New challenges but it all feels a bit old.
Now at this point you might think I’m being overly harsh on F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate but really I’m not. If anything, I’m being a tad generous because deep down inside I can’t help but like the F.E.A.R. franchise. I like the approach they’ve taken to give the whole series a slightly off-kilter, creepy feel. I like the gloomy, almost claustrophobic areas mingled with brightly lit indoor and outdoor areas. I like the fact that F.E.A.R. tries to scare me not with huge monsters popping out of panels in a grotesque mass of teeth and claws but by letting the tension build with a flicker of lights or a random display of telekinetics… I like the way F.E.A.R. rolls.But sadly, like David Hasselhoff, the F.E.A.R. way of doing things is looking decidedly dated and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate does nothing to keep up with its peers, namely Crysis, Half Life 2 and even Unreal Tournament 3. No, what we’ve got here is essentially a re-run, an editor’s cut in fact, of F.E.A.R., which whilst being enjoyable enough, surprised me in feeling more nostalgic than new.
Click for larger imageThis isn’t because F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate does anything actually wrong it just looks and feels like F.E.A.R., but with less of a storyline and as such it’s less engaging. It’s a bit like those deleted scenes you get as an extra on DVDs: a bunch of familiar yet slightly new stuff that fills time but doesn’t do much else. I ended up, as with Half Life 2: episode 2, playing through to the end not because it was particularly engaging but more out of loyalty for the series.
So let’s have a look at the new stuff. You get three new weapons to play with, all of which are hugely satisfying, and the gun battles, just as in the original F.E.A.R. are frankly bloody marvellous, with that great F.E.A.R. AI still holding its own even after two years. To chew up the AI soldiers you now get a choice of a grenade launcher, which is perhaps one of the most fun weapons in the entire series, turning everything into bloody chunks, a machine gun with a high-powered night vision scope which comes in very handy in some of the darker areas and an incongruous lightning gun, which although it feels out of place in the F.E.A.R. universe, is great fun though criminally short of ammo.
Click for larger imageThe usual F.E.A.R. rules apply in that you can only carry three weapons at a time, which I never had a problem with anyway as this lent a (tiny) modicum of tactics to your weapon selection… do you drop the low-ammo but powerful lightning gun for the less satisfying but more readily available combat rifle?
Click for larger imageYou’ve also got a new type of bad guy to deal with which makes a change from the seemingly unending supply of clone army soldiers. These Nightcrawlers are a bunch of highly trained, well equipped mercenaries who are out to grab the same info you’re after and will do their damndest to stop you getting there first. In gameplay terms you’re faced with a tough challenge as these guys move very fast, are nimble, agile and pack a powerful punch. In reality they’re tough because they can take almost a whole clip to the face and not die whilst nearly defying the laws of physics in how they move…
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