F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate (PC) Review

Like Extraction Point before it, Perseus Mandate doesn’t stray far from the original’s setting. It all takes place pretty much halfway through the events of the original, and as such you’ll be running and shooting close to the locales visited in the first two entries. Where in Extraction Point the main hero is trying to escape from the city, however, this is about a different F.E.A.R. team altogether, and a different protagonist, whose aim is to investigate the corporation’s titular ‘Perseus’ project. As expected, once again it’s all tied to Paxton Fettel and his mom, everyone’s favorite creepy ghost girl, Alma… and, now that she has been mentioned, you can simply forget all about her.

Yes, Alma does appear in this mission, but not as often as expected. Even when she doesn’t appear, of course, her presence can be felt, especially when the unnamed hero of this tales starts to inevitably see things that shouldn’t be there. There are some scenes that are quite cool, especially near the end when a torrent of psychic energy turns the paranormal dial to eleven, but this is all about the action, with the story as well as the scares pretty much thrown out of the window. This is just an excuse to shoot at more bad guys (plus some monsters), and nothing more than that. This is a good thing? Kinda…

The strong focus in action isn’t necessarily a problem. F.E.A.R.’s combat was mighty fine after all, mainly because of the fantastic enemy AI, and both the expansions have increased the shooty-shooty bang-bang business quite a bit. Sadly, this doesn’t help Perseus Mandate from being the weakest link in the original F.E.A.R. chain. Yes, it does add a few more things, most notably a new and very agile enemy type that is basically a soldier with a super-fast evasion move, and the gunfights are enjoyable and all, but it manages to achieve the unimaginable: it’s even more repetitive than F.E.A.R. and Extraction Point combined!

The repetitive nature of Perseus Mandate is an issue that the whole “trilogy” has, but it here it’s even worse. Why? Well, it is mostly a matter of pacing. The F.E.A.R. recipe kind of goes like this: one fight, one moody, atmospheric, lonely moment, one more fight, a creepy scene where creepy things happen, one or two more gunfights, and maybe one more spook… and on to the next map. This doesn’t follow that formula that much, throwing way too many battles at your feet. As a result it end up being an extremely repetitive, albeit still fun trip. Even the “scary” moments are a mixed bag, with many of those scripted moments feeling as if they were inserted into the experience as an obligation. It’s as if the game suddenly stops being a shooter, and it becomes an on-rails spook house ride, if that makes any sense.

Completing the game does unlock an additional mode, with small scenarios that are basically a bunch of small levels - and, obviously, the focus here are - once again - the battles… but meh. In other words: less scares, less plot, and more action, but said action feels the same from beginning to end. Sure, there are a couple of mercs here that are tougher than the typical, everyday Replica soldier, but in reality they are actually the same in terms of behavior, and just happen to carry a new type of automatic rifle, and require a few more bullets to go down.

The visuals have taken a bit of a major hit as well, with the whole journey giving strong “just a mod” vibes. The locales rarely look as good as the ones in previous installments, with the most possible explanation being the very, very bad use of lighting, which was what made F.E.A.R. such a beauty, as well as the fact that it looks that some surfaces don’t even have an actual texture applied to them. Ok, ok, this isn’t really a bad trek, but it is a bit forgettable. The good news? You can find it bundled with the previous expansion and the main game, at a pretty good price.