"An Underwhelming Yet Serviceable Expansion"

The second and final expansion for F.E.A.R. had a lot of potential for both adding to the story of the franchise as well as expanding on the combat in a unique or thoughtful way. However, instead of trying something new, this expansion delivers next to no original content for the series up to this point, a few decent but boring weapons, and takes a huge step back in terms of quality of combat, horror, and graphical fidelity.

The first thing every player will notice right out of the gate is the awful texture work done for this game. Many buildings, streets, floors, and walls are extremely plain, looking completely out of place in a laughable way. While this doesn't directly affect the gameplay in any major way, it definitely made the experience much less interesting to go through, which is especially rough considering that the environments are one of the weakest aspects of the original game and its first expansion. A much better effort should have been put into making the game look nice, especially with this coming out two years after the base game's release.

The combat is also noticeably more bland in this entry. There are less areas where enemies can pull off interesting tactical maneuvers against the player, leading to very bland fights that rely on sticking your body in and out of cover repeatedly. The dynamic nature of the previous entries is mostly lost in a lot of the levels, which is a huge shame because it is what the first game shined at. The visual effects are still intact, making every firefight extremely theatrical, but the lack of quality textures leaves much to be desired.

The horror is also very poor in this title. There are a multitude of cheesy jumpscares that only a toddler would freak out at, with a VERY small handful being effective. The death scenes for some characters are also pretty bad, save for one during the final third of the game that was pretty interesting to witness. There are many extended horror sequences that are a part of the game now as well, which lead to extremely boring sections of the game that have irritating enemies to kill. The base game had a good balance of horror and action, but the action was always much better than the horror. This time around, the developers didn't get the memo.

The weapons are plentiful, but some players may grow tired of the arsenal. The new weapons added in this expansion are just "okay", but aren't nearly as effective as older weapons. Unfortunately, those weapons fell very boring to use after 15+ hours of F.E.A.R. content.

Other than this set of flaws, the nature of the game is still intact. The new enemies are pretty similar to the base game's, minus the cool voices those dudes had before. The entire experience is diluted this time though, so many players may not feel like finishing the experience due to a lack of meaningful content. The story is still pretty bad, and starts to take a turn for the worse once the convoluted "Origin" piece is added to the franchises' lore.

Overall, I can still Recommend this expansion if you're really craving some more F.E.A.R. , but you won't walk away very impressed with this one. There should have been more effort in not only maintaining the quality of the original's experience, but with adding interesting and compelling designs that would make this expansion fresh for fans. All that remains is an "alright" experience, one that some players may choose to forget.

Final Verdict: 6/10 (Above Average)

If I could use one word to describe Perseus Mandate, it would be "chore". The story is just kind of pointless, the pacing is stilted, the characters are mostly unlikable (Chen was the only one that got beyond indifference from me), the relatively subtle and eerie horror from previous entries is replaced with cheap jump scares, creatures/enemies that were scary and/or difficult now appear so frequently that they lose all novelty. Then, there's the combat. One of the series' strengths thus far is also just overplayed in this expansion. There's more fights than Extraction Point, with each fight having many more enemies, and the fights themselves seeming almost constant to the point where I was wishing for a dull moment just to break the tedium. The new weapons are mostly lackluster, the new enemies are just old ones but stronger (meaning bullet sponges and unreasonably fast), combat was already exhausting by Interval 3 (less than halfway through the expansion), not because of difficulty, but simply because of the frequency. By Interval 5 I had fully stopped caring what was going on and just kind of waltzed through what was left with no real regard just to simply wrap it up. While it has a few good moments, Perseus Mandate is mostly an underwhelming follow-up to FEAR and Extraction Point and kind of hard to recommend unless beating your head against a wall for 5 hours sounds appealing. The final stretch of the game is an absolute joke, it's a meatgrinder just for the sake of being one and individually breaking each of your own fingers with a hammer may unironically be a more fun experience.

I'm not quite sure what happened during development, but the magic that made FEAR enjoyable was lost somewhere along the way.

A masterpiece DLC for the F.E.A.R. series.

F.E.A.R. is an exceptionally good game in every possible way. It got a great story line, horror elements, a perfect AI, intense action and beautiful graphics and sound, even to this day. The same goes for this DLC: Perseus Mandate.

Back in 2008, when I first bought the first game, I did not know what to expect. I thought it would be a horror game in which you need to run constantly from some girl. I was half right. When I first played it, I immediately got a sense of dread and discomfort and when the first horror elements came to play, I pooped my pants. I could not play this game without someone sitting next to me. It was just to damn scary, and for that it will always have my deepest respect.

The story is powerful and interesting, I am not going to spoil it, this is something you need to experience for yourself. It has kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole game and made an impression on me that lasts forever. The story of F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate is a separate story that takes place alongside the original story of the first F.E.A.R. game. It blends in beautifully and every level, action and event are linked to the first game.

The graphics in F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate are the same as the original game and still beautiful. The same goes for the sound, and like I said in my F.E.A.R. review, it is still perfect.

F.E.A.R. has some of the best AI I have ever seen in a video game, even to this day. The AI is simply perfect. Enemies communicate with each other; they react to your every move and adapt their strategy on it. Also, when you encounter a squad of four enemies and obliterate three of their buddies, the fourth one panics and his accuracy and will to fight drops instantly. Comments like “We can’t stop him” gives you a feeling of power, you are in control of this fight. Enemies can lose sight of you in a battle, giving you back your edge. They are definitely are not the bullet sponges in games today. Especially the newly added assassin units which are a absolute chore to kill.

The slow-motion feature in F.E.A.R. was also unique for its time and really helps you in your fights. If you are flanked by the smart AI Replica soldiers you use your slow motion to take back control of the situation. The only downside of this, is that the game is quite easy because of it. If you are having trouble with a certain part, just use your slow motion and everything will be fine. Especially when you upgraded its bar to the max. The same principle goes for this expansion.

Perseus Mandate point added some new weapons and enemies that enhanced the experience even more. Although I have to say that I did not like the new enemies that much. Especially the elite assassins which run away constantly from you. Still, it all fits and the concepts are original.

Although F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate was not as scary as Extraction point or the original game, it still had its moments of “what the heck” and jump scares that caught me off guard.

Perseus Mandate also has a special place in my black heart and will always be one of the games that I can play anytime, anywhere. The replay value is high for me. In my opinion, it is another masterpiece.

I recommend F.E.A.R. and this expansion in every way. You must have played it at least once before you grow old and senile.