Video Game Review: FEAR

Theres nothing our culture finds more terrifying than little girls. Give them long, dark hair, make them stand still in a doorway, dim the lights, and have them whisper something vaguely creepy, like "I know who you are." Terrifying.

Token Creepy Girl is now gracing the box cover of the first-person-shooter FEAR, which stands for First Encounter Assault Recon.

But ignore the cheesy cover and the lame title: FEAR is an amazing game that fully lives up to the hype it garnered at E3.

Not since Resident Evil 4 has a game so flawlessly blended horror, action and a truly cinematic style.

The horror aspect of the game is perhaps the most terrifyingly well-executed experience that video games have ever seen. FEAR doesn't try to merely scare the player with cheap startles, nor does it ask the player to defeat hideous demons with a small stick.

It also doesn't spawn 10 enemies behind the player every time he or she picks up a health pack, unlike a certain game that starts with D and ends with oom 3.

FEAR creates a truly tense, haunting atmosphere, the kind that will keep heart rates elevated for lengths of time that this nerdy gamer hasn't experienced since he last attempted to jog from the MU to the MU bus stop.

Swinging lamps cause shadows to dance across rooms, incoherent whispers echo through hallways, and ghostly figures casually striding across distant doorways force the player to question what's real.

The action manages to be fast and action-packed without ever breaking the tension.

One minute the ceiling boards of a dark office building may be getting knocked down, one by one in a straight line, by a ghostly presence. The next minute, the opened holes may serve as an entry point for ninja-like special-ops enemies, think evil Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell on crack.

Though the game lacks a wide variety of weapons and enemies, the battles stay fun and fresh for two main reasons.

First, the squad-based AI is extremely sophisticated. Enemies in the game might shout "He's trying to flank us!" when you run away or "Flush him out!" when you hide in a corner, at which point they'll start tossing grenades.

Second, the game liberally gives players the option to enter a slow-motion mode for a few seconds, which affects movement speeds, guns rates of fire and enemy reaction times.

However, the player is still able to aim as he or she normally would, which gives a considerable advantage while simulating the off-the-charts reflexes of FEAR's protagonist.

The mode isn't original to FEAR, but it is done particularly well here. Bullets and explosions ripple through the air, while chunks of cement spray off of walls. It's quite possibly the most impressive visual effect seen in a video game to date.

FEAR contains a multiplayer mode, but it's clearly not the focus of the title. It seems a bit tacked on, and even the promising idea of a slow-motion mode online becomes somewhat of an annoying gimmick after about 20 minutes.

The single-player campaign is also somewhat short; it can be completed in a few somewhat casual sittings. It also comes to a rather abrupt ending.

But what's there is pure gold and should be experienced by everyone. FEAR simply cannot be missed by FPS fans, and even non-gamers should find a buddy with a high-end PC to experience the game. It?s a milestone for video games and showcases the absolute best of what the medium can achieve.