I agree, FEAR was not scary at all. Too much action and your character was pretty powerful himself with slow motion mode and heavy weapons. Liked the phys, lighting and AI in the game tho.

I just finished Realm of The Haunting a couple of months ago. Great game! The graphics can be a bit daunting at times, but I don't believe I've played a game quite like it before. I'm not sure what to call it though. It has elements of horror, mystery, fantasy... regardless though, there were times where I felt uneasy, especially later on the in the game. The game itself is quite large, with many locations to travel too, none too alike either. Really, a great game for the 5$ I bought it for.
As for scariest horror game... well Alone in the Dark 2 was great, especially when you became the small girl... I remember throwing molasses on the floor in the pool room to stop the henchmen from grabbing me. Great stuff... more recently, I'd say probably Silent Hill 1 + 2 for atmosphere, and Condemned 1 for a little bit of everything!

Duke Nukem 3D : the first time one of the green crawling gooie creatures climbed on me I almost fell off my chair. Gghhh..

Unreal coming to gog has reminded me one of the firsts scenes of the game, the one right before you see the first Skaarj. I was young when I played it it gave me the chills... wonderful :D.

For me it would be FEAR when it came to "jump" moments, especially in the beginning. Half way through the game however the focus went far more to action.
Condemned and the Silent Hill series were actually scary because of the setting or the gameplay.
Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, was scary as well, but the effect was negated at times thanks to "trail and error" gameplay mechanics.
The dream-levels in Max Payne were also very unnerving in my opinion.
A oldie that creped my out at times was Daggerfall. Running through a dungeon in the middle of the night, hearing a rat/lich/daedra scratching in the walls and knowing it was around somewhere as well....or npcs that only answered in an eerie howling when you tried to talk to them or lets not forget the ghost of the emperor haunting the main city.

I think for me, it would be the Condemned series. Especially the sequel. That game with headphones on is some crazy shit.

The last game that made me jump a few times was F.E.A.R. For the most part it wasn't because of anything creepy, it was more because I'd just be startled when, without warning there's suddenly a squad of troopers chucking grenades at you with no warning.
Oh, and of course there was the time I'd taken one of them out with the bolter rifle, pinning him to the wall. I then climbed the stairs, saw him, briefly thought it was a NEW enemy, freaked out and lit him up again. :) That happened a few times, actually.

I might sound strange but most of the Resident Evil and Silent Hill series gave me the shakes especially when you turned off the lights and bumped up the surround sound.
Also though I dont remember the name of the game. The first Lucas Arts game that was made gave me the chills when I was a kid. I do believe it was called the Eidolon. Sadly this was made for the old Atari so you can guess what it looked like.
[url=]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9cTvuwYi3w[/url]

In reverse chronological order:
BioShock
Doom3
Sanitarium (wonderful paranoid atmosphere, absolutely brilliant game)
Phantasmagoria (I actually never finished this, purely because it became too uncomfortable)
And, going way back, the first game I can remember getting scared by was "Friday The 13th" on the C64. I think I was about 10 years old at the time. The first time an NPC got killed in the same room I was in, the picture switched to this image of a guy with a knife through his head, and blood all over, combined with a horrifying scream. It took me completely by surprise.
I think there are others, but those are the ones that spring to mind.

I got scared by lots of games when I was younger, but it was because I couldn't bear fighting with creatures that don't use guns and are not human (I was scared by Tomb Raider for instance, the wolf and the T-Rex scared me).
Now I'm okay with that, I guess I'm scared by the effect of surprise and thing like that in those kind of games but it's not really fear.
One game that really scared me thought was Fahreinheit (Indigo Prophecy).
I remember the moment when you had to go to the archive room with the policewoman character who is claustrophobic.
Even thought I am not claustrophobic I remember being scared when I missed the combination and got her scared.
I also got scared by No One Lives Forever 2 (the super soldiers, I really didn't liked them).
The Ravenholm passage in Half Life 2 scared me a little too I guess, especially the time the first fast zombie attacks you after you hear his scream.
But after that and the ending with the zombie rush I got vaccinated against zombie fear I guess. x)
Goblins used to scared me when I was younger too.

System Shock 1/2, Resident Evil 1/2 (though not 3, I think by then I had some immunity to it...plus it was alot more combat-based.) I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting...F.E.A.R got me to jump quite a bit but didn't unnerve me as badly as other games.

F.E.A.R scared me, System Shock 1/2 made me freak out most of the time, but the game that deserves distinction for making me shriek in fright (literally) is probably Clive Barker's Undying.

I heard excellent things about Undying...well, more excellent than poor Jericho at least ;)

It's amazing. The game is scary, but it's good.