F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin + Reborn

This improves on a lot of things from the already great first one, including the gunplay and the variety to the psychic phenomena. The story continues to really grip you and this provides some more truly chilling backstory. I am so glad that they did a perspective switch, as frustrating as it of course is to not immediately see what happened after the end of the original, which I will not spoil here. The AI is masterful, providing an actual challenge; it's in that regard a spiritual successor to Half-Life, and I'm here for it. Since this contains both the main game as well as the DLC, the latter is only a further investment of time, not money, and I will judge it based on that. “Reborn” definitely does tell some story that helps explain one really major aspect of the third game; you'll be confused if you jump directly to that one. Other than that this does feel like you don't affect the plot very much, however. The DLC also features some enemy encounters that are very tedious.

Don't get me wrong, its not a BAD game per say, it is enjoyable and I liked its aesthetic/graphics/artstyle, even if its not the same as the original FEAR. Plus the mech suit bit was FUCKING AWESOME. Its just that without dual wielding, leaning and a bigger arsenal selection as the first game, its a bit of a down grade in these areas, which is not what you'd expect of a sequel. The story is pretty mid. Still, this is much better than FEAR 3. I still would recommend people play it.

When I first played Project Origin in 2010, I called it a terrible sequel, a bad horror game, but a decent action game on its own. Replaying it fifteen years later, the "decent action" hasn't stood the test of time, and I'd amend my statement to call it a "quite weak" action game. If you liked FEAR, then get your hopes way down for this. Everything that made FEAR amazing is extremely dulled down in Project Origin, and the game suffers significantly from being a console-focused title. The game's "horror" just falls flat. Unlike FEAR, Project Origin couldn't get me to jump even once. The jump scares are cheap and poorly placed, with lame music cues. The overall atmosphere never feels as creepy. The new paranormal thing is... an awkward mind controlled tentacles that come out of the floor? For reasons. The story is stupid, and isn't worth mentioning in a 2,000-char review. As for gameplay: it still has slow-motion and melee attacks. Combat feels clunkier, with a 3-second sprint that keeps pushing you forward for a few meters after you let go of the button. The ability to "flip over" objects for cover will probably go unused (and often does little more than turn a file cabinet 90°.) Weapons feel and sound weaker, and the shotgun is pathetic. AI is okay, but too often stifled by constrictive level design. The one area that has any improvements is graphics, but it also suffers some setbacks. We get some ambient occlusion, higher-res textures, and some decent lighting effects. But on the flipside, shadows are worse (the flashlight doesn't cast shadows), effects and physics are lessened, and some new graphical "features" just look bad. Depth of field is finicky and ugly, and can't be turned off - nor can lens effects like bloom and water on the screen. The HUD is particularly offensive, with a permanent frame around the screen, a crosshair hit indicator, and enemies that glow brightly when you turn on slow motion. Don't waste your time. There was only one FEAR game.

I got FEAR 2 coming off of playing the first, so here's some advice: If you played FEAR 1, wait a while before playing FEAR 2. Let the fresh scent of FEAR expire a bit. Play something else to get it off your mind. Then play FEAR 2. The distance will soften the blow. FEAR 2 is a good game in isolation. It has some pretty great moments and a decently presented story. I will warn that the first third of the game is not so great, but if you can get past that, it will get better. It's a short game and its Reborn expansion is even shorter. The game plays like one would expect a post-2007 console shooter would play like, which is to say a lot of winding linear corridors. I played on Hard difficulty and it can be cheap and tedious especially if you expect close combat, which isn't really viable. Some weapons stop being useful after a while, like the pistol, SMG, and shotguns, and others are broken when used efficiently, like the sniper rifle. You'll be keeping the AR on hand at all times while keeping the other toys for other special purposes, especially since you can hold four weapons at a time. The game's best set of levels are definitely the school. It is surprisingly well-designed and is the crown jewel of the game. If nothing else, it is worth experiencing. If you like first person shooters and want something that's decent and interesting, I give FEAR 2 a base recommendation. Buy it when it goes on sale. If you have decided to not take my advice, if you love FEAR with all your heart, then 2 will leave you heartbroken. It's not a good sequel. It's a decent enough game, but if you're coming off of one of the greatest games of all time, then it has a long list of negatives. It is less complex in its gameplay loop, is less fun, the narrative may as well be a reboot, the presentation is a net negative despite having pretty good graphics, and the level design kinda sucks. It's worth a few bucks for what it is, but is overall less than the sum of its parts.

FEAR 2 pales in comparison to FEAR 1 but by itself is not a bad game. On its own it's still fun and definitely worth playing if you enjoy basic FPS games. The updated visuals and minor improvements to combat are decent although some good features got removed such as the leaning. My main problems are that it's more like Call of Duty than FEAR (although that's not necessarily a bad thing), the melee attacks are borderline useless now except for the slidekick and for some reason the bicycle kick will always go above your enemies missing them completely, the game is far too easy even on harder difficulties with only a few minor difficulty spikes, you don't feel like a badass like in FEAR 1 but rather like you're the only competent guy with a gun in the entire game, the supporting cast is as bland as airline food, and also the complete lack of the titular FEAR team. The REBORN expansion is fantastic compared to the base game however and it's a pity that it's only about 2 hours long at most. It's more challenging and creates a very different atmosphere, and it becomes noticable early on that the devs learned from the mistakes they made with the base game. Overall I'd say get the game when it goes on sale if you really liked FEAR 1.