Today I’m going on a date attending a F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin press event hosted by Monolith’s Dave Matthews (not this guy). (Wait, whaddya mean we’ve already done that joke?) I’m curious to see if it’s as scary as one of my colleagues claims and just how well the whole mech power armour stuff fits in. Oh, and whether Alma herself decides to make an appearance…

When I get back, in between writing up my F.E.A.R. 2 impressions, I’ll be jumping back into Albion to continue my Fable 2 adventures. One question on that before I go: is it at all possible to act neutrally or is it just a case of balancing your good deeds with evil ones?

Dave Matthews (not this guy), the primary art lead for F.E.A.R. 2, has an idea what tanked the franchise: expansions and console ports — ones not made by Monolith.

Talking to CVG, Matthews said the Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate expansion packs, made by TimeGate Studios, may have brought some new people to the brand — “and killed off a few.”

Says Matthews:

“[TimeGate] took the story in a direction that we didn’t intend. We look at Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate as an alternate universe, a ‘what could have been’, and because of that it doesn’t necessarily diminish the story that we were trying to tell. F.E.A.R. was about Alma, F.E.A.R. 2 is about Alma, and we wanted to continue the story the way we originally intended.”

Less-than-fawning reviews of those expansions, plus some mehs for the console ports of original F.E.A.R., might have the brand in a slump, Matthews suggests in chucking Day 1 Studios under the bus. Day 1 built the 360 and PS3 versions of F.E.A.R., which didn’t do as well as the PC version. Matthews vows that 360 and PS3 versions of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will be closer to their PC counterpart (also due in 2009) than was the case with the original.

Ports and Expansions “Killed Off a Few” F.E.A.R. Fans [CVG]

Last year we determined that singing a fake holiday song without being able to sing was a very bad idea for an internet greeting card. Apparently F.E.A.R. 2 devs Monolith didn’t get the memo.

Witness F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin multiplayer quality assurance guy Lucas Meyers battle his way valiantly through this terrible parody of “Walking In A Winter Wonderland”, “Walking In A Deathmatch Wonderland”. While it is truly painful to listen to, it at least contains some footage of F.E.A.R. 2 multiplayer.

And Christmas was going so well. Thanks a lot, Monolith!

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Community Site [Official Site]

Thankfully, amid the sloughing off of Sierra brands at Activision Blizzard, Project Origin has secured its originally intended title and will be known from this day forward as F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. The official site writes that developer Monolith Productions and publisher WB Games have purchase the rights to the F.E.A.R. name, most assuredly helping its chances at retail. (We still liked “Dead Echo” better!)

Project Origin Renamed – F.E.A.R.2: Project Origin [Project Origin]

Those champing at the bit for more glimpses of Gears of War 2 will not be disappointed — there will even be a couple of Gears signing sessions, should you have any merchandise you need to boost on eBay.

Other demos we would class as ‘eagerly awaited’ are Halo Wars and Project Origin, but MS will be showing off their new Games Creation and ‘Mashups’ tool PopFly as well as more info on the New Xbox Experience.

It is those ‘TBA’ demos on the Saturday & Sunday afternoons, that have us intrigued, though. What could it be? Is it a new game? Could it be the long awaited Next-Gen updates of Minesweeper and Freecell? Have they finally gone mental and are bringing out a portable Xbox?

Exciting!

Full schedule after the jump..

Friday

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

4:00 PM Gears of War 2

5:00 PM Popfly

6:00 PM Project Origin

Saturday

10:00 AM Halo Wars

10:30 AM New Xbox Experience

11:30 AM Popfly

12:00 PM Gears of War 2

1:00 PM Gears of War 2 Signing Session

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

3:30 PM New Xbox Experience

4:30 PM TBA

Sunday

10:00 AM Halo Wars

10:30 AM New Xbox Experience

11:30 AM Popfly

12:00 PM Gears of War 2

1:00 PM Gears of War 2 Signing Session

2:00 PM Gears of War 2

3:00 PM Project Origin

3:30 PM New Xbox Experience

4:30 PM TBA

PAX Here We Come! Demo Info [Gamerscore Blog]

Other tweaks the Monolith team have employed include giving the medkit system the boot and now using a regenerise system instead. Another pic change is that players can now carry four weapons instead of just three. The devs said that in F.E.A.R. most players got three weapons they liked and were hesitant to try out new ones — hopefully, this fourth gun slot will open up more experimentation. With the game running on the Monolith and Microsoft developer Jupiter Engine, the team has put in nice touches like a better depth of field and scope. The A.I. is much better as well, making the single player hands-on much more satisfying.

Another neat aspect was that enemies take cover behind cars. But they don’t just take cover behind cars, they open car doors and use them for cover. Players can do this likewise as well as flip over cars and whatnot. There are also mechanical body suits (mechas) that players can get in and shoot stuff up with. Mechas aside, the game might benefit from including the slo-mo as it still does feel somewhat nondescript — though solid. The E3 build featured a city in rubble, and it was great to roam around. Project Origin gives the player more freedom than F.E.A.R..

The game’s release date will be announced “sometime after E3, but not the day after E3″. Well, that’s good to know. The day after E3 has already passed.

UPDATE: Monolith contacted us to let us know the wrong vid had gone out with the release, and the better one has replaced the…less than better one.