F.E.A.R.Movies may tell better stories and boast more artistic credibility than video games, but games easily beat movies in frights. Because interactive entertainment can make you feel as though you are the character onscreen, games are a lot more effective at making you jump out of your seat or sending you to bed with shivers.
In honor of Halloween, here are my picks for the most frightening games out there.
1. Resident Evil 4
(GameCube, PlayStation 2, Wii) — The first time I dared to play this on the GameCube I had to stop for a week because I was too frazzled from the game's mission to take on hordes of crazed villagers as you seek to bring the U.S. president's daughter to safety. Some of your enemies, which include grotesque beasts that will haunt your dreams, come at you with chain saws and deadlier long-distance weapons. Ammunition is so scarce you have to improvise ways besides blazing guns to win your battles. You'll do a whole lot of running and looking over your shoulder to see if you're still being followed.
Eventually, I gathered the courage to come back and play the game as it was rereleased for the PS2, then again for the Wii. It's good enough to draw you back again and again. Some hold "Resident Evil 4," with its blend of excitement, tension and dread, as the best of all video games. It's certainly the best of the horror genre.
2. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
(Nintendo Entertainment System) — Something about two-dimensional backgrounds and simplistic, old-school graphics ups the jitter factor past most realistically rendered environments. You slash your way through a seemingly never- ending assault of mummies, bats, skeletons and just about everything else you wish wouldn't chase after you. The end battle against Dracula is an overwhelming scourge of mental exhaustion, with the count shifting into other forms just when you think you have him beat.
3. Silent Hill 2
(PlayStation 2, Xbox) — Playing as a depressed widower lured into a desolate village by a letter apparently written by his dead wife, you descend into horrific madness. Shadows and fog make you feel as though you're lost in oblivion, tremblingly aware of all the noises made by evil things you sometimes can't see clearly. Particularly freaky are enemies dangling from the ceiling who choke you with their feet.
4. Ninja Gaiden
(Xbox, PlayStation 3) — This game isn't really intended to be scary, although its off-the-charts difficulty level has caused many a gamer to retreat into a corner, biting his nails. There's just something inherently shiver-inducing about battling ninjas who know how to fight a whole lot better than you. Especially ninjas on horses. The game's checkpoints are spread far apart, making it genuinely unnerving to be approached by a gang of enemies when you're low on life and hoping to save your progress without having to redo an hour's worth of work. Note: The game was rereleased twice, and it's arguably best on the PS3.
5. F.E.A.R.
(Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) — The acronym stands for First Encounter Assault Recon. You play as a supersoldier with the ability to slow down time in order to dodge bullets that specialize in vanquishing supernatural threats. To mess with your mind, the visuals play with ominous shadows. Enemies jump out of the corner of the screen, often accompanied by jolting blasts of noise. Your character also slips into hallucinations starring a creepy little girl.
By Phil Villarreal