F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin – Game Review | Señor Tomato's Blog – A World of Not Windows Stuff But Maybe Mac Stuff

MacHouse game rating: 9.0/10

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (hereafter, F.E.A.R. 2) is a horror & action game released by Warner Bros. Interactive for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. It was released in February 10th. It’s a first-person action game. So you will never get to see the face of the character you are playing.

Screenshot 01 – Scene from Half-Life 2, Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 02 – Scene from Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Source: MacHouse

Screenshot 03 – Scene from Half-Life 2 Episode 2, Source: MacHouse

What kind of game is F.E.A.R. 2? In several aspects, this game is quite similar to Valve Software‘s Half-Life 2. If you have played and enjoyed any of the Half-Life 2 games, chances are that you will probably enjoy this game, too. Right, the stories are totally different. In Half-Life 2, Gordon Freeman‘s movement is sometimes stopped by a sniper with a red laser beam. Screenshot 04 shows a similar scene from F.E.A.R. 2 where the player must kill a sniper to move on. In Half-Life 2, Gordon Freeman is sometimes asked to shoot down enemy’s flying carrier with a rocket launcher, right? Screenshot 05 shows a scene from F.E.A.R. 2 where the player must destroy an armor robot with a rocket launcher. Furthermore, Screenshot 06 shows a scene of a ruined street from F.E.A.R. 2, which resembles Half-Life 2’s ruined City 17.

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Even the way they use music in F.E.A.R. 2 is similar to Half-Life 2. When a series of exciting actions are expected, the game suddenly starts running music loud. And it will continue until you finish the whole mission. That’s how all Half-Life 2 games are designed, too, right?

The story

The character that you will play in F.E.A.R. 2 is Michael Becket. He is part of a small Delta Force squad led by First Sargeant Griffin. Their mission sounds quite simple. They are ordered to take Genevieve Aristide, President of Armacham Technology Corporation, into protective custody. (See Screenshot 07.) Something terrible has happened at her corporate headquarters. And the authorities believe she has something to do with it. The Delta squad arrives at the building where Aristide’s penthouse (A penthouse is an apartment or condominium located at one of the top floors of a tall building.) is located. After Stokes overrides the security system of the building, they will try to go upstairs by taking an elevator. (See Screenshot 08.) When an elevator door opens, the first blood is drawn. And Keegan gets badly injured. (See Screenshot 09.)

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Is Genevieve Aristide really a bad person such that a military squad is needed to take into custody? As Becket gets close to Aristide, the whole building is attacked by a helicopter. And she calls for help. (See Screenshot 10-1.) If she were a bad person, she would have fled by now. In fact, when Becket finally meets her in person, she says she was expecting him and his squad. (See Screenshot 12.) And she says they are the only ones who can stop Alma.

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Alma… Who is she? Before answering the question, Genevieve Aristide vanishes right in front of his eyes. Then Becket starts seeing the figure of a little girl in naked. When he spots her by a large window, Becket and his team are caught by a huge explosion. (See Screenshot 13-4.) Aristide is probably not a bad person after all. After the explosion, instead of letting him die, Aristide tells her medical team to do anything to save Becket’s life. (See Screenshot 15.)

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Weapons

There are a number of weapons available in this game. But not all of them are available at the beginning. In fact, the only weapons Becket carries at the beginning are Pistol and Submachine Gun. (See Screenshot 16.) As shown in Screenshot 17, he sometimes finds a weapon sitting on a black box. Other weapons that are available in this game are Assault Rifle, Automatic Shotgun, Combat Shotgun, Frag Grenade, Hammerhead, Incendiary Grenade, Missile Launcher, Napalm Cannon, Proximity Mine, Pulse Weapon, Shock Grenade, Sniper Rifle. After pressing the tab key and clicking on DATANET and ARSENAL ITEMS, you can see a list of weapons and their descriptions. (See Screenshot 18-9.)

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There are several different kinds of grenades available in this game. In order to throw a grenade, simply press G. In order to switch from one kind of grenades to another, you need to press X. (See Screenshot 20-1.) Honestly, I never switched grenades before finishing the entire game. I know that one kind of grenades explodes instantly. Another kind is sticky bombs which don’t explode instantly.

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Enemy units & AI

F.E.A.R. 2’s enemy units make quite interesting movements. They can lean to shoot at Becket. (See Screenshot 22.) They sometimes even turn over a table to protect themselves from bullets. They also fake death. If you see them lying on the floor, don’t assume that they are dead.

Screenshot 22 – Source:
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Enemy units are good at throwing grenades. (See Screenshot 23.) Sometimes, I died without knowing how. After reviewing a game play video, it turned out that I was killed by a grenade thrown by an enemy unit.

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If there is something unique about F.E.A.R. 2, that’s a variety of enemy units appearing in the game. Occasionally, Becket runs across a guy carrying a flamethrower. (See Screenshot 24.) Another interesting group of enemy units will appear in Interval 04: Devastation. If you don’t kill the main guy wandering around quickly enough, his body will suddenly flash. (See Screenshot 25.) And he will bring a brother or whoever from the other side of the world to attack you. Another unique enemy unit that you don’t see in other games is shown in Screenshot 26. He is kind of a ghost.

More

For me, the best part of F.E.A.R. 2 is Powered Armor. You will have a chance to control this unit twice in the game. If you get close to it, you will be instructed to press E. (See Screenshot 27.) This unit is equipped with machine guns on both hands plus missile launchers. It’s pretty much almighty. But you have to be careful with a green laser beam, which is a sign for enemy’s rocket launcher. (See Screenshot 28.)

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Generally, I say F.E.A.R. 2’s graphics are designed well. For example, take a look at Screenshot 29. It’s a scene of the rundown street with the tail of a jetliner sitting on the ground. That’s quite amazing. On the other hand, the interior of the penthouse is less than amazing. The design is a bit too simple. (See Screenshot 30.) Or maybe that’s the way it goes?

Screenshot 30 – Source:
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The game is not very long. It’s longer than Half-Life: Episode One for sure, though. I probably played six or seven hours totally to finally finish the entire game. The thing is that the game ended quite unexpectedly. There is no strong big boss figure that Becket has to beat to end the game. The ending is a really big disappointment.

By the way, how did we come up with the rating of 9.0 given to this game? It’s only a rating relative to other games. No, we don’t have a formula to generate a game rating systematically. I enjoyed playing this game as much as Prince of Persia (2008). Do I like F.E.A.R. 2 better than Dead Space? Flatly, no. I can say I like it better than Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. In the end, we’ve decided to give a rating of 9.0 to F.E.A.R. 2. Fair enough?

Finally, the following is a quick list of additional aspects that you might be interested in knowing about the game.

(1) F.E.A.R. 2 only supports up to two Mouse buttons plus the Mouse wheel for weapon selection.
(2) F.E.A.R. 2 won’t let the player save game progress at their choice.
(3) F.E.A.R. 2 automatically saves game progress at a checkpoint, where you will start after dying.
(4) F.E.A.R. 2 allows the player to start the game at the beginning of any chapter (interval).

More screenshots