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

In F.E.A.R., we learned that a little girl in a red dress is something of which we can truly be afraid. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin gives the gamer much more to be afraid of, not just cloned soldiers but also ghosts and even wall-climbing zombies.

Following in the footsteps of F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a first-person shooter that delves more deeply into the history of the eerie little Alma. Though it opened a few more doors to the origins of the project, it is not really a continuation of the original story. Really it's more of a sequel of sorts but from another point of view before the original game comes to an end.

As Dave Mathews of Monolith productions told us, “F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin begins about a half hour before the end of the first game. You play as Michael Becket, a Special Forces soldier who has been sent to retrieve Genevieve Aristide. When the bomb goes off it throws everything into chaos, and Becket must discover what has happened. Because so much of the F.E.A.R. world is about Alma and what she’s doing, the big mystery is why Becket becomes important to her.”

It seems though that Becket is prone to ghostly images surrounding swing hanging from a tree and other images that appear out of the corner of Becket’s view. And then there are the ghostly images that come right at you and cause more images. Hey, I did say that this was an eerie and unique drama unfolding before your eyes.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin carries on many of the same first-person shooter features that we saw in the original story. As Becket, the gamer has the ability to slow down time in order to give him more time to accomplish tasks and annihilate some very scary foes that appear at times in great multitudes. While traveling through the story, you will find more “juice” that can lengthen your slow-mo time so keep your eyes open. There is also the health booster laying around as well.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin also focuses more on the world, story, great combat, and some really nice AI. To make things a little easier, Monolith gave us a simpler weapon system. It is very easy to scroll thru the weapon stores and select just the right tool for the job. And to answer requests of F.E.A.R. gamers everywhere, a fourth primary weapon slot has been added, though I wanted a couple more…hehe. I just feel that you can never have enough weapons. And you better watch your ammo because you will run out if you’re not careful.

This is the part of the review where I wanted to tell you more about the differences in each different platform. But lo, we are only able to tell you of the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R.2 as that was the only copy that we had received. Yes, it is available for the PC and Sony PlayStation 3 as well, and we had heard that the PS3 held little difference from the 360 version and that the PC version was a little better than the others, it was our interest to tell you these things by viewing them first hand.

I can say that graphically, F.E.A.R. 2 on the Xbox 360 was a very nice piece of work. The environments are very detailed and precise. I was also impressed with the lighting and shader effects as it always held to the mood of the game, dark and eerie. The NPC models were also very nicely done and there were very few incidents where an arm reached through a wall, nor were there a large number of distortions found in the game.

I was extremely impressed with the enemy AI. As many of you know, I have a background in the military and law enforcement. This gives me a perspective that some other reviewers don’t have with these kinds of games. The proper use of cover and concealment are important if you want to survive in this game. But it’s just as important for the enemy to act properly. Sure, there were times where one stupid enemy would stand up, completely reveling himself from cover. Most times, I found the enemy to act appropriately with cover and using that cover properly.

Another point, you have the ability in the game to use most things as cover in the game. You will find that you can slide something over, or knock something else over and use it for cover throughout the game. This impressed me and will set the standard for many other games to come.

The audio was also quite neatly done. The enemy lines weren’t all the same all the time, and the sound effects really left goose-bumps up and down my spine at times. The music set a great eerie tone and really put me in the mood to be scared. Mostly I was happy to see that they were not the same old enemy lines over and over again. Just one of my pet peeves from the original. I was pleased to see that this did not carry over and more detailed attention was paid to the audio. Also the weapon sounds were full bodied and correct for the weapon that was used.

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Overall, I have to say that I was impressed completely with F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. Monolith took a great storyline and stretched out another vantage point letting us see the story from the view of another soldier. The weapon system was nicely refined. The environments allowed for the proper use of cover using objects from that environment. I was also pleased with the complete audio effects which had the depth to really set the mood nicely. And even though we were unable to review it from all platform perspectives, what we saw impressed us in the Xbox 360 version. Though I DO hope to someday see the other 2 versions so that I may have a more proper and full perspective. I can tell you that what I saw, I liked and can fully recommend to you. Whatever platform you have, go get F.E.A.R. 2 and be afraid…be fully afraid.

Overall Score: 8.9 (out of 10)

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