F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Demo Impressions

It has been some time since the first F.E.A.R. and its terrible expansions (Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate – please avoid these like the plague).  As a man that enjoys screaming like a little girl in terror and soiling himself, I was quite impressed with the first game despite its repetitive environments and somewhat intelligent AI. So how does F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin shape up compared to its predecessor?

First let me go over the horror aspect of the game. If you are new to the F.E.A.R. storyline, the game centers around a girl named Alma who has extraordinary psychic powers and wants to eradicate life. As you proceed through the main backdrop to the demo, an abandoned school, you get treated with some very impressive special effects. Lockers suddenly slam open, corpses slide across the floor, and plenty of loud noises behind you only to have nothing be there (sometimes!) raised the hair on the back of my neck.

There is one area in particular that gave me chills. An open area with several windows leading to other rooms, corpses somehow sticking to the ceiling as light from a television gave the room a flickering quality. I won’t ruin what happens in this area, but it shocked me quite a bit that I jumped..a little. OK, a lot. So the game delivers on the horror aspect, so what about the action?

I have mixed feelings about the actual combat of the game. Some of the brighter parts of it are that you can flip over tables and other objects for impromptu cover, sneak up on enemies for quick melee kills, enable “slow-mo”, and cackle in glee as enemies say “Oh shit!” after tossing a grenade their way. While the weapons are your typical variety in the demo, (Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Laser, etc.) they looked and sounded very impressive.

However I wasn’t altogether pleased with the AI of F.E.A.R. 2. At times they would flip over tables for cover, flank me, and all together make me quote Jurassic Park with the line “Clever girl…”. Then for no reason at all they (The AI) would just charge at me while I remained behind cover and took a few kneecaps off. This was really annoying, as this occurred even on the higher difficulty settings. Going from sheer brilliance to drooling stupidity put a few blemishes on an otherwise great combat experience.

A part of the game that should be addressed as well is the mech sequence. During the last few minutes of the demo you find an abandoned power suit that lets you massacre soldiers left and right with no abandon. While this sequence was done very well in the demo, I honestly hope this was just thrown in there to showcase part of F.E.A.R. 2′s main multiplayer mode, where each team has one of these beauties. Otherwise I worry that the mech part of the game will simply ruin the other, more entertaining parts of the game.

My only concern, aside from the questionable AI, is that F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin’s demo will be like The Force Unleashed and Sonic Unleashed. Both of those games had really fun demos, but the ACTUAL games were horrible. Should F.E.A.R. 2 avoid this, then you may need to buy additional pants with this new addition to the horror genre. I’m implying you will wet yourself…in a good way.