F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin: Xbox 360 Review

Posted February 18, 2009 by Joey.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is the supposed sequel to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 hit F.E.A.R., a game based on the antics of a corporation using humans for supernatural experiments, and a special forces team designed to effectively deal with such paranormal matters.  Apparently Agents Mulder and Scully could not pack enough heat to deal with these kinds of paranormal matters.  Updated graphics and game play manage to make Project Origin an improved sequel to the first game while retaining a lot of the first F.E.A.R.’s unique gaming aspects like following blood trails and engaging the special slow motion ability to better handle your enemies.

I love a good story, but I am not much on having to read about it.  Project Origin’s story is told mostly through intel items that you pick up throughout the game.  Despite the last game being left on a cliffhanger note, you get the reward of having a name for your character. But, as nothing is said about the last hero – “Mr. Pointman”, the story leaves you wondering what is going on.  The plot is confusing, if not meant to be entirely situational, but it does continue the story arc of the first game; you have to keep pursuing the ghost of Alma (now in the form of a woman) to figure out what happened to her and what went down with this particular corporation.  The CEO will be your ally in the game along with some more faces of the F.E.A.R. team, but nothing really comes together as this game is intent on focusing on the ghost more than the F.E.A.R. team. 

Much of what you may have liked about the first game is kept for Project Origin.  Intermittently throughout the game, you get to sniff down a blood trail which the ghost will use to lead you to areas that are rich with horror scenes.  Your special reflex ability that slows down time is still there and still as handy as ever.  The improvements are mostly in the controls and inventory so that you can finally aim down the sights this time, as well as carry more than two guns at a time.  The weapons stay pretty standard in terms of what you had in the last game, although this time they are much more accurate. 

Most of the story is told during the game play through text screens that you might accidentally skip; there are not many cutscenes in the game or video clips that follow up on the story.  The graphics are improved from that last scary experience, in which the developers had not thought to update them for a more powerful console.  They remind me a lot of what you encounter in Rainbow Six Vegas, if you need a comparison.  I enjoy the sound, especially in listening to the enemies try to talk through their helmets.  For some reason that seems to work for me.  The game keeps the F.E.A.R. mood with its dark and scary places and there are a few parts that made me jump.  I am not prone to being scared by video games, but Project Origin does a good job of sticking these moments in when you are least expecting it. 

Project Origin carries through for a good while with small levels that play out like chapters in a book.  These small levels will take you through a much longer single player mode, giving you a great campaign.  The multiplayer is a bit more concerning.  The problems of the first F.E.A.R. seem to be the same problems that affect Project Origin.  The multiplayer does have lag issues, but more concerning is the basic multiplayer game play.  Typical games of Team Deathmatch and similar modes do not make for a lasting online community and I would be surprised if the online community for Project Origin still existed by this time next year.  Multiplayer hosts up to 16 players in a match and with host dedicated matches you are in for a lot of lag. 

The achievements are improved with more than half of them focusing on the single player campaign and the rest being mostly easy to get on the online multiplayer.  The achievements are a great step up from what you would have encountered in the first F.E.A.R.; most of the achievements were locked in to the multiplayer that nobody plays.   

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is on par for a decent scary first person shooter.  The improvements pay off heavily and as the story is so confusing anyway you need not worry about punishing yourself by trying to play through the first game. The only problem I foresee is that down the road, Project Origin may not be able to keep an online community interested in staying through to the next set of downloadable maps for the multiplayer.  If you were a diehard fan of F.E.A.R. then you will love the next chapter of this series.  If you were like me and thought that F.E.A.R. was Counter Strike with a horror twist and did not meet the standards of console gaming, then you might not be satisfied with Project Origin. The achievements also give it added worth compared to the first game. Project Origin is a good buy or week long rental with what it has to offer and you can expect a lot more from Project Origin than the original.

Tagged as F.E.A.R. 2, Monolith, Project Origin