F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - - - Review

Picture this: walking down a hallway of an elementary school with your assault rifle aimed in as many directions you can muster shooting at ANYTHING that moves. Then, from out of nowhere your digitized glasses that contain your real time HUD starts to flicker as badly as your flashlight...until everything cuts out. The only thing you can do is continue forward into a hallway that gets increasingly darker. What seems to be a gust of wind that you can visibly see rolls through and wipes you out making all of the lockers open and close at alarming rates like some sort of crazy scene from the old Poltergeist movies. You still shake it off and move forward, determined to find what you came here for...then the lights cut completely out. Darkness has never made you feel so terrified. The lights start to flicker on and off only to show you a room full of blood splattered walls when a little girl by the name of Alma (the Mother of the Apocalypse) comes up and grabs a hold of you. You shake here off...then you walk through another door, ending just one of the many horrific scenes that befall you in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
This game had kept me on the edge of my seat for the better part of the story. It succeeded everywhere that the original fell short. The first one had moments where it fell short to keep my attention. There were actually moments of boredom being in firefights, but overall I liked the experience when I got closer to the end. It picked up a lot more and I felt I was really playing what F.E.A.R. was meant to be all about. Then out comes the second installment. I waited patiently for Gamefly to send it to my door and even after I received it, I didn't play it for about 2 whole days before finally putting it into my 360. Expecting a moderately fun experience with a few good high spots in this game like the first...I got exactly that and more.
From the opening level I got into the controls that at first are a bit different than the regular shooter, but after a bit you get used to them. The only thing that I couldn't grasp was the grenade button being the Right Bumper (in place of R1 on PS3) and the switch weapon button being the Left Bumper (L1)...constantly killing myself even at crucial points later on was rather discouraging. However, the wonderful usage of the save points throughout the game helped me not have to do some pretty ridiculous parts over again because of dumb, careless mistakes. Bravo to Monolith for actually executing an autosave feature in a constructive and useful way!
The story kept me enthralled throughout, being the rookie in a special military squad only to find out that I am the key to the apocalypse made me feel pretty damn good. Surviving a nuclear explosion, killing electrified ghosts in an elementary school, and walking the dark hallways of an underground institution that was supposed to be nothing more than a hospital are just a few of the moments you will find throughout this game. The story keeps you hoping for more of the same and just some of the interactive cutscenes make it that much more fun. It is even better when you finally get to man a mech that I had been waiting to play since having a taste in the demo. Having the ability to just launch rockets and remove soldiers from the top floors of buildings in a funny way that just keeps getting funnier is just priceless. Just one good moment after another. The story picks up more towards the middle to the end just like the first one, but unlike the first one, this F.E.A.R. experience never failed to keep my attention. The skilled break-up of story scenes/scary moments was even better split up by firefights with soldiers that you now have the ability to sneak up on and take out with some cleaver new guns like the Hammerhead...which speaks for itself. Fire a nail and nail the ---hole to the wall. It never ceases to amaze. Some intuitive new enemies kept me praying that I wouldn't run into another unless I got more ammo for my shotgun, and some new grenade types kept me praying that I would run into a group of enemies to use them on. Incendiary grenades are one of the 4 different types in the game that I just had too much fun with. I think that was most of the problem with some of the weaponry...I had too much fun.
The music and sounds were eerie enough for me to be scared and trust me, I love my horror flicks. I don't really scare easy, and unlike what other reviews like Game Informer said, I actually almost soiled my pants numerous times. Just the sound of feet pattering on the ground behind me freaked me out just as much as when the beast reminiscent of wretches from Gears of War jumped on me. I tapped the "B" button tons of times to just beat the hell out of it only to get up and blast the little.....thing.....in the face. Just one more moment to add to the tons that are already there. The point is, that the sounds are key in a game such as this and only a few moments did I find that the sounds didn't help so much. Sometimes there were a bit confusing in letting me know where an enemy is, but for the most part when soldiers would speak, I would know exactly where they are. It proved fail safe for the better part of levels.
Overall this game provided me with memorable moments and frights. It helped me try to cope with a fear of the dark and waterlogged levels that still remains. Normally when I can't use a flashlight I worry. Then on top of that to be in a basement full of illuminated ghosts without my flashlight...I worry more. It had me wondering at every turn and the addition of hard, yet so simplistically placed intel items made me have a little extra fun with this while it explained more of the very necessary prequel to the first game. Keep an eye on the price of this one, because if you love horror games...buy it now. If you don't like spending money on full price games, as soon as this goes down...get it! I probably wouldn't put money on a $60 price tag if I wasn't such a fan of the series either. It is at least worth a rental.


The Rundown:

Concept: A prequel installment to the acclaimed first game F.E.A.R. with a 2 tagged on the end. Scary moments meeting with fun gun play and and some interesting looks into the for real origin of the elements from the first game.

Story: I kept playing through mainly because of this element. The story is pretty enthralling even for someone who may be new to the series.

Sound and Music: Adds a certain chill to certain scenes and in a lot of ways helps you to decipher the bad guys from the good ones just by how they are talking.

Controls: It took some time to get used to them, but after a bit they flowed smoothly. The only problem for me were the grenades...saved by the autosaving!

Graphics: Surprisingly well done compared to the first game. Even the slow mo ability is animated better than the original. The trails that flow behind bullets and the blurring of enemies' bodies make it look fantastic. Framerates a points were slightly laggy, but it for the most part, held up delightfully.

The Verdict: Buy it when it goes down in price or rent it if you aren't a fan of the series or the genre. Believe me it isn't just all about the First-Person Shoot, but it doesn't fail as a standalone FPS either.

Score: 7.25/10