In the DLC where you’re a Replica soldier, that extremely short, narrow window of time where you’re just a regular clone soldier alongside clone soldiers is cool as _HELL_ -and then it ends. Even today, I’m still peeved about it.
The thing I dislike the most about F.E.A.R. 2 is the increased focus on the scripted scares. I'm absolutely sure they're scary and horrifying, however they decided to up the bloom to the level that I can't see a thing whenever the spooky things are meant to happen. It's a horror game where they want you to laser focus on the horror yet blind you whenever it occurs. There's also the fact that most of the story is a nothing burger, just telling you about what happened in the first game and not much new. Oh you mean Alma didn't have a great life? Gee I didn't know that. Glad so much of the game was building up to that big secret.
Yeah, this game is a victim of the early 2000's trope of excessive bloom and brown filters. Seriously, this game is overall very brown and washed out. I get having this look for the outside as most of the game takes place after a nuclear explosion, but even interior areas like hospitals or laboratories, which are supposed to be sterile and maintained, look dirty and smudged because of this filter. While the first game's visuals were crisp and contrasting.
I remember another review of F.E.A.R. 2 talking about how "whenever anything scary happens you get sent to the orange juice dimension and cant see the spooky thing" i think it was by mandalore
The entire visual presentation of FEAR 2 is so awful and screams late 2000s vibe. they added shaky camera, bloom effects, filters and scripted cutscenes. like the whole reason FEAR 1 atmosphere worked, the dirty alleys, empty building and the lonely feel so well because of it's simplicity. it was the result of hardware limitation, but it worked in that strength. just like Half Life 2, and Deus Ex 1 and so many first person immersive sim games from that era. But by the time we reached late 2000s, everyone just wanted cinematic cutscenes and call of duty shooting mechanics.
I like to think that the entire reason they put that ending in is because they knew there is nothing else memorable about the game. In a hilarious twist that would also explain why comms-lady is so completely inept,being taken out by a limping granny;last minute changes.
With the amount of public info we have about the chaos/development hellscape that is the fear series it would not surprise me to learn that the story of 2 and 3 were heavily reworked. Although if that is the case I’d love to know what they thought was bad enough that this was a better alternative.
@@B4BrandossOGI have mixed feelings about F.E.A.R 2. I know who directed it. It's Nathan Hendrickson who directs Science fiction, Action and Horror video game Alien Vs Predator 2 this game is so mediocre and bad
Personally I feel like FEAR has always been a kind of: What if the government captured superman while he was young type story. Alma could have grown up to do amazing things with her abilities but instead a horrible corporation got a hold of her before she even knew how to defend herself.
@@B4BrandossOGKnowing what Armacham did to Alma, given the fact they had her impregnated at a young age and put her in an induced coma more than once, then pulling the plug on her, can we really blame her? Even after all the destruction she caused and deaths she committed, Harlan Wade is one to blame.
What field work? FEAR only exists to deal with Alma. There are no supernatural elements in this world except what she created. I always kinda didn't like that concept but that's how it is.
@@MariaIsabellaZNN During the opening It's explained that F.E.A.R. was created in 2002 to combat paranormal threats. Alma doesn't die until 2005 let alone become a known threat until 2025. The original Vivendi F.E.A.R. 2 was also meant to be about a F.E.A.R. team trying to close a portal to another dimension. That probably means there had to be some sort of paranormal enticing incident around 2002 that got F.E.A.R. established which also means paranormal threats are a semi-regular thing in this universe.
I always feel like a weirdo when people talk about FEAR 2 because I actually liked it. Also thought it would have been cool if Beckett had been the first replicant soldier, grown normally, and if his DNA had been used to create Pointman and Fettle. Alma's interest in Beckett would have made way more sense if he was literally the father of her children and a fellow victim of Armacham.
A game being mediocre especially after such a good hit like FEAR 1 is the worst possible thing to happen to a sequel just like how wasted potential is the worst way to fail to deliever. And I think the both played a big part in why FEAR 2 turned out the way it did. And I hate looking at this game through the lenses of 'what could've been'. The Monolith Productions effect is a scary scary thing. If Alma's controlling the Replica Forces why would they be going after Becket? Could it be possible that Alma is only PARTIALLY controlling them, and Becket is unknowingly also controlling them in a way? Maybe by Wade Elementary Fettel's been reborn by Foxtrot 813. But if Reborn's not canon then what has Fettel been doing between FEAR 1 and FEAR 3? Those are nine months
just an interesting tidbit, you can actually see the "orange energy beacon" seen in Reborn in FEAR 2 as well. After the underground train crash head forward like you normally would but when you reach the door, step in the center of it and you will fall through the map and be able to see the Orange energy spiral through the map (before dying of course since you fell through the map).
There are no perfect games. But there are games so good I'm going to ignore minute flaws because it's so fucking entertaining to play. Say, for example, FEAR 1 (and addons), Crysis, Doom 2016-Eternal, Alan Wake 1, FlatOut 2, C&C Generals...
Alma has to have direct control over the replicas because she made them not shoot Keegan, so I don't know why she allows them to throw everything they have at Becket and his colleagues.
I can fix her. Anyway, I tried playing this for the first time coming off the heels of Perseus Mandate and was immediately like "Hmm, it seems they changed the keybinds for the lean buttons...oh...well surely they respected the original system enough to have kept all the karate... moves." On the contrary, I liked how you can pull cover down like the enemies in 1 did but said cover feels kinda fake, like being in low cover gives you a flat 50% hits-taken reduction.
@@czarnakoza9697 I can't imagine a single combat scenario where fiddling with extra inputs would be more efficient than doing literally anything else. need to peek around the corner? just step out, then step back in - faster and less awkward to perform, since you don't have to take your fingers off the primary movement keys. the only game where leaning was useful was Cyberpunk 2077, because in that game it happens automatically when you aim.
I admit FEAR 2 isn't as good as the original, but I still had fun playing it. Can't say the same for FEAR 3. 3 still confuses me to this day. My biggest complaint is they didn't continue the franchise by actually focusing on the FEAR unit itself. I like military horror and the franchise had a lot of potential to do more with it.
@@4T3hM4kr0nSince we live in a timeline where people discuss their headcanon with franchises. the only Fear games that matter after the first one is Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point to me. 2 was the first game I played in the franchise ironically because Fear was a big thing on roblox back in 2010. I was very much hyped for 3 when it was coming out as well.
@@4T3hM4kr0nWell it was mostly the fact that Vivendi had the rights to the *title.* Monolith and WB Games had literally everything else, even the characters and the original story. They just couldn’t explicitly mention the F.E.A.R. Unit.
First one isn't that great either honestly. I bought all games in 2019 as they were very cheap and it's you know a piece of history that you experienced in your childhood or something. I completed every game in order and I played them all before long time ago. It still holds it's ground by being a solid shooter. Enemy AI is well made and it's very memorable. Something that we sadly don't see much of today. I think enemies have like hundreds of voice lines. They can very clearly describe in what position you are hiding. Like behind the table or corner and etc. Shadows and lights look great. Environment reacts to gunfights beautifully. If you played only the first game then it would be a solid 7 hour experience. Back in the day it would be a blast for sure. Thing is you have DLC and playing whole game today I felt bored. It's just more of "I go in with a team that I maybe see here or there then they die to supernatural stuff" proceed to more of the same shooting. Both first and second games were on the same level for me. This franchise feels like a good shooter with good story ideas but it needs better writing and less of "add more stuff for combat to make the game longer" stuff. With how stuff works in these games and how the story is written it's no wonder Point Man's brother returns as a ghost. This is just type of story depth we are dealing with over all games.
@@Malice_dollI've been on internet so long enough to remember that there was a time when people used to make fun of Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point and call it awful because they fan mead canon. But now I've seen enough to even consider those two better than whatever shit Monolith officially made later Lol. for me Extraction Point is the best closing arc for the first game
The E3 2007 demo we never got to play for Project Origin was the version of FEAR 2 I waited another 2+ years to release, and when it finally came out the final game was nothing like that demo.
I heard rumours there were 2 FEAR sequels in the making, one tailored for pc and another version for console. I still remember that demo. I was even on their bloody forums all the time to tell them what they had to do. They didn't do much with the info with what we liked from the first FEAR. They went full console somewhere during development and the alarm bells should have been going off when one of the forum dwellers was selected to come and playtest it at HQ. When he came back he said it was good but the guy had to play it on a fuckin console. I already knew that disaster was about to happen. When we finally got our hands on the demo, I just slammed my fists so hard on the wall, realising they had gold in their hands but completely ruined it with the sequel.
Oof there are instances of the original game's brilliance in this, but just instances, tree on still island and ashes streets as an examples as you said. Imagine if we got a squeal to Extraction Point where Paxton turns against his mother (his mocking during Reborn and his fear 3 ending indicate hes looking out for himself despite his "family" prattle), and both Alma and Point Man have to stop him while seeing the scenes above. Campaign could explore scenes of various types of "fear," while having themes of trauma. But we got...F3AR, sad. Also *bloom* in this burns
Good points, I never really thought of that.. Alma breaking out turned out to not be a real big deal when compared to the whole "nuke going off" thing. I've never paid much attention to "Reborn" either since... there wasn't much to it.. but it does imply Paxton was basically back, inhabiting one of his clones in the flesh. Wasn't he more of a ghost in F3AR who ran around possessing people and using their bodies to fight?
That thumbnail is hilarious man. lol Great video, I'm really loving your FEAR Retrospectives Brandoss, I can tell from your detailed videos you're as big a fan of this series as I am. Really love it, you go deeper into the lore than most people ever bother to. *BTW Have you thought about doing a retrospective on Condemned Criminal Origins? Have you played that? It's almost like a FEAR sidequel, has nothing to do with fear but it's in the same engine and came out at the same time so it almost feels like head-canon'y takes place in the same universe.*
Cheers for watching man I really appreciate it. I wasn’t planning on a condemned video but I played it on stream about a week ago and had a blast so I’m actually considering it now. I also kind of head canon believe that FEAR and condemned take place in the same universe. I mean they have the same vending machine models same chip packet models. Ethan even has a small psychic ability. It all makes sense to me. Anyway yeah thinking about it. I’ll be playing Condemned 2 on stream soonish if you’d like to stop by but once again. Thanks for watching :)
Still pisses me off that the F.E.A.R 2 Beta (gameplay of which is still here on youtube thankfully) Was more in line with the scares and combat of the first FEAR. One thing to keep in mind is that the AI in F.E.A.R 2 are forced into these stupid kill zones for the player due to poor arena design (For example in the FEAR 2 Beta the first combat arena, at the end of the hall is connected to one of the other corridors but in the base game when you reach that same area, theres just a dead end. Meaning the AI can't flank you from when they enter the area and are shoe horned into going into your line of fire)
You know what's funny? Something that would actually help this games narrative a ton after a bit of cleanup and optimizing if it ever gets remade is just by letting Beckett talk. Give him lines and let us know his thoughts. That's really all, like the Dead Space Remake showed imo
he has dialogue for a lot of little detail things in the first section. For example if you shoot up the car he'll say "you're just hurting the taxpayers man" Stepping into the fountain will get you a "what? you didn't have your shower this morning?"
One thing not a lot of people seem to point out is the weird skyboxes you can see in certain areas. Like in the hospital there's certain windows that just show an empty blue sky with clouds, no buildings or anything. Or in one of the school courtyards you can see over the walls that it's just another empty sky void with nothing surrounding it. Briefly took me out of my immersion when I realized I was just in a big floating piece of land lol.
The hospital windows were like that on purpose lol. They were screens to make the patients think they were in a normal facility. Not underground. You can also find broken ones freaking out and glitching.
I actually like fear 2 and think it’s a worthy sequel. That elementary school level also being the best level in the franchise. The combat is meaty, the AI remains intense, the layout of levels flows more naturally, and the characters are much more memorable.
Title is a bit harsh but I get it algorithm and all. it's an upgrade in some regards and downgrade in others. Playing through the first one, and as much as I love it, it has its own major flaws similar to this. There's still some heart and soul thrown in despite the dev issues as well as attempts at expanding on the first one with how armacham's mess and program progressed and functioned. First one had the grace of being the first and being allowed to be simpler and still manages to be a drag at times. I like them both and am glad 2 was made.
Ive only played FEAR 2 once, and that was this year, and I too feel like it's not quite matching what the first game was all about. The first thing that I noticed was the art style used softer shadows compared to the harsher lighting of the 1st game and its expansions. The level design tidbit also was detrimental to the game's AI like you pointed out: it feels less like a dynamic firefright scenario like the first game and more like a shooting gallery. The story, boy oh boy, I wish the premise was a different FEAR unit either going into the same city after the 1st game's events, or a different location with a diffferent threat, similar to the spiritual successor Trepang². I appreciate what Monolith did by keeping Alma and trying to carry on her story but that could have been a separate game altogether.. Nice video once again Brandoss, this was a fire upload 🤜🤛
Exactly. I thought I was doing something when I bought the whole FEAR franchise. I enjoyed the 1st and took a break. I played the 2nd one for about an hour before saying "F this". I also tried the next game in the series for about 15 minutes before saying "nah, were done"
ironically, I actually enjoyed 3's melee combat a lot more then 2's. because it felt like Fear 1 where your kicks actually matters. Too bad I can't say the same about gunplay or AI.
@@smugplush how does it feel to be so salty about a Game. Objectively FEAR 2 is good and polished. Is it a dowgrade from the first Game? Probably yeah but that does not make it Bad. You really need to play more games lol
@@clydemarshall8095 I played the PC version múltiple times (I love FEAR 2) and aside from some weird audio mixing the Game had no issues. No crashes no Bugs no glitches
Let's be honest. The only reason it is not as despised as 3 is because of it's... unique premise of "You are chased by horny ghost of a hot, naked lady".
I think you confuse level desingn and art design of a level. Yeah fear 2 levels look distinct, but the design its self is just coridors where enemies cant do shit, and what we are geting is clown closets where soldiers just pops out of one door.Fear 1 on the other hand had almost good level design and the only problem is that they look alike.
One thing about this game that absolutely kills it for me is the HUD. I hate the borders around the screen it feels so unnecessary. Also you should check out Trepang, it's like the original FEAR on steroids. Level design is shit though just like FEAR but everything else is pretty fun.
I feel like they were inspired by crysis. I think the HUDs look similar too. Edit: I don’t mind dynamic/helmet huds, as long as it isn’t distracting or obstructive. Helps build immersion (having the option to disable them is a win-win for everyone). It’s why I’m a bit disappointed that Doom Eternal got rid of the dynamic/helmet hud in the trailers, as it seemed like it was fine tuned and would help with immersion.
I wish 2 had a stronger art style and the weapons lacked punch and the designs were awful. Removing most of the "oompf" from the combat just neutered much of the exoerience, considering it's mostly combat.
I liked the hammerhead and the not P90 but that was about it. A lot of the other weapons are just worse versions of older weapons. The assault rifle is just the Nightcrawler VES rifle from Perseus Mandate, the laser is just a worse version of EP's laser weapon, etc. At some point in development it makes me wonder if they WERE the same designs, but they had to change them.
@@ORLY911 It’s probably due to the new direction they were trying to take the series, considering the artstyle is *very* different from the first game.
I agree that 2 has a better level design, but I really don't like how "gamey generic" they are, opposed to "realistically generic" levels are in the first game. Some levels feel like they are taken straight from DOOM 3 or COD, so the paranormal feels natural to the environment. While F.E.A.R 1 has this distinct authentic office style, it is truly a surreal expirience seeing all this nightmare occur there.
I really don't understand how anyone with a functioning brain can think this game has better levels. Do people really prefer linear "just tell me where to go durrrr" levels? You realize the main reason the first game's AI is so much better is because of the open levels. How is an enemy suppose to flank you or ambush you if there's only one path through the levels.
@@robrick9361 I was playing today Project Origin and this is what happened : I cleared the room from enemies and started picking up their ammo when one last replica snuck up on me from the room ahead and obliterated me. Yesterday, on the way out of the labs in the hall just before you find Snake Fist’s head, I was fighting heavy armor and couple more replicas when one of them moved through the side room and threw a grenade to flush me out. I’m a big fan of the second game, I know every corner of the game and they still surprise me.
Its still fun to playthrough to be honest and it has its high points, especially Reborn. But yeah, its a shame, without executive meddling it could have been as classic as the first game.
@@czechpatriot2230gameplay wise, fear 3 is much better than fear 2 and brought back the aggresive gameplay style of fear 1. Unfortunaly that the only good thing about the game.
@@nikolasferreira3247 That's what I say. Fear 2's gameplay feels like it lacks the fluidity and impact of 1 and 3, if that makes sense. If I had to choose between playing 2 and 3, I would pick 3
On the map of Fairport in the secret room after the music box there is a place called "Mulkeyshoot Bay" or "Mulkeyshoot State Park" (I forget which), I think this is a dig at Johnathan Mulkey who left development of F.E.A.R. 2 to work on the eventually cancelled Doom 4
I like how snakefist was immediately killed. A ton of time is spend building up to the mysterious person who you don't know if you can trust, but they're *trying* to "help you", and when you meet up with them the reveal isn't that big, and then he's immediately killed, the game really fucked with you just to kill off someone who you felt as though maybe you could trust, God that's awesome.
FEAR1 level design wasn't style over substance like brandoss said, it was substance _AND_ style. FEAR2 definetly lacks both. maybe is just me, but FEAR1 looks miles more visually appealing than 2, and it's level design isn't confusing.
I played the first game along the two expansions about 4 times on my computer and finished two playthroughs of FEAR 2 on the PS... I never once used the bullet time willingly, not because I don't want to, but because I always forget.
@@ChucksSEADnDEADTo be fair, there were moments where I forgot about the slow-mo too. I think part of it is because of the keybindings (if OP was using the default ones), and also just focusing on the combat. I mean, you have leaning, 3-4 grenade types, 3 weapons, melee moves, etc. Ironically, the same thing happened to me during my first playthrough of Max Payne, I’d forget to use the slow-mo ability when it could really help.
the plot of the games is mostly be very careful for the creepy horny lady chase you..even the games was strange i liked playing it i manage to finish the games in the hardest difficulty without much trouble since i i like the old time games..the reborn dlc campaign was cool see paxton fettel back was great moment.
Btw, FEAR 3 should NOT be considered canonical in any way since it was developed by people who had no idea what FEAR is about and Monolith had nothing to do with its development.
FEAR and FEAR2 remind me a lot of Max Payne and Max Payne 2. You have the original game that’s remembered fondly, even with some of it’s downsides and/or dated aesthetic. Revolutionary for the industry. Then you have it’s sequel that isn’t talked about as much, and while it improves upon certain aspects of the first and still has some moments akin to it, it also has some weird changes to the gameplay (simplifying it or adding unnecessary stuff) and the writing feels much different (like a completely different direction). They still have good moments and can be enjoyed, but it’s easy to see why people look to the first game more often than the sequel(s).
Completely agree. Max Payne 2 falls into the same category as FEAR 2 for me. It’s the middle chapter in a series where first is amazing the third is notable except MP3 is amazing and FEAR 3 belongs in the same garbage site that’s full of Atari ET copies
I don't think we have played the same game then, coz Max Payne 2 and FEAR 2 has day and night difference lol. Max Payne 2 didn't went to differentiate itself from the original, it was still made in the same foundation of the original, retains most of it's original gameplay style. While improving so much substantially, it's story gotta be one of the best scripts written in gaming ever, and it also gave it's protagonist a nice closure, until rockstar decided to make another one. meanwhile FEAR 2 is...... FEAR 2
I’ve beat this game a couple dozen times and I’ve never noticed 29:01 at the elementary school level. This is the first time 😳 I really enjoyed this game. Of course I was younger and had grades to worry about and escapism on my mind but I definitely miss this type of FPS. Story driven with a lot of mystery and lore with interesting mechanics. I also didn’t know all of the Delta operators in Becket’s squad underwent the psychic experiments. I gotta play this again.
I remember when I was 14 I played this game cuz I heard a creepy ghost lady gets freaky with you in the end. That’s all I needed lol. Then I went back and played the first and fell in love with the series. Then I played the third when it came out and was like wtf lmao
FEAR 2 was definitely one of the FEAR games released. Graphics exist, there is a singleplayer and a multiplayer and it does have a story. It does have weapons and it sure has Alma Wade and Replica Forces. There is a campaign there and it sure does make you feel emotions sometimes. You can shoot enemies and they will react maybe... Really, I think it's certainly one of the games released in 2009. ...oh and the ATC voice actor can scream better now.
I think it's great that this game got an FPS boost on series x. What stands out for me is the damage feedback that is rarely found on shooters these days. Fear 3 offers still a lot of fun in couch coop.
If Project Origin didn't try to tie itself to the original FEAR it would have been a good fan game, after WB got the name it was all downhill. FEAR 2 has no identity on anything, it feels like a inferior copy with it's green filters, ugly sci fi UI and bloom effects to hell and back. I dreaded every time I was gonna explode something because you are not allowed to see anything past the fire because of how the bloom is handled. The mission where you need to fight a dude with a flame thrower is always miserable to play through, it is even miserable to watch someone else play through. The only good thing in this game is the school level. They never explored the nuclear explosion properly, they never explored what unleashed Alma could do, she doesn't seem to gain any noticeable strength in power after getting her body back, which makes the entire journey for her to get her body back in the first game a waste of time for her. The plot where the female villain rapes the main character was bold but nothing came of it except the shitshow that is FEAR 3, whic has a horrible story but relatively good gameplay, which is the exact opposite of FEAR 2, where the plot is wasted potential. Some people celebrate the mind tentacle dudes who can control bodies like puppets, but I think that is stupid as hell, there is nothing in the original game that would allow for something like that to exist, it is a generic horror concept presented for horror sake. There is zero reason to believe Alma would give power to randos in the streets for them to control dead bodies, that is nonsense.
Don't know about PC, but I totally prefer FEAR 2 over the first on console. The gunplay feels tighter, and the gun fights are more frenetic. The story; like the original is stupid, But who cares? You pilot a giant robot and splatter clones!
25:26 Western (and even Eastern to a degree) Video Game, Anime, and Cartoon Voice Acting is a rather small world sometimes. Like how often have we heard Yuri Lowenthal, Steve Blum, or one of (or all of) the Dobsons?
Fear 1's AI wasn't really advaned it was just a lot of trickery at play there, like a script where if you stand behind a fridge an audio would trigger where the enemy would say "he's behind the fridge", had nothing to do with AI, was just a really good illusion of good AI. They did this throughout the entire game, very clever of them, but the environments were fairly good which did allow the AI to have some more tools than usual which also makes the AI look better when in reality it was just good level design. Think you're overly harsh of Fear 2, for me its a solid 7/10 game, not great not mid, just a good game.
Do you think Google's AI is that impressive? It is all just math and logic. Current AI just uses neural networks and that aint nothing special. It is also a really good illusion.
So something about how F.E.A.R. 2 operated for me when I first played it was I liked it and thought this continued the first game nicely but then after a while I played the F.E.A.R. 1 dlc campaigns on PC recently and then thought to myself "Man was I wrong about F.E.A.R. 2" but the thought of that being a good continuation was because last time I played F.E.A.R. 1 was way back in highschool and I only had access to the base game via Xbox 360. So My opinions of the 2nd game changed drastically after the story DLC's for the first game and the 3rd game probably is gonna sour it even further. Overall I too think now that F.E.A.R. 2 is mid at best.
Apparently F.E.A.R. 3 further leans into action than horror (despite saying it was “returning to its roots”), probably will have a lot problems with the story too. So I’d go in with low expectations.
@@Dr.Oofers Well to be fair F.E.A.R. was launched as a paranormal thriller with high focus on combat action, never as a horror game and I know because I was on the forums when the game was being made. F.E.A.R. is clearly an action fps and F.E.A.R. 3 returning a bit to it, is normal. But FEAR 3 is still a shitty game with a shit plot and shit shooting. No redeeming qualities what so ever. There is only 1 F.E.A.R. and that is F.E.A.R. 1. Also Extraction Point is nice.
I just finished this game it was my first f.e.a.r game ever. I played it since I read a comment on a trepang 2 video praising f.e.a.r on how scary it was and how trepang 2 should've been the next f.e.a.r. Well, I've never been disappointed after beating a game before, but that changed today. I didn't get scared at all. Most "tense" parts, such as the spirit encounter in the school, I found to be just annoying. I could barely see anything with my screen flashing nonstop. Having to shoot the ghosts trying to touch me with their nasty fingers didn't help. Also, random loud noises by itself don't scare me im not sure if I missed jumpscares or something but there were a lot of random loud noises in this game. The difficulty was also laughably easy, but that's probably because i beat trepang 2 on the hardest difficulty. The enemies, the "creepy" enemies, were just that to me they were creepy nothing more they didn't induce any tense feelings or terror in me if they got close. Im just wondering if i played this game wrong or something.
Meanwhile I think it's the perfect sequel but the start of FEAR2 is very weak and teaches you to play the game the wrong way. Conceptually it's great starting you as more or less a normal human before unleashing you but it makes you fall into the trap of Aiming down the sights
Oh yeah i agree, amazing how we went from this to... whatever 3 is.... To this day i still dont know why monolith passed on deving 3? Instead WB got the dudes who made the crappy fear 1 ports for consoles.
@@INFILTR8USNope movement mechanics are buffed, you're faster in Slow motion and it lasts longer FEAR one is slower and more methodical in Fear 2 the more you rush in the more you're rewarded
The man delivers. When I remember this game exists I always get into a fit of anger, over the years I stopped hating it as much but I do still very much dislike the way the story went, its a decent game but not a decent FEAR game(funnily enough fear3 was the opposite, bad game, good fear game, albeit that might be my mind playing tricks on me; yeah it's still bad, the ending sucks there too). Mostly being because I learned of how things went about with the studio behind the scenes, its such a tragic waste of potential. Now TREPANG2 I believe is a decent spiritual successor despite being less scare more gun. I still played and beat the game(all 3 mind you + the DLC for FEAR2; felt great), that last fight was a real pain even on normal difficulty. Granted I was playing with one hand. Feels like it would've come out much better had they swapped the main game with the DLC. Fettel's return would have made for a solid plot device into a 3rd game for the series. Thinking about what could've been sadly gets us nowhere, someone already touched on that in the comments here. What I would like, unless I find the funding to purchase the IP for myself, would be to have a remaster of FEAR1, then a proper (Dead Space 1 level of proper) remake for FEAR2 and 3, and potentially a FEAR4 where lets say it turns out Alma intentionally or unintentionally "gave birth to herself" meaning the child you save in FEAR3 is actually her but now she has a chance at a better life for once. Then you can play it out around that(or not, we can have a new face in the series) you can even have like two separate campaigns of upbringing or just story with like Point Man and Jun making her(it) an agent in a new F.E.A.R. department or Fettel trying to be a better influence on her(it) than Alma was for him. I still believe, I don't like it but it add to the story and character, that Alma always had selfish intentions when she contacted Fettel to save her. Walking into her father's footsteps of putting his own ambition over anything else. Actually let's not. Sometimes its better to leave things in the past.
I've just finished F.E.A.R 2 for the first time after playing the first which i loved, and yeah you're spot on, so many(too many) gunfights to the point of questioning why, but yeah they were just filler. The horror is really good, wade elementary is so good, although there are many times where you can completely miss a scare because you were not looking the right way Then i played some of the reborn dlc maybe half way through i just stopped because it's just too much filler content that really doesn't need to be there Oh and i love how the intentions of Genevieve was spoiled by an in game document about 5 minutes early, of course i didn't know what exactly was gonna happen. I was hoping i would be able to just kill her but nah of course not
I personally prefer F.E.A.R. 2 i know there are problems with the game but objectively its the best of the 4 games. I love the gameplay and graphics, its the one i played the most. The end is the part that really messes me up she literally r***s our character
I urge you to have a look at Trepang. While it's not F.E.A.R directly, it tried it's best to be it. And believe you me, they respected the legacy a lot more than anything after the first fear game.
Right now, I'm currently doing a retelling of Fear 2, where I actually make my version more accurate to the first game and its expansion pack, Extraction Point. I'm also intending on adding some character development with the Dark Signal characters, including Reed Jankowski, Keira Stokes and Michael Becket, especially by giving Becket the ability to speak. - Have Redd be the jokester in the team who uses his humour as a coping mechanism while worrying about his older brother being missing until his humour dies down as he gets more paranoid. - Have Keira Stokes as the love interest who originally intends on keeping Genevieve Aristide alive to put her in protective custody while enduring the horrors in Fairport. Then slowly become more aggressive and impatient until she reaches the point of saving Aristide's backside and wants to stop Alma, save what's left of the team and escape the ruined city. - Have Becket start off as a cool-minded combat engineer in the team who gradually starts losing his sanity the more visions he gets from Alma and how much she stalks him throughout the vast majority of the story. In the end, when Alma is finally preggers, Becker would eventually reach his breaking point and loss what's left of his mind, as well as most of his squad.
@@uncommonsaucers2355 I'm already coming up with a retold version of Perseus Mandate, changing the Sergeant's gender, giving her a name and expanding on her background. Not only that, but I will also write an interesting conflict/connection between her and Paxton Fettel, as well as being related to Alma.
@@MoskHotelwould be cool to give her reflex mode without the need of a surgery like Beckett. Always assumed the sergeant had a natural hability for such a thing, like pointman.
@@nikolasferreira3247Honestly, would be really interesting. Was there another experiment to make quick-reflex soldiers, though without the same hellish method as project origin? Or was there another attempt at project origin though with new precautions and a “”morally-ethical”” method? The questions it raises and the theories that can come from it let’s you have fun speculating.
@@Dr.Oofers There were reports of most members of Dark Signal, except for Redd and Stokes, who had their psionic capabilities enhanced. As for the final part of the game, it's heavily implied that Keegan had already been gifted with the same ability as Point Man's. He just happens to be very vulnerable to headaches, due to Alma's influence.
FEAR series, just like BLOOD series, is an example of how the business guys can fuck with the work of the dev guys and actually kill a franchise that could make even more profit. "Publisher" stuff shoul never bother studio's dev stuff. Only support.
I never played FEAR 2 passed the first combat encounters. The gameplay is so trash. I don't know what they did exactly, but compared to the first FEAR, everything feels slow, floaty, weapons look like ugly plastic toys, you don't feel any impact when you shoot someone... It's just boring. Oh, and the art direction is ugly as fuck. Everything is fuzzy, everything looks like a plastic toy. Just horrible.
Problem with most sequels is they always f*cking change what is a very good mechanic beloved by community of so game but no they have to tweak it like parkour in DL 2.
I've played FEAR 1 about a dozen times. It's always fun to come back to once in a while. FEAR 2 however... I played twice... and I can't remember anything about it. And FEAR 3 was so bad that I remember bits and pieces, but nothing really positive. So, yeah. FEAR 1 is great, 3 was bad and 2 is technically the worst because it was boring.
FEAR 2 is a good game. Would rate it 7/10. The problem is that it's a sequel to a great game, which I subjectively rate 10/10 (at the year of game release, when I played it).
So essentially....copyright fucks over EVERYTHING...as per USUAL.
In the DLC where you’re a Replica soldier, that extremely short, narrow window of time where you’re just a regular clone soldier alongside clone soldiers is cool as _HELL_ -and then it ends. Even today, I’m still peeved about it.
The thing I dislike the most about F.E.A.R. 2 is the increased focus on the scripted scares. I'm absolutely sure they're scary and horrifying, however they decided to up the bloom to the level that I can't see a thing whenever the spooky things are meant to happen. It's a horror game where they want you to laser focus on the horror yet blind you whenever it occurs.
There's also the fact that most of the story is a nothing burger, just telling you about what happened in the first game and not much new. Oh you mean Alma didn't have a great life? Gee I didn't know that. Glad so much of the game was building up to that big secret.
Yeah, this game is a victim of the early 2000's trope of excessive bloom and brown filters. Seriously, this game is overall very brown and washed out. I get having this look for the outside as most of the game takes place after a nuclear explosion, but even interior areas like hospitals or laboratories, which are supposed to be sterile and maintained, look dirty and smudged because of this filter. While the first game's visuals were crisp and contrasting.
I remember another review of F.E.A.R. 2 talking about how "whenever anything scary happens you get sent to the orange juice dimension and cant see the spooky thing" i think it was by mandalore
ghost blowjob WO WO!
@@simonaspalovis1204 are you blind? F.E.A.R. 2 is awash with color. you know, *unlike* the original.
The entire visual presentation of FEAR 2 is so awful and screams late 2000s vibe. they added shaky camera, bloom effects, filters and scripted cutscenes. like the whole reason FEAR 1 atmosphere worked, the dirty alleys, empty building and the lonely feel so well because of it's simplicity. it was the result of hardware limitation, but it worked in that strength. just like Half Life 2, and Deus Ex 1 and so many first person immersive sim games from that era. But by the time we reached late 2000s, everyone just wanted cinematic cutscenes and call of duty shooting mechanics.
Once i figured out almas intentions i was no longer scared
💀💀💀💀
bonk
Practically yea.
I like to think that the entire reason they put that ending in is because they knew there is nothing else memorable about the game.
In a hilarious twist that would also explain why comms-lady is so completely inept,being taken out by a limping granny;last minute changes.
With the amount of public info we have about the chaos/development hellscape that is the fear series it would not surprise me to learn that the story of 2 and 3 were heavily reworked.
Although if that is the case I’d love to know what they thought was bad enough that this was a better alternative.
@@B4BrandossOGI have mixed feelings about F.E.A.R 2. I know who directed it. It's Nathan Hendrickson who directs Science fiction, Action and Horror video game Alien Vs Predator 2 this game is so mediocre and bad
Imagine an alternate timeline where the fucked up things didn't happen to the kid
We'd probably get more of standard FEAR field work rather than following ATC for the whole franchise
Personally I feel like FEAR has always been a kind of: What if the government captured superman while he was young type story.
Alma could have grown up to do amazing things with her abilities but instead a horrible corporation got a hold of her before she even knew how to defend herself.
@@B4BrandossOGKnowing what Armacham did to Alma, given the fact they had her impregnated at a young age and put her in an induced coma more than once, then pulling the plug on her, can we really blame her? Even after all the destruction she caused and deaths she committed, Harlan Wade is one to blame.
What field work? FEAR only exists to deal with Alma.
There are no supernatural elements in this world except what she created.
I always kinda didn't like that concept but that's how it is.
@@MariaIsabellaZNN During the opening It's explained that F.E.A.R. was created in 2002 to combat paranormal threats.
Alma doesn't die until 2005 let alone become a known threat until 2025. The original Vivendi F.E.A.R. 2 was also meant to be about a F.E.A.R. team trying to close a portal to another dimension.
That probably means there had to be some sort of paranormal enticing incident around 2002 that got F.E.A.R. established which also means paranormal threats are a semi-regular thing in this universe.
I always feel like a weirdo when people talk about FEAR 2 because I actually liked it.
Also thought it would have been cool if Beckett had been the first replicant soldier, grown normally, and if his DNA had been used to create Pointman and Fettle. Alma's interest in Beckett would have made way more sense if he was literally the father of her children and a fellow victim of Armacham.
I mean, that could still work if we retcon 3 (which I would like to do regardless).
A game being mediocre especially after such a good hit like FEAR 1 is the worst possible thing to happen to a sequel just like how wasted potential is the worst way to fail to deliever. And I think the both played a big part in why FEAR 2 turned out the way it did. And I hate looking at this game through the lenses of 'what could've been'. The Monolith Productions effect is a scary scary thing.
If Alma's controlling the Replica Forces why would they be going after Becket? Could it be possible that Alma is only PARTIALLY controlling them, and Becket is unknowingly also controlling them in a way? Maybe by Wade Elementary Fettel's been reborn by Foxtrot 813. But if Reborn's not canon then what has Fettel been doing between FEAR 1 and FEAR 3? Those are nine months
just an interesting tidbit, you can actually see the "orange energy beacon" seen in Reborn in FEAR 2 as well. After the underground train crash head forward like you normally would but when you reach the door, step in the center of it and you will fall through the map and be able to see the Orange energy spiral through the map (before dying of course since you fell through the map).
it's only mediocre if you don't care about the stuff that the original game did poorly.
There are no perfect games. But there are games so good I'm going to ignore minute flaws because it's so fucking entertaining to play. Say, for example, FEAR 1 (and addons), Crysis, Doom 2016-Eternal, Alan Wake 1, FlatOut 2, C&C Generals...
Alma has to have direct control over the replicas because she made them not shoot Keegan, so I don't know why she allows them to throw everything they have at Becket and his colleagues.
I can fix her.
Anyway, I tried playing this for the first time coming off the heels of Perseus Mandate and was immediately like "Hmm, it seems they changed the keybinds for the lean buttons...oh...well surely they respected the original system enough to have kept all the karate... moves."
On the contrary, I liked how you can pull cover down like the enemies in 1 did but said cover feels kinda fake, like being in low cover gives you a flat 50% hits-taken reduction.
Bet the sex is mindblowing.
you can still do the karate shit in fear 2
some of them have actually been improved like the slide actually making you move faster
and I say: good riddance, at least to wasting keybinds on useless leaning.
@@arsenii_yavorskyi leaning wasnt useless lol
@@czarnakoza9697 I can't imagine a single combat scenario where fiddling with extra inputs would be more efficient than doing literally anything else. need to peek around the corner? just step out, then step back in - faster and less awkward to perform, since you don't have to take your fingers off the primary movement keys. the only game where leaning was useful was Cyberpunk 2077, because in that game it happens automatically when you aim.
I admit FEAR 2 isn't as good as the original, but I still had fun playing it. Can't say the same for FEAR 3. 3 still confuses me to this day.
My biggest complaint is they didn't continue the franchise by actually focusing on the FEAR unit itself. I like military horror and the franchise had a lot of potential to do more with it.
there was a very large creative rights mix up, which is why the story has little to do with the first game.
@@4T3hM4kr0nSince we live in a timeline where people discuss their headcanon with franchises. the only Fear games that matter after the first one is Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point to me. 2 was the first game I played in the franchise ironically because Fear was a big thing on roblox back in 2010. I was very much hyped for 3 when it was coming out as well.
@@4T3hM4kr0nWell it was mostly the fact that Vivendi had the rights to the *title.* Monolith and WB Games had literally everything else, even the characters and the original story. They just couldn’t explicitly mention the F.E.A.R. Unit.
First one isn't that great either honestly. I bought all games in 2019 as they were very cheap and it's you know a piece of history that you experienced in your childhood or something. I completed every game in order and I played them all before long time ago.
It still holds it's ground by being a solid shooter. Enemy AI is well made and it's very memorable. Something that we sadly don't see much of today. I think enemies have like hundreds of voice lines. They can very clearly describe in what position you are hiding. Like behind the table or corner and etc. Shadows and lights look great. Environment reacts to gunfights beautifully.
If you played only the first game then it would be a solid 7 hour experience. Back in the day it would be a blast for sure. Thing is you have DLC and playing whole game today I felt bored. It's just more of "I go in with a team that I maybe see here or there then they die to supernatural stuff" proceed to more of the same shooting. Both first and second games were on the same level for me. This franchise feels like a good shooter with good story ideas but it needs better writing and less of "add more stuff for combat to make the game longer" stuff. With how stuff works in these games and how the story is written it's no wonder Point Man's brother returns as a ghost. This is just type of story depth we are dealing with over all games.
@@Malice_dollI've been on internet so long enough to remember that there was a time when people used to make fun of Perseus Mandate and Extraction Point and call it awful because they fan mead canon. But now I've seen enough to even consider those two better than whatever shit Monolith officially made later Lol. for me Extraction Point is the best closing arc for the first game
The E3 2007 demo we never got to play for Project Origin was the version of FEAR 2 I waited another 2+ years to release, and when it finally came out the final game was nothing like that demo.
I heard rumours there were 2 FEAR sequels in the making, one tailored for pc and another version for console. I still remember that demo. I was even on their bloody forums all the time to tell them what they had to do. They didn't do much with the info with what we liked from the first FEAR. They went full console somewhere during development and the alarm bells should have been going off when one of the forum dwellers was selected to come and playtest it at HQ. When he came back he said it was good but the guy had to play it on a fuckin console. I already knew that disaster was about to happen. When we finally got our hands on the demo, I just slammed my fists so hard on the wall, realising they had gold in their hands but completely ruined it with the sequel.
I remember that demo!!! Man I wish that was the game we got 😭😭
@@michaelpieters1844Oh cut that whole consoles are too blame bullshit narrative that you PC Virgins came up with 🙄
Oof there are instances of the original game's brilliance in this, but just instances, tree on still island and ashes streets as an examples as you said. Imagine if we got a squeal to Extraction Point where Paxton turns against his mother (his mocking during Reborn and his fear 3 ending indicate hes looking out for himself despite his "family" prattle), and both Alma and Point Man have to stop him while seeing the scenes above. Campaign could explore scenes of various types of "fear," while having themes of trauma. But we got...F3AR, sad. Also *bloom* in this burns
Good points, I never really thought of that.. Alma breaking out turned out to not be a real big deal when compared to the whole "nuke going off" thing.
I've never paid much attention to "Reborn" either since... there wasn't much to it.. but it does imply Paxton was basically back, inhabiting one of his clones in the flesh.
Wasn't he more of a ghost in F3AR who ran around possessing people and using their bodies to fight?
This video is severely underrated, very well put together, very well edited, very informative, and a lot of effort was put into it. Im subcribing.
That thumbnail is hilarious man. lol
Great video, I'm really loving your FEAR Retrospectives Brandoss, I can tell from your detailed videos you're as big a fan of this series as I am. Really love it, you go deeper into the lore than most people ever bother to.
*BTW Have you thought about doing a retrospective on Condemned Criminal Origins? Have you played that? It's almost like a FEAR sidequel, has nothing to do with fear but it's in the same engine and came out at the same time so it almost feels like head-canon'y takes place in the same universe.*
Cheers for watching man I really appreciate it. I wasn’t planning on a condemned video but I played it on stream about a week ago and had a blast so I’m actually considering it now.
I also kind of head canon believe that FEAR and condemned take place in the same universe. I mean they have the same vending machine models same chip packet models. Ethan even has a small psychic ability. It all makes sense to me.
Anyway yeah thinking about it. I’ll be playing Condemned 2 on stream soonish if you’d like to stop by but once again. Thanks for watching :)
Still pisses me off that the F.E.A.R 2 Beta (gameplay of which is still here on youtube thankfully) Was more in line with the scares and combat of the first FEAR. One thing to keep in mind is that the AI in F.E.A.R 2 are forced into these stupid kill zones for the player due to poor arena design (For example in the FEAR 2 Beta the first combat arena, at the end of the hall is connected to one of the other corridors but in the base game when you reach that same area, theres just a dead end. Meaning the AI can't flank you from when they enter the area and are shoe horned into going into your line of fire)
You know what's funny? Something that would actually help this games narrative a ton after a bit of cleanup and optimizing if it ever gets remade is just by letting Beckett talk. Give him lines and let us know his thoughts. That's really all, like the Dead Space Remake showed imo
i hope they do bring back becketts voice actor from fear 3, i think he'd do a good job
7:14 I never knew you could trigger dialogue with that, it's a pretty neat detail if I'm completely honest
he has dialogue for a lot of little detail things in the first section. For example if you shoot up the car he'll say "you're just hurting the taxpayers man"
Stepping into the fountain will get you a "what? you didn't have your shower this morning?"
One thing not a lot of people seem to point out is the weird skyboxes you can see in certain areas. Like in the hospital there's certain windows that just show an empty blue sky with clouds, no buildings or anything. Or in one of the school courtyards you can see over the walls that it's just another empty sky void with nothing surrounding it. Briefly took me out of my immersion when I realized I was just in a big floating piece of land lol.
The hospital windows were like that on purpose lol. They were screens to make the patients think they were in a normal facility. Not underground.
You can also find broken ones freaking out and glitching.
Floating piece of land...
Smash Bros narrator: "GO!"
I immediately thought, “stand by for titanfall” when he got into the mech
I actually like fear 2 and think it’s a worthy sequel. That elementary school level also being the best level in the franchise.
The combat is meaty, the AI remains intense, the layout of levels flows more naturally, and the characters are much more memorable.
Yea
The amount of people that don’t get this game is baffling to me.
Title is a bit harsh but I get it algorithm and all. it's an upgrade in some regards and downgrade in others. Playing through the first one, and as much as I love it, it has its own major flaws similar to this. There's still some heart and soul thrown in despite the dev issues as well as attempts at expanding on the first one with how armacham's mess and program progressed and functioned. First one had the grace of being the first and being allowed to be simpler and still manages to be a drag at times. I like them both and am glad 2 was made.
Ive only played FEAR 2 once, and that was this year, and I too feel like it's not quite matching what the first game was all about. The first thing that I noticed was the art style used softer shadows compared to the harsher lighting of the 1st game and its expansions.
The level design tidbit also was detrimental to the game's AI like you pointed out: it feels less like a dynamic firefright scenario like the first game and more like a shooting gallery.
The story, boy oh boy, I wish the premise was a different FEAR unit either going into the same city after the 1st game's events, or a different location with a diffferent threat, similar to the spiritual successor Trepang². I appreciate what Monolith did by keeping Alma and trying to carry on her story but that could have been a separate game altogether..
Nice video once again Brandoss, this was a fire upload 🤜🤛
Exactly. I thought I was doing something when I bought the whole FEAR franchise. I enjoyed the 1st and took a break. I played the 2nd one for about an hour before saying "F this". I also tried the next game in the series for about 15 minutes before saying "nah, were done"
Eh, at least it's not fear 3
ironically, I actually enjoyed 3's melee combat a lot more then 2's. because it felt like Fear 1 where your kicks actually matters. Too bad I can't say the same about gunplay or AI.
@@princeofdarkness4711 If you treat it like the DMC remake and just enjoy the gamplay and ignore the story and everything then it's a wild time
Peak thumbnail lmao.
why is it that the worst games in a franchise never gets delisted but the best always seem to go
why would FEAR 2 be delisted? its a good and polished game.
It's a boring downgrade@@tacticolty1552
@@smugplush how does it feel to be so salty about a Game. Objectively FEAR 2 is good and polished. Is it a dowgrade from the first Game? Probably yeah but that does not make it Bad. You really need to play more games lol
@@tacticolty1552you must not have played the PC port if you think it’s polished.
@@clydemarshall8095 I played the PC version múltiple times (I love FEAR 2) and aside from some weird audio mixing the Game had no issues. No crashes no Bugs no glitches
Let's be honest. The only reason it is not as despised as 3 is because of it's... unique premise of "You are chased by horny ghost of a hot, naked lady".
L take fear 2 was good
what were they thinking? ghost ladies aren't scary and that's a fact smh
@@kellofkells6002 But you cannot deny the... appeal of the premise. Right?
I think you confuse level desingn and art design of a level. Yeah fear 2 levels look distinct, but the design its self is just coridors where enemies cant do shit, and what we are geting is clown closets where soldiers just pops out of one door.Fear 1 on the other hand had almost good level design and the only problem is that they look alike.
THANK YOU!
This guy's take is baffling to me.
The comparison at 45:55 truly inherits the humor spirit of Snake Fist (comparing Becket as a free pizza)
So bad Trepang2 had to retcon it and 3's existence
They're not related but I like the way you think 😮
one of the paintings in the lobby in the first level is a red circle surrounded by grayness, titled "Goats in the sea"
Insane that I bought the collection and played it all in one sitting just last week!
One thing about this game that absolutely kills it for me is the HUD. I hate the borders around the screen it feels so unnecessary.
Also you should check out Trepang, it's like the original FEAR on steroids. Level design is shit though just like FEAR but everything else is pretty fun.
what do you mean "just like"? level design in F.E.A.R. 1 is widely regarded as some of the best in the industry.
@@arsenii_yavorskyi?
I feel like they were inspired by crysis. I think the HUDs look similar too.
Edit: I don’t mind dynamic/helmet huds, as long as it isn’t distracting or obstructive. Helps build immersion (having the option to disable them is a win-win for everyone). It’s why I’m a bit disappointed that Doom Eternal got rid of the dynamic/helmet hud in the trailers, as it seemed like it was fine tuned and would help with immersion.
I wish 2 had a stronger art style and the weapons lacked punch and the designs were awful. Removing most of the "oompf" from the combat just neutered much of the exoerience, considering it's mostly combat.
I liked the hammerhead and the not P90 but that was about it. A lot of the other weapons are just worse versions of older weapons. The assault rifle is just the Nightcrawler VES rifle from Perseus Mandate, the laser is just a worse version of EP's laser weapon, etc. At some point in development it makes me wonder if they WERE the same designs, but they had to change them.
@@ORLY911 It’s probably due to the new direction they were trying to take the series, considering the artstyle is *very* different from the first game.
I agree that 2 has a better level design, but I really don't like how "gamey generic" they are, opposed to "realistically generic" levels are in the first game. Some levels feel like they are taken straight from DOOM 3 or COD, so the paranormal feels natural to the environment. While F.E.A.R 1 has this distinct authentic office style, it is truly a surreal expirience seeing all this nightmare occur there.
I really don't understand how anyone with a functioning brain can think this game has better levels.
Do people really prefer linear "just tell me where to go durrrr" levels?
You realize the main reason the first game's AI is so much better is because of the open levels.
How is an enemy suppose to flank you or ambush you if there's only one path through the levels.
@@robrick9361 I was playing today Project Origin and this is what happened : I cleared the room from enemies and started picking up their ammo when one last replica snuck up on me from the room ahead and obliterated me. Yesterday, on the way out of the labs in the hall just before you find Snake Fist’s head, I was fighting heavy armor and couple more replicas when one of them moved through the side room and threw a grenade to flush me out. I’m a big fan of the second game, I know every corner of the game and they still surprise me.
I'll always cut fear 2 some slack. Not the best game, not as good as the original. But honestly I feel like it's honestly not bad.
Its still fun to playthrough to be honest and it has its high points, especially Reborn. But yeah, its a shame, without executive meddling it could have been as classic as the first game.
Exactly my opinion too. FEAR 3 is the piece of shit that killed the series, while 2 just wasn't as good as the original
@@Smiley-tc9so and FEAR 3 had the audacity to make fun of FEAR 2
@@czechpatriot2230gameplay wise, fear 3 is much better than fear 2 and brought back the aggresive gameplay style of fear 1.
Unfortunaly that the only good thing about the game.
@@nikolasferreira3247 That's what I say. Fear 2's gameplay feels like it lacks the fluidity and impact of 1 and 3, if that makes sense. If I had to choose between playing 2 and 3, I would pick 3
14:30 I honestly far prefer this design of Pointman over his gruff longhaired Aquaman lookalike design in 3.
On the map of Fairport in the secret room after the music box there is a place called "Mulkeyshoot Bay" or "Mulkeyshoot State Park" (I forget which), I think this is a dig at Johnathan Mulkey who left development of F.E.A.R. 2 to work on the eventually cancelled Doom 4
btw imo theres alot of similarities between dead space and fear.
I like how snakefist was immediately killed.
A ton of time is spend building up to the mysterious person who you don't know if you can trust, but they're *trying* to "help you", and when you meet up with them the reveal isn't that big, and then he's immediately killed, the game really fucked with you just to kill off someone who you felt as though maybe you could trust, God that's awesome.
FEAR1 level design wasn't style over substance like brandoss said, it was substance _AND_ style. FEAR2 definetly lacks both. maybe is just me, but FEAR1 looks miles more visually appealing than 2, and it's level design isn't confusing.
I played the first game along the two expansions about 4 times on my computer and finished two playthroughs of FEAR 2 on the PS... I never once used the bullet time willingly, not because I don't want to, but because I always forget.
Durrrrrp
FEAR 1 has a couple forced bullet time sequences, weird you'd forget.
@@ChucksSEADnDEAD this is why I said "willingly" I could never remember to use it in the middle of a gun fight aside from the forced events.
@@DaKussh Right, I was just thinking that even if you'd forget about bullet time, the game does remind you through the forced sequences.
@@ChucksSEADnDEADTo be fair, there were moments where I forgot about the slow-mo too.
I think part of it is because of the keybindings (if OP was using the default ones), and also just focusing on the combat. I mean, you have leaning, 3-4 grenade types, 3 weapons, melee moves, etc.
Ironically, the same thing happened to me during my first playthrough of Max Payne, I’d forget to use the slow-mo ability when it could really help.
3:58 The Vine booms getting more intense made me laugh.
the plot of the games is mostly be very careful for the creepy horny lady chase you..even the games was strange i liked playing it i manage to finish the games in the hardest difficulty without much trouble since i i like the old time games..the reborn dlc campaign was cool see paxton fettel back was great moment.
"She WANTS Beckett." That's putting it lightly, lol.
Glad I'm not the only one that was disappointed by FEAR 2. Nothing in particular is wrong with it, game was just offensively bland and uninspired.
Btw, FEAR 3 should NOT be considered canonical in any way since it was developed by people who had no idea what FEAR is about and Monolith had nothing to do with its development.
FEAR and FEAR2 remind me a lot of Max Payne and Max Payne 2.
You have the original game that’s remembered fondly, even with some of it’s downsides and/or dated aesthetic. Revolutionary for the industry.
Then you have it’s sequel that isn’t talked about as much, and while it improves upon certain aspects of the first and still has some moments akin to it, it also has some weird changes to the gameplay (simplifying it or adding unnecessary stuff) and the writing feels much different (like a completely different direction).
They still have good moments and can be enjoyed, but it’s easy to see why people look to the first game more often than the sequel(s).
Completely agree. Max Payne 2 falls into the same category as FEAR 2 for me. It’s the middle chapter in a series where first is amazing the third is notable except MP3 is amazing and FEAR 3 belongs in the same garbage site that’s full of Atari ET copies
I don't think we have played the same game then, coz Max Payne 2 and FEAR 2 has day and night difference lol. Max Payne 2 didn't went to differentiate itself from the original, it was still made in the same foundation of the original, retains most of it's original gameplay style. While improving so much substantially, it's story gotta be one of the best scripts written in gaming ever, and it also gave it's protagonist a nice closure, until rockstar decided to make another one. meanwhile FEAR 2 is...... FEAR 2
@@B4BrandossOG bro wot? MP 2 builds upon 1 in many many meaningful ways. Fear 2 gameplay wise is objectively inferior to 1 unlike Max Payne 2.
I’ve beat this game a couple dozen times and I’ve never noticed 29:01 at the elementary school level. This is the first time 😳
I really enjoyed this game. Of course I was younger and had grades to worry about and escapism on my mind but I definitely miss this type of FPS. Story driven with a lot of mystery and lore with interesting mechanics.
I also didn’t know all of the Delta operators in Becket’s squad underwent the psychic experiments. I gotta play this again.
I remember when I was 14 I played this game cuz I heard a creepy ghost lady gets freaky with you in the end. That’s all I needed lol. Then I went back and played the first and fell in love with the series. Then I played the third when it came out and was like wtf lmao
FEAR 2 was definitely one of the FEAR games released. Graphics exist, there is a singleplayer and a multiplayer and it does have a story. It does have weapons and it sure has Alma Wade and Replica Forces. There is a campaign there and it sure does make you feel emotions sometimes. You can shoot enemies and they will react maybe... Really, I think it's certainly one of the games released in 2009.
...oh and the ATC voice actor can scream better now.
Lame meme bro
@@INFILTR8US idk that ratio says otherwise
40:51 The room: Bye, have a great time!
I think it's great that this game got an FPS boost on series x.
What stands out for me is the damage feedback that is rarely found on shooters these days.
Fear 3 offers still a lot of fun in couch coop.
SA is kosher when it happens to men. Flip the script and you’ll get an AO rating and maybe banned.
Keep up the good work! ❤
Just wondering if you ever got your hands on Trepang2? Game is super super good and greatly inspired by fear
That's when the game got good
@@DonaldDuck-s8v?
If Project Origin didn't try to tie itself to the original FEAR it would have been a good fan game, after WB got the name it was all downhill.
FEAR 2 has no identity on anything, it feels like a inferior copy with it's green filters, ugly sci fi UI and bloom effects to hell and back.
I dreaded every time I was gonna explode something because you are not allowed to see anything past the fire because of how the bloom is handled.
The mission where you need to fight a dude with a flame thrower is always miserable to play through, it is even miserable to watch someone else play through.
The only good thing in this game is the school level. They never explored the nuclear explosion properly, they never explored what unleashed Alma could do, she doesn't seem to gain any noticeable strength in power after getting her body back, which makes the entire journey for her to get her body back in the first game a waste of time for her.
The plot where the female villain rapes the main character was bold but nothing came of it except the shitshow that is FEAR 3, whic has a horrible story but relatively good gameplay, which is the exact opposite of FEAR 2, where the plot is wasted potential.
Some people celebrate the mind tentacle dudes who can control bodies like puppets, but I think that is stupid as hell, there is nothing in the original game that would allow for something like that to exist, it is a generic horror concept presented for horror sake. There is zero reason to believe Alma would give power to randos in the streets for them to control dead bodies, that is nonsense.
I love FEAR 2.
Me too
Another banger. He can't be stopped
Don't know about PC, but I totally prefer FEAR 2 over the first on console. The gunplay feels tighter, and the gun fights are more frenetic. The story; like the original is stupid, But who cares? You pilot a giant robot and splatter clones!
Ah, the ending, Ghost baby. I forgot about that.
26:32 jumpscare warning
The fact that you can buy this, and fear 3, but not the original on the Microsoft store is enough to make a man violent
hearing jen taylor say fuck is hilarious, all i hear is cortana saying it
41:40 If you look closley you can see that she didnt even remove her gun from her holster.
25:26 Western (and even Eastern to a degree) Video Game, Anime, and Cartoon Voice Acting is a rather small world sometimes. Like how often have we heard Yuri Lowenthal, Steve Blum, or one of (or all of) the Dobsons?
Commenting to boost
You DIDN'T like the gameplay of FEAR 1? what. I mean of course it has its problems, for example the environments are bland as fuck, but c'mon
Fear 1's AI wasn't really advaned it was just a lot of trickery at play there, like a script where if you stand behind a fridge an audio would trigger where the enemy would say "he's behind the fridge", had nothing to do with AI, was just a really good illusion of good AI.
They did this throughout the entire game, very clever of them, but the environments were fairly good which did allow the AI to have some more tools than usual which also makes the AI look better when in reality it was just good level design.
Think you're overly harsh of Fear 2, for me its a solid 7/10 game, not great not mid, just a good game.
Do you think Google's AI is that impressive? It is all just math and logic. Current AI just uses neural networks and that aint nothing special. It is also a really good illusion.
So something about how F.E.A.R. 2 operated for me when I first played it was I liked it and thought this continued the first game nicely but then after a while I played the F.E.A.R. 1 dlc campaigns on PC recently and then thought to myself "Man was I wrong about F.E.A.R. 2" but the thought of that being a good continuation was because last time I played F.E.A.R. 1 was way back in highschool and I only had access to the base game via Xbox 360. So My opinions of the 2nd game changed drastically after the story DLC's for the first game and the 3rd game probably is gonna sour it even further. Overall I too think now that F.E.A.R. 2 is mid at best.
Apparently F.E.A.R. 3 further leans into action than horror (despite saying it was “returning to its roots”), probably will have a lot problems with the story too. So I’d go in with low expectations.
@@Dr.Oofers Well to be fair F.E.A.R. was launched as a paranormal thriller with high focus on combat action, never as a horror game and I know because I was on the forums when the game was being made. F.E.A.R. is clearly an action fps and F.E.A.R. 3 returning a bit to it, is normal. But FEAR 3 is still a shitty game with a shit plot and shit shooting. No redeeming qualities what so ever. There is only 1 F.E.A.R. and that is F.E.A.R. 1. Also Extraction Point is nice.
I just finished this game it was my first f.e.a.r game ever. I played it since I read a comment on a trepang 2 video praising f.e.a.r on how scary it was and how trepang 2 should've been the next f.e.a.r.
Well, I've never been disappointed after beating a game before, but that changed today. I didn't get scared at all. Most "tense" parts, such as the spirit encounter in the school, I found to be just annoying. I could barely see anything with my screen flashing nonstop. Having to shoot the ghosts trying to touch me with their nasty fingers didn't help. Also, random loud noises by itself don't scare me im not sure if I missed jumpscares or something but there were a lot of random loud noises in this game. The difficulty was also laughably easy, but that's probably because i beat trepang 2 on the hardest difficulty. The enemies, the "creepy" enemies, were just that to me they were creepy nothing more they didn't induce any tense feelings or terror in me if they got close. Im just wondering if i played this game wrong or something.
Meanwhile I think it's the perfect sequel but the start of FEAR2 is very weak and teaches you to play the game the wrong way. Conceptually it's great starting you as more or less a normal human before unleashing you but it makes you fall into the trap of Aiming down the sights
Oh yeah i agree, amazing how we went from this to... whatever 3 is....
To this day i still dont know why monolith passed on deving 3? Instead WB got the dudes who made the crappy fear 1 ports for consoles.
ADS is actually integral throughout, especially on the hardest difficulty, mostly due to the gimped movement mechanics.
@@INFILTR8USNope movement mechanics are buffed, you're faster in Slow motion and it lasts longer FEAR one is slower and more methodical in Fear 2 the more you rush in the more you're rewarded
23:31 Maybe... But honestly we need more games with Mech segments.
Well damn, excellent american broadcaster accent!
I like FEAR 2 as much as the original, never understood the hate it gets.
The man delivers.
When I remember this game exists I always get into a fit of anger, over the years I stopped hating it as much but I do still very much dislike the way the story went, its a decent game but not a decent FEAR game(funnily enough fear3 was the opposite, bad game, good fear game, albeit that might be my mind playing tricks on me; yeah it's still bad, the ending sucks there too). Mostly being because I learned of how things went about with the studio behind the scenes, its such a tragic waste of potential. Now TREPANG2 I believe is a decent spiritual successor despite being less scare more gun.
I still played and beat the game(all 3 mind you + the DLC for FEAR2; felt great), that last fight was a real pain even on normal difficulty. Granted I was playing with one hand.
Feels like it would've come out much better had they swapped the main game with the DLC. Fettel's return would have made for a solid plot device into a 3rd game for the series. Thinking about what could've been sadly gets us nowhere, someone already touched on that in the comments here.
What I would like, unless I find the funding to purchase the IP for myself, would be to have a remaster of FEAR1, then a proper (Dead Space 1 level of proper) remake for FEAR2 and 3, and potentially a FEAR4 where lets say it turns out Alma intentionally or unintentionally "gave birth to herself" meaning the child you save in FEAR3 is actually her but now she has a chance at a better life for once. Then you can play it out around that(or not, we can have a new face in the series) you can even have like two separate campaigns of upbringing or just story with like Point Man and Jun making her(it) an agent in a new F.E.A.R. department or Fettel trying to be a better influence on her(it) than Alma was for him. I still believe, I don't like it but it add to the story and character, that Alma always had selfish intentions when she contacted Fettel to save her. Walking into her father's footsteps of putting his own ambition over anything else.
Actually let's not. Sometimes its better to leave things in the past.
I've just finished F.E.A.R 2 for the first time after playing the first which i loved, and yeah you're spot on, so many(too many) gunfights to the point of questioning why, but yeah they were just filler. The horror is really good, wade elementary is so good, although there are many times where you can completely miss a scare because you were not looking the right way
Then i played some of the reborn dlc maybe half way through i just stopped because it's just too much filler content that really doesn't need to be there
Oh and i love how the intentions of Genevieve was spoiled by an in game document about 5 minutes early, of course i didn't know what exactly was gonna happen. I was hoping i would be able to just kill her but nah of course not
Gonna be doing a f.e.a.r style campaign for dnd hopefully give my players the same love the games gave me
I personally prefer F.E.A.R. 2 i know there are problems with the game but objectively its the best of the 4 games. I love the gameplay and graphics, its the one i played the most. The end is the part that really messes me up she literally r***s our character
The best thing about FEAR 2 was that it wasn't FEAR 3.
I urge you to have a look at Trepang. While it's not F.E.A.R directly, it tried it's best to be it. And believe you me, they respected the legacy a lot more than anything after the first fear game.
Fun fact: this game was meant to be a console spin off but Warner Bros decided to make EXP an expansion vs official sequel and the rest is obvious
I personally loved fear 2 it was freaking amazing sequel in my opinion.
not gonna lie this video reminded me how much i loved f.e.a.r 2, fun as hell.
Right now, I'm currently doing a retelling of Fear 2, where I actually make my version more accurate to the first game and its expansion pack, Extraction Point. I'm also intending on adding some character development with the Dark Signal characters, including Reed Jankowski, Keira Stokes and Michael Becket, especially by giving Becket the ability to speak.
- Have Redd be the jokester in the team who uses his humour as a coping mechanism while worrying about his older brother being missing until his humour dies down as he gets more paranoid.
- Have Keira Stokes as the love interest who originally intends on keeping Genevieve Aristide alive to put her in protective custody while enduring the horrors in Fairport. Then slowly become more aggressive and impatient until she reaches the point of saving Aristide's backside and wants to stop Alma, save what's left of the team and escape the ruined city.
- Have Becket start off as a cool-minded combat engineer in the team who gradually starts losing his sanity the more visions he gets from Alma and how much she stalks him throughout the vast majority of the story. In the end, when Alma is finally preggers, Becker would eventually reach his breaking point and loss what's left of his mind, as well as most of his squad.
Is Perseus Mandate included? If so what about the Sergeant?
@@uncommonsaucers2355 I'm already coming up with a retold version of Perseus Mandate, changing the Sergeant's gender, giving her a name and expanding on her background. Not only that, but I will also write an interesting conflict/connection between her and Paxton Fettel, as well as being related to Alma.
@@MoskHotelwould be cool to give her reflex mode without the need of a surgery like Beckett. Always assumed the sergeant had a natural hability for such a thing, like pointman.
@@nikolasferreira3247Honestly, would be really interesting. Was there another experiment to make quick-reflex soldiers, though without the same hellish method as project origin? Or was there another attempt at project origin though with new precautions and a “”morally-ethical”” method?
The questions it raises and the theories that can come from it let’s you have fun speculating.
@@Dr.Oofers There were reports of most members of Dark Signal, except for Redd and Stokes, who had their psionic capabilities enhanced. As for the final part of the game, it's heavily implied that Keegan had already been gifted with the same ability as Point Man's. He just happens to be very vulnerable to headaches, due to Alma's influence.
quality content
FEAR series, just like BLOOD series, is an example of how the business guys can fuck with the work of the dev guys and actually kill a franchise that could make even more profit.
"Publisher" stuff shoul never bother studio's dev stuff. Only support.
the one thing that got me was the school like bro that is FUCKED GG devs
I never played FEAR 2 passed the first combat encounters. The gameplay is so trash. I don't know what they did exactly, but compared to the first FEAR, everything feels slow, floaty, weapons look like ugly plastic toys, you don't feel any impact when you shoot someone... It's just boring.
Oh, and the art direction is ugly as fuck. Everything is fuzzy, everything looks like a plastic toy. Just horrible.
Problem with most sequels is they always f*cking change what is a very good mechanic beloved by community of so game but no they have to tweak it like parkour in DL 2.
Let's goo I was waiting for this
2:21 Surpassed? It was never surpassed.
I remember liking this video game when it came out though. ☹️.
If they did a modern day graphics update of the first fear I would pay $100 for it without blinking.
I've played FEAR 1 about a dozen times. It's always fun to come back to once in a while.
FEAR 2 however... I played twice... and I can't remember anything about it.
And FEAR 3 was so bad that I remember bits and pieces, but nothing really positive.
So, yeah. FEAR 1 is great, 3 was bad and 2 is technically the worst because it was boring.
FEAR 2 is fantastic. FEAR 3 is the one we dont talk about.
FEAR 2 is a good game. Would rate it 7/10.
The problem is that it's a sequel to a great game, which I subjectively rate 10/10 (at the year of game release, when I played it).
Great video!
that thumbnail keeps getting my stupid attention
25:02 So we have two Zoeys here?