FEAR 2: Project Origin - My Impressions

I had this somewhat low on my Gamefly queue and it came in on Saturday.  After finishing up the yardwork and getting a nasty sunburn, I spent several hours Saturday and several more on Sunday playing it.  I have to say, I'm impressed and will not hesitate to pick up the third installment if/when it comes out.  I'm roughly halfway through the single player campaign, but haven't touched the multiplayer yet.  Here are my thoughts on the SP mode:

1. It started off as your standard FPS game, nothing flashy.  Your character goes in to retrieve a VIP and all hell breaks loose.  You start off with a generic pistol and submachine gun.  You fight mercenaries.  Just as you reach the target, a nuclear explosion goes off and things start getting weird.  You start having hallucinations, which cause the screen to become distorted and your see people around you dead or as zombies and whatnot.  Ick factor is high on some of these sequences.  It's basically all being caused by a creature called Alma.  Basically, you're being stalked by an undead, fugly, naked chick.  Yup, she's after you.  Have fun.
2. Pretty decent A.I.  Enemies hide behind cover, and pop out from top and sides of the cover.  I've been playing on hard mode (achiement whore), and you have to take things slow, or you'll be mowed down in short order.  After the first mission, you get a slow-mo option, which is needed against some of the nasties, especially the wall-crawling ones that sneak up on you, and are super-fast. 
3. Level design is very good.  Pretty linear, there are a few siderooms, but you really can't get lost.  However, each level has a lot of detail to make it stand up as whatever it's supposed to be.  First level is a multilevel office.  Second level is a hospital, etc.  The small things go a long ways.  This was very memorable in the ruins level, as there were people's ashes everywhere following the nuclear fallout.  You can see some bodies standing in the position they were when they were incinerated.  However, if you walk into them, they burst into ashes and are gone.  The elementary school has different themes for each classroom, such as ladybugs and pastel cubbies,  and the bookshelves are stocked with different books you'd find there.  Top-notch level design.
4. Achievements are pretty standard fare, though the collectibles are pretty easy to find, which I like.  I have yet to encounter an achievement that couldn't be obtained on the first playthrough.  Multiplayer appears to be a different story, but I haven't actually tried it yet. 
5. It's not super-scary, but you don't want to play this around young children.  There's a lot of gore and ghosts, especially when you get to the elementary school level.  Many of the ghosts are harmless and dissapear when shortly after you spot them, but some attack you.  The only spot that creeped me out so far was on the 8th level.  Lights flicker and go out.  The only source of light?  Ghosts that appear and attack you.  The light is somewhat of a strobe effect, so it makes navigation somewhat difficult and they do tend to pop out from anywhere, front or behind, so you have to keep on your toes.

I didn't have high expectations for this game, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  I'd give this game a B+, and it's worth a weekend rental, if nothing else.