The whole idea of resident evil is not survival horror, they even marketed it as action horror. Leon is not surviving, he is infiltrating, and attacking... He is the one man assault team!
I think what made the resident evil games pre 4 survival horror was the isolation and desperation of it all, and the overall sense of escape.
The only thing that qualifies it as horror is the presence of non-demonic, deformed humans. And even then, I wouldn't consider it horrific, tense sure but as I said earlier, the heroes in horror stories, real horror stories, don't close combat the monsters and punch them across the area.
Silent Hill is horror, RE2 is horror, RE5 seems to be veering into Sci-Fi without the aliens but with slow-mo kung fu and parasitic creatures.
No, I messed up with the link & meant the review on that page, not that particular comment. I hear a lot of people say that it's technically a really well done game, but it's generic & lacks soul (which is about the worst thing that you could mess up with a horror game).
Some people say that, but I thought it was one of the tensest, most frightening horror games I've played. I found it interesting enough that it's also one of the very few horror games I've actually bothered to finish despite the fact that I found it so frightening.
It may borrow from plenty of sci-fi sources, but I thought it all came together in an interesting enough way.
I never found DS particularly frightening - but I did note it to be particularly awesome. Rainbow's sources are right, it is really technically well done. The sound is excellent, the art direction is great, the world is well-realized, and the combat mechanics are better than RE5 - even considering the awesome context-sensitive kung-fu of Chris and Sheva.
But it IS a little generic and it doesn't have the soul of say, Siren or the old-school Silent Hills or Fatal Frame. The world it creates is fascinating, but the story is a little shitty. It's also full of really great moments, really great set pieces, really great experiences. Dead Space is a great game, but it's not the best horror game.
Still - great game, worth playing.
Chance on
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
No, I messed up with the link & meant the review on that page, not that particular comment. I hear a lot of people say that it's technically a really well done game, but it's generic & lacks soul (which is about the worst thing that you could mess up with a horror game).
Some people say that, but I thought it was one of the tensest, most frightening horror games I've played. I found it interesting enough that it's also one of the very few horror games I've actually bothered to finish despite the fact that I found it so frightening.
It may borrow from plenty of sci-fi sources, but I thought it all came together in an interesting enough way.
I've heard comments about it being generic, soulless or bland, particularly from the ZP review. To be honest, I simply can't understand that viewpoint at all, it's like they review some other, crappy game.
I think the Yahtzee review is probably the one that I really don't get. I mean, I've disagreed with half his reviews anyway, but at least I could understand where the dude was coming from and what his opinions were. When he reviewed Dead Space though it was almost like he'd had someone else describe their playthrough of the game and then picked the aspects he thought were the worst, added in some genre cliches and made his review around that.
Personally, I only got to play Dead Space within the last week, and I have to say it's a really amazingly well put together game. It's one of the few games where I actually hope they don't make a direct sequel to it. The game's not perfect, every game has it's flaws, but they got so much of the design and the style right that I honestly can't see them doing anything other than either repeating it or changing things that worked the first time and making them worse as a result. It's probably one of the most cohesively designed games I've played, the gameplay, setting and atmosphere all come together beautifully.
What really makes the game is the atmosphere. A special shout out has to go to the really amazing work they did on the sound design, Dead Space would be nothing without it. The way the music dynamically shifts and contorts when you encounter monsters, the constant background noises and how they're worked, and even the zero-G segments with no sound save for the thudding bass as vibrations travel through Isaac's boots. The raw body horror of the Necromorphs doesn't really frighten me, but the visual and audio design make the ship it's own character, and that's what really puts the tension into the game.
The game is "generic" only in that it takes from sci-fi convention. Heck, to a large extent it plays out like a third person redux of System Shock 2. Meh, so what, what matters is the implementation, and they genuinely nailed it. About the only qualm I have with the game is the story, which I didn't think was all that well implemented. Like I said before, the big plot twist was telegraphed way too hard, to the point where I didn't even expect it to be a plot twist at all, but they made it one.
One other thing I'll add is that it's not as scary as say, Silent Hill 2. There's not so much of the slow paced psychological horror, it tends to dwell more with the action. As long as you understand that, you're fine. That's not to say I didn't find the game scary either, the atmosphere was really well engineered and tense, it's just that the gameplay is engineered a bit more towards shooting monsters.
All I can say is that the game is well worth it, the people calling it bland, well, like I said, I just can't fathom it.
Yep, the PC port of RE2 is fairly decent. It's what they based the DC version off of. Controls are wacky though.
A little configuring and they worked just fine for me. But then I'm a longtime PC gamer, so I'm used to solely keyboard based hijinks.
Actually now that I've got a gamepad, I wonder whether it would work with that now.
The PC port of RE2 was actually really good. Higher res graphics made things a bit better, and unlike every version except the Dreamcast it had the Battle Mode (what eventually evolved into RE4's Mercenaries mode). There's also an exclusive "Arrange" mode which randomises where items are.
The PC port or RE4 was an absolute travesty until the incredible mod communtity sprang up and made it the game it was supposed to be.
Wii RE4:
PC RE4:
Modded PC RE4:
That's right, Depth of Field Mutha Trucka's! There are also some pretty groovy shader mods and things as well, like the custom laser sight.
Is there any special name for the RE4 mod? And does it do anything to the controls to make it play more like a PC game?
I never found DS particularly frightening - but I did note it to be particularly awesome. Rainbow's sources are right, it is really technically well done. The sound is excellent, the art direction is great, the world is well-realized, and the combat mechanics are better than RE5 - even considering the awesome context-sensitive kung-fu of Chris and Sheva.
But it IS a little generic and it doesn't have the soul of say, Siren or the old-school Silent Hills or Fatal Frame. The world it creates is fascinating, but the story is a little shitty. It's also full of really great moments, really great set pieces, really great experiences. Dead Space is a great game, but it's not the best horror game.
Still - great game, worth playing.
Different people find different things frightening. I never found any of the Silent Hills scary after the first half hour or so. Fatal Frame 2 was extremely scary for the first hour and then it devolved into... what it is. The other games are just kind of there. Siren is extremely creepy, though, I'll admit. A pity it's not more playable, though the remake is supposed to have dealt with that.
I don't know, I don't see much soul in a lot of horror games or much originality. If you can't identify what inspired your Japanese horror game, you just haven't spent enough time around Japanese horror.
I honestly don't think Dead Space is any more generic than a lot of other things people here love, but it's a very western take on a dirty, lived in future in space.
That's a good point about Siren - it's profoundly creepy, but apart from... two examples there's never an 'omfg!' moment in Blood Curse. There are some parts where the creepiness slips into "this is fucking scary", but it achieves it using the same tools it does with the relatively tamer sequenes. Honestly, the last level you play as 10-year-old Bella still twists my stomach into knots, and I've played that game around six times.
And speaking of games approaching the genre differently, I have to point to Siren again. Blood Curse is definitely survival horror, but it has almost none of the trappings of the genre. There is no life bar, there are no persistent weapons, there are no health pickups. It does, however, take place in a small rural town and have some fuckawesome sequences that take place in a creepy hospital. But I'm willing to forgive that - after all, it's made by the same dudes who made the original Silent Hill.
Chance on
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
Damn. The same few titles keep coming up and it depresses me how many horror games are actually decent, and how some of those titles are really freaking old. I wish I could say Bioshock was scary.
I guess you can add The Suffering to the list, it's been out for awhile as well but has a PC version.
Is there any special name for the RE4 mod? And does it do anything to the controls to make it play more like a PC game?
It's more like a half-dozen mods and tweaks and stuff there. The controls unfortunately, you're stuck with. The RE4 port really was amazingly bad. No lighting until the first patch, no mouse support, and even the button prompts for the QTE's were completely screwed up so there was no real way to win them.
I just played with a 360 gamepad, which works out fine. Well, after you install the button prompts mod.
That ad shows off a really nice part of the game's appeal: you play as multiple characters so you're never quite sure who is going to still be alive by the end of the game.
Oh and has anyone mentioned the oXBox/PC Cthulhu game? It has its share of mediocre moments (mostly the times when it goes all FPS on you), but when it's good, it's really good. The inn escape, boat attack, and refinery boss are all particularly memorable.
Is there any special name for the RE4 mod? And does it do anything to the controls to make it play more like a PC game?
It's more like a half-dozen mods and tweaks and stuff there. The controls unfortunately, you're stuck with. The RE4 port really was amazingly bad. No lighting until the first patch, no mouse support, and even the button prompts for the QTE's were completely screwed up so there was no real way to win them.
I just played with a 360 gamepad, which works out fine. Well, after you install the button prompts mod.
Urk. I wonder if it'll ever be done. But the mods make the game look something sweet.
Did Stalker Clear Sky keep most of the mood and creepiness? I don't want to have to suffer any bugs or errors, so I've been taking my time with buying the game. Plus there's some good mods for it right now, I think.
Fear 2 is also a pretty good game. No need to play Fear 1, but my scariest moments were with the gymnastic mutants that slipped through EVERYTHING.
Do you guys play horror games any other way besides in isolation and in your pitch black room? I felt like I had to stop doing that when I would hear noises in my headphones that I thought were coming from my room. Sounds pretty stupid but I cried and shit my pants at the same time.
plus its fun to argue and persuade people about the right way to play a horror game, and how many people didn't feel creeped out cause they were playing at 3 in the afternoon. Is it necessary to play in the dark? It always enhances the gameplay for me, but then again I'm not trying to psyche myself out and remind myself it's a game.
EDIT: Even now I think that commercial is still creepy. Reminds me when they put a CHucky preview in my Top Gun VCR tape. I hated that fucking doll and I couldn't stand the preview.
plus its fun to argue and persuade people about the right way to play a horror game, and how many people didn't feel creeped out cause they were playing at 3 in the afternoon. Is it necessary to play in the dark? It always enhances the gameplay for me, but then again I'm not trying to psyche myself out and remind myself it's a game.
Well there's no point in watching a good horror movie with the lights on and the sound down. The whole point is that you're trying to let the movie have an effect on you.
Likewise if you go into a game and do everything to make sure it's not scary, even Silent Hill 2 is some random dude walking around in the fog and occasionally clubbing a mannequin with a plank of wood.
Resident Evil seems to be heartily covered (I don't think RE4 really classifies as survival horror; RE3 or RE:CV is the last in that series to qualify, and both of those have copious amounts of ammunition). 3 has the most replayability, but REmake or vanilla RE are probably the best for cohesive independent gameplay (RE2 has the best weapons, but the Police Station can drags during replays).
I'll second System Shock 2. There are a decent number of mods out for it now that fix the graphics and models so it looks better than the pre-Half-Life look it originally had. I didn't find it necessarily all that horror-y, but it's a good game that most people classify as survival horror. It should also fit into the OP's "good story" requirement (well, immersive, if not "good"). The first System Shock is also pretty horror-esque, but the graphics haven't aged well and it can be a huge pain to get running on a modern PC (so can SS2, but it has far more fan support).
I'll also second Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2. The second is better than the first and there's almost no story progression or link between the two (the first is still a decent game, though). If in doubt, go with SH2. If you want a good story mixed with decent gameplay this is probably the best way to go (should be available places for the XBOX and PS2...maybe PC). Plenty of spoilers abound in some of the in-depth analysis of the game's symbolism and storytelling.
The big omission I'm seeing is Dino Crisis. Easy mode is pretty much an action game involving dinosaur shooting, but normal breaks out the survival horror by giving you very limited ammo, lots of bleeding, and Jurassic Park door-opening velociraptors. The Dreamcast version has slightly better graphics than the Playstation version (but it's not pre-rendered like the Playstation REs). That's not saying much, it's still pretty blocky. It might also be on PC. The story is relatively 'meh' (some terrible voice acting, which is probably to be expected), but it has some options for replayability and features plenty of running for your life. It's like playing Resident Evil with the zombies replaced by hunters that can't instantly kill you.
Dino Crisis 2 is basically an action game where you run around shooting dinosaurs for points in order to upgrade your guns so you can shoot more dinosaurs. And Dino Crisis 3 is ...mutant dinosaur shooting on a ...morphing spaceship ...or something.
...I wouldn't venture beyond the first iteration in the series, really.
STALKER, as mentioned, also fits the survival horror definition quite often. It's atmospheric, has zombies and has you creeping through dark places with an abundance of dangers and occasionally a lack of ammo. The first game in 10 years to make me hesitant to enter an imaginary space.
[edit]My signature also reminded me: the marine campaign for Aliens versus Predator and Aliens versus Predator 2 for PC are both pretty survival horror-esque. Both games are relatively old, though.[/edit]
UltimaGecko on
The facehuggers want to play with you in the AvP LP. Facehuggers also want you to check out the TF2 cards here. View the in-progress RE mansion recreation for L4D here.
I'm going to dip into an older game that probably is unplayable now but Blair Witch Project: Rustin Parr is a game that had a really good fear vibe going. From the makers of Nocturne which was a decent game in it's own right, though not terribly scary, Rustin Parr delved into the events surrounding the original Blair Witch murders spoken about in the movie.
I cant say it was "Survival Horror" precisely but it certainly had it's share of scares, if you can find a copy and can stand older graphics, I heartily recommend it for a good scare or two.
Search for it on Youtube, I'd link it but I'm blocked at work =/
I tried Condemned 2 but I frankly found it just too.. brutal I guess to continue. Just picking up a brick and smashing it in a hobo's face was too over-the-top for me, and I found it overly disturbing in that sense. It was also scary, for sure, but that wasn't the reason I returned it.
UltimaGecko, most of your stuff I agree with but how is RE3 the one with most replayability? 2 has 2 scenarios for each character plus the challenge mode with Hunk and Tofu
I tried Condemned 2 but I frankly found it just too.. brutal I guess to continue. Just picking up a brick and smashing it in a hobo's face was too over-the-top for me, and I found it overly disturbing in that sense. It was also scary, for sure, but that wasn't the reason I returned it.
This is actually a good point when considering survival horror. I'm reminded of Ye Olde Days when I was living on my own in a little apartment, and downloaded every video I could possibly find. One day I came across a 4-episode anime series I'd never heard of, so I decided to start downloading it while I researched what the hell it was about.
I found a single review, that told me very plainly not to watch it and condemned everything about it. Intrigued by this warning and believing that any experience of extremes could only enrich my knowledge, I didn't listen to the advice.
I should have listened to the advice. Once seen, some things cannot be unseen, and I wish I'd never watched that show. Now, forever, I have this horror inside of me that's not clever or symbolic or thoughtful. It's only disgust for the sake of being disgusting, offensive for the sake of making you feel like you've been gut-punched.
That show is an extreme example - I've thankfully never found a video game that compared - and even though we are (for the most part) adults who are very much able to handle all the material our parents would shield us from, it still suggests that we should give pause before diving into a video game that focuses itself on the worst experiences one could imagine.
Unlike a horror flick, video games are not an experience that you enjoy for ninety minutes before walking out into the bright lights of the theatre lobby, refreshed and in a different world. Video games require hours of concentration on a single focus, and as such they begin to form a rudimentary meditation on the subject matter.
Okami, by way of example, was incredibly refreshing to me because - beyond being a Zelda-styled adventure game - it is a thirty-hour meditation on bringing life and happiness to a world. More often than not, video games ask us to experience horrible things, and so we sit for hours on end, thinking of horrible things.
And you are what you think.
That aside, Siren is really fucking awesome and I'm dying to get my hands on Silent Hill 2, which is likely the dumbest thing I could possibly do if I don't want to meditate on the worst aspects of humanity.
Chance on
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
I tried Condemned 2 but I frankly found it just too.. brutal I guess to continue. Just picking up a brick and smashing it in a hobo's face was too over-the-top for me, and I found it overly disturbing in that sense. It was also scary, for sure, but that wasn't the reason I returned it.
This is actually a good point when considering survival horror. I'm reminded of Ye Olde Days when I was living on my own in a little apartment, and downloaded every video I could possibly find. One day I came across a 4-episode anime series I'd never heard of, so I decided to start downloading it while I researched what the hell it was about.
I found a single review, that told me very plainly not to watch it and condemned everything about it. Intrigued by this warning and believing that any experience of extremes could only enrich my knowledge, I didn't listen to the advice.
I should have listened to the advice. Once seen, some things cannot be unseen, and I wish I'd never watched that show. Now, forever, I have this horror inside of me that's not clever or symbolic or thoughtful. It's only disgust for the sake of being disgusting, offensive for the sake of making you feel like you've been gut-punched.
I don't have any reccomendation to play that haven't been mentioned, but STAY AWAY FROM CLIVE BARKERS JERICHO.
I just picked this up a couple days ago, cause I was looking for something new.. it has some nice graphics and some good ideas, but overall turns out to be borning as hell(if you find hell boring)
I just finished up Silent Hill Homecoming is pretty disappointing (ok i got the aliens ending)
also since it hasnt been mentioned and im one of the 4 people who enjoyed it parasite eve... the 2nd not so much but i just liked the feel and play of the game (and the law and order area change names)
farbekrieg on
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Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
edited March 2009
On the subject of Fatal Frame:
Fatal Frame 1 is very good. A lot of clever shock moments "WTF? There should be a ghost in here, but it's not showing up.......OH SHIT GOD SHIT FUCK SHIT GOD!"
The story is pretty good, a bit melodramatic. The main character is defiantly fanart, so you'll either be drooling or rolling your eyes when she's crawling through narrow crawl ways.
The pacing is excellent, you'll find yourself playing nonstop. An excellent game all around.
Fatal Frame 2 is also good, but not as good. Fatal Frame 2 suffers a lot in pacing, because you'll find yourself backtracking 60% of the god damn game. So after awhile it feels like you're just grinding away padding to get back to the meat of the game.
The story is...well lets just say that Fatal Frame 2 haves one of the most fuck up endings in video game history. If you're like me, you be sitting on the couch with your hands on the floor, wondering just why you spent 10 or so hours to get that kind of ending.
So Fatal Frame 2 an alright game, only play it if your a big fan of the first one.
I tried Condemned 2 but I frankly found it just too.. brutal I guess to continue. Just picking up a brick and smashing it in a hobo's face was too over-the-top for me, and I found it overly disturbing in that sense. It was also scary, for sure, but that wasn't the reason I returned it.
This is actually a good point when considering survival horror. I'm reminded of Ye Olde Days when I was living on my own in a little apartment, and downloaded every video I could possibly find. One day I came across a 4-episode anime series I'd never heard of, so I decided to start downloading it while I researched what the hell it was about.
I found a single review, that told me very plainly not to watch it and condemned everything about it. Intrigued by this warning and believing that any experience of extremes could only enrich my knowledge, I didn't listen to the advice.
I should have listened to the advice. Once seen, some things cannot be unseen, and I wish I'd never watched that show. Now, forever, I have this horror inside of me that's not clever or symbolic or thoughtful. It's only disgust for the sake of being disgusting, offensive for the sake of making you feel like you've been gut-punched.
That show is an extreme example - I've thankfully never found a video game that compared - and even though we are (for the most part) adults who are very much able to handle all the material our parents would shield us from, it still suggests that we should give pause before diving into a video game that focuses itself on the worst experiences one could imagine.
Unlike a horror flick, video games are not an experience that you enjoy for ninety minutes before walking out into the bright lights of the theatre lobby, refreshed and in a different world. Video games require hours of concentration on a single focus, and as such they begin to form a rudimentary meditation on the subject matter.
Okami, by way of example, was incredibly refreshing to me because - beyond being a Zelda-styled adventure game - it is a thirty-hour meditation on bringing life and happiness to a world. More often than not, video games ask us to experience horrible things, and so we sit for hours on end, thinking of horrible things.
And you are what you think.
That aside, Siren is really fucking awesome and I'm dying to get my hands on Silent Hill 2, which is likely the dumbest thing I could possibly do if I don't want to meditate on the worst aspects of humanity.
Sooo... how was it disgusting? Like a shitload of gore?
(1) I don't remember what the show was called.
(2) If I did... well, yeah, I'd probably tell you. 'Cause you'd watch it. And then you'd know, and you'd have learned your lesson well.
(3) I won't describe it. But to call it simply gory would be doing it a disservice. It wasn't just gory, or sexually perverse in the most godawful ways one could imagine, or without any single redeeming quality. It was all three, and I've never seen anything to equal it before or since.
Chance on
'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
Oh and has anyone mentioned the oXBox/PC Cthulhu game? It has its share of mediocre moments (mostly the times when it goes all FPS on you), but when it's good, it's really good. The inn escape, boat attack, and refinery boss are all particularly memorable.
It has an inn-escape scene ala Shadow Over Innsmouth?
I must look into this.
That aside, Siren is really fucking awesome and I'm dying to get my hands on Silent Hill 2, which is likely the dumbest thing I could possibly do if I don't want to meditate on the worst aspects of humanity.
Interestingly, though, Silent Hill 2 is a story of redemption, and to be honest the "good" ending actually makes the whole experience kind of feel good. Of course, you tread through the darkest horrors of the human psyche getting there, but really it's the final resolution to the whole thing that makes it complete.
(1) I don't remember what the show was called.
(2) If I did... well, yeah, I'd probably tell you. 'Cause you'd watch it. And then you'd know, and you'd have learned your lesson well.
(3) I won't describe it. But to call it simply gory would be doing it a disservice. It wasn't just gory, or sexually perverse in the most godawful ways one could imagine, or without any single redeeming quality. It was all three, and I've never seen anything to equal it before or since.
There is a series of japanese "snuff"/torture movies called "The Guinea Pig Films" that are basically this. I only watched a little bit of one called "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" (the one Charlie Sheen supposedly thought was real) and it was just awful. I was a huge horror/gore buff at the time, but it was just too much for me.
What bothered me the most was that there was no context for it. It's just a guy in a samurai outfit torturing a girl. They're just shock films.
chasehatesbears on
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Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
(1) I don't remember what the show was called.
(2) If I did... well, yeah, I'd probably tell you. 'Cause you'd watch it. And then you'd know, and you'd have learned your lesson well.
(3) I won't describe it. But to call it simply gory would be doing it a disservice. It wasn't just gory, or sexually perverse in the most godawful ways one could imagine, or without any single redeeming quality. It was all three, and I've never seen anything to equal it before or since.
There is a series of japanese "snuff"/torture movies called "The Guinea Pig Films" that are basically this. I only watched a little bit of one called "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" (the one Charlie Sheen supposedly thought was real) and it was just awful. I was a huge horror/gore buff at the time, but it was just too much for me.
What bothered me the most was that there was no context for it. It's just a guy in a samurai outfit torturing a girl. They're just shock films.
Actually there's a lot of context for it. A dude had a sexual fetish, and he took it out on the woman.
So how bad is the PC port of Silent Hill 2? All the stuff I've heard about it really makes me want to play it. Was it resource-heavy? Poor controls?
I don't know about Resource heavy, seems to run fine if you've got any decent graphics card from the last half a decade.
Controls took a bit of configuring, but if you're OK with tank controls on a keyboard you ought to be good to go. Otherwise I think you ought to be able to use a gamepad just fine.
(1) I don't remember what the show was called.
(2) If I did... well, yeah, I'd probably tell you. 'Cause you'd watch it. And then you'd know, and you'd have learned your lesson well.
(3) I won't describe it. But to call it simply gory would be doing it a disservice. It wasn't just gory, or sexually perverse in the most godawful ways one could imagine, or without any single redeeming quality. It was all three, and I've never seen anything to equal it before or since.
There is a series of japanese "snuff"/torture movies called "The Guinea Pig Films" that are basically this. I only watched a little bit of one called "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" (the one Charlie Sheen supposedly thought was real) and it was just awful. I was a huge horror/gore buff at the time, but it was just too much for me.
What bothered me the most was that there was no context for it. It's just a guy in a samurai outfit torturing a girl. They're just shock films.
flower of flesh and blood and mermaid in a manhole are worth seeing if youre into that kinda thing, the rest of the series not so much from what ive seen. mermaid in a manhole especially, its the only one thats worth anything beyond the gore. the series gets really silly as it goes on after that.
UltimaGecko, most of your stuff I agree with but how is RE3 the one with most replayability? 2 has 2 scenarios for each character plus the challenge mode with Hunk and Tofu
Resident Evil 2 does have the A/B scenario system, but both repetition fills the replays (once you've played Leon's A scenario you'll know quite a few of the item locations for his B scenario, for example). 80% of the areas you run through are places you visit in the first scenario. The only major impact you have on the subsequent scenario is whether you're taking the submachine gun or sidepack, and whether you want to release BOW gas throughout the Umbrella facility. As a replayability bonus it does have Hunk and Tofu (although Tofu is essentially Hunk's minigame with just a knife). The dual shock RE2 version for the Playstation is also supposed to have some sort of 'Extreme Battle' minigame, but I've never seen it (I think it was PCs from RE and RE2 versus each other).
Resident Evil 3 doesn't have an A/B scenario system, but it does have a 'Live Choices' system which has possibly the lamest name for a game feature ever (it functions much like in Dino Crisis), where you are given binary choices which usually (but not always) result in path or slight plot changes. In addition, there are a few possible paths available to the player, so it's a little more free-flowing (not much more, though). The biggest option you had in RE2 is picking which order you wanted to find your 4 chess plugs/colored stones in.
The game has randomization (which might not be readily apparent at first, since not every room is randomized) - an example I can remember: if you've got a game saved by the hospital, the first area in the park can have a pack of zombies or a pack of hunters (depending on how much the game hates you). Item placement is also a bit randomized. There's also gunpowder mixing, but in every playthrough I've done I've found it somewhat superfluous. Even on the first playthrough you probably won't need any extra ammo from mixing them. RE3 also has a "The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackal" minigame, which I found quite a bit more engaging than Hunk's scenario. It's essentially a timed run through the city (with a countdown to you exploding, not an upwards counting timer) where your chosen PC determines your initial weapons/health loadout. Unlike other games requiring fancy completion times or strange actions, bonus points in the minigame can be used to purchase things for Jill's playthroughs. Also, I'd be hardpressed to say it increases replayability, but there's an 'Epilogue' that gives you the history of other RE-universe characters each subsequent time you beat the game.
It's debateable which one could be considered more replayable. I like running around a zombie-filled city more than just a police station, but that might just be because I've played through RE2 one too many times (I still have a Leon A save where Leon has an infinite ammo gatling gun (which requires completing both scenarios without saving), an infinite ammo submachine gun (using no first aid spray), and alternate outfits (not picking up handgun ammo in the first pre-PD section); then again, I also have a save with 5 of the 9 epilogue pictures unlocked for RE3 and all 4 of the infinite ammo purchases from the minigame).
Despite all that, I still like the functionality and setting of the first one best...which makes me wish I had a GameCube/Wii so I could buy the remake.
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The facehuggers want to play with you in the AvP LP. Facehuggers also want you to check out the TF2 cards here. View the in-progress RE mansion recreation for L4D here.
Oh and has anyone mentioned the oXBox/PC Cthulhu game? It has its share of mediocre moments (mostly the times when it goes all FPS on you), but when it's good, it's really good. The inn escape, boat attack, and refinery boss are all particularly memorable.
It has an inn-escape scene ala Shadow Over Innsmouth?
I must look into this.
Much of the game is actually based on Shadow Over Innsmouth.
It isn't a 1:1 transition of Shadow Over Innsmouth into videogame form, but it's obviously one of the greatest inspirations for many of the game's events.
The dual shock RE2 version for the Playstation is also supposed to have some sort of 'Extreme Battle' minigame, but I've never seen it (I think it was PCs from RE and RE2 versus each other).
Nope. The PC version had this minigame as well.
Basically this is eventually what evolved (by way of RE3's minigame) into the mercenaries mode in RE4. You pick one of four characters, each with a unique weapon set, and battle your way backwards through the game from the train to the police station.
It's basically a combat game, no puzzles involved, you pick up extra ammo and herbs en-route. If you go far enough off the path to the station in one or two places you can also usually pick up extra weapons and ammo like the Rocket Launcher.
It was actually pretty fun, for when you were in the mood for killing zombies and not letting the rest of the game interrupt the proceedings.
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The only thing that qualifies it as horror is the presence of non-demonic, deformed humans. And even then, I wouldn't consider it horrific, tense sure but as I said earlier, the heroes in horror stories, real horror stories, don't close combat the monsters and punch them across the area.
Silent Hill is horror, RE2 is horror, RE5 seems to be veering into Sci-Fi without the aliens but with slow-mo kung fu and parasitic creatures.
I never found DS particularly frightening - but I did note it to be particularly awesome. Rainbow's sources are right, it is really technically well done. The sound is excellent, the art direction is great, the world is well-realized, and the combat mechanics are better than RE5 - even considering the awesome context-sensitive kung-fu of Chris and Sheva.
But it IS a little generic and it doesn't have the soul of say, Siren or the old-school Silent Hills or Fatal Frame. The world it creates is fascinating, but the story is a little shitty. It's also full of really great moments, really great set pieces, really great experiences. Dead Space is a great game, but it's not the best horror game.
Still - great game, worth playing.
I've heard comments about it being generic, soulless or bland, particularly from the ZP review. To be honest, I simply can't understand that viewpoint at all, it's like they review some other, crappy game.
I think the Yahtzee review is probably the one that I really don't get. I mean, I've disagreed with half his reviews anyway, but at least I could understand where the dude was coming from and what his opinions were. When he reviewed Dead Space though it was almost like he'd had someone else describe their playthrough of the game and then picked the aspects he thought were the worst, added in some genre cliches and made his review around that.
Personally, I only got to play Dead Space within the last week, and I have to say it's a really amazingly well put together game. It's one of the few games where I actually hope they don't make a direct sequel to it. The game's not perfect, every game has it's flaws, but they got so much of the design and the style right that I honestly can't see them doing anything other than either repeating it or changing things that worked the first time and making them worse as a result. It's probably one of the most cohesively designed games I've played, the gameplay, setting and atmosphere all come together beautifully.
What really makes the game is the atmosphere. A special shout out has to go to the really amazing work they did on the sound design, Dead Space would be nothing without it. The way the music dynamically shifts and contorts when you encounter monsters, the constant background noises and how they're worked, and even the zero-G segments with no sound save for the thudding bass as vibrations travel through Isaac's boots. The raw body horror of the Necromorphs doesn't really frighten me, but the visual and audio design make the ship it's own character, and that's what really puts the tension into the game.
The game is "generic" only in that it takes from sci-fi convention. Heck, to a large extent it plays out like a third person redux of System Shock 2. Meh, so what, what matters is the implementation, and they genuinely nailed it. About the only qualm I have with the game is the story, which I didn't think was all that well implemented. Like I said before, the big plot twist was telegraphed way too hard, to the point where I didn't even expect it to be a plot twist at all, but they made it one.
One other thing I'll add is that it's not as scary as say, Silent Hill 2. There's not so much of the slow paced psychological horror, it tends to dwell more with the action. As long as you understand that, you're fine. That's not to say I didn't find the game scary either, the atmosphere was really well engineered and tense, it's just that the gameplay is engineered a bit more towards shooting monsters.
All I can say is that the game is well worth it, the people calling it bland, well, like I said, I just can't fathom it.
Is there any special name for the RE4 mod? And does it do anything to the controls to make it play more like a PC game?
Different people find different things frightening. I never found any of the Silent Hills scary after the first half hour or so. Fatal Frame 2 was extremely scary for the first hour and then it devolved into... what it is. The other games are just kind of there. Siren is extremely creepy, though, I'll admit. A pity it's not more playable, though the remake is supposed to have dealt with that.
I don't know, I don't see much soul in a lot of horror games or much originality. If you can't identify what inspired your Japanese horror game, you just haven't spent enough time around Japanese horror.
I honestly don't think Dead Space is any more generic than a lot of other things people here love, but it's a very western take on a dirty, lived in future in space.
And speaking of games approaching the genre differently, I have to point to Siren again. Blood Curse is definitely survival horror, but it has almost none of the trappings of the genre. There is no life bar, there are no persistent weapons, there are no health pickups. It does, however, take place in a small rural town and have some fuckawesome sequences that take place in a creepy hospital. But I'm willing to forgive that - after all, it's made by the same dudes who made the original Silent Hill.
I guess you can add The Suffering to the list, it's been out for awhile as well but has a PC version.
It's more like a half-dozen mods and tweaks and stuff there. The controls unfortunately, you're stuck with. The RE4 port really was amazingly bad. No lighting until the first patch, no mouse support, and even the button prompts for the QTE's were completely screwed up so there was no real way to win them.
I just played with a 360 gamepad, which works out fine. Well, after you install the button prompts mod.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxXcX0kuZTI
That ad shows off a really nice part of the game's appeal: you play as multiple characters so you're never quite sure who is going to still be alive by the end of the game.
Oh and has anyone mentioned the oXBox/PC Cthulhu game? It has its share of mediocre moments (mostly the times when it goes all FPS on you), but when it's good, it's really good. The inn escape, boat attack, and refinery boss are all particularly memorable.
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Urk. I wonder if it'll ever be done. But the mods make the game look something sweet.
Did Stalker Clear Sky keep most of the mood and creepiness? I don't want to have to suffer any bugs or errors, so I've been taking my time with buying the game. Plus there's some good mods for it right now, I think.
Fear 2 is also a pretty good game. No need to play Fear 1, but my scariest moments were with the gymnastic mutants that slipped through EVERYTHING.
Do you guys play horror games any other way besides in isolation and in your pitch black room? I felt like I had to stop doing that when I would hear noises in my headphones that I thought were coming from my room. Sounds pretty stupid but I cried and shit my pants at the same time.
plus its fun to argue and persuade people about the right way to play a horror game, and how many people didn't feel creeped out cause they were playing at 3 in the afternoon. Is it necessary to play in the dark? It always enhances the gameplay for me, but then again I'm not trying to psyche myself out and remind myself it's a game.
EDIT: Even now I think that commercial is still creepy. Reminds me when they put a CHucky preview in my Top Gun VCR tape. I hated that fucking doll and I couldn't stand the preview.
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Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Well there's no point in watching a good horror movie with the lights on and the sound down. The whole point is that you're trying to let the movie have an effect on you.
Likewise if you go into a game and do everything to make sure it's not scary, even Silent Hill 2 is some random dude walking around in the fog and occasionally clubbing a mannequin with a plank of wood.
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The live action intro scared me half to death.
(I still favor it over REmake's CG intro.)
I'll second System Shock 2. There are a decent number of mods out for it now that fix the graphics and models so it looks better than the pre-Half-Life look it originally had. I didn't find it necessarily all that horror-y, but it's a good game that most people classify as survival horror. It should also fit into the OP's "good story" requirement (well, immersive, if not "good"). The first System Shock is also pretty horror-esque, but the graphics haven't aged well and it can be a huge pain to get running on a modern PC (so can SS2, but it has far more fan support).
I'll also second Silent Hill and Silent Hill 2. The second is better than the first and there's almost no story progression or link between the two (the first is still a decent game, though). If in doubt, go with SH2. If you want a good story mixed with decent gameplay this is probably the best way to go (should be available places for the XBOX and PS2...maybe PC). Plenty of spoilers abound in some of the in-depth analysis of the game's symbolism and storytelling.
The big omission I'm seeing is Dino Crisis. Easy mode is pretty much an action game involving dinosaur shooting, but normal breaks out the survival horror by giving you very limited ammo, lots of bleeding, and Jurassic Park door-opening velociraptors. The Dreamcast version has slightly better graphics than the Playstation version (but it's not pre-rendered like the Playstation REs). That's not saying much, it's still pretty blocky. It might also be on PC. The story is relatively 'meh' (some terrible voice acting, which is probably to be expected), but it has some options for replayability and features plenty of running for your life. It's like playing Resident Evil with the zombies replaced by hunters that can't instantly kill you.
Dino Crisis 2 is basically an action game where you run around shooting dinosaurs for points in order to upgrade your guns so you can shoot more dinosaurs. And Dino Crisis 3 is ...mutant dinosaur shooting on a ...morphing spaceship ...or something.
...I wouldn't venture beyond the first iteration in the series, really.
STALKER, as mentioned, also fits the survival horror definition quite often. It's atmospheric, has zombies and has you creeping through dark places with an abundance of dangers and occasionally a lack of ammo. The first game in 10 years to make me hesitant to enter an imaginary space.
[edit]My signature also reminded me: the marine campaign for Aliens versus Predator and Aliens versus Predator 2 for PC are both pretty survival horror-esque. Both games are relatively old, though.[/edit]
I cant say it was "Survival Horror" precisely but it certainly had it's share of scares, if you can find a copy and can stand older graphics, I heartily recommend it for a good scare or two.
Search for it on Youtube, I'd link it but I'm blocked at work =/
This is actually a good point when considering survival horror. I'm reminded of Ye Olde Days when I was living on my own in a little apartment, and downloaded every video I could possibly find. One day I came across a 4-episode anime series I'd never heard of, so I decided to start downloading it while I researched what the hell it was about.
I found a single review, that told me very plainly not to watch it and condemned everything about it. Intrigued by this warning and believing that any experience of extremes could only enrich my knowledge, I didn't listen to the advice.
I should have listened to the advice. Once seen, some things cannot be unseen, and I wish I'd never watched that show. Now, forever, I have this horror inside of me that's not clever or symbolic or thoughtful. It's only disgust for the sake of being disgusting, offensive for the sake of making you feel like you've been gut-punched.
That show is an extreme example - I've thankfully never found a video game that compared - and even though we are (for the most part) adults who are very much able to handle all the material our parents would shield us from, it still suggests that we should give pause before diving into a video game that focuses itself on the worst experiences one could imagine.
Unlike a horror flick, video games are not an experience that you enjoy for ninety minutes before walking out into the bright lights of the theatre lobby, refreshed and in a different world. Video games require hours of concentration on a single focus, and as such they begin to form a rudimentary meditation on the subject matter.
Okami, by way of example, was incredibly refreshing to me because - beyond being a Zelda-styled adventure game - it is a thirty-hour meditation on bringing life and happiness to a world. More often than not, video games ask us to experience horrible things, and so we sit for hours on end, thinking of horrible things.
And you are what you think.
That aside, Siren is really fucking awesome and I'm dying to get my hands on Silent Hill 2, which is likely the dumbest thing I could possibly do if I don't want to meditate on the worst aspects of humanity.
so i gotta ask, what show?
I just picked this up a couple days ago, cause I was looking for something new.. it has some nice graphics and some good ideas, but overall turns out to be borning as hell(if you find hell boring)
Silent Hill 2
Penumbra: Overture
also since it hasnt been mentioned and im one of the 4 people who enjoyed it parasite eve... the 2nd not so much but i just liked the feel and play of the game (and the law and order area change names)
Fatal Frame 1 is very good. A lot of clever shock moments "WTF? There should be a ghost in here, but it's not showing up.......OH SHIT GOD SHIT FUCK SHIT GOD!"
The story is pretty good, a bit melodramatic. The main character is defiantly fanart, so you'll either be drooling or rolling your eyes when she's crawling through narrow crawl ways.
The pacing is excellent, you'll find yourself playing nonstop. An excellent game all around.
Fatal Frame 2 is also good, but not as good. Fatal Frame 2 suffers a lot in pacing, because you'll find yourself backtracking 60% of the god damn game. So after awhile it feels like you're just grinding away padding to get back to the meat of the game.
The story is...well lets just say that Fatal Frame 2 haves one of the most fuck up endings in video game history. If you're like me, you be sitting on the couch with your hands on the floor, wondering just why you spent 10 or so hours to get that kind of ending.
So Fatal Frame 2 an alright game, only play it if your a big fan of the first one.
Sooo... how was it disgusting? Like a shitload of gore?
(2) If I did... well, yeah, I'd probably tell you. 'Cause you'd watch it. And then you'd know, and you'd have learned your lesson well.
(3) I won't describe it. But to call it simply gory would be doing it a disservice. It wasn't just gory, or sexually perverse in the most godawful ways one could imagine, or without any single redeeming quality. It was all three, and I've never seen anything to equal it before or since.
It has an inn-escape scene ala Shadow Over Innsmouth?
I must look into this.
Interestingly, though, Silent Hill 2 is a story of redemption, and to be honest the "good" ending actually makes the whole experience kind of feel good. Of course, you tread through the darkest horrors of the human psyche getting there, but really it's the final resolution to the whole thing that makes it complete.
There is a series of japanese "snuff"/torture movies called "The Guinea Pig Films" that are basically this. I only watched a little bit of one called "The Flower of Flesh and Blood" (the one Charlie Sheen supposedly thought was real) and it was just awful. I was a huge horror/gore buff at the time, but it was just too much for me.
What bothered me the most was that there was no context for it. It's just a guy in a samurai outfit torturing a girl. They're just shock films.
Actually there's a lot of context for it. A dude had a sexual fetish, and he took it out on the woman.
I don't know about Resource heavy, seems to run fine if you've got any decent graphics card from the last half a decade.
Controls took a bit of configuring, but if you're OK with tank controls on a keyboard you ought to be good to go. Otherwise I think you ought to be able to use a gamepad just fine.
I can't say I had any issues.
flower of flesh and blood and mermaid in a manhole are worth seeing if youre into that kinda thing, the rest of the series not so much from what ive seen. mermaid in a manhole especially, its the only one thats worth anything beyond the gore. the series gets really silly as it goes on after that.
anyway this is all pretty off topic.
Resident Evil 2 does have the A/B scenario system, but both repetition fills the replays (once you've played Leon's A scenario you'll know quite a few of the item locations for his B scenario, for example). 80% of the areas you run through are places you visit in the first scenario. The only major impact you have on the subsequent scenario is whether you're taking the submachine gun or sidepack, and whether you want to release BOW gas throughout the Umbrella facility. As a replayability bonus it does have Hunk and Tofu (although Tofu is essentially Hunk's minigame with just a knife). The dual shock RE2 version for the Playstation is also supposed to have some sort of 'Extreme Battle' minigame, but I've never seen it (I think it was PCs from RE and RE2 versus each other).
Resident Evil 3 doesn't have an A/B scenario system, but it does have a 'Live Choices' system which has possibly the lamest name for a game feature ever (it functions much like in Dino Crisis), where you are given binary choices which usually (but not always) result in path or slight plot changes. In addition, there are a few possible paths available to the player, so it's a little more free-flowing (not much more, though). The biggest option you had in RE2 is picking which order you wanted to find your 4 chess plugs/colored stones in.
The game has randomization (which might not be readily apparent at first, since not every room is randomized) - an example I can remember: if you've got a game saved by the hospital, the first area in the park can have a pack of zombies or a pack of hunters (depending on how much the game hates you). Item placement is also a bit randomized. There's also gunpowder mixing, but in every playthrough I've done I've found it somewhat superfluous. Even on the first playthrough you probably won't need any extra ammo from mixing them. RE3 also has a "The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackal" minigame, which I found quite a bit more engaging than Hunk's scenario. It's essentially a timed run through the city (with a countdown to you exploding, not an upwards counting timer) where your chosen PC determines your initial weapons/health loadout. Unlike other games requiring fancy completion times or strange actions, bonus points in the minigame can be used to purchase things for Jill's playthroughs. Also, I'd be hardpressed to say it increases replayability, but there's an 'Epilogue' that gives you the history of other RE-universe characters each subsequent time you beat the game.
It's debateable which one could be considered more replayable. I like running around a zombie-filled city more than just a police station, but that might just be because I've played through RE2 one too many times (I still have a Leon A save where Leon has an infinite ammo gatling gun (which requires completing both scenarios without saving), an infinite ammo submachine gun (using no first aid spray), and alternate outfits (not picking up handgun ammo in the first pre-PD section); then again, I also have a save with 5 of the 9 epilogue pictures unlocked for RE3 and all 4 of the infinite ammo purchases from the minigame).
Despite all that, I still like the functionality and setting of the first one best...which makes me wish I had a GameCube/Wii so I could buy the remake.
Much of the game is actually based on Shadow Over Innsmouth.
It isn't a 1:1 transition of Shadow Over Innsmouth into videogame form, but it's obviously one of the greatest inspirations for many of the game's events.
Nope. The PC version had this minigame as well.
Basically this is eventually what evolved (by way of RE3's minigame) into the mercenaries mode in RE4. You pick one of four characters, each with a unique weapon set, and battle your way backwards through the game from the train to the police station.
It's basically a combat game, no puzzles involved, you pick up extra ammo and herbs en-route. If you go far enough off the path to the station in one or two places you can also usually pick up extra weapons and ammo like the Rocket Launcher.
It was actually pretty fun, for when you were in the mood for killing zombies and not letting the rest of the game interrupt the proceedings.
Now, I have to dust off the PS2 and ebay a few games >.<