E3 2007: F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate Impressions

While Monolith is developing a true sequel to their 2005 first person shooter F.E.A.R. (but without the F.E.A.R. name attached), publisher Vivendi/Sierra continues to expand the original game with F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate, the upcoming stand alone second PC expansion pack to the original game (Perseus Mandate will also be released for the Xbox 360 in a collection that will include the first PC expansion pack Extraction Point). During E3 last week we got a chance to check out a brief demo of Perseus Mandate which will be developed by Timegate Studios.

Unlike the first expansion pack, which was basically a quick coda to the events of the first game, Perseus Mandate will feature a storyline with a new protagonist (a second F.E.A.R. operative) that is designed to run parallel to the events of the main game. While you will have some of the same abilities as the central character in F.E.A.R. there's no relationship between the new guy and the scary little girl Alma which may mean she won't have any problems with taking you out.

Our brief E3 demo showed off some of the new enemies, weapons and locations in Perseus Mandate. The locations include some battles in a sewer system and it looks like this game will have more variety of locations than the original F.E.A.R. game (although some of the original game's locations may be seen again). We got to see some multi-level battles with the series' new main mercenary enemies called Nightcrawlers (something that was lacking a bit in the original game) and the series's solid AI is back once again. New weapons in the expansion include a grenade launcher that fires a sphere of nails along with a rifle with a infrared scope that's useful if you find yourself in a room with lots of dust (all of the new weapons will be available to use in the expansion's multiplayer modes). New frightening creatures like the ghost-like shades will also be a part of the expansion. While there's lots of shooting we did see a couple of very scary moments in our E3 demo as well so it looks like it won't lack in the horror aspects.

Right now our only concern about Perseus Mandate is that the expansion looks like it uses the same graphics engine with the same features as the first game did two years ago. Having seen the untitled F.E.A.R. sequel that Monolith has developed at E3 it's clear they have moved on and as such the visuals of Perseus Mandate make not look as good in comparison. We hope to get more info on Perseus Mandate before its release for the PC this fall.

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