F.E.A.R.2 - How to Destroy a Gaming Community in Under 2 Months
I remember loading up F.E.A.R Combat a few days after it was released and jumping on a server. Instantly some cat is flying at me duel pistols blasting. In my haste I launched a grenade at him and it him directly in the chest. In his place was a blood mist and the server echoes out “HOLY SHIIIIT”…At that moment I was hooked and ran out and bought F.E.A.R. Two fantastic plays through the single player and I was highly impressed. Great single player, faster good death matching multi player, and superb maps and sound packs coming to the multi-player from the community. A CAN’T MISS. I was a F.E.A.R. fan for life, or so I thought.
Fast forward to pre-release of our new F.E.A.R. fix: F.E.A.R. 2 - Project Origin. The community had been following this game closely, anxiously anticipating another great FPS experience. First came the October 2008 delay - no big deal if the game is as good as the first because it is worth the wait. Then comes the demo - which comes off on all platforms as a clear Xbox 360 game. Controls are not very good on PS3, and the PC is shock with un-modifiable film grain and letter boxing. Things about the first game that rocked - lean, grenades exploding on contact - removed. AI is dead simple to beat on the hardest difficulty and we haven’t heard anything yet about multi-player, minus a video claiming to look on the popular game forums such as CoD4 and copying what they have done. Complaints are filling up the forums. It’s OK, we are told, wait for the release because Monolith is a good company (a very valid argument). So we wait…
Release date: Single player is good, really good but, really short. Playing through it on the hardest difficulty and collecting every item occupies all of 7 hours. Not what they told us (it is longer than the original) but, it is good and the original was only 10 hours at a maximum. So we have the great F.E.A.R. multi-player to play to get our full moneys worth. PC gamers get the same single player as the demo with a multi-player that includes no server files, no SDK, and no anti-cheat. Within a week people are filing back to other games. Just wait, it will be patched we are told. Complaints are calling the game a blatant console port -which it is regardless of what they say - that is tailored to the 360. On console multi-player is littered with waiting because of stupid ranked rules tied to GameSpy (on average players spend over half of their time waiting on ranked if they want to have statistics kept). Crap is flying everywhere on the forums at http://www.projectorigincommunity.com Just wait we are told - we cannot say what we will or not fix because of design decisions…and stuff. Just wait.
Patch one - film grain is removed, a few issues fixed and the multi-player still stinks. Just wait we are told. During this time there is a console patch but, no one really knows what it did because everything is the same in multi-player so it looks to be some single player bug fixes.
(Not sure on the order of these next two but, it is meaningless)
Patch two - the same, still no server files, AC, or SDK. At this point I’m saying they are not coming, as are others, and we are told to shut it and wait.
Then last month DLC hits XBL only to be pulled and told it is coming the next day. Whoops, we meant next month they tell us.
Upcoming is patch three. Console multi-player still sucks and now no one plays it. PC is dead, hackers do not even care about it with no AC software. Most of the community has quit on this game, awaiting what it needs to be worth their time to play it. Wait, we are told…we will have our answer. Almost two months after release we finally get the answer…nothing can be done. The game is as it is and now there will be no SDK as well (which were told we would get). You will get that kick ass DLC we promised last month…sometime soon. Everyone is up in arms. Those who are seriously mad are being banned, told to can it, etc. We cannot even get the SDK to mod out what we need in the game. I assume it’s because no one would play the original release…oh wait, it’s already at that point.
At this point I quit. I played the original F.E.A.R. for almost 2 years and it was one of my favorite games, as it was for many others. We have almost all quit. Most of us will not come back for F.E.A.R. 3 because we feel ripped off. The community is almost dead. Good job Monolith and WB, you’ve killed what was one of my, and many others, favorite FPS games with one crappy release. I hope other developers and publishers take note and take a little more time and actually beta test and play test a game and fix what people do not like about it before pushing it on their community and saying….we’re sorry you do not like it but, this is what it is and nothing will change.
Yeah, FEAR2 was a huge disappointment. I might get FEAR3, if the game isn’t a crappy console port.
Yes FEAR2 was a gigantic flop it only took me 30 minutes of playing the single to see this. You should have known this was coming for a while though, they focused too much on consoles during the design process and on doing the right thing (from a streamlined game flow perspective) to make the game find a wider audience on them… and ruined the series in the process. GG asshats.
I complained on the forums and got banned. But yeah a startup like this is going to make the game dead. Theres no way to get the player based back unless its free with SDK/server files/etc. But a good experience because I won’t pre-order games and I know what to look for.
Biggest disappointment in a long time, clearly aimed at short term financial gains, monolith have lost a customer for life.
Yep, I will not be getting F.E.A.R. 3 if it ends up getting developed after this mess. Personally, I really felt let down and almost ripped off.
The only thing I’m sure now, is that Monolith and WB are liars!
That’s what I know. I don’t believe at what they say and “promise” anymore.
Then I can’t get rid of the feeling that f.e.a.r 2 is just an expansion ,instead of a sequel. I give up. I’m absolutely disapointed. Shame they used f.e.a.r name for this pathetic likeness of a game.
Oh yeah, I feel so shitty. I tried couple of times to get the game from the shops, because it was sold out. Paid a high price, got a ticket for wrong parking and all - all worth it I thought. I have them all originally bought, big Fear fan. But NO! 30 minutes game play and I stopped, wondering what crappy shit is that?! I play PC and it felt, looked and sounded like N64?! No Fear feeling at all, no mystic, no scary ghost flashes and the AI so very week - absolutely no comparison to the Fear I experienced before! How could it become so very bad? A total rip off based on a good name! I’m so dam disappointed - I’ll send it back to them for reimbursement.