Back when Monolith released F.E.A.R. in 2005, the game’s originality was never called into question. It featured the then-little used video game tropes of scary little girls and darkened, scary industrial complexes. It also featured AI that could put one over on you every once in a while, and a whole lot of slow motion gun combat. Listening to that list now, you can probably think of several games that do those things, and do them well. In fact, It would be fair to say that the original F.E.A.R. did many of those things badly: its scary girl, Alma, wasn’t particularly scary, it had trouble keeping its office environments interesting, its super-smart AI quickly became repetitive and annoying, and its pacing and storytelling were predictable and unexciting.
This is all to say that it wasn’t a great game, but that due to Monolith’s production values, and willingness to give you a lot of cool toys to play with, the experience ended up being pretty enjoyable. You tolerated its weaknesses even as they grew more and more apparent. Looking at F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, it’s interesting to note that the list of features I listed above is exactly the same. The difference is in the execution, and this time around, Monolith has showed us the savvy, skill, and their consciousness of F.E.A.R. 2’s place within the gaming landscape. Everything F.E.A.R. did wrong, F.E.A.R. 2 does right. Almost.
F.E.A.R. 2 takes F.E.A.R.’s weak main selling points and bolsters them, even in the face of stiff competition. Killzone 2 was released a week or so after F.E.A.R. 2, and Far Cry 2 was released only a few months back. Even though F.E.A.R. 2 wouldn’t seem to be in competition with Far Cry 2’s new-fangled, open-world approach to shooters, in the realm of innovation and non-traditional shooting, Far Cry 2 beats F.E.A.R. 2 at its own game. And closer to home, Killzone 2 is working in the same landscape as F.E.A.R. 2: a focused, back-to-basics shooter that boasts amazing graphics, tight controls, and a fun, solid, uninventive approach to FPSs.
So, take everything I said about F.E.A.R. and forget about it. It sounds cliché to say that F.E.A.R. 2 is a whole lot of fun, but that’s exactly what it is. F.E.A.R. 2 is quite aware of its place within the first person shooter spectrum. It understands that it’s not catering to our desire to experience moments of moral panic, complex tactical decision-making, or wondrous new environments. It provides players with immaculately rendered urban environments, and alternately scares them and blows them away.
Killzone 2 does the same thing, minus the scares. Likewise, other games (most notably the Max Payne series), have explored slow motion gun combat to a great extent. F.E.A.R. succeeds by subtly weaving Monolith’s vast experience into the F.E.A.R. blueprint, creating something much more convincing than the franchise’s first outing. They’ve taken the vicious, brutal combat and tension of Condemned and dropped that game’s hilarious plot. They’ve taken NOLF’s entertaining cutscenes and dialogue and, sadly, removed that game’s narrative ingenuity and character development. What you’re left with is competent, yet ultimately lacking in creativity and anything beyond a brilliant command of the cliché.
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