F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a 2009 first-person shooter psychological horror video game for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. Developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, it was released for all platforms in February 2009. It is the second game in the F.E.A.R. series and is followed by F.E.A.R. 3. In September 2009, Monolith released a single-player DLC pack, F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn. In March 2015, both the base game and Reborn were made available on GOG.com. In November 2021, the F.E.A.R. franchise, including Reborn, was added to Microsoft's backward compatibility program, making the games playable on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Project Origin ignores the events of both TimeGate Studios-developed expansion packs for the original game, which are now no longer considered canon to the F.E.A.R. universe.
Project Origin begins thirty minutes prior to the conclusion of the original F.E.A.R., with the player controlling Michael Becket, a Delta Force sergeant. Sent to take the president of Armacham Technology Corporation into protective custody, things go awry when Point Man destroys the Origin Facility, and Becket and his teammates are caught in the blast. Waking up in a strange hospital that is seemingly under attack by an ATC black ops squad, things become even more complicated when Alma Wade, now free from her confinements, begins to show a keen interest in Becket.
In making Project Origin, Monolith looked at the reception of the first game, specifically what was popular and what was not. With this in mind, they set out to correct the two most frequently criticised elements of the original; monotone and repetitive environments, and lack of enemy variety. At the same time, they attempted to enhance the game's most lauded elements; the combat mechanics and enemy AI. By making Alma a more central presence than in the first game, they also hoped to enhance the horror elements of the original.
Project Origin was generally well received by critics, although it was felt to be inferior to the first game. Common points of praise included the combat mechanics, sound effects, mech sections, graphics, and enemy variety, with some critics also lauding the level design and voice acting. Less enthusiastically received were the plot, cover mechanics, horror elements, some of the gameplay changes from the original, and multiplayer. Several critics also felt the game took too few risks and was little more than a generic, albeit well-made, shooter.
Gameplay
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is a first-person shooter with gameplay broadly similar to the original F.E.A.R. The player's arsenal includes a handgun, assault rifle, submachine gun, shotgun, automatic shotgun, sniper rifle, nail gun, rocket launcher, laser carbine, flamethrower, and pulse rifle. Each weapon differs in terms of accuracy, range, rate of fire, armor penetration, damage, and weight. Only four different firearms can be carried at any one time. The player also has access to four different types of projectile - frag grenades, incendiary grenades, shock grenades, and proximity mines. The player can carry five of each type, and can carry all four at once, but only one type may be equipped at any one time. Players can also "cook" grenades before throwing them; setting them off but holding onto them for a moment before tossing them. An on-screen meter tells the player how much time is left before they detonate.A prominent gameplay element in Project Origin is "reflex time"; an ability which slows down the game world while still allowing the player to aim and react at normal speeds. This effect is used to simulate the player character's superhuman reflexes, and is represented by stylized visual effects, such as bullets in flight that cause air distortion or interact with the game's particle system. The duration which reflex time lasts is limited, determined by a meter which slowly fills up automatically when the ability is not being used. The player can permanently increase the size of the meter by picking up "reflex injections". Other pickups available during the game include medkits, medical injections, and protective armor. Medical injections are automatically used as soon as they are picked up, but med kits can be stored, and used manually by the player.
A new feature in the game is the ability to interact with the environment, such as upending a table or toppling a shelf to provide cover. Occasionally, the player will also be able to move objects blocking their path. Unlike the first game, Project Origin uses a limited regenerative health system. When the player's health drops below 30%, if the player can avoid taking damage for a certain amount of time, the health meter will start to refill automatically, but only up to 30%. Iron sight aiming is also new to the game. The player also has access to a PDA, which contains information on current objectives, gameplay tutorials, information on the player's weaponry, and any intel the player has collected, automatically categorised into subjects.
Also new to Project Origin is the ability to use mechs, called Elite Power Armor in-game. An EPA will become available during certain sections of the game, although the player is not obliged to use it, and can, if they wish, traverse the level on foot. EPAs are armed with two miniguns and two shoulder mounted rocket launchers. Ammo for each is infinite, but the miniguns overheat if fired continuously, and require a short cool-down period. Similarly, the rocket launchers require a moment to arm. EPAs also have fully regenerative health and an optional night vision display that allows the player to easily discern heat signatures.
Multiplayer
The game's multiplayer can support up to 16 players, and initially featured deathmatch, team deathmatch, "Control", "Armored Front", "Failsafe", and "Blitz".Multiplayer mode features an experience levelling system and all game modes feature a customisable load out, with the player free to choose their weaponry, grenades, and armor. In the original release of the game, there were nine maps; six were general purpose and supported all game types except Armored Front, the other three supported only Armored Front. In September 2009, a patch added SloMo Deathmatch as an additional game mode. This game type features a reflex power-up, which only one player can carry at a time, and when it is fully charged that player can activate it and give themselves a considerable speed advantage over opposing players. However, whoever is carrying the power-up will have a bluish glow and will be permanently visible on all players' mini-maps.
Plot
The game begins thirty minutes before the end of the first game. A Delta Force unit has been deployed to take Genevieve Aristide, president of Armacham Technology Corporation into protective custody, in light of fears that the ATC board may be planning to assassinate her so as to silence her. The hand-picked team consists of 1st Sgt. Griffin; SFC Keegan, Sgt. Jankowski, Sgt. Morales, Sgt. Becket, Cpl. Fox, and communications liaison 1st Lt. Stokes.Dropped at Aristide's penthouse, the team are immediately attacked by an ATC black ops squad, and from the commencement of the mission, Becket begins to experience hallucinations involving Alma Wade. In Aristide's apartment, Becket uncovers hints of an ATC project called "Harbinger", which seems to involve himself and his teammates. Files list each team member's "Paragon Review Scores" and "telesthetic potential", with Becket's scores higher than anyone "aside from the Origin Prototypes." Moments after Becket finds Aristide, Point Man blows up the Origin facility, with the shockwave knocking Becket unconscious.
He wakes up in a hospital which is under attack by the black ops, learning that himself, Stokes, and Griffin have all undergone "Activation" surgery, and were being prepared for "Attunement". He is then contacted by a man calling himself "Snake Fist", who says he wants to help them escape and destroy Alma. He meets with Aristide, who tells him he needs to get into the Telesthetic Attunement Chamber if he wants to have any hope of defeating Alma. Mid-procedure, the lab is attacked and Becket witnesses several of the black ops team killed by black tentacles. He then passes out and has a vision of Alma on a tree swing near a nuclear power plant.
Upon regaining consciousness, he finds Jankowski dying on an operating table, his last words to Beckett referencing a woman he can hear "crying." He later encounters Fox, who also references the woman, before Fox is killed by the black tentacles. Eventually, Becket learns the purpose of Harbinger – to turn ordinary people into psychic commanders. Becket fights his way out of the hospital, which is revealed to be a massive underground installation beneath the ruined Auburn district of Fairport, and Snake directs him to Wade Elementary, informing him that the woman referenced by Jankowski and Fox was Alma, who has become "aware" of Beckett and is drawn to him due to his immense telepathic potential. He reunites with Griffin and Stokes, but moments later, Griffin is killed by the black tentacles. The remainder of the team heads to the school in an APC, and once there, Becket uncovers evidence of "Project Paragon", which is designed to spot children with promising psychic abilities. Becket himself was a student at the school and, although he has no memory of it, must have been subjected to the project.
Finding a secret Paragon facility beneath the school, Becket locates Snake; whose real name is Terry Halford, an ATC researcher. Although he is killed by a Replica almost immediately, Halford is able to transfer files to the APC in which he explains that Aristide tricked Becket into the TAC so as to draw Alma's attention to him. He also says that Becket isn't yet strong enough to defeat Alma, and needs to amplify his psychic abilities by going to an ATC facility inside a nuclear power plant on nearby Still Island, which houses an amplification device. Still Island was also Alma's home before she was moved to the Origin facility.
En route, the APC is ambushed by Replicas, and Keegan wanders off in a daze, searching for "her". Unable to retrieve him, Becket, Stokes, and Morales continue to the island. There, Becket finds the tree from his hallucinations, Alma's swing still hanging from its branches. He and Stokes head to the amplifier and Becket enters. Aristide arrives and explains that she plans to seal Becket and Alma inside the device, and then use Alma as leverage against ATC. This is why she tricked Becket into the TAC; she needed Alma to be aware of Becket so she could be lured to the machine. When Stokes tries to intervene, Aristide kills her.
Aristide seals the machine with Becket inside, and in a hallucinatory landscape, he fights off apparitions of a maddened Keegan. As he does, he sees flashes of Alma, who appears to be raping him in the real world. Eventually, he escapes the hallucination. The machine doors open, and Becket sees Alma standing amid a post-apocalyptic landscape, the black tentacles spreading out around her. She is pregnant. She approaches Becket, placing his hand onto her stomach as a child's voice says "Mommy".