Top 5: Scares : Videogame News & Reviews | Bits 'n' Bytes Gaming

Posted by Pascal Tekaia on Friday, September 30, 2011 ? Leave a Comment?

Hor?ror games appeal to a very spe?cific sub?set of gamers. Even a gritty thriller tin?gles the hairs on the back of your neck in a way that can only be appre?ci?ated by some of us. While those who pre?fer a more benign expe?ri?ence scoff in deri?sion, we crave the build-up of ter?ror in a game as much as in a good book or movie. This month, we?re pay?ing homage to those games which have pro?vided us with the utmost in ter?ri?fy?ing game?play, even if only for a few moments of out?stand?ing horror.

The team has braved grave dan?gers to dig up their five most repressed mem?o?ries of gam?ing ter?ror. After peek?ing under our beds in the dead of night and tremu?lously open?ing for?bid?ding closet doors bet?ter left closed, we flaunt our brave man?li?ness (or prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are noth?ing but piti?ful girly-men -?you decide).

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Pas?cal Tekaia

5. Out of Breath, Cor?nered in an Alley, Infected at Your Heels (Dead Island)

I know this is a brand-new game. And it does start off fairly pre?dictable, what with the shuf?fling zom?bies on the beach and the stan?dard supply-run quests. How?ever, once you leave the posh beaches and glitzy pool?side tiki bars of the water?front hotel behind and enter the dilap?i?dated town proper, rav?aged husk of its for?mer self that it has become, the pic?turesque, touristy vaca?tion ends and the harsh real?i?ties of life set?tle in. The city is lit?er?ally crawl?ing with undead, and some?times the only sur?vival lies in swift flight. But the Infected run fast, damn fast. And when I was just as low on weapons as I was on health,? four Infected scream?ing at the top of their lungs and clos?ing in fast, and my sta?mina so depleted from run?ning that I couldn?t scram?ble onto the dump?ster that led over a brick wall and to safety, I knew I was totally screwed. Worse, I could hear my death com?ing as the sound of their rag?ing yells grew louder and louder in my ears. With fran?tic button-mashing, afraid to turn and face my oncom?ing doom, I got to safety at the very last sec?ond ? but as I hit the ground on the far side of the brick wall, my in-game char?ac?ter wasn?t the only one breath?ing hard and wide-eyed.

4. The Taken (Alan Wake)

I get that Alan Wake wasn?t for some, but I per?son?ally loved this moody, atmos?pheric thriller. There was just some?thing about the small-town, woodsy feel of the log?ging com?mu?nity, and mak?ing my way through the woods, the camp?grounds, the lum?ber mill, and so forth was excru?ci?at?ingly fright?en?ing on its own already. But I expe?ri?enced true ter?ror every time the trees started mov?ing wildly in the wind, cast?ing mov?ing shad?ows every?where, and quiet whis?pers and other unnerv?ing sounds would ramp up and crescendo into a wild hur?ri?cane of noise, all with?out a breath of air actu?ally stir?ring. Know?ing that I was about to face another wave of shad?owy Taken com?ing at me with their axes would always make my pulse go haywire.

3. The Flooded Morgue (Bioshock)

While Bioshock is stuffed full of atmos?pheric loca?tions, it was one of the very first areas of the game that taught me to respect the devel?op?ers? abil?ity to scare the pants off me.?While hunt?ing down the crazed sur?geon, Dr. Stein?man, I paid close atten?tion to all the dis?turb?ing mes?sages smeared on walls, and the men?ac?ing sur?gi?cal para?pher?na?lia scat?tered every?where. In my mind, I was already cre?at?ing scenes of med?ical tor?ture and poor, twisted souls scarred beyond recog?ni?tion by the good doctor?s efforts to make them ?beau?ti?ful?. Even?tu?ally, the search leads to the par?tially flooded funeral home. It?s bad enough when you see the Shadow of a Splicer, hack?ing away at a corpse on an oper?at?ing table.?But as you approach, the lights?go out, leav?ing you alone in the dark with dead bod?ies and a maniac. Suddenly,?all the lights mer?ci?fully come back on; but the Splicer?s gone, and you barely catch sight of one of the cadaver drawer doors slowly swing?ing shut, as some?thing is mov?ing inside it. It was one of the most fright?en?ing (and well-done!) scare sequences I?ve ever played, and I still look back on it with a fond shudder.

2. The Rope Hall?way (Fatal Frame)

This has become my new ?dog hall?way from Res?i?dent Evil?. Per?son?ally, I already think that J-Horror is some of the most cere?brally dis?turb?ing stuff on the planet; the Fatal Frame (Project Zero for you Euro?peans) series deliv?ers exactly what Japan?ese Hor?ror always hooks me with. The game is dark (the char?ac?ters are in almost com?plete black?ness for most of the game), deathly silent, and the scares are chill?ingly slow paced. One of the first rooms you?ll have to make your way through (I use that phrase delib?er?ately, since I basi?cally had to be forced to even step foot into this?damn place!) is known as the Rope Hall?way ? named so for good rea?son. The thick ropes hang?ing from the ceil?ing in the nar?row space seem odd at first, as does the mir?ror placed at the far end. But on sub?se?quent vis?its to this room, both the mir?ror and the ropes are revealed to hide sin?is?ter and chill?ing secrets, and in a man?sion full of evil spir?its, never did I feel as vul?ner?a?ble as when I was push?ing through the Rope Hallway.

1. Back Aboard the USG Ishimura (Dead Space 2)

Isaac Clarke spends the whole first game in the Dead Space series try?ing to get off the damn ship, so when he spots it?s omi?nous shape aboard Titan sta?tion late in the sequel, it?s a bad omen. Even?tu?ally, Isaac is forced to make his way back aboard the derelict ship. This is a beau?ti?ful exam?ple of how a game builds antic?i?pa?tion and stretches your frayed nerves to the break?ing point. As Isaac care?fully makes his way through the once-familiar cor?ri?dors and rooms of the ship, tarped in dead plas?tic sheets and lit?tered with aban?doned equip?ment by sal?vage crews, the ambiance builds ter?ri?fy?ingly, with ghostly whis?pers and screeches heard as if from a dis?tance. You know some?thing will hap?pen, but the game makes you wait for it, build?ing sus?pense, leav?ing a trail of dis?turb?ing text and audio logs of the miss?ing sal?vage crew to heighten the sense that there are bad things wait?ing just around the cor?ner. And when the shit?storm finally breaks, it breaks hard! This is eas?ily the most tense I?ve ever let a game (an already ter?ri?fy?ing one at that!) make me?feel.

Tom Rip?pon

5. Faun on the Brain (Rise of the Arg?onauts)

There once was a game called Rise of the Arg?onauts, which was one of those games I picked up pre-owned when noth?ing better/cheaper was avail?able to me. I never actu?ally played it, except for one day when it was snow?ing out?side and I wanted to stay warm. That whole day was ded?i?cated to the game, and although I didn?t com?plete it, I did pretty damn good. Need?less to say, I?ve never played it since. There was a point in that game where, if my mem?ory serves, you inves?ti?gate this mys?te?ri?ous island where there is a faun play?ing the pan?pipes (I?m guess?ing his name was in fact Pan), and he takes over your mind, fill?ing it with messed up images and con?trol?ling your char?ac?ter. It wasn?t so scary, but it was cer?tainly weird, and quite chilling.

4. Night of the Undead (Call of Duty)

Zom?bie mode has become a major part of the Tre?yarch side of Call of Duty, and obvi?ously when it first came out, it was all any?body could talk about. Late one night, after com?plet?ing the cam?paign and still want?ing more (before my days as an online player), I tried Zom?bies for the first time. Nacht der Untoten, or what?ever that first map was called ? that was some eerie level design. I didn?t like not know?ing where I was, or even what to do, and when the zom?bies started pound?ing on the doors and break?ing through win?dows, their eyes glow?ing in the night, well, let?s just say I promptly turned off my Xbox and decided I?d save Zom?bies for a time when I had company?

3. Bat-Signal on the Kryll (Gears of?War)

In the orig?i?nal Gears of War game, in the Night?fall mis?sions, you encounter a scary and intim?i?dat?ing Locust enemy called Kryll, who will com?pletely oblit?er?ate you if you dare to leave the safety of the light. They?re almost like bat things (in fact, the whole dark?ness restric?tion to their move?ment prob?a?bly makes them very much like bats) and there is no way to kill them beyond those few min?utes you?re dri?ving the Lav?erne with the UV tur?ret mounted on the back. It?s a scary few lev?els, where you dare not walk out of the safety of streetlights?

2. Sep?a?ra?tion Anx?i?ety (Pok??mon Yel?low)

When I was but a young boy, Game?boy Colour in hand, and Pok??mon cards were cool, I obvi?ously wanted to see what the games were like. In Pok??mon Yel?low, in between kick?ing butt in the gyms, and won?der?ing why I could not catch any?thing bet?ter than Rat?tat?tas or Pidgeys at the start of the game, I walked boldly through Mt. Moon. Keep in mind I was very young, and when I got to the other side of Mt. Moon, at that part where you jump down the hill and then can?t get back up, I got very upset and scared that I?d never get back to Pal?let Town and see my pix?e?lated mother again. It?s not cool to admit, but I got very attached to my character?s mother.

1. No Mercy (Left 4 Dead)

I?d never expe?ri?enced zom?bies in a game until I played Left 4 Dead. I know what you?re think?ing: ?Tom! You may be under twenty, but that does not jus?tify a lack of Res?i?dent Evil in your life!? To those peo?ple, I say? Sorry, I guess. But Left 4 Dead was my first brush with the undead. I remem?ber being absolutely enthralled by the game, and very excited when it came in the post on release day. Going to school that day was a hard thing to do, but I thought about it all day, and obvi?ously played it as soon as I got home. No Mercy was the first map I tried, and as if the game knew how likely it was that I would crap my pants, the first thing it did was send the entire horde after me in that con?fined cor?ri?dor you walk down at the very begin?ning. I don?t think I?ve jumped so high?since.

Chad More?lock

5. Licker in Inter?ro?ga?tion (Res?i?dent Evil?2)

As some?thing of a hor?ror affi?cionado I tend to malign and dis?miss the jump scare. Typ?i?cally it?s a trite way of giv?ing the audi?ence a jump with?out try?ing very hard, and typ?i?cally they?re a one-shot deal: they don?t really work twice. How?ever, there?s one in Res?i?dent Evil 2 that man?ages to scare the hell out of me every time I play it. There?s an inter?ro?ga?tion room in the police sta?tion with a one-way mir?ror. You enter and exit it a few times in the game with no inci?dent and then OHMYGOD a licker busts through the glass and attacks the hell out of Leon. This is the only moment in the entire Res?i?dent Evilseries I?ve ever really found frightening.

4. The Whole Expe?ri?ence (Silent Hill)

Silent Hill. The first one. The whole thing. This is one place where I think the aged and grainy graph?ics and fog hid?ing the draw dis?tance actu?ally help out with the effect, some?thing the later games don?t cap?ture as well ? that, com?bined with Akira Yamaoka?s low-fi industrial/noise sound?track, give it a feel?ing ? no, bet?ter yet, a miasma of hor?rific atmos?phere. From its empty build?ings to fog-covered streets and rust-covered under?world, Silent Hillis one of the most ter?ri?fy?ing games?ever.

3. T-Rex (Tomb Raider)

While the orig?i?nal Tomb Raiderhas plenty of creepy bar?rows and dark cor?ri?dors to explore, noth?ing in the game freaked out 8-year old me quite like the T-Rex in the Lost Val?ley. Sure, there were rap?tors ear?lier in the level, but this is the first time in the game you saw any?thing quite so big and threat?en?ing. And yeah, it could kill Lara in one bite. Unfor?tu?nately, Anniver?sary reduced this ter?ri?fy?ing scene to a well-lit quick?time event. In the orig?i?nal, this wasn?t really a boss fight. You could avoid it if you wanted to. And were com?fort?able with a T-Rex stomp?ing around a level you had to back?track across and through.

2. Shog?goth Attack?(Call of Cthulhu: Dark Cor?ners of the?Earth)

Then there?s PC game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Cor?ners of the Earth. Like most of the best hor?ror out there, it relies on sus?pense, a gloomy mood and a creep?ing fear that builds as the game pro?gresses rather than jump scares. In this case, you?ve been wan?der?ing through a gold refin?ery and are mak?ing your way through one of the halls when a shog?goth breaks down the door behind you. A shog?goth, for those unaware, is a mon?strous pile of liv?ing flesh and organs, and it doesn?t chase you like a bipedal mon?ster does ? it engulfs the room behind you, becom?ing a wall of roar?ing, gib?ber?ing flesh behind you as you strug?gle to get doors open quickly. I was wear?ing head?phones. That thing was loud. I had to lay down after?wards, my nerves were totally shot.

1. Chrysalid Inva?sion (X-Com: UFO Defense)

X-Com: UFO Defense is har?row?ing enough nor?mally, going into dark, unknown loca?tions with the chance your troops will be mas?sa?cred by aliens at any turn. The Chrysalids take this up to eleven, behead?ing and turn?ing your troops into zom?bies which will even?tu?ally become Chrysalids them?selves. When this hap?pens I say screw the cit?i?zens of wher?ever the hell I?m fighting.When it comes to Chrysalids, they?re bet?ter off dead. Just pull out and nuke the site from orbit. It?s the only way to be?sure.

Hon?or?able men?tion to the Game Over screen in Zelda 2. That laugh and Ganon?s shadow on a stark background?creepy. And any?thing involv?ing Emer?ald Weapon in FFVII. HE?S RIGHT BEHIND YOUR?SUB!

Rexly Penaflorida II

5.Yao Guai Ambush (Fall?out?3)

I am not really one for hor?ror. Any?one who knows me well can tell you that I despise hor?ror because of the fact that I am eas?ily scared. Fall?out 3?gave me a star?tle when I just so hap?pened to be walk?ing through the Waste?land in the mid?dle of the night. I kept hear?ing Three Dog warn?ing peo?ple to not feed the Yao Guai, but I never really saw one?until that night. I was ambushed from behind by TWO OF THEM! I freaked out, brought out the Fat Man and went down along with the two beasts. Not a bad way to go, if I do say so myself.

4.Spider Splicers on the Ceil?ing (Bioshock)

I finally got around to play?ing Bioshock for the first time this month and I thought that there was noth?ing in it that would scare me. WRONG. Of all the Splicers that had to exist on Rap?ture, who in their right mind cre?ated the Spi?der Splicers? The fact that they can use ceil?ings is just scary. My worst encounter with them had to be me stu?pidly run?ning into a room and not look?ing around and even?tu?ally find?ing out that there were three Spi?der Splicers right on top of me. Thanks a?lot.

3.The Smoker (Left 4?Dead)

Left 4 Dead had its share of Infected, but none freaked me out more than the Smoker. One minute I have a shot?gun and shoot?ing zom?bies left and right, and the next I start being dragged by some dude with a long tongue. That is not nice and not fair. It is almost like the Smoker is say?ing, ?Oh, you are killing my brethren and they are not even mak?ing a dent in your defenses. Let me just stick my tongue out at you and freak you out for a minute.? Not cool,?man.

2.Necromorphs (Dead Space)

The first legit?i?mate hor?ror game that I ever fully played through was Dead Space, and to this day it is one of the only few hor?ror games that I would love to play and trust me, that list is really short. Pick any event in the game where a Necro?morph comes out of a vent, ceil?ing or sneaks up behind you. Now imag?ine me almost crap?ping my pants dur?ing each time that hap?pened. Need I say?more?

1. An Hour of Game?play (Amne?sia: The Dark Descent)

A friend of mine had Amne?sia: The Dark Descent for the PC and I thought I would give it a try for an hour?worst hour of my life. My heart was pound?ing and I played the game with my eyes half open and the sound as low as pos?si?ble, but still barely loud enough for me to hear what was going on. I am usu?ally good at sneak?ing around, but not when the thing that I am try?ing to avoid is some mon?stros?ity that is going to rush at me if it sees me. That and the fact that the game gave hal?lu?ci?na?tions once in a while really ter?ri?fied me. The fact that I am even writ?ing about this freaks me out now. I am going to stop now before I faint from?fear.

Isaac Ham?mer

5. The Lost Par?adise (Bioshock)

While the Splicers drop?ping onto you from the ceil?ing are bad enough, ?the slowly build?ing real?iza?tion that every?thing has col?lapsed in this once par?adise works along?side the crack?ling music and the cracked walls keep?ing out the vast ocean that just sets me on?edge.

4. Wak?ing or Dream?ing? (Alan Wake)

While I?m not one for jump scares, the strange doubt that per?haps you really are hal?lu?ci?nat?ing every?thing around you and are unable to dif?fer?en?ti?ate real?ity from fic?tion as they blend together cre?ated a psy?cho?log?i?cal sus?pense for me. ?That and the sud?denly inhu?manly fast ?bosses?.

3. Despair and Pow?er?less?ness (The Dark?ness)

As may be noticed at this point, I care lit?tle for jump scares, and more for psy?cho?log?i?cal imagery. ?The Dark?ness hits a few points includ?ing a sense of despair at your cir?cum?stances, pow?er?less?ness, and hav?ing that which you love the most destroyed in front of you, which worked to both hook me on the game and set my nerves on?edge.

2. The Dream (Max Payne)

In one stage, Max is in a fever dream, with the cry?ing of an infant one of the major sounds. ?The floor wavers and dis?ap?pears at points, drop?ping you into an end?less void, send?ing you back to start again, slowly creep?ing through.

1. Liv?ing Night?mare (Silent Hill)

This is one of a very few games I?ve sim?ply not been able to com?plete. ?Inten?tion?ally designed scares includ?ing the thick mist that blurs any?thing past about ten feet, the eter?nal crack?ling of your radio, screeches of unknown crea?tures from the dis?tance, the lim?ited amount of restora?tion; on top of this the unin?ten?tional dif?fi?cul?ties of the con?trol scheme just made it feel as though I was in a hor?ror movie, always unable to react in time even when the dan?ger was slowly approach?ing from far?away.

Filed under Featured Articles, Features, Top 5 ? Tagged with Alan Wake, bioshock, Dead Space, gaming, horror game, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, top 5

Source: http://bnbgaming.com/2011/09/30/top-5-scares/

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