This is a pretty decent, okay shooter.

Although this entry into F.E.A.R. series shows it has become a shadow of its former self. Every time I booted F.E.A.R. 2 up I ended up just wanting to play F.E.A.R 1. F.E.A.R. 1 is a very special and fun shooter with amazing AI, great level design and interactivity with the environment and a decent story + intro to follow on.

On the other hand, F.E.A.R. 2 is a lot less satisfying to play, as the oomph that made the combat and melee so special in F.E.A.R. 1 is missing. I think one of the most important things to touch on why this is - is due to the sound design. The shotgun sounds awful and in general weapons just don't feel that satisfying to use. The napalm canon is an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥ joke in this game, whoever came up with it needs the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sacking. Also the way the weapons are modelled in this game take a more sci-fi approach which I'm not really a fan of whereas F.E.A.R. 1s weapons were more realistic (even the fictional guns). The F.E.A.R. 2 guns are still based off real weapons but the similarities are much harder to notice...then you have the pulse weapon which feels like its out of a completely different game. Additionally, the slow-mo doesn't feel that great as well because everything else is lacking in the way grenades and weapons work. Seeing a grenade detonate on impact on an enemy in F.E.A.R. 1 while in slow-mo made my dopamine receptors surge with activity.

To an extent, I guess the combat in the game is what you make of it and how you approach it (its a combat system that will be as enjoyable as you let it to be) - but I still don't think it can reach the enjoyment of F.E.A.R. 1s combat. There are some additions I really enjoyed to the combat, such as being able to cook your grenades before throwing them. Furthermore, there's also more types of grenades as well which added to the gameplay such as shock and incendiary grenades. However, unlike its predecessor, grenades do not detonate on impact anymore which harms my enjoyment of using the grenades.

One of my own personal gripes with the gameplay is the removal of leaning. I used leaning a lot in F.E.A.R., and to see it get removed in favour of crappy mechanics such as flipping over tables was a bit irritating to me. However, it's hard to find a balance when trying to cater towards PC and Console gaming at the same time during development...which probably shouldn't have been done. 😅

The best part of the game for me was easily the part where you're in a mech suit and fighting off dozens and dozens of other mechs and enemies, it was badass af.

The enemies in this game have less memorable chatter and I feel the level design is generally worse off for them in this game, there were times in this game where the enemies were incredibly stupid because they were confused about who to fight or where to go to. F.E.A.R. 1s map design allowed for big enough areas to give enemies different areas to attack from; the environment would often allow multiple pathways to come from which allowed enemies to come from any direction. F.E.A.R. 2 on the other hand is much more linear with less pathways which limits the amount of actions enemies could actually partake in in a given moment.

Graphics wise, the game is great. I think it looks very good for the time and it still holds up well today even! Textures are better, characters models are more detailed etc.

The game has a much darker tone than the original along with its writing. The games go for completely different aesthetics in a way which kind of disconnects them and you have to remind yourself this is F.E.A.R... Much like the original, the story is nothing to write home about, but the ending is incredibly messed up so enjoy it when you get around to it which feels like its going into degen fanfiction territory. 🤣 It's a shame that they were going to take a more anthology approach to the stories of the F.E.A.R. games in regards to making different stories and scenarios for each game and using different F.E.A.R. squads but they have to continue the Alma saga which has already been dulled out and made pretty boring by the end of F.E.A.R. 1.

To conclude, I feel like this game is overhated because everyone hates on it and its combat. Sure F.E.A.R. 1 is significantly better and I just daydreamed thinking about it while playing this, but this game does have its moments and is a pretty polished shooter in its own right with its own fun to be had. If you going into it comparing it to F.E.A.R. 1, you're not going to have a fun experience from the get go. I'd say give it a go if you get it cheap or you got the bundle of all the games for super cheap which is common to get deals like that.

TL;DR - Good game in it's own right, ain't no F.E.A.R. but it can be a pretty fun and decent shooter on its own.