F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate versus Project Origin

Digital Nightfall on 10/10/2007 at 06:55

On the one hand we have a 20 minute long gameplay video;
Project Origin - (http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/812/812588/vids_1.html)

And on the other we have a playable demo (which may or may not have 20 minutes of gameplay);
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate - (ftp://ftp.sierra.com/pub/sierra/fear/demo/fearxp2_spdemo_en.exe)

Both are sequels to FEAR, but one is by the original developer (Monolith) and the other was commissioned by the publisher (Sierra/TimeGate). It's the result of a funny set of circumstances that I won't even begin to get into with this post.

Sort of like Crysis / Farcry 2, it's interesting to see how a sequel-made-by-someone-else stacks up against a spiritual-successor made by the authentic developers. (Though I understand that Project Origin is still directly a sequel, they just weren't allowed to use the name.)

I got about 10 minutes into the gameplay video before I got bored (It looks like fun to play, but I don't think there's many games where I'd want to watch someone else play for 20 minutes) and I may get the time to check out the demo tomorrow morning if I'd stop fooling around on the internet and get these floorplans done.

P.S. I never did play FEAR. When it was released my PC couldn't run it. Both of my PCs will run it now, but I've just never gotten around to going back. I was a big fan of the games Monolith did prior to that, however (SHOGO, NOLF, TRON).

Jeshibu on 10/10/2007 at 09:12

Do yourself a favor and play it.

There seems to be a lot of the "developer leaves publisher but loses franchise name" going around lately. ArmA/Operation Flashpoint anyone?

Does anyone know if Project Origin takes into account the plot of the expansions that Monolith didn't do?

Digital Nightfall on 10/10/2007 at 09:37

The F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate demo is :eww:

No, I get the idea that these two games ignore eachother.

Malleus on 10/10/2007 at 12:50

Was it really that bad? It's made by same group who made FEAR: Extraction Point, and that was quite good IMO.

Anyway, the HUD design in PO really annoys me. And also the fact that the gameplay is almost entirely the same as in FEAR. I mean, sure, they should keep the basic formula and all, but the demo level could've been in FEAR if it wasn't for the atrocious HUD and pushing objects...

redface on 10/10/2007 at 13:19

Are you sure Perseus Mandate was made by the same group as Extraction Point ? Because the demo really is awful. Lame level design, average visuals, and the gameplay was simply boring. Compared to the first two Fear games, which I finished a few months ago, this is crap.

Malleus on 10/10/2007 at 14:13

AFAIK it is being made by TimeGate and published by Sierra. Well, EP was made by TimeGate and Monolith together, so maybe they just suck without Monolith's helping hand? I don't get it, since EP's gameplay was better than FEAR's IMO. I'll check this Perseus Mandate demo out some time today and see what's up with it...

Rogue Keeper on 10/10/2007 at 14:17

The story of FEAR isn't compelling for me enough to pay attention to the sequels, whether official or unofficial, so I guess FEAR brand has ended for me for good at the moment when Alma climbed into the FEAR chopper...

Jeshibu on 10/10/2007 at 14:21

Great. Spoil the ending when the threadstarter hasn't even played it yet, why don't you.

edit - Whose bright idea was it to force demo installation on C:\ and give an error message that you don't have enough free space if you try to install it on any other drive? :mad:

Jason Moyer on 10/10/2007 at 14:35

Does Perseus Mandate even have anything to do with FEAR or Extraction Point? I was under the impression that while Sierra still owns the FEAR name, Monolith has the rights to the characters and story.

Digital Nightfall on 10/10/2007 at 14:45

I am not going to peek under the spoiler blue, but does it have anything to do with the way you wake up in a hospital with doctors going nuts trying to revive you, in Project Origin?