Despite showing some age, this third installment of the F.E.A.R. series is more of what fans have come to love.
True it is, that the engine is beginning to age, but with maximum settings this game looks ever beautiful and eerie. The darkness of the setting is only compensated by your handy flashlight. And as before, you will never forget a room you have been becauee it will be in utter ruin. The offices you fight in will be familiar, but you will also duke it out in the streets, and even in some spooky laboratories.
F.E.A.R. wouldn't be itself without the patented slow-mo combat I have come to love. It's a powerful move; but not too powerful as in most cases your using it to save your skin.
Due to the nasty divorce between Sierra and Monolith, the main story could no longer take place. As a member of a second First Encounter Assault Recon team sent to tangential mission where the original game took place. With two skilled teammates, you are dropped into Armacham's facility in order to retrieve information on this mysterious Perseus Project. You are thrown into a battle with the replicas. Meanwhile, an American senator has interest in this information as well, and he wants it by any means necessary. This is where F.E.A.R.'s only true weakness is solved. This senator send in an entire army of mercenaries. Next to these guys, the replicas are infantile, "super soldiers" my ass. F.E.A.R.'s A.I. always made the game a good challenge, but with the addition of these soldiers, I found myself relying heavily upon slow-mo and med kits to survive. Before long, I found myself alone, experiencing supernatural encounters, and loving it.
Just like Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate adds new weapons, such as a powerful rifle equipped with a infrared scope, and an electric arc weapon capable of nailing several enemies at once. You can use these weapons as well as the original's and Extraction Points in the ever exciting and fun multiplayer. The same vesciral thrills are all there, as well as an awesome slow-mo game mode.
In the end, Perseus Mandate is a lot like its predecessor (like any expansion), and thats a good thing. From the brilliant A.I. eliminating repetition, to the spooking stalkings of the girl Alma, Perseus Mandate is more than a worthy expansion to one of the greatest shooters ever. And coming from one who needs no reason to come back to the series, its a "no brainer".