F.E.A.R. MP demo debuting on DLX 9/29

Of all the first-person shooters on the 2005 release calendar, one that has been itching PC Gamers' trigger fingers the most is F.E.A.R. Developed by Monolith Productions and published by VU Games, the shooter has piqued the industry's interest since it was unveiled shortly before E3 in 2004. In particular, the game's high-cailber, assault-weapon-saturated online multiplayer mode has generated a lot of interest.

F.E.A.R. won't be on store shelves until October 18, but gamers will be able to test-fire the FPS's multiplayer mode several weeks ahead of time. VU Games has confirmed that the 451MB F.E.A.R. multiplayer demo will makes its world premiere on GameSpot DLX on Thursday, September 29 at 8:00 a.m. PDT. A single-player demo for the game is already available.

Weighing in at approximately 550MB, the demo will feature two maps: Factory, which will be a deathmatch map, and Facility, a capture the flag map. Both maps will allow for dedicated servers and 16 players to join in action, [UPDATE] nOW LAN play will be supported. Factory will also support team deathmatch, slow-motion team deathmatch, and slow-motion deathmatch, while Facility will also support slow-motion capture the flag. No keys will be necessary for either map.

For those who don't know J.A.C.K. about F.E.A.R., the game follows a special-operations commando in the US military. Apparently he's involved in some very special operations, as he's sent into a research facility after the Army's elite Delta Force was wiped out by the unknown forces inside. Things go downhill from there, as outlined in GameSpot's latest designer diary.

When it ships, F.E.A.R. will also be available in a special Director's Edition DVD, which features a "making of" documentary, a developer's roundtable video, and an exclusive machinima episode from Rooster Teeth Productions (the guys behind Red vs. Blue). According to EB Games, both versions will retail for $49.99, and both are rated M for Mature.