My Top Five "Horror" Gaming Moments

Halloween. For many people it's their favourite day of the year - a chance to dress up as scarily as possible (or at least show a scary lack of imagination) or watch movies that make them jump out of their skin. For me, personally, as much as I like Halloween I'm not a huge fan of "horror" movies or such. Despite this, as a gamer I have found myself being scared, creeped out or simply unsettled by what I am playing. So, in celebration of Halloween I am going to recount my top five gaming "horror" moments.

Now, first of all this is a personal list and thus you may disagree that some of these even count as "scary". Second of all, as I mentioned I'm not a huge fan of horror so most of these are from non-horror games - as such, they are probably scarier for me within the context of the game. Now, without further adieu, let the horror commence!

There will be spoilers...

5) Spider-Man - Monster-Ock

Picture this, you've just defeated Doc Ock and Carnage back-to-back. Spider-Man poses heroically as he begins his "it's all over" monologue when suddenly...

 

The result of Carnage's symbiote attaching itself to Doc Ock, turning him into Monster Ock. However, instead of fighting you have to run away from him as Ock's lab starts exploding. What follows is a very tense run (and swing) for your life, as Monster Ock chases you screaming such lovely things as "DIEEEEEEE". A part of the scariness of this boss is being constantly chased and knowing that if Ock catches up - you're dead. Although this section did go on slightly too long, it was for the most part a thrilling way to end one of Spider-Man's greatest video game adventures.

4) Heavy Rain - The Lizard

Heavy Rain revolved around the story of Ethan Mars and how far he would go to save his son. Many of his tasks involve a little sacrifice or risk of death. The Lizard, however, is the one everyone who plays it will remember. You're asked by the origami killer to cut off the top section of one of your fingers, on camera, in order to get the next clue to your son's location. You're given a wide variety of tools to help you do it...

 

It's one of the hardest to watch scenes in gaming history. It's made worse by the fact that you have to do it yourself (or at least, move the analogue stick to perform the action). It's not "horror" in the traditional sense but there are very few scenes in video games that are more unsettling.

3) Resident Evil 2 - Start of the Game

I'll be honest, I've not played a lot of RE2. Despite this, I still remember the very start of the game and how tense that was. After the opening cinematic, you're left to fend for yourself. The game isn't saved, you have no healing items and very little ammo. You have to run from most of the zombies, but they are relentless.

Through narrow alleyways, buildings and even an abandoned bus you will have to decide whether to fight or flee the hoarde of zombies. Try to fight them all you'll run out of ammo. Run away from them all and you might miss some useful items. Nowhere is safe until you reach the police station and with it, the first save point of the game. Horror games love to remind you how powerless you are at the beginning of the game, but RE 2 did it better than any other.

2) Metal Gear Solid 2 - Arsenal Gear

This one is definitely a personal moment. I was eleven years old when I first played Metal Gear Solid 2 and I was loving it. It was my first entryway into the Metal Gear series and it was quickly becoming one of my all time favourites. Then I got to Arsenal Gear. Running around as a naked Raiden was funny at first but then I started getting codec (MGS' version of the radio) calls like this:

 

Being a rather idiotic eleven year old who did not quite understand the whole "fourth-wall" thing, I did. Embarrassingly, I then had nightmares about this - though the specifics of them I do not remember. Young me simply was not ready for crazy Colonel Campbell and when I did find the courage to play on it didn't get any easier until, as always, Solid Snake showed up to save the day. Even today, I am a little unsettled at this whole section as an aftermath of the effect this had on eleven-year-old me. But ten years on I am a braver man now and I'm not gonna let some silly video game scare me int...

 

AHHHH.

1) Alan Wake

This one is a bit odd because it's not a particular moment that was the scariest. You see, the main gimmick of Alan Wake was that the darkness is unsafe. Enemies are essentially shadows until you shine your torch on them and make then vulnerable to death. The only times you are safe is when you're in light. So, the reason this is number one is due to the psychological effect this game had on me every time I stopped playing. I tend to play games at the dead of night, just before going to bed. I played Alan Wake every night for a week. I would then go to bed. In the dark. After spending a couple of hours training my brain to fear the dark, it would take me a while to switch back to reality.

Alan Wake is a really good game, but isn't that scary. The game itself calls itself a "Psychological Action Thriller" which is a fair description. However it does a brilliant job in conditioning your brain into fearing the dark and that is why it's my number one "horror" gaming moments - because the rest of the list may have been scary within the context of the game, Alan Wake was the only one (bar MGS 2, which can be explained by me being a child when I played it) that truly affected me out of the game. Kudos, Remedy.

Games of my Teenage Years - 2010

2010

We enter a new decade and I become an 18-year old. Alcohol and bitches become my life and I no longer have time to play video games.

Is what I'd want to say, but instead here's the three (!) most important games to me of this year...

Mass Effect 2

This series probably is my favourite game series of the past five years, I really cannot find much fault about any of the games (though after playing '2' I find it hard to play through the original now). This game came out near the start of the year and it was another case of a game I refused to put down until I had completed it. I never 100% it like the first game, but I was damn close. The "suicide mission" felt like a suitably epic way to end the game and I made it through with only one causality (Mordin, you will be missed. Well, until I played through the ending again to make sure he lived for Mass Effect 3...sigh).

I also absolutely loved the fact that decisions you made in the first game made a difference in this one, I'm not sure if any other series has done that so far but even for a feature mainly used for 'fluff' it was really nice. I love games that put a lot of time and effort in creating a world of characters and Bioware are pretty damn good at that.

I always say this game's in my top five games of all time, but it's been two and a half years since I last played it and honestly I cannot think of much to say. I do think it's better than ME3, though ME3 came close until the last couple of hours which let it down (though I'm not one of the people who absolutely hates the ending either). Personally, I'd like to see more games in the ME Universe. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it would be the setting to any future Bioware MMO...

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Travis Touchdown is a nerd's fantasy of themselves in human form. Let's check the facts: he wields lightsabers? Check. He's obsessed with Anime? Check. Also obsessed with professional wrestling? Check. Lives home alone with a cat. Check. Yet he's completely bad-ass and awesome and he gets the chick. Yup, definitely a fantasy, but hey, it made for an absolute cracker of a game.

Suda 51 is one of my personal favourite game directors. His game's are usually rough around the edges, but they're usually original, fun and completely bonkers. I'm not going to lie, I kinda bought a Wii just to play this (and the Metroid Prime Trilogy...which I haven't finished...the first one...). You play as Travis as he attempts to become the number one Assassin in Santa Destroy yet again. This time it's personal...really, his best friend was killed by the No. 1 ranked Assassin. That's about as serious as this game gets.

In between fights there's a number of side-missions you can do including extra fights, buying clothes and exercising your cat whose gotten fat. You can also upgrade your stats by training in the gym and earn money by doing jobs. These 'jobs' take place in mini 8-bit games, and most of them are bloody awesome.

Most, if not all the Assassins you fight are unique and have more character in the short time you know them than some video game characters have in an entire game. Fighting with the Wiimote is also incredibly fun and I don't think I ever had much issue with it. In short, this game is pretty much excellent. Hell, take away the anime and Travis really is a more bad-ass awesome version of fantasy me...

Alan Wake

I was going to leave it at two, but then I remembered this game and I simply couldn't leave it out. It was a game with an unfortunate release date (same day as 'Red Dead Redemption'), and I got it pretty damn cheap just two months later. I played an episode a night until I finished it. This next part is probably a bit embarrassing to admit, so please don't judge me...

Every time I played this game, turned it off and went to bed I could not stand being in the dark. This game trains your mind that "dark = dangerous". In the dark, enemies will spawn and be invincible (or really strong, I can't remember which) until you shine a light on it, or lure it into a light spot. The game is very Stephen King/Twin Peaks inspired...apparently, I'm not overly familiar with either of them (though I want to be). You play an author, Alan Wake, who's suffering with Writer's Block. He and his wife go to a quiet little town called Bright Falls for a vacation. As you probably imagine it doesn't go too well, but I don't want to say any more. I want you, reader (yes, all one of you) to play this if you get the chance. Don't go in with a cynical mind, don't go in with any preconceptions and hopefully you'll enjoy this game as much as me. It was easily one of my top games of 2010.

Honourable Mention: Say what you will about Heavy Rain, but the "game" was a hell of an experience. Granted, I have had no temptation to go back to it ever again so it probably wasn't worth all £40 I spent on it.  

Next time: We celebrate the death of my teenage years! We'll go on a very epic journey and investigate a murder. Isn't that right... Zach?