Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate Review for PC

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate Review for PC

As a stand-alone expansion pack, you’d be best to leave it standing alone

This is the second in the F.E.A.R. series, not to be confused with the expansion pack of the original F.E.A.R. game. This is a stand-along expansion pack. But you will be forgiven for thinking that this version seems oddly familiar. It could almost be mistaken for the first version, if it weren’t for the new hero and F.E.A.R. agents, not to mention the lack of the surprise element that made the original so much fun.

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate screenshot

Sometimes the old axiom of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” does not apply to videogames. Sure you don’t have to fix what ain’t broke, but you’ve got to change your product. F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate provides excellent first-person shooting mechanics. That’s pretty much a given. If you absolutely love shooting, you can’t go wrong here. But if you’re looking for the kind of story that has the same impact as the original story, you’re out of luck.

Events in this game take place concurrently with the original. It’s a cheap way to recycle the same gameplay elements, mechanics, graphics engine, and story. Players getting into this series for the first time are advised to seek out the original. It’s got a much more interesting story, and is full of scares. The story in F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate offers a more sobering and thus dull perspective on the supernatural events of the original. We all know what’s going on now, which only reduces the gameplay elements to little more than a good shooter. You know what that means? Shoot at anything and everything. Lather, rinse, repeat. Gee your hair smells like gunpowder.

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate screenshot

In the original, a young girl named Alma was imprisoned in an underground vault due to her incredibly powerful and deadly supernatural powers. A corrupt branch of the government exploited these powers, which included conjuring and controlling dangerous entities. Paxton Fettel was the original protagonist. He led his team of cloned FEAR agents through the Armachan complex where they encountered disappearing humanoids, various bots, and disembodied spirits. There are a lot of frightening aspects in the original, which were more psychological than games such as DOOM which rely heavily on shock value. A lot of the suspense can be attributed to the storyline. However, in Perseus Mandate, the element of surprise has been taken away since you are essentially playing the same game at the same time. A few new additions in the form of weapons and enemies do little to rate this game as anything more than a run-of-the-mill expansion pack.

As with any shooter, you’ll find yourself in a complex that includes warehouses, offices, corridors, courtyards, and underground tunnels or passageways. These areas create the perfect shooter environment, to say nothing about originality, which is sorely lacking for the sake of convention and convenience. There are some tense moments to be sure, but having fallen for these same devices in the last game, we won’t get fooled again. Still, when you hear the discordant music and the room becomes dark, it’s difficult not to have a little hair standing up on the back of your neck. Occasionally you’ll have entities appear and disappear around you. Weapons will be flung at you out of nowhere, and hands will attempt to pull you underground. It’s more fun than frightening.

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate screenshot

A new enemy emerges known as the Nightcrawler. They are frustratingly challenging. Not only are they fast and highly agile, but even when you do hit them they require a lot of firepower to destroy. They are also very accurate when it comes to launching projectiles at you. You are definitely going to put the bullet-time feature to good use, which by the way, is used more like a tool in this game than as a rare gift.

Shooting is what FEAR does best, and Perseus Mandate doesn’t stray far from the original formula. There are three new weapons introduced: A machine gun with an incredibly sensitive scope, a grenade launcher, and a chain lightning gun. All of these weapons are little more than a novelty, being used a few times as dictated by the gameplay. The chain lightning gun is the most versatile, but good luck finding ammo for it. All of the original weapons are back and work just as good as we remember them. The controls are very responsive, and accuracy is seldom a problem. This game is all about shooting, and I can’t fault that aspect of it.

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate screenshot

Open environments such as warehouses and courtyards are perfect for small- scale wars. These shootouts are often intense, and will require the use of bullet-time, a slo-mo effect to use when you find yourself outgunned. Often these arenas will provide you with plenty of cover including different platform levels and obstacles to take cover behind. You can always count on the enemy A.I. to put up a good fight. They respond well to situations, as they don’t just stand around waiting to be hit or rush you in some kind of suicide, kamikaze mission. The FEAR team, as it’s explained in the story, responds to your mental commands, so they require no commands. They do a good job of staying out of your way, and will help you mow down a considerable swath of enemy.

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate is going to have a hard time competing with the new generation of graphics engines out there. This game uses an engine which is already a couple of years old. It’s one of the reasons you’ll think you’re still playing the original since it uses the same engines. Character models look similar, and many of the special effects we’ve seen before. Load times can be pretty long, and the results don’t appear to be worth the wait. Aside from some scary sound effects, the game is too quiet. It’s not an unnerving quiet; it’s a boring quiet.

With a free download you can take part in an online shootout with up to 15 other players. This game does facilitate shooting, and does so very well. But there are better online Deathmatches to take part in.

Features

  • You are a member of a secondary F.E.A.R. team that is brought in to find more information regarding the secret project at Armacham.
  • Expect the intensity of battle to continue in the second expansion pack to the critically acclaimed first person shooter, F.E.A.R.
  • Uncover the mystery that surrounds Armacham and truth behind the Perseus project
  • Employ new weapons, including the Chain Lightning Gun, Grenade Launcher, and Advanced Rifle
  • Face off against a horrifying new enemy, the Nightcrawlers.

    RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 2.7 Graphics
    Older engine can’t compete with new games. It’s too similar to the original game. 4.8 Control
    Great controls, responsive and accurate. Great shooting mechanics. 2.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
    Some decent sound effects, especially the explosions. Game gets too quiet in parts. 2.0 Play Value
    The single player mode can be completed in a day. There are better online shooters. 2.4 Overall Rating – Poor
    Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

  • To top