I finally got around to playing this game (bought it new a year ago at half price because I am cheap).

So I get the subject issue, look around and find some comments about firewalls and blocking and turning off stuff.

For me, since I use Zone Alarm, and after experimenting, this worked;

In the ZA Programs section, I allowed F.E.A.R.2:Project Origin under the Access heading and allowed Steam xxxxxx (6 digit number) under BOTH Access and Server headings.

Just for info.