Monolith released a demo for their upcoming F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin which you can get here or here. The demo is a short 15 to 25 minutes of gameplay that puts you in quite a diverse range of situations. Here's my take of the demo.
Firstly, I have to say I had issues with my sound card(or rather lack of thereof) and played the demo without any sound. I got a sound acceleration error every time I started the game. I realise that sound is a huge part of the game and will keep that in mind in my impression of the demo.
The game puts you in the shoes Sergeant Michael Beckett(different from the first game) that is not related to Alma(the creepy girl) but is somehow psychically linked with her. You start out on the shell shocked city of Auburn and must fight you way thourgh the wrecked city.
The lighting and post processing effect is breathtaking and manages to portray the city in ruins after a super natural cataclysm. A lot of fancy new effects have been added in this sequel from motion blur to HDR lighting. These effects give the game a grim and haunting atmosphere. The game looks great with all the particles effects and objects being blown to bits when in Slo-Mo mode(you can slow down time).
The engine in general runs well most of the time and seems quite scalable. It's not a resource hog like Crysis was but due to the way the game loads a level, you might get brief frame rate drops as the game loads the level as you move around in it. These are a lot more significant if you have an older CPU and are slightly irritating.
Some people may find fault with a new HUD display, but I had no issues with it. It certainly doesn't look as clean as the first game that had no HUD.
Just like in F.E.A.R you will come across Alma and other paranormal instances that will shock the living day lights out of you. The demo has many moments that make you jump and the sound definitely plays a role in this(I wish I could hear it).
Alma is a lot more scarier this time around as the adolescent Alma gets really close to you(literally). She is a lot more threatening now and you feel like she is out to get you this time and this adds to the tension of the games
I must warn you that the paranormal entities that attack you from the first F.E.A.R are back in this game. There are moments when you are up against ghostly entities that appear out of nowhere that do damage to you.
These are some of the most frustrating parts of the first game and Monolith includes these in the sequel too. It is unclear just how much of these will be in the final game. When will Monolith get the point that, it is not fun! Sure it might be creepy but this sucks!
Some of the most memorable moments I had from the first F.E.A.R had a lot to do with the intelligent AI. Monolith has gone to great lengths to improve the AI in F.E.A.R 2. You will see them interact with objects in the world, pull over a desks for cover, jump over it, even roll around if on fire(to put it out). The world is littered with such items that the AI(and you too) can interact with.
These look cool and all, but I have mixed feelings about the AI at least in the Demo. The AI in F.E.A.R 2 doesn't seem as organic or as fluid as the first game. Maybe because it's not new anymore and it has lost some of the wonder of discovering something cool for the first time.
The design of the demo level does not do justice to the AI. I think the F.E.A.R AI does best in environments that have multiple paths to move around and flank you(like a cargo bay in the first game). The design of the demo level feels a little claustrophobic and narrow. I felt this was a missed opportunity.
The gunplay in this game is just as awesome as the first game. Guns feel right and you need to aim using the iron sight to improve accuracy. You will need to move from cover to cover if you want to survive. There is a diverse range of weapons that are really cool, like the laser beam gun to the standard fare shotguns, sub machine guns, sniper rifles etc.
Near the end of the demo, you do get to toy around with a power armour. This is the part of the demo where you just blow shit up! I thought the power armour sequence was refreshing for the F.E.A.R series, but it doesn't blow me away really.
Overall the demo is good in the 'boo' factor(scary as hell) but lacking in the display of smart AI. Again I think it was just the design of the level that made it look like that. Of course this is just a taste of the entire package and does not include all the other new type of enemies that will be in the final game.
PS : The menu seems very consoley...Just a small side effect to a multiple format game.
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