A solid sequel to the original Fear with a few through backs, but mostly a fun shooter to pick up and play.
Fear 2 begins just before the first ended, to be exact 30 minutes before the first one ended. You play a new character named Michael Becket. He is part of another team that goes into try and gets the president of this company called Armacham. Well, the ending of the first fear happens and Becket finds himself on an operating table get some sort of an operation. This operation will connect Becket psychologically to Alma, the creepy little girl who causes people to explode. Becket will need to go through a bunch of new locations to try and find a way to defeat Alma once and for all.
The biggest improvements to fear 2 are the levels. The first fear game was really repetitive in the environments. The second one has a bigger variety ranging from hospital to schools to even out door environments. You do spend a bit too much time in the hospital at the beginning, but that really isn't a big complaint, especially since the hospital has underground facilities.
A big thing in the first fear was the weapons and how they fired. Like its predecessor, fear 2 has a lot of cool guns that fell great to fire. There are your standard assault rifles, sub machine guns, pistols, shoot guns, rocket launchers, The Hammer head which pins enemies to walls, and there are a few new ones. Those consist of guns like the laser which cuts enemies apart, or this gun that I can't even name, which melts all the skin and flesh of your enemies, so all that's left is a burned skeleton. The weapons in fear 2 feel so powerful, because, every time you shoot someone, a whole lot of blood comes out of them. This game is ultra bloody and gory. The weapons in fear 2 are awesome and are defiantly a big part of this series.
Fear 2 also introduces mechs to the series. The mech levels in fear 2 are awesome. They are intense and chaotic. You will be going through a city shooting everything that moves. These levels provide some of the best fight scenes in fear 2, and are a great new game mechanic to the series. Fear 2 is also one of the only games that makes turret missions fun. There are about 2 or 3 turret missions and they are tons of fun. It is probably, because, the turrets feel good to fire and they control nice.
The slow mo abilities return from the first game, and they play out the same way in this game. Basically you hit a button and you go into this bullet time mode. It is really cool to see enemies explode into a bunch of blood, and it helps you get out of tough situations.
Fear 2 has a few problems in it. For one thing the game just isn't scary any more. Never once did I feel I had to turn down the sound or stop playing, because, this game just didn't scare me. Also, the single player only takes about 7 hours to complete. Another problem is the enemy A.I. While it is better than most games, they do have some problems. One thing is that they will tip over objects for cover that they are bigger than, so they will be hiding behind of soda machine with half their body sticking out. But for the most part, the enemy A.I. can put up a good fight.
The graphics in fear 2 look pretty good. There are some good lighting effects and some good locking environments. The dust effects look pretty good and the after effects of a battle look good. But some of the textures look kind of bland on some of the character models, and there are some bland looking objects in the environment, but this is a pretty good looking game.
The sound in fear 2 is pretty good. The voice acting isn't bad and the weapons sound great. There is all some great sound effects when something supernatural happens, and when something explodes, that sounds great to.
Fear 2 has a multi player, but a lot of people have said it was bad and not worth buying the game. I actually had a lot of fun with the multi player. There are a few game modes, team death match, a capture the flag mode, control points, etc. But these are fun to play with this style of game. There is a limited class selection, but it is great that you have some options to control your class load out. But it is just fun to play. One mode called armored front allows players to capture control points in a certain order, while allowing one person from each team to use a mech suit. This mode can be a lot of fun and intense. Overall, fear 2's multi player may not be the best, but it is still fun to play. I still enjoy playing it now and then.
Fear 2 was a great follow up to the original. I thought a may need to be a bit more scary, but the combat and environments were great. I hope fear 3 can follow in this ones foot steps and make an even better game.