hewhocanreview's Full Review: Project Origin for Xbox 360
Note: This review is actually for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. I'll get it moved to the proper place here shortly. Sorry for any confusion...
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin:
Meh. In a word, that's how I'd describe this game. I'm notoriously hard to impress with video games. I try to see through the b.s. flash and really read into a game's deeper elements. I don't just hand out stars because I played a game and beat it. That being said, let me explain why I'm "meh" about this game.
Story Well, you won't be throwing your classic lit out anytime soon after this. The story is pretty run-of-the-mill. To be quite honest, it's so whatever, that I've forgotten most of the plot points.
In the first F.E.A.R., you found out that Alma was this girl who had psychic powers and she was all mad and wanted you to come kick it with her for whatever reason. She also haunts you for whatever reason... probably because she's mad about being stuck in some lab and studied and stuff.
In the second installment, she's mad... still. And she's gotten out of control (big surprise). So you as some cop/ soldier person to go stop her. Really, you spend most of the time trying to help your buddies not die, which is like trying to make a seven year old eat eggplant. You keep getting plot points dropped on you through info you pick up along the way. After a bit, you get captured and the slo-mo ability is added.
I'm gonna be honest here guys, I stopped reading the plot points given through computers and notes left around 1/3 of the way through. I likely missed a fair amount of the story through this, but I could care less. "Alma's out of control... blah blah, We should stop experimenting, blah blah." It's pretty much the same as any other unoriginal story about psychic experiments and whatever. Look, I have several books, and I didn't buy this game to read for 12 hours. Get the story across in the actual game or audio. If I want to read a game I'll buy Final Fantasy (RPG).
Now, I won't give any spoilers here, but it should be said that the ending to this story is maybe the worst since Halo 2. "Anti-climatic" just doesn't communicate the atrocity of an ending that this game has. Perhaps I missed some amazing clue that brought this all together, but even if that were the case, I've lost no sleep wondering about what 'it all meant.'
The story is merely a catalyst to get you shooting bad guys, and it truly feels that way. I'd highly suggest that you send in your own mediocre story to Warner Brothers and see if they use it for F.E.A.R. 3. Sorry, but the story just didn't cut it.
Look The look of this game is pretty cool I guess. I mean, there's a lot of dynamic lighting that plays well into the 'scary shooter' element. The graphics are polished and clean looking when you can see something. I mean, the game spends 80% of the time in near complete darkness, so it's hard to say it looks amazing, but overall it's not a bad looking game.
The environments feel real in their design (though their layout is a bit strange), however there isn't a massive difference in level look throughout the game. You will go through a couple of different stages, but, like many other games, there is a strong lack of diversity in the map looks. Prepare to feel like you're roaming an office, lab, or street for 6-8 hours (and to be honest, most of us work in offices, so it's like the last place we want to be in our off time).
The character design is pretty detailed. There may only be 4-5 different types of bad guys, so they should look good.
Overall, the look is good, but you might as well be playing in 8-bit considering that most of the game is in the dark. I know that's how it's supposed to be (scary), but there's never any moments where you're wow'ed by the look of it.
Gameplay So, here is where I can say this game earns a star or two. Let's first be clear that the gameplay is no different than F.E.A.R. 1. This is more or less an extension of the same game.
This game takes advantage of using slow-motion (a first in video games! Never ever done before in Max Payne or Prince of Persia or 20 other games). However this does add an exciting factor to the game. Slo-mo can be used to create some tricky means to get rid of the bad guys. There are even achievements gained by killing a set number of bad guys within a slo-mo period. It can also be used to enjoy those great moments when limbs and heads go flying in different directions. This is no different than F.E.A.R 1, but it hasn't lost its luster in my mind. I still enjoy this aspect of the game. It's crucial that you use it also, as it is the only way to beat some bad guys.
Now, as for the bad guys, there aren't really many different types. There are soldiers, and robot/ mech soldiers (in these big ED-209 type suits), and there are a few weird creatures reminiscent of Doom or any of those types of games. There are hardly any bosses or really even any bad guy development at all. I really wanted to see some different 'evolutions' of bad guys, but they just kept throwing the same guys at me. Now what I can certainly attest to is that the AI for this game is pretty good. The bad guys play it safe and don't always run out to get you. They'll sneak around and try to flank you. They won't always pop out in the same place, however after a while it does feel like a shooting gallery with only a few options as to bad guy locations. Overall, it may be the best aspect of this game. Don't expect several different types of enemies though, just more of them in a given room.
The weapons are pretty much the same as the 1st installment. I can't say that pinning a guy to a wall with a gun doesn't entertain me. It so does. However, the bulk of the guns are pretty boring. The ones that really are fun are barely in the game at all (flame thrower). Maybe there are a few bigger guns than in part one, but there's nothing to write home about here. To be fair, there's only so many types of guns you can invent for a game, but creative use of weapons can really put a game in a different echelon of gaming (see: Half-Life 2).
A new addition here is that you can shove objects out in front of you for cover. Words cannot describe how useless this is. Half the time, the cover is too short and you get shot anyways. This could be better if you could blind fire are shoot around corners (see: rainbow six vegas, gears of war, etc.).
The control scheme (i.e. on the controller) is pretty standad and feels okay. I had no problems determining what buttons to use. It all felt natural.
There are some stages where you get into one of the 'ED-209' mech suits. You get missiles and unlimited ammo for a gatlin gun. This may be the most enjoyable part of the game. It really feels like a shooting gallery, but that's okay when you're destroying everything in sight. My only comment here is that this seems a bit over-the-top. I can't help thinking that this would be a scene from a movie like Project X or Toys where monkeys or little kids are being trained to enjoy ultra-violence and kill things without remorse. It's awesome and somehow a bit disturbing.
By the way, this game has body parts and blood everywhere so it should be said that it may not be the best game for your kid or monkey, unless you are indeed training them to be a heartless killing machine that is desensitized to murder and death.
Lastly, the layout of the maps. These maps are not laid out logically. A game that should've taken 6-8 hours probably tooks me 10-11 because I spent 1/4th of my time running around trying to figure out where to go. This type of thing is something that I can't stand in a game. Design your levels so they flow people! Al I want to do is run around and shoot people and be creeped out by strange sounds, yet I'm spending half my time going "Is that a door? Can I go in there... oh wait, no, it's blocked by some friggin boxes on the other side (apparently even though I have the ability to manipulate the time-space continuum, boxes behind a door are my Achilles heel, and I will be going no further if they are in my way)... Well, how about this air vent that only took me 45 minutes to find?" Suffice to say that this kills the scary mood of the game as I'm getting frustrated that I've been walking around the same office for 35 minutes. This aspect of the game is terrible!
Production The sound for this game is key. If the sound was not as good as it is, this game would fail in the most epic of manners. Constant reverse reverbed whispers and distant evil sounds add to the creepiness of this game.
The music is dissonant and constantly gives a feeling of unease. It's more of a sound design element that music most of the time. It accomplishes exactly what it is supposed to.
The sounds of the guns are not bad. They don't seem quite real, but they work well for the game. As for the footsteps and all the other sound design, it's not too bad. It's maybe par with Doom or any of the other games.
While the voice acting isn't bad, it's nearly impossible to understand what people are saying. Most of the time I had no idea what people were saying to me over the radio/com thing. It would be equivalent to working construction with Scott Stapp of Creed. "I need a hurdy-hur-dah-hurlah. Get that hur-din hurleh hur." "What!?" ...(static). "Sweet, guess I'm on my own."
Overall Overall this game is worth a $10 buy or a 1 time rental at best. I found myself getting all too frustrated with it to enjoy it. Between the dark level design, crappy level layout, bad story, and so on, I just couldn't recommend this to anyone. It's fun to shoot people in slo-mo and all, but there's like 20 games out there to do that. There are many more games out there that offer 'shooting things' and 'creepy' which just do it way better than F.E.A.R. 2 does. It's not the worst purchase you could make but there's just nothing special about it at all.
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