Knock your socks off scary!
Only with this game, there is no nostalgia. It is refreshing, it is new, and it is incredibly..well...frightening.
To give you an idea of how crazy I was with this game, I specifically bought a new video card and motherboard to be able to handle the specifications for this game - and I was not disappointed (plus, I had a reason to upgrade). I had one of the first copies to hit Best Buy on Aug 3, 2004, and played it for about 6 hours that night. What an incredible experience.
First of all...the atmosphere in this game is unreal. The graphics, especially with a powerful graphics card that allows you to take advantage of the high end graphic features, really jump out at you. You see steam rising out of the floor grates. Blood splatters from dead creatures leave visible stains on the floor. And the constant vapors from the heat in various rooms add an incredible sense of realism. Oh, and I forgot to mention the monsters. Did I mention the monsters? Wow!
And not only are the monsters so precisely and beautifully rendered...but they actually scare the crap out of you - only because they will come out of the woodwork, or drop down from the ceiling, or jump out at you from an alcove, without you even suspecting that they are there. Honestly, I am surprised that there wasn't some sort of health warning akin to what they tell you before you enter haunted houses on Halloween.
As for the sound, it too is unbelievable. The monsters are frightful enough to look at - the sounds they make are even more unbelievable. Ambient sounds, such as the whirring of a gear, the opening of doors, or the activation of your pod, are spot on. And the overall soundtracks adds a great deal of atmosphere to the game.
For gameplay, I recomend this game for a few reason. First, a great story line - albeit cliche, it is still nice to see one. Second, the use of the pod to track all of your information. It was literally at your fingertips at any time. And the audioclips you get to hear, when retreiving and inserting other people's data pods, make the game more than a game.
Overall, I highly recomend this game. Between the visuals, the audio, and the gameplay, it is a well crafted and fantastic piece of a game.
One last thing - I highly recommend, unless you have a heart of steel and can handle never being surprised or taken unaware...do not play this game in the dark. Well, actually, I do recommend that you play it in the dark - it only adds to the experience.