Monolith and Sega have recently teamed-up to deliver the horror console shooter Condemned 2: Bloodshot. Their next venture into the horror genre brings us back to the creepy little girl we all know as Alma. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is said to delve deeper into Alma's backstory, in addition to being a unique addition to the FPS genre.

Working overtime, eh?

Right in the family jewels.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is, according to Monolith, an effort to pick up the story where F.E.A.R. ended. You play as Delta Force operative Michael Beckett. Armacham HQ explodes and you find yourself in a troop transport that's tasked with extracting company prez Genevieve Aristide. Chaos and devastation are everywhere in the city of Auburn. Pretty soon you come across the overwhelming horror that is Alma. She has been freed and her rage knows no bounds.

The combat and extremely bloody FPS action we've seen provides gameplay mechanics that are quite similar to F.E.A.R., though there are numerous fresh elements thrown in to spice things up. They've stressed that the game is in pre-beta and that there's still plenty of work ahead.

The game now allows your character to pack four weapons instead of three and each firearm has an alternate firing mode. You can now gaze down the sights of every gun you're wielding and the main character will be able to sprint. They've also fitted in the ability to cook grenades, which is a pleasant addition indeed. Another important change -- apparent right from the start -- is the fact that your character regenerates health automatically, while keeping out of trouble (Halo style). This means you won't have to bother with med kits and such.

Unlike F.E.A.R., F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin has considerably more outdoor sections and this time around they were meticulously rendered, with a greater amount of details in the backdrop, richer texture patterns on structures, cars and other objects. Some really impressive-looking cityscapes were shown and we were told that they will vary throughout the course of the main campaign. From this moment on the presentation kicked into gear, with Monolith demonstrating the cover system and destructible environments, both of which are key gameplay ingredients. If you happen to catch a glimpse of enemy soldiers hiding behind a car in the street, just shoot out the engine block to cause massive damage to the surrounding area and take out multiple foes at once.

To really start creating havoc throughout the neighborhood, you can mount a huge mech-like thing or as they called the "Replica Elite Powered Armor." Stepping into one of these babies gives you a great advantage over your enemies (and frequently it will be the other way around). This sucker has dual-mounted rocket-launchers and powerful mini-guns, but you're also bound to encounter foes using the same "ride" as you. So, things can get pretty nasty.

One thing that can be said about this game that marks a decent improvement over F.E.A.R. is the clearly enhanced enemy AI. They react far more realistically and will use any means necessary to avoid the player's gunfire, on top of using a variety of different tactics to counterattack.

As always, the dudes at Monolith are masters of direction, so you'll be experiencing some intense moments; like the one we saw - a masterfully directed movie theater set piece where you can hear the sound of the flick playing in the background.

Like most of the games we've already seen at the show, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origins packs a hefty amount of mature content, with some truly gruesome supernatural creatures popping-up every which way and enough blood to make your stomach turn. It definitely puts the 'M' in M-rated. Brutal encounters with monsters, fierce firefights and... Alma. That's what's laying in wait in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origins. We were scared stiff and we bet you'll be too when you try it out yourselves.

As we've mentioned earlier, a long path lies ahead for the folks at Monolith until they wrap things up with this one. The game is heading towards multiple platforms - PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.