F.E.A.R. was labeled as the first true first-person shooter due to the fact that you were able to view your entire body with the exception of your face. While some may have considered this a minor advancement within the genre, it was still a significant one nonetheless. It gave the player a sense of physicality; the character didn’t seem like a floating gun and a pair of arms. So when I walked into the Warner Brothers booth to check out their upcoming title Project Origin, I was expecting to see some gore, a bit of horror, and a couple more advancements within the genre to continue on past trends.
Developed by Monolith, Project Origin kicks off right before the end of the first title in the series, F.E.A.R., in which you take control of a soldier seeking out the location of the devil-child Alma in order to stop her from going off the rails. Of course, the blast occurs as it did at the end of the first game and the story takes shape from there. Concurrently, Replica soldiers are busy converging on your location in order to put a stop to your advancements.
Monolith has changed their health system for Project Origin to a regenerative one with the ability to pick up additional armor sets along the way. They’ve also moved to iron-sight aiming for weapons and created a depth of field effect for this style of aiming in order to keep focus on your target. You’ll also be able to switch up between your active grenade types and your weapons, in addition to being able to wield up to four different types of weaponry at any one time as opposed to three.
According to the game’s designer, the above feature was introduced so that users would experience a more open ability to test out certain weapons they wouldn’t normally try. I’m not quite sure how that logic works, but I guess more is always better than less, right? I know I loved blasting baddies in the face with the shotgun in F.E.A.R. while slowing down time. Hopefully they’ve added some cool weapons this time around within the final build that will be just as entertaining as the shotgun.
Another huge improvement over F.E.A.R. is the overall enhancement in AI. Replica soldiers no longer just continue the same ridiculous pattern that lets you sit back and pick them off one by one; instead they now recognize the environment around them and utilize it for their own benefit. You’ll get to see these improved soldiers ripping open cars doors to take cover behind and working together to adapt to what you’re trying to do to them.
With the inclusion of incendiary grenades, Replica soldiers will be able to catch on fire, showcasing a particularly impressive AI functionality. I witnessed one of these soldiers catch on fire, throw down his assault rifle and take out his sidearm to shoot at the main character before jumping into a puddle of water to extinguish himself.
The story happens to unravel much like the firstas in it’s not handed to you piece by piece on a silver platter. There are definitely some puzzling elements where you’ll have to figure things out for yourself. Unfortunately, the developers remained tight-lipped in regards to the game’s online component, so I was unable to obtain any information on that particular aspect. Despite this, however, they did happen to mention that you could expect the title to represent the same elements it did throughout the first game with a nice balance of horror and FPS style of play.
Finally, I decided to save the coolest new feature for last. Monolith has added the ability to man powered armor that you’ll be able to take advantage of in order to blow out walls and take down those Replica baddies. This suit will notify you of which enemies are bigger threats than others and you’ll utilize your dual-machine guns as well as some missiles that launch from your shoulder armor to take them out. These over-powered beasts are a welcome addition that adds an entirely new level of destruction the world of Project Origin.
In the end, fans of F.E.A.R. are going to be pleasantly surprised with the outcome of Project Origin. Those of you that may have missed out on the first boat with F.E.A.R. should definitely take the opportunity to go back and see what it has to offer, as this title will definitely be a must own for the horror fans at heart.