A heavily consolized sequel that loses most of the charm of the first, inevitable consequence of much of the original staff moving on to other things, most egregiously FPS legend Craig Hubbard, who left single player development almost entirely to try his luck on multiplayer-only games, and was only brought in to consult on F.E.A.R. 2 late in development when it was too late to rebuild it into something the fans would have liked more.
It's by no means a bad game, quite the contrary in fact, but most of what made F.E.A.R. special is lost along the way, like smart AI, spookiness, punchy weapons and moody lighting.
It's essentially the Deus Ex Invisible War of the F.E.A.R. franchise: a game you would have liked a lot more had belonged to a different IP. For maximized enjoyment, play while ignoring what it's a sequel to.
It's by no means a bad game, quite the contrary in fact, but most of what made F.E.A.R. special is lost along the way, like smart AI, spookiness, punchy weapons and moody lighting.
It's essentially the Deus Ex Invisible War of the F.E.A.R. franchise: a game you would have liked a lot more had belonged to a different IP. For maximized enjoyment, play while ignoring what it's a sequel to.