I play titles like this for the single player experience, multi-player modes in shooters like F.E.A.R. 2 are just an extra for me. I've got multi-player shooters like the Battlefield series for that pleasure. That said i won't be giving lower points to the online multi-player part if it's not that great 'cause i simply don't expect it to be.
Having played the first game i can say F.E.A.R. 2 continues the series with good effort, although it's not as good on all points. To start off with the good i will say that the story and the given setting is the best part of the game, even though the plot can be a little difficult to follow sometimes the story and places your visit will keep you interested and make you want to finish the game to see what happens, which won't take you very long, 9 to 10 hours of normal play. But it's long enough in my opinion. If a game is too long a game like this can eventually lose your interest in which case you'll most likely never finish it at all. Just Cause 2 being a fine example of this.
Gameplay wise not a lot has changed since the original, only improvements on some of the core gameplay mechanics and a few new gameplay elements like iron sighting and the ability to operate a mech suite. In the end nothing shocking really, which can also be said for the gameplay itself, but it's satisfying enough.
The graphics never really stand out above other titles in this genre but it's more than adequate to satisfy the ones who love graphics. Design and environments play a mayor part too in this and deserve an extra notice. The levels are well detailed, dynamic, destructible and have a good layout and some nicely placed scripted events too. Most noticeable level to back this up would without a doubt be the Elementary School.
So what's bad about the game than? Well, it isn't as scary as it used to be for one. Let me put it this way, if F.E.A.R. would be the Japanese horror movie Ringu (which was probably a big inspiration) than F.E.A.R. 2 would be an episode of Ghost hunters. It's just not as scary as you would like and expect it to be in a way the first one was. Next to that i found the overall sound a bit lacking. In most part this was fine, like the music which created some nice tension in the game, but i'm talking about the sound effects with the gun sounds in particular. It all sounded a little weak for my taste, especially the shotgun. But these are just small things. In the end there isn't really anything wrong with F.E.A.R. 2 , the problem lies more in what's good. It's just that, good, nothing more. F.E.A.R. 2 never really stands out in any way. So eventually you could say that F.E.A.R. 2 is an above average shooter. Nothing really special, just good.
My advice would be that if you liked the original F.E.A.R and it's installments and you digged the story as much as i did or if you're just looking for a good shooter to get you through the weekend than i'm positive you'll enjoy F.E.A.R. 2. But for those of you who are looking for something new and groundbreaking or want a good scare i would recommend to pass on this one, it's not that special.
