Again fear Alma
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Confront terrors both known and unknown in a explosive battle for survival with F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin for PS3. This action-packed follow-up to Monolith Productions's award-winning supernatural shooter F.E.A.R. begins where the previous game left off. This time, you'll come up against Alma's powers from the perspective of special forces operator Michael Becket. After an enormous explosion has devastated the city of Auburn, you'll quickly discover that what seemed like an ordinary mission to retrieve and interrogate Genevieve Aristide is anything but.
 Ghoulish supernatural enemies give F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin a horrific, cinematic feel. View larger. |
 You'll explore and do battle in the dark corners of the ruined city of Auburn. View larger. |
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 An enhanced graphics engine offers more dramatic effects. View larger. |
 Improved enemy AI means you'll need better tactics. View larger. |
Project Origin Run Amok: Alma's Background
Fans of the first game will be familiar with the suspenseful story surrounding the psychic Alma, a peculiar and disturbing odyssey that adds depth to her devastating quest for revenge and immediacy to gameplay. Origin began as a secret military project run by the Aramacham Technology Corporation (ATC) . In an experiment run by Alma's own father, her DNA was used to create two clones that possessed her impressive psychic powers in an attempt to engineer a telepathic military commander. In the end, the research team became worried about the dangers of Alma's powers, and they tried to kill her.
While her heart stopped beating and her physical body died, her psychic energy continued to exist, and she manifested herself in many forms, including both a child and a deformed adult figure that betrays the gruesomeness of her ordeal. Due to a string of events tied to both her clones, Alma has escaped the disastrous explosion of the last game and the facility where she was held, and the haunting manifestations of her power are at work all around you, adding an unpredictable, nightmarish quality to the world.
Strange Events in a Supernatural Setting
In order to get anywhere in the rubble of the city of Auburn, you'll need to survive firefights, stay calm in the face of surprisingly graphic events, and uncover the terrifying and mysterious nature of your real enemies. Your character's phenomenal reflexes allow the much-talked-about slow motion effect from the original title to persist here, giving you an edge in combat and adding to the unique nature of your perspective.
Improved Details and Enemy AI
An enhanced graphics engine means more detailed environments to explore and better effects. The vast destruction in the city opens up a huge variety of spaces and enhances the other-worldly feel of your mission, and you better be ready to stay on guard because all-new enemies powered by improved AI don't just act more realistically than their predecessors, they employ advanced combat tactics and know how to use the environment against you. But they aren't the only ones with more resources at their disposal--additional world interaction enhancements allow you to create cover and protect yourself or remove obstacles from your path.
While it may be the horrific action and the details that first catch your eye, the tactical demands and the way story elements are slowly unveiled promise to help keep you interested as gameplay wears on. And for those times when you're not in the mood for a prolonged single-player campaign, this title also offers the ability to battle with or against friends in multiplayer mode.
Customer Reviews
Ghost in the Game
So FEAR 2 is a sequel. But, you do not need to play the original to enjoy this game.
The story of FEAR 2 is dovetailed into the ending of FEAR 1. The opening level is rocked by a large explosion that marked the conclusion of FEAR 1. This is a nice touch. It ties the second game into the first one without beating you over the head with it.
You play Sgt. Beckett. A generic military soldier type of hero who's back story is largely forgettable. Your squad mates are equally a "cut and paste" kind of group. You are tasked with arresting a CEO of an evil corporation bent on bringing clone troopers to a military near you. The operation goes south when the explosion, I mentioned earlier, interrupts you. Oh, and those clone troopers are lead by psychic commanders that have a tendency to go psycho. This is due to their mother being locked in a dark room when she was a kid and suffered all kinds of physical and mental abuses at the hands of her father who turned her into a supernatural force to be reckoned with. And when the evil company tried to pull the plug on the whole operation, Alma (the aforementioned girl) breaks out to exact her revenge on the world.
This back story is the set up for FEAR 2. The game takes a little bit of time to get going. But, once it does, I found it interesting enough to see it through to the end. I like the "horror" elements the designers worked into the story. Seeing fleeting glimpses of a ghostly Alma walking across your vision can raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Speaking of Alma... The story never explains why Alma is a child in the first game and a woman in the sequel. I mean the sequel happens immediately after the first game, so why is she so much older? Kind of a major hole in the back story. But, I'm not going to lose any sleep over this.
As the story plays out, you encounter ghosts and flesh eating ghouls. The ghosts are not really enemies but the restless souls of the victims of Alma's rage or the explosion at the beginning of the story. The ghouls are rejects of the clone trooper program. Nice touches to the storyline. And to be sure you do not miss this, there are various documents littering the ground to give you little nuggets of information about the story. All of this doesn't save FEAR 2 from all the usual short fallings of the FPS genre.
The single player campaign is woefully short. And the multiplayer half is more of an afterthought. The graphics look a bit dated. I mean FEAR 2 looks like a FPS from around 2001 running on a high end PC. Complete with all the bump mapping and pixelization you would expect from a game from that year. This dated look pulls down the entire presentation. Plus, you are bound to get nauseated from the overly exaggerated bobbing back and forth motion of your character's head when he walks. I wish there was some way of turning this off.
The vehicle sequences are sorely lacking as well. Mostly due to you piloting a mech that is capable of raining down death on the multiple waves of enemies. It is a little pedestrian of a plot device to stretch out the story.
Some of the more specialized weapons of the game give you little reason to use them once you realize how useful your ability to slow down time really is. It is that "bullet time ability" that helps you survive against overwhelming odds. And some of those specialized weapons just are not fun to use in bullet time. Plus, ammo for these weapons is very limited.
In the end, FEAR 2 is a worthwhile rental at best. I enjoyed it as such. I doubt many people would find it worth $60. The story is what carries the game. Not the graphics or the depth of game play. There are so many better FPS titles available on the Playstation 3 (like Killzone 2 or Call of Duty 4) that are worth your time.
I prefer to rate games on a scale of 10. So FEAR 2 earns a 7.5 out of 10 in my book.
YOU....WILL....JUMP
I have not written many reviews and do not consider myself as creative as other writers. However, I felt it necessary to take the time to write this to encourage others just how good this game is. This game has variety, different environments and looks and boy...is...it...creepy. I guarentee you will jump. The story line will keep you intrigued (I do not want to offer any spoilers. Would not recommend this game to players under the age of 17 as the language can be extreme and there are a couple scenes where there is brief nudity. The game can be played as a "run and gun" by using the slow motion "juice" but most often you will find it more rewarding to not use the slow motion and to think out your next move. I would urge you to buy this, especially at the price that it can be purchased for.
Scary, dark, and claustrophobic. Awesome!
This game works quite well. Lots of levels are spent inside hallways of schools, hospitals, office buildings, and other such cramped locations. Sounds fine, but I found myself longing for some open space to play in. When you finally make it outside and you actually breathe a sigh of relief, I'd consider that to be a sign of a pretty good game.
This game is not one to play in a crowded room, or anywhere where there are lights on. Wait till it's dark and crank it up. While not as scary as Dead Space, I certainly had a few jumps during the playthrough of this one. Creepy scenery, eerie circumstances, sweet weapons, cool enemies, and an interesting story make this a blast to play.
At the time of this writing, I've still not played any multiplayer, so I can't comment on that. But the singleplayer is great fun.
All details aside though, this is pretty standard fare for an FPS. First-person perspective shooting. Lots of weapons and lots of enemies. Linear in structure. PSN Trophies that take quite a while if you want to get a platinum in everything.
For such a reasonable price, and even if you haven't played the first F.E.A.R., this is a quality purchase that is worth at _least_ one playthrough.
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