F.e.a.r. 2

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02-14-2009, 12:59 PM
[PinPals]Apu

F.e.a.r. 2

Ok finally got a chance to plug some time into it, and heres my first impressions/early review. Ill start with some simple pros and cons:

Pros:
- Great graphics, runs very smoothly at 1680x1050, max detail, 4xAA, 8xAF. Environments look great, as do fires, water effects etc. Explosions, gun shots, creepy Alma sequences all look fantastic. Water drops splash on your face if you stand near running water/fountains, blood splatters when you shoot an enemy at close range. Very well done. Im surprised on how smooth it all ran.

- Weapons are very well done and have a nice punch when you fire. A couple shots will blow most enemies away. It feel like youre actually firing a nice high-powered weapon. Variety is also nice as they give you some fun weapons (napalm cannon) along with the standard SMG and shotgun.

- AI is well done again as always. Enemies stick together in squads. They anticipate youre plan of attack, they try to flank, and they use cover well. The cover system is a nice addition too, you can push tables, carts, etc around or flip them over to create cover. Enemies can and will do the same.

- Alma is again well done. So far theres fewer long drawn out sequences with her that take you out of the game. Theres alot more briefer shots of her, popping in your face, turning everything red, disappearing from sight as you turn a corner, shredding enemies apart, that kind of stuff. It seems like they arent trying to make-you-****-youre-pants scare you but more of making it a very creepy environment and keep you guessing and tensed up. They almost never take you away from the game (ie take control from you), instead bringing Alma to you and letting you interact as you want. It makes for a nice creepy environment.

- Theyve made healing a bit more steamlined this time. Instead of carrying 10 medipacks and having them as youre only source of health, theyve scattered health boosters around the levels. Youre now limited to 3 health packs and are used more in extreme life or death emergencies.

Cons:
- No 3+ button mouse support. You have fire on mouse1, melee or whatever on mouse2, and thats it. You cant bind anything to clickable mouse wheels or thumb buttons. Very annoying and my one big gripe. In the original FEAR I had slo-mo, health packs, melee etc all on my mouse in easy reach. Im not a fan of stretching for the Z or Ctrl button when needed. This is 2009, I havent used a 2 button mouse in years. Unacceptable.

- Although showed more diverse locations, almost all of the first couple hours I played were located in this medical complex/lab. A little more variety throughout wouldve been welcome.

- Menus suffer from a bit of consoleitis. Not a biggie tho.

- Saves also suffer from consoleitis, even more so than the menus. Its 100% checkpoint base. You die, you go back to the last checkpoint. If you quit the game before making a checkpoint, youll have to replay a bit next time you play. This is another gripe I feel shouldnt be in todays game, even if they are designed to be multi platform. I cant imagine it would be horribly difficult to implement a save anywhere feature for PCs. The saving grace is that the game does save fairly often and it barely makes your screen lag for a half second as it saves.

Overall Im enjoying FEAR 2 alot. I feel they learned alot from FEAR 1 in giving us more locations, more creepy Alma and less trying-to-hard-to-be-scary moments, and making sure the weapons and enemies were top-notch shooter material. I tried to get screenshots, but couldnt find the button. Found out its F8 so when I play again later Ill snap a few. Great creepy shooter combined with a lack of mouse support and a somewhat lame save system, Ill give it an 8/10 so far. Im anxious to get out of this hospital and try those mechs from the demo. If they fix the mouse thing id happily bump FEAR 2 up to a 9/10.

Ok got some screens:

This is my fav so far. Hit F8 at the perfect moment. The little mouse in the bottem pops up when one of these mofos jumps on you. You spam the right mouse to punch his face in.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/50.jpg
And heres the picture of me punching his teeth in.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/51.jpg
Epic blood splatters.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/52.jpg
When psychic commanders don't turn out.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/53.jpg
Water splashes.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/54.jpg
Rated M for really gory.
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/55.jpg
Why do my goggles ALWAYS break when I die?
https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/...2009/02/56.jpg
02-16-2009, 08:31 AM
dimmy32

wow, great review, complete with picts...well done man !

Funny on the demo, I could change the key bindings - I made the mousewheel
my slo-mo., and changed the zoom to rightmouse. Odd.

Overall the game looks fab....I doubt youve had time to try multiplayer yet,I liked the mulitplayer in the original FEAR, altho I found the areas too small, with too many people. What are your impressions ?

thanks again dude :cool:
02-16-2009, 12:10 PM
Squirrel Meat

This game seriously rocks my socks. Ive had it for 2 days and im almost done with it lol. On interval 6 out of 7.....

To add on to apu-

the game does run extremely smooth. I have mine running at max everything 1680x1050 with 4x aa and 16 af just fine. the only thing i find annoying is how it stutters badly when the auto save feature kicks in evertime you turn a 5th corner. its not always that bad but it can be. the graphics i think are amazing. i hope other games use the engine and style of graphics. i would love to see the engine outside.

weapons do seem powerful...except for the sub machine gun lol which so happens to be the gun that has the most ammo laying around. not a biggie though.

A.I. is decent...it scales heavily with skill level it seems lol. Im playing on normal which dosent seem very hard at all (until the end, guys are way tougher) and my gf started a game on easy and she has never played a fps on a computer and was all over the place with the mouse and she could get through the first interval without dying. that should say something lol.

this game puts you much more in the story line than the first one. i love that. especially if you pick up all the intel data pieces and read about everything, it starts to make sense. just a heads up, if you play on easy skill, most of the intel pieces wont be there. you have to play on normal or up to get the full story.

ive read on alot of places that the game picks up about half way through....i dont know when it stoped picking up! Ive been on the edge of my seat the whole damn game. its non-stop and i love it. the combat is everything i could hope for and its a chilling game. you do get used to alma however which for me was a relief cause at first it really freaked me out. it looses some of its creepy factor but at the same time it lets you enjoy the game as it should. it even seems that your character seems to come to terms that alma is there no matter what. wont spoil that one ;)

the mech was in one part of the game for a whopping 10 minutes. would not have minded getting another go with that thing :p i found that part really fun but it did take you out of the game. it felt like i was playing a different game all together. kinda out of place. but still fun

the healing is more streamlined but i still think its too easy on normal. this game is def good enough to play again and i think ill do it on hard next time. its good when i die every now and then. i dont think ive died more than 5-7 times in this game and im almost done. a little odd i think.

seriously......this game is so freakin awsome. its everything i was hoping for and more!

i did play some multi for about 30 minutes. i can say that not too many people on right now. mind you that was unranked. not sure how many peeps on ranked servers but i will be finding out soon. ive only played a few maps and they feel kinda small so far but mabey thats just those ones. multi is def fun, i was hooked on the original fear multi for some reason and this one is more of the same which i like. ill update you all on this as i get more time to play online. gotta beat the game single player first :p

hope that was a good addition
02-16-2009, 02:25 PM
dimmy32

Very good addition. I went to futureshop at lunch and held one of 2 copies left on the racks. I was like a deer stuck in the headlights. buy or not to buy ?

Then I thot to myself...whoa, slow down dimmy......gotta wait for squirrel meat's input first ! :p

Can you shoot off limbs and heads ? Can you bust up **** with guns in glorious slow-mo ?
02-16-2009, 08:29 PM
Squirrel Meat

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimmy32

Very good addition. I went to futureshop at lunch and held one of 2 copies left on the racks. I was like a deer stuck in the headlights. buy or not to buy ?

Then I thot to myself...whoa, slow down dimmy......gotta wait for squirrel meat's input first ! :p

Can you shoot off limbs and heads ? Can you bust up **** with guns in glorious slow-mo ?

Lol thanks dimmy haha :D

To answer your questions...

HELLZ YA YOU CAN!
02-16-2009, 10:27 PM
Squirrel Meat

Well i just beat the game-

the ending was pretty intense. some pretty freaky parts but it definetly closed it out pretty well....(with some story left ;) )

the tram part was annoying as hell but it wasnt very long. and i got to jump in a mech for the second time. not bad but the second time didnt even feel like the same game. could have left that part out lol.
the fights at the end got a lot harder as well. finally a challenge!

conclusion:
bad freaking *** game! love it, beat it in two days, about 8 hours of game play to beat it give or take. might even play it again on hard cause it was so much fun but this time try to get all the pieces.
get this game! if you like horror/fps awsomeness then this is the game for you!
02-17-2009, 03:13 PM
xclite

Thanks for the information, guys. I preordered it a few weeks ago, but it's been sitting on my shelf, still shrink wrapped while I try to overcome a mountain of coursework. Part time + Engineering - Video Games = Pass
02-17-2009, 05:55 PM
dimmy32

Bought it after work today ! 30 minute install !? wth ??

so impatient. :p

I'm installing it on windows 7 - we'll see how well it works !
02-17-2009, 06:01 PM
Freddy part deux

8 hours of game play? did you play on the hardest difficulty level?
02-17-2009, 09:47 PM
dimmy32

I always play every game on hard, and I like to take my time.

I installed the game on windows 7, runs like a champ, all graphics settings on maximum ! 1650X1080 , V-synch on. 4X AA 8X aniso.
Too bad other games dont look this great, AND run this smoothly ! WOW :eek:

I went into the key bindings and changed my right mouse button to "zoom" , slo-motion by pressing the mouse wheel...then I was off and going.
VERY creepy game .....more later......
02-17-2009, 10:01 PM
Freddy part deux

I also "acquired" it.
02-17-2009, 10:19 PM
Squirrel Meat

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy part deux

8 hours of game play? did you play on the hardest difficulty level?

no i played it on normal skill level. i never know how hard a game is going to be and just in case a game is really hard i dont want the reason why i stopped playing to be because i got too frustrated at the difficulty. if the game is worth it, ill replay it again on hard, ie. half-life 2 and ep1 and 2.
02-17-2009, 10:21 PM
[PinPals]Apu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy part deux

I pirated it like a douche.

Fixed.
02-17-2009, 10:45 PM
dimmy32

I actually didnt "acquire" this game, I freakin' bought it !
Since pirating is not only illegal , but morally wrong, ( and the download was 11 gigs !! ) , i decided to buy it instead.
:p
02-18-2009, 09:32 PM
Freddy part deux

11 gigs plus half the people seem to have problems getting it to work. But I waited and waited and it's still not nuked.
02-18-2009, 09:58 PM
xclite

So if you like it, you'll buy it, right? Since it uses Steam, this seems to be the only remaining legitimate reason to pirate it.

I.E. my reasons include getting around annoying DRM and testing before buying.
02-18-2009, 10:09 PM
dimmy32

Unlike 90 % of all games out there, this one is really worth buying.
If you like shooters, and if you like destruction and massive amounts of blood and blowing limbs off.
The only annoying thing are the small bits of "information" found lying around.
Who cares ?
02-18-2009, 10:15 PM
xclite

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimmy32

Unlike 90 % of all games out there, this one is really worth buying.
If you like shooters, and if you like destruction and massive amounts of blood and blowing limbs off.
The only annoying thing are the small bits of "information" found lying around.
Who cares ?

What I don't get is:

Spoiler

In the beginning, you're finding information about how they obviously think your teammates are throwaway targets and how they're doing strange things, and you end up in the same room as the woman in charge of it, and do nothing?
02-18-2009, 10:44 PM
Squirrel Meat

Quote:

Originally Posted by xclite

What I don't get is:

Spoiler

In the beginning, you're finding information about how they obviously think your teammates are throwaway targets and how they're doing strange things, and you end up in the same room as the woman in charge of it, and do nothing?

Spoiler

You know, I was wondering the exact same thing. I remember after I got out of the surgery and actually got to be in the same room with her and she was like "we have to hurry before its too late, bla bla bla" i honestly thought i was supposed to kill her for being a backstabing whore. but now such luck as when you put the crosshairs over her they were still yellow. I wanted to kill her so bad!
02-18-2009, 10:47 PM
Freddy part deux

Quote:

Originally Posted by xclite

So if you like it, you'll buy it, right? Since it uses Steam, this seems to be the only remaining legitimate reason to pirate it.

I.E. my reasons include getting around annoying DRM and testing before buying.

No I don't. THat would be stupid. Play the game and THEN buy it? LOL.

That's what Demos are for, the only time I buy a game is if I want to play it online (which is almost never) and when I'm dying to play it but it's not coming onto the scene fast enough.
02-19-2009, 08:47 AM
Freddy part deux

Quote:

Originally Posted by [PinPals]Apu

Now that I'm an unemployed douche, I'll have time to play this game.

fixed.
02-19-2009, 10:36 AM
xclite

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy part deux

No I don't. THat would be stupid. Play the game and THEN buy it? LOL.

That's what Demos are for, the only time I buy a game is if I want to play it online (which is almost never) and when I'm dying to play it but it's not coming onto the scene fast enough.

I didn't say beat the game. Some games don't have demos. So, to rewrite your post:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy part deux

I'm the asshat that leads companies to believe they need draconian DRM.

The only time I buy a game is when there is ABSOLUTELY no way to steal it.
02-19-2009, 12:01 PM
[PinPals]Apu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy part deux

fixed.

Aww low blow. That was unnecessary.

And to be fair I had it bought and played before I got the pink slip.
02-26-2009, 11:24 AM
xclite

So, has anybody beaten it yet? How about that ending? I think I cleared through in about 7 hours (yeah, I'm efficient).
02-27-2009, 09:35 AM
dimmy32

nope, playing it on hard ( which isnt that hard ) ...I like to take my time and enjoy the firefights.

Multiplayer is a bit dissapointing.