Even though the original FEAR was an excellent shooter, Perseus Mandate is a poor expansion pack.
Maybe because Monolith,the producers,had other plans,or because they had begun working on Project Origin, the sequel to FEAR, made them pass the FEAR work to TimeGate studios.& this is where the flaw in the plan was. In order to deliver a succesfull expansion pack,you have to take everything the original had & blend it even better,adding new ingredients as well.TimeGate followed the exact path of FEAR with Extraction Point,but in a bad way,creating a sometimes shallow substance,with much of the strange atmosphere & intensity of the battles missing.I thought they learned from their mistakes & I hoped they would do a better job with Perseus Mandate,but I was proven wrong.
In Perseus Mandate you play as a different character from another Recon squad.The events happen in parallel with the ones in FEAR & Extraction Point,so that if you have a good memory,you'll remember some of the key points from your path in the first two games when presented to you in Perseus Mandate.Well yeah,you've got a squad,two more people I mean,& you'll advance alongside them trough a mission & a half.Hey,at least it's an improvement from FEAR,where the time I had a squad was limited to 20 seconds.But,OK,I agree,being alone makes you easier to get scared.The accent in Perseus Mandate is put on battles,with which I can't agree.The battles in open spaces are incredibly stupid done,& have zero feeling.The office battles are "quite" good,but there is also some spooky old place,a cellar or something in Perseus Mandate,that doesn't fit at all,but at least it's something new.You've got some new weapons,but they don't react to good & you won't feel okay with them in your hands.You'll se that you'll go back to the old shotgun & assault rifle combination,picking up a penetrator or a particle weapons when you feel like having some fun.
Remember FEAR's levels,where there was a great link between the shooting & "getting scared" moments?Here there is no link,no logical order of the events.You shoot some guys,then you advance,lights turn off, "INCOMING-UNKNOWN ORIGIN" message appears,but without any logic,without you deducing why it appeared,as you did in the original game. But at least I've got to give TimeGate credit for the scary moments alone,because some of them are geniusly done,really creepy & profond.Oh,let me not forget the spooky-monster-from-grandma's-closet. Play & you'll see what I'm talking about...
The multiplayer is boring if you've spent some time with FEAR Multiplayer or FEAR Combat.In my opinion,no FEAR game had a bright multiplayer side to keep you there for hours,but at least it tried.But don't make the mistake of expecting anything great in the multiplayer side of Perseus Mandate.
Now it's time for the verdict.If you haven't played FEAR & Extraction point yet,but Perseus Mandate is at hand,DON'T miss it!You'll love it,you'll rate it 9.5 ,it will be an excellent experience for you.If you have played the first two games& you think of replaying them,give Perseus Mandate a try.At least you don't know when Alma is scriped to appear & you'll get some good spooks from time to time.At least for understanding better what happened,so that you'll have a better Project Origin experience.