I was unable to play the first
F.E.A.R. expansion pack because my version of
F.E.A.R. refuses to update and the pack won't
run unless it's an updated version. So it's
a throwaway. However the second expansion pack
for F.E.A.R., strangely titled Perseus Mandate,
runs standalone so I could play it. That's not
necessarily a good thing though. Clearly, I
got the booby prize because Perseus Mandate
received below average reviews, deservedly so.
There's very little story and
what is there doesn't make much sense and gives
you no reason to care at all about what's happening.
This is action, pure and simple. And in this
respect the action is just as good as the original
game with some tough new enemies. But it is
a fair bit more difficult, especially the last
level. Not impossible by any means, but while
I rarely used the bullettime feature in F.E.A.R.,
this time you need it for basically every single
firefight. If not every single enemy even. So
you do have to play much more meticulously and
carefully. I did constantly have maximum health
packs in my arsenal for almost all of the game,
even at the end, so it's not frustratingly hard.
Where Perseus Mandate falls
down, and I mean falls hard, is in it's presentation.
Now the level design in F.E.A.R. was bland,
boxy and very uninspiring. But Perseus Mandate
takes this to a new level; this sort of design
should never have gone past the 90's. Here we
have box rooms littered with debris, box corridors
littered with debris, large bland areas that
look like they're only at the layout/concept
stage. I don't understand how level designers
this slack can be hired to work on a retail
game. Even I, single handedly, could have made
all the levels throughout this entire game at
a much higher standard than what was released.
What were these designers doing between F.E.A.R.
being released in 2005 and this ugly box game
in 2007. So, unfortunately, the game won't live
up to 2007 standards at all. And the engine
is looking dated with average models and lighting.
The game is still fun all the
way through, but that's because Monolith already
built a great set of enemies and gameplay structure.
TimeGate haven't done much but fill their bland
levels with this fun gameplay. Not really worth
it unless you don't care what games look like,
and sadly looking at the top review sites that
make no mention of how bad these levels look,
that's probably a large percentage of players.
