I wanted to write a review of this game, because while playing it I felt like a lot of what other reviewers were complaining about were actually things that enhanced the experience - widescreen, low pulled camera, etc. I've also played through the entire game.
ProsThe Evil Within can be a pretty scary game, but honestly it's because it keeps building the scariness. The first level didn't scare me at all, the second only scared me a little, etc. But as I started running into the bosses and sub-bosses, things started getting scary. For me, it wasn't so much because they were horrifying, but because of how easy they could kill you. In the later game, seeing familiar faces who I KNEW were nearly impossible to kill was the worst of all - I had a feeling of "oh no, not this guy AGAIN!" - though it was only the second time I'd seen him.
I think the widescreen is great - it adds immersion. It did not restrict my view. Honestly, after the first couple hours I never even consciously noticed it.
The camera is also well-done. Some people complain because they can't see everything. Well, you can see just about what your character ought to be able to see, plus a little more. For example, if you're trying to see around a corner, and you get right up to the edge, the camera will swing out and let you see around the corner - even if Sebastian couldn't see there. However, if you're trying to sneak through a cornfield with cornstalks higher than your head, you won't be able to see more than a few feet in front of you - just like Sebastian.
The tension in the game is paced well, and the music score is perfect in that it really sets the mood. Your character feels sufficiently powerful against the grunt enemies (assuming you're sneaky and stealth-kill them). Most of the bosses require at least a little thinking to deal with effectively, and the game encourages you to use the environment to your advantage. Will you disarm that bomb and get a few crucial parts to make harpoons, or will you leave it there, draw four enemies toward it, then shoot it to blow them all up?
This game rewards creative thinking, which is pretty rare nowadays. There's also a new game+ feature, which (though I haven't yet played it) appears to give you all your previous upgrades, tons of green gel (xp) to level up a few more times after you start, plus two new weapons (submachine gun and rocket launcher). I'm sure the ammo for these things will be pretty rare, but after you managed to survive, the game seems to reward you with almost a "rampage" mode to play if you want. However, you can now rampage on the highest difficulty - and given how much punishment some of the bosses could take on the midlevel difficulty, you'll probably need those new weapons.
ConsThe only gripes I think I'd have is that a few questions are left unanswered at the game's conclusion. I can take a guess at what happened with these plotlines, but it'd be nice to have the closure of knowing. It's sort of odd, actually, because throughout the game I was figuring things out faster than Sebastian (as far as plot goes) because there were so many clues to put the story together, but some of the bigger plot points seemed to only give the hint of a clue, leaving me more with guesswork than deduction to figure out what happened. I won't spoil what these points are, of course, but I imagine players will figure out what's undercovered by the time they finish the game.
My only other grip is that the last boss fight is pretty easy. I died multiple times against most bosses, and eventually went to a game guide to find the weaknesses of several (after dying about 8 times in a row with not even a hint of success). The final boss only killed me once, and mostly because I was careless.
Conclusion
If you like this sort of genre at all, you should consider checking out Evil Within. The game is fun, the game is scary, and aside from a few grips, the game is solid.