F.E.A.R. 2: best of the series?

[80251]

I'm liking F.E.A.R. 2 better than any of the games based on the original engine. The graphics are noticeable better than the original FEAR series (as is the GPU load) and the abominations add an additional fear factor to the game. I wish they had kept the ability to lean around corners though.

So did most people like FEAR 2 over the original FEAR series?

I can see why FEAR 3 got panned, the story line and game play (the automagically recharging health just doesn't fit into the FEAR paradigm) just aren't as good as the earlier titles.

 

[c2DDragon]

I loved F.E.A.R. and never finished F.E.A.R. 2, I got the 3 on steam, I should give it another try for sure but...F.E.A.R. was really something

 

[AsRock]

I loved F.E.A.R. and never finished F.E.A.R. 2, I got the 3 on steam, I should give it another try for sure but...F.E.A.R. was really something

Yeah loved the 1st one 2nd was alright too, the 3rd was a disaster in my eye's, it was just more of the same ol BS like what happened to Dragon Age were they think they game should be totally different from what made it what it was.

Tried that to, going back and replaying the 3rd i ended up uninstalling it and playing the 1st one again.

 

[c2DDragon]

Yeah loved the 1st one 2nd was alright too, the 3rd was a disaster in my eye's, it was just more of the same ol BS like what happened to Dragon Age were they think they game should be totally different from what made it what it was.

Tried that to, going back and replaying the 3rd i ended up uninstalling it and playing the 1st one again.

Ok then I guess I know what to do this week F.E.A.R. series x)
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point
F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 3
I will buy some whiskey.

 

[80251]

F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point is a weird FEAR title. The ending is particularly bizarre in that you're left on a high balcony overlooking the city and that IS the ending.

Supposedly F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point and F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate are not canon because they were produced(?) by Viviendi, not Monolith.

I believe F.E.A.R. 3 actually provides some sort of closure to the series -- at least for the Point Man, Fettel and Alma.

Has anyone ever tried the multiplayer component of any of the FEAR series? Is it still possible to play the multiplayer component of any of the FEAR series?

 

[droopyRO]

The first game was the best for me and set a standard in FPS games like Half Life, Crysis, STALKER or RTCW did back in the 2000's. FEAR 2 and 3 were made for consoles and had compromises i did not like. I only played the 3rd part once and it was one of the few games that made me feel queasy due to it's very low FOV.

 

[Audioave10]

Yep...FEAR 1 was a PC game and looked amazing on a strong PC. The others were console games and I liked FEAR 2 but it did not look as sharp
on a PC.

 

[Splinterdog]

Really enjoyed FEAR, now the XP but yet to try FEAR 2. I probably will but I have such a backlog of games, ain't life a bitch!

 

[dgianstefani]

Best part of the FEAR series was the AI and attention to detail. Actual gunplay, story etc, not much to write home about.

 

[Splinterdog]

Best part of the FEAR series was the AI and attention to detail. Actual gunplay, story etc, not much to write home about.

Not to mention the sound which is excellent and builds up the tension, at least in Fear 1

 

[natr0n]

I like the one with the mech suit I think it was 3.

They are all good games in there own way.

 

[TheEndIsNear]

Loved 1 and 2 but 3 sucked they tried to turn it into a military shooter for some reason

 

[error1984]

In Fear 2 everything what was so great in the original is gone! The atmosphere,physics and the graphics. The original was sharp with really nice movement physics - it was very immersive. Enemies in 2nd part are like empty dolls...and graphics were so blurry it looked like cheap cartoon.
I have played it for 10 minutes and then it went straight to bin

 

[TheEndIsNear]

Yeah the first one was the best it actually scared me the first time. Just creepy

 

[80251]

In Fear 2 everything what was so great in the original is gone! The atmosphere,physics and the graphics. The original was sharp with really nice movement physics - it was very immersive. Enemies in 2nd part are like empty dolls...and graphics were so blurry it looked like cheap cartoon.
I have played it for 10 minutes and then it went straight to bin

If you only played ten minutes I see your point. The first level is the luxury apartment level and while good it doesn't have the atmosphere of the hospital or its secret genetics/cloning lab. I haven't got to the Wade Elementary School level but it's supposed to be pretty atmospheric as well.

The hospital level introduces the abominations -- which are as scary and dangerous as anything in the original FEAR, then there's the destroyed city of Auburn which has the supernatural remnants enemy.

 

[Grog6]

The first one before the patch, lol. I used to revel in giving someone a mohawk with penetrator slugs;the patch removed that ability.

 

[Sithaer]

I'm currently playing Fear 1 on GoG 'platinum edition', only a few hours in but so far its not bad for such an old game at this point. 'big + for the Ultrawide support w/o tinkering'
I did play Fear 2 long ago and that I liked and also scared me a good few times.

Fear 3 meh not so much, only finished it cause I was curious how it ends.

 

[BSim500]

So did most people like FEAR 2 over the original FEAR series?

I still prefer the original better. Aside from already liking the feel of early Lithtech Jupiter engine games from No One Lives Forever 1-2, there were several moments in FEAR 1 where I thought "Damn, that looks good!" for non-technical reasons. Reminds me of Unreal 1, there was nothing technically impressive about the lighting and yet the way it was hand placed in several areas like "How can we make this scene stand out, let's put a coloured light behind a spinning fan / enclose a light bulb inside a metal mesh cover swinging in the wind so it that it casts a similar shadow pattern of the cover on the opposite wall" thing really made some scenes stand out. The only thing I remember about FEAR 2 was being annoyed there was no way to disable that ugly forced Film Grain (a pet hate of mine that's right up there with Chromatic Abhorration and Depth of Myopia). They also dumbed down the save system to just checkpoint-only for 'console reasons'. I thought Alma was creepier in FEAR 1, enemy AI (or at least faking it in a convincing manner) was definitely good. Likewise despite the time dilation gimmick I thought the game played fine as a straight shooter without using it, so I never did agree with some reviewers criticism of the first that it was 'just a tech demo for slo-mo'.

 

[Vario]

FEAR2 was a good game but I don't think it was good as the original and its 2 expansions. The graphics on FEAR 2 were definitely better but the first had much better AI.

 

[Bomby569]

i prefer the 1st one but also loved the 2nd, the 3rd one is not a FEAR game

 

[neatfeatguy]

I've only played FEAR and the expansions for it, I never played 2 or 3. I have them (bought a bundle off Fanatical - before it was called Fanatical - but I never got around to playing 2 or 3).

I heard 2 was decent, but I can't confirm nor deny it myself.

I remember when FEAR 3 released and I didn't like how the game looked because it felt like a console, hand holding game. I'm trying to remember if FEAR 3 released a demo I and I tried it or I just saw video of game play, but I hated the fact that the developers thought it was necessary to brightly outline (highlight) items on the ground that you can pickup; such as ammo or guns. For some reason it really irritated me because it wasn't something done in the original game and I couldn't get past it.

 

[80251]

The film grain effect can be disabled in FEAR 2.

The AI in FEAR 2 doesn't seem worse than the original FEAR, the same deficits in behaviour seem to be present (i.e. throwing grenades straight at your position regardless of situation, not moving when taking hits from behind cover because the AI is partially exposed).

 

[64K]

I thought the first FEAR was the best. FEAR 2 has better graphics but graphics aren't a big priority to me. FEAR 3 was the worst of the series imo.

 

[LabRat 891]

FEAR2 was the first game that noticeably hit me as: "you're playing a movie". That, alone made it extremely memorable. (That ending tho....)

 

[80251]

One thing I'm NOT liking about FEAR 2 is the obvious and ludicrous obstacles they use to prevent you from going back and collecting supplies (grenades, armor, weapons) from previous portions of the map. For example, they've used the 4' high obstruction too many times. Even with my busted knee I could get over a 4' wall.

It's interesting to note that the later FEAR titles suffered from consolitis, particularly FEAR 3, where you don't have any armor at all and your health automagically recharges. At least when the developers eliminated the wall leaning ability (i.e. the ability to lean around corners to fire) they did so for the enemies as well.