F.E.A.R. 2: Project is the follow-up to the amazingly satisfying horror-shooter F.E.A.R. Having enjoyed that game for its combat and tone, I was excited to see what would come of the sequel after Monolith regained the rights to the license name. Needless to say there were high hopes they would deliver on the rare breed of horror-themed first-person shooter revived by the original game. Luckily they managed to pull it off fairly well in this action-packed no frills sequel.
I always like to get the bad stuff that sticks in my mind out of the way because generally games are more good than bad on average. The main problem with FEAR 2 is that the fun but simple shooting can't carry itself through easy shooting sequences. The base gameplay using base guns against base enemies tends to drag near the beginning and so the game feels far too easy. I actually had to play the game on hard until it got to be too hard and normal became the correct difficulty. It's that period between the tutorial and fighting replica soldiers that I felt the game was too easy to its detriment. If I didn't mix things up with grenades and shotguns, it would have become legitimately dull. However the game doesn't dwell on this as the difficulty ramps up and the game starts throwing more well-executed set pieces at you.
Before we go further I must discuss the shooting as it may seem like a bad thing from what I've described. It's plain sure but it's incredibly sharp, crisp, and other words for precision. When coupled with interesting sequences the gameplay is a delight. It doesn't work as well when it's a standard hallway crawl and the enemies simply accept running up to their face and taking a bunch of bullets. Luckily the game doesn't dwell too long on these occasional gameplay moments. It gets better about sending tougher enemies that throw grenades, flank you, move quickly, shoot more potent weapons, and that come with the occasional mini-boss as the reaching the half-way point and beyond. The gunplay also feels far more satisfying once the multitude of weapons open up giving you more options to use what you like best. I certainly felt excited to play the game again once I got my auto-shotgun and sniper rifle. I can't talk about this game's shooting without the simply divine bullet time mechanic. It's easy to use and fun as hell even when the game got a bit too easy. I will say this: this feature is required if you plan on playing on hard because you will not be able to fight later enemies otherwise. Before I move on, my favorite part of the gameplay is slowing down time and shooting soldiers in the head with my sniper rifle. Try it out sometime.
The main virtue of FEAR 2 and the reason I recommend this game to FEAR fans is that it mixes crisp combat with what is a surprisingly diverse campaign. Simply put it's a well constructed linear action game that gets more exciting as the game goes on. It manages to save itself with a shocking amount of variety including mini-bosses against mechs, moments of horror/insanity, fighting super fast crazy crawler dudes, driving a badass armored mech, using a shell turret atop your crew's APC, eliminating cyber-ninjas, and running around unique environments. The most memorable part of FEAR 2 has to be running around the elementary school which although cliche in its creepiness was actually an incredibly effective nostalgia trip through the first grades. It was rather touching.
The other big fear I had going on beyond the dull campaign (turning out to be not true) was the length of the campaign. I'm also pleased to report it keeps itself going for a long time which is a good thing in this case. I was wondering how much more this thing had by the end of the game, mostly punctuated by the freshness of late-game level design and set pieces, hoping it wouldn't end. It's rare these days for a game to pick itself up near the second half and take on that elusive quality of wishing it kept going. Usually games are all the way bad, all the way good, or tend to get worse over time. Instead FEAR 2 goes up on a steady incline until a breaking point where I could no longer put the game down. My sessions with the game become smoother and longer as the days went on.
Lastly I will talk about the story and characters. One pleasant surprise I wasn't...expecting was that the characters were actually well written. The cast, while not groundbreaking or unique, was effectively executed between the respectable commander, cocky jerk team member, affable female team member, well humored team member, colorful villain, very smarmy and funny com guy, and others. I can tell when there's good writing when the characters say things that I would have said or at least think I would have said. Particularly the swearing I thought was sparse but highly effective when used. However the story overall was rather predictable especially after you notice what is happening to your squad and how they get killed off reliably. However the game does leave the role of Becket (not the first game's main character) in the bigger picture rather ambiguous as he gets close to being the solution to the Alma problem but falls short. Let's just say it makes sense there's a FEAR 3 but that your role in FEAR 2 wasn't meaningless. Either way I feel confident in saying after playing this game that I have plenty of reasons to recommend it as a whole and feel excited for the sequel.
