Ever since the heart pounding game play of System Shock 2 way back in 1999, there really hasn’t been a first person shooter game that came close to giving you the heebie jeebies the way it managed to. In 2004, DOOM 3 was released, and while it definitely provided some scares and shocks, it wasn’t the "tweak with your head" kind of frights that have you peering around your room to make sure it is still just a game. It was a “startle-you-the-same-way-over-and-over” kind of terror, which lost its foreboding with prediction after awhile. From the first introduction of F.E.A.R., it was said to be a game that would leave the player frightened out of their socks and Monolith made good on their word and absolutely delivered.

Although from first glance, the game seems to be another run of the mill First Person Shooter, where you are the lone hero and you need to save the day using your awesome weapons and amazing accuracy, but in actuality, it really goes a lot deeper than that. The story starts off as you being the latest recruit to the F.E.A.R. team, a government SWAT team of sorts that deals with highly unusual and implausible missions. For your first assignment, you and your squad are sent in to find out what happened to a team of Special Forces soldiers that were sent in to a multi-billion dollar aerospace compound after it was invaded by a group of paramilitary replicants led by an individual named Paxton Fettel. As you reach the corporation, you quickly learn that the Special Forces team was wiped out by "something". Now it’s up to you and your team to track down Fettel and put an end to him to stop his telepathically controlled replicants. Once you start to make your way through the insertion point, you quickly realize that there are some very odd things going on, including visions of your colleague, a creepy little girl in a red dress and objects that like to move by themselves. While the creepiness of the game plays a large part, the actual game play, physics, graphics and everything else they could cram onto the five discs make this game one hell of a ride.

A word of warning right now before we get down to the nitty gritty, you will definitely need a power house of a computer to be able to run F.E.A.R. effectively. You will want to have a gig of RAM, an Nvidia 6600/Radeon 9800 or better video card and over a 2 GHz processor. With these you will be able to experience the game with just about all the settings on, but not turned up to their full potentials. The graphics of F.E.A.R. are easily akin to those of DOOM 3 and Quake 4 and with the appearance the shadows, lighting and texturing found in the game, it really is a sight to behold. The similarities stop there however. Once you are done with the initial introduction and enter the facility, you will soon enough run into the replica soldiers you are sent in to investigate. When you square off against them, you will immediately notice they aren’t like most enemies you encounter in other games. They will duck and run, seeking cover. They will yell at you, call out to each other, give away your position, and will even push and knock over objects like shelves and soda machines to hide behind. They also take it upon themselves to get closer to your location by climbing ladders, jumping over railings and diving through windows.

In addition to the incredible AI the enemies have, they also feature some excellent physics. Rag dolls are fully represented as is gibbing and dismemberment. A shotgun blast to the head will remove it, much like a proximity mine will separate any unfortunate soul from his legs. As for worldly objects, shooting a drum or crate will shift it along, knocking it around, which granted, should be expected in today’s games, while shooting a box will create a cloud of debris particles and bits of paper floating around. Knocked lights will cast swinging shadows, as well objects floating in water and glass breaking, react just as realistic. One of the key game play advantages you hold over your enemies is your ability to slow time through your "incredible reflexes" a la Max Payne’s Bullet Time. When you slow time, you move faster than the enemies and can nail them with several shots before they have the chance to pop one out.

You have a meter at the bottom of the screen which shows you how much “reflex” you have available to you, and when it runs out, it will slowly recharge back to full strength. While you have a full arsenal of weapons you will come across during the game, you also have the ability to use melee attacks. You are able to perform a roundhouse kick while jumping, a slide kick while ducking and a regular punch all while you have your weapons holstered. When you are holding your weapon, you are able to bash your opponent in the head with the butt end of your gun for an equally effective strike. These attacks are exceptionally strong and are very effective in slow motion, especially when you find yourself low on ammo. As you are making your way through the game, you will start to learn more and more about what is actually going on at the facility and your purpose of being there is not all it seemed to be from the start. You pick up bits of information from answering machines and laptops as well as ghostly voices that seem to speak inside your head. The game does seem to lull a little during the middle when you begin searching the corporation’s headquarters and it may seem like you are searching through a never ending series of offices and cubicles, but the scares and frights are always present, all the way up to the fantastic ending.

With the single player aspect of F.E.A.R. being the thrilling experience it is, the online multiplayer modes are not too far behind. The game delivers 8 different game play modes, 6 of which you are able to play with the slow motion booster. There is Death match, Team Death match, and CTF that use the slow motion device to influence the game. When a player has it, he will have an icon over his head letting other players know where he is throughout the map, although he will be the only one able to slow time as a trade off. In Team Death match and CTF, when the Slow Motion booster is used, the entire team reaps its benefits where as in Death match, it is the single individual that gets the abilities. With an 8-9 hour single player campaign and its hefty multiplayer portion, F.E.A.R. is an absolute must have for any First Person Shooter fan out there that takes pleasure in having the holy hell scared out of them, all while playing an intriguing game with an impressive storyline.