So today I was watching REC, an acclaimed horror film, and was absolutely terrified. After it was done, I turned on my 360 and proceeded to play Silent Hill Homecoming and found my heart NOT palpitating with terror as it was mere minutes ago. Then I began to wonder how a game, a much more interactive medium than a film, had managed to terrify me far less than a series of moving pictures on my old school 36" Toshiba.

                I dislike the term "horror movies" or "horror/survival game" because being horrified and being scared are two completely different things. For example, I was driving up to my friends house and saw a dead cat covered in maggots on the side of the road and was horrified. Then when I rang the doorbell of his house my friend jumped out from behind the bushes next to me wearing a Hannibal Lector muzzle and scared the PISS out of me (if you're reading this, you know who you are).

                In the current day and age of special effects and day to day violence, it saddens me to say that we are somewhat less fazed by blood and guts. For example, if you released 2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre back in the 70's when the original was released, you would have had audiences vomiting from terror, trying not to step on each others' bellbottoms as they ran for the exits. Now, it's not uncommon for everyone under 21 in the theater to go "OOOOOHHHHH" and laugh as a man gets cut in half on screen by a chainsaw. And instead of finding alternate manners of scaring audiences, 90% of movies simply up the gore level and assume that stomach-churning disgust is synonymous with fear. John Carpenter's The Thing probably scared the pants off audiences when it was released, but now all it gives us is a slight startle combined with unintentional laughs.

                Unfortunately, it seems as though the games industry has fallen prey to the same theory. The Silent Hill series have gotten decreasingly scary since 2 while having more and more stomach churning creatures and environments. Resident Evil 5 upped the creepy factor but failed to recreate the piss inducing tension of Leon Kennedy's adventure. Dead Space, while admittedly being scary for the first few hours, slowly lost its charm as monster reanimation, ambushes, and overall design became repetitive and overall predictable.  As the game progresses, it seems to rely more on the horrifying and gory monster design than actual scares. This is not to say that these aren't good games. I have played most of these games wholeheartedly, but I am saying that they are action games and not really horror games.

                Let me just list out some of the games that I consider scary  and actual horror games(and you will note, some of these are just average games): Silent Hill 2, the Condemned series, Doom 3, Fatal Frame 1 & 2, Siren, Resident Evil 4, F.E.A.R., and Clock Tower for the PC. They all seem like a long time ago don't they? Some of these games probably haven't reviewed as well as the ones listed in the previous paragraph but I consider these games to be far more terrifying? But what makes them so?

                To know why so many supposed "horror" games are bad, we must first figure out what makes a good horror game. These are the things that I think most "horror" games get wrong:

Mystery - Not knowing is one of the biggest fears in real life, and when you're stuck in an unfamiliar environment, not knowing what's stalking you or where it is can put you on the edge of your seat and cause your bladder to strain. Condemned 1 was scary partially because you had no idea WHY the homeless were going psycho or WHAT those strange creatures in your apparitions were. Admittedly the homeless charging at you in the 2nd game was just as scary, but knowing it was because of some weird sound frequency and having a cult involved deflated the balloon of suspense and more or less reduced it to a straight up action game.

Isolation - Apart from Left 4 Dead, partners in horror games always reduce the scare factor. If Isaac had a partner in Dead Space, would it have retained the few scares it had left? If Ashley was a badass who wielded dual MP5s and kicked zombies in the face, would RE4 be anywhere as nerve-wracking? Hell, I consider online co-op play to be detrimental to the Doom 3 experience.

                When you don't have a smarmy NPC to distract you, all of your attention is focused on the evil possibly waiting through every door and around every corner. Even though SIlent Hill 2 characters are numerous throughout both the good and evil world, you get the feeling that they are simply the town's puppets instead of actual, functioning people which actually adds to the feeling of uneasiness instead of taking away from it. Meanwhile, it's hard to feel scared when Sheva is constantly chattering in your earpiece and shoving healing herbs down your throat.

The Protagonists - There is a difference between thinking the protagonist is cool and wanting him/her to succeed. Chris Redfield is cool, with his grizzled brunette handsomeness and biceps that could probably squeeze a young rhino to death. But ask yourself this question: if he was an NPC and you weren't controlling him, would you actually be emotionally invested on whether or not he succeeded? This is my opinion, but if I met Chris Redfield in the mall and he told me what his objective was, I would wish him luck and keep on walking.

                On the other hand, there's James Sunderland whose life is pretty much in the shitter after his wife died. But wait, his wife sends him a letter asking him to go to Silent Hill! He's a down to earth guy that doesn't mind giving help to even the most messed up characters in the town if they ask for it and is motivated by the one good thing in his life. That's someone that after you met him, you'd go home and pray for him (or, since I'm atheist, make sure he doesn't die in the game).  

                Also, these characters have to be relatable. Isaac Hayes is an emotionless robot who gives only minimal signs that he loves Nicole. Chris Redfield is a stereotypical macho badass whose ideal to find Jill Valentine as well as rid the world of Wesker's  evil is convincing . . . just not compelling. The Silent Hill characters other than Harry Mason and James Sunderland are a little bit too aloof for you to whole heartedly cheer for their victory. You never feel as though ANY of these characters have a good reason for turning tail and running other than for the sake of pride, their way out is blocked, etc.

                Mio from Fatal Frame II, however, is a girl who loses her little sister in the woods and finds herself in a creepy town. She is already wracked with guilt over her sister's leg injury that resulted in a limp and forces herself to confront the deadly ghosts of the village and save her beloved sister. While she is prevented from leaving the town through supernatural forces, you get the impression that even if she COULD leave the town, she wouldn't. She is determined to solve the mystery of the town which will help save her sister from a unknown but sinister fate. Horror movie/game characters get themselves into situations sometimes voluntarily, and a good game/movie makes it so that if you were in the character's place, you would do the same.

Pop Out Scares - Pop out scares can vary. There's the ,"OMG I hit the side of the maze and a zombie girl screams on my screen,"  and then there's the more subtle, "What just ran past me? I didn't see it but it left bloody footprints!". Pop out scares ALWAYS scare the first time , because we're not expecting it. But some games seem to think that repeating the same scare over and over again . . . or having a scare happened whenever you're in a specific type of room takes away from the impact.

                For example, the first time a Necromorph suddenly came darting out of a quick corner or hopped down in front of me in Dead Space, my arms almost locked up in fear (Yes I'm a wuss). However, it got to the point that if I saw a long walkway ahead of me or saw an elevator that would take a long time to get to its destination (say . . . about enough time for you to kill two Necromorphs?) I would already have my gun lined up aimed at leg-level so that sure enough, I would instantly blow the legs off any enemies within milliseconds of their appearance.

                The best horror games still use this kind of scare, but they use it very wisely. The best example of this is with Alma in F.E.A.R. because you have no clue where Alma will appear. And it's not like she pops out and goes, "BOO!". She's just standing there, sometimes at the top of a ladder when you turn around or surrounded by a bunch of dead soldiers in an area you just came through. If Alma always appeared in the same places, she would be annoying at most but as it stands, the little girl in the red dress is borderline iconic in horror games.

Antagonist - "Antagonist" covers a broad spectrum in horror games. It could mean the obvious, primary antagonist or simply all of the enemies in the game. Since the primary objective of horror games is to survive/exterminate this force, the quality of the antagonist is vital.

                In a horror game, the antagonist should be contributing to the scares, and they cannot be scary if they are easy to kill. This is where the most games fail. In Resident Evil 5 (especially with co-op Sheva), anyone with skilled marksmanship could get through the game with little trouble. In RE 4 however, the enemy groups (powerful, accurate archers preceded by infantry/one cult leader) ramped up the difficulty in combination with the level design.

                In the original Clock Tower game, you couldn't even kill the enemies till the very end; all you could do was run, hide and pray. The enemies in Fatal Frame weren't bound by earthly rules because they were ghosts and therefore could basically appear anywhere as well as the fact that they needed to get really close for you in order to be attacked. If you're spending your entire playing time praying that you don't encounter one of the enemies, then that's a good horror game.

                 Most games today are just action games where the enemies jump out lockers wearing scary masks, and while this doesn't stop them from being good games, I like horror games and its rather saddening that this genre is almost dead.

                  One of the comments was kind enough to remind me that the recent exception to this rule is Remedy's Alan Wake, so please check out the review at my friend Marty Hess's page because I agree that it is one of the good horror games that has come out.