Holy crapamolie, did you see that? There, in the shadows, just out of the corner of your eye! It’s a F.E.A.R. 2 demo!
The 1.76 gigabyte demo for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin was released today and is available at FileShack, Gamershell and all the other usual places. Gamers who’d prefer to try their luck with the Xbox 360 version can snag a demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace, while PlayStation 3 owners can get theirs over the PlayStation Network. Early reactions seem to be fairly positive; comments on Shacknews have compared it favorably to the original F.E.A.R., with challenging AI and solid weaponry, and the demo also appears to run quite well even on mid-range PCs.
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has had an interesting history. Monolith, the developer behind the original game, was initially forced to produce a F.E.A.R. sequel under a new name – Project Origin – after it was bought out by Warner Bros. because original publisher Sierra held the rights to the F.E.A.R. title. But when Activision bought Vivendi – Sierra’s parent company – it had no interest in the franchise and cast it back into the sea, at which point Monolith snapped it up and reattached the F.E.A.R. name to the sequel.
But that’s not the only confusion. Following the success of F.E.A.R., Sierra released two add-ons, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point and F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate. But Monolith apparently didn’t like the direction they took the story, and have declared the expansions non-canon. “Monolith has very high standards for our products, both creatively and technically, so to ensure the quality of our narrative we will continue from [the] great foundation laid by our team in the first installment of the franchise,” Monolith Community Manager “Yurei” wrote in the F.E.A.R. 2 forums in late 2007. “In short, ignore all expansions and ignore anything related to the franchise not produced by Monolith Productions. Sorry for any confusion that this may have caused.”
Got all that? F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is set for release on February 10 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
