5 Scary Games

So today I’m trying to get a few updates out as you know, so I thought instead of writing a long winded review of one of the few games I’ve completed (that list consists of Castle Crashers) I’d do one of my ‘randomly list 5’ things, and recently horror games have been catching a lot of my attention so I thought why not do a list of scary games? I checked YouTube for scary game lists and realised all of them had listed the same games, and a lot of those games were ether not very scary (Doom 3…wtf?) so here is my list, not all main stream games ether, enjoy:

1. F.E.A.R
F.E.A.R (a bastard for me to type) is a rare hybrid, mixing not only action and horror (which fails 99% of the time) but also first person action. The result is actually very good. Sudden scary moments come just as the games action elements are getting dull and normally the fact it’s a horror game has slipped to the back of your mind and thus the scare is so much worse. I just finished the F.E.A.R 2 demo for 360 and I don’t think I have any clean underwear left now, so the series isn’t losing its ability to scare even after 2 expansions and a stand alone online game.

2. Penumbra/Penumbra : Black Plague
I’ve listed the two games because in fairness Black Plague isn’t so much a sequel but more part two and thus both come recommended. Once again you get thrown into the first person mode but this time with NO weapons. Instead of action this is a puzzle game pushing you to work out what most of the time are not overly complex problems, what makes it hard is the fucked up creatures stalking the hallways trying to find and kill you. When something chases you down a hall screaming and laughing and you know you need to hide trust me you’ll wish you’d setup your laptop by the loo.

3. Condemned
Yes it’s another first person shooter, but this one just like the previous two manages something weird and new. The monsters? Their not monsters, just fucked up people. The scariest enemies don’t even move and aint even enemies (you’ll understand in the shop) and your arsenal? Any pipe, axe, hammer, or bit of wood you can get your hands on. This game is all about close combat, so close you can see the madness in the eyes of a drug addict who’s blinded by rage and just wants you dead. The use of a very crappy torch with very small area of sight gives you an immense claustrophobic feel too. This game had me scared shitless and I wasn’t even playing!

4. Resident Evil 1 (GC)
Wehay finally one that's not action or first person! So, what’s so scary about resident evil? Admittedly it’s kinda like the older brother of Silent Hill which was never quite as good at sports as his little brother but in the GameCube remake of Resident Evil it wasn’t the graphical upgrade that made it scary, it wasn’t the addition of stuff left out of the original, hell it wasn’t even the voice acting. No, it was the Bronze caps. An evil concept by which if you don’t destroy the head or burn the body of a zombie within a set time it would rise again but this time stronger, faster…and able to now not only use doors but stairs. There is almost no escape from one and it’ll keep coming till you kill it for good. This being chased element will make you shit yourself, well worth a go.

5. Clock Tower
Now Clock Tower is an odd choice, for starters its on PS1, it’s graphically shit and it’s about as heard of as me in a hot woman's bed. So, why’d I pick it? Well recently I picked up Clock Tower 3 on the PS2 for my house-mate (I was too scared to play it myself…what? I’m a wimp!) and was horrified to find the game was bogged down by horrid voice acting, happy-happy-joy-joy, a plot which made me wanna kill my friends and family it was so bad and characters you wanted to die. In truth it was still a scary game, but you can’t measure the merits of a horror game just on it’s scariness. Scream scared me, I still think it’s the worst horror movie I’ve watched since House of the Dead. So, I’ve picked Clock Tower 1 (or 2 if it catches your fancy) because I think everyone who can should give this game a chance, it’s truly fucked up and scary putting you in control of a powerless teenage girl being stalked by a serial killer you have to uncover the truth behind what’s going on while not getting killed. Same concept as Penumbra but from a point and click adventure game point of view. The game had me scared before anything had even happened. Get it if you can.

So, before I finish I’d like to make clear, the game that scared me the most ever was Silent Hill 2, and there are plenty of other scary games out there, this wasn’t a list of my top 5, it’s just 5 I’d recommend, so no complaining that I’m wrong or something ok?