What can I say. I've been waiting for the opportunity to play and criticize the hell out of this game for quite some time. While not visceral and genre changing in the way the COD series has been, the F.E.A.R. genre has become a dear friend of mine. That is to say the first game was. The myriad of ports and expansions that I couldn't keep track of really didn't do much to further my love affair with the first F.E.A.R. Nevertheless I've been anticipating this for a while. So lets get down to it. For anyone who says that this game isn't very much a sequel to the first, I have a very energetic up yours. F.E.A.R. 2 has very much brought back many of the things I loved from the first installment. I'll admit that the first interval or two didn't quite capture the feeling of the first, but as soon as I began my trek into the underground facility I was confronted with the very familiar increase in pulse that first had made so joyful to me. A large complaint on everyone's list for the first game was the limited linear level design that stayed in the same boring settings throughout the experience. They did address that in this game to a degree. While the environments at least give the illusion of more freedom, they are definitely still very linear and corridor based. Personally I enjoy this after seeing games like Gears 2 somewhat inhibited by the addition of poorly constructed outdoors areas that let you "breathe" more. Aside from just the environments the look has remained much the same. Of course it did give that slightly too polished look, which surprises me when much of the world is soaked in bloody writing on walls and the post nuclear destruction you'd expect. F.E.A.R. looked great, for a sequel to an already very well envisioned game. The lighting as always was fantastic in most levels while the textures seemed just a bit to flat. I won't even bother wasting time on the actual feel of the gun fights here. It's as wonderfully fast paced as ever and a welcome break from realistic simulations of gun physics in a war based FPS. The reflex mechanic is very much what makes this game unique. The interesting side effect of this mechanic is that everything moves incredibly fast when its not used. This came as a fun little challenge to me as I tried to show what a badass I was by using it as little as possible. This brings me to the reason you have the reflexes in the first place. You're not playing the same supers soldier from the first game, instead you're yet another faceless protagonist shafted into fighting a crazy little **** with awe inspiring psychological powers. There was very little put into your character, but I think that part of this comes from the fact that F.E.A.R. is more driven by the world you are fighting in than the character who's doing the fighting. I was torn as I progressed through the game because the familiarity of the first was nice, but I wasn't sure how to feel about the ever expanding story line. I felt as though the creepy mysteriousness of the first game was becoming less and less creepy as I began to know more about what was going on. The fact that you really didn't know much in the first game seemed to have an effect on the pure joy it brought because you didn't NEED to know what was happening. This game trades that for a less compelling protagonist and a high level of awareness as to what the **** is going on. There's a duality here that I can't quite reconcile as I enjoy the new knowledge but miss the feeling of being completely lost from the first game. Either way the ideas from the first are VERY much expanded upon in this game. As far as the scare factor goes I'm also torn there. There weren't a lot of sudden jump moments in the first. More just ambient horror that resulted in me jumping anyway when I turned around and someone was standing there. While there is a decent amount of that in this game there is also the cheap thrill kind of horror I hate. You know, the "hey look I'm a creepy fast moving mutant and I'm gonna jump out at you and scare the **** out of you even though you already know exactly where I'm coming from." Not cool Monolith. Thankfully there are still plenty of awesome moments in this game very reminiscent of the first. In fact, its kind of nice having the improved graphical capabilities to show some of what couldn't be shown in the first. Watching the shattered wreckage of a 737 come crashing down above my head was rather enjoyable. Observing as three soldiers get the flesh ripped from their skeletons in a torrent of telepathic energy as tentacles sprout from he ground to consume the carnage was also rather enjoyable. This is definitely a perfect mixture of creepy ambiance and heart pounding carnal slashing combined into one horror experience. I suppose what makes this game so bittersweet is that everyone had expectations from the first one. And I know that's always an issue with sequels, but with F.E.A.R. there seemed to be very much left to the imagination when it comes to what we could expect from a second. I can't lie, I'm thoroughly enjoying this game's single player (since that's the ONLY aspect of the game you can enjoy), but I'd like to see a third that can capitalize on all the series has shown us. Come on Monolith, we know you can do it. Blow my ****ing mind next time around.
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