Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of a supernatural element into everyday human experience. ...

-Wikipedia

Instead of a monthly game review, I decided to take a retrospective look at horror-themed games I`ve ever played and deliver my opinion of the genre overall. By the way, there`s a spider on your shoulder.

RESIDENT EVIL (PS One)

It was in the good, old days when gaming hours easily went into double digits. All I had then was a Sega Genesis, but what the story is about is my neighbor's PlayStation One. I can`t recall how many days in a row we used to play games ranging from Driver to GTA 2. One evening he called me and said: "Wanna see something scary?" Naturally, I replied: "Hell yeah!" and so I came to witness one of my most memorable gaming moments - Resident Evil.
Oh boy, I was scared and so was my friend. We just kept dying in that damned mansion and jumped at every shadow. I was around eight at that time and creepy undead people and disturbing amount of gore was plenty to make me sleep with a baseball bat in hands.
We never completed that damn game.

RESIDENT EVIL 3 (PS One)

Years later, Resident Evil movie came out. While me and my mates were disscussing it, someone was reminiscing of RE 3. Since my neighbour had handed over his console to me (copy of the original RE was either sold or lost, unfortunately) I asked the guy to lend me his copy. And so he did.
I was far more mature then and the game didn`t scare me as much as the first one did. Still, Nemesis encounters were absolutely momorable and thrilling. I never completed this part either. I was about halfway through it, frustrated by some of the illogcal and silly puzzles and turned off by the inconsisted pacng. The guy asked for his game and I gave it back to him, a bit saddened though. However Nemesis encounters are still one of my favourite set-piece battles ever.

RESIDENT EVIL 4 (PC)

Wow, it has been, like a million years since I had played last RE game? The drastic changes of gameplay in Resident Evil 4 made me think that there had been a couple hundred sequels between the third and fourth part. Not that I didn`t enjoy it, I just miss my old, stupid flesh-eating zombies. Instead, I was shooting Spanish farmers and...got chainsaw`d. Yeah, I had to change my pants after watching Leon S. Kennedy`s head removed in most brutal way ever. Did I say I fell in love with RE 4 right after that?
What the game did right was the atmosphere. The village levels scared the crap out of me. Unfortunately later chapters, with some exceptions (invisible monsters in sewers, oh my god), weren`t quite as scary, yet managed to keep tense despite the quite predictable enemy encounters. Boss battles are memorable as well.
Of course, Resident Evil 4 had a few shortcomings. The graphics were obviously worse than console counterparts (luckily there`s a patch that adds all the textures lost in translation), the pre-rendered cutscenes were low quality, keyboard controls were a huge cockslap from Capcom and not being able to walk while aiming is simply retarded in the first place. Still, I didn`t regret my purchase a single bit.

DOOM 3 (PC)

Doom 3`s sense of horror is absolutely primal and simple. Some may even say it`s cheap and I don`t disagree. Complete darkness and sudden jump-out scares, that`s all there is to it. Or perhaps not?
I must say, in some levels Doom 3 is ingenious. First of all, the darkness, a thing little kids usually fear. id Software proved that even hardened gamers can simply be scared by the pitch black. Secondly, those damned imps appearing behind you. Call it chap, but you did jump out of your seat! I never felt safe playing the game. Clever, ain`t it? Now third and most overlooked one. Everything is hostile - even your guns. My early impressions were throughout negative, until I finally got it - those damn weapons don`t like you! Not one bit. They are slow, do little damage and waste ammo like crazy. Does that make you comfortable or feel safer? Of course not! Another highlight is the environment. You are either in tight corridors without the opportunity to strafe or on the surface of Mars where you are racing against the clock before you run out of oxygen. The hell level is also memorable - you, without any decent guns in an alien and highly hostile environment...Excellent.
Cheap? You got it! Repetitive? Hell yeah! Scary? No doubt about that! Doom 3 proves that you don`t need dead Japanese girls to scare you, Pushing the primal instincts is plenty.

COLD FEAR (PC)

Even being a Resident Evil 4 rip-off, Cold Fear manages to hold out as a solid survival horror game. You are trapped on an abandoned Russian whaling ship with parasite-infested people and animals. Some neat gameplay touches, such as surviving an attack while the tanker tosses itself around in the raging storm, and various interesting design choices, for an example, the flooded undersea laboratory, plus fantastic graphics make Cold Fear a survival horror title worth checking out, despite the poor story, predictable enemies and a lack of memorable boss battles.

CLIVE BARKER`S JERICHO (PC)

Why am I even mentioning this? A predictable, clichéd and dull horror themed shooter with nothing but lots of guts to throw at you is pretty amusing but so boring I didn`t even bother to finish it. By the way, when I was playing it, my nose started to bleed and I noticed it only when my keyboard and fingers were soaked in blood. And that`s the only thing I`ll ever remember about this very weak and forgettable shooter.

CALL OF CTHULHU: DARK CORNERS OF EARTH (PC)

Based on H.P. Lovecraft`s novel "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", you are thrown into the mysterious town of Innsmouth in search for someone. It is obvious that the townsfolk have something to hide, and when you eventually come close to uncovering their secret, you`ll thrown into tense chases, heart-pounding stealth sequences and lousy firefights. What I liked about this game the most was the surreal and creepy atmosphere. Your character gradually goes nuts by seeing horrifying visions and finds it hard to distinguish the reality from his own twisted imagination. Call of Cthulhu has many interesting and innovative gameplay elements, such as the health and psyche system, however it is let down by trial-and-error heavy gameplay, poor shooting sequences, inconsistent level design and bugs. Still, Dark Corners of Earth is a must play for horror fans.

SILENT HILL 3 (PC)

The only Silent Hill game I`ve played. Unfortunately I am far from finishing it but what I`ve seen is extremely impressive. Combining splendid visual design with excellent sound and music, the developers have created simply the most atmospheric and disturbing horror game I`ve played. However the jerky level design, a lack of feedback and hard puzzles has pushed me back from playing it. But I *will* finish it. Eventually.

ALONE IN THE DARK: INFERNO (PS3)

First of all, Alone in the Dark doesn`t really belong to survival horror, neither it tries to. But it is worth mentioning because of the innovative game mechanics - in other words, you have to use everyday items and turn them into weapons. I can`t recall any other horror game that has ever done this and I really hope that other developers will build upon this idea.

BIOSHOCK (PC)

A heaven gone to hell. That`s the setting BioShock offers. Venturing though the ruined underwater city of Rapture, you`ll come across grotesque creatures who once were ordinary humans but now are murderous addicts, looters and psychos. Unfortunately, BioShock never grasps it`s potential as a horror game and any fear to be had is prematurely eradicated with lack of death and overpowered main character. Still, the game serves as a memorable art house and some disturbing moments are to be had in the bleak city of Rapture.

CONDEMNED: CRIMNAL ORIGINS (PC)

Condemned best can be described as a mix of first person shooter and a fighting game. You play as FBI agent on the track of a serial killer. For some reason most inhabitants of the city have became violent, murderous savages, pointlessly fighting each other and you. Especially you. In order to defend yourself, you`ll have to use pipes, planks, fires axes, sledgehammers and other items to defend yourself and brutally beat up the crazy hobos. Another interesting aspect is crime scene investigation. You`ll often have to look for evidence, such as fingerprints, take blood sample, photograph victims and so on.
I also have to mention the most powerful moment in the game – an isolated cabin outside the city, where you have to look around for pieces of a riddle written with invisible ink, while there are TWO serial killers in the house as well.
Unfortunately the game has it`s setbacks as well. Level design is dull, pacing – weak, it`s not really scary and sometimes the programming errors add some frustration. Still, Condemned is a brutal, yet clever survival horror game.

DEAD SPACE (PC)

I don`t think anyone expected this from EA. Dead Space is a surprisingly qualitative and engaging game. Being on a dysfunctional spaceship, surrounded by savage monsters has been done before but never so well. The only way to fight is to shoot their limbs off in brutally spectacular fashion. Damn it, totally went down in my pants after blowing one`s head off and seeing how it continued to crawl towards me even faster, eventually separating my head from the rest of the body. To make up for the generic setting, Dead Space also throws in zero gravity sequences. Basically, you can freely move around on any surface, and so can the enemy, making zero-g battles memorable and fun. Of course, it would be rude not to mention the terrific sound design. You can hear enemies moving inside the walls, ready to stick their claws into that soft flesh of yours. Dead Space deals with it`s clichéd setting with new, interesting gameplay innovations and absolutely brilliant atmosphere. A must for survival horror fans.

METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (PS3)

Don`t get confused – MGS4 is still a stealth action game, but there is this one scene in particular I`d like to point out –the Laughing Octopus battle. You must confront an enemy, who is playing with you by hiding around and changing shapes, accompanied with hair-raising symphony of laughs – it is something like a creepy, perverse game of hide & seek and easily one of the greatest boss battles of all time.

Unfortunately since the release of Resident Evil 4 the survival horror genre has taken drastic change of direction, moving towards more action-themed gameplay. It is really sad that developers rarely research the very concept of horror to give the most disturbing and horrifying experience. I`ve also noticed that most of the games of the genre are ridden with clichéd plot elements, cheap scares, predictable moments and reliance of massive gore. That`s not the right direction to be headed for, unfortunately. Still, we have Japanese developers who still know what we`re afraid of. Yes, SIREN: Blood Curse, I`m looking right at you. Right at that bloody, disfigured and creepy corpse, who`s walking towards me for a cold, chilling hug…