The new FEAR 2: Project Origin demo is out now, for 360 and PC (PS3 via some bullhonkey subscription service). It took me quite a while on my slow British connection, but the demo itself is a little over 1GB for the PC.

So, all fired up, what's the first thing that needs to be done? Well, unless you're an FPS hungry octopus or an accomplished piano player hopped up on Red Bull, you're going to have to sort out the key binding. I'm not sure who it was who chose C to be crouch and Ctrl to be Slo-Mo, but they evidently had very little thinking time to choose these settings. It took me a little under 5 mins to sort it all out, not including the mouse sensitivity which is phenomenally high even by my standards, but I usually end up modifying controls on PC games anyway.

Right, onto the game itself. You start out, as you normally do in FEAR, picking your sorry behind up off the floor and surveying your new surroundings. The first thing that has to be mentioned is that the graphics are a true return to form. Unlike the recent outings of Crysis where it looks wonderful statically and once you start moving it become the world's prettiest PowerPoint slideshow, Project Origin has truly optimised whatever hardware you have almost effortlessly. Whilst most shooters opt for a silver/brown tint, Project Origin has almost ironically tried to break from this trend by smearing everything in dark blood red. Whilst this is sort of a disappointment in itself, it does actually fit the theme of the game surprisingly well.

Moving onto some actual action, we have the introduction of the mandatory Call of Duty finer aim/zoom function we have in all FPS's now. Not that that's a bad thing, it makes targeting easier, but again the default controls map this function to Shift...for some reason. The enemies go down in rather spectacular fashions, akin to the early footage of Killzone 2, and this is emphasised by the revamped Slo-Mo which now almost puts you in a temporary state of euphoria, with enemies and gunfire lighting up like a strong dose of magic mushrooms. The AI, from what I can see, is adequate but nothing special. Whilst they do run for cover and move in packs, the enemies will still eventually throw caution to the wind and attempt to kill you ye olde Halo 3 style - running and gunning, spraying and praying. However, you don't see much of them in the actual demo.

Most of the demo consists of what FEAR is great for - messing with your head via the small girl in The Ring (or Ringu, for the purists) if she bullied and stole the red coat from the girl in Shindler's List. Unlike in the first FEAR, where the game moves between mind-bending and gung-ho bullet storms with as much subtlety as Frankie Boyle, the line between the two is less clear in Project Origin. Some points call for you to take on these invisible baddies, which in all honesty I couldn't tell if I killed or not as they didn't leave a corpse, and the merges between the two is almost poetic.

FEAR has always been held in high respect by me for making you feel truly helpless. Unlike in, say, Silent Hill where it's understandable because you are really just an average-joe forced into a violent and unpredictable world, FEAR exacerbates that feeling by putting you in the shoes of a super-soldier armed to the teeth with the latest in firearm technology. Knowing that even with all your fancy pants gadgetry and Reflex Slo-Mo bullet time malarkey, you're still utterly powerless to the omnipotent is-it-or-isn't-it-evil that stalks you at every turn.

That isn't to say it isn't without it's flaws, though. My main gripe is that the HUD sits in the centre of the screen. The outer rings of you health/ammo are a good 4 inches away from the edge of the screen (I'm running at 1680x1050) and whilst it isn't game breaking or truly in the way of anything, it's still annoying. Like when watching a movie at the cinemas and the inevitable 8ft rugby player sits just on the corner of your peripheral vision. The demo itself is criminally short. I won't spoil it for potential testers, but the demo ends on an incredibly awesome high. That is to say, it's done it's job. It leaves you at such a point you're just getting into the swing of things and have started kicking ass and chewing bubble gum.

I know I shouldn't make rash decisions based off a demo, but this has been the first game in a long time to actually live up to my expectations. I have to hold myself back in fear of disappointment, but this is certainly a must-buy game for me.