F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Gunfights and dread in slow motion

The shooting is the heart of the game. Weapons feel heavy and enemies come apart in messy pieces, so firefights end with rooms full of debris, sparks and worse. Becket's enhanced reflexes slow time for a few precious seconds, and the meter can be upgraded as you find boosters. The environment works for you too: flip a table or a medical gurney into instant cover, or blast obstacles out of your way. Enemies use the same tricks, flushing you out with grenades and grabbing cover of their own. One moment you are peeking around a pillar in slow motion, the next a grenade is rolling at your feet and the plan is gone.

Between the battles, the game gets quiet, and that is when it works on you. You play Sgt. Michael Becket, sent on a routine mission just before the blast from the first game's ending, and Alma Wade's power surging out of control turns the city into a ruined battlefield. You fight through a devastated downtown, a creepy elementary school and underground labs, chasing clues on how to destroy her. The horror leans more on atmosphere and jump scares than on constant terror, and it is less frightening than the original: several who played both agree the sequel trades dread for action. But Alma still tends to appear exactly when you have stopped expecting her.