Hello,
I did not purchase this game back when it came out at 2005. When I was at Best Buy last week I saw this game in a "bonus package", the game and two expansion packs, for $19.99. So I got it.
If you have modern hardware on your PC you should not have a problem installing or running the game. My PC is okay but not great, Core 2 Duo E6300+Radeon 1950+1.5 gigabytes of RAM. The game has a benchmarking utility which recommends settings for you. I just used the medium settings and set the resolution to 1280x1024, which is the native resolution of my monitor.
I haven't gotten through the whole game yet, so this review is based on the first few levels. The AI of the bad guys is okay, I suppose, but not great. A real squad of marines would not come through a door one at a time, especially when they see a stack of their dead buddies in the doorway. But IMO most FPS games suffer from this.
I'm writing this review in the first place because of the creepy atmosphere of the game. The sound, cutscenes, and the dark environment keep me in a low-grade sense of panic. I have played a lot of FPS games but none is spine-tingling scary like this one is. Bioshock was pretty creepy, too, but not like FEAR.
Perhaps the manufacturers of uniforms should band together and make better flashlights.
IMO the graphics have held up well and it's the story and gameplay that's important anyway rather than eye candy, right?
If you don't have this game, then the $20 is a real bargain to get the game and two expansions.
Regards,
CM