FEAR 2

[CaptainZombie]

IGN - E3 2007: The Sequel to F.E.A.R. First Look

Monolith wants to create the best first-person shooter combat ever. It's a lofty goal, but one the company hopes to achieve with the sequel to F.E.A.R. The unnamed sequel won't be released until 2008 (on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360), but Monolith was able to show off the first level in a behind-closed-doors demo that was more polished than many finished games and a notch up from the furious action of the original F.E.A.R.

Monolith and its new publisher Warner Bros. don't own the rights to the name F.E.A.R. (that belongs to Vivendi), but they can still make games set in that universe. Until they have an official name (which should be by early August) they can't or won't provide any screens or video. Don't take any of that as a sign that the sequel to F.E.A.R. is behind in development or a large departure from the original. The sequel is F.E.A.R. cranked to 11.

The sequel begins thirty minutes before the end of the original F.E.A.R. You play as a new character, a mystery man who starts off in a bad way. The choice to take on a new protagonist had nothing to do with legal matters. It was a creative choice. Monolith feels that Alma -- the creepy little girl from the original -- is the centerpiece of the franchise. The games (and yes, Monolith hinted there would be more to follow the sequel) are about Alma's growth and development.



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This is cool news that another FEAR will be released next year, I'm really enjoying the first one.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: F.E.A.R. 2 - E3 First Look

Embrace Your New F.E.A.R.
Monolith discusses the search for a new name, the evolution of Alma, and the return of the almighty Penetrator.

Today, Warner Bros. announced that it -- along with Monolith Productions -- had narrowed the names for the sequel to F.E.A.R. down to three choices. Due to legal mumbo jumbo, Monolith (the folks who brought you last year's sensational F.E.A.R.) can't use the name for its sequel. However, the developer is still able to set the sequel in the same universe and with everyone's favorite creepy girl, Alma.

After a lengthy selection process, the final three names have been chosen: Dark Signal, Dead Echo, and Project Origin. Head on over to nameyourfear.com to cast your vote. You have until midnight, August 10 to submit your pick. The winning name will be announced shortly after the poll closes.

We spoke with Troy Skinner, a producer at Monolith, about not only the naming process, but what we can expect from the sequel to F.E.A.R. While Monolith wants to keep things under wraps a bit longer, Skinner did talk a bit about Alma's evolution, creating more diverse environments, and the return of the Penetrator. And, of course, we also discussed the Name Your F.E.A.R. contest and why the three finalists stood out.

[HMcCoy]

Re: F.E.A.R. 2 - E3 First Look

Wouldn't make more sense to have the name 'Alma' in the title?

[CaptainZombie]

Re: F.E.A.R. 2 - E3 First Look

IGN has a 17 minute trailer of Project Origin.

Can a mod also please change the title to Project Origin

[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

Project Origin Details

IGN: Monolith has said that we will see a greater variety of environments, yet the E3 demo was set in a hospital -- kind of been there, seen that. So what are some of the environments that will surprise people?

Mulkey: I think the destroyed cityscape will be a drastic change of pace from the generally claustrophobic first game.

Awesome new trailer

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[CaptainZombie]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

I can't wait for this game + the interview from IGN sounds very good.

[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

New trailers

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[bigfnjoe96]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

The new HUD monolith is using looks really good.. Really looking forward to this-1

[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

Project Origin's Mechanized Combat and Bright Environments

John Mulkey: [In this video] you are piloting a giant weapons platform, [a] powered armor suit armed with dual mini-guns, twin shoulder mounted missile pods and an
active damage mitigation regenerative armor skin. [You're] blowing up buildings, enemies, vehicles, and anything else that crosses your path in an outdoor city environment destroyed by the release of an undead psychic child--that's new. Keep in mind that you are inside the Elite Powered Armor and we wanted to immerse you in the experience, and the view you have is from a video monitor inside of the EPA. You can see the video monitor power up when you actually get inside of the EPA.

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John Mulkey: This video is about the juxtaposition of a very untouched, pristine environment to that of the city in ruin created in the wake of Alma's release. One thing that you will notice is that there is a lot of "sky" in these environments. We are opening up the environments a lot and getting the player outdoors more in Project Origin than we previously had in F.E.A.R.

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[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

New trailer:

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[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

1UP Preview

Monolith obviously hasn't rested on its laurels that it received for the A.I. in F.E.A.R. Soldiers poured onto the patio from a number of spots and immediately moved to engage us. They cautiously circled, taking advantage of the bar and various planters for cover, all the while applying steady pressure without making ill-advised dumb rushes.

Mulkey told us that the new A.I. treats each environment much like a child does a playground. "We want the A.I. to be reactive to the player's choices so it feels like a logical response," he said. To do that, as part of the various actions it could take, the A.I. needs to know a whole other set of actions. This allows it to interact with any potential object in the same ways a player can and improvise depending on how things unfold. For instance, one new feature of the game is the ability to use objects like tables as improvised cover. A quick tap of a button flips them over and positions you right behind your new barricade, ready to return fire. As our firefight went on, the action kept me moving around the patio, eventually bringing me back to the area where the action started. As if on cue, an enemy soldier that I was chasing ducked down behind a patio table I'd tipped over for improvised cover earlier.

As in F.E.A.R., plan on liberally making use of the series' signature slow-mo power to gain the advantage you need to take on groups of soldiers. You play as a special forces operative named Michael Beckett this time around, and the explanation for your makes plain sense: You're a highly trained professional. And you need to be, because your mission for the bulk of the game is to get to ground zero of the tremendous blast at the end of F.E.A.R. and investigate what happened.

You actually witness that moment in one of the more impressive -- to the point of almost being disturbing -- re-creations of such a violent detonation, complete with an amazing mushroom cloud. It ties this new chapter back to the original game in dramatic fashion and leaves no doubt that the streets of Auburn must have been left in complete chaos.

Over the course of the game, these outdoor areas also aim to stitch the overall experience of the game together in ways absent from the first game. Throughout your journey you'll discover landmarks, and many of these become key locations in the game. These then provide a series of reference points by which you orient yourself as you move into the city. For instance, as the office building where you begin the game fades into the horizon, you get a feeling for how far you've progressed. That lays the foundation for Monolith's goal to deliver a more cohesive story this time out. Craig Hubbard, who led the team on F.E.A.R. and has been working closely with Project Origin, concludes, "[The idea is] that it all has got to add up to something."

[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

Project Origin Update

Much of the mystery this time out will arise from the actions of Michael Becket, a member of the Delta forces that were so relentlessly destroyed throughout F.E.A.R. Players take charge of him in the events that directly precede the first game's cataclysmic climax, and subsequently takes him through the consequences of it. And of course we see the return of Alma, the original's core protagonist who seemingly had drifted from the set of a Hideo Nakata film into a videogame backlot before gleefully unleashing seven shades of havoc.

Her presence looks to be the centerpiece of Project Origin in more ways than one, and as Hubbard notes, "This time she has a stronger agenda, which gives her a more active, visceral role," with Mulkey adding that, "In the first game Alma was seen in fleeting glimpses as a playful child. In Project Origin, Alma is going to be more direct…she is going to touch you more."

Short of bundling the game with a peripheral that intermittently blows down the player's neck, Project Origin looks to achieve this tactility by utilizing Becket's visor to act as an extra link between the player and the game world. Stand too near to someone you're riddling with lead and the visor will be smeared with thick red blood, with the player having to wipe it clean to regain vision - and this being primarily a horror experience expect the blood to come flowing from more than just gunshots.

Beyond this splattercore, the visor will also act as an indicator of the environment. Walk into a cold room and you'll see the visor fog over, leaving the player blind and solely reliant on the audio cues fed them – and the audio is one of the key tools in Monolith's arsenal when it comes to inciting fear. "We have found that sound is a powerful tool for affecting a player's emotional state," says Mulkey, and anyone with the nerve to have played through the original F.E.A.R or either of the Condemned titles will attest to the fact that Monolith are quite masterful in inspiring brown trouser moments.

Speaking of brown trouser moments – and excuse us for the tenuous link – one of the key new additions to Project Origin's cast is the abominations, the heavily mutated results of some of the Armacham corporation's more twisted experiments. Delightfully smearing the surrounds with their own faeces in order to scrawl out the demented contents of their twisted minds, the heavily afflicted humanoids also suffer from Tourettes and are contorted by their schizophrenia, so you can excuse them for being a little grumpy as they try to harm our lead.

It's all shaping up to form one of the stronger arms of this year's full on horror assault, and it will be interesting to see how the experiences gained from working on the Condemned series will feed into Monolith's re-treading of the original's unique premise - and from the evidence so far, it looks like they've been successful in putting the F.E.A.R factor through the roof.

[Flawless]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

This video shows a bunch of new footage. It looks awesome.

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[CaptainZombie]

Re: Project Origin (aka FEAR 2)

Well it looks official now, Project Origin is Now F.E.A.R. 2, Warner Bros. and Monolith regained the rights to the F.E.A.R.

This is good news.

[Flawless]

Re: FEAR 2

Yes it is, because Project Origin was a lame name. Game is going to be awesome.

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