F.E.A.R. 2 demo now on Xbox Live, PC (PSN later today)

by Justin McElroy on Jan 22nd 2009 12:30PM

Finally, the long, strange journey of the-game-formerly-not-known-as-F.E.A.R.-2 is nearing its end. As the savvy among you already knew, the demo for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has just arrived on the Xbox Live Marketplace as well as on PCs. Update: We've confirmed that it'll be available on PSN later today.

As is so often the case, we've been so busy bringing you the news of the day that we've been unable to carve out a few minutes for ourselves and play it. The responsibility falls to you, beloved readers! What do you make of the demo?

Download – PC demo [Big Download]
Download – Xbox 360 demo [XBLM]

Source

Tags: demos, fear-2, fear-2-project-origin, monolith, PC, PS3, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (58)

This demo is awesome download it now!

Downloading PC demo now.

As one who cannot stand watching horror movies, the first FEAR and its expansions did not scare me one bit, but this sequel looks to change that, at least from the videos alone, it definitely has a much darker tone.

Does anyone know why we aren't able to play as the Point Man from the first game and now just as a Delta Force operative when they kept getting their asses beat in the previous games?

I know there were a lot of IP issues concerning monolith and the publishers of the original, and they had to change the title and story quite a bit. Dont know if that was the final reason.

They said that the time lines of the game overlap. More or less you start this game 30 min before the end of the last game, so you couldn't be the same character as you were at a different area of the city.

Yea it's darker, I can't see anything!

Maybe they still will. Although Alma melting the flesh from your skeleton instantly within the first 15 minutes of gameplay might get tiresome for some. But hey, rest assured someone much more kick-ass will pass by your corpse.

got it last week on PSN and loved it. can't wait to tear up more with the mech suit.

Played the demo last week on the PSN. Reminds me of Shogo a lot.

The moody/creepy parts are really well done. Appropriately creepy. I found the shooting to be rather boring though.

Multiplayer with the mech suit could be fun, but that remains to be seen

That's because Monolith also developed Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. There's a secret area in the first FEAR where you can even hear the theme song of Shogo.

I know Lith made Shogo, I'm just surprised that after all these years, their style remains intact.

I.E. the game still feels like a corridor shooter, punctuated by giant robot battles.

The spookey elements are REALLY well done though.

Soooooooo, I'm not familiar with the 1st game at all. Is it supposed to be a survival horror game? I still need to get to Silent Hill V and Dead Space, but need a spooky game to go to after that...

Always meant to play a Fatal Frame but never got around to it :(

Its not really survival horror. Its basically a shooter with spooky stuff thrown into the mix. Once you play the demo, you'll understand right away what the game is about.

Walk walk walk, spooky stuff, walk walk, shoot stuff, walk walk spooky stuff, walk walk, shoot stuff, walk, shoot stuff, walk walk walk, spooky stuff, walk walk, giant robot, walk walk, spooky stuff, etc

No, sounds like you got Bioshock. Fear has more shootey than it does walkey.

Does the PC version have multiplayer?

What kind of question is that?

Of course it does. (In the full version).

holy hell that demo was hot! The way the environments reacted and that alma girl.. Holy crap

I love Ef Ee Aye Are!

Yeah, I hate backronyms, too.

Now that my internet is back up after a small glitch I'll have to log into live and download the demo.

Oh thank GOD, I was so worried.

also liked to "timeshift" effect too. never played first game so I dont know if that was new, but very well done.

Yep, it was a feature of the first game.

Is that what they're calling it now? Last I checked it was still bullet-time.

Um. It's also out on the European PSN... Just to let you guys know...

I'll be hitting it up on PSN...my 360 RROD'd on me two nights ago. :-(

Anyone know whether this one will have a co-op campaign?

Co-op hasn't been announced, so I'm assuming no.

Don't see how it'd be possible, either, since it's so heavily scripted.

You may have a point, but if they could do it with the scripted scenes in Halo 3, maybe it would work?

Considering it's a horror game, co-op is less likely. Things are scarier by yourself.

I cant put it to words exactly, but the perspective of this game felt more like I was actually looking through the characters eyes than any game before it. From getting jumbled when I jumped over a barrier just to the way it blurred and swung over so slightly when I turned around. The only problem I had with it is that the aim sensitivity is not quite to my liking.

...So....turn up the....sensitivity.....

O__________o

I meant no matter what level it was.

The first FEAR never really sucked me in. I dabbled in the multiplayer, but never got too far on the Single. It was just boring to me.

This demo made me say Holy Shit. When I got in that mech and started blasting guys, just wow. Great stuff, and I'll definately play though this one.

The demo made me poop my pants a little bit. The first game? Nary a wet spot or skid mark. This one made me jump.

I think it's because the effects are more pronounced this time, and the imagery is more cohesive. Before you just get little random flashes of Alma, lights flicker, doors shut, etc, but now it's much more... complete.

That scene in the school... freaky as hell. When all the lockers started clattering open and shut, and wheelchairs started flying, I was properly scared :)

And the image with the swing and the tree... creepy...

UK PSN has it now, I played it.

I love it.

Did anyone else spend 20 minutes trying to kill the ghost at the beggining of the demo?

I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved the combat in FEAR, and loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it in FEAR2.

The only problem is I can't stand horror games (movies I'm fine with). I actually felt sick during them.

Powered armor section as predicably awesome.

Some of the textures on the trucks and such seemed really low rez, I hope they're just place holders.

The enemy AI is awesome.

I love it.

As someone who#s mainly a PC/PS3 (not including handhelds), this will be the best FPS of febuary, Killzone 2 be damned.

I ,might play the demo more to desensitize myself from the horror.

Now the only question is on which platform.

I really liked the rumble, so I might go console on this, even tho I played the orginal FEAR on the PC.

That is unless this game (Like FEAR) is awesome on teh PC and shitty ports on the consoles.

They aren't placeholders. PC-to-Console ports always have to worry about tight memory and capacity budgets, the first things to go are sound quality and texture resolution.

If you want higher res textures, play it on PC.

Does Alma, actually, you know, threaten you in this one?

Once I realized that Alma couldn't actually hurt you in F.E.A.R., I stopped playing shortly after out of boredom. Yes, the AI was unbelievable, but once the threat of Alma was gone, the game just got boring. It went from a game where you're constantly going from office space to office space, afraid of what was around the corner, to yet another corridor shooter.

Eventually there are bloody corridor scenes in which coming in contact with her will kill you.

At the very end of the game she becomes an unimaginably enormous threat, which continues into this sequel.

MMMmmno. I don't think she was ever able to hurt you in the first one. It's the expansions where she ended up killing you.

And in FEAR2. Watch out.

Yes, she can hurt you, though it's nothing like an insta-kill. When Alma's presence is felt sometimes you get these phantom-like spirits who are near-invisible and DO cause damage.

Overall amazing demo, feels like they took the great mood setting from Condemned 2 and mixed it with the original FEAR.

I dig.

Was disappointed in some of the frame rate drops, like walking near the water on the fallen sub and the swinging light, all effects Bioshock pulled off flawlessly.

I was severely disappointed being a huge fan of the original on the PC. The enemies, characters, weapons, interface and HUD are all different, making the game seem almost alien in comparison to the original. While the ability to knock over objects for cover was a nice touch, the fact that they were are no longer interactive after moving it to the pre-designated location, it really started to seem like a cheap gimmick. Luckily I didn't have high hopes for the sequel after the original was bastardized by the shitty expansions that should have never seen the light of day. Instead of buying this, I'll wait 2 more weeks for Killzone 2.

Heh, I always end up finding the movable cover *after* the firefights.

The expansions were made by completely different people, and you're also complaining about all the characters not looking exactly the same?!?

Not exactly the same? THEY AREN'T EVEN THE SAME CHARACTERS AT ALL. Monolith shouldn't have let those idiots bastardize F.E.A.R. with those god awful expansions. Not only that but the original launched over 3 years ago, and then the sequel comes out with a minor graphical bump, and almost no real gameplay advancements.

So what's your opinion on Far Cry 2?

Far Cry 2 was done by a completely different developer than the original, and it wasn't really a bad game, but definitely not game of the year material. I also played the F.E.A.R. 2 demo on the 360 version, and the PC version second. I love how they cut off part of the screen to keep a native 16:9 aspect ratio. Not only that, but the game seems like it runs better on the 360, while the graphical quality was pretty much the same on the highest settings. I'm currently downloading the PS3 version so I'll see how that works out. Now don't get me wrong; F.E.A.R. 2 isn't really a bad game, it's just that I loved the original when it came out, and it feels to me like too much time has passed, and they've changed too much of the game. I'm also a PC gamer at heart and from what I played in the demo, the PC version is worse than the 360 version.

Well, I was kidding, but awesome. (After all Far Cry 2 only features a different protagonist, antagonist, setting, plot, and gameplay. What can I say? I like flame wars.)

I didn't actually like Far Cry 2 at all, I was being generous by calling it an okay game. I realize you were trolling, but that's okay. I just inserted my opinion into the comments, but hey if you tried the demo and loved it, more power to you.

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F.E.A.R. 2 demo now on Xbox Live, PC (PSN later today)

Reader Comments (58)

Posted: Jan 22nd 2009 12:37PM (Unverified) said

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