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Survival Horror Games

supertrav77

supertrav77

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
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Survival Horror is my favorite genre of video game. Seriously, I love them though I don't play them too often. That's because I have to be in the right mood for the headfuck that's to follow. You're kind of on edge the whole time and that's something that requires a certain level of concentration I'm not always up for.
Anyway, here's my top five survival horror games.

1. Silent Hill 1.
This is not only my favorite survival horror game but my favorite video game period. It's scary as fuck. Seriously. I first played this when I was 24 years old. I was a grown man. But after playing this, I actually had trouble sleeping for a few days. It was THAT disturbing.
For one, it's just very disturbing. It's very desperate and disorienting. Secondly, you have no idea what the fuck is going on. Even when they game ends, you're like "OK, what the fuck just happened?" It's very mysterious.
Anyway, the game has you feeling very vulnerable throughout. It's a very emotional experience. This one cat on gamefaqs wrote a very long interpretation of the game (if you've played it, I recommend reading this guy's essay).
Silent Hill 3 ties up a lot of the loose ends. Which was kind of disapointing as fans like myself kind of enjoyed debating possible interpretations of the storyline.

2. Resident Evil 4
It departs very far from the Resident Evil formula. And it's attempts to tie it to the previous installments are pretty flimsy. And yet this game is totally badass.
Survival horror games are usually typified by their clunky gameplay ("Shoot, God damn it! He's right in front of you!"). But this is smooth as silk. Upgradable weapon and head explosions galore!
Well, it was good enugh or me to play through twice. Which I don't do very often.

3. Onimusha 2
Even though I've owned Onimusha 3 for several years, I haven't played it yet (I used to make a lot more money than I do now and would "collect" games that I didn't and still don't have time to play). So Onimusha 2 is the best game of the series I've played.
Calling an Onimusha game "survival horror" is streching things a bit. When you can blow through 20 enemies without breaking a sweat, it does kind of diminish any tension you might be feeling. But these games are sure pretty damn fun.

4. Resident Evil 1.
Yeah, I like it better than Resident Evil 2. You wanna make something of it?

5. Silent Hill 2
After Silent Hill 1, this game was a little disapointing at first. It wasn't as scary and had a coherent plot.
Upon further plays through, I've come to appreciate this game for it's symbolisms and pathos. The scene near the end with the firey staircase is my favorite scene from any video game. "For me, it's always like this" We all live in such a world, don't we?

Honorable mention: Fatal Frame, Clock Tower 3.
 
(After posting my list below, I went and read that long explanation of Silent Hill you posted. Amazing, I'm tempted to change my order. I wonder if that guy has written anything else about the other Silent HIll games.)

#1 - Silent Hill 2 - My favorite of the series. They nailed the atmosphere with this one. I also think the story was executed incredibly well and melded with the atmosphere perfectly. Extra points for the ambiance and music change in the lakeside hotel after you find out what really happened to wifey. It was like the hotel was crying, right down to the water. Also unforgettable is the scene you mentioned as your favorite part in any videogame: "You see it too? For me, it's always like this..." (this is pure cinematic beauty) The foil character to his wife, the implications of her character existing and the really interesting and creepy extra mini-game, all genius. Playing this one in a dark room with headphones was seriously fucking nerve-racking, but it was not just scary - it was something else too... I could go on but suffice to say this is the masterpiece of the series imo.

#2 - Silent Hill 1 - If I had played this when it came out I'm sure I would have ranked it first. The best part of the whole game is when Lisa changes. Silent Hill 1 didn't hit me as hard as Silent Hill 2 but it is still the second best fear and mystery producing game I've ever played so that's not bad.

#3 - Silent Hill 3 - I wasn't so hot on the execution of the plot in this one. Too much. But it was the scariest and most difficult out of all four Silent Hills. Playing this one really made me feel like shit... seriously. I dreaded starting it up it because it was just terribly scary. But I ended up beating this one the most times because of all the secrets and just because of how fucking hard it is (besides "extreme" there are 10 higher extreme settings. I only beat the second). No matter how many times I beat the shit out of that game it still gives me the creeps.

#4 - Resident Evil 4 - On some other list this game might be #1. Just a fucking blast to play, over and over again. Weapon upgrades, money that you can keep after each completion. It's awesome. But it's not scary at all compared to Silent Hill series.
 
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Silent Hill 3 is indeed pretty scary. But I think after you get Heather/Sexy Beam, it become waaaaaay too easy. Probably the most freakish part in the subway when the walls start shifting from concrete to a fleshy/bloody thing. Very freaky first time I saw it. Apparently you only get that on the replay.
The big criticism of SH 3 is that tried to make the series more like Resident Evil by having a female lead and giving her military weapons like machine guns.

captainballs said:
(After posting my list below, I went and read that long explanation of Silent Hill you posted. Amazing, I'm tempted to change my order. I wonder if that guy has written anything else about the other Silent HIll games.)
Click to expand...
I think he's a professional strategy guide writer now so he's not posting on gamefaqs anymore.
He wrote a plot analysis for SH2 but its not as good the one he did for SH. SH2's plot is petty cut and dry and doesn't need that much interpretation. Although the Born From A Wish segment does raise some question marks about the nature of Maria.
 
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I'm a huuuuuuge fan of the Silent Hill games.

Like most, I think the fist is best and well balanced. The second is a bit dragged out to get into... the game doesn't really begin getting interesting until you're done with the hospital.

The third one is definitely the scariest, and the most impressive visually. If you weren't deep into the 1st game's story (or actually didnt play it well enough to find out most of the story!!), then you'll find the story here a bit too overwhelming.

I especially love the whole idea/theme of "the basement of the basement" in SH2, I think the makers were seriously binging on some drug, because they eventually become aware of how rediculous (in a good game) their setting has become - the last room has 9 save point on one wall... lol. One thing is really DID NOT like in the second is that there are too few monsters! I can count them all (including the bosses) on one hand!! (or, two, but not the whole second hand!).

As for the third, I love that they returned to the occult-ish mood of SH1 rather than the psychoanalytical SH2. It has some of the most interesting monsters (pendulums?) and very cool puzzles. I loved all the little references to the previous games. I also loved the character of Vincent, and everthing that happened around him.
 
Looks like we have some real SH fans on board. I bet you guys are looking forward to 5. Still haven't figured out how the hell I'm going to run it considering I don't have a console and my laptop graphics card isn't top of the line.

Originally Posted by supertrav77
But I think after you get Heather/Sexy Beam, it become waaaaaay too easy.
Click to expand...

It's easy as long as you're not trying to play on any of the extreme settings. Then the bad guys start moving too fast and a couple hits are fatal.

Originally Posted by Jamshyd
I especially love the whole idea/theme of "the basement of the basement" in SH2
Click to expand...

Hey, what part are you talking about? Been a while since I played, thinking about starting a new file...
 
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[SPOILER WARNING]
Well, at the end of the hospital, you get a letter (or something like that) about the girl being locked in the "basement of the basement". After a while you end the hospital by going to the basement and finding a secret basement chamber after that basement...

From that point forward, it seems like everything in the game is stacked on top of each other... from the society/museum thingy there is what could possibly be the longest dark tunnel in videogaming history (I seriously think someone took over production halfway and decided to make a little farce out of it!) leading to levels upon levels stacked on top of each other, including the prison and Pyramid Head's "workshop" (the music was seriously disturbing in that part) and that whole thing with Angela's daddy being turned into a bed with a gaping face on it, and its everywhere.... I think this chunk is really the flesh of the game, there was too much at the beginning that simply doesn't absorb you in the same way SH1 or 3 did. I'd like to try SHzero, but only after a 1,2,3 marathon ;).

And speaking of favourite scene: In SH3... I LOVE it when vincent tells heather that she feels great killing and crushing "them" and all that", and when heather asks if he was refering to the monsters, he goes "they look like monsters to you!?...... hehe... just kidding!"
 
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Well, Jamshyd, we'll have to agree to disagree about 2 (even though it's apparent you secretly think it's the best). It had me at hello and dragged me in from the beginning. The premise owns: a letter from his dead wife inviting him to Silent Hill.
 
captainballs said:
Well, Jamshyd, we'll have to agree to disagree about 2 (even though it's apparent you secretly think it's the best). It had me at hello and dragged me in from the beginning. The premise owns: a letter from his dead wife inviting him to Silent Hill.
Click to expand...

The problem with SH2 is that it's just not that scary. "Dark" Silent Hill is supposed to be hellish version of Silent Hill. In SH2 it's just kind of a ghetto version of Silent Hill.
 
CB: Ok, I'll give you this: yes, I was definitely caught by the encounter with angela. But then from thereon till the hospital, its all just dragging on and on and on. I am still convinced though that the producers had a certain sense of humour towards the end, and it goes all the way towards the final boss (I mean, did you not laugh??), and that makes it all worth it. In fact, if the second had a more "occult" aspects and puzzles as the other two, and more monster variety, it would have been the best.

To complement that:

supertrav: I agree. I like the "hellish" aspect of the first and third, and this I find sadly missing from the second. It reflects even in the puzzles.

I really have no favourite - I wish the first had better graphics, the second better excecution, and the third lasting longer... But all together, they make one brilliant experience.
 
Maybe they should remake Silent Hill 1 for PS3.

I'm replaying 2 right now to see if my opinion changes.
 
Sweet. Be sure to play it in a dark room with either a good sound system or headphones. Make sure nobody's home.... although you can never be too sure...

Play 2 first, if it's between 2 and 4.
 
That' pretty much all it is. Really not that bad for a complete diversion from the series, but I didn't play it twice - that's for sure. Nevertheless the plot was pretty interesting, even if it wasn't the slightest bit scary.
 
tambourine-man said:
Silent Hill 2 and 4 are backwards compatible on the xbox 360.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibilitygameslist.htm

Never played the, but I'm tempted to give one a go after this thread.
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I definitely recommend playing Silent Hill 2 as it's one of the best games of the last generation in my opinion.

I agree that Silent Hill 1 is the scariest, but in terms of its story & the charting of a man's inexorable descent into insanity as he realises his guilt over the death of his wife, manifested in the horrors that he meets, Silent Hill 2 is the series' high-water mark.

Outstanding sound design these games have too.
 
Jamshyd said:
I only played bits of 4, and it seems to be just a random gig with the "silent hill" tag on it. It seems totally irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Correct. SH4 was originally design to be a seperate game and got changed to a silent hill game partway through production.

Well, this thread turned into more of a Silent hill thread. So I'll give some brief reviews on some lesser known survival horror games I've played.

I bought Clock Tower 3 several years ago and have just now gotten around to starting. And so far it's pretty cool. It's by Capcom and appears to use the standard Resident Evil engine.
The switch to this game is that your character (a 15 year old English girl) has no weapons. Instead of kicking the baddies' asses, you run and hide from them. You can pick up stuff that will temporarily turn you invisible and you have this holy water which can temporarily stun them.
There are these ghosts that you can destroy by finding sentimental objects of theirs which have tied them to this plane.
It's not scary in a silent hill sense. But having no weapons and running from the baddies makes this game very tense. Unlike the RE games, you're not safe just by opening the closest door cause the baddies can open doors as well.
I'm only partway though, I'll add more if I think it's neccesary. It's certainly worth the $10 you could probably pick it up for.

Fatal Frame is an alright game. It's got good graphics and decent gameplay.
Your weapon in this is a camera which steals the ghost's soul or some such. So when a baddy shows up, you have to switch to the camera mode and it takes some getting used to. Camera is upgradable as the game goes on.
Well, this game might have been scarier except the voice acting for the ghosts is at times cheesy, if not annoying.
However, the ghosts can go through walls to get to you (nevermind opening doors) and even teleport behind you so you gotta be on your toes. Like CT3, it's pretty tense.
Anyway, it was entertaining enough to get me through to the end.

BTW, Resident Evil Zero. Am I the only person who liked this game?
 
I just tried RE4 on the wii, after playing through it 20+ times on ps3 and it is a totally different experience; or should I say a fucking blast! You are one less step removed from the game because of the physical activity involved. Finaly, a good game for wii...
 
i just got condemned 2: bloodshot today and its fucking awesome. i liked the first one, but thought that thye had room to improve and they delivered. this game is dark, creepy, gory and one hell of a mindfuck.
 
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