Project Origin

Rating: Rent It

Platforms: 360, PS3, PC
Developer/Publisher: Monolith Production/Warner Bros.
Price: $60

If Call of Duty and The Ring had babies, F.E.A.R. 2 would be the younger, creepier sibling to the original first-person shooter, F.E.A.R.

You play as a recon assault team member plagued by hallucinations from an eerie, supernatural little girl bearing a resemblance to the one who crawled out of a well in the aforementioned film. The game takes it as a personal mission to freak you out, which it surprisingly does on several occasions (although I do scare easily). Thankfully, after playing, I can assure you that you won’t die after seven days. Or at least I don’t think so; it’s too early to tell.

One of the game’s highlights is the incredible enemy AI, the franchise’s best asset, who provides an unexpected and noteworthy challenge. For example, one enemy thought he was pretty badass by flipping over a nearby table to shield him from incoming fire. Bad idea — it soon dawned upon him that my bullets could easily pierce through wood. As a bullet clipped his arm he looked at the table as if to say, “Oh crap,” sighted a sturdier concrete wall to his left and scrambled for it. Okay, okay, this might not seem like a big deal to you novices, but gamers know this is like watching a cat solve your calculus homework. You sure as hell don’t see it everyday, but wouldn’t it be great if you did?

Despite the developmental advantages, the game environments can become extremely repetitive. The locales vary, but, at the same time, come off as cliché to shooters, with derelict streets, subways and blood-splattered hospitals. The online multiplayer is very “blah” as well and won’t offer that Halo hook. The overbearing problem is simply that the game doesn’t bring anything new to the genre; you’ve either seen everything in the first game or somewhere else.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great shooter game. It just doesn’t warrant a sixty dollar purchase for the average college student. We’ve got better things to worry about, like eating food. Fans of the prequel should pick it up but, for everyone else, it’s got “5-day Blockbuster rental” written all over it. Oh, and play it at night.