FEAR expansions vs FEAR 2

piscian18

piscian18

[H]F Junkie
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Jul 26, 2005
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I think I wanna play some FEAR this week and I have a question. I know they aren't canon but should I go ahead and play the expansions before I start FEAR 2?
 
Play Fear 2 as a last resort. ;) In all seriousness, the expansion packs are much better than 2. 2 just isn't very good.
 
FEAR 2 was far better than the expansions IMO. Extraction Point was okay apart from totally ruining the story. Perseus Mandate just sucked. There's also a standalone expansion for FEAR 2 which is supposed to be alright, haven't checked it out.

As far as story continuity is concerned, doesn't really matter what order you play them. Extraction Point is supposed to pick up where FEAR ends, but as you know is not really canonical. FEAR 2 picks up just before the ending of FEAR with a different character. Perseus Mandate is a parallel story to FEAR with yet another character.

Christ knows how FEAR 3 will tie everything together :)
 
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FEAR 2 seemed to lack the spooky atmosphere of FEAR and the expansions, but it wasn't a bad game. To me it was more of a slight letdown.

There's no need to play the FEAR expansions, but Extraction Point is recommended and it's actually pretty lengthy and worth the money.
 
I played FEAR 2 on the PC about a month ago. IMO, it's not so bad. A lot of the console centric design decisions in modern FPS games aren't present, or at least aren't prevalent.

FEAR 2 doesn't waste a lot of time on stupid graphical set pieces. It doesn't do COD style endless waves of fodder enemies. Most of the fights feel like old school PC style FPS fights. A set number of enemies, a complicated arena environment with multiple levels and lots of corners. The guns feel pretty powerful, except the shotgun, which sucks because FEAR had a great shotgun.

I also got a kick out of the late 90s FPS humor. The billboards for fake soda and stores, the jokes written on whiteboards, developers faces on magazine covers, shit like that.

It's a bit of a backhanded compliment, but FEAR 2 succeeds by only regressing slightly from the first game. In a genre that's been overrun by overly flashy, overly stupid AAA blockbuster tripe, it was refreshing to play a game that focused on old school mechanics.

FEAR 2 gets a thumbs up from me.
 
I prefer FEAR + expansions to FEAR2, but I don't feel that FEAR2 was a waste of time. Without opening a can of worms it felt a little more like console play but I don't feel like ranting about it. OTOH, I specifically didn't pay full price for 2, waiting until I could get it at least 50% off. OTOOH, I didn't even buy FEAR until 2 was almost out :) I bought a $15 pack at EA games which had FEAR plus all of the expansions in one box with the latest patches.
 
RIPATI said:
It's a bit of a backhanded compliment, but FEAR 2 succeeds by only regressing slightly from the first game.
Click to expand...
Regresses pretty significantly, IMO, in precisely the areas where the first game stood out.

The exceptional AI in the first game is gone without a trace. The wide variety of atmosphere- and suspense-building "horror bits" are all replaced with a) Alma appearing and disappearing a little ways down the hall (again, and again, and again...), or b) scripted sequences so overdone that they drag you out of the game because you're basically watching a cutscene. Not to mention that the sequel actually manages to look substantially worse than a game released 3.5 years earlier...
 
RIPATI said:
I also got a kick out of the late 90s FPS humor. The billboards for fake soda and stores, the jokes written on whiteboards, developers faces on magazine covers, shit like that.
Click to expand...

Crate Enthusiast magazine cracked me up! This was from FEAR 2, right? Could have been another game.
 
Extraction Point was a really fun expansion, short and really fast paced.

FEAR 2 was less than good in my opinion, I bought it from STEAM for cheap, but it just wasn't the same game.

Mandate sucked and it not worht it at all.

I AM looking forward to FEAR3 which i guess comes out pretty soon.:D
 
I seem to remember reading things about Monolith not being impressed with the (3rd party) expansions, but then they seemed to make all the same mistakes in F2 (shitty storylines and cheesy, un-scary "scares" mostly).
 
Extraction Point is good.
Perseus Mandate sucked.


Fear 2 has some awesome levels that brought back some of the original game, like the School house level. Roughly half of the levels sucked. It is worth playing, but only if you buy it at discount. The ending is absolutely fucking hilarious and in no way scary. It also helps set up the story to FEAR3 apparently.

I believe FEAR 2 is the only game I have ever seen to implement a "mind fuck" in the most literal sense of the term. Alma is really a sadistic bitch. It's an incredibly funny and short piece of porn you get to witness.
 
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