F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate versus Project Origin - by Digital Nightfall
mothra on 28/1/2009 at 13:34
- boring and failed reboot (for me) -
why:
- no leaning (gtfo)
- bad intrusive all-around HUD in contrast to FEAR1's minimalistic approach
- big font and pop-ups (seems players have trouble with their eyesight ?)
- tooltips that don't go away after a replay or are toggable in the settings
- add. mouse buttons don't get recognized, default mapping is totally bonkers in contrast to FEAR1's solid keyboard settings (middle mouse - weapon select - wtf ? - for 3 weapons ? )
- no weapon holster ? (at least I didn't find one)
- AI aint got better, on the contrary. since they try to make the AI LOOK so good they have much more animations and things they can do (like flip tables) so they made the AI do it ALL THE TIME -> which brings us to my demo runthrough (1st time)
-> since the demo freezes you to use the slowmo for your first time (you MUST use it or the demo never progresses) I thought... OK, let's use it:
(btw those 2 AI are scripted to attack you, they don't behave autonom like their brothers a little later on)
- I just ran up and punched both in the face
then i threw a nade in the OTHER side of the room where the backup was approaching. I emphasize OTHER side because although the AI was out of harms way it started flippin tables and jumping around like crazy which made me walk up to them and punch 'em in the face.
so my tactic for the rest of the game in close quarters: throw nade as distraction, run up in slowmo, punch in face....repeat per enemy or do 'em all in one sweep. on the street section this wasn't working since you have to get rid of the snipers first but once you are rid of those the groundtroops are stupid again. I mean, if you stand still or run in the same direction they hit you and throw nades, it's not that they don't aim at all......just after seconds and seconds of pretending to be cool instead of right away.
- and the difficulty i played it on : HARD - if you can end a demo ON HARD without shooting ANYBODY - only using kicks - except the 2 snipers and the out-of-place MECH action (MECHs certainly fit into a horror game) then something's wrong imo.
in the old FEAR I could've never gotten through with that. I would have had to LEAN out of cover to not get INSTA-KILLED by an headshot on the highest diff. that was tension, that was difficulty. I played FEAR1 on the hardest setting and I was challenged, nothing ridiculous, but not too easy either.
the good:
- lookin good with acceptable framerates
- health packs are still in (although coupled with regenerate which sucks and makes above kung-fu playthrough so easy)
firefights are nice and all but since I can kill the AI with my feet much quicker and take LESS damage than using cover and getting splashdamaged by nade explosions I have no incentive to use 'em.....
I'll wait for a 20euro price drop. doesn't really look better than XP or PM
EvaUnit02 on 28/1/2009 at 13:51
Quote Posted by mothra
- no weapon holster ? (at least I didn't find one)
Out of curiosity, why do you find this feature at all relevant in a straight-up corridor FPS? In a game with pseudo-RPG elements like Riddick:EfBB or STALKER sure, but FEAR?
Quote:
- health packs are still in (although coupled with regenerate which sucks and makes above kung-fu playthrough so easy)
FEAR 1 had regen health too to an extent.
mothra on 28/1/2009 at 13:55
because if you holstered your weapon in FEAR1 you ran quicker than with .... say a pistol drawn. I played FEAR1 mellee only on medium (hard-expert needs at least one gun for the later levels) for the normal shocktroops. YEAH, I kicked the shocktroops and used only explosives (remote bomb, grenade and mines) for the big guys. it was the most interesting part of FEAR. that and the nice flanking AI. every game has guns but kung-fu slomo that actually IS a viable alternative to shooting......not many :)
and you could EASILY end FEAR on easy without taking ANY damage at all through the whole game
(there are a few videos about that somewhere). So I dare say that FEAR1 had an awesome difficulty scaling.
FEAR2 - NONE
Bjossi on 28/1/2009 at 14:23
It is sad to see this, Monolith dropped the ball completely. It looks like XP and PM are the best FEARs we'll ever get aside from the original. :erg:
mothra on 28/1/2009 at 14:48
I'm sure the 2nd part will be fun and I plan on getting it (later) but it seems that it's in no way as versatile and nicely tuned to all kinds of players like 1.
it goes the all-out-action route without much difficulty. you know, catering to everyone ...
Sulphur on 28/1/2009 at 16:11
Yeah, I played the demo on hard and it wasn't anything near hard at all. The AI seems slightly disappointing, and mothra's grenade tactic is interesting, don't think that worked in the first game.
Maybe the full game has better difficulty scaling... this was just the opening level, after all.
june gloom on 28/1/2009 at 18:08
So long as I can throw a mine at a crowd of troops then shoot it to set it off in mid-air, I guess I won't complain too much.
It's fucking FEAR, and it's going to take a lot to get me to NOT play it. Unlike some people, small shit is not game-ruining shit for me.
gunsmoke on 28/1/2009 at 18:38
Quote Posted by dethtoll
So long as I can throw a mine at a crowd of troops then shoot it to set it off in mid-air, I guess I won't complain too much.
It's fucking FEAR, and it's going to take a lot to get me to NOT play it. Unlike some people, small shit is not game-ruining shit for me.
quoted for agreement.
