F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Available now for Xbox 360 and PS3

Monolith has been producing some of the best first-person-shooters for over a decade, some good, some bad and some just plain ugly. Even with the lights turned out, the headphones cranked up, and the screen 10 inches from my face, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin just didn’t quite give me enough “oh shit” moments. While the original F.E.A.R. has you playing a faceless protagonist with seemingly no real agenda and seemingly no plot either, the scares were really there. Actually, the scares themselves were what motivated you toplay the game.
This time around, Monolith got around to defining a character named Michael Becket, a guy with a shady past and an even shadier present.  In addition, Monolith came up with a much more substantial storyline to follow, which works better than most of the game of today. The story runs along the same timeline as the original, as do the expansion packs for the original created by Timegate Studios. In any game story is everything and Monolith didn’t disappoint - that’s the Good part.

Even though Alma has returned with a personal grudge, the scare factor is near zero in this otherwise near-perfect shooter. The sounds, the environments, the details are all in place and polished to an almost too-good sheen. With a really powerful PC, you can really crank-up the eye candy and behold things that neither the Xbox 360 nor the Play Station 3 versions can live up to. Unfortunately there are a few drawbacks in the overall quality of the game. For instance, the volume of the game is extremely low by default, and I had to really boost the sound outside the game to sound like I wanted. Some glitching occurs every so often as well. I got stuck in several areas behind objects during a hallway fight – that’s the Bad part.

Another big issue with F.E.A.R. 2 is the fact that the multiplayer component isn’t nearly as fun as the original. As with Single-Player mode, F.E.A.R. 2 holds on to the exact same formula as far as movement, and the “bullet time” gimmick the original was so famous for. Sadly, the Multiplayer has not brought anything new to the table, which is a disappointment. Even more upsetting was the fact I could only find a dozen or so servers (you can still find hundreds for FEAR) hosting, and only a few players anyway. One of the biggest appeals of the original, was the rockem’ sockem’ action of the few but quality maps available and F.E.A.R. 2 just falls short – and that’s the Ugly part.

To some I may seem to be overly-comparing the original F.E.A.R to F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. Well, I am. When you play a sequel – one that has been in development for four years - to one of the best shooters of all-time, your damn right everyone is going to scrutinize, analyzes, and looks for every imperfection they can find. That is why it is so hard for developers make really good sequels. That being said, I do believe that all the elements for a Triple-A title are in F.E.A.R. 2 and without giving too much away, I hope that the come out with an expansion or two.

To sum things up, F.E.A.R. 2 is a game that could have done something but didn’t quite deliver, which leaves a player wanting. A good game is defined by a balance of story, game play, graphics and sound but a great game goes the extra mile and immerses a player into something special and hard to put into words, which ultimately makes F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin a good game at best.

I hope you have enjoyed my first of many game blogs here at vpgames, and if you have any comments ideas or other suggestions, fell free to email me or post something on our forums.

Ian Simmons
sbwb *at* hotmail.com

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Posted by stefan on 03/10 at 11:00 AM
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