1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)9. Destiny 2: Forsaken (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)(Rail Shooter)11. Castle Werewolf (PC)(FPS)12. Project Warlock (PC)(FPS)13. Castle Crashers (PC)(Hack and Slash)14. This Strange Realm of Mine (PC)(FPS)15. BioShock Remastered (PC)(FPS)
16. BioShock 2 (PC)(FPS)
17. BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (PC)(FPS)18. Blood (PC)(FPS)19. Blood: Cryptic Passage (PC)(FPS)
20. Blood: Post Mortem (PC)(FPS)21. Shadow Warrior (PC)(FPS)22. Shadow Warrior: Twin Dragon (PC)(FPS)
23. Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction (PC)(FPS)24. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC)(FPS)
25. F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn (PC)(FPS)Having played through the original release of F.E.A.R. back when it came out, I was always curious to see how the later entries into the series held up and whether they ramped up the horror or changed up the shooting components in any way. Instead, I found more of the same, with perhaps less horror in the mix.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project OriginThe base sequel now has you playing as an elite soldier named Becket who has been chosen for a special squad based on his incredible baseline talents as a psychic, though it's not something he necessarily shows off. It's more given as the reason why you can kill so many folks and keep on going. Becket's squad is sent in to extract an Armacham executive in the wake of the first game's ending, but with a nuke going off in the middle of a city, things quickly go to shit. Soon, Becket finds himself battling both Armacham security teams as well as the replica soldiers of the first game, combined with the odd mutant or ghost soldier from Alma as he tries to commit to a plan to destroy the psychic superwoman. To add to it, the members of Becket's squad were chosen largely for psychic potential, and Alma goes after their minds too. Things don't work quite the way you want, and instead the game ends with an awkward final battle in which you have to take down your fellow soldier in a weird psychic alternate world while Alma basically rapes your body in a chair. Yeah, that's...something special.
What's the actual gameplay like? Well, many of the weapons of the first game return, along with a couple of new types and some varieties of grenades. You can carry four weapons at a time, so I tended to walk around with an SMG or rifle, some kind of distance specializer (shotguns or sniper rifles, depending upon the level), a heavier rifle for taking on the bigger armored targets up close, and then some kind of full on heavy weapon. It didn't always work out as some weapons can be found only sparingly, but you typically will have something available, even if it's not ideal. As for the enemies, they come in a few flavors of human opponents that use cover, try to flank, and use grenades to flush you out...poorly. Half the time, they seem to take themselves out more than anything. The slow motion ability of the first game also returns, so outside of armor, your enemies don't really have much chance. That said, they do seem to have a lot of armor.
Every now and again, the game gives you the opportunity to jump in a giant mech with regenerating health and ammo. Those segments are fun, since you're now getting to mow down everything with two miniguns and missile launchers. Unfortunately, they're few and far between, and they're short. You maybe walk around the block or go up through a parking deck, and that's it. I wish there was more to this.
The horror element has also been greatly toned down. Occasionally, you'll face ghost enemies or crawling mutant men, but that's it. There's no sudden flashes of Alma watching you like in the first, and the supernatural enemies tend to either go down too quickly or are frustrating bullet sponges that I basically ran up to and emptied all of my magazines into so I could put them down. The more horror-oriented moments mainly rely on corpses being pulled away and blood getting everywhere, but that's par for the course with a lot of what I play, so it wasn't a big deal.
As for the actual levels, it's basically endless corridors and repeating rooms in orientations that feel mazelike and don't make much sense. The school level has multiple rooms marked finance, while the hospital continues on and on and on. Add in the labs which don't really stand out from each other, and it all just feels bland. Admittedly, this is a problem in the first game too, so things didn't change much.
There are a few features I like, such as the ability to go back and replay old levels once you beat them. They also track how many pieces of intel you found, so you can review if you missed something. In a game ruled by a checkpoint saving system, it's nice to have something that mitigates it at least slightly. You can only have one save active at a time though, so don't go back until you're done with the game.
F.E.A.R. 2: RebornThis is the "expansion" for F.E.A.R. 2, and it is short. I beat it in about an hour. That said, it offers some slight changes that I appreciated. For one thing, you're now playing a replica soldier, so your HUD is entirely different. You also don't get things like the slow motion ability until specific events happen. Second, because it is so short, the levels come together in a way that feels right, like it's one continuous environment that you can easily string together. A particular favorite moment of mine involves you fighting your way through other enemies to then jump into a collapsing building and slide down to the bottom so you can escape. Hell yeah.
Of course, once your abilities are restored, you're basically back to the same old game with a new HUD, but there are more horror elements with Alma than in the base game. In one scene, I opened a door to find her child version standing there, and she then threw a car at me. Very nice. Another element is that she now occasionally sends ghosts after you which can only be seen when you activate your slow motion ability.
Beyond that, there really isn't much to say. You could play through the whole thing twice and earn every "Award," the PC port's equivalent of achievements, in a couple of hours. I certainly hope nobody was forced to pay full price for this.
Well, that's F.E.A.R. 2. I'm glad it's done, and I see no reason to ever revisit.