Good game, would be very good if it wasn't for there being very little new.....and its quite short
As it turned out its been OK, although fairly short.
As you might expect from the first FEAR, the sound and graphics are good (albeit what is done with the latter could do with a bit more imagination) and, most importantly, the wild firefights are absolutely excellent and the enemy AI does its thing with considerable vigour.
However, the down side is that in contrast to the original game it just isn't that scary this time round. Almost certainly this is because there really is nothing new apart from some different bad guys. The first game offered something that was more than just another tedious run and gun; it had gothic horror and genuinely frightening bits and it hinted at plot, at an underlying storyline. Part of the anticipation for me was waiting for that to develop in the sequel. Sadly it doesn't and the conclusion of the game really is just designed to keep the options open for another lucrative expansion. Worse, for much of the game one suffers a disturbing sense of deja vu; haven't I been in this office block/parking garage/warehouse district somewhere before? Its almost like TimeGate are simply recycling elements to minimise cost of development and (coincidentally?) maximise return on investment for the publishers.
The result is that by the end it really is just a run and gun, and actually quite tedious with it, not least because of the long empty corridors one seems to constantly find oneself in. The hospital is particularly bad for this and someone should point out to the designers that chucking large amounts of blood all over the place doesn't actually make it any more interesting.
In the end I found myself battling on more to get the game finished than to see what happens next.
Perhaps the designers and publishers should have taken note of how one of the great cinematic franchises managed this challenge. In Alien, most of the film was about creeping about being hunted by a half seen, seemingly invincible alien. For the sequel the writers could have gone for more of the same, but they took the stance 'no, everyone now knows what the Alien looks like, lets give them something different, with a different pace and style, that actually moves the franchise on a bit', and so they did produced what is arguably one of the most successful sequels of all time.
Not sure if this is a product of the franchise being taken on by Timegate, who may just have been briefed to knock out more of the same as cost effectively as possible (or just not be that strong in the creativity stakes). Alternatively it could be the responsibility of the publishers for wanting to screw as much margin out of their initial investment as possible. Either way it really is a missed opportunity to take a game that was pretty different in its first incarnation and do something clever with it to keep the novelty alive.
So, don't expect anything new, don't expect it to be as scary or involving as the original and don't imagine its going to take you hours to finish it, because it won't. I strongly suggest you wait a bit for the price to come down because it is neither long enough nor original enough to justify the price being asked for it.
Shame, can't help feeling that the designers missed a golden opportunity with this one.....