FEAR 2 Fails to Scare the Shit out of Me

I missed the first FEAR, but I always knew how wonderful the AI was supposed to be. How brilliant it was at finding you and killing you, almost but not quite like a real player. I also heard how repetitive the spaces were, just office after office after fucking office. What got me to check out the sequel were some good words from Listen Up, a long wait for Killzone 2 and my interest in both Akira and The Ring.

Story-wise it still makes little sense. It’s clumsy, muddled and could deal with some real cut scenes. FEAR 2 works with the fear aspect though. It has plenty of creepy bits that managed to scare the pants off me here and there. The atmosphere effects add to this as do the ghostly baddies, the creepy long haired girl Alma and the typical dark spaces. Sure they are repetitive, but not quite so bad. I still feel that these guys at Monolith know fear. They can scare you and unsettle you. They know how to make good bad guys who can outflank you and piss you off, but they fail at challenging narrative even when they try to ape the Half-Life first person style cinemas. The environments are well modeled, but dull and things all fall together into a fun, but not Triple-A game.

It’s all fun and challenging, but it’s pure shooter, a bit old school with med packs and armor rather than recharging shields. But I could care less about my character Becket or this plot. It’s just a shooter with good controls, some fun guns, challenging baddies, the ability to change difficulty every time you die and boring ass typical factories, offices and industrial locations.

Now, I do love the mood and feel they strike and the satisfying spray of blood everywhere is fantastic. I love that shit. I just could give a shit about the story and that’s a shame, cause it is so close to being fucking-A fantastic and not just a great first quarter shooter. It’s not going to topple CO or Halo but it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination. It’s a solid 7.5 kind of shooter. If you want a good ten hours of shooting shit, it’s great, but couldn’t they just reach a little more and make it a 9?