My Top 5 : Scary Moments From Non-Scary Games

Following on from 'My Top 5 : Scariest Moments From Scary Games' I thought it would be interesting to look at the scariest moments from non-horror games...




5)

Skyrim - Giant Frostbite Spiders

First on the list are the Giant Frostbite Spiders found in caves around the land of Skyrim. These nasty spiders can be brutal if you are planning on attacking them up close. They'll bite, scratch and spit poisonous webs at you, but its not their attack that is the scary part, (unless you are scared of spiders) it's the part where these gigantic monsters hide on the ceiling and fall down right in front of you quicker than you can say ohshitohshitohshit.

4)

Sonic the Hedgehog - Drowning in Labyrinth

When it comes to video game levels there's nothing worse than a water level and Sonic water levels really are the worst. The most terrifying thing about them though is the panic caused by the music as its speeds up becoming faster and faster as Sonic's life draws nearer and nearer to the end.

3)

The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time - ReDeads

ReDeads are terrifying zombies that have a high pitched scream that paralyses Link if he gets to close to them. Paralysing Link makes it easier for the ReDead to then climb on him and bite his head and neck, causing a great deal of damage if you can't shake them off. ReDeads are blind though so you can sneak past them or you can use the Sun's Song on the ocarina to freeze the ReDeads and make it safely past.

The worst thing about their attack which makes them so frightening is when you hear their scream and it freezes Link, you know you can't move and you are helpless to stop these blood thirsty zombies from chomping on your brains. 

2)

Heavy Rain - The Burglary Scene  

During a play-through of Heavy Rain the choices you make greatly affect the way the story plays out, there are a few moments in this game that are intense but none are quite as scary as the scene where Madison is attacked by burglars in her own apartment. From the flash of a figure running past in the background to a full on fight with the masked men, the battle intensifies as Madison is overpowered as she struggles to escape and she is eventually held down by the men, you know in the back of your mind that she will be OK because she is a main character but then all of a sudden we see her throat being slit, then almost immediately we cut to her waking up on her sofa, it was just a dream but it was terrifyingly real...



1)

Super Mario 64 - The Possessed Piano

The scariest moment that I will never forget has to be from the first time I played Super Mario 64. Whilst looking for the eight red coins in the haunted mansion you come across this room (pictured above) which stores this piano and nothing else. As you walk over to the piano to pick up the red coin it looks like a perfectly normal piano, but as you get closer to it it suddenly springs to life and starts attacking you, its gigantic teeth chomping down making the sound of piano keys being clumsily smashed and it chases you around the room trying to protect the red coin. If you think you are brave enough to collect this red coin then make sure you dodge the pianos attack otherwise you might find yourself a bit E-flat....

My Top 5 : Scary Moments From Scary Games

I have been a fan of the horror genre right from the first time I played Silent Hill back in 2000 at the tender age of 12. Just recently I have been looking for a decent horror game to play as the last one I played was The Suffering : Ties That Bind. So while I look for the next best horror game to play on my PS3 I thought I would have a look back at the games that gave me the scariest moments. 




5)

The Suffering - The hanging Nooseman

The hanging Nooseman in The Suffering has to be, for me, the scariest part of the game. The first time one of these half-bodied hanging creatures fell from the ceiling onto me and tried to choke me to death made me fear walking any corridor that was poorly lit (so all of them). These creatures represent the five correctional officers who were hung and skinned by outraged inmates when other inmates working in a quarry accident were left to die by the officers. 




4)

Silent Hill 2 - The Bubble-head Nurses

My first, in fact every encounter with these nurses always fills me with dread as they wobble and shuffle towards me swinging at me with their rusty pipes. While better looking than Puppet Nurses in the first Silent Hill these nurses are far deadlier with faster movement and better weapons. 




3)

Atmosfear - The Gatekeeper

OK, so its a video board game rather than a console video game but The Gatekeeper from Atmosfear still creeps me out to this day. Its a fantastic game that was first released on VHS and then re-released a couple of years ago on DVD. As the timer counts down The Gatekeeper grows older, uglier and scarier and while some of his lines are quite comical other little speeches he makes are very dark. The line that has stuck with me the most since the first time I heard it was "You are banished... to the black hole".
A lot of the screen time is a blank screen with the timer displayed but The Gatekeeper will suddenly appear making a loud entrance shouting at you, usually calling you a filthy maggot and it is these sudden outbursts that are enough to make anyone jump out of their skin. 




2)

Clock Tower 3 - Sledgehammer

Clock Tower 3 is one of those games that I actually found myself not completing, partly because it could be quite frustrating in some places but mostly because it was just too damn scary. You take on the role of young Alyssa, 14 years old, frightened and looking to find out what has happened to her mother after she receives a mysterious letter from her telling her to hide until her 15th birthday. The first threat that you encounter is the subordinate known as Sledgehammer. He chases Alyssa trying to smash her skull to pieces just like he did to 12 year old May - a gruesome murder that we flashback and witness. Playing as Alyssa we are not armed with any weapons other than holy water, the only other means of survival is to run and hide. Alyssa has a panic meter, if this panic meter fills up Alyssa becomes incredibly hard to control, falling all over the place and if you happen to be in a hiding spot while panicked she will whimper or scream alerting her presence to these subordinates. 
It is during this time of panic when you are trying to escape that maniac that I found most frightening in this game, when you are hiding in a closet looking through the small gaps in the door and realising that he has spotted you and your last image is of a giant sledgehammer coming crashing down onto you.




1)

Silent Hill - The Radio

In at number one is the best part of Silent Hill that really made me jump every time I played it. After exploring the café at the start of the game and collecting everything that you may find useful you are about to leave when a static noise starts screeching from the red radio sitting on the desk. You turn to approach it and a window smashes behind you at the far end of the café, as you turn back and start to examine it another window smashes right next to where you are standing and this strange, large, winged pink beast comes flying through the window and attacks you. You then find out that the radio emits a static screech every time a creature is coming towards you. 
The thick fog outside in the town of Silent Hill makes it incredibly difficult to know when these creatures are going to jump out and attack and when you realise that this radio is going to help you because you will be alerted of their presence you think it will all be OK and you'll be ready for them but when that radio starts sounding off and you don't know which direction the attack will come from you start to panic and before you know it there is a demon dog on top of you trying to rip your face off and that has to be my scariest moment ever in any video game. 

Bethesda teases new Skyrim DLC

Many Skyrim fans have been eagerly waiting for Bethesda to announce the new DLC today, eventually the BethBlog was updated with a teaser picture and a tag line 'coming this summer'

More details will be announced at E3.