were more animated, the voice acting was more plentiful, and there was a stronger emphasis on characterization through movement and expression. While not "top notch", even by 2009 standards, it improved on an otherwise disappointing array of graphical settings that were in the first game. However, the reason I say "surface-level graphics" becomes obvious very quickly - many of the amazing gunplay effects from the first title have been drastically toned down or removed. Bullet holes no longer crack cement on walls, grenades no longer fling objects around the environment, and smoke trails from guns/explosives no longer leave the battlefield looking torn-up, as it should. This was a massive disappointment, since these effects that were present in the first game four years prior were now sliced out of the equation.
The environments also presented a similar facade. Upon fist examination, the environments are easily more varied and colorful than the first game. There are schools to fight through, underground labs, ruined cities, and a nuclear power plant (to name a few). However, the color is still very muted and gray/brown. It's a curse of games from this time period, but everything looks very similar and washed-out, even if the locations are inherently different. Additionally, while the environments are somewhat better looking, the way these levels actually "play" is a drastic step back, in my opinion. The enemy AI still interacts with nodes around the environment, but it all felt like it flowed less cohesively. I never felt like I was flanked by a squad of enemies like in the last game, and this took away a lot of dynamism and tactical feel from each battle. The new environments did little to make up for this drastic loss to the core gameplay interaction between player, AI, and environment/level.
The story is stronger this time around - however, it isn't presented in a very efficient way. Character's are still pretty boring and lack a lot of depth. Most of their deaths will leave you without any reaction other than "Dang, he/she got messed up!". There's no attachment, and while the voice acting is okay, no one is really established as super interesting throughout the plot. As for the plot itself, the bulk of the game's information/detail is locked behind PDA's that you find throughout each level. These contain text files that explain a lot of the core motivations/elements behind each character's motives and actions. Without these files, the game is a bit of a mess on the story side - its still better than F.E.A.R., but it failed to capture my attention. Alma is developed more as a character, but she HERSELF is boiled down to a "jumpscare-machine". Her motivations are only ever explained through minor interactions with the player and exposition lobbied towards the player by other characters. This led to a lack of engagement on my part, and ultimately made me disinterested in many of the plot points and narrative elements. It's a bit better than the first game, but not by a whole lot.
Lastly, I am left with one last question to answer: "Is this game a worthy sequel to F.E.A.R.?" Sadly, I am forced to give a disappointing "No". While some elements of the original game are improved upon (environments, story), the core gameplay has been butchered. The game has turned into a generic FPS, with many of the first titles gameplay elements being drastically altered or outright removed. Melee combat has been ruined, and punches/kicks lack any substantial impact or consistency to their usage. Gunplay feels much worse, with the sound design behind many weapons feeling weaker and damage output for most weapons being reduced. it really seems like all weapons in this game have been weakened substantially, and it leaves the character feeling less powerful. Additionally, the "bullet-time" mechanic feels redundant - in the old game, it made the game a bit easier, but was much more rewarding with the ragdoll physics engine and environmental destruction. Here, it feels pointless! The ragdoll physics are gone, and guns damage the environment far less. I honestly forgot to use this mechanic throughout much of the game due to how useless it ended up being. These changes to gameplay were the primary offenders of this game for me, and left me severely disappointed with the final product.
Upon completion, I can say my time with F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin was very "meh". I went in hoping for refinement upon the original game's formula, and instead was met with strange design decisions and drastic cutbacks on the first game's strengths. I would Not Recommend checking this one out if you were a huge fan of the first game - it essentially transformed the formula into a generic shooter. It's not "horrible", but it really ain't special in any way either.
Final Verdict: 5/10 (Average)
This one was particularly tough for me to evaluate, largely due to how controversial of a game it is to begin with. I did not like the first F.E.A.R. title upon my first short time with the game, but I really warmed up to that game, with it serving as a very good Action-FPS in my opinion. I believed that the sequel's main goal would have been to diversify the level environments, provide a slightly stronger and more cohesive story, and preserve the original title's gameplay while refining bits and pieces to it. What the sequel actually accomplished was...a mixed bag to say the least.
Upon starting a new game, I immediately noticed that the surface-level graphical fidelity was improved. Characters were more animated, the voice acting was more plentiful, and there was a stronger emphasis on characterization through movement and expression. While not "top notch", even by 2009 standards, it improved on an otherwise disappointing array of graphical settings that were in the first game. However, the reason I say "surface-level graphics" becomes obvious very quickly - many of the amazing gunplay effects from the first title have been drastically toned down or removed. Bullet holes no longer crack cement on walls, grenades no longer fling objects around the environment, and smoke trails from guns/explosives no longer leave the battlefield looking torn-up, as it should. This was a massive disappointment, since these effects that were present in the first game four years prior were now sliced out of the equation.
The environments also presented a similar facade. Upon fist examination, the environments are easily more varied and colorful than the first game. There are schools to fight through, underground labs, ruined cities, and a nuclear power plant (to name a few). However, the color is still very muted and gray/brown. It's a curse of games from this time period, but everything looks very similar and washed-out, even if the locations are inherently different. Additionally, while the environments are somewhat better looking, the way these levels actually "play" is a drastic step back, in my opinion. The enemy AI still interacts with nodes around the environment, but it all felt like it flowed less cohesively. I never felt like I was flanked by a squad of enemies like in the last game, and this took away a lot of dynamism and tactical feel from each battle. The new environments did little to make up for this drastic loss to the core gameplay interaction between player, AI, and environment/level.
The story is stronger this time around - however, it isn't presented in a very efficient way. Character's are still pretty boring and lack a lot of depth. Most of their deaths will leave you without any reaction other than "Dang, he/she got messed up!". There's no attachment, and while the voice acting is okay, no one is really established as super interesting throughout the plot. As for the plot itself, the bulk of the game's information/detail is locked behind PDA's that you find throughout each level. These contain text files that explain a lot of the core motivations/elements behind each character's motives and actions. Without these files, the game is a bit of a mess on the story side - its still better than F.E.A.R., but it failed to capture my attention. Alma is developed more as a character, but she HERSELF is boiled down to a "jumpscare-machine". Her motivations are only ever explained through minor interactions with the player and exposition lobbied towards the player by other characters. This led to a lack of engagement on my part, and ultimately made me disinterested in many of the plot points and narrative elements. It's a bit better than the first game, but not by a whole lot.
Lastly, I am left with one last question to answer: "Is this game a worthy sequel to F.E.A.R.?" Sadly, I am forced to give a disappointing "No". While some elements of the original game are improved upon (environments, story), the core gameplay has been butchered. The game has turned into a generic FPS, with many of the first titles gameplay elements being drastically altered or outright removed. Melee combat has been ruined, and punches/kicks lack any substantial impact or consistency to their usage. Gunplay feels much worse, with the sound design behind many weapons feeling weaker and damage output for most weapons being reduced. it really seems like all weapons in this game have been weakened substantially, and it leaves the character feeling less powerful. Additionally, the "bullet-time" mechanic feels redundant - in the old game, it made the game a bit easier, but was much more rewarding with the ragdoll physics engine and environmental destruction. Here, it feels pointless! The ragdoll physics are gone, and guns damage the environment far less. I honestly forgot to use this mechanic throughout much of the game due to how useless it ended up being. These changes to gameplay were the primary offenders of this game for me, and left me severely disappointed with the final product.
Upon completion, I can say my time with F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin was very "meh". I went in hoping for refinement upon the original game's formula, and instead was met with strange design decisions and drastic cutbacks on the first game's strengths. I would Not Recommend checking this one out if you were a huge fan of the first game - it essentially transformed the formula into a generic shooter. It's not "horrible", but it really ain't special in any way either.
Final Verdict: 5/10 (Average)
F.E.A.R 2 has a weak opening gameplay wise, but then becomes so much better once you get the slow-mo power as part of the narrative - it's very deliberate in making the game feel underwhelming before revealing the mechanic. The plot is strongest in these early hours with the corporate intrigue and human experimentation mysteries in full effect. But then, the game settles into a groove far more reminiscent of other shooters from this era. Ruined cities, long gun fights against soldiers, missile launchers - that effective thriller tone the game opens with dissipates into what I can only describe as thematically standard. The game retains the fun of it's gameplay loop though, which kept me playing all the way to the end, despite the narrative losing the wind in it's sails from about the half-way point.
Great follow up to FEAR! I really liked how much better gun play felt! The AI isn’t as good here…
um jogo de acão bem divertido com elemetos de terror
This was actually worse than I expected and I expected little.
disappointing and middling sequel to otherwise one of the finest first person shooters out there, instead of letting you piece the story together from phone calls like in the first game, the sequel is overly cinematic and relies Heavily on shock content to mask how shallow and pointless the actual plot is, level design and actual shooting being Much weaker not helping the matter at all
A totally fine shooter that doesn't really do anything that made the first one good.
The level design very rarely creates exciting encounters, the enemies don't feel "smart" any more.
The melee moves very rarely have a chance to shine.
The story, and particularly the ending, are dreadful.
It's decidedly not scary at any point.
But, for the most part, shooting stuff is fun.
The level design very rarely creates exciting encounters, the enemies don't feel "smart" any more.
The melee moves very rarely have a chance to shine.
The story, and particularly the ending, are dreadful.
It's decidedly not scary at any point.
But, for the most part, shooting stuff is fun.
Less of a step down, more of a stumble down the elevator shaft straight to hell.
heavy xbox 360 era vibes
Such a catastrophic drop in quality that it almost defies logic. Reviewing this game is like being Kurt Russell in the Thing walking through the Norwegian base, trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. It seems almost inconceivable that a game as electric as F.E.A.R could produce a sequel that is so middling, preposterous, and a complete fucking bore but the same geniuses at Monolith who produced Blood II cracked their knuckles and got hard at work. I would love to just write "game stinks" and move on, but there is just too much wrong under the hood that we have to make repairs or this car is going to lock up on the highway and get someone killed.
The tragedy is how much effort clearly went into this game. It looked amazing to me back in 2009 and the graphics still produce a post-apocalypse city in some pretty fantastic detail. Weapon animations and enemy animations are still top-notch and there is more variety in levels here than before, but that in itself is a bit of a downgrade. It feels like they missed the forest for the trees in terms of what made F.E.A.R so good. In a way it's almost what made F.E.A.R really not NEED a sequel. It ended in such a perfect J-horror style: Nobody escapes the curse. It's all-consuming. As is the problem with the sequels to Ju-On and Ring, we have to walk back SOME of the curse to ensure this thing keeps printing money.
As much has been said about how incredible the combat in F.E.A.R is, I think an equal amount has been said for how calamitously they fucked up everything in F.E.A.R 2: the jam-like blood, environments get less blown the hell out in firefights, the actual slow-mo has so many bells and whistles on it it makes you kind of sick to use it. In their effort to shoot for the moon they ended up tunneling into the fucking Earth.
Also the ending. oh my GOD the fucking ending. It's SO stupid it defies belief. You almost kind of need to play it just to witness galaxy brained writing like this, even in 2009 as a sweaty teenager I had to replay the final level a couple times to truly grasp what had just happened, it's fucking baffling. It's SUCH a bad idea executed terribly, a legit AVGN "What were they thinking?!" moment. 2 stars.
The tragedy is how much effort clearly went into this game. It looked amazing to me back in 2009 and the graphics still produce a post-apocalypse city in some pretty fantastic detail. Weapon animations and enemy animations are still top-notch and there is more variety in levels here than before, but that in itself is a bit of a downgrade. It feels like they missed the forest for the trees in terms of what made F.E.A.R so good. In a way it's almost what made F.E.A.R really not NEED a sequel. It ended in such a perfect J-horror style: Nobody escapes the curse. It's all-consuming. As is the problem with the sequels to Ju-On and Ring, we have to walk back SOME of the curse to ensure this thing keeps printing money.
As much has been said about how incredible the combat in F.E.A.R is, I think an equal amount has been said for how calamitously they fucked up everything in F.E.A.R 2: the jam-like blood, environments get less blown the hell out in firefights, the actual slow-mo has so many bells and whistles on it it makes you kind of sick to use it. In their effort to shoot for the moon they ended up tunneling into the fucking Earth.
Also the ending. oh my GOD the fucking ending. It's SO stupid it defies belief. You almost kind of need to play it just to witness galaxy brained writing like this, even in 2009 as a sweaty teenager I had to replay the final level a couple times to truly grasp what had just happened, it's fucking baffling. It's SUCH a bad idea executed terribly, a legit AVGN "What were they thinking?!" moment. 2 stars.
I mean, a nude woman trying to chase you, how scary it could be..... jokes aside it's pretty boring and so forgettable, at least first game had its own uniqueness, Fear 2 is trying to be like a call of duty however it has turned into generic fps games of 10s.
This review contains spoilers
Spoilers for FEAR 2 only discussed at the very bottom. Explicit spoilers for the first FEAR discussed throughout
FEAR 2 may be the most conflicted game I’ve ever played, and I’m not talking about my feelings. Like its numerical title, it genuinely feels like a tale of two devs; those who wanted to remake Half-Life 1 vs those who wanted to follow-up on the original FEAR, and the result is a smorgasbord of unsatisfying elements wrapped up in a well-optimized package. It’s not bad by any means, however, you’d be hardpressed to find a better case study in divisive visions, the story being the prime offender.
See, FEAR 2 acts as a sidepiece to the original game, taking place before, during, and after the nuclear event. And yet, what you’ll quickly realize is just how rehashed everything is: you’ve got a spec ops team sent in to stop an Armachan stooge, the discovery of some sickening corpo experiments, and a quiet protagonist boasting a secret connection to Alma. While such “requels” aren’t inherently lazy (DKC2 is one of the GOAT video games after all), it’s the lackadaisicality here that hampers FEAR 2’s storytelling as rarely have I played a game that wanted to tell a tale yet simultaneously felt annoyed at having to do so (this negative duality going back to what I was saying earlier about clashing goals). There clearly was someone at Monolith who had a grand framework in mind (to the point where Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate were retconned+), only for their idea to get stuffed away for reasons unknown.
If I had to hazard a guess, it was probably because of budgetary concerns as everything about FEAR 2’s yarn is a step down from its predecessor’s. I’m not saying FEAR 1 was perfect; however its dedication to cutscenes and voiced exposition clearly indicated a veritable interest in narrative conveyance. Here, when you’re not being serenaded by the same boring dusty illusion of Alma, you’re treated to forgettable dialogue amidst oodles upon oodles of optional data that should NOT have been optional. I’ve never had an issue with supplementary material expanding upon a game’s mythology, but FEAR 2 takes laziness to new heights by throwing 90% of its explanations and answers into randomized computer files you have to go out of your way to find.
And it’s a shame because, if the info in those PDFs had been orated organically, we could’ve had a riveting sci-fi thriller at our fingertips; you get some genuinely disturbing revelations from a writing team that clearly knew the world they were operating in. As it stands, you’ll be spending the majority of your time following orders like a good little sycophant, a facet made all the more aggravating by Monolith going the silent hero route again. Mute leads are fine in tales where their personality has no bearing on the story; however, that is NOT the case here with main character Beckett, who serves as the impetus for most of Project Origin’s events courtesy of his unusual link to Alma(++). It becomes genuinely frustrating seeing him placed in situations that would warrant a human reaction, only for his silence to undermine the going-ons about you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, FEAR 2 is continuously plagued by the same two plot holes that ravaged its prequels, and no spoiler tags are necessary because these are literally copy/pasted verbatim. For starters, why are there two Almas? Even if I buy the logic that one represents the day her spirit died vs her body, the former should still be that of a teenager, not the 8-year-old girl you catch intermittently. Secondly, and without a doubt the most vexing, how is she simultaneously all-powerful and all-useless? Seriously, throughout the game she’s capable of vaporizing, brainwashing, and tossing humans about like ragdolls (in addition to, you know, generating hordes of the undead), yet you mean to tell me this same demon can somehow be shaken off? I get that omnipotent villains are hard to write, but the way Alma is scripted, it’s as though the developers didn’t even try to be cogent.
To the game’s credit, a couple mysteries from the first FEAR are cleared up here (such as Alma’s backstory and why certain characters have superhuman reflexes), but when it’s all done through discretionary notes, what you’re ultimately left with is a redux of Half-Life. No really, between the stripped-down narrative and pure obedience, it’s evident Project Origin was trying to go the Half-Life route of environmental storytelling over cinematic exposés, and while they are partially-successful (the school being a masterpiece of game design), even this initiative is brought down by the aforementioned budget cuts. Whereas Half-Life took you through a variety of locales ranging from labs to deserts to of course Xen, Project Origin sees you inside a plethora of drabby interiors indifferent from the numerous corridors you’ve witnessed time-and-time-again in other video games. Here’s a fact for you casuals -- when a game throws you into a subway station for an elongated period of time, it’s a sign that the studio was working with limited capital.
Thankfully, it all looks great courtesy of the LithTech Engine, which has seen a massive facelift from the first FEAR. Not only is the texture streaming superb, but the artisans at Monolith took the time to sculpt tiny little details into the majority of simulacra. During the course of my playthrough, for example, I came across the following minutiae: paintings with full-fledged descriptions etched under their frames, magazines with decked-out covers, towel racks with allocated labels, individual student signatures, guitar cases with specialized stickers, and children’s drawings constituting a variety of forms (like dinos and cities) amongst a plethora of other niceties. The amount of effort that went into crafting this setting is phenomenal, and the unsung artists behind such endeavors deserve all their flowers.
That said, be prepared to have your flashlight out 23/7 as this is an overly-dim game. Yes, it’s set in dingy buildings primarily at night, but that was no excuse for things to be this obscure. Even with the brightness turned up, I literally had to leave my torch on just to make out the ground in front of me (I also recommend turning off the film grain and head bobbing lest you procure a case of motion sickness).
When it comes to the gameplay, everyone knows the OG garnered fame for combining Max Payne’s bullet-time mechanic with slick shooting, and that formula’s been largely-translated to the sequel albeit with dumber AI. Those who read my review of FEAR know that I wasn’t the biggest cheerleader of its enemy intelligence, but those guys were definitely a step above the swarms of thugs you’ll encounter here, who display no sense of tactic other than to trade suppressing fire and lob the occasional grenade. Hampering things further is the easier difficulty - in 1, your slowdown was countered by heavier bullet damage; in Project Origin, Beckett is much more durable, allowing you to abuse the system to a greater extent.
Finally, you’ve no doubt heard about the game’s lack of particle anarchy, and that’s definitely true. For better and for worse, this is a much more conventional FPS, and while you still get the odd extravagant effect like pill bottles popping and water surfaces ricocheting, I can’t deny something was lost with the diminishment of the original’s collateral damage (most items shot simply sprouting a bullet hole over exploding).
Sound isn’t the best either, with weapons, in particular, lacking the punch their previous incarnations had. Combine that with indistinguishable collision blasts and repetitive ghost wailing for the supernatural elements and you have a rather tepid soundscape. Still, I’ll take it over the score, which is obnoxious to a fault. When I was playing the game, I remember thinking how intrusive and cacophonous the music sounded, and unfortunately listening to it separately didn’t alleviate this memory as the vast majority of pieces are simply loud melodies. There technically is diversity, with my ear detecting electronica, native vocals, and even a zurna-esque instrument, but all of these additions are directed towards pure bombast instead of something memorable.
What’s particularly bizarre about FEAR 2’s score is the sheer number of tracks it has. The YouTube playlist identifies 80, and while that does include alternatives that didn't make it into the final release, it’s still a significant amount for a game under 8 hours. Heck, I’ve played numerous AAA games with significantly less music, and though it’s not a bad thing to include more tunes, the quality just wasn't there to justify their integration (not to mention I doubt most gamers will hear the lion’s share of them).
With regards to the voice acting, all I’ll say is it’s adequate. No one is especially strong, yet none detract from the experience either. And that’s a great way to describe FEAR 2 as a whole: a fine enough diversion. If you’re looking for an action game that’ll kill 7-8 hours of your time, you can’t go wrong here as the gunplay’s solid, visuals beautiful, and storybeats easy to follow. It’s just a shame the end product doesn’t live up to the potential someone at Monolith clearly hoped it would be, with the narrative being lackluster, Alma pathetic, and the horror elements poorly implemented. The palpable lethargy on display genuinely makes you wonder what happened between 1 and 2’s releases.
NOTES
-One cool sound effect is shooting pianos generates flat keyboard notes.
-For the record, not all the tracks are loud, but even the quieter ones like Return to Lobby and Principal’s Office have a noticeable thumping.
-Just like with the first game, FEAR 2 has its own out-of-place white nerd; Snakefist. Thankfully, he’s nowhere near as annoying as Mapes was.
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SPOILERS
+I naturally find such retcons to be pathetic in general, but what’s strange is it wasn't even necessary. Perseus Mandate focuses on a completely different thread, while the Point Man’s absence in FEAR 2 makes Extraction Point’s events unintrusive. Unless the argument is Alma can’t be in two places at once, I don’t see why Monolith chose to remove the DLCs from continuity.
++Beckett has a high stat called “telesthetic potential,” that makes him attractive to Alma to the point of her wanting to mate with him. It’s a juvenile set-up that isn’t properly explained (or if it was, was done so in the background) -- why does Alma randomly want to procreate when she already has two children out in the world (and can revive phantoms)? Why is it so easy for Beckett to resist her? If Alma is so desperate to copulate with Beckett, why does she let him waltz into dangerous situations instead of dispersing all enemies? How does she even succeed at the end when he manages to activate the machine (and, you know, blatantly doesn’t do the act….do the writers not know how sex works?). I also found it more than a bit creepy to have contrasting images of a naked adult Alma with her younger child version.
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FEAR 2 may be the most conflicted game I’ve ever played, and I’m not talking about my feelings. Like its numerical title, it genuinely feels like a tale of two devs; those who wanted to remake Half-Life 1 vs those who wanted to follow-up on the original FEAR, and the result is a smorgasbord of unsatisfying elements wrapped up in a well-optimized package. It’s not bad by any means, however, you’d be hardpressed to find a better case study in divisive visions, the story being the prime offender.
See, FEAR 2 acts as a sidepiece to the original game, taking place before, during, and after the nuclear event. And yet, what you’ll quickly realize is just how rehashed everything is: you’ve got a spec ops team sent in to stop an Armachan stooge, the discovery of some sickening corpo experiments, and a quiet protagonist boasting a secret connection to Alma. While such “requels” aren’t inherently lazy (DKC2 is one of the GOAT video games after all), it’s the lackadaisicality here that hampers FEAR 2’s storytelling as rarely have I played a game that wanted to tell a tale yet simultaneously felt annoyed at having to do so (this negative duality going back to what I was saying earlier about clashing goals). There clearly was someone at Monolith who had a grand framework in mind (to the point where Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate were retconned+), only for their idea to get stuffed away for reasons unknown.
If I had to hazard a guess, it was probably because of budgetary concerns as everything about FEAR 2’s yarn is a step down from its predecessor’s. I’m not saying FEAR 1 was perfect; however its dedication to cutscenes and voiced exposition clearly indicated a veritable interest in narrative conveyance. Here, when you’re not being serenaded by the same boring dusty illusion of Alma, you’re treated to forgettable dialogue amidst oodles upon oodles of optional data that should NOT have been optional. I’ve never had an issue with supplementary material expanding upon a game’s mythology, but FEAR 2 takes laziness to new heights by throwing 90% of its explanations and answers into randomized computer files you have to go out of your way to find.
And it’s a shame because, if the info in those PDFs had been orated organically, we could’ve had a riveting sci-fi thriller at our fingertips; you get some genuinely disturbing revelations from a writing team that clearly knew the world they were operating in. As it stands, you’ll be spending the majority of your time following orders like a good little sycophant, a facet made all the more aggravating by Monolith going the silent hero route again. Mute leads are fine in tales where their personality has no bearing on the story; however, that is NOT the case here with main character Beckett, who serves as the impetus for most of Project Origin’s events courtesy of his unusual link to Alma(++). It becomes genuinely frustrating seeing him placed in situations that would warrant a human reaction, only for his silence to undermine the going-ons about you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, FEAR 2 is continuously plagued by the same two plot holes that ravaged its prequels, and no spoiler tags are necessary because these are literally copy/pasted verbatim. For starters, why are there two Almas? Even if I buy the logic that one represents the day her spirit died vs her body, the former should still be that of a teenager, not the 8-year-old girl you catch intermittently. Secondly, and without a doubt the most vexing, how is she simultaneously all-powerful and all-useless? Seriously, throughout the game she’s capable of vaporizing, brainwashing, and tossing humans about like ragdolls (in addition to, you know, generating hordes of the undead), yet you mean to tell me this same demon can somehow be shaken off? I get that omnipotent villains are hard to write, but the way Alma is scripted, it’s as though the developers didn’t even try to be cogent.
To the game’s credit, a couple mysteries from the first FEAR are cleared up here (such as Alma’s backstory and why certain characters have superhuman reflexes), but when it’s all done through discretionary notes, what you’re ultimately left with is a redux of Half-Life. No really, between the stripped-down narrative and pure obedience, it’s evident Project Origin was trying to go the Half-Life route of environmental storytelling over cinematic exposés, and while they are partially-successful (the school being a masterpiece of game design), even this initiative is brought down by the aforementioned budget cuts. Whereas Half-Life took you through a variety of locales ranging from labs to deserts to of course Xen, Project Origin sees you inside a plethora of drabby interiors indifferent from the numerous corridors you’ve witnessed time-and-time-again in other video games. Here’s a fact for you casuals -- when a game throws you into a subway station for an elongated period of time, it’s a sign that the studio was working with limited capital.
Thankfully, it all looks great courtesy of the LithTech Engine, which has seen a massive facelift from the first FEAR. Not only is the texture streaming superb, but the artisans at Monolith took the time to sculpt tiny little details into the majority of simulacra. During the course of my playthrough, for example, I came across the following minutiae: paintings with full-fledged descriptions etched under their frames, magazines with decked-out covers, towel racks with allocated labels, individual student signatures, guitar cases with specialized stickers, and children’s drawings constituting a variety of forms (like dinos and cities) amongst a plethora of other niceties. The amount of effort that went into crafting this setting is phenomenal, and the unsung artists behind such endeavors deserve all their flowers.
That said, be prepared to have your flashlight out 23/7 as this is an overly-dim game. Yes, it’s set in dingy buildings primarily at night, but that was no excuse for things to be this obscure. Even with the brightness turned up, I literally had to leave my torch on just to make out the ground in front of me (I also recommend turning off the film grain and head bobbing lest you procure a case of motion sickness).
When it comes to the gameplay, everyone knows the OG garnered fame for combining Max Payne’s bullet-time mechanic with slick shooting, and that formula’s been largely-translated to the sequel albeit with dumber AI. Those who read my review of FEAR know that I wasn’t the biggest cheerleader of its enemy intelligence, but those guys were definitely a step above the swarms of thugs you’ll encounter here, who display no sense of tactic other than to trade suppressing fire and lob the occasional grenade. Hampering things further is the easier difficulty - in 1, your slowdown was countered by heavier bullet damage; in Project Origin, Beckett is much more durable, allowing you to abuse the system to a greater extent.
Finally, you’ve no doubt heard about the game’s lack of particle anarchy, and that’s definitely true. For better and for worse, this is a much more conventional FPS, and while you still get the odd extravagant effect like pill bottles popping and water surfaces ricocheting, I can’t deny something was lost with the diminishment of the original’s collateral damage (most items shot simply sprouting a bullet hole over exploding).
Sound isn’t the best either, with weapons, in particular, lacking the punch their previous incarnations had. Combine that with indistinguishable collision blasts and repetitive ghost wailing for the supernatural elements and you have a rather tepid soundscape. Still, I’ll take it over the score, which is obnoxious to a fault. When I was playing the game, I remember thinking how intrusive and cacophonous the music sounded, and unfortunately listening to it separately didn’t alleviate this memory as the vast majority of pieces are simply loud melodies. There technically is diversity, with my ear detecting electronica, native vocals, and even a zurna-esque instrument, but all of these additions are directed towards pure bombast instead of something memorable.
What’s particularly bizarre about FEAR 2’s score is the sheer number of tracks it has. The YouTube playlist identifies 80, and while that does include alternatives that didn't make it into the final release, it’s still a significant amount for a game under 8 hours. Heck, I’ve played numerous AAA games with significantly less music, and though it’s not a bad thing to include more tunes, the quality just wasn't there to justify their integration (not to mention I doubt most gamers will hear the lion’s share of them).
With regards to the voice acting, all I’ll say is it’s adequate. No one is especially strong, yet none detract from the experience either. And that’s a great way to describe FEAR 2 as a whole: a fine enough diversion. If you’re looking for an action game that’ll kill 7-8 hours of your time, you can’t go wrong here as the gunplay’s solid, visuals beautiful, and storybeats easy to follow. It’s just a shame the end product doesn’t live up to the potential someone at Monolith clearly hoped it would be, with the narrative being lackluster, Alma pathetic, and the horror elements poorly implemented. The palpable lethargy on display genuinely makes you wonder what happened between 1 and 2’s releases.
NOTES
-One cool sound effect is shooting pianos generates flat keyboard notes.
-For the record, not all the tracks are loud, but even the quieter ones like Return to Lobby and Principal’s Office have a noticeable thumping.
-Just like with the first game, FEAR 2 has its own out-of-place white nerd; Snakefist. Thankfully, he’s nowhere near as annoying as Mapes was.
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SPOILERS
+I naturally find such retcons to be pathetic in general, but what’s strange is it wasn't even necessary. Perseus Mandate focuses on a completely different thread, while the Point Man’s absence in FEAR 2 makes Extraction Point’s events unintrusive. Unless the argument is Alma can’t be in two places at once, I don’t see why Monolith chose to remove the DLCs from continuity.
++Beckett has a high stat called “telesthetic potential,” that makes him attractive to Alma to the point of her wanting to mate with him. It’s a juvenile set-up that isn’t properly explained (or if it was, was done so in the background) -- why does Alma randomly want to procreate when she already has two children out in the world (and can revive phantoms)? Why is it so easy for Beckett to resist her? If Alma is so desperate to copulate with Beckett, why does she let him waltz into dangerous situations instead of dispersing all enemies? How does she even succeed at the end when he manages to activate the machine (and, you know, blatantly doesn’t do the act….do the writers not know how sex works?). I also found it more than a bit creepy to have contrasting images of a naked adult Alma with her younger child version.
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FEAR 2 é definitivamente uma das piores sequências que eu já joguei e olha que minha expectativa estava bem baixa graças a todos os comentários de colegas que já haviam finalizado a franquia.
O enredo e os personagens são péssimos e não fazem sentido ou conexão, o que acaba sendo extremamente confuso para quem veio do primeiro, pois a história principal é quase a mesma coisa. Infelizmente, isso me deixou bem triste já que o meu interesse sempre foi entender mais sobre a antagonista.
A gameplay também nem chega aos pés do primeiro, pois a inteligência artificial que foi tão destacada e elevada como referência se perdeu. Basicamente, você pode entrar em uma sala, ficar na porta e esperar os inimigos chegarem em fila única, ou seja, não existe mais aquele medo de ser preso em uma sala com 5 inimigos vindos de várias direções ou emboscadas extremamente preparadas.
Outro ponto que achei extremamente inferior foi a ambientação que em geral é repetitiva e pouco agradável. Para não ser totalmente negativa, acho que o único local que realmente conseguiu impactar alguma coisa foi a escola, pois existe algumas cenas com Poltergeist que realmente trazem uma diferença.
Acho que o ponto mais grave de todo esse jogo foi a péssima utilização de jumpscares, ação e a quantidade de piscadas e mudanças abruptas enquanto o jogador anda pelo mapa. Sério, teve um momento que eu precisei parar de jogar graças a dor de cabeça que as luzes piscando a todo momento estavam me causando.
No fim, acho que vou fingir nunca ter jogado a continuação de FEAR e imaginar que o jogo acabou daquela forma, assim como aconteceu com NOLF.
O enredo e os personagens são péssimos e não fazem sentido ou conexão, o que acaba sendo extremamente confuso para quem veio do primeiro, pois a história principal é quase a mesma coisa. Infelizmente, isso me deixou bem triste já que o meu interesse sempre foi entender mais sobre a antagonista.
A gameplay também nem chega aos pés do primeiro, pois a inteligência artificial que foi tão destacada e elevada como referência se perdeu. Basicamente, você pode entrar em uma sala, ficar na porta e esperar os inimigos chegarem em fila única, ou seja, não existe mais aquele medo de ser preso em uma sala com 5 inimigos vindos de várias direções ou emboscadas extremamente preparadas.
Outro ponto que achei extremamente inferior foi a ambientação que em geral é repetitiva e pouco agradável. Para não ser totalmente negativa, acho que o único local que realmente conseguiu impactar alguma coisa foi a escola, pois existe algumas cenas com Poltergeist que realmente trazem uma diferença.
Acho que o ponto mais grave de todo esse jogo foi a péssima utilização de jumpscares, ação e a quantidade de piscadas e mudanças abruptas enquanto o jogador anda pelo mapa. Sério, teve um momento que eu precisei parar de jogar graças a dor de cabeça que as luzes piscando a todo momento estavam me causando.
No fim, acho que vou fingir nunca ter jogado a continuação de FEAR e imaginar que o jogo acabou daquela forma, assim como aconteceu com NOLF.
Good physics
mech battle in horror-action game? wtf?
The most unredeemable piece of shit I've ever played. It's like a complete 180 from the last game and is a slap in the face to anyone who likes it. It actually confuses me how much this game sucks.
solid shooter. horror aspect is pretty much lost though
Super mid, definitely inferior to the first game, but I find it hard to hate this game as it is quite competently made.
the scary lady rides u like a cruise at the end
????
????
While it still had it's thrills in certain sections the sequel was a downgraded experience for me. The combat for the most part feels serviceable, with enemies posing less of a challenge. The particle effects are lot less prominent and the sound effects are not that satisfying to hear. The atmosphere feels mostly gone too, due to the absence of strong shadows, and good lightning. It has such a brown/yellow-ish tint to the overall look of the game as well, which made the visual look a lot flatter. Only during the school section did it actually feel scary like the first two. On the other hand, the story feels the only aspect that feels intact, continuing naturally and being told more traditionally. The ending was something else.
Overall, it felt like a mixed bag.
Overall, it felt like a mixed bag.
this shit sucks
This game just makes me sad. At first blush it seems like a solid improvement over the first game, with better graphics and general presentation, which is exactly what I wanted from it. As soon as the shooting starts, though, it falls apart. The first game had this great, dynamic combat with real weight to the weapons; that's totally gone here, replaced with anemic-feeling guns and bland combat that could be from any late '00s/early '10s shooter. It's the one thing the original really had going for it, and without it the lacks any identity. I could get into the games issues with women or dumb mental health tropes, but it's not even worth it when the fundamentals are this weak. A significantly worse game than the original in all the ways that matter.
A solid sequel with more of the same as the original, tweaked to almost perfection.
Fun shooter to kill time. The story is nothing incredible, but it is still enjoyable. The set pieces and moments are better than the first. AI and sandbox were definitely downgraded.