What if Halo was a horror game? And other Halloween tales
Five franchises that could be chilling
It's Halloween, time of devilry and chaos, and the internet is full to the brim with hastily cobbled-together lists of scary things like leering pumpkins, Photoshopped pictures of ghosts and massively over-priced copies of Silent Hill.
Our own hastily cobbled-together list is a little bit different - it's a rundown of games that aren't scary but could be, given a few well-timed cases of diabolical possession within the development teams concerned. By all means add your own thoughts - along with fond reminiscences about the games that have left your underwear in tatters - below.
1. Halo!
The Flood are an absolutely natural, massively under-exploited survival horror foe - icky, multiple-formed, more or less ineradicable and crucially, unsportsmanlike. Where the Covenant (and in particular, Covenant Elites) observe certain rules of war, forming a rudimentary battle line as you advance, Flood forms throw themselves at your crosshairs in a suicidal rain, stymieing attempts to fight scientifically. They're among the industry's most brutal palette cleansers. They're also really, really annoying, and as a consequence, news that the Flood are confined to multiplayer in Halo 4 has been very warmly received.
A change of context might help. One of Halo 3: ODST's touted USPs was that you aren't, in fact, a super-soldier whose carapace is proof against anything up to and including an unplanned orbital insertion. You're just a grunt. An elite grunt, granted, but a grunt all the same. Regrettably, this didn't amount to much in-game - you're still capable of wielding Spartan Lasers, you're still equipped with shields, and despite the Rookie's less-than-imposing girth, the Covenant react to his presence more or less as they would a forceful dose of the Chief. Injecting the Flood into proceedings wouldn't upturn any gameplay tables by itself, but read between ODST's lines and you may uncover the hazy after-image of a rather less empowered shooter, in which frenzied marines tip-toe down silent, pulsating corridors, fearful of rousing a swarm of twitching shapes from nearby grills and doorways.
2. Battlefield!
There's one thing I'll never forgive Battlefield 3 for, and that's quitting Iran prematurely. The game's earthquake-ridden city setting came in handy when advertising the strengths of the new Frostbite 2 engine, but DICE abandons it all too swiftly in the campaign (in fairness, Aftermath picks up the thread to an extent) - there are other fish to fry in the form of suitcase nukes and shouty pseudo Bin Ladens. Shame, because by the time I'd weathered a couple of hours in the place I was thoroughly attached to both the tense environmental vibe and, as a consequence, the other members of my increasingly hard-beset squad. That kind of claustrophobic chemistry is hard to engineer, all too easy to compromise.
Here's a proposal: a Battlefield game modelled on the tone and narrative structure of Spec Ops: The Line and XBLA adventure I Am Alive. Create a world where every unguarded footstep could be your last, as tremors randomly (that's to say, with the appearance of randomness) drop skyscrapers on you and open fiery chasms beneath your feet. Spend 15 hours detailing the struggles of four men, perhaps introducing variables in the form of stranded civilians and enemy VIPs. Pick away at the player's self-control atom by atom.
Resi 6? Zing indeed, the horror element was the only thing that wasn't scary.
Timesplitters 2 is the scariest thing I've ever played. Split screen virus mode. Being chased by a flaming duckman drake as it squawks is a horrible feeling, then running into the toasty gingerbread man.
I wanna see some developer copy the bully setup but cross a little Deadly Premonition (town full of NPCs who behave like actual people) and a little Clock Tower (constantly pursued by a menacing killer)
Keep the protagonist as a child - keep the schoolyard highjinx - but once its dark a creepy killer stalks the school bumping off characters. Being an intrepid young rapscallion you embark on a DP style investigation in the school/town while constantly threatened by nighttime attacks.
Slap a R* logo on it and ill buy that for a dollar.
As far as games on 360 that do exist - Condemned 1 is the only true horror game imho
I was going to put Condemned on tonight, being Halloween, but Dead Island "shouldn't be called Game of the Year edition" was on my backlog pile and I'm a bit sick of Borderlands 2, so I started that instead.
I wanna see some developer copy the bully setup but cross a little Deadly Premonition (town full of NPCs who behave like actual people) and a little Clock Tower (constantly pursued by a menacing killer)
Keep the protagonist as a child - keep the schoolyard highjinx - but once its dark a creepy killer stalks the school bumping off characters. Being an intrepid young rapscallion you embark on a DP style investigation in the school/town while constantly threatened by nighttime attacks.
Slap a R* logo on it and ill buy that for a dollar.
As far as games on 360 that do exist - Condemned 1 is the only true horror game imho
Resi 6? Zing indeed, the horror element was the only thing that wasn't scary.
Timesplitters 2 is the scariest thing I've ever played. Split screen virus mode. Being chased by a flaming duckman drake as it squawks is a horrible feeling, then running into the toasty gingerbread man.
The virus mode on Timesplitters scares the bejesusssss out of me, especially if you're the last one alive. Great, great game.
7 comments so far...
CunningSmile on 31 Oct '12 said:
Games that could make fantastic horror games if handled differently?
Dead Space 3?
Resident Evil 6?
Too soon?
OXM ETboy on 31 Oct '12 said:
I did consider putting Resident Evil on the end there - it would have been a masterful zing. But I'm too kind, dear.
FishyGinger on 31 Oct '12 said:
Resi 6? Zing indeed, the horror element was the only thing that wasn't scary.
Timesplitters 2 is the scariest thing I've ever played. Split screen virus mode. Being chased by a flaming duckman drake as it squawks is a horrible feeling, then running into the toasty gingerbread man.
comabob on 31 Oct '12 said:
I wanna see some developer copy the bully setup but cross a little Deadly Premonition (town full of NPCs who behave like actual people) and a little Clock Tower (constantly pursued by a menacing killer)
Keep the protagonist as a child - keep the schoolyard highjinx - but once its dark a creepy killer stalks the school bumping off characters. Being an intrepid young rapscallion you embark on a DP style investigation in the school/town while constantly threatened by nighttime attacks.
Slap a R* logo on it and ill buy that for a dollar.
As far as games on 360 that do exist - Condemned 1 is the only true horror game imho
msbhvn on 31 Oct '12 said:
I was going to put Condemned on tonight, being Halloween, but Dead Island "shouldn't be called Game of the Year edition" was on my backlog pile and I'm a bit sick of Borderlands 2, so I started that instead.
CunningSmile on 1 Nov '12 said:
Oo, here's my dollar too!!!
Dowgle on 1 Nov '12 said:
The virus mode on Timesplitters scares the bejesusssss out of me, especially if you're the last one alive. Great, great game.