This review contains spoilers
NOTE- Spoilers only at the very end:
Extraction Point begins immediately after the events of the first game, so be warned that this review will be discussing spoilers from it.
Because every asset is reused, I won’t go into heavy detail about the graphics since they are literally the same as the vanilla FEAR. You can read my review of it here (https://www.backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/428982/), but essentially the game looks good if you can accept it as a late-PS2 title over a full-blown PS3 one. While the physics engine is superb, the luminescence is too caliginous, forcing you to employ your handheld beacon even in areas that I’m sure the developers intended to be decently lit.
Unfortunately, Extraction Point contains supplementary hitches that indicate either a rushed production or debugging process. I experienced several game-breaking glitches that required workarounds discovered by ardent Steam users, so note that you will be forced to look them up when you inevitably experience them.
Sound is also the same, the pros and cons of which I spoke about in my critique of FEAR. The score was a little more consistent this time around, but still not as indelible as it could have been.
Gameplay-wise, again, nothing has fundamentally changed. Two new weapons have been added to your arsenal should you come across them: a wall-mounting deployable turret, laser carbine, and a minigun, all of which are a blast to use. A couple of extra enemy types have also been thrown in, but they’re not radically different from anything you have or will come across.
The biggest compliment I can give Extraction Point is that, with the exception of the last section, it has embraced being a full-blown action game with some tense moments over the half-and-half genre bending the OG tried. There’s now a good balance of open and enclosed environs, giving enemies a chance to be more tactical in the former and fodder for bloodbath-fueled fights in the latter. Compunctuating this are Robocop-influences, with large mechs making up some of the new enemies I noted above that you face.
But of course, it is the story that will determine the quality of this expansion. As stated in the intro, you’re picking up right where you left off, with Alma causing the chopper to crash, splitting up the trifecta and forcing the Point Man to work his way through a new part of the deserted Fairport city. His goal is to not only reunite with his comrades, but make it to a new evac spot, his efforts impeded by hostile apparitions and the revitalization of the replicas in spite of Fettel’s death.
I’ll be upfront- the story just isn’t good. Two of my pet peeves with direct sequels are those that either unwind what the previous entry did or don’t resolve unanswered questions, and Extraction Point effectuates both. It’s never explained what’s going on with Fettel, how Alma survived the explosion, what’s reviving the carbon copies, nor is there further development of the Point Man’s relationship with his mother. I genuinely didn’t know what TimeGate’s intentions were with Alma- it’s as though they couldn’t decide whether to continue her antagonistic streak or make her a straight-up ally, something I’ll flesh out below*. You also get more inconsistent power nonsense from the phantasms, wherein they’ll do some crazy thing but be quickly dissipated with a couple of bullets.
The Point Man’s silence is also more harmful to his characterization here than in the first game. There are moments in the story where his partners will openly wonder on the comms whether they’re going to die or be rescued, and he doesn’t say ANYTHING to reassure them. Vice-versa, you’ll get individuals asking how he’s doing, and he doesn’t bother responding. Dead Space 2 made the smart decision to drop its silency with Isaac- Extraction Point should’ve done the same.
The ending is also a rehash of the first game’s, not providing any satisfactory conclusion or juicy cliffhanger worth pondering over.
There are a lot of people who hold Extraction Point as a great DLC, but I thought there were too many problems with it to be worth recommending. It’s true, there is a greater diversity of environments this time around, from parking garages to derelict buildings, and the hospital sequence at the end is quite riveting. However, it's ultimately just pointless shooting without any of the mystery thrills of the first. And considering it was retconned (or rendered an alternate reality) by Monolith’s own FEAR 2, you’re not missing out on an integral piece of the canon.
+There appear to be two different Almas, the kid and the adult: the child tries to help you by guiding you at times, while the adult is hit-or-miss, obliterating enemy battalions with her psychic romps whilst also being the murderer of your friends and tormenter of your nightmares. The former trait made no sense to me- these clones were cognitively hijacked by Fettel to free Alma from her captivity in the Armachan facility, so why is she killing them? And how are there two of them? Like I said, there is no attempt by the writers to even ATTEMPT to explain these beats- they just throw them in ad nauseam and expect you to either ignore it or explain it away yourself because “lol horror”. Just ridiculous.
Extraction Point begins immediately after the events of the first game, so be warned that this review will be discussing spoilers from it.
Because every asset is reused, I won’t go into heavy detail about the graphics since they are literally the same as the vanilla FEAR. You can read my review of it here (https://www.backloggd.com/u/RedBackLoggd/review/428982/), but essentially the game looks good if you can accept it as a late-PS2 title over a full-blown PS3 one. While the physics engine is superb, the luminescence is too caliginous, forcing you to employ your handheld beacon even in areas that I’m sure the developers intended to be decently lit.
Unfortunately, Extraction Point contains supplementary hitches that indicate either a rushed production or debugging process. I experienced several game-breaking glitches that required workarounds discovered by ardent Steam users, so note that you will be forced to look them up when you inevitably experience them.
Sound is also the same, the pros and cons of which I spoke about in my critique of FEAR. The score was a little more consistent this time around, but still not as indelible as it could have been.
Gameplay-wise, again, nothing has fundamentally changed. Two new weapons have been added to your arsenal should you come across them: a wall-mounting deployable turret, laser carbine, and a minigun, all of which are a blast to use. A couple of extra enemy types have also been thrown in, but they’re not radically different from anything you have or will come across.
The biggest compliment I can give Extraction Point is that, with the exception of the last section, it has embraced being a full-blown action game with some tense moments over the half-and-half genre bending the OG tried. There’s now a good balance of open and enclosed environs, giving enemies a chance to be more tactical in the former and fodder for bloodbath-fueled fights in the latter. Compunctuating this are Robocop-influences, with large mechs making up some of the new enemies I noted above that you face.
But of course, it is the story that will determine the quality of this expansion. As stated in the intro, you’re picking up right where you left off, with Alma causing the chopper to crash, splitting up the trifecta and forcing the Point Man to work his way through a new part of the deserted Fairport city. His goal is to not only reunite with his comrades, but make it to a new evac spot, his efforts impeded by hostile apparitions and the revitalization of the replicas in spite of Fettel’s death.
I’ll be upfront- the story just isn’t good. Two of my pet peeves with direct sequels are those that either unwind what the previous entry did or don’t resolve unanswered questions, and Extraction Point effectuates both. It’s never explained what’s going on with Fettel, how Alma survived the explosion, what’s reviving the carbon copies, nor is there further development of the Point Man’s relationship with his mother. I genuinely didn’t know what TimeGate’s intentions were with Alma- it’s as though they couldn’t decide whether to continue her antagonistic streak or make her a straight-up ally, something I’ll flesh out below*. You also get more inconsistent power nonsense from the phantasms, wherein they’ll do some crazy thing but be quickly dissipated with a couple of bullets.
The Point Man’s silence is also more harmful to his characterization here than in the first game. There are moments in the story where his partners will openly wonder on the comms whether they’re going to die or be rescued, and he doesn’t say ANYTHING to reassure them. Vice-versa, you’ll get individuals asking how he’s doing, and he doesn’t bother responding. Dead Space 2 made the smart decision to drop its silency with Isaac- Extraction Point should’ve done the same.
The ending is also a rehash of the first game’s, not providing any satisfactory conclusion or juicy cliffhanger worth pondering over.
There are a lot of people who hold Extraction Point as a great DLC, but I thought there were too many problems with it to be worth recommending. It’s true, there is a greater diversity of environments this time around, from parking garages to derelict buildings, and the hospital sequence at the end is quite riveting. However, it's ultimately just pointless shooting without any of the mystery thrills of the first. And considering it was retconned (or rendered an alternate reality) by Monolith’s own FEAR 2, you’re not missing out on an integral piece of the canon.
+There appear to be two different Almas, the kid and the adult: the child tries to help you by guiding you at times, while the adult is hit-or-miss, obliterating enemy battalions with her psychic romps whilst also being the murderer of your friends and tormenter of your nightmares. The former trait made no sense to me- these clones were cognitively hijacked by Fettel to free Alma from her captivity in the Armachan facility, so why is she killing them? And how are there two of them? Like I said, there is no attempt by the writers to even ATTEMPT to explain these beats- they just throw them in ad nauseam and expect you to either ignore it or explain it away yourself because “lol horror”. Just ridiculous.