izigame.me

BIG STEP UP FROM ORIGINAL: I liked the first game, but in FMF 1 the levels felt a little barren, movement a bit weightless, and killing enemies felt more like hitting cardboard cutouts with water balloons. That's all been improved to an incredible degree. There are satisfying secrets to discover, the movement feels a lot better (can still use some fine-tuning, but hey, its an EA build), and the combat feels so much more gripping. Enemies react to taking damage and have much more detailed animations for attacking, moving, and going down. Enemies in general feel deadlier, though many go down in a single bullet or swing, unsure if that's good or bad. No enemies are hit-scan so you can feel like a pro weaving through projectiles. I liked the changes made to the soldiers in particular, now if you destroy their tank/weapon on their head, they become much more durable and the noise they emit is really unnerving as they charge at you taking all that punishment. Wonderful change!
REVISED MECHANICS: The darkness and flashlight mechanic is a nice touch and I liked it, making it so combat can take place in the dark but introduce needing to charge the light while fighting. In the old game, your weapon would be put away while you shone the light, now, you just press F to wind up your hip mounted torch, which depletes over time. Taking on enemies in the dark is great for the horror vibe of the game, and having the light go out on you when you're distracted and in the heat of battle is perfect for the atmosphere. The special attack tome could use some variety, I would say I'm glad the many special attacks of the previous game have been trimmed down, but making it all one customizable attack, while cool, is a bit too far in the other direction. I liked having a few special moves liked how the two characters had their own. If there are plans to have the player character in FMF 2 have a few special moves that can be custom-tooled by the player, I support it. Having one just makes me want to make it a do-all "god mode" kind of move, rather than maybe having one special for improving attacks and another for defense/mobility, something like that. Progression as a whole was trimmed down a lot, and I liked having so many things that can be improved. Can madness points be spent on improving other character abilities as well? The current gun store system is nice since it gives the player a big reason to explore.
THE BOSS: I agree with some other players that the boss looks cool but needs work, its just a bullet sponge you circle strafe around. I know boss fights are hard to design in these sorts of games, so I want to be constructive: perhaps have multiple parts of its body to target strategically to harm it or stop its attacks, maybe coming out of several portals at once and at different times?
Verdict: Overall I'm very pleased with the improvements made, and am very excited for more levels to be released.