The big new feature in F.E.A.R. 3 is full use of two player co-op in the game's single player campaign. The game will allow you to play either as Point Man, the "shooter" character with the big guns, or as his somewhat (OK very much) psychotic brother Paxton Fettel, who can not only stun enemies with his psi abilities but can also take over people as well. The E3 2010 demo began with a cut scene that explains the link between the two characters and also the one at the center of all of the F.E.A.R. titles, Alma. Did we mention that this demonic youth is also the mother to these two characters? Talk about a case against teenage pregnancy.

The demo showed us how the co-op features will work as Point Man and Fettel team up to go through various enemies (the demo didn't make it clear on what the men's goals were supposed to be in the game but we figure that's a secret for now). As we mentioned Point Man's the heavy lifter of the two brothers and can still use his slow motion ability to take out foes, mainly the super soldier troopers we have seen in previous games.

Fettel, on other other hand, looks like he will be a bit trickier to play. He can stun and lift foes for the Point Man to take out but in his "ghost" form cannot actually take out enemies directly. His big power is possession which allows him to take over another enemy human and do some damage alongside the Point Man until that power shuts off. If you play the game in single player only mode it's only the Point Man that you control with Fettel becoming a voice in your head (although another player can drop in any time and play Fettel's character).
Again the storyline for F.E.A.R. 3 is still very mysterious but we did get to see some kind of sequences that include hallucinations that involve Alma and some kind of kid's park. There's also a sequence where you can board a mech and deal some heavy damage. All throughout the demo Alma made her presence known and it's clear that the game won't forget that its trying to scare you.

Along with the co-op gameplay F.E.A.R. 3 will have a scoring system that's a little similar to what's being put in Bulletstorm. You can gain points with the system that will unlock some extra boosts to your character. The game will also supposedly have randomized enemy encounters so that when you and your buddy play the game the experience should be different every time you play.

Day 1 Studios is no stranger to the F.E.A.R. franchise; it handled the port of the first PC game in the series to the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles a few years ago. However this is the first game in the series they have made that has all original material. Based on the E3 2010 demo it's clear that they are taking up right where Monolith left off in the second game with lots of darkness, blood, and mood in the game's visuals. The game will also have some creative input from two masters of mainstream horror; film maker John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog) and writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night).

The F.E.A.R. 3 E3 2010 demo had lots of scary moments and the co-op gameplay with Point Man and Fettel looks to be a bit different than the norm. We still don't really know a lot about the game's overall story (in particular we think Fettel can't be trusted to do the right thing) and there's no word yet on any additional multiplayer features. We will have to learn more about that before the game's scheduled release later this fall.