"The Ring directed by John Woo" may be a pithy sales pitch for those wanting a reccomendation, but it fails to really do justice to the impressive tonal tightrope walk that Monolith pull off here. Sure you get the heroic bloodshed banger replete with weighty firearms and visceral bullet time which makes this a near-unbeaten genre essential.

But the psychological horror elements do a terrific job undercutting the supersoldier fantasy, and leaving you deeply vulnerable despite in-game. And a lot of that isn't even done through the central figure of Alma and her roots in the J-horror boom of the 90s and 00s. So much of the titular sense of fear is achieved through environmental scares, harsh atmospherics/lighting, and a truly oppressive sound design that ranks as highly as the gunplay does. Both the vengeful ghost and corporate malfeasence angle hardly make FEAR stand out for the brilliance of its narrative, but it still suceeds as a cerebral gaming experience within those confines.