So, you haven't played the PC version of scare-tactical first-person shooter FEAR, and you wonder what the big deal is? Just imagine a single-player game that's equally inspired by horror movies such as The Ring or Poltergeist as it is by white-knuckle military shooters like Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. Got it? Okay, now push that image out of your mind, because all we've seen of the 360 version is the "instant action" mode.

That's not a bad thing; it's just not so much supernaturally scary as it is soaked in adrenaline. You see, instant action means exactly that - no story to mess with your head, no weird little girl or anything like that. It's about you. In a warehouse-type level. Blasting away at wave after wave of increasingly more powerful enemies.

That's all there is to it. It's shooter zen. You shoot and they shoot and one of you falls. If it's them, another spawns and the cycle repeats. If it's you… well, just hope your score is good enough to earn you some credit when it's uploaded onto Xbox Live-enabled leader boards. Then press start and do it again.

This is just the first of what VU has promised are multiple enhancements to FEAR on 360. We've got to admit we were hoping to see how the single-player mode looks on Mr. Bill's newest box, but we can wait. It ships sometime this year, so the wait won't be too long. Besides, we're just now able to sleep with the lights on after finishing the PC version.

May 12, 2006