The combat is still really great. All the weapons feel and sound impactful, chunks get blown out of walls from gunfire, there's a slowmo ability and a jump kick ability, so it's pure John Woo action. The AI is still unmatched 13 years later. Enemies seem to have a sense of self-preservation and approach combat intelligently. They retreat and regroup, flank you, and communicate with each other. They seem to remain calm when they're beating you, and react with their own fear when you're outmatching them. Sometimes they'll do something completely unexpected that will go against everything shooters have subconsciously taught you over the years, but makes complete sense in the moment. The fact that later shooters seem to have been learned nothing from F.E.A.R is a crying shame.
There's a certain pacing to the game where you'll go through an action-packed sequence followed by an intense scary sequence, rinse and repeat. This is quite satisfying and "comfortable" because it's easy to predict, so the player always has moments of relief to look forward to where you know you'll get a break from the horror to just shoot some bad guys; and these contrasting moments mix together really well in my opinion. It's especially good for scaredy-cats like me who want to dip their feet in horror but can't handle a whole game of it. However, this kind of predictability in a horror game won't work for those who get more thrills from surprises. F.E.A.R. doesn't really do anything surprising in the horror department, and in general it just follows the same horror tropes we've seen in films a thousand times before, but the atmosphere is excellent and always intense in spite of that. It does a great job of keeping things subtle, and there are more times the game tries to mess with your mind and your perception of the world rather than constantly jump-scaring you. It's a very creepy game. The story is cheesy nonsense though.
