The Top 10 Video Games You Have To Play For Halloween! *More Creepy Games*

[JamesG]

10 Games You Need To Play This Halloween
Tuesday, October 13, 2009


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If you hadn’t noticed already, Halloween is just around the corner.

Can you feel it? The air is crisp, the pumpkins are ripe, and the couch is calling. Around this time of year most people are either preparing their costumes for a night of trick or treating or getting geared up to hand out candy to the little strangers who knock on their door.

Gamers on the other hand, are a different breed. This time of year means our patience has finally paid off as we finally get some seriously awesome and long awaited games.

Unfortunately, after a handful of titles were pushed back to make room for the "Modern Warfare 2" juggernaut, this year’s holiday lineup is a little sparser than we’re accustomed to.




10. "Cold Fear" (2005)
(PS2, XBOX, PC)


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This would certainly qualify as one of the many overlooked games of the last generation, made even more depressing for me because it’s actually an excellent survival horror game.

If you like "Resident Evil", "Cold Fear" has semi-intelligent, bloodthirsty foes that won’t disappoint and neither will its original story and gorgeous visuals. There are some very terrifying moments awaiting players brave enough to explore the deserted Russian whaler that most of the game takes place on.

The addition of environmental traps like falling off the side of the violently rocking boat were a great touch and were more than enough motivation to keep you on your toes.





9. "Clive Barker’s Jericho" (2007)
(PS3, XBOX 360, PC)


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Clive Barker’s second foray into the world of pixels and sprites proved to be less successful than his first, a wonderfully bizarre game called "Undying", but no less excessive in the gore department.

However, where "Jericho" truly shines is with its enemies, which are some of the most grotesque creatures I’ve ever seen in a video game (or really anywhere for that matter).

Barker’s brutal brand of gore found in his other works like the classic Hellraiser series has transferred well into the virtual world. I expected the occasional toxic blood-spewing dog from Hell with a mouth not unlike a twisted version of a woman’s lower half, but what I didn’t expect was for the gameplay to be so fun and different.

Sure it’s basically a squad shooter set in the horror genre but the twist is that you play as the recently deceased leader of your team who gets the ability to jump between each member of the team at will.

If you find someone you like (the Katana-wielding Church was my favorite) you can play as them until you get bored and decide to jump into someone else.





8. "Siren: Blood Curse" (2008)
(PS3)


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If you like unforgiving, occasionally frustrating survival horror games with a very Japanese story and incredibly weak lead characters, the original "Siren" is something you need to look out for next time you visit your local game shop.

Luckily Sony recognized how awesome "Siren" was and gave it a revamp now available on the PSN. "Blood Curse" plays better, and has much improved visuals and gameplay than the original while still maintaining a strong feeling of helplessness for the player.

At no time while playing this game will you feel overpowered or even terribly sure of yourself because this is definitely a game for the type of player who doesn’t mind fleeing rather than fighting.

If you know nothing of "Siren" you wouldn’t know about the clever and particularly useful Sightjack skill that allows you to tune in to the eyes of the foes that surround you. This can be a highly useful and sometimes terrifying mechanic to have at your disposal.

Though on more than one occasion I sat in what I thought was a great hiding spot before entering Sightjack only to see an enemy coming up behind me.





7. "Resident Evil 4" (2005)
(GameCube, PS2, PC, Wii, Mobile)


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Ah, yes. "Resident Evil 4" was the pinnacle of the survival horror genre last generation and easily one of my favorite games of all time so it had to make the list.

If I had my way this would take the number one spot on every list of great games but because the actual element of horror in this game has taken a backseat to the overall experience I was hesitant to put it near the top.

Even though "RE4" might not necessarily wow in the scares department, it does have more than a few suspenseful moments. No matter how many times I play this game (and I’ve played it often) every time I hear that bag-headed guy rev up his chainsaw I pee myself a little. Just a little though, I am a man after all.





6. "Left 4 Dead" (2008)
(XBOX 360, PC)


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Not quite brave enough to play one of these games alone? How about playing one with a friend?

I’ll admit I have a very unhealthy obsession with this game because it is terribly addicting. Unlike other zombie games "Left 4 Dead" 's 28 Days Later inspired curb-stomp happy infected are actually faster than you are (especially if you’re wounded).

Because you’re playing with others the game is rarely scary, but always intense. If zombies, crying chicks, and tumor-ridden fat guys get you in the Halloween spirit, this is definitely the best gaming has to offer.





5. "Condemned 2: Bloodshot" (2008)
(PS3, XBOX 360)


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I like to be on the edge of my seat, and I especially love the occasionally successful cheap scare (for example: a sudden surprise paired with a loud noise) and "Bloodshot" has those in spades.

I won’t ever forget a certain section that takes place in a cabin hidden deep within a frozen forest. You go there after your plane crashes and realize its full of the corpses of military guys, so obviously what killed them must’ve been pretty badass, right? It’s when you realize the culprit is still in the house where the sh*t-your-pants section begins.

"Bloodshot" took all of my issues with "Criminal Origins" and fixed them than took what that game did right and improved it in almost every way The only downside is the story gets a little outlandish near the end, but that’s forgivable since the rest of the game is fantastic.





4. "System Shock 2" (1999)
(PC)


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“Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?”

"System Shock 2" holds a very special place in my heart as it’s one of the first horror games I ever played. It also contains one of the best antagonists in the history of video games, the computer program SHODAN, who continually tries to intimidate you with lines like the one above.

Her fluctuating, discordant speech and unwavering belief that she is perfect and actually devine makes her one of the best villains I’ve ever had the opportunity to vanquish.

This game also helped set the stage for the stunning ‘genetically enhanced shooter’ "BioShock".





3. "Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly" (2003)
(PS2, XBOX)


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I actually missed "Crimson Butterfly" when it first came out (I was probably too busy playing "Silent Hill 3" and "Siren" that came out the same year), forcing me to go back to experience the game.

I was not let down. I never played the first "Fatal Frame" and missed the third so "Crimson Butterfly" served as my introduction to this beautiful world of ghosts and spiritually bonded twins.

The combat in "Fatal Frame" is refreshing because instead of a metal pipe or nearly empty handgun you’re armed with a camera. Your enemies consist of various types of ghosts and ghouls that can be sent packing with a shot from said camera.

This means you have to get a little closer than you’d probably feel comfortable getting so the shot can have the greatest effect. The story and atmosphere in this game are also second to none, well, except for number two.





2. "Silent Hill 2" (2001)
(PS2, XBOX, PC)


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One of the most influential and successful survival horror series hit its stride in 2001 with "Silent Hill 2".

The original introduced us to the constantly changing and atmospheric world of fog and twisted demons, and the second gave us more than enough incentive to return.

This game got it all right: the oddly beautiful foggy town inhabited by countless hellish creatures, an immersive story, and one of the most unnerving soundtracks I’ve ever heard.

Unfortunately "Silent Hill 3" was the last great game in the series as "The Room", "Origins", and "Homecoming" have all fallen short of expectations.

If you want to remember the better times this game is easily the apex of the series, though I am desperately trying to keep the hope alive with the upcoming "Shattered Memories", which is a ‘reimagining’ of the first game (don’t say remake or someone from Konami will take you down.)





1. "Dead Space" (2008)
(PS3, XBOX 360, PC)


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I had high hopes for "Dead Space" because I’ve found the survival horror genre this generation a bit lacking.

"Resident Evil" has strayed from having any real horror, "Fatal Frame IV" won’t be coming to the US, and the degrading quality of the "Silent Hill" series brought me to the point where I was jonesing for a truly exceptional horror experience.

Luckily, Isaac Clarke came in and swooped me off my feet before tossing me into a pile of amputated limbs. EA knew how to hook me, all they had to do was seductively whisper two words in my ear: Strategic Dismemberment, and I was more than ready to go.

"Dead Space" has everything a rabid horror fan needs: buckets of gore, amazing visuals, some of the best sound design I’ve ever heard, and tons of scares.

I’m being totally honest when I say that "Dead Space" scared the crap out of me, abused me, and left me desperately wanting more. This is coming from someone who watched A Nightmare on Elm Street at the age of six, so horror has been a very prominent thing in my life for the last fifteen years.

At this point very few things scare me and with each new day I get to happily mark new items off the list of things that terrify me. I wait for the day when I can finally cross out clowns, though that day still seems far away.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/videogames/605

[browneyes106]

Great list. There a few games I need to check out.

[JamesG]

Great list. There a few games I need to check out.

I have played all of these except for "Siren: Blood Curse".

All of these are great; "Clive Barker's Jericho" is really something else.

Man, "System Shock" seems old to me now..

[JamesG]

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by Staff
design by Ethan O'Brien

We've all been scared by movies and books. How could we forget The Shining, Psycho, or The Exorcist?

Many of you have doubtlessly jumped or even cried out in fright during the more harrowing scenes in any of those, and other, horror movies.

And there is little question that reading some of Stephen King's best work at night will turn you into an insomniac.

Of course it's a given that those artists who weave captivating and frightening stories with moving pictures or words can scare us, but how about computer games? That's a little harder to accomplish. After all, we're staring at a relatively small 15-inch screen, 17 if you're lucky, with sound piped through some pretty tinny speakers.

But lately, thanks to masterful level design, dialogue, more realistic graphics, or any combination of these and other factors, some people are actually getting scared when they play games.



There are few truly scary games out of the hundreds that we've played over the last ten to 15 years, but there are indeed a few games that might make your skin crawl or make you jump right out of your seat.

With Halloween here, the ghosts and ghouls are out to play, and we at GameSpot thought they might like to try their hand at this newfangled invention called the computer game.

But how do you entice a Halloween spirit into electronic entertainment? With the scariest games of course, or at least those creepy games that do a good enough job with a horror theme to warrant inclusion in our Best Games for Halloween.





1. "Alone in the Dark" (1992)


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Based upon the work of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, "Alone in the Dark" was the game that gave birth to the cinematic game perspective later utilized in games such as “Resident Evil“, “Bioforge“, and, most recently, “Grim Fandango“
.
More importantly, “Alone in the Dark” is creepy.


You play supernatural private eye Edward Carnby, investigating the strange goings-on in Derceto, a gloomy mansion in Louisiana. The recent suicide of Jeremy Hartwood has stirred up rumors that there is an evil power in the house, and you must find the truth.

The mansion itself is filled with undead creatures and demonic beasts. The constantly changing perspective of the game adds to the atmosphere, as you never know what's lurking around the next corner - or from what angle you're going to see it.


The first game in a trilogy, the original “Alone in the Dark” remains a fun, frightening game even if the polygonal technology (which was revolutionary at the time of its release) looks a little dated.

The second and third games are almost as good.

In the second, you must investigate the kidnapping of a young girl and its connection to a pirate captain's ghost.

The third has you investigating the disappearance of a movie crew in a Western ghost town.


All three “Alone in the Dark” games are available in Interplay's “Alone in the Dark Trilogy” collection.





2. "Amber: Journeys Beyond" (1996)


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Creepy experiences await adventure game players foolhardy enough to experience “Amber: Journeys Beyond“.

Those fascinated by poltergeists and unexplained phenomena might find that this spooky game from Hue Forest Entertainment will have them sleeping with the lights on.


Set in a house in the North Carolina mountains, Amber is a ghost hunt where observing poltergeist activity has expanded to interacting with it. Amber gives players an intriguing paranormal experience, and what begins as a response to a friend's concern develops into a journey to rescue souls.


You realize quickly that you are not alone while exploring the house and the surrounding property seeking clues to a friend's plight. The history of the souls haunting the house makes itself known through an up-close-and-personal point of view.

Each soul died a tragic death and finds himself trapped in a purgatory-like state. To help them move into the afterlife, you must solve a series of well-integrated and moderately challenging puzzles.

The souls in and of themselves are intriguing: Watching the gardener's lifeless body swinging slowly from the rafters, all because he couldn't get a date, makes the player's life seem much more fulfilling.


If you're looking for a few hours of torturous fun, "Amber" is definitely worth considering. Amber will make you wonder what really does go bump in the night.





3. "The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery" (1995)


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The second game in Jane Jensen's “Gabriel Knight” series is not only a terrific adventure game, it's one of the scariest games ever made. It isn't monsters-jump-out-at-you scary; it's a psychological fright fest that's suspenseful and smart at the same time.


You play Gabriel Knight, a Louisiana-based bookstore owner and mystery author who is part of a long line of shattenjagers or "shadow hunters."

In this second chapter of Gabriel's ongoing ghost chasing, you are sent to Germany to deal with your recently deceased uncle's estate. While there, you begin unraveling a mystery dealing with a centuries-old hunting club, a lost Wagner opera, and, most mysterious of all, a possible enclave of werewolves.


While “The Beast Within” certainly has its share of frights, most of the game's thrills come from its suspenseful atmosphere.

You play two characters, Gabriel and his research assistant, Grace. In each chapter you alternate roles. You'll learn important background as Grace, but as Gabriel you must endeavor on without said knowledge, a device that lends his chapters the terrifying complication that you have a clear picture of the evil that surrounds him, while he's only beginning to understand.

All in all “The Beast Within” is one of the best adventure games ever and is highly recommend for any season.





4. "Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion" (1998)


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It's Halloween night. You're home alone, again. The rain starts pouring, and the wind and thunder start to make everything unsettling. If you'd rather play a computer game at times like these than plop in front of the TV for the latest creature feature, "Clue" is your answer.


If you remember the board game, you might think this a weird antidote for a spooky weekend night, but Hasbro has actually done a great job in making the game look and feel as scary as a murder mystery should be. Add to this a complex guessing game of whodunit, and you'll find that this game actually has a lasting appeal.

The story for “Clue” is that six characters at the mansion of Mr. Boddy must solve the mystery of his murder. The game features animated scenes of each character in the game committing murders depending upon who you think the villain is.

If you think that Mr. Green did it in the ballroom with the knife, then as someone guesses that answer, a view of Mr. Green slashing at his victim is seen. These scenes are a bit violent, so you may want to put the kids to bed first.



Beyond that, the guessing game requires careful attention and intense logical deductions to decide who's the murderer. In each room of the mansion, you can guess who the murderer is and which weapon he used. The correct answers are concealed on cards in the middle of the board. By seeing which cards your opponents have, you try to guess the concealed cards to solve the crime.

All in all, if you want a creepy and easy-to-learn game, definitely give “Clue” a try. Mr. Boddy will be glad you did.





5. "Warhammer: Dark Omen" (1998)


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What better way to celebrate Halloween than by returning the undead to their moldy graves? Most horror-themed games are either adventure or action games. The worst of these games are full of cheesy dialogue, rigidly precise mouse pointing, or mindless action. These aren't bad things, but sometimes you need a break from that type of gameplay.

If you want a perfect strategy game for Halloween, then look no further than Electronic Art's “Warhammer: Dark Omen“.

Set in the popular Warhammer fantasy universe, this game is a 3D strategy title in the same vein as “Myth” and the original “Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat“.

This game also has a few RPG elements, putting you in the role of mercenary commander Morgan Bernhart. After each successive scenario, you'll gain experience and gold, which can be used to advance your troops' skill or buy new regiments, respectively.


What makes this game a Halloween winner though, aside from its beautiful graphics and challenging gameplay, are the undead hosts you must battle on your way to defeating the game's ultimate bad guy, the powerful lich called the Dread Lord.

You'll fight many different kinds of the walking dead, including skeletons, zombies, wraiths, vampires, and mummies. These shambling monstrosities will swarm you, rising from the ground to surprise you or appearing from behind mountains and forests to ambush you. You'll see their putrid flesh in little thumbnail windows, as the undead leaders command their troops to attack.

In turn, your own human commanders will often cry out in fear at the sight of these minions of the Dread Lord. Although it's hard to be genuinely scared by a top-down strategy game, “Dark Omen” is an appropriately horror-themed strategy title that would make the perfect distraction for All Hallow's Eve.





6. "DOOM" (1993)


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They never told you it'd get this bad in boot camp. After an experiment goes wrong on Mars' moon Phobos, you and your squad are sent to clean up. Your team is torn to shreds by aliens and demons from your worst nightmares, and soon enough you realize you're the only one left, and all you've got to defend yourself is a sidearm.


So, no one remembers id's first-person shooter classic for its story. But everyone remembers “DOOM” as one of the scariest games of all time. After all, it's just you against all the legions of hell, so not only do the odds look seriously bad, but you're also going to be a lot more afraid of them than they are of you.

You'll fight disgusting demons, fire-throwing imps, the zombie remains of your squad mates, and much worse around every corner. All you need to do is introduce each and every one of them to the business end of whatever weapons you have at your disposal.

For what it's worth, at least you'll find some heavy-duty firepower to help your cause along your way. There's a trusty shotgun, a meaty chain gun, a deadly rocket launcher, a powerful plasma gun, the stupendous BFG-9000, and even a chainsaw that can all be yours in your battle to save the world, and more importantly, your own hide.


Even if you can last through all three of “DOOM”'s sprawling episodes, which take you from Phobos, to Mars' other moon Deimos, and all the way into hell itself, you won't soon find yourself at a loss for action. That's because there's still the most frightening enemy of all left to kill: your fellow “DOOM” players, every bit as dangerous as you are.

“Multiplayer DOOM” continues to offer harrowing, fast-paced excitement the likes of which most games still can't approach.

The original “DOOM” is available, with an added fourth episode, as “The Ultimate “DOOM“.





7. "Grim Fandango" (1998)


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This game takes a group of seriously cool skeletons from Mexican folklore and combines it with a film noir style (think Ed Wood meets The Nightmare Before Christmas).

Set in the Land of the Dead, you assume the role of Manny Calavera, a beleaguered civil servant stuck with the task of welcoming newcomers to their new nonexistence and setting them off on five-year journeys across the Land of the Dead.

Manny, who must wear elevator shoes when assuming his Grim Reaper-esque role, is desperate to free himself from his mundane existence. In the process, he uncovers a revolution amongst the Dead, complete with all the fixings: mob bosses, guerrilla leaders, femme fatales, secret plots, conspiracies within conspiracies, double agents, you name it.


Designed by Tim Schafer (of “Full Throttle” and “Day of the Tentacle” fame), “Grim Fandango” boasts a more immersive interface and beautiful 3D world.

You control Manny from a third-person perspective and interact directly with your environment instead of hunting around for hot spots. Items get stored in Manny's coat, while his head swivels and nods toward items of interest.

There are no menus or interface icons cluttering up the screen at all - in fact, Manny himself acts as your interface. The gameplay involves combining traditional puzzle-solving and assembling tasks with more action-oriented puzzles like those found in “Full Throttle“.





8. "The Lurking Horror" (1987)


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One of the first really scary computer games, Infocom's “The Lurking Horror“ combined Stephen King-esque terror with the company's famous text-based parser system.

The setting is the campus of G.U.E. Tech, and you play a college student burning the midnight oil on a term paper. A storm is raging outside, and, apart from a few stragglers, the campus is deserted.

Unfortunately, a system malfunction causes you to lose your paper, and you must brave the twisty maze of the campus hallways to try to recover your work. But a wayward experiment has summoned a horrifying beast, and its minions are stalking the hallways.


During your quest, you encounter a demented science professor and a creepy pickpocket who isn't what he seems. You'll become the unwilling participant in a terrifying experiment, discover a forgotten wing of the university, and venture down into its depths to find the source of the evil that is helping you procrastinate.

Fighting the forces of evil simply to finish a college exam may sound like a humorous premise, but “The Lurking Horror” is more frightening than funny. The well-written text gives the empty campus a haunting quality, and the descriptions of the many creatures stalking the hallways read like something straight out of a Lovecraft anthology.



If you want to combine the fun of adventure gaming with the fright of a good horror novel, “The Lurking Horror” remains recommended almost a decade after its original release.

It's available as part of Activision's Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces.





9. "Sanitarium" (1998)


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Many games have used amnesia as a premise, but it's always a poor excuse for having you wander around some virtual landscape trying to figure out what's going on.

Not “Sanitarium“.

It does use amnesia as a device, and you do have to go around trying to figure out what's going on. But it's effective. “Sanitarium” manages to be scary, creepy, and moving at the same time.



You awake in the titular institution, surrounded by unstable inmates who beat their heads on walls and caterwaul in their cold cement cells. Outside, the world is being overrun by a deadly virus. And you have no idea who you are or how you ended up there.

The story turns out to be quite interesting, but how it's told is more interesting still. You assume the role of various characters in what seem to be psychotic episodes. These characters range from a small child to an Aztec leader to a four-armed Cyclops. Each of these episodes has strange, dreamlike similarities to the events transpiring in the game's real world.



And “Sanitarium” is frightening. You have horror-show frights as you travel through a dilapidated seaside carnival. And you have more psychological horror as you travel through a house haunted by ghosts of your family, revealing significant reasons for your turmoil.

In either case, “Sanitarium” maintains a strong sense of atmosphere and keeps you guessing as to the real story up until the very end. It's one of the better adventure games of the last few months and is a sure-fire winner for some creepy fun.





10. "X-COM: UFO Defense" (1993)


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No sooner does the world make peace with itself than an extraterrestrial menace appears and attacks without warning.

Earth's nations combine to form “X-COM“, an international team of the world's best scientists, engineers, and soldiers, in an effort to defend the planet against the overwhelming alien menace and eventually to take the battle to their home turf on Mars.



“X-COM: UFO Defense” is heralded as one of the best strategy games of all time, not only because of its meticulously detailed and ingeniously implemented combination of turn-based combat and strategic planning, but because of its fearsome setting.

At first you are limited to one X-COM base to defend the entire planet, but the Cydonians can and will attack virtually any part of the globe. Cities fall, the population panics, and the aliens only seem to grow stronger. Even when your best soldiers are sent to fight back, you'll suffer heavy casualties in the face of the enemy's superior hi-tech firepower.

And with “X-COM” 's dark, moving soundtrack and its menagerie of aliens whose benign appearance belies their truly evil dispositions, the end result is truly a frightening game.


Only by successfully recovering and researching the alien technology can you begin to fight the aliens on their own terms. Your scientists can study alien weapons and artifacts, and you can use that knowledge to turn the odds against the aggressors.

Even then, the enemy will press the attack with even stranger and more powerful means of destruction right down to mind control, such that whenever you sense that you've gained even footing or the upper hand, chances are you're dead wrong.

Because the course of the game is different each time, “X-COM” offers tremendous replay value and remains very intense and entirely scary even after all these years.

[JamesG]

Other games for Halloween:

If our ten picks didn't get your ghost, here are some other games that might put you in the spirit.




1. "3-D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night" (1996)


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Sierra's “3D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night” contains all that a twisted little heart could desire in three pinball tables: ghouls, goblins, and spiders, as well as pinball-snatching ghosts.

The Castle Table is the home of beasts and creatures bent on taking over our world. High up in the castle's tower in the Tower Table is the Mad Scientist's secret laboratory.

In the Dungeon Table ghosts, rats, bats, and spiders scuttle from one dark corner to another and the skeletal remains of its prisoners will try to escape.

The game's campy horror theme is enhanced by its soundtrack, which comes complete with haunting music and creepy voices.





2. "The 7th Guest" (1992)


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Although quite tame by today's standards, “The 7th Guest” was all the rage when it was released in 1992.

Among the first CD-ROM-only game releases, “The 7th Guest” scored high marks for innovation, particularly with regard to its use of live actors in combination with computer-generated sets.

Unfortunately, the actors weren't any good, and the awkward gameplay - which consisted primarily of solving elaborate but clunky versions of classic brain teasers - left most fans searching for the exit long before the game was concluded.

In fact, as the technical FAQ indicates, the scariest thing about “The 7th Guest” was getting it to run.





3. "Bad Mojo" (1996)


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Gregor Samsa has nothing on Roger Samms, an entomologist who awakes one day to find himself transformed into a cockroach.

As Samms, you must scuttle around your dreary apartment complex, examining your somewhat bleak life.

Featuring beautiful graphics for its time and a bittersweet, if somewhat morbid, story, “Bad Mojo” is both gross and engrossing.





4. "Blood" (1997)


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Pure evil, that's what this game is about.

You're an undead gunman who's taking revenge on an evil cult called the Cabal. You start with a trusty pitchfork, but along the way you'll find such toys as the flare gun, the napalm cannon, the jury-rigged aerosol-can-with-matching-cigarette-lighter flamethrower, and the cultist's voodoo doll.

The main hook to this game, if you can't tell by the title and the array of weapons, is the amount of full-force carnage that takes place in the game.

If fire and blood is too tame for you, there's always soccer with a decapitated head.





5. "Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain" (1996)


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One night, you are slain in cold blood by rogues, but your hatred for your assailants is so ferocious that you find yourself alive again and stronger than ever.

Yet even as you easily dispatch your killers, you learn of a grim consequence to your newfound strength: You are a vampire.

As the bitter antihero Kain, you must explore the dangerous land of Nosgoth to learn why you were killed in the first place and to put an end to your curse.

The PC conversion of the PlayStation action-adventure game mixes action and puzzle solving with a sinister story.





6. "BioForge" (1996)


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You awaken to find your fingers grafted together and your skin replaced with steel. You are a biomechanical freak, the product of scientific curiosity at your expense, and you are imprisoned for reasons unknown to you.

Understandably, you are very, very upset. As you plan a means of escaping your prison cell, so begins your torturous journey to discover your past and exact vengeance on whomever mutilated your body and tampered with your mind.

The disturbing and unforgettable “BioForge” combines action-packed combat and puzzles ranging from simple to sophisticated in a slick, cinematic presentation.





7. "Flesh Feast" (1996)


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The Nutrition Applied Science and Technologies corporation has caused some trouble. Seems they've performed some experiments that have sent people to their deaths, only now they're rising again as flesh-eating undead.

Sick? Yes. Demented? Yes.

In either strategic or action mode, you move your character from room to room collecting power-ups, wasting zombies, and trying to find an answer to the accident that NASAT started. It's not the best game in the world, but try it if you're looking for some zombie-blasting fun.





8. "The House of the Dead" (1996)


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Sega has long been known for light-gun shooters such as “Virtua Cop“, which offered intense action and great graphics to make up for the on-rails movement.

The latest entry into the PC market for this style of gaming is this port of “House of the Dead“, an arcade shooter with a horror theme and a frightening atmosphere.

“House of the Dead” brings a new element of fear onto your desktop, with dark and moody lighting and scary zombies reaching out from the grave with their rotting claws.

This is one game that fits perfectly with the Halloween spirit.





9. "Nightmare Creatures" (1997)


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“Nightmare Creatures“, from Activision and Kalisto, has a great horror setting. In 18th-century England, Frankenstein-like experiments are flooding the nighttime streets with zombies and bizarre automatons.

As a nocturnal hunter, you have to traverse graveyards and demented laboratories to fight zombies, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. Adding to its clout as a game perfect for Halloween is the game's gore, as you can literally decapitate and dismember your undead enemies.

Although this game plays like a more action-oriented “Tomb Raider“, the horror theme definitely sets it apart from other action games.





10. "Quake" (1996)


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Although “DOOM “was first, “Quake” is every bit as scary as its predecessor.

“Quake” 's 3D graphics and dark, moody lighting only enhance its fear factor. Throughout the game, the smart placement of monsters, the guttural mutterings and grunts from behind walls, and the way monsters jump out at you from every angle, make this game a frightful experience.

Turn down the lights and crank up the speakers, and you will jump out of your seat when you play this gory, scary shooter.





11. "Resident Evil" (1996)


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From beginning to end “Resident Evil” keeps you in complete suspense.

Every time you unlock a new door you ask yourself what will be waiting beyond, you never know when a group of zombies who instantly try to eat you alive.

Eerie music and sound effects help set this suspenseful atmosphere - like the faint sound of a zombie dragging his foot across the cold wooden floor.

So if you're a brave soul, switch off the lights and enter the world of survival horror. Only your ability to stay calm will get you out alive when all hell breaks loose.

http://www.gamespot.com/features/halloween/