t this week’s Sierra Gamers’ Week in hot and toasty Palm Springs, we got the chance to get the first hands-on with both the Xbox 360 version of F.E.A.R. Files and the PC version of Perseus Mandate. With temperatures in Palm Springs reaching a disgusting 109° there were few things that could have cooled us off. Fortunately, there’s not much that Palm Springs could do to stop the chills and screams that our time with F.E.A.R. provided.

First off, just to set things straight, F.E.A.R. Files is a compilation package of both the first F.E.A.R. expansion Extraction Point (converted by Day 1 Studios), and the new expansion Perseus Mandate for the Xbox 360, which is being developed by Timegate Studios for both the Xbox 360 and PC. PS3 owners are out of luck, for the F.E.A.R. Files is an Xbox 360 exclusive. Both packages will be standalone and will not require the user to have any previous versions of the game. Finally, while pricing has not been finalized, we’ve heard that most likely F.E.A.R. Files will see a $40.00 price tag, and Perseus Mandate for the PC will be the usual expansion price of $20.00.

Our experience with the Xbox 360 version saw us see a selection from Extraction Point. Everything seems to have made its way properly from the PC version to the Xbox 360 – which isn’t all that surprising considering the developer – Day 1 – also did the original Xbox 360 conversion of F.E.A.R.

With Perseus Mandate being the second expansion, it does not follow after Extraction Point (for reasons we don’t need to spoil), however Perseus Mandate sees a story that happens in the same time frame. A second team of F.E.A.R. operatives has been dispatched to the Auburn district to find out what happened to the original F.E.A.R. squad that was sent there. You’ll take the role of a new F.E.A.R. op, and in the mission we got our hands-on we were charged with the duty of rendezvousing with another soldier, Chen, which is the first time we’ve experienced this sort-of cooperative AI gameplay. And for Chen, it’s not looking too pretty. A new threat called the Nightcrawlers are also messing around this Armacham facility, so you’ll have plenty of nasty things to deal with.

The demo dropped us in an underground area of Auburn that’s filled with many tunnels and sewers. The areas and enemies we ventured through didn’t look all that different from Extraction Point, outside of the Nightcrawlers. The Nightcrawlers look a bit beefier than your standard enemy from F.E.A.R. – and they pack quite a punch. On the AI front, these baddies seemed just as difficult if not more that what you’ve experienced in previous F.E.A.R. experiences. We encountered one set of Power Armor that was primarily tough, and Nightmares from Extraction Point showed up extremely early on. Regardless if we’ve seen them before, they still scare the crap out of us, slinking through the air with their glowing red eyes. Fortunately for us, there are a few new weapons to dispose of these creepy bastards with, including a grenade launcher that has grenades that fire nails (much like Resistance) and what seemed to be a new assault rifle. Even so, it’s still nice to have the slo-mo to give your self a fighting chance in tough situations.