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

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is the sequel to 2005, F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon, both of these games have a strong emphasis on mixing up a very disturbing psychological horror with some of the most intense action sequences to ever grace the first person shooter world. A weird mix on paper, but it works almost perfectly as both of these features are put together in such a way that the action never gets stale and the horror bits never feel repetitive or boring.

Project Origin puts you in the shoes of Sgt. Michael Becket, a recent arrival to a hand-picked elite military squad that has been sent to investigate and take Genevieve Aristide, the current president of Armacham Technology Corporation, into protective custody.
The game actually starts off just a few moments before the end of the original F.E.A.R., so you will get to see and feel the explosion caused by the Point Man and his team of operatives in a hopeless effort to stop Alma.
As the plot progresses you will come to realize that something in Sgt. Becket has changed since the massive explosion and that Armacham is definitely involved in some shady and upsetting projects.

Gameplay-wise, F.E.A.R. 2 changes very little when compared to the original title, but then again why fix something that is not broken, right?
This sequel from 2009 still provides players with some of the most powerful and exciting action scenes in recent years, enemy A.I. keeps the very aggressive stance towards the player, flanking and using all sorts of environmental objects for cover, they even create new spots to hide from your deadly bullets by knocking down and moving some predetermined objects.

Two of the most popular gameplay mechanics that were present in the original from 2005 also make a comeback, I'm talking about the slo-mo and melee combat of course.
The slo-mo part, or reflexes as Monolith calls it, works pretty much the same, with it you will be able to slow down time (duh) for a few seconds (thanks to your "finely attuned reflexes") and gain an obvious tactical advantage over your enemies.
The hand to hand combat was one of the main attractions in the first game, this time around I didn't felt as if it was as useful, but it still provided some enjoyable moments (few things are more satisfying than kicking someone in the face I guess).

One of the biggest improvements over the original is without any doubt the level design, not that it was bad per se, but it certainly was repetitive and the colors were a bit drab. This time around though, the developer Monolith mostly fixed that, providing the player with a much wider variety in terms of scenery and environments, it may sound like something that would only affect the game from a visual standpoint, but the fact of the matter is that adding wide, open levels and mixing them up with others that encourage the use of close quarters weapons and tactics, prevents the game from getting repetitive.
Unfortunately Project Origin is still a corridor shooter, exploration is almost non-existent with just a few optional rooms and corridors where the player can usually find some sort of goodies, either supplies or reflex boosters (upgrades to the slo-mo time).

Old school gamers out there will rejoice in the fact that F.E.A.R. 2 still uses an "ancient technology" called health bar, yes, there's no regenerating health here, just two bars (health and armor) that separate your character from an untimely death.
In the weapons department it's hard to find another game these days that provides you with so much variety, and by that I don't mean 15 different types of assault rifles and pistols that for the most part feel exactly the same, I mean weapons that fire, feel and work very differently, flamethrowers, lasers, a "nailgun" and even a pulse rifle that works pretty much like the BFG(Doom), these are some of the options you can expect to find during the course of the 9 to 10 hour campaign.
There are also some sections in the game where you get to control a huge mech, they serve as a nice distraction, but are way too easy to be much more than that.

F.E.A.R. 2 mixes the amazing action sequences with some scary bits that serve to enhance the atmosphere and break up the action, these horror parts get more and more disturbing as the game progresses (scared for life with a section from the elementary school level) and usually do a nice job of providing a nice rest to your itchy trigger finger, even if you pay for that small rest with a bit of your own sanity.
One of the problems from the original title unfortunately remains unchanged, most of the "scares" and Alma appearances happen almost at random, as they should, so it's not uncommon to simply be looking in the wrong direction the moment these sequences take place, which pretty much defeats the purpose of they even being there, a real shame, but nothing that ruins the horrifying experience provided by the ones you do get to see.
As a final note regarding the gameplay, Project Origin uses a checkpoint system that might be a bit unforgiving at times, thankfully 90% of those checkpoints are well placed.

Graphically F.E.A.R. 2 uses Monolith's Lithtech engine and because of that, looks very reminiscent of other games from the same developer, mainly Condemned 2: Bloodshot, the resemblance between this two games is striking to say the least, you can actually notice a few visual assets like textures and models that were used in both games, it feels kinda lazy on Monolith's part, fortunately it does not affect the overall experience in any significant way, who knows, maybe both series take place in the same world/universe.
What affects the experience though is the framerate issues present in the version I had the chance to play (Xbox360), go for the PC version if you have the option.
In terms of music and sound, the game can be extremely creepy when it wants to, surreal sound effects combined with the lack of music in some areas can get discomforting really fast. When the action cranks up this quickly changes and the game picks up the pace with some blood pumping tunes and powerful sound effects, especially when it comes to the explosions and some of the weapons. (the music from F.E.A.R. 2 was featured in the 10th episode of Zia's Corner: Link)

Similar to how Alma is a "monster" mostly because of her father and how she was treated during her childhood, F.E.A.R. 2 is a great game and a unique experience thanks to its predecessors.
The few hiccups Project Origin has, like the framerate issues and a final battle that feels cheap, are not nearly enough to disrupt the final experience given to the player, all in all F.E.A.R. 2 is a better game than the original.

Year of Release: 2009
Platform(s): PC, Xbox360, PS3
Developer(s): Monolith
Publisher(s): WB Games

This game was played using the Ozone Rage ST headset

(Our Review: Link)