F.E.A.R.

F.E.A.R. is one of the best first person shooters ever made, only let down by some repetitive level design and a very silly difficulty system. To get it out of the way immediately, F.E.A.R. is to be played on only the hardest possible difficulty unless this is literally your first FPS game ever. Without the proper difficulty setting this game turns from an incredibly thrilling, incredibly fun romp into a boring game where you shoot enemies who can never harm you in a way that matters and also you have slow-mo I guess. This is not some Dark Souls "get good" sentiment, it is the key to making the game's systems work as intended. On anything below Extreme Difficulty, you will never lean around corners, you will never use Slow-Mo as anything but a gimmick, you will never have to strategize, and you will be FLOODED with health-kits that you can use instantly with one button press so you never die. Trust me on this! Otherwise, F.E.A.R. just feels incredible. The shotgun in this game is legendary. The horror elements are lackluster, but they add to the non-stop anxiety of never knowing if the thing around the corner will be an enemy or a scare (another thing that is lost if the enemies aren't a real threat!) The game works like Halo, where enemies drop weapons with a limited ammo supply to try and make you use the different weapons, and the rate at which you run out of ammo in a gun is balanced *just* good enough to make every weapon change feel like a real decision on whether or not you risk dropping a great gun for something more ammo-rich. The game still looks pretty good and has some really incredible emergent systems that stem from the art design, like how shooting the surroundings will kick up dust and debris that can cloud your view, forcing you to fall back for a moment as it clears from the air as well as making it extra important you don't miss your shots. Shooting enemies in the head with each and every bullet made possible by the game's famous bullet-time mechanic just feels awesome. I love this game dearly.