F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate

Note: There were no multiplayer servers, so this review will not include anything on multiplayer.

Perseus Mandate is the 2nd add-on to the first F.E.A.R. game. This time, you play as a sergeant(whose name is unknown) in a second F.E.A.R. team, which consists of two other members. It takes place around halfway through the first game, in which you are dropped into a war zone between F.E.A.R., ATC guards, Delta Force, and a new group of mercenaries:the Night Crawlers, who were hired by some senator.

Since this is an add-on, I will mostly be doing a comparison review like I did with the previous add-on, so I would recommend checking out my previous reviews on F.E.A.R. and F.E.A.R. Extraction Point.

This add-on fixed even more problems than the previous titles, and then some. Even the problems that were not touched from the first add-on were in this title. Finally, the game ran at a smooth 60 fps, the enemies were less bullet spongy, the flashlight was improved, and many more problems that I didn't notice. What was also nice was more friendly ai and new weapons. More ai made me feel that I was part of a military unit, not some lone commando. Also, three new weapons were added to the mix, which not only were they fun to use, but also made me feel that the game had the perfect amount of weapons.The new storyline not only showed that F.E.A.R. is an actual military unit and not just some commando(as I said earlier), but allowed for a new main antagonist to join the mix. Fettel is cool, and you do see him in this game, but whenever I see Fettel now, I just think of the first part of Extraction Point, when he just came back alive, and not even he could explain why. Putting in new people showed me that at least they didn't run out of villain ideas. Also the ending, although kinda boring, felt better(and a very tiny bitter emotional) compared to Extraction Point. Finally, the bonus missions at the end of the game was a great addition. The bonus missions were based around the action part of the game rather than the horror, and was a good little bit of extra fun thrown into the mix.

But of course, their are also negatives to this game, as for their is always a dark side of the moon. With the addition of a new enemy type into the mad house of mercs and the bonus missions adding on the feeling of shooter rather than horror., I felt that the game was not as scary. When the radio went static, nothing happened. I didn't that sudden burst of instruments playing when Alma did appear out of the corner of your eye. Where there was a perfect moment for something creepy, nothing happen. Another problem was the voice lines for the new enemies. Voice lines shouldn't really affect any review, but the voice lines for the new Night Crawlers were so bad that I did make it part of my review. I have never heard person sound so dull, boring, and monotone while being shot at someone who just killed three of your friends with a grenade. I couldn't help but laugh sometimes when I enter a room, wipe out most of the Crawlers there, just to here one guy say "He wiped out the whole squad," sounding like he just came out of a 4 hour long book club after reading ti-83 calculator manual.

Here is my final verdict: This add-on completely fixed most of the problems I had with the game from the start. This is state the should've started in the first place. A new storyline, new enemies, new weapons, and bonus missions refreshes the F.E.A.R. game. But the substitution of horror for action and the terrible dialogue weigh down on this game.