Second Take: Top 5 Scariest Games
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bennyblanx
November 2, 2007 3:40:21 PM
Ben and Rob discuss their picks for scariest games.
Watch The Video: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/flash_videos/second_take_top_5_scariest_games.html
What are your some of your picks for scariest games?
-Ben
Watch The Video: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/site/flash_videos/second_take_top_5_scariest_games.html
What are your some of your picks for scariest games?
-Ben
More about : top scariest games
druedain
November 2, 2007 4:09:15 PM
solymnar
November 2, 2007 5:54:27 PM
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hulkish
November 2, 2007 6:03:41 PM
stemnin
November 2, 2007 6:12:10 PM
Sengoku
November 2, 2007 6:22:18 PM
druedain said:
Have you forgotten the terrifying "Realms of the Haunting?"That game never got around as much in the US as it did in the UK. I'm betting that Rob and Ben have never even heard of it.
I've never had a chance to play it.
nukemaster said:
Top five most terrifying games of all time....1. Solitaire [nuf said]
2. Minesweeper [Mines are scary
]3. FreeCell [Do you want to get stuck in a cell?]
4. Pinball [Pin + ball....come on]
5. Spider Solitaire [come on...it has spiders...]
You forgot Deer Hunter 3D, and Prison Tycoon.
I would add Crysis to the list as well. I don't care what the price tag on the shelf is. For lots of users, this game is going to cost a thousand or two in upgrades and tech support.
jimbobhickville
November 2, 2007 6:31:13 PM
robwright
November 2, 2007 6:40:55 PM
hulkish said:
Are you kidding me? I can not believe you forgot about half life, and half life 2.....Hey, hold on -- check this out: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/10/30/mmr/
I wrote something on scary games LAST YEAR (before I played Resident Evil 4 and System Shock 2) and put Half-Life 2 on the list, purely for the Ravenholm section. That has to be one of the most frightening, well-designed map I've ever played.
gm0n3y
November 2, 2007 8:17:15 PM
detre
November 2, 2007 8:38:03 PM
witty
November 2, 2007 9:18:46 PM
FrankCastle
November 2, 2007 9:25:14 PM
stemnin
November 2, 2007 10:17:13 PM
robwright said:
Hey, hold on -- check this out: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/10/30/mmr/I wrote something on scary games LAST YEAR (before I played Resident Evil 4 and System Shock 2) and put Half-Life 2 on the list, purely for the Ravenholm section. That has to be one of the most frightening, well-designed map I've ever played.
forgot about raveholm.. probably because I want to forget it.
maverick7
November 2, 2007 10:24:25 PM
guys holy crap how did you forget Doom3??? I didnt even hear you mention it! iv played half of the games you mentioned and Doom3 by far is the scariest game i have ever played. Playing alone in the dark and a demon thing pops out of the wall.. or the lights go off and then you are surrounded by zombies so u randomly spray fire in circles screaming (lol)... absolutely thee most scary game ever made.
however the game got bad when i quick saved before going into each room
however the game got bad when i quick saved before going into each room
ethaniel
November 2, 2007 10:28:16 PM
hell_spawn
November 3, 2007 1:08:14 AM
angelraiter
November 3, 2007 2:02:49 AM
robwright said:
Hey, hold on -- check this out: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/10/30/mmr/I wrote something on scary games LAST YEAR (before I played Resident Evil 4 and System Shock 2) and put Half-Life 2 on the list, purely for the Ravenholm section. That has to be one of the most frightening, well-designed map I've ever played.
How could you guys forget about Bioshock?? I don´t know about you, but for me it is pretty scary...
Also, Silent hill 2 and doom 3...
I think these are scarier then Alien X Predator2, at least.
dezonio2
November 3, 2007 2:19:59 AM
yeah... They definitely left out Doom 3.... I remember I just built my brand spanking new PC and that was the game that got tested first.... a giant LCD and loud surround system, along with lights off.... I could play only the first 30 minutes and for the sake of my mental health i stopped and never finished the game... I just couldn't bring myself to play at low volume and lights on
johhnyboy19
November 3, 2007 4:33:19 AM
hell_spawn
November 3, 2007 8:27:01 AM
justinmcg67
November 3, 2007 3:13:36 PM
wicko
November 3, 2007 4:14:31 PM
trinitron64
November 3, 2007 5:22:38 PM
utopic
November 3, 2007 5:56:10 PM
1. silent hill 2 (didn't play 1, but the others, 3,4 were less scary)
2. Undying (incredible, doesn't compare in any way with Jericho)
3. Alien vs Predator 1 (playing with the marine - check the demo lvl for example)
4. System Shock 2
5. F.E.A.R
Did NOT play: Eternal Darkness or Parasite Eve II
I couldn't get over how crappy Doom felt for me (too arcade and some lame scripting here and there) - I didn't enjoy it and I didn't find it scary.
2. Undying (incredible, doesn't compare in any way with Jericho)
3. Alien vs Predator 1 (playing with the marine - check the demo lvl for example)
4. System Shock 2
5. F.E.A.R
Did NOT play: Eternal Darkness or Parasite Eve II
I couldn't get over how crappy Doom felt for me (too arcade and some lame scripting here and there) - I didn't enjoy it and I didn't find it scary.
trinitron64
November 3, 2007 10:19:57 PM
Really... S.T.A.L.K.E.R. ... Ben have you played this game?
Like, really played this game?
The mood of the game sets you up with fear... even when no actual danger is present... you will be scared. And when the game wishes for you to be scared, you will take it to that next step.
Give the game a chance!
Like, really played this game?
The mood of the game sets you up with fear... even when no actual danger is present... you will be scared. And when the game wishes for you to be scared, you will take it to that next step.
Give the game a chance!
wicko
November 4, 2007 1:49:12 AM
DiGitAl TRaSh
November 4, 2007 2:14:49 PM
Doom 3 is probably scariest! I had more heart pounding in that game than all other games combined! Hallways were scary, the portal was scary, HELL was super scary and freaky.
FEAR has my 2nd vote very freaky and the expansion had some scary moments.
Half Life2 I can't remember it well but I think there were few moments that made me jump a bit
Quake4 when you get cut in half yacks!!!
hmm last choice I can't even remember what was scary I'm forgetting these games
but all I remember some moments from MaxPayne on drugs it's not scary but freaky because the man trying to fight for his life while hallucinating!
FEAR has my 2nd vote very freaky and the expansion had some scary moments.
Half Life2 I can't remember it well but I think there were few moments that made me jump a bit
Quake4 when you get cut in half yacks!!!
hmm last choice I can't even remember what was scary I'm forgetting these games
but all I remember some moments from MaxPayne on drugs it's not scary but freaky because the man trying to fight for his life while hallucinating!
CodsterTX
November 4, 2007 4:14:54 PM
caamsa
November 4, 2007 4:29:50 PM
Let's see.....parts of Return to Castle Wolfenstein (in the catacombs) was pretty scary as were parts of MaxPayne I hated the dream sequences when his wife was screaming or the baby was crying.......Parts of the original Diablo creeped me out as well. Doom III was just plain creepy.............I never finished it.............
dsturbd
November 4, 2007 11:57:39 PM
mechanomorphis
November 5, 2007 1:21:09 AM
doom 3 was only scary for the first 30 minutes, it became terribly repetitive after that...
fear also suffered from that, the first few times stuff flies off shelves and you see phantoms and the little girl, it's fairly creepy, but they terribly overused the same effects and it made for a very repetitive game.
half-life and half-life 2 werent terribly scary, the pace was swift enough to not really build enough mood about the area you were in. sure ravenholm was dark and dismal, but it wasnt exactly frightening.
a couple people mentioned stalker, which had creepy moments, but the entire game lacked a certain overall creepyness. i think that game had potential and could have been FAR better.
a lot of you seem to have played system shock 2, which indeed was filled with a fair level of creepyness, especially when shodan comes back into the picture, but i dont think it held a candle to the original system shock, which i would love to re-code if i could get permission from the handful of companies that own rights to it... which will never happen and is incidentally why a third system shock was never created...
fear also suffered from that, the first few times stuff flies off shelves and you see phantoms and the little girl, it's fairly creepy, but they terribly overused the same effects and it made for a very repetitive game.
half-life and half-life 2 werent terribly scary, the pace was swift enough to not really build enough mood about the area you were in. sure ravenholm was dark and dismal, but it wasnt exactly frightening.
a couple people mentioned stalker, which had creepy moments, but the entire game lacked a certain overall creepyness. i think that game had potential and could have been FAR better.
a lot of you seem to have played system shock 2, which indeed was filled with a fair level of creepyness, especially when shodan comes back into the picture, but i dont think it held a candle to the original system shock, which i would love to re-code if i could get permission from the handful of companies that own rights to it... which will never happen and is incidentally why a third system shock was never created...
cruiseoveride
November 5, 2007 1:22:04 AM
Ananan
November 5, 2007 1:40:17 AM
I agree with Doom 3.
That game just leaves me completely wrung out every time I play. It's terrifying. Those claustrophobic hallways, never knowing what's going to jump out or when (especially when it appears DIRECTLY $%*ING BEHIND YOU)... ugh. As a reviewer said: death is almost welcome at times. It gives you a break.
FEAR sort of freaked me out, as did SS2.
That level in the original Thief with the graveyard and the zombies was pretty ^&$%ing scary.
That game just leaves me completely wrung out every time I play. It's terrifying. Those claustrophobic hallways, never knowing what's going to jump out or when (especially when it appears DIRECTLY $%*ING BEHIND YOU)... ugh. As a reviewer said: death is almost welcome at times. It gives you a break.
FEAR sort of freaked me out, as did SS2.
That level in the original Thief with the graveyard and the zombies was pretty ^&$%ing scary.
robwright
November 5, 2007 2:55:57 AM
A few thoughts...
Condemned -- a flawed game but one that has a lot of scary moments. Not quite frightening enough to crack our Top 5 this year, but I did highlight in last year's article (again, check out this link: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/10/30/mmr/)
Doom 3 -- I agree with Mechanomorphis, this game looked brilliant and provided a lot of thrills in the first hour or so. But after that, Doom 3 went down hill fast with a lot of repetitive, uninspired level design.
STALKER -- Ugh. I know a lot of people swear by this one, but I found this game to be extremely disappointing and not really frightening at all. The graphics engine was dreadful, the "open environments" were boring, the RPG elements weren't that impressive, and the game didn't have many thrills. Just my opinion.
Condemned -- a flawed game but one that has a lot of scary moments. Not quite frightening enough to crack our Top 5 this year, but I did highlight in last year's article (again, check out this link: http://www.tomsgames.com/us/2006/10/30/mmr/)
Doom 3 -- I agree with Mechanomorphis, this game looked brilliant and provided a lot of thrills in the first hour or so. But after that, Doom 3 went down hill fast with a lot of repetitive, uninspired level design.
STALKER -- Ugh. I know a lot of people swear by this one, but I found this game to be extremely disappointing and not really frightening at all. The graphics engine was dreadful, the "open environments" were boring, the RPG elements weren't that impressive, and the game didn't have many thrills. Just my opinion.
wicko
November 5, 2007 3:50:04 AM
Has anyone ever played the Classic Doom mod for Doom 3? Recreation of the first episode, and none of the maps were straight ports. Even though I knew exactly where I was going in that mod, as I've played the original many times, I was still pretty damn scared in certain areas. I recommend you give that mod a download.
hell_spawn
November 5, 2007 7:48:21 AM
justinmcg67 said:
#1. Resident Evil 1 (First game to ever really scare me)#2. F.E.A.R (Play it, you'll know why)
#3. Parasite Eve II. (How one could forget this game I do not know.)
#4. System Shock 2
#5. Half-Life
GAH! I can't believe I forgot about that game! PE2 was friking awesome... still #2 compared to System Shock 2
Arvalin
November 5, 2007 10:42:13 AM
nickdangr
November 5, 2007 2:06:54 PM
Alone in the Dark
Doom 3
Jericho
System Shock 2
Fear
The original Alone in the Dark (back in the <cough> late 80s) was the first one to actually startle me. I mean repetitively. Doom 3, just a little more than a year and a half ago, brought back the freaky, for me and gave me jitters - if you play the games the way they're meant to be played... in the dark with the sound up to just the right level, it'll give you bad dreams. Jericho is visually disturbing and at times the creeps sneak up on you. Its dark, its bloody and gritty. I have to agree with SS2 and Fear also, but don't have much to say about 'em.
That's my 2 cents.
Doom 3
Jericho
System Shock 2
Fear
The original Alone in the Dark (back in the <cough> late 80s) was the first one to actually startle me. I mean repetitively. Doom 3, just a little more than a year and a half ago, brought back the freaky, for me and gave me jitters - if you play the games the way they're meant to be played... in the dark with the sound up to just the right level, it'll give you bad dreams. Jericho is visually disturbing and at times the creeps sneak up on you. Its dark, its bloody and gritty. I have to agree with SS2 and Fear also, but don't have much to say about 'em.
That's my 2 cents.
techmaniac
November 5, 2007 2:26:34 PM
Morton
November 13, 2007 5:35:15 PM
Alone in the Dark series, Alien vs Predator 1 & 2, System Shock 1 & 2, Doom 3, Wax Works, Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, The Thing, FarCry (a few levels of it), Unreal 2 (a few levels), Quake 4 (when they start turning you into a Strogg), Face of Mankind (some distant planets when infested with xenomorphs, the game is a very unique MMORPG/MMOFPS)...
I have only played PC-games my entire life, so I don't know much about console games.
I have only played PC-games my entire life, so I don't know much about console games.
jamiemadrox17
November 19, 2007 6:16:43 PM
McLoviN
December 7, 2007 3:25:57 PM
F.E.A.R. (If not the most scariest, it is very suspenseful throughout the entire game, I couldn't even play it at night through the second & third times through.)
Condemned (Not as good of a game as F.E.A.R. imo, but just as scary, and being made by Monolith as well, it should be expected so.)
Parasite Eve 1 & 2 (I find this much more dark and eerie than RE)
Resident Evil (All games, except the occasional FPS..., each game had their own surprising twists that make me try to run away before doing anything else.)
Half-Life (Although not quite a scary game, it does make you jump at times and does have some parts that make you want to gtfo. However, imo, its more of an action FPS than horror/suspense, which ranks it lower on the list.)
These are all games that are quite scary and good games as well. I have played other games that people are suggesting to replace these games, and while everyone has their own opinions and their own preferences on whats scary and whats not, I found these to be much more fun and just as scary, not to mention more easier on the eyes at times. Other horror games have giving me eye strains due to the way they play and I find myself not continuing to play after my first or second headache. Overall, I think that even if we were all to name different games as the scariest, we can all agree that 5 would probably be limiting the list, and could probably list 10-20 top scary games.
Condemned (Not as good of a game as F.E.A.R. imo, but just as scary, and being made by Monolith as well, it should be expected so.)
Parasite Eve 1 & 2 (I find this much more dark and eerie than RE)
Resident Evil (All games, except the occasional FPS..., each game had their own surprising twists that make me try to run away before doing anything else.)
Half-Life (Although not quite a scary game, it does make you jump at times and does have some parts that make you want to gtfo. However, imo, its more of an action FPS than horror/suspense, which ranks it lower on the list.)
These are all games that are quite scary and good games as well. I have played other games that people are suggesting to replace these games, and while everyone has their own opinions and their own preferences on whats scary and whats not, I found these to be much more fun and just as scary, not to mention more easier on the eyes at times. Other horror games have giving me eye strains due to the way they play and I find myself not continuing to play after my first or second headache. Overall, I think that even if we were all to name different games as the scariest, we can all agree that 5 would probably be limiting the list, and could probably list 10-20 top scary games.
Chazwuzzer
December 17, 2007 1:13:36 AM
Well, I'm pretty late to this thread, but whateva...
The Good:
I liked FEAR quite a bit - there were a few moments when I almost leapt out of my seat. And the storyline was pretty damned creepy.
I really, really thought that the Shalebridge Cradle level of Thief 3 was outstanding. Very freaky.
Undying - I agree with some of the other posters - this is one of the greatest horror games ever.
HL2/Ravenholm was pretty damned good as well - great gameplay with a decent chill factor.
The Bad.....
DOOM 3 - the whole pitch-black darkness/secret panels popping open thing got old fast and became more annoying than anything.
The Thing - I have no idea. Tried to play it on the PC and it was so buggy that I returned it the next day.
The Ugly
Nocturne - The gameplay was pretty terrible, but I thought it was worth wading through for the scares. I realize that I'm going out on a limb on this one.
The Good:
I liked FEAR quite a bit - there were a few moments when I almost leapt out of my seat. And the storyline was pretty damned creepy.
I really, really thought that the Shalebridge Cradle level of Thief 3 was outstanding. Very freaky.
Undying - I agree with some of the other posters - this is one of the greatest horror games ever.
HL2/Ravenholm was pretty damned good as well - great gameplay with a decent chill factor.
The Bad.....
DOOM 3 - the whole pitch-black darkness/secret panels popping open thing got old fast and became more annoying than anything.
The Thing - I have no idea. Tried to play it on the PC and it was so buggy that I returned it the next day.
The Ugly
Nocturne - The gameplay was pretty terrible, but I thought it was worth wading through for the scares. I realize that I'm going out on a limb on this one.
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