Compared to TimeGate's expansions, definitely feels more like a coherent and complete project. But suffers from some of the same problems and then some.

We can debate a lot about the aesthetics and story of the two games, but at the end of the day that's entirely subjective. I do happen to think that the second game looks nice, and its horror elements are not ruined by the new aesthetic, despite it being brighter and warmer. I do think it feels less like the first game's direct inspirations, J-horror films of the late 90s and early 00s. But what made the first game worth playing was its unparalleled combat, best in the genre. And that is something the sequel doesn't have.

Of course, there's a clear reason why. F.E.A.R. 2 was a multiplatform project, so it had to be dumbed down in order to be playable on consoles. Simpler physics, particle effects and lighting because the consoles are just weak hardware. CoDified combat, movement and interactivity (or rather lack thereof). Thank God the slow-mo is still here because without it the game plays like ass, which you can taste in the first level. There's a much stronger emphasis on cover and aiming down sights, thus stripping away the game's entire identity. The level design is pretty much as linear as in TimeGate's expansions, and the AI is even worse. I suspect this has something to do with it being hard for console players to aim at such mobile opponents with their shitty analogue sticks. Coming from the first game's possibly greatest AI of all time, this hits hard. Gunshots lack any impact, which is something even Call of Duty gets right, so I don't understand what happened here. The player's moving speed has been slowed down and a sprint-button has been introduced. The sprinting here limits your ability to turn, something clearly designed for cover-based shooters where you use the sprint button to run from one cover to another. Then again, the high mobility in the first game complemented its level design, encouraging you to flank and ambush, which is something that doesn't exist here anymore.

Tbf, this can be said about every mechanical subsystem that has been downgraded here. All the mechanics in the first game were connected to each other, forming a cohesive ecosystem. This can't really be said about the second game where rudiments of the first game's mechanics coexist with Call of Duty's mechanics that clash with them radically.

But, seeing how the combat was always the main attraction of F.E.A.R., and it's been butchered here, I don't see any point in playing further.