F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

Fairly Enjoyable Albeit Redundant.

	Version 360, PS3	Developer Monolith	Publisher Warner Bros.	Genre FPS

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After a half-hour of this, it's a relief when the soundtrack switches from subtly-layered suspense-mode to ballsy percussion and you're invited to break out the long irons. Regrettably, it's here that the game lurches into the ennervating arms of convention. Monolith has done little more than fine-tune F.E.A.R.'s excellent but elderly combat model, with the AI capable of surprises but lacking the wow-factor it had back in 2005. Enemies who flank, flush you out with grenades and retreat under heavy fire are pretty much a given among present-day shooters, and while F.E.A.R. 2's mercenaries and Replica goons are a cut above the norm, you soon realise it's all about progressively tougher shades of face plate and a cosy mixture of assault types, snipers and lumbering heavies.

They're joined, very infrequently, by deranged would-be telepathic commanders who scuttle spider-like over walls and ceilings, and mutant civilians radiating threads of crimson psychic energy, who reanimate corpses with a shriek to fight on their behalf. The former crops up in a couple of hours in and more or less vanishes afterwards, while the latter gives but three or four appearances in total.

To top things off, there are a couple of opportunities to stomp around in one of the first game's ferocious bipedal power suits, but while these sate the screen-clearing urge ably enough, the idea that it took the guys behind Alien Versus Predator 2 four years to come up with a mech-shooting sequence is depressing. Ditto the plethora of text-only "intel documents" you'll have to trudge through to get at the back-story.

What few other additions there are hardly upend the formula. Being able to look down your gun-sights with left trigger folds naturally into the proceedings; being able to manipulate certain objects with X for cover purposes doesn't, though it's a nice idea. Given the assortment of sturdy walls, rubble heaps, crates and pillars the level design places at your disposal, yanking a park bench or table around under fire feels rather unnecessary. At least the levels are more varied than before, thanks in no small part to that thermonuclear explosion. The expected oppressive tunnels, maintenance closets and research chambers sprawl at intervals into blasted streets and craters.

The game can't help but look a little passé besides the monstrously handsome Killzone 2, but it's no attic development project either. Some textures could be higher res, and external geometry is relatively simple, but the lighting and shadows are gorgeous. Ashen grey is no longer the only colour in Monolith's palette, though it remains a popular choice. The spectre of Bioshock can sometimes be glimpsed over the wreckage: in the underbelly of a school, water from a ruptured mains flows down the hallway lino, tugging at fallen breeze blocks and ceiling panels.

F.E.A.R. 2 is that most damning of all things - neither memorably awful, nor memorably brilliant, but simply decent. The sureness with which Monolith revisits the first game's themes and dual gameplay structure is commendable, but the results will have little attraction for shooter fans still eating their way through the best of 2008. A bit more vim and vigour is in order for the third iteration. Thinking up a psychic ability which can't be reproduced by downing three espressos would be a good start. And get rid of that silly name!

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