A pretty passable reconciliation and epilogue to the masterpiece downer ending of F.E.A.R., and while it does little to nothing to elaborate upon the huge story shockwaves that occur in that game’s final act (and instead “resurrects” one of its main antagonists), it still presents Monolith’s unfuckwithable gunplay and movement in levels and settings that range in a spectrum between really fun and really tedious, thankfully having a slant towards the former.
The new weapon additions are fun and provide some new gameplay opportunities, like using the minigun to mow through squads of Replicas like cutting grass with a weedwacker, and the laser rifle to Homelander my way out of any situation. The levels themselves have a fixation towards larger scale battles in open areas (for instance, that huge construction zone where you eventually have to provide overwatch for Holiday) and I don’t think the combat works nearly as well in these situations since most of the weapons have a preference for either short or mid-range combat. Base game F.E.A.R. proves this since 90% of the firefights are within this range that give way to the amazing combat the game has. Still, the levels allow for some cool environments, like returns to derelict offices and factories, as well as churches and hospitals. The new enemies basically do nothing, with the red-eyed replicas only being around to supplement the new weapons in the environment, and the Shades literally just being supernatural (and worse) versions of Replica Assassins. The new mechs also fucking suck and have way too much health compared to the ones from the base game, but thankfully only appear twice in one section of the game.
The scares trade in lack of predictability for ones that hit harder, and almost seem to feel a bit more uncanny valley-esque with vague fleshy bodies glitchy-ly moving their heads around erratically. These guys appear in and out randomly and you never really get to interact with them in combat, and compared to the more supernatural and ghostly apparitions the original game had, feels more edgy and aggressive, the likes of which could come out of (and work much better in) something like Cry Of Fear. Still, even though the game thickens that line between “combat section” and “horror section”, where some spots even feel like a fucking junior high haunted house, it still brings the scares pretty good.
I’ve already made it clear, but it is a little upsetting that the story does basically nothing to carry on how insane that last couple hours of F.E.A.R. is. Obviously it would be at the expense of the fact that Monolith wouldn’t be calling those shots since this expansion was developed by TimeGate Studios. It’s just…you know…the ending of F.E.A.R. had some pretty crazy and terrifying implications, and we find out that everything isn’t really that bad, and Alma would rather be jumpscaring her son and slowly picking off his squadmates instead of wreaking havoc upon everyone else for the painful, unjust abuse she had been subjected to. Instead, it just gives this ambiguous ending that honestly could’ve set up F.E.A.R. 3 given the circumstances.
If you also didn’t care for the story, it’s not canon, so…
The new weapon additions are fun and provide some new gameplay opportunities, like using the minigun to mow through squads of Replicas like cutting grass with a weedwacker, and the laser rifle to Homelander my way out of any situation. The levels themselves have a fixation towards larger scale battles in open areas (for instance, that huge construction zone where you eventually have to provide overwatch for Holiday) and I don’t think the combat works nearly as well in these situations since most of the weapons have a preference for either short or mid-range combat. Base game F.E.A.R. proves this since 90% of the firefights are within this range that give way to the amazing combat the game has. Still, the levels allow for some cool environments, like returns to derelict offices and factories, as well as churches and hospitals. The new enemies basically do nothing, with the red-eyed replicas only being around to supplement the new weapons in the environment, and the Shades literally just being supernatural (and worse) versions of Replica Assassins. The new mechs also fucking suck and have way too much health compared to the ones from the base game, but thankfully only appear twice in one section of the game.
The scares trade in lack of predictability for ones that hit harder, and almost seem to feel a bit more uncanny valley-esque with vague fleshy bodies glitchy-ly moving their heads around erratically. These guys appear in and out randomly and you never really get to interact with them in combat, and compared to the more supernatural and ghostly apparitions the original game had, feels more edgy and aggressive, the likes of which could come out of (and work much better in) something like Cry Of Fear. Still, even though the game thickens that line between “combat section” and “horror section”, where some spots even feel like a fucking junior high haunted house, it still brings the scares pretty good.
I’ve already made it clear, but it is a little upsetting that the story does basically nothing to carry on how insane that last couple hours of F.E.A.R. is. Obviously it would be at the expense of the fact that Monolith wouldn’t be calling those shots since this expansion was developed by TimeGate Studios. It’s just…you know…the ending of F.E.A.R. had some pretty crazy and terrifying implications, and we find out that everything isn’t really that bad, and Alma would rather be jumpscaring her son and slowly picking off his squadmates instead of wreaking havoc upon everyone else for the painful, unjust abuse she had been subjected to. Instead, it just gives this ambiguous ending that honestly could’ve set up F.E.A.R. 3 given the circumstances.
If you also didn’t care for the story, it’s not canon, so…