October is Scary Games Month, so I'm in the middle of FEAR 1 right now.
It's... not scary.
The problem is it completely separates out the creepy stuff from the shooty stuff, and it telegraphs the scares. Like you'll shoot it out with some guys, and then you'll go into another room and your HUD will start to flicker and spazz out, which means something "paranormal" is about to happen. And then it happens, and it can't actually hurt you, and then you get into another firefight with some enemies. So you'll never get shot at when you're in a paranormal part, nor can the paranormal stuff even hurt you, and you'll never see creepy paranormal shit while you're shooting it out with the conventional enemies.
It really makes the game not scary.
Also playing Dementium II on the Nintendo DS, that's pretty creepy so far.
On-deck for Scary Games Month:
- Condemned 2 (X360)
- Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)
- Alan Wake (X360)
- Silent Hill: Homecoming (X360)
- Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition (Wii, duh)