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BANNED  Posts: 102 Joined: 1 Mar 2008     | |
Paperboy Posts: 23 Joined: 24 Nov 2007   |
Well it depends on what you're looking for in a scary game, scary comes in lots of flavors. You've got the tried and true method of things jumping out of nowhere when you least expect it, (Doom 3, Resident Evil 2) and you have games that specialize more in a "Setting-the-scene" kind of scary, which revolve around an atmosphere of fear, isolation, and insecurity (F.E.A.R., Silent Hill 2,). You've also got games that try to use a more subtle form of causing discomfort, usually with setting, or with the behavior of their enemies even. (Portal, Half-Life 2, Bioshock) In any case, some games are gonna be scarier to you than others based around your personality and preferences. Mind-fuck games might not do it for you, but constantly worrying about the next time you're gonna get jumped might. You just gotta try a little of each flavor until you decide what fits. That said, I'll offer some advice and then get to some game recommendations. 1. Your personal setting is as important as the games's. You can't play a horror game at 2:00 in the afternoon with the windows open, birds singing, music in the background, and then complain when the scary moments aren't that scary. If you opt to do this just because you want to play the game, then fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but accept that you will be cheating yourself out of pretty much the reason you bought the game. If you're just looking for a good story line, or a fun game experience, there's a lot of other, better options gamers can help you find. The best setting you can have for a game like this is in the dark, preferably at night, all by yourself, and with no music except that of the game playing. Turn the volume up, and tell the licker I said hello. After you shit your pants. :D 2. You need to assess what's gonna scare you, and what's just gonna frustrate gameplay. As you can tell, most of us are veteran gamers here, and so when we speak fondly of older games like Resident Evil 2, Silent Hill 2, System Shock, etc., we're mostly speaking out of a sense of nostalgia. Those games were scary for us, but they haven't exactly kept up with technology. Those games were for the original Playstation, and for old, OLD pc's. They're dated graphically, dated in their control scheme, and dated in their responsiveness. Games like these have pioneered a lot of the techniques still used today, but horror games since then have done them better. With the exception of System Shock, and more notably System Shock 2, don't expect to have constant adrenaline surging through your body with these. The two System Shocks though are... different. They're first person shooters, and let me just say that their potency hasn't decreased with time. They've become a cult phenomenon, so if you're lucky enough not to have had anything spoiled about them, I recommend you pick up at least System Shock 2. It's an experience every gamer should have, like playing with Mario at some point. 3. Some of these games can be very intense. Particularly the scene setting ones. Just remember, you don't have to play the whole thing through in one go. If you need to take a break to get your heart back under control, and your head straight again, then do it. It's not a sign of weakness, (you've heard other gamers in here say they've had to it) it's a sign that the developers did their job right. Lastly, some recommendations: F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon (PC) That should be something to get you started. Except for Condemned, the Playstation and PS2 games are all Greatest Hits, they'll be cheap to pick up. Same for Half-Life. F.E.A.R. is still going for about $20-$30 U.S., so you may wanna wait on that one. If you HAVE a Gamecube, the Resident Evil for that should be pretty cheap as well. Give 'em a whirl, and welcome to the gaming world. |
Paperboy Posts: 28 Joined: 12 Apr 2008 |
On #1: I tend to get scared very easily, so I'll probabley get scared no matter what. On #2: I have actually downloaded the second System Shock, but the download was corrupted, and the game crashed without fail every time the training ends. I'll try to find a CD copy and hope it works. On #3: I tend to strech out my games across multiple sittings. I usually play no more than a level/mission/quest or two in one sitting, so I don't have to worry about the sheer intensity boiling up to fudge stains all over the seat, me in a corner crying levels. On the game suggestions: I am considering renting Condemned, am I am searching for a copy of Half-Life. Oh, and Thank You for the Welcome. |
Beat Writer  Posts: 190 Joined: 9 Dec 2007  | if you want scary then play project zero (or fatal frame as it is known in the states) in a pitch black room with head phones on and no one else in the house to give an example also PZ 2 the worset enemy is the falling lady see falls to the floor (whith a horrible sound) and then twist her head around 180 degrees and starts crawling towards you. i have never left a room quicker in my life p.s why has no one else mentioned project zero? is it really that unknowen? |
Beat Writer Posts: 190 Joined: 9 Dec 2007 | just remembered this one the cradle from theif(i forget whitch one) it is a lot like that ocean house level but even more fuckeing scarie because of the lighting. why is every one talking about fear as if it is the scaries game ever i can think of three games of the top of my head that are more terrifying. p.s for a completly un-scary scary game play forbidden siren it was the funniest game for all th wrong reasons(althouh that could have been because i played it whilst at a friends house) |
Muckraker  Posts: 234 Joined: 10 Apr 2008 | doom 3 |
Paperboy  Posts: 49 Joined: 4 Mar 2008 | When me and a friend first go the demo of Alien Vs Predator 2 he played for roughly 60 seconds before turning it off to nerve wracked to continue. He still hadn't encountered any enemy's by that point. |
Beat Writer Posts: 168 Joined: 5 Mar 2008   |
True dat. Some of the water levels in Half Life are really freaky. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 870 Joined: 29 Mar 2008    | one game that freaked the living crap outta me was Dark Seed. HR Giger did a lot of the art, and in the first scene an alien embryo is implanted in your head! check it out here: |
Paperboy  Posts: 28 Joined: 5 Oct 2004  | The games the scared me was, "Fatal Frame I,II,III" Quick questions,"How can you guys be scared of zombies?" |
Paperboy Posts: 27 Joined: 15 Nov 2007 | Not enough people are mentioning Fatal Frame/Project Zero games! It really bothers me when people talk about how scary FEAR or Condemned are but neither of them come close to some horror games. |
Paperboy Posts: 28 Joined: 5 Oct 2004 | Cuz, people don't know good games when they play it/see it. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 76 Joined: 13 Apr 2008 | The game that really freaked me out was Resident Evil (the first) for GC. Lisa Trevor (i think thats the name) Really was the freakiest character I can think of. Also, (when i played it when i was about 7) Resident Evil: Code Veronica really freaked me out, just because of the zombies and blood (I WAS 7) |
Anonymous Source  Posts: 9 Joined: 28 Feb 2008 | Hello Kitty: Island Adventure |
Muckraker  Posts: 311 Joined: 12 Apr 2008 |
I got the same thing. also as a very far off side comment i woudl like to state the "horten hears of who" creeped me out, ALOT> |
Muckraker  Posts: 274 Joined: 20 Mar 2008 | one more STALKER vote here. never in any other game have I actually thought that the enemies are as scary as their in-game reputation. these videos should be enough proof: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-iWR31W9A&feature=related |
Paperboy  Posts: 50 Joined: 22 Mar 2008 | vote for avp (as col. marine) watching the films is one thing but this is the only game i had to turn off for overbearing fear factor & never look back :( also the ss2 monkey sounds are not good :( heard about fatal frame, didn't buy it for the obvious reason that i'm a total wuss edit: oddly while typing this fermata in mystic air from silent hill popped into my head & won't leave |
Anonymous Source  Posts: 8 Joined: 5 Mar 2008 | Seriously, did no one here but the select few play the Fatal Frame games? Those were the scariest experiences of my LIFE. Any game that plays like a well-produced movie is good, in my opinion, but this went farther than any I've seen. I mean, it's scary enough by nature, and it's fantastically designed, but in order to fight the ghosts that pop up everywhere (all the while mumbling, screaming, or saying something in some terrifying way), you have to take out a camera and take pictures of them in FIRST PERSON. If the game was an FPS, that would be one thing, but you're scared out of your mind looking at it from a distant camera perspective, then you have to get in up close and personal. Scariest thing EVER. Those games were terrifying, and so amazing. I remember in the first game when you are walking outside, with dark forest all around you, and you come into a small shack. YOu must solve a rather morbid puzzle, then something happens. It is obvious that there is a ghost around, and you cannot leave the room. I was playing it with my cousin, and we were looking around frantically for the ghost, but it never came. We were freaking out until we finally looked up... and a dead guy who was hanging from the ceiling immediately fell down in front of us and started coming at us. You know how sometimes guys have reactions kind of like a scream, but they're trying to be manly so they just kind of go crazy and panic instead? Yeah. *shudders* |
Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 677 Joined: 26 Mar 2008 | The original Silent Hill FTW. Also, the Shalebridge Cradle in Thief Deadly Shadows was pants soiling when the mental patients got out. |
Muckraker  Posts: 237 Joined: 22 Jan 2008 | i don't really like scary games because it seems they require a totally helpless main character, i'm not helpless nor have i ever been helpless and it's not the kind of thing i'd want to do for fun. but i did rent and play call of chthulu: dark corners of the earth, that was a scary fucking game. honorable mention for me goes to the dahaka from prince of persia 2. i was terrified of that thing. |
Paperboy Posts: 13 Joined: 1 Apr 2008 | Silent Hill 1&2, they were the first games to ever make my hair stand on end. |
Muckraker  Posts: 256 Joined: 13 Jan 2008 |
That section made me squeal. Like, seriously loud, ohmygodwhatwasthat kind of squeal that one expects from a 10 year old girl in a dark house during a thunderstorm after the power goes out and something creaked downstairs but oh man what was that outside is it just a branch!? |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 844 Joined: 25 Jan 2008 | Yup, chalk up another vote for Project Zero/Fatal Frame. Those games were fucking terrifying. System Shock 2 also gets my vote, purely because it's one of the best gaming experiences ever made. And it features screaming psychic monkeys that are ACTUALLY SCARY! And the spiders *shivers*. |
Muckraker  Posts: 313 Joined: 25 Mar 2008 |
Dang, completely forgot about the cradle :o One guy from the dev team was constantly working on that one level on his own. How do they even come up with the idea of an orphanage being turned into an asylum? Without removing the orphans, that is. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 730 Joined: 9 Jan 2008  |
Then fuck am I playing those games... I can't handle F.E.A.R |
Muckraker Posts: 256 Joined: 13 Jan 2008 |
To be fair, the topic is "Scariest Game You Have Ever Played" and I've never heard of "Fatal Frame/Project Zero". And while yes, F.E.A.R. isn't a horror game, it's the most frightening I've played. Of course, that doesn't say much since I personally avoid scary games. They scare me. |
Paperboy  Posts: 49 Joined: 12 Apr 2008 |
Would that happen to be a game where you have to look for clues for a murderer or something? It looks like a game like that, that I saw on TV one time that looked really scary. Also, I've been thinking about getting S.T.A.L.K.E.R for a while, for the scariness, and the free-roaming (or so I hear) atmosphere. Overall, what is the game like? |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 363 Joined: 21 Nov 2007 |
I hear that! I'd already completed the game as an alien and as the predator so I knew what I was up against when I started playing as the marine. Jesus, that motion tracker is a really good tool for building up a bit of tension. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 730 Joined: 9 Jan 2008 |
One of the most boring games I have ever played. Don't bother. |
Paperboy  Posts: 23 Joined: 9 Apr 2008 |
lol, yea that one was a bitch, and because of how vanilla the rest of the game was turning out to be I was totally unprepared... yea but F.E.A.R. is definitely the worst, there were parts of it that had be shaking, and I even had to stop to take a deep breath before entering a room because the sounds, lighting and ambient music already had me on edge before anything even happened! Sierra, I applaud you, now bring out the sequel already! Also, get Extraction Point, great continuation of the story and has a bit of original stuff too. |
Paperboy  Posts: 21 Joined: 28 Mar 2008 | uhhh... suprising. So few people even mentioned any of the Fatal Frame games. F.E.A.R was pretty scary. But as Yatzee said, it's a little too predictable in the way of WHEN it's going to get scary and when it's going to be a (relatively) relaxing gun battle that isn't going to make you shiver and jump a foot in the air. Similarly, in F.E.A.R you are a supersoldier who can slow down time, which is cool, but you don't feel all that vulnerable. But the Fatal Frame games were... something else. You just don't get a break, bonechilling, creepy and jump from your seat frightening from start to finish with no breaks and no relaxation at all. As starkly opposed to F.E.A.R, you are NOT a supersoldier, you play a weak, slow moving terrified girl, which makes you the equivilent to her in the nerves department. You feel weak and terrified with no way out. FEAR was very good and scary. But Fatal Frame, me and my brother and his friend had to take shifts playing that game cuz we frequently became too creeped out to continue, and had to pass off the controller. |
Paperboy Posts: 23 Joined: 9 Apr 2008 | STALKER really isn't a bad game, (gameplay and story wise) it just has really bad performance issues, like your mom, but GPG has been fixing the bugs with patch after patch... their actually getting close to the bugginess level that most games are at when they are released. so, if you like rpg's and fps's, and you liked Bioshock and Oblivion/ElderScrolls, then I would say go ahead and get STALKER. It actually is fun. |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 730 Joined: 9 Jan 2008 |
[/disagree mode] I disliked the game. For reasons stated above. |
Chalk up another vote for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
All through the game there's a really eerie, immersive atmosphere. The first time I left the starting area I was walking down the road and a dog suddenly started growling at me from the bushes. I jumped out of my skin, only for it to to be just as scared, turn tail and flee, and from then on I knew I'd love the game. Its full of "I'm absolutely NOT going in THERE" moments, especially in the underground bases, and the first time I got to Yantar was just.... horrible.
Oh, and that house. If anyone else has played the game, they'll know which one I mean.
FEAR and Doom3 are scary as long as you play them wanting to be scared, which in the OPs case doesn't sound like a problem. It should also go without saying that all these games should be played alone, in the dark, with the sound up.