Every year, you can count on numerous game sites making lists of the top scariest
games of all time (with DOOM III certain to top this year's lists),
but rarely do they ever describe their defining moment of fright in full detail.
In order to really find out what really frightens gamers, we asked a few gamers
here at work what they thought was the scariest game they ever played. Here
are the results:
Justin Keeling, Senior Games Editorial Manager
Well,
there was this one time, back in college. Being poor students we had bought
a base PlayStation but didn’t have a memory card. Soon after, I managed
to scam Capcom out of sending me a review copy of the first Resident Evil.
Later that night, a group of buddies and I hunched around the TV in my room,
and started playing. Boy, were we in for a surprise! Our senses were assaulted
by the worst acting and cheesiest dialogue in the history of video games. I’m
not sure how we made it through that night, but somehow we huddled together
and pulled through. The memory of that night still haunts me to this day.
Lisa Weseman, Online Content Producer
Believe
it or not, the scariest video game I’ve ever played was The Sims.
My ex-boyfriend had a fondness for murdering my poor innocent Sims just for
fun. He would coax them into a small room, and then use the house-building tools
to create a wall that would trap the family in a tiny space.
At first the characters are fine (aside from a little boredom and confusion),
but as their resources begin to dwindle they start having problems. The Sims
begin to pound on the walls, and when they “realize” they are stuck
they start to cry. Next, they lose all control of their bodily functions and
urinate all over themselves. Eventually, they lose their minds and begin to
slap each other and cry hysterically. Finally, one will fall to the ground,
dead from starvation and madness. The rest of the Sims will begin to mourn the
lost family member, but they are often too weak to weep. In the end, the Sims
family drops dead, one by one, until nothing is left but an eerie tomb-like
room full of urns, which by the way, you do get charged for.
It may sound funny (okay, it is funny), but it’s also deeply disturbing
to witness. Hey, there’s a reason the guy who did this is my ex-boyfriend.
Rick Damigella, Coordinating Producer
Ok, it
wasn’t the scariest game I ever played, but in Halo, the cut
scene that led into the first level with the Flood, and the first time you face
the Flood, was fairly freaky. Right up there with the first time you see the
“birth” scene in Alien.
Steve Dove, Member Services Coordinator
For me,
the game that scared me the most was The 7th Guest. I played the game
for the first time when I was maybe 13 or 14 and parts of it are pretty damn
creepy. The main villain especially is a pretty scary guy with a really menacing
voice. And it was all from a first-person perspective with realistic (for the
time), graphics and FMV actors cut in for cut-scenes. The puzzles were tough
as nails, too.
Ryan Stevens, G4tv.com Production Assistant
Darkseed. The year is 1992 and adventure games are gods, waning gods,
but gods nonetheless, on the PC. Darkseed featured H.R. Giger artwork
(some of it animated) mediocre voice acting, and a story of double nightmare
worlds and alien embryos. And your alter ego had a big old mustache.
Jennifer Villarreal, Content Queen
I’m
gonna have to say Alone in the Dark, which I played on a “home
computer” ten (or maybe a few more) years ago. If you look at it now you
will think I’m the biggest sissy on the block but you have to understand
that back then games just didn’t do such things—the first time that
werewolf (or whatever, those are some HUGE polys in that baby) burst through
the window to attack me I just wasn’t prepared for it to happen and I
was startled, not to mention hooked. I don’t know if any of the games
that came after really, honestly even managed to startle me in the same way,
let alone scare me scare me, but Alone in the Dark did.
Got your own scary moments? Send them to us at feedback@g4techtv.com!
