Pieces of F.E.A.R. glued together to make a “new” game
There always seems to be never enough ammunition around.
Playing F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, I enjoyed the game to an extent but ultimately I was disappointed by a handful of things. I for one do not scare easy and a couple of times I jumped whilst playing it though after playing the demo and then straight onto the actual game there was nothing which you’re not prepared for if you did the same as I did. The demo contains everything which you wouldn’t expect in the game which lets it down greatly and the weapons are no different to the first two parts to F.E.A.R. apart from the handful of new weaponry they decided to throw in and not put enough ammunition in the game so the chances of actually using them more than two or three times are very close to none…
F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate has all the elements of F.E.A.R. and Extraction Point which made it a great game, well, great for the few hours it was played and then forgotten about. The lack of updated content and graphics really lets the game down and i’d expect more from a standalone expansion. Yes, it has the increased reactions (slow-motion gunplay) and the melee combat system but there’s only so much fun you can have playing in the same industrial environments how you saw them originally in the previous two installments of F.E.A.R. Other games have made an extraordinary leap in graphical quality between 2005 and today and Perseus Mandate missed out on that which lets the game down tremendously.
Aside from the visual quality, there always seems to be never enough ammunition around you to fight off the swarms of clone troopers and juggernaught enemies you have to face throughout the entire game. Yes, plenty of action is always a good thing but the phrase “You can never have too much of a good thing” is definately not true in Perseus Mandate.
Perseus Mandate seems like an unecessary addition to the F.E.A.R. series as there’s already a proper sequel in development called ‘Project Origin’ and this poorly made collage from scenarios and levels as seen in the previous two games has not done the series any favours.
The controls of Perseus Mandate have not changed at all which, if you’ve played the previous installments, makes it a lot easier to jump straight in and blow things up, but for people who haven’t played the previous two F.E.A.R. games, the controls may seem awkward to use at first.
The multiplayer side of Perseus Mandate is another uneccessary addition to the game as it includes everything required to play F.E.A.R. online from the previous installments and with F.E.A.R. Combat available for free download which is only the multiplayer side of the game, there wasn’t much point in adding it into this expansion.
Only the real die-hard fans of the F.E.A.R. series and gamers who haven’t played the original F.E.A.R. will enjoy Perseus Mandate and my advice to those who haven’t already played any of the F.E.A.R. series is, go and buy the original! There’s nothing special about Perseus Mandate and there’s plenty more gameplay to enjoy in the original.
The Bad: Primitive engine and graphics, little new content, insane difficulty.
