F.E.A.R 2 is a horror-shooter game developed by Monolith Productions. After F.E.A.R 1 ended in a cliffhanger everyone were holding their breath for F.E.A.R 2, but it fails to deliver in some areas compared to F.E.A.R 1.

F.E.A.R series tells the story of Armacham Technology corporation and their attempt to make a clone army controlled by Telepathic commanders. In the first F.E.A.R one of the commanders has gone insane and has to be stopped, youll bump alot into a weird dead eyed girl called Alma. Later on the game you’ll find alot of information about Alma and how you are connected with her, lets just say that she is behind of all the troubles going on and escapes her holding cell at the end of the game (wont want to spoil all the details) and thats where F.E.A.R 2 comes in, youll start the game as another F.E.A.R soldier 30 minuters before the ending of F.E.A.R 1.

F.E.A.R 1 was knows for its great horror moments and computer A.I. The combat was alright by the most standards but it got really repetitive after a while, enemys were just clones of each other with a few exceptions, the slowmo or “reflex time” was introduced and it worked great, you had to deside when to use it because it only lasted few seconds, regenerated slowly and enemies took alot of hits to kill.

In F.E.A.R 2 the combat has stayed the same with another adaptation of “reflex time”. This time the reflex time last longer than in F.E.A.R 1 and it regenerates faster, making the combat way too easy for a current first person shooter. There are more enemies now with their own gimmicks. Compared to F.E.A.R 1 this makes the combat way more easy, making the combat less intense than the first.

In F.E.A.R 1 the horror aspect was amazing, the scares were psychological and suddle. Like Alma staring you from a balcony after you find a pile of tore up soldiers that she had killed. Or when you are suddenly teleported into a bloody corridor that has a door on the other side and while you walk towards it, you start hearing screams from the other side of the door. Nothing is really explained and the atmosphere is great.

F.E.A.R 2 makes the horror more “in your face”. The horror isn’t so suddle but aggressive, by now Alma is all grown up and wants to get to know you… really closely. Most of the time youll get bored with the easy combat and briefly its interrupted with a BOO moment by Alma, sure it gets to you first few times but you’ll get so used to it that it hardly scares you after a while.

The graphics in F.E.A.R 2 are well done. Some effects like ghosts look awesome and enemy soldiers look great when you blow em up. The level design is a small upgrade from F.E.A.R 1, taking the combat from small corridors to larger areas like schools and hospitals. Some areas are more impressive than others, like the school level where the game resembles a little bit of the first F.E.A.R, I think thats the level I enjoyed the most.

I was disapointed with the more agressive nature of horror in F.E.A.R 2, I think the developers lost their understanding of horror vs fright. Otherwise the game is worth playing, even if you just like first person shooters, alltough fans of FPS will find it really easy to play trough. If I had to say the worst part of the game. I would say it the ending, without spoiling it, I’ll just say… horrible.

I recommend this game for horror game fans and maybe for FPS fans

Overall score: 7,5/10