Fear Alma again. And again, and again. F.E.A.R. seems to retell itself over and over, but this is the best retelling yet
Throughout both the original and the sequel, plus the expansions, everything is based around the same events at roughly the same time. Each time you play, you are a different player in a different location in the city. But each time the goal is the same: Figure out what the heck is going on... stop Alma... and survive! This game takes that formula and updates the technology to today's standards. Where the original game looks absolutely dated today, F.E.A.R. 2 looks great.
The F.E.A.R. saga is very much steeped in Japanese horror and anime. The corrupt near-future mega corporation, tech and mecha, and environments are straight out of several similar works of anime. The ways in which Alma screws with your mind is pure psychological horror the Japanese seem to prefer. And the effects of her machinations are truly spectacular... and freaky in this latest chapter.
But due to the fact that F.E.A.R. 2 is much the same as its predecessor means there's a lot of "been there, done that" feeling to the game. You find yourself in the same kinds of hospitals, industrial complexes and other environments as you've seen before. Granted, they look a heck of a lot better now than before. But you're basically playing F.E.A.R. with a face-lift. There's still Replica and Armacham solders to fight, and even similar power armor. There is some variety though, especially in the freaky things Alma herself throws at you.
The game is a bit stingy on Achievements, even on the hardest difficulty level. If you collect every one, you'll only get 505 points in single-player. The rest you'll need to collect in multi-player, which isn't as popular now as it was when released.
If you played the first game and loved it, then you'll want to play this sequel. And if you've never played F.E.A.R. before, there's no reason you couldn't start here for a good shooter with some cool effects. But if you played the first game and have had enough of that style, there's nothing new to see here other than some pretty graphics.