This review is of the Director's Cut(!) DVD version. I'll start with going over the bonus material. There is a well-made behind-the-scenes making-of documentary, a one hour commentary track(no, I swear, this isn't a movie) by a handful of the most important crew members, a short and excellent(though they overdid the lighting) live-action prequel, and what may only be episode 1(?) or something of the Machinima series, which is pretty funny. This FPS title has aspects of survival horror, and its marvelous atmosphere is the best part of it. The sound is especially vital to this; it is extremely carefully crafted to evoke pure psychological terror. It is not noisy, and it does not grate on the nerves. The unnerving audio, the well-composed music, not to mention the portions of this that are nearly silent all make this thoroughly creepy. Whether or not it ultimately pays off is depends on each individuals expectations. The voice acting is also immensely good, with no exceptions. Every now and then, apparitions and such show up before your eyes. This mood is frankly so effective that it successfully distracts you from the entirely linear(if well-designed and purty) levels. The replay value lies solely in the four difficulty(you can change it at any time) settings, and trying multi-player. It has a dozen maps and nine modes. A couple of them employ Reflex Time, the feature that allows you to slow down time. Now, I am compelled to point out... you are not Neo. In fact, you're not even Mouse. You can not dodge bullets. It can be useful to you, and in certain situations, necessary. And it definitely is pretty cool. I like it enables you to fire at a grenade after tossing it and, I kid you not, it will explode in mid-air. You also get to play with proximity mines and remote bombs, that you can pick up if you don't, you know, blow 'em up. Every weapon in this is unique, and has pros and cons to it. Apart from a pistol(that can be dual-wielded), an SMG, a shotgun and an assault rifle, the arsenal has stuff that is fairly sci-fi, such as the triple-barrel rocket launcher, and the particle-based thing, that either has enemies exploding in blood, or instantly burning off their skin, leaving their body as a charred skeleton. You can carry three at a time, so you have to be selective. Melee combat is an option, if it, in spite of being powerful, doesn't seem viable that often(I kinda wonder why they put that much effort into it as they clearly did... there's a nice assortment of moves). You can affect the environment to a reasonable extent. The physics engine is expertly done, you can really see the impact that you have on your surroundings. The graphics are impeccable; animations are smooth, and FX(water, reflection, etc.) are astonishing. The puffs of smoke and such if you hit other stuff than the foes can make it impossible to tell what's going on beyond the cloud; was this intentional? It is the only negative to the visual side of this. Well, apart from those red edges during RT that blur out whether or not you get attacked. And it is a tad awkward that you can activate some of the monitors you find, but not all of them, because you can't properly tell unless you point straight at them, and it'll either give the message that you can activate it or not. You may already know that this is similar to Half-Life. You always control the camera, and it remains bound to the first person perspective(that does mean that you have to look in the right directions to not miss anything). Cut-scenes often allow you to move around. Heck, you can see your arms, hands, legs and feet, if you're climbing, swimming or otherwise in a position to spot them in real life. And the AI is rather well-done. It is adaptive, and they will jump over railings to get to you, take cover, lay down suppressing fire, etc. They can hear you, see you, as well as spot you by the beam of your trusty flashlight(with batteries that die annoyingly fast... well, they recharge swiftly, too). It would be nice with a wider spectrum(gotta love that the majority of them let out a blood-curdling scream upon their demise), and for seeming imposing, this lacks one that stands out, in the "I don't wanna be fighting *that* guy!" way. Finally, this feels like you're in a film. Specifically, like The Ring meets Universal Soldier, as directed by John Woo. Yeah, let's be honest; this is not exactly original. It takes elements already done masterfully elsewhere, and puts them together. I'm not claiming it does a poor job of that, and it would be a shame if anyone reading this thought that I did not enjoy this, as, in both cases, nothing would be further from the truth. With that said, Max Payne did Bullet-Time, and it was better(and infinitely more helpful) there. And we've seen young, terrifying girls before. However, this might be the first VG to hold one(not to mention the adding of mind-controlled troopers to the mix, that's new), and again, it is done oh so well. The plot and the mystery are interesting(if one twist is *way* too excessively hinted at, and immediately figured out). I gotta admit, for a while, after it initially grabbed my attention(in a stranglehold), I wasn't sure why I was getting tired of it. Then I realized it: It's so repetitive. For as nifty the haunted kind of thing and the isolation is, the game-play usually consists of searching and battles against the handful of types of opposition. It grows stale. The ending isn't half bad. Not everyone will like it. The humor varies, it can make you laugh sometimes. There is disturbing content, violence(a bit of it brutal/gory), and gratuitous swearing in this. I recommend this to any fan of the concept. 8/10