Let's not forget that Perseus Mandate is an expansion, nothing more.
First of all, it's essential for you to know that this is the second expansion pack to the original F.E.A.R. The first expansion was titled Extraction Point. If you want to be deliberately awkward, you could say that Extraction Point was the first expansion pack, and Perseus Mandate was the first STAND-ALONE expansion pack, but lets face it, that would be kind of lame.
Well, I won't lie when I say that I wasn't 100% sure as to what exactly was happening throughout Perseus Mandate's plot. Either this was because I wasn't paying attention or because the plot is kind of stale. What I do know is that the game takes place during the events of the first game, and has you playing as a different protagonist to the original Point Man, although this doesn't have any affect on the gameplay. You are actually part of a second F.E.A.R. team called into the action. Then there's all this 'Archam this and Archam that' business. Characters are kept to a minimum, and there's only really four or so new characters of any significance to your own; the two guys in your squad, some civilian guy and your stereotypical bad guy boss. Of course, F.E.A.R. just wouldn't be F.E.A.R. without the creepy girl in red, Alma, or the equally creepy ghost of Paxton Fettel. Well, if you hadn't already guessed, they make their appearances throughout the game too.
When faced up against, well, the majority of first person shooters out there, I guess F.E.A.R. does somewhat have a plot that has some importance to the gameplay, but even if this is true, I don't play F.E.A.R. for that reason. I play F.E.A.R. for it's intense FPS combat and creative horror-themed elements. It's no surprise then, that it didn't bother me in the slightest that I wasn't drawn to Perseus Mandate by it's story. If an FPS does feature an intriguing plot, then that's a nice bonus. But that's the only way I see it with an FPS, and if you think likewise, then that's obviously a good thing.
More important than the story is Perseus Mandate's gameplay, which safely retains everything you saw in F.E.A.R. and Extraction Point, and this is where the game garners it's criticism. You won't find that much has changed in this addition to the series; the combat is more-or-less the same, and the environments don't stray too far from what you saw before-hand either. The game does offer a handful of new weapons and enemies however, but they don't have any effect on differing the gameplay as such. New weapons include the grenade launcher, lightning arc and a new, powerful assault rifle with red scope. The new enemies consist of some better-equipped ATC security guys and the new Nightcrawler mercenaries, which, in essence, are smarter, tougher and more challenging versions of the standard Replica soldiers. In addition to the new content, just about everything that was introduced to Extraction Point also features in Perseus Mandate.
I can understand why this game has whipped up it's criticism – it's fair enough to go ahead and state that Perseus Mandate is lacking in terms of all things new, but I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Motto's aside, the developers TimeGate Studios, in a way, can be criticized for this same reason. Yet...there's just something about the original F.E.A.R.'s combat mechanics that feels so right. All the weapons, including the new ones, feel great for the most part. Blowing away a Replica soldier with a SPAS-12 shotgun using the game's slow-mo bullet time function still feels as satisfying as it ever did. It's also true that the game's environments were becoming dated even at the time this expansion hit the shelves, yet revisiting the same kind of dark office blocks, warehouses, streets and, er, multistory car parks you saw in the original game still had me glued to the screen. The newer environments include sewers and high-tech laboratories, and they too, blended fairly well within the game.
I don't have any complaints regarding the level design as such, but it's gotta be said that many of the environments did feel somewhat barren from time to time. Either it's just me or I am genuinely right by saying that the game lacks in object details when compared to the original game or Extraction Point. The graphics engine was obviously starting to age by the time this game was released, but I think had there been more objects scattered within the levels, this would have at least given the environments a more dynamic touch. Come to think of it, that was one of the things I loved about the first F.E.A.R. - the way that the levels were full of objects that would react to your shots thanks to the implemented Havok physics. I'm not saying that Perseus Mandate is stripped bare of objects, but somehow I remembered both F.E.A.R. and Extraction Point having more detail within the levels.
This also has an effect on the engine's dynamic light sourcing. With the lack of level detail also comes the lack of lighting, and it's a shame because another of the engine's strong points was it's impressive (at least at the time) lighting effects. Of course, I'm not speaking about the entire game here, just the fact that I felt more underwhelmed from time to time. The visuals are exactly the same at the end of the day, and it's difficult to set Perseus Mandate apart from it's predecessors.
I've read a lot of people complain about the supposed 'lack of horror' elements, when compared to what came before, but personally I don't know where these comments are coming from. I found that the action and horror ratio was about right throughout the game. I also found just about all of Perseus Mandate's horror sequences to be just as well accomplished as what you saw before-hand. While it is true that there is considerably more action and gunplay to be found, this was true with the past titles anyway. Existing horror sequences in this game are memorable and as tense as they ever were in my opinion, so no complaints on this front.
Completing the story unlocks three new 'Bonus Missions', which can be played in any order. Before more cocky statements arise, such as 'so beating the game unlocks even MORE of the same!?' and 'hey everyone, let's play the same game for the FOURTH time!', I still played through them and had fun with them. I'll admit, it's not exactly the best unlockable content I've ever seen, but I wasn't expecting any bonus content anyway. Therefore, I beat these missions on a positive note. Did you expect to unlock anything other than a new difficulty mode after beating a mere expansion pack?
At the start of this review, I claimed that I found it difficult to reach a proper conclusion. Right now you're probably thinking 'but it's been almost completely positive so far...', I can still somewhat agree in what people are saying in that the game feels unnecessary; yes, not much has changed. But it's quite clear that TimeGate released Perseus Mandate for the fans. And I can't really see why any fan of the original F.E.A.R. or Extraction Point wouldn't like this game. In fear of sounding biased (which I probably am anyway...) or arrogant here, I think people have forgotten what the whole point of an expansion pack is. All they really exist to do at the end of the day is satisfy the fans by providing more of the same great gameplay as well as a few new minor additions to the series, and that's exactly what Perseus Mandate does.
This isn't a sequel. Let's not forget that either. I'll admit that I can't give this game a particularly high score, as it didn't exactly break any new ground for me, but that's not the way I approached Perseus Mandate. I approached it the way I approach most expansion packs, and I got what I expected to see. And as a F.E.A.R. fan, I had fun with it, and I don't see why any other fan wouldn't.
Wrap-up:
+ Same great gameplay to be had
+ Horror sequences as good as any past F.E.A.R. title
+ Bonus missions add more replay value
- Nothing especially new to be had regarding gameplay
- Sometimes the levels feel barren
- Doesn't really improve upon the original F.E.A.R. or Extraction Point