Why You Should Care - Project Origin

1. F.E.A.R., though in many ways flawed, made stunning achievements in both gun combat and enemy artificial intelligence.
2. Project Origin is the "real" sequel to F.E.A.R. releasing later this year on Xbox360, PS3, and PC.

Why You Should Care

Monolith Productions, the studio responsible for No One Lives Forever, FEAR, Condemned, and other games, is working on the official sequel to FEAR, titled Project Origin to be released this Fall. This may be be confusing for some, but Monolith doesn't own the "FEAR" name anymore due to their departure from Vivendi, so the sequel has a new name. Also worth mentioning is that the lackluster ports and expansions for FEAR did not come from Monolith.


Not a whole lot of people played FEAR. The game had a messy story, extremely repetitive locales, shitty level design, generic looking enemies, and pretty average graphics. It was also a "horror" game that was not really all that scary. But I still give this game my highest recommendation.

FEAR, even with all these problems brought me some of the most intense and challenging firefights I have ever experienced in a video game. The enemies were smart, fast, dangerous, and knew how to navigate their environment. Now I have seen games do enemy AI pretty well. Enemies that flush you out with grenades, take cover behind objects, or flank your position are what is considered "good AI" in most games. But this game is on a whole different level. The enemy soldiers in FEAR will go through the offensive motions just mentioned, but will do so very quickly. You rarely see soldiers just standing around as they will quickly move around the environment, even jumping over objects to get to better positions. Often times I would find myself ducking behind cover to reload, regain my barrings, and prepare for assault--only to find my target nowhere to be found in my futile attempt to rush him. Whether he was moving in on my flank, looking for his allies to set up an ambush, or simply didn't like the car he was hiding behind, it was this unpredictability that kept me on my toes. The enemies in FEAR, quite simply, seemed as if controlled by human players.

I hate to talk too much about FEAR, but understanding the game's pros and cons go a long way in explaining why I am (and you should) be excited about Project Origin. Monolith seems to be addressing most all of the faults encountered in the first game.


The game looks beautiful. Stunning really. Blood was very prevalent in the first game, but now we are have what is the coolest, most over-the-top blood effects I've ever seen in a game. Seriously, watch this:



From the previews I have read and the videos I have watched, Monolith is not only providing more variety of environments, but they are keeping them all connected in a cohesive way much like Valve does in Half Life 2. Looking off into the distance you will see the places you have been and places at which you are sure to end up. Filling these Project Origin locales are new and creative enemy types. One in particular is a puppeteer of sorts that raises dead soldiers--by their weapons--and retreats while you fight through the crowd of soldier toting guns in an effort to take him down.

These kinds of improvements, coupled with Monolith's acknowledgement that the story from the first game was a mess and needs fixing, gives me high hopes for Project Origin. If you haven't played FEAR, go play the PC game, or the nerfed console versions, and get ready for what looks to be an awesome sequel.


Brad