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Where Extraction Point was an extension of the original F.E.A.R., Perseus Mandate is where TimeGate really takes the franchise to new places.
The gun battles are more hectic. The action is more intense. The old underground city section is intriguing. The deaths of your comrades are more personal (Chen in particular). The action pulls you forward, your heart pounding, as the story drives you to hurry onward. In short, this game has more "holy shit!" moments than the last one.
However, the game is not without its flaws. They put a lot of detail into little things, but very little detail into some big things. For instance, I could stop and look at a desk and see details like notebooks, memos, calendars, etc... But in the same office, I could walk into a room and the wall textures were so flat that I could hardly distinguish the wall from the floor. Later parts of the game have more interesting details in the larger geometry, but some areas, especially in the beginning, are the worst offenders.
Weapons are still awesome, with a few notable exceptions. The mini-gun carried me through a big section early on. It was excellent fun! The lightning gun can hurt multiple enemies if they are close together. At close range it is deadly, but enemies are not typically clumped together close enough to make this other feature valuable. It is also very loud. It hums and sizzles constantly, which makes it the most annoying weapon to have equipped while walking through empty halls. The grenade launcher is a new weapon. It sucks. The shotgun seems less useful this time around, as more of the battles are in larger rooms.
So far, Perseus Mandate seems heavier on action and lighter on horror elements. It is a good mix that makes for a fast-paced, fun shooter!
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