F.E.A.R 2: Project Origin Demo out!

[Ethan_Hunt]

As promised the demo is up & running. It's again a whopping 1.76GB demo. Here's the link:

http://www.gamershell.com/download_38288.shtml

As you can see it's gamershell & it's a hell(ish) download site. So bear with it.

Also a screenshot of the graphic settings from the game posted on Rage3D forum:

[amitava82]

download started in my steam account.. Should be done in a hour. Let's see.

[Davidboon]

thanks for the news Ethan, will be downloading it right now .

[amitava82]

lol 15 minutes demo.. I mean you can finish in 15 minutes.. just like 1st F.E.A.R demo. But you get the flavor and it's GOOD! You pretty much get to try almost every weapons including a vehicle.. a cool Mech! gotta buy this. Didn't know WB is releasing this one.

One advice, DO NOT look back if you don't want to freak out! Game Play is really smooth. I get avg 30 at 1680*1050 everything max 2X AA, AF no HDR on my laptop. Desktop users should get better fps with any latest cards. Weird I started at medium settings and I got avg 25.. Probably because I had VSync on. But the game is very well playable even at 17fps.



Link to Gallery

[Ethan_Hunt]

The textures look somewhat poor & not as sharp as they used to look in F.E.A.R. The weapon & character detail seems alright. The game seems to have adopted a grainy look for some reason. And why on earth would they put letterboxing? Those black borders look really irritating. I don't feel like downloading the demo just yet but will do so in a few days. Let's hope the in-game experience is better.

[Faun]

@amitava82

lol...wtf ? Don't play scary, violent games You don't want Alma to haunt your dreams

[Ethan_Hunt]

If you get scared, keep chanting "Keep it together, keep it together". It will help.

[amitava82]

Originally Posted by T159

@amitava82

lol...wtf ? Don't play scary, violent games You don't want Alma to haunt your dreams

lol... I freaked out once or twice when I turned back and saw ghost of Alma for a sec.. My heart beat pumped and I was running like crazy.. lol But it's not as bad as L4D, alone is the dark etc..

[Faun]

^^try Dead Space, it's really good and you will have some adrenaline rush. If you are scared then play it with someone watching near you. In fact it can be a riot to play while your friend guides you and gets stupefied by around the corner boo scares.

Alma is one spooky kid, I got to watch the directors commentary and footage when I played the first F.E.A.R. It was terrifying as Ring.

Just for the info: The protagonist in first F.E.A.R. was the first offspring of Alma (thats why you get some of those amazing reflexes and Alma didn't try to kill you actually). Paxton Fettle was the second offspring and he was the first successful prototype psychic.

This time the main character is no way related to Alma, atleast there is no evidence by developer of direct link. But whats more interesting is that, you will actually hang out in open wide spaces this time and can fully utilize your long range weapons wading through alternative ways. It will be fun IMO, best part is that system requirements are nearly the same as was for the first F.E.A.R. That means no friggin upgrade is required.

[Ecstasy]

Awesome screenshots.

[amrawtanshx]

Saw two Gameplay videos of the Demo and it reallly looks good.
I wont play Demo though ... So waitin for full version to arrive

[rockthegod]

Ok.. the demo was very very good in terms of the usual trademark FEAR type gameplay and this is the first time I am playing FEAR on a machine equipped with the Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum sound card with 8 channel headphones.... the sound effects are toooo good !!! ha ha.. this is the way scary games are supposed to be made... on the flipside, the graphics department saw very little improvement over the original FEAR engine, though at some places the HDR effects are good. one different thing I noticed is the constant "film-grain" effect on your FP fov..... I kinda like it as it looks like you are actually looking through your helmet view-glass... the lighting and shader effects has also been boosted up.. but the texture quality still feels the same as original FEAR !!! But I loved FEAR and I love scary games... and I like the gameplay in this 15 minute demo... !!!

One screenshot highlighting the "film-grain" effect: @1680x1050, Max quality, 8X AA, 16X AF !!!



Screenshots combining flashing "blur" effect + sepia gradient tone (remember "Condemned") + "film-grain" effect + variable lighting effects + awesome creepy sound = formula for instantly effective creepy horror !!!

[Ethan_Hunt]

I just ran through the demo as well. To be honest, I'm blown away. The game looks & feels much better & intense than the original F.E.A.R. The only major gripe I had with the game is the constant stuttering & 2 second lock up issues. It's technical performance is very skippy. I had no issues getting 60+ Fps indoor but it would tank randomly to 25fps during heavy fire fights. Heck it dropped down to 15fps when I got into my robot.

But the game is f*ckin' amazing. I hate the grain filter & like I mentioned earlier the ground textures don't look very sharp. Atleast not like they used to be in the original F.E.A.R. Spookiness is still very much a part of this game. This time it's been juiced up & you'll constantly keep seeing weird images every so often. It will really freak you out when Alam grabs hold of your hand out of nowhere. You just won't see it coming.

The gore level has bee increased. Bodies get decapitated realistically. Ragdoll physics are brilliant. Not to mention bump mapping which still remains intact. A new element has been added to the gameplay. You can flip over the tables & use them as cover during combat. Weapons are awesome. Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Missile Launcher, Sniper Rifle & a new addition of Laser gun.

This game really picks up the pace quickly unlike it's predecessor. If this is the demo then I can't wait to play the full game. If only they would fix the god dam letterboxing & the stuttering issues which really hamper the gameplay.

Here are a few screenshot @1280x1024 with 4X AA & 16X AF with rest at Maximum detail:

[rockthegod]

^^ Hey, I kinda liked the grain effect.. somehow emulates a retro-film effect !!! and alo I didn't face any stuttering even with 8X AA, the frame rate was smooth as a fluid and solid even in heavy firefights.... !!!!

[Ethan_Hunt]

I love the grain effect for movies but for games it's somewhat unacceptable. Condemned: CO was an exception. The game actually felt like a movie.

Anyway if there is no stuttering then consider yourself very lucky. Head over to project origin boards & there tons of people complaining of frame dips & micro stuttering. I hope it's only a demo issue else it would ruin the full version's experience.

[rockthegod]

^^ To each its own. But I completely agree on the fact about Condemned CO.. that was brilliant and at times it felt like you were playing a character in a muvi. It shares quite some similarities in lighting patterns and the sepia gradient imagery with this new FEARO .... although AFAIR, Condemned was developed on the same engine that powered the original FEAR and its expansions.

About that stuttering, is that something to do with having a radeon card or is it happening to owners of both nvidia and ati cards ? I am running on 8800 GT SLi with the newest 181.20/15.23 drivers and definitely WinXP SP3 and so far its cool.. I did finish the demo once on normal and twice on hard difficulty setting..... the weapons feel too good and it has that COD4 weapon handling smoothness in it. I am getting the full version as soon it comes out.

[Faun]

^^Yup condemned has same engine, i found out when Ethan whipped out his handgun

[Ei8t]

@ ethan
i got the same issue of the game freezing for 1-2 secs and then run fine, the fps even touched around 70's. i have this same problem in Quantum of solace.. wondering if this is the issue of only ati cards...

[Ethan_Hunt]

Stuttering & locking up is not isolated to ATI cards alone. It's an issue with the engine itself. People with high end quad cores & graphic cards too face this issue. Many people associate this issue with Auto-saving & some people even have the theory of pre-loading certain locations in advance. Frankly, this is quite a vague explanation. I have seen people on Rage3D forums having Core i7 rigs with GTX280 in SLI & heck even with 12GB RAM facing this micro stuttering. So it's pretty random issue. This used to occasionally happen with F.E.A.R as well back when I had an Nvidia card.

@Ei8t: I didn't face any issues with Quantum of Solace. The game was locked at 30fps but didn't face much frame dropping or stuttering issues. It's pretty frequent with F.E.A.R: PO only.

[NVIDIAGeek]

Originally Posted by T159

@amitava82

lol...wtf ? Don't play scary, violent games You don't want Alma to haunt your dreams

^^Hee hee , That's true, I never even tried F.E.A.R., I saw a gameplay on YouTube, and I s=-tteD [offtopic: Does too much gory-ness affects us in the future???]

[Ethan_Hunt]

On-screen gore is alright but real life gore will seriously mess up your mind at times. I can handle just about any amount of gore, the movie or the game industry has to throw at me, yet, I can't seem to stomach a chicken being butchered to death in real life. If you talk about gore in games then it really depends on how you can take it. It shouldn't really bother you much, if you're matured enough to realise that it's fictional gore.

[SunnyChahal]

Will get the demo today itself. Can't resist! I hope it runs smoothly with everything maxed out on my rig.
Offtopic:I need to know the story of FEAR,which one should I play from FEAR,extraction point and persues mandate? I never played any FEAR game.

[IronManForever]

System Requirements?

Will it run on Geforce 9400m graphics at low? I believe this is more forgiving than Crysis?

[NVIDIAGeek]

Originally Posted by Ethan_Hunt

On-screen gore is alright but real life gore will seriously mess up your mind at times. I can handle just about any amount of gore, the movie or the game industry has to throw at me, yet, I can't seem to stomach a chicken being butchered to death in real life. If you talk about gore in games then it really depends on how you can take it. It shouldn't really bother you much, if you're matured enough to realise that it's fictional gore.

Yeah, that's right. I know the on-screen gore doesn't affects us, but when we are angry about something then?? We get sometimes violent thinking in our minds, ainnit?? And is S:CS scarier than Fallout 3??? I thought F3 was scary but no

[amitava82]

I did the most unimaginable thing... Bought Left 4 Dead!!!!

[asingh]

Originally Posted by IronManForever

System Requirements?

Will it run on Geforce 9400m graphics at low? I believe this is more forgiving than Crysis?

It is running fine on my system. With most things at Medium (including Motion Blur) and AA=4x. I get a 2 second stutter (I think when the game tries to save a checkpoint).

DEMO is good...though the wide screen screen ratio is irritating, and the over all finish is grainy. But it goes crystal clear when Slow Mo is activated. It was the opposite in the previous FEAR series. During Slow Mo, the display turned grainy.

Alma really frightens the player...!!

The EPA is awesome...!!!!!! Audio is great too. Weapons are nice. Though I do not like the visor HUD system. In the beginning I was not able to find the "slow mo" discharge display. They have given a Crysis like weapons selection system (no more scrolling the mouse or punching numeric keys).

Can't wait for the original version to be released.

[sam9s]

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING DEMO.....simply blowen apart from it, too good. The action and the errie scary feeling is actually there........part where I freaked out for a second was in the gallary where lights go off one by one along with gueshes of winds and every thing coming towards you from the end of the gallary......I seriously skipped a beat at that time......... Graphics are quite different from the original fear and I would not compare head on.
With my card I was able to play at 1440x990, FSAA 2X and Texture Filtering : Anisotropic 4X and everything else at Maximum. While the textures and slow mo effects are better what I really miss is the particle effect we used to have when the bullet used to hit the wall or the surroundings. I dont know what grainy effect people are referring but I did not find it much annoying.
I like the HUD system, all weapons were awsome....... Heck I liked everythign in the game......despo for the full version.....

[SunnyChahal]

This was one hell of a demo! I played with everything maxed out on 1680x1050 and was getting 60 FPS constant but yeah some stuttering is there. Apart from that it's mind blowing,waiting eagerly for the game.
BTW do I need to know the story as well? Which FEAR game to play?

[sam9s]

^^ Well u dont need to know the story actually to play but it always nice to know the flow, you enjoy the game more, thats what I think. AFA which FEAR to play, well obviously start from the first and then if you want you can go for the stand alone expansion packs or can jump stright to FEAR 2. If you ask me "Extraction Point" is worth playing, you can skip "Perseus mandate" and start with FEAR 2....... checkout out the following thread about experience shared for 1st FEAR..

FEAR is THE GAME....My experience.....

[SunnyChahal]

Offtopic:Installed F.E.A.R today. As it did not have native resolution support for my monitor,I edited the setup.cfg file to get 1680x1050 but the game sucks at performance. It's giving me mere 12-13 FPS whereas F.E.A.R. 2 gives 60 FPS! I am on Vista Ultimate x86 SP2. What to do? Help me out,I'm starting to like the game but the performance sucks!
And who the hell said that there is no graphics improvement in F.E.A.R 2? The Graphics are 2x F.E.A.R .