F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Todd Vote on 03.03.2009

Alma is back. Does this new adventure stack up to the heavy competition the 360 has to offer? Did the game scare the life out of me? Click here for the full review of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.



Title: F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Publisher: Warner Home Video Games
Type: Shooter
Players: 1
Rated: M for Mature

Story

F.E.A.R. 2 is a sequel, but not so much a direct sequel. I guess the best way to put it would be to refer to it as sort of a side running sequel. The game takes place in the main continuity, but it starts before the end of the first games events, shortly before the nuclear explosion.

Players take control of Michael Becket, originally sent to the events of the first game, but they are redirected to take Genevieve Aristide into custody, roughly a half an hour before the end of the the first title of the series.





Right away the game opens with a creepy sort of scene, with Becket having some sort of horrific hallucination(picture Hell from the film Constantine). You get a few visions of the younger Alma as you move along, before she morphs into older naked Alma. Suddenly you wake up in the back of an ATV and its time to start to start shooting something.

Gameplay

The first thing I noticed with the game is how touchy the controls were when it came to aiming. I tried to turn the sensitivity down to see if I could slow down a bit of the jumpiness. It managed to help slightly, but now the character obviously turned a bit slower. I would eventually find that this was not a big issue, due to the slow motion button on the game. When activated it has typical bullet time effects, everything slows down, you move at the same speed. Essentially you are tapping into Becket's paranormal abilities.

That button is a savior in this game, the enemies are smart. I'm still fairly new to being a fan of FPS titles (thank you Call of Duty), but these guys are probably some of the smarter A.I. I have seen thus far (More on that below). The point is, if you use the slo-mo button efficiently, the slight touchiness of the controls is significantly less of a factor.

When coming up against some of the more supernatural enemies, the slo-mo button serves a somewhat different purpose. It is still effective, but it becomes more about activating it quick enough before they get to you. They seemed to have had the ability to sneak up on me a lot, and take a couple whacks at me before I was able to switch over and take them out. So they presented a slightly different challenge, which in my book is a win.





I mentioned above how intelligent the A.I. seemed. Let me explain this a bit. The enemy soldiers that you come against will do anything they can to stay alive. They flip tables for cover, just as you can do. They dive out of the way of fire, dodge grenades, and almost seem to synchronize their attack on you. That being said, again with the use of the slo-mo button, they can't really match up to what you can do and using it accordingly will pretty much nullify their offense. Run this little gem dry however, and they will attack you relentlessly and your only hope of surviving is to take cover and try to let your slo-mo meter charge before going back on the offensive. So we have incredibly intelligent A.I. that is left fairly weak with proper use of the juice.

Graphics

While nothing mind blowing, the game does a great job of capturing the intensity of different areas. The ground zero areas are especially impressive. Add in some exploding body parts and the graphics are on par with what you've come to expect from this genre.

I feel the game had both pros and cons is in the two almost distinctively different atmospheres that it creates. I understand the game is action/horror, I get that. While it does both extremely well, the problem lies in the fact that the two are not melded together particularly well. Almost as if it was two separate games working against the middle.

The action was full, and the horror was scary enough, but I never got a sense of one infused within the other. When the game was in scare mode, it offered several unique creatures to halt you along your path. From the creepy crawly, to the charged and jumpy. There are several big scares that actually made me jump and pause the game for a second to gather myself (a feat not accomplished since The Suffering). I won't go into to too much, so as not to ruin them for you, but one spot had me going back to visit a bathroom to make sure the body that just scared the piss out of me wasn't that dead girl in the stall. That being said, you don't really get the action sense from any of these "horror" sections of the game, other than seeing a few soldiers running away, and getting tossed around. There is never really an overwhelming amount of baddies that come at you at once during these areas of the game.

Alternately, when the game is in action mode, it is balls to the walls action. You will use a lot of bullets, and certainly blow up a lot of soldiers. You have a variety of weapons at your disposal to do your killing with. From machine guns to shotguns, and rocket launchers to lasers. Yeah... I said lasers. There is plenty to choose from to dish out some punishment. Did I mention the Power Armor? This stuff makes Ed-209 look like a garbage disposal. Step into one of these bad boys and you are pretty much invincible. Blast your way through the enemies with big machine guns, and shoulder mounted rockets. Watch the body parts fly.





Yet again, the game falls into the trap of these action segments of the game never really offering any horror elements. Its balls to the walls action and that is it. There is no real spooky effects when you are battling other soldiers. What I would have liked to have seen was these action and horror elements blended together a bit better. Something similar to what was done in the second half of Gears of War 2. Where there were the locusts, the infected locusts, and you had Delta squad. All three elements were going against each other at the same time. If the next title in the series can find a way to mesh it all together they will really have nailed it.

Sound

The drastic change in environment, and the change between suspensful music and something a little more battle appropriate can at times make you forget the nature of the story, and what exactly is going on. However, the music in each different is suiting for what you are doing at that particular time. The cues change well enough to signify when something suspenseful is going to happen in the horror sections of the game, and equally match the action in those portions of the gameplay.

Lasting Appeal

With everything the game had going for it, it was still fairly simple to complete. There were spots where I would die a couple of times before moving on to the next area. But as a whole there were never any spots that offered any extreme difficulty, and I finished the game on the hardest setting. This is where the slo-mo button had a negative effect on the game. When utilized correctly there was really nothing that offered any challenging threats. There was never a time when I felt I had to take a break from the game or I might just have to break my controller. While it could be perceived as a good thing, there was still room for it to offer a bit more of a challenge. Maybe find a way to balance out the bullet time mechanics so that Becket is not quite so unstoppable.


* WARNING..The following section may contain some slight spoilers. Scroll down if you don't want to read it*




















Now, the most frustrating portion of the game, the final mission, dubbed Climax. The story, throughout the entire game is building to this big showdown between two characters, Becket and Alma, and really has you anticipating this big showdown. The problem is it never happens. It builds and builds and builds, then when you expect it is finally time to take the fight to that freaky woman, the game ends. No big showdown with Alma. I found that to be extremely frustrating, since that is what the game leads you to expect. The ending I got was intriguing to be sure, but it lacked that big payoff that gamers have come to expect.














*END SPOILERS*

Fun Factor

A great story with a few good twists and turns, it was a fun experience that has me wanting to see just where this twisted tale is going. Alma is free and wreaking havoc, what happens next?

Then there is the online multi-player. With several game types, some including the awesome Power Armor, the multi-player is a fun experience. Offering game types from Failsafe (A Search & Destroy type game) capture the flag to the more traditional Death Match modes, there is plenty here to hold the interest of gamers. The game offers the ability to rank up your character, making available better guns, and more achievements. The multi-player runs smoothly, with no noticeable lagging problems. However, aside from the ability to use the Power Armor in certain match types, it really offers nothing new in the way of multi-player experience.





The 411
Overall the game was a satisfying experience, minus what I mentioned in the spoiler section, and the slightly low curve of difficulty. F.E.A.R 2 offers a compelling story, with a pretty sick and twisted ending. The game also includes plenty of action to keep most fans of the genre happy. With a decent multi-player mode, that I may give more time to, I would say F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is definitely worth a look.

Graphics	8.0	While offering nothing mind blowing, what the game offers is solid. The drastic changes in atmosphere can sometimes draw you out of the story
Gameplay	8.0	The gameplay, while a bit on the easy side is suprisingly fun. Add in the Power Armor and it is definitely a fun experience. Offering plenty of guns to maim with, and even some goodies to search for added to the fun.
Sound	7.5	The sound was appropriate for the areas it was used in, however the drastic changes in tone, like the atmospheres, sometimes made it a bit difficult to stay in the spirit of the game.
Lasting Appeal	8.0	An interesting story, with some shocking twists to offer, the story mode is definitely worth playing through. However, the lasting appeal for this game will come with the multi-player. It may not have anything really groundbreaking to offer, but it runs s
Fun Factor	8.5	Even with the relative simplicity of the campaign mode, the game is still a fun way to kill about six and a half hours or so.
Overall	8.0   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 13 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Screenshots