[09.20.12] Best horror games - Most entertaining

Randy Robertson

Halloween is approaching rapidly, and what better way to celebrate than by experiencing the best horror video games out there? Over the next few days, we’re going to list off the best games to play no matter what mood you’re in. Whether you’re looking for the scariest, goriest, or most entertaining horror games, we’ll give you a few suggestions for every category. We will also touch on the best classics, and a few recent titles that are noteworthy as well. To help compile this list, we've enlisted the help of Rob Nielsen from RedGoateeRob’s Horror Pages.

Alright, so we’ve made you feel nostalgic, sick to your stomach, and scared to death. Today, we’ll relax a little bit and talk about which games are just straight forward entertaining. There’s nothing too extreme here, just lots of guaranteed fun. If you feel like you need a laugh, want a great story, or want something that’s really going to make you think about what’s going on, we’ve got it all here.

‘Bioshock’

“Bioshock” has a fantastic story. We don’t want to spoil the end, or even subtly hint at it, because there are probably still quite a few people out there who haven’t played it yet, but rest assured you'll be very satisfied at the end of the game. The sequel, “Bioshock 2” is also fantastic; however the third title in the series looks a little like it may have lost its way. To be fair, though, it’s not out yet, so we can’t really pass judgment on it. Still, the “Bioshock” series is a nice survival horror title that focuses on telling a gripping story in a wonderful fantasy environment, and it’s definitely something worth experiencing - at least to witness the astounding water physics - because there’s not much else out there like it.

‘Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem’

The most entertaining survival horror game ever made? Probably. “Eternal Darkness” gets its jollies by screwing with your mind. To really go into detail about this game would be a disservice, since the game is best enjoyed when you dive into it without knowing what it has in store for you, so do yourself a favor and avoid reading of the many spoilers that have been posted online if you manage to find a copy of this increasingly-rare GameCube disc. This game is hard to find for good reason, because no one lucky enough to have it in their collection wants to part with his or her copy.

‘Lollipop Chainsaw’

“Lollipop Chainsaw” is an all-around outrageous game from start to finish. It’s guaranteed to have you laughing out loud and asking yourself “did that really just happen?”. It’s definitely a standout on this list because it’s less about scare-tactics or shock-value and strictly about an incredibly humorous story. It also pays homage to classic arcade hack-and-slash titles. If there was ever a title that fit the “grindhouse” category, this is it. The game’s website says it best, “Lollipop Chainsaw” is “bursting with Sex, Blood, and Rock ‘n’ Roll”.

So now that you’ve got a few laughs in, it’s time to get serious again. Sure, most of the games on the list so far have been older titles from previous generations, but “Lollipop Chainsaw” and “Bioshock” prove there are still some awesome horror titles out there from the current generation of systems. We’ve got an innovative title, and even a couple series that have completely established themselves across only the most recent platforms. If you aren’t fortunate enough to have the classic systems sitting around, fear not. Tomorrow we’ll have a few games that have all come out relatively recently in the gaming world.

[09.19.12] Best horror games - Scariest

Randy Robertson

Halloween is approaching rapidly, and what better way to celebrate than by experiencing the best horror video games out there? Over the next few days, we’re going to list off the best games to play no matter what mood you’re in. Whether you’re looking for the scariest, goriest, or most entertaining horror games, we’ll give you a few suggestions for every category. We will also touch on the best classics, and a few recent titles that are noteworthy as well. To help compile this list, we've enlisted the help of Rob Nielsen from RedGoateeRob’s Horror Pages.

We’ve looked at the classics, and we’ve given you the chance to test your limits with gore. Today is all about keeping you on the edge of your seat and scaring the pants off of you! These games are best experienced with the surround sound cranked and all the lights shut off. You might want to have a teddy bear nearby, or at least ready when you go to sleep... that is, assuming you’ll be able to sleep afterwards.

'Dead Space' Series

“Dead Space” is perhaps best known for the famous marketing campaign for the second title in the series, which involved setting 'moms' down in front of footage of the game being played and recording their reactions of horror and repulsion. The commercials are funny, until you find yourself holding the controller, squirming in your chair as you watch slobbering undead monsters with giant knives for limbs rip your protagonist's legs from his torso. Maybe that should be part of the marketing campaign for the next game in the series: 'Dead Space. It'll make you squirm'.

'Silent Hill' series

What can really be said about “Silent Hill” that has not already been said? “Silent Hill” is the gold standard of survival horror. Drawing its inspiration from the works of Stephen King (“The Fog”) and Dean Koontz (“Phantoms”), the original “Silent Hill” inspired many, many sleepless nights for its PS1 audience. Things only got more frightening in the sequel, which received a graphical upgrade when it made the jump to PS2, Xbox, and PC, making the horrors even more realistic. Though all the games in the “Silent Hill” series are worth playing, the first four games - called the 'canonical four' by some in the fan base - are easily the best and scariest. If you haven't played “Silent Hill”, you're missing out on the best survival horror has to offer.

'Fatal Frame' series

A sense of helplessness is integral to horror. In “Fatal Frame”, you'll find yourself alone, lost, and beset on all sides by poltergeists that are entirely capable of killing you. The only weapon you'll have is an old camera. Want to stop the ghosts? Just take a picture of one of them and he'll vanish. Snapping any old photo of the ghost won't do, though. You'll need to get right up close to it, just to the point where you start to feel its rotten breath and its cold arms enveloping you, shove the camera in its face, and snap off a frame. This game doesn’t just put you in the action- it dunks your head in the pool, holds you there, and pours an extra bucket of water over you for good measure. “Fatal Frame” has one mission: scaring the crap out of you, so it’s not recommended for the faint of heart.

Tomorrow we're going to sit back and relax a little. Instead of picking on the extremes of a category, we're going to take a look at which games are just pure entertainment. We have one that will have you laughing up a storm, and a couple games that will really make you think. Don't worry though, they're still most definitely horror games at heart.

[09.18.12] Best horror games - Most gore

Randy Robertson

The goriest horror games!

Halloween is approaching rapidly, and what better way to celebrate than by experiencing the best horror video games out there? Over the next few days, we’re going to list off the best games to play no matter what mood you’re in. Whether you’re looking for the scariest, goriest, or most entertaining horror games, we’ll give you a few suggestions for every category. We will also touch on the best classics, and a few recent titles that are noteworthy as well. To help compile this list, we've enlisted the help of Rob Nielsen from RedGoateeRob’s Horror Pages.

We’ve already covered the best classic titles in horror, but there’s one thing that older systems can’t do as well, and that’s gore. Gore is an integral part of horror; however, the systems of yesteryear just don’t have the power to deliver such, well, graphic graphics. As technology has progressed, games have been inching closer to realism, providing a better platform for developers to deliver that uneasy feeling. If you’re anxious to test your limits and like getting out of your comfort zone, these are the titles that will take you there.

‘Splatterhouse’

At the time of its 1988 release, the original “Splatterhouse” was one of the most absurdly violent games anyone had ever seen, and the 2010 reboot of the game ups the ante by being perhaps the single bloodiest game ever made. Retro-gaming purists will want to play the original on the Turbografx 16, and today's audience will want the remake on Xbox 360 or PS3, which comes with the original game too - but if you have a real lust for gore, either version of the game will suffice. The plot essentially involves a skinny kid who finds a mask that turns him into a hulking engine of death, and proceeds to wander into a haunted mansion and paint its interiors with the blood and entrails of its demonic inhabitants. Just think of these games as 'Interior Decorating for Gorehounds 101' and you'll be on the right track to understanding what “Splatterhouse” is all about.

‘Fallout 3’

“Fallout 3” doesn't get a lot of cred for being a bloody game, probably due to the strength of the game's plot, which outshined many of the game's other elements in reviews. Indeed, you might not really notice the gore-factor in this game either until you find yourself trapped in a derelict facility that used to be a fallout shelter/vault, with mutated monstrosities roaming the halls, their claws and tentacles covered in blood, the ceilings lined with bags containing the eviscerated bodies of the humans foolish to walk into the facility before you. Think you have a strong stomach? Reach inside one of the bloodbags and you might find a few stray bullets. Shoot one of the mutants with them and you'll see their head explode in a shower of gore. Yep, playing “Fallout 3” is kind of like going to a Gallagher show; make sure you bring a plastic tarp- you'll need it.

‘Doom’

Of course “Doom” was going to appear on the list somewhere; it is Halloween, after all. Nowhere does it fit better than here. You know you're in for some serious gore when a game gives you a chainsaw and says “See those demons over there? Go to town on them!” “Doom” was revolutionary when it first released and time has not served to dull its impact. Even today a lot of the shooters being released still don't match the pure, visceral horror of “Doom”. There was a reason the first part of this game was titled 'Knee Deep in the Dead' - because that's exactly where “Doom” will put you.

Alright, we’re going to give you a day to let your stomach settle. You’ll need it too, because tomorrow we’re all about the scares. We’ll get your heart racing and, hopefully, have you jumping out of your seat. If you think you’re brave enough to face these alone, give it a shot; but if you’re easily spooked, you might want to have a friend by your side. Either way, these scary games are worth the experience.

[09.17.12] Best horror games - The classics

Randy Robertson

The best classic horror games

Halloween is approaching rapidly, and what better way to celebrate than by experiencing the best horror video games out there? Over the next few days, we’re going to list off the best games to play no matter what mood you’re in. Whether you’re looking for the scariest, goriest, or most entertaining horror games, we’ll give you a few suggestions for every category. We will also touch on the best classics, and a few recent titles that are noteworthy as well. To help compile this list, we've enlisted the help of Rob Nielsen from RedGoateeRob’s Horror Pages.

To start it all off, we’ll revisit some classic horror titles that hopefully everyone has experienced already. If you haven’t, they’re definitely worth checking out, however getting your hands on a copy of the game as well as the necessary equipment to play it may prove to be a little more difficult. In the least, making yourself aware of these well-established classics is necessary for any horror fans or video game fans alike.

'Castlevania'

In the annals of horror gaming, “Castlevania” is perhaps the title that has best stood the test of time. The classic games in the series - generally considered the games from the original arcade release of “Haunted Castle” to “Symphony of the Night” on the PS1 - are not only some of the best games on the consoles they saw release on, they are amongst the best games ever made. Their legendary difficulty, the famous 'Castlevania Frustration Syndrome', kept a lot of gamers from ever seeing the end of one of the early games in the series, but for those who can stick it out, “Castlevania” offers some of the best gameplay ever.

Drawing equally from the classic Universal monster movies and from early video games, “Castlevania” puts you in the shoes of the legendary Belmont family and sends you against Dracula, who wants to destroy the world. To get to him though, you'll have to hack your way through just about every legendary movie monster you ever heard of, from the Wolf Man to the Mummy to Frankenstein. Sound epic enough for you?

‘Metroid’

Nothing conveys the feeling of absolute isolation quite like the low-toned, harmonic minor introductory music to the NES classic “Metroid”. It’s an appropriate introduction to “Metroid”, one of the few games that has ever managed to successfully convey the sense of desolate isolation that was perfected in progenitors of the genre like the classic sci-fi film “Alien”. Innovative in so many ways, perhaps most notably in being one of the first games to include a strong female protagonist, “Metroid” defined the experience of horror on the NES and solidified Nintendo as a company that could do more than simply ‘games for kids’.

Amazingly, Nintendo managed to not only match the quality of the original, but surpass it with the sequel, “Super Metroid”, a game many count as the best game ever. “Metroid” has appeared on many Nintendo platforms since, but the originals still stand as some of the best interactive horror ever produced; and they still have that haunting, lonely title theme.

‘Alone In The Dark’

A true underappreciated classic, “Alone In The Dark” appeared on the PC in 1992 and later, on the 3DO in 1994,to little fanfare. No one seemed to realize that not only was it an incredible game in its own right, it was the first game in what would become an entirely new genre. Simply put, survival horror owes its existence to “Alone In The Dark”. Setting forth most of the tropes that define the genre which would later produce “Resident Evil” and “Silent Hill”, “Alone In The Dark” pioneered gameplay concepts like static 3D backgrounds, providing the player with limited ammunition, environmental puzzles requiring the use of a specific item, and sound cues to tip off the player to approaching monsters. Heavily influenced by the work of horror icon H.P. Lovecraft, “Alone In The Dark” still scares the hell out of us.

Tomorrow, we’re going to take a look at the goriest games in the horror genre. These games will make you squirm in your seat while desperately pulling you in for more. You don’t want to look, but you just can’t help it. It’s ok, though, because this list of titles deserves your undivided attention, even if you have to fight to give it.