[Fourth Horseman]

Anybody else play through FEAR 2? The ending is just... just... ewwww!

[Atticus]

"ewww" as in "bad" or "gross with lots of blood and guts?" Or both?

Atticus
Who is both bad and gross

[tman]

Fourth Horseman, on February 16th 2009, 05:18 PM, said:

Anybody else play through FEAR 2? The ending is just... just... ewwww!

Just got back in town and picked it up yesterday. Played about an hour. I like the game play so far but would like it a whole lot more if I could get the frames out of the low 20's. I'm running it at 800x600 and everything low, no shadows, etc. on my MBP 2.6ghz dual with a 8600 GT. Any suggestions?

[Fourth Horseman]

Atticus, on February 16th 2009, 04:05 PM, said:

"ewww" as in "bad" or "gross with lots of blood and guts?" Or both?

Atticus
Who is both bad and gross

There is plenty of blood and guts, yes. But that's not what got to me. It was just that the ending was... shocking, and kind of unsettling. At least I was shocked and unsettled. I'm looking forward to some of you guys playing it so I can hear if you all felt the same way I did. I can't say more without spoilers.

Game play was a blast, though. I know it's getting some mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed the first FEAR and I was not disappointed in this game. There are a few little oddities, such as no longer being able to lean around corners, and the game is rather short at 10 hours, but otherwise I found it very satisfying. You get to see more into Armacam Technology Corp's evil dealings, and brother they are evil indeed!

tman, on February 16th 2009, 04:34 PM, said:

Just got back in town and picked it up yesterday. Played about an hour. I like the game play so far but would like it a whole lot more if I could get the frames out of the low 20's. I'm running it at 800x600 and everything low, no shadows, etc. on my MBP 2.6ghz dual with a 8600 GT. Any suggestions?

Wish I could offer you some help, Tman, but I'm guessing it's just a little too much game for an 8600 GT. You've certainly got more than enough CPU for it. I'm guessing you've got at least 1 gigabyte of RAM in the machine?

[tman]

Fourth Horseman, on February 17th 2009, 12:51 AM, said:

There is plenty of blood and guts, yes. But that's not what got to me. It was just that the ending was... shocking, and kind of unsettling. At least I was shocked and unsettled. I'm looking forward to some of you guys playing it so I can hear if you all felt the same way I did. I can't say more without spoilers.

Game play was a blast, though. I know it's getting some mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed the first FEAR and I was not disappointed in this game. There are a few little oddities, such as no longer being able to lean around corners, and the game is rather short at 10 hours, but otherwise I found it very satisfying. You get to see more into Armacam Technology Corp's evil dealings, and brother they are evil indeed!
Wish I could offer you some help, Tman, but I'm guessing it's just a little too much game for an 8600 GT. You've certainly got more than enough CPU for it. I'm guessing you've got at least 1 gigabyte of RAM in the machine?

Yea, 4mb. Guess I'll struggle through. I really enjoyed FEAR 1 as well. Been looking forward to #2 for a long time.

[Sneaky Snake]

tman, on February 16th 2009, 06:34 PM, said:

Just got back in town and picked it up yesterday. Played about an hour. I like the game play so far but would like it a whole lot more if I could get the frames out of the low 20's. I'm running it at 800x600 and everything low, no shadows, etc. on my MBP 2.6ghz dual with a 8600 GT. Any suggestions?

Its supposed to run on a 6600 so its definately not a hardware issue. Do you have the updated graphics drivers (You don't if your using Apple's bootcamp drivers as your graphics drivers)? If not then the 1st thing I'd do is download them here. All you really have to know is you OS type and GPU. A driver update could make a world of difference

If your not sure how to do this PM Quicksilver, he's a genius when it comes to driver cleaning, modding, installing, etc. He also has the same version of the MBP as you.

also here is another driver link. All you have to do is click download on this one. 179.48 beta for 8M series cards


-Snake

[Atticus]

I'm on the fence about this one. Looks decent, but everyone is whining (or as the kids write, "whingeing") about how F2 isn't as good as the original. Convince me to buy?

Atticus

[Fourth Horseman]

Atticus, on February 16th 2009, 09:47 PM, said:

I'm on the fence about this one. Looks decent, but everyone is whining (or as the kids write, "whingeing") about how F2 isn't as good as the original. Convince me to buy?

Atticus

Hmmm... well, not as good as the original? I think that's probably fair to say. In terms of plot there's interesting new stuff revealed, but none of it is as big of a shock as things you learn in the first game. I mean, we know who Alma is, we know what was done to her. This is more of a continuation of the story and the plot points revealed in the first game. Keep in mind, also, that this game starts about 30 minutes before the first game ended, so not a lot of time is transpiring here. I think there are some subtle things revealed about Alma, though. And as I said before we learn more about Armacham Corp. and what they're up to. A lot of the plot of this game is dealing with them trying to slash and burn to cover up their mess. There are competing interests in play there as well, and that's kind of interesting.

Graphics and audio are top notch in my opinion. Some of the visual effects, particularly the paranormal stuff are just eye popping the first time you see them. The gun play is fast and furious, maybe slightly more so than the first game. In the first game I could get all the way through it and only use bullet time now and then. In this game, on hard difficulty, I felt that I had to bullet time pretty much every fight. The weapons are your standard fare but well done. Even the sub machine gun is weighty, feels powerful and packs a punch. Typically once I get an assault rifle in one of these games all my other guns rust from disuse, but I liked the two shotguns and the SMG enough to give them all pretty much equal use. The exotic weapons like the laser gun are underplayed in this one, though they didn't get all that much use in the first game either. Still, the weapons feel right, do their jobs nicely and I found them a lot of fun to use.

Enemies are more varied and generally intelligent. As in the first game, they will use cover, work as a team to flank you, try to flush you out and they love the grenades. There were also a couple of spots where they set up effective ambushes on me. Environments were a lot more varied and interesting than the first game. Fighting your way through the nuclear-ravaged city is a lot of fun. Especially the vehicle segments where you drive a powered armor suit and rip up everything in sight.

I was also very impressed with the sound in the game. The musical score was excellent, mixing in familiar bits of tunes from the first game, as well as mixing up the style of music depending upon the situation. There was a music-box tune that you hear early in the game and you hear little echos of that mixed in with the other game music from time to time. Things like that really made the game feel tied together and gave me a sense of still being in the same FEAR world.

Now some bad points: you can no longer lean around corners. Don't know why they took that out, it was very useful. I hate having to completely unmask around a corner and expose my whole body to fire. You can tip over objects to make your own cover, but it's slow enough that in most cases it's just better to hit bullet time and cap a few bad guys as you dash to another point of cover. Also, you can no longer dual-wield pistols. Dual wielding pistols is one of those stupid Hollywood things that you'd never do in real life unless you wanted to never hit anything, but since it was in the first game it seems odd that it's gone now. Personally, I'm fine with the more realistic two-hand grip on a single pistol, but I mention it because I'm sure the folks out there that believe what they see in movies will think it's a real handicap not having two at once.

But the biggest bad point: game length. I finished it just under 10 hours. That's a bad thing for a few reasons: 1) It's a $45 - $50 game. I think that price deserves more like 20 - 30 hours of game play. 2) Maybe we'd get a chance to try more of the weapons if we had more time to play. As it is you can get through the whole game pretty much never using anything but the SMG and assault rifle. 3) It felt like the plot was rushed. For instance, when your squad mates meet with an untimely end you don't really care because you only met them a few minutes ago. If you had a chance to work with them a bit longer you might get some emotional investment in them. As it was, only one of them in particular felt like a real loss when that person died.

So there you go, that's my (lengthy) review. Overall I'd give it an A-, but I'm a big fan of the franchise. I wanted more, but what I got, while short, was fast, brutal and fun. Even the ending that left me sort of reeling is interesting. They could have copped out and ended it in a more traditional way, but they chose to go off the map a bit and it really makes me want to see where this is all going to end up.

I say: play it.

[Atticus]

Thanks for the review, Horseman! Appreciate. Sounds like a fun game, but I'm with you re: fifty bucks for ten hours of play. I'm sick of these short games. Maybe I'll wait until it hits the bargain bin. Hm.

Atticus

[AussieMacGamer]

I'm a massive fan of FEAR, but I'm not paying 100 bucks for a 10 hour game. I could see 10 movies with that!

[tman]

Sneaky Snake, on February 17th 2009, 02:53 AM, said:

Its supposed to run on a 6600 so its definately not a hardware issue. Do you have the updated graphics drivers (You don't if your using Apple's bootcamp drivers as your graphics drivers)? If not then the 1st thing I'd do is download them here. All you really have to know is you OS type and GPU. A driver update could make a world of difference

If your not sure how to do this PM Quicksilver, he's a genius when it comes to driver cleaning, modding, installing, etc. He also has the same version of the MBP as you.

also here is another driver link. All you have to do is click download on this one. 179.48 beta for 8M series cards
-Snake

Thanks Snake:

I downloaded the driver and I'm getting 40-50 fps now and it's smooth as silk. I was using a 177.something before and when I downloaded and installed that one awhile back had to dowload the file, a modified something for it and go through a pain in the arss "have disk" process in windows. This one walked me through the installation process almost like a mac. Just one more question though: how does one know when the latest & greatest driver is available? Again, thanks for the help.

[PeopleLikeFrank]

tman, on February 18th 2009, 10:00 AM, said:

Thanks Snake:

I downloaded the driver and I'm getting 40-50 fps now and it's smooth as silk. I was using a 177.something before and when I downloaded and installed that one awhile back had to dowload the file, a modified something for it and go through a pain in the arss "have disk" process in windows. This one walked me through the installation process almost like a mac. Just one more question though: how does one know when the latest & greatest driver is available? Again, thanks for the help.

Checking nVidia's site occasionally will tell you whether they've released something new. Also, forums on PC hardware sites will usually have some discussion when a new set comes out and what people's experience with them are. (Anandtech is one example, there are tons out there.)

[teflon]

in addition to this its usually when a new game comes out.
So Bioshock, UT3, FEAR 2, Crysis, GTA4 all saw a new set of drivers get released to optimise certain paths for the newest most demanding game thats just been released.

So you only really need to bother checking when a new game is released.

[J'nathus]

I am hemming and hawing about F.E.A.R. 2. The first game is fine for a good 75% of the game until the paranormal stuff starts getting a bit annoying and (to be honest) a pretty stupid addition to the game. I mean ghosts flying out of warps in time / space? Why can't it just be some psychic has control of legions of guys and you fight them in the 'real world?'

Anyhow, the new game has lots of things I really don't enjoy in games . . . ugly monstrous things, post apocalyptic worlds, scary dark scenarios (where you can't see outside of what your flashlight illuminates). BUT the 'people killing' stuff looks fun.

Dammit, I think I just need a new Splinter Cell.

[teflon]

I think everyone does...

and this one had better be good again, at least the ideas are moving in the right direction. Taking it more towards Bourne than hiding in the shadows.

[J'nathus]

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I just finished F.E.A.R. 2 on my second play through.

I must say, the demo left the WRONG impression on what that game was like. I find it more enjoyable than the first game, I don't miss the lean (as I never used those options as I remap the Q for Slow Mo and E for Use).

The ending... I had forgotten that there was a thread on here about it, and I must say I was a bit surprised. It was a bit "euwww" as the OP indicated, but it is an intriguing ending... as in, "how is that going to be useful going forward."

I'm wondering if the next game will get back to the protagonist from the first game, if we're going recycle Becket or something else. I guess we'll have to wait another 4 years to find out. Longer if they keep doing the DLC stuff.

[Wumpus]

I didn't find the ending 'ewww" but I found it very weird/interesting. I was like "woah" when it happened. And "I wonder what they're going to do with that in a (presumed) 3rd Fear entry?"

And I must confess I like Alma as a character, so that probably has something to do with it.

[J'nathus]

Wumpus, on August 5th 2009, 03:14 AM, said:

And I must confess I like Alma as a character, so that probably has something to do with it.

Well, the 2 times in the beginning where you turn around and there's little Alma standing there... well little girl needs a spanking to learn not to sneak up on people.

On another note, there are times where I think they might not have planned very well for showing here, as there'll be a sound that says "here's the evil one" but I just catch the tail end of it because I'm busy seeking out bad guys to shoot.

[Fourth Horseman]

Wumpus, on August 5th 2009, 04:14 AM, said:

I didn't find the ending 'ewww" but I found it very weird/interesting. I was like "woah" when it happened. And "I wonder what they're going to do with that in a (presumed) 3rd Fear entry?"

And I must confess I like Alma as a character, so that probably has something to do with it.

I think that's certainly what the creators of the game are going for: they want us to be able to empathize with Alma and have compassion for her, while simultaneously being scared of her. The scene toward the end of FEAR 2 when you see the men taking her from the swing and she drops her doll... wow man. That's rough.

That said,

Spoiler

I was still unsettled at being raped by her.

I recently played it all the way through a second time and still found it as disturbing as the first play through.

[J'nathus]

Fourth Horseman, on August 18th 2009, 09:30 AM, said:

Taking us a little bit off topic . . . I think that's certainly what the creators of the game are going for:

I don't mean to demean the value of F.E.A.R. or F.E.A.R. 2 as they are both brilliant and brilliantly fun games.. HOWEVER . . . if they manage a 3rd F.E.A.R. game, I want them to manage a 3rd NOLF game. I've been playing NOLF and NOLF 2 lately, and it's obvious their heart wasn't in NOLF 2. I thought a nice morph would've been a bit more Kill Bill inspired... but Bethesda has now beaten them to that punch with "Wet" (yes, that's really the name of a game, and no it's not as perverted as it sounds).