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.

Disney's Power of Illusion

For me, Disney's 'illusion' series is one of my favourite 'series' of games, new generations of consoles with updated graphics will come and go and look terrible after a couple of years but the illusion games will always look as great as they did when they were first released.

The illusion series started with Castle of Illusion. It was released in 1990 and starred Mickey Mouse. The aim of the game was to control Mickey through a number of levels to save Minnie Mouse who was kidnapped by the evil witch Mizrabel. 
Mickey has to work his way through the castle defeating enemies with items he picks up and then has to collect all seven gems from the bosses in order to build the rainbow bridge to the castles tower for the final showdown against the evil witch who kidnapped Minnie to steal her youth. 


When you finally face Mizrabel she is in her youthful form and  resembles the evil queen from Snow White - Queen Grimhilde.

Next in the illusion series is Land of Illusion which was released in 1992. This game starts with Mickey Mouse falling asleep with a book of fairy tales in his lap. When he wakes up he finds himself in a strange fairy tale land. He is quickly greeted by Daisy Duck who needs his help to save their once happy village which is now full of sadness after theevil phantom stole the magic crystal. 

The evil phantom who has stolen the the magic crystal turns out to be the Horned King from the Disney film The Black Cauldron. 

The third illusion game to be released was my favourite in the series - World of Illusion. Also released in 1992, this game not only starred Mickey Mouse but also starred Donald Duck. The extra character meant that you could choose a character to play as and it was also possible to now have two players playing co-operatively using each others strengths to move through the levels. 
The game starts with Mickey and Donald practising their magic act when something goes wrong and they are vanished into a magical world where they must survive a vast amount of levels to make it back home.
Mickey and Donald must learn new magic tricks after defeating the level bosses to be able to make it through the next level, such as they learn how to use a magic carpet so they can fly across level 2 which is where they learn how to make magic bubbles to help them breath underwater.

The last illusion game that was released in the 90's was Legend of Illusion which was released in 1995. This game went back to its original format of just starring Mickey Mouse, this time Mickey is working as a janitor who must take the place of cowardly King Pete as only the king can save everyone from the cloud of darkness. There is a curse that is killing the Tree of Life and it is up to Mickey to save it, once King Pete learns that if Mickey saves everyone he will become the king forever King Pete plots to stop Mickey and ends up being the final boss of the game. 












It was recently announced that a new game for the Nintendo 3DS will be arriving late 2012 called Epic Mickey : Power of Illusion. This game is being released alongside Epic Mickey 2 on the Wii. Power of Illusion is said to have been made in tribute to the original illusion games. 

Once again the evil witch Mizrabel and her castle of illusion feature, herself and her castle have been transported to the wasteland by the wizard Yen Sid. Mickey is contacted by Oswald and he says that Minnie has been spotted in the castle. Mickey sets off to save Minnie and the other characters trapped in the castle of illusion. 

The game mixes the game mechanics of the original games and the newer Wii games Epic Mickey / Epic Mickey 2. Players will be able to use the 3DS' touch screen to use Mickeys magic paintbrush, how well you use the brush determines how well the items work in game. For example if you trace a cannon perfectly the cannon will only harm enemies but if you are not careful with your drawing it could possibly harm Mickey aswell as his enemies.

Childhood gaming memories : Part 3

My Top 10 : Lesser Known games from my childhood

Whilst looking through the Wii Virtual Console store today a few games appeared that I remembered playing when I was younger such as Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros 3 and Dynamite Headdy just to name a few and it was Dynamite Headdy that got me thinking about some of the games that I used to play that aren't as popular as the Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog or Mario Bros games, so here are my top 10 lesser known games from my childhood.

10) Krusty's Super Fun house

Krusty's Super Fun House was released in 1992 for SNES and Sega Mega Drive and is the first of my Simpsons related games on this list. The aim of this game is while playing as Krusty the Klown to use objects to lead the rats from the beginning of the level in his fun house to the extermination unit overcoming obstacles and puzzles until he is rid of all the rats, this uses the basics of the game Lemmings except you are trying to kill the rodents, not save them. A selection of The Simpsons characters pop up at the end of each level using the extermination machines including Bart, Homer and Sideshow Mel. 

9) Twinbee : Rainbow Bell Adventure

At number 9 is a typical side-scrolling adventuring game (released on the SNES in 1994) with the goal of recovering the stolen 'Rainbow Bell' from the evil scientist Dr. Warmon who wants to take over the world. The rainbow bell which shines with all the colours of the rainbow brings peace to the universe - as long as it continues to ring but with the bell gone the princess is mysteriously fading  away so its up to Twinbee, Winbee and Gwinbee to save the day by exploring the bright and colourful lands progressing through the map to defeat the evil scientist and restore peace to the universe once again. With its bright colours and catchy happy music its a joy to play though for all ages.

8) Maniac Mansion

Although initially released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 / Apple ll the version we are looking at today is the 1992 NES version. 

Maniac Mansion is a 'point and click' graphic adventure game which follows the main character - Dave Miller, who has to rescue his girlfriend from the evil mad scientist and his evil mad family. You control Dave and two of his friends, using them to work together through the mansion where everything in your surroundings can be picked up or used and you have to work out how to get his girlfriend out of there, there are many ways of playing the game with many humorous ways to die and lots of silly things to do that aren't necessary to the story (such as putting the hamster in the microwave and cooking it). There are six characters to select from to be Dave's friends and each have their own abilities, therefore different characters will play through the game differently, boosting its replay value even further than just playing with everything available.

Even though its a 24 year old game its still a fun game to play today with a silly wacky storyline about brain sucking mad scientists being controlled by a sentient meteor that crashed into their mansion 20 years beforehand and then kidnapping cheerleaders to do strange experiments on.

7) The Aquatic Games : Featuring James Pond

This spin off from the James Pond : Underwater Agent series was released for the Mega Drive and SNES in 1992 and is a brilliant track and field spoof. The game consists of different olympic-themed levels including :

• The 100m splash (running)
• Kipper watching (Volleyball)
• Hope, skip and jump (Triple jump)
• The bouncy castle (trampoline somersaults) 
• Feeding time 
• Shell shooting 
• Tour de grass (cycling)
• Leap frog (100m hurdles)

The games are fun and easy to complete and can become more challenging if you try to go for gold in each game. The addition of 2 /3 /4 players is also a welcome addition for competing against friends. Overall a fun game to pick up and play as there is no real storyline to it, just a fun way to play a sports game.

6) Cool Spot

Cool Spot was originally a mascot for the drink 7-up in the 1980's before being made into a video game character in 1993. The aim of the game was to collect the red spots in the levels within the time limit and release his similar looking 'cool spot' friends at the end of the level. Cool Spot has to avoid enemies and can attack them using soda bubbles. The game is very short with only 10 levels but its very memorable and as a child it felt like it would take forever to complete and it does have some great music and even won 'Best cartridge music of the year 1993'.

5) Dynamite Headdy

This side-scrolling platformer was released in 1994 on the Mega Drive and features Headdy - a puppet with a detachable head who arrives in North Town to find that the evil puppet king Dark Demon is attacking the town, deciding which toys should live and which ones will become his evil minions. As Headdy is captured and sent to the incinerator he escapes and sets off to destroy the evil puppet king. 

Headdy can use various pick-ups to transform his head into different weapons , as his head is detachable he can shoot his head in 8 different directions to attack minions, transformations his head can make include a suction head, metal head and shrinking head and he can use these different strengths throughout the levels. The graphics, music and gameplay are brilliant and this is a game that has even been released on the Wii's virtual console so can be picked up and played again for a new generation. 

4) California Games

California games is still one of my favourite sports games out there after all these years, first released in 1987 then later ported onto other consoles such as the Mega Drive (with much more  updated graphics) it took a stand back from its other games in the series such as Summer Games and Winter Games which were very traditional Olympic sport games. 
California Games has an incredible soundtrack with 6 different games to compete in, rather than the traditional types of games you get ones more likely to be played in California - 

• Half Pipe Skateboarding
• Roller skating
• Surfing
• BMX 
• Footbag
• Frisbee 

Each of these games have their own memorable soundtrack and the challenges were difficult at times but satisfying when completed and so much fun to keep trying again and again, it didn't matter how many times I would trip over something whether it was a banana skin, cans or tires when roller skating it was always funny to see her falling flat on her face on what must be the dirtiest pavement in California.

3) The Simpsons : Bart vs The Space Mutants

Bart vs The Space Mutants has to be one of my all time favourite Simpsons games, released in 1991 it was the first of many Simpsons games to be created. In this side-scrolling adventure you play Bart Simpson and you have to destroy the Space Mutants plans for collecting everything purple to power their machine to take over the world, only Bart can see the aliens and their plans through the use of his X-ray specs. Bart can spray paint purple objects red to stop the aliens taking them and jump on aliens who are disguised as people to get rid of them.

Bart can also use his skateboard and even interact with some of the scenery, such as you can use pay phones to call Moe's Tavern to prank call Moe. 

While being a short game with only five levels of collecting items and a boss level the music is recognisable from the Simpsons world and alot of the characters appear, its simple yet fun, making it the perfect Simpsons arcade game like those seen in The Simpsons TV show.

2) Marvel Land (Talmit's Adventure)

Marvel Land is a bright, colourful side-scrolling platformer that was released in 1989, one of its best features apart from its wacky 'save the princess from the evil mole king' plot is its music, its so bright and cheery and very catchy and it all fits perfectly with each of the four levels.

The levels are so much fun because they differ from the likes of Mario and Sonic , this is set at an amusement park with levels taking place on rollercoasters, in fun houses and at fair grounds. It also includes mini games for the boss fights such as rock, paper, scissors, musical chairs and tug of war, making it far more interesting than the usual 'hit the boss X amount of times until he explodes'. 

This cute mix of colour, fun and adventure is the perfect mixture for a great game and I can remember spending many years playing this game over and over, although released on the Wii's virtual console in Japan in 2009 I still hold hope for a re-release here one day.

1) World of Illusion : Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

World of illusion was released in 1992 and is one of the games that I can remember playing the most during my childhood. 

The game starts with Mickey and Donald practising for a magic show when something goes horribly wrong and they are sucked into a magical world where they must fight their way through the different themed levels in order to get back home again.

Along their adventure they learn new magic tricks to help them find their way home, such as using a magic carpet, underwater bubbles to swim in, transportation boxes and card control to make bridges and pathways out of cards. 

The game can be played with either character and each have their own strengths, mickey can fit through small gaps while Donald must find a different route, unless you use both characters in the multiplayer mode - then you can work together, Mickey can pull donald through tight gaps and they can both use ropes to help each other up to high places.

The addition on multiplayer was a big game changer for me as it opened up a new experience that I hadn't seen before, coupled with its fantastic music and beautiful level design this game was the perfect game for me for many years and just thinking about it again makes me want to find my old Mega Drive, play it again and relive all the fantastic memories it created all those years ago.

New Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD trailer

The first announcement of Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD came about at the Spike Video Game Awards back in 2011 and since that short clip was shown we have been waiting for a longer trailer to show off its shiny new graphics and to see what characters and levels will be returning, today a brand new trailer appeared for the much anticipated game which is due out this summer.

Some of the levels from the first 2 THPS games (as Tony states in the video the first one came out 12 years ago) that will be appearing are Warehouse, School 2, Phoenix, Hangar, Marseilles and Venice and the playable characters that have been announced so far are Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Eric Koston, Chris Cole, Rodney Mullen,Andrew Reynolds and Riley Hawk - Tony Hawk's son.

Its nice to see Tony Hawk's go back to its roots with a HD remake rather than a new game with gimmicks such as the skateboard with Tony Hawks Ride - if there is one song I could choose from the original sound track that I could have on THPSHD it would have to be 'Superman' by Goldfinger - for me that was the song I skated to the most and brings back from great memories from the first game.

HeartGold - I choose you !

The last time I played a Pokémon game was in primary school back in early 2000 during a time where we spent hours after school trading Pokémon cards and battling each other to win more, the game I can remember playing alongside the card game was Pokémon Red for the GameBoy - a game I still have sat on the 'classic games shelf'.

Back then I thought it was a mammoth task to collect all 150 pokemon but after recently playing Pokemon HeartGold on the 3DS I have come to realise that would have been a breeze compared to HeartGold's 493 Pokémon!

Since receiving a Nintendo 3DS for my birthday I have been itching to play a Pokémon game again, I looked at the current options of either HeartGold / SoulSilver or Black / White. I decided upon HeartGold as this looked similar to the previous games in the series I had played and it is a remake of the original Pokémon Gold.


Pokémon HeartGold has the same basic gameplay that we have all come to know and love over the years but with updated graphics and slight improvements its been a whole new experience again. Changes such as being able to assign more than 1 item to a function button for items such as fishing rods and bicycles, having the option to have any pokémon to walk along side you and interact with you (which hasn't been seen since Pokémon Yellow) and the fun new gadget - the Pokéwalker.

The Pokéwalker [pictured above] is a stepometer which lets you connect to the Nintendo DS and transfer a pokémon of your choice to the pokéwalker. You choose a route for your pokémon to walk along such as grass areas, beach areas ect...As you walk the steps gained earn XP towards levelling up the chosen pokémon and you earn Watts which unlock more routes. Other options include the Poké Radar - which allows you to fight and catch pokémon and  the Dowsing Machine which provides a mini game to find items which are then transferred back to the game.


The storyline is fun yet simple with the ultimate goal of becoming a Pokémon Master, the good news with this is there are a total of 16 gym badges to collect, that's double the amount of other Pokémon games!

One of the reasons I love this game despite being a bit outdated compared to modern graphics is that they haven't changed some things - 'if its not broke, don't fix it' comes to mind. I love it when you start a battle sequence and you hear the famous battle music, hearing the pokémons 8-bit growl and there is even an unlock later in the game to convert all the music to the original 8-bit music.



Before I made my purchase of this game I was a little worried that a new Pokémon game would be released as soon as I brought this but I decided this would be a good filler game until that happens and now just this last week a new Pokémon game has been announced - Pokémon Black / White 2 for the Nintendo DS - not the 3DS which makes me even more happier that I went for HeartGold as this game is going to keep me busy for a long time, hopefully by the time I finish this a new Pokémon game for the 3DS will finally be announced.