UnfullFEARing

Needing a new gaming fix, I picked up FEAR 2: Project Origin. It was a close draw between getting it and Call of Duty: World at War (how can you go wrong with zombie Nazis?) Anyway, I decided I was looking for something more creepy and scary-fun than greatest generation fun.

Fortunately I wasn't looking for anything really new in game play. There's not a lot of difference between F2:PO and FEAR, it's basically the same game - dark hallways, bad guys, time slowing powers. The only real difference is that this time you can capture a mech! This sounded really cool at first, but ended being slightly disappointing since it's incredibly unchallenging and repetitive. Now, I was expecting to be able to blow apart thousands of replicants, yet still have to worry about the occasional rocket and EMP grenade. What I got was a barely perceptible increase of enemies, and exactly ONE lone rocket launcher that lasted about 23 milliseconds before become ground-replicant. As far as I can actually tell, it's impossible to die while in the mech suit. I actually went and sat in one and walked away to make a sammich.

This isn't to say that the game is difficult outside of the suit. While I have died, it's been more because of the mood lighting - i.e. "make it scary by endarkening". Granted I'm, on "normal" difficulty, but still - there should be some challenge even then right?

Despite all this, the game is still a hell of a lot of fun. I make light of the "endarkening" (pun intended), but it does a lot for the overall feeling of the game. I've actually been nervous to go down a hallway lit only by a sole swinging light. The scares that come are occasionally of the "BOO!" variety, but more often are preceded by uneasy sounds and an overall sense of doom. The sound ads a ton to the atmosphere of this game. Although, there are times I feel I missed something. You'll here a spooky sound and not see anything, which could be the intention. however, some of the ghosts are so subtle that's they're easy to miss - I'm sure I have at times. That being said though, there were plenty of times the game casued me to physically jump.

In the end it's basically like spending $50 for a decent horror movie. I'm on the fence as to whether this is worth it or not. If you love FPS games, and aren't looking for anything new, the game gets a recommendation. If you're looking for simply a horror experience - rent The Ring.