Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 02:12
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
iTWire: Tell us something of the F.E.A.R 2:Project Origin background.
Matthews: “F.E.A.R 2 is a great blend of first person shooter and a horror bent which has a lot of Japanese horror influences from the first game, and as we have pushed forward into F.E.A.R 2 we have extended the horror aspects and how we present them.”
“ So you are going to see a lot of influences from a variety of different medias. We looked at some of the European influences in horror, taken little snippets, and great gems from films such as Nightwatch and Daywatch or High Tension and we have incorporated those vibes bringing them into F.E.A.R 2. “
iTWire: In the original game there was a focus on the Japanese horror influences, with familiar settings, that are then having the comfort zones pulled out from under from player.
Matthews: “One of the great things about Japanese horror is that it is such a slow burn, the way they reveal the story we paralleled in the first game. But we couldn’t just come back with the same exact formula, we needed to build and extend on it. We are still very much Japanese horror influenced, very much ‘vengeful ghost’. But what you are going to get is some new ways to get scares out of people. “
“The way we manifest the F.E.A.R 2 experience will be by breaking expectations. Say you come into a room and everything feels normal, you’re really never put on that heightened sense of awareness. But if you come into a room and there is a blood spot on the floor, well you can assume that is still believable, but then say you come into that room again, and there is a blood spot on the floor and it is dripping towards the ceiling, well that immediately puts the player on edge, and we can monopolise on that.”
iTWire: That’s either bad programming, or good art direction
Matthews: “[laughs]One of the things we realised from the first game was that it all took place in tight corridors, it was great for creating real frenetic combat, but after a time people got a little desensitised, they got a little numb to it.”
“Well, one of the big things we decided to do in F.E.A.R 2 was a lot more variety, we do that in a number of ways, but one will be in the environments. You will be getting out into the street, seeing the city of Fairport, what has happened to it since the end of F.E.A.R. You will be able to traverse a large portion of it, and it will help tell and flesh out the story that has transpired since the first game.”
iTWire: I imagine from your perspective, as primary art director, you get to go to town on a lot of the creatures we come up against?
Matthews: “Absolutely, once again that was another thing we wanted to come back to with this idea of added variety, the first game. I think people got into a rhythm of seeing the same characters a bit too often. This time we wanted to mix that up a little, we have broadened the palette of characters you can interact with, as well as Alma herself, we wanted to change the way she interacts with the player, giving her a little more teeth. We gave her a few creatures that nest under her family, so you are going to see Remnants, the Spectre or the Abomination, which are all kind of lumped into that horror combat aspect of F.E.A.R 2.”
“F.E.A.R 2 is continuing the story of Alma, the first game was around Alma as a small child and then ultimately you experience the ‘release’ and her true form. And then in F.E.A.R 2 we pick up literally 30 minutes before the end of the first game, you see glimpses of Alma as the little girl, then at the end of the first mission there is the cataclysmic event, seen at the end of the first game, but paralleled here from a different perspective. At that point the two stories merge and push forward. You will see how Alma reacts now that she has been released.”
Continued on Page 3
