A very fair and honest review of this game.....

User Rating: 8 | F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin PC
I played through the entire original FEAR the night before FEAR 2 was released, so I jumped into FEAR 2 with FEAR fresh on my mind and at first....I wasn't happy. I'll start off with the things I personally was not happy with.

Right off the bad the first thing I didn't like was the interface. Instead of the basic interface of the original, which was completely fine, you now have these glasses they have all the interface stats as a HUD display...looks very much like Ghost Recon and I hated it. It "highlights" enemies and objects (information disks, ammo, health, weapons) almost as if it's saying "Hey your to stupid to look over here, so I'm gonna help you". However as time goes by, you tend to get use to it and don't really pay it much attention.

The graphics look nice...however in some instances (especially in bullet time) the original actually looks better. Also whenever you get hit, there is a spray of gore that just looks terrible (as in it looks like chucks of beef flying around for some reason). Also, the "smoke" effect from the original FEAR (when in intense firefights rooms would fill up with smoke to the point you could not see) is been turned down drastically, to the point where I never had this happen.

The story starts off kinda rocky and very cliche, but as time goes by it really starts to get good and interesting. The ending (which I won't give away) is somewhat confusing though but enjoyable. One thing I hated was there is a ton of information laying around in the form of discs, manifests, clipboards, etc all of which you have to stop and read which breaks the game play and immersion. In the original, all extra info was on telephone voice mail and laptops that was spoken or summarized to you. That was such a better method because if added a realistic feel to the game. Also I feel the acting and dialog was much better in the original.

The enemy AI seems to have been turned down in the area of squad tactics but they certainly have increased in their shooting abilities. In the original, enemies didn't shoot you until you were in a reasonable area where your presence could be detected. In FEAR 2 if you have a thread of hair sticking from around the corner, your getting shot. It's not constant, but it does happen often. Stealth is certainly not an option in this game.

Also, and this was a biggie for me, there is NO safe anywhere. It's a checkpoint system, however the checkpoints are well placed and not to far apart. Still I hate the fact they I just can't stop and save whenever I want.

Ok now for the good:

The sound is fantastic. Weapons, the eerie moments, the music (except for the snakefist song...that was just brutal but it's only at one part and it doesn't last long). There's even some of the eerie music from the original too.

Alma is done fairly well and her scary moments live up to the original in some cases, surpasses.

Weapons are done very well. The new weapons are fun and interesting, and the power armor (kinda like mechs) are great fun.

Graphics for the most part look great and with everything maxed it ran flawlessly on my computer (2.66ghz quad, dual 8800gtxs in SLI, 3 gigs RAM).

All in all:

It's a good game that falls short of the original like so many do. By itself, it's a great game, but when riding the coat tails of an amazing game, people expect something equal or greater. If you compare it to the original, you will be disappointed, like I was when I first started playing. However if you keep to it and just play it for what it is, then the game becomes quite enjoyable. I really wish they would have left it more like the original and a bit more of a realistic feel instead of a more futuristic type feel of this game, however that is just my own personal preference. Definitely worth play, but I wouldn't say this is a "must buy".