Okay, eerie looking young chick hiding behind her hair - check. Allegations of mind control and psychological warfare - check. DNA morphing and cloning - check. Impregnation of young girl in order to create super being - check. Looks like we're ready to rock and roll! I just hope that Timegate Studios' offering in the F.E.A.R. series is more rocking than roll over and yawning though. As has been mentioned before, F.E.A.R. ran the risk of being the troubled, hybrid child of Counter-Strike and Japanese thriller, The Ring, yet succeeded spectacularly. But does F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point bring anything new to an already expectation-laden table?

So at the end of F.E.A.R. you've been found and rescued; as you wake from unconsciousness you realise you are in a helicopter and turn to witness the mushroom cloud engulfing the derelict city below you. You hear a loud bang as if the helicopter has been hit by something or someone - and turn to see Alma, in her adult form appear at the open edge of the helicopter. Then everything goes black. After the plane crashes you're separated from your rescuers, Jin and Holiday, and left to fend for yourself on the streets of the abandoned and now ruined city. Eeriness ensues as the replica soldiers (originally having been used via Paxton's mind control and telepathy) are dormant and you manage to find solace in a church, only to find that Paxton is still alive.

But this really is the least of your worries, as in the proverbial red corner of the F.E.A.R. opponents boxing ring you have the young tortured soul of Alma in both her forms (as a young child and as a teenager) simultaneously trying to aid you and trying to kill you, whilst in the blue corner you have the telepathic, soldier-controlling offspring of Alma - Paxton and his posse of replica soldiers. You are informed early on your aim is to reach the 'extraction point' (hence funnily enough the name of the game!) This extraction point is the now abandoned hospital and although it had been intended for use by Holiday's Delta Force team to regroup, this isn't quite what you find.

F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point manages to maintain the 'scare factor' by matching, if not excelling, F.E.A.R. itself, with journeys through Alma's tortured mind and witnessing the demented manners in which she succeeds in torturing her makers. All I'm left to say is that with bloody battles between you and Paxton's mind-controlled replica soldiers, tortured, deformed scientists and urges for justice through twisted revenge, F.E.A.R. obviously doesn't believe in happy endings!

The gameplay itself is pretty similar to the original F.E.A.R., split between scenes of tense, eerie quietness and all-out fire fights with Paxton's soldiers. But the new weapons do make an entertaining change, with turrets providing a useful distraction, whilst the new weapons allow for non-stop destruction through either burning up or tearing apart whatever gets in your way. The chain gun also obliterates the environments you pass, leaving them a bullet-riddled mess, yet against tougher foes, the chain gun seems a little weak.

The scare element of the original F.E.A.R. is maintained in this expansion, and the supernatural foes theme takes a nice twist with demons that you eventually fight, making for a scary battle or two as they are invisible and consequently you can only see their eyes. In order to heighten the suspense, the supernatural element is nicely complimented occasionally by accompaniment from another character, as if to prove to you that what your character is witnessing is real. The soundtrack is also superb in complimenting this, with music either pumping or eerie in order to perfectly match your surroundings. There are a few helicopter fights that almost feel like a boss section too, yet fit into the level seamlessly.

On a more negative note, the original F.E.A.R. has been criticised for its unimaginative environments - a warehouse area including a factory, office blocks including a garage, abandoned apartments and a secret lab - there's nothing profoundly new or original in Extraction Point, which sadly doesn't stray from this blueprint. Although at the beginning you do seek sanctuary in a church, this doesn't last and none of the consequential scenery has any other interesting morsels for us to chew on. It's similar in scenery and setting to Condemned: Criminal Origins, using the exact same game engine and even a lot of the same textures on the walls and floors. But Extraction Point does have an abstract edge to its gore fest ingredient. The victims of Alma's torture are deformed and twisted in convulsions and the walls and floors of the hospital are drenched in blood, giving Extraction Point a Doom or Silent Hill feel to it. The final battle is one of the most intense yet, but sadly it doesn't feel different enough to be fresh.

Extraction Point is further up on the scare scale than Doom 3 - the gore continues with intense and explosive battles, and graphics that make you feel like you're in the middle of a fireworks display - and you're the one holding the matches. Although the battles are not themselves very tactical, you can expect them to be more intense than those in Half-Life 2 for example, as the soldiers are far smarter and more mobile, but sadly the weapons and enemies are by no means as diverse or original. This element does keep the battles fresh, as the soldiers are smart yet the battles against the less intelligent of the enemies soon become boring, as these foes are heavier and slower to move, so once you've figured out a good strategy they can soon become a little tiresome. The game is about two thirds of the length of the original, a decent length for an expansion, although it is tougher and the new weapons add a devastating feel to your arsenal - the deployable turret is useless at killing things yet excellent at distracting them!

Apart from F.E.A.R., Monolith is also responsible for the unfortunately discredited Sixties comedy spy spoofs No One Lives Forever 1 and 2. Although neither of these managed to infiltrate the mainstream, Monolith finally got the credit they deserved with F.E.A.R. and Extraction Point is only to credit their original talents further. Although it's more of the same from the Monlith camp, if you enjoyed F.E.A.R. then you'll be rejoicing as you play through this next chapter. Sure, it strays only a little from the original, with just a few extra differences to quench your thirst, but the original was after all pretty astonishing. Extraction Point doesn't uncover as many secrets as the original either, making it a progression through a timeline rather than a development in order to reveal stunning twists; yet the same feelings of desperation and escape hold their roots firmly and you do get a sense that you're fighting your way through the experience itself, rather than simply fighting the enemy in order to reach the extraction point. There's no disputing that Extraction Point is a great add-on to an excellent original, with some of the most intense fights to be found in any first person shooter. It's well worth playing if you are a fan of the original, but be ready for a flawed story with another inevitable unhappy ending…

Reviewed by Christina Warner for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).