Scariest Amiga gaming moment

[Sharingan]

Ever got the crap scared out of you by an Amiga game? So much that you were afraid of picking it up again? If you can't remember scary moments from Amiga games, feel free to include games from other platforms.

I had two almost piss-pant moments.

In Uninvited, when the first person you encountered in the mansion turned around revealing its hideous face ... and then proceeded to rip the innards out of you. That moment had such an impact on me that I never dared playing the game again, even though the atmosphere was pretty darn epic.

Then, there's Space Hulk. I'm not sure why, but every time those Genestealers came out of nowhere (and everywhere) to tear my team apart, I wanted to turn the game off.



Silent Hill on the PSX was pretty sick too. The naked, knife-wielding babies made me nauseous. Funny, I had no trouble battering the minions in SH2 to bloody paste, but the babies ... god, those bloody babies.

[Harrison]

There were a couple on the Amiga that did this but I cannot remember which ones they were at the moment.

The first on a system newer than the Amiga was the original Playstation version of Resident Evil. That bit just after you have killed the huge man eating vine in the conservatory and are traveling back to the house, you open the door to the main house and the game suddenly cuts to a distorted and hard to make out view of a creature moving fast outside towards you. That scene really got my heart racing.

I also thought that Silent Hill on the PSX was the first game to create a true sense of unease. The visuals mixed with the surround sound really worked well. The sequels do a pretty good job too.

The Fatal Frame series on the PS2 is another that in some respects takes it even further that Silent HIll, especially some of the glimpses of ghosts as you pass by rooms. But even more so is the Siren series, again on the PS2. That is really bad when you get trapped in a room or area with ghosts attacking you. You don't have time to think and react correctly and have to just quickly try to find somewhere to hide. That is another that gets your heart racing. especially if played late at night.

[Ghost]

I haven't played many scary games, the Resident Evil games had their shock moments but often it was more how sick the designers made the stuff than really scary.

One game that sometimes really scared the bejeesus out of me was System Shock 2, a game would a couple of nasty surprises here and there.

Another game that scared me when I was younger was Ecco the Dolphin to be precise.
How can that game scare you, you might ask?
Well I always had a fear for drowning so the idea of playing a creature that depends on air can become very involving when you know the feeling of the urge for air.
Plus the Vortex aliens were also incredible creepy, they were designed in the style of Giger's Alien

Not really scary bit very unsettling were the Dark Seed games.

[Demon Cleaner]

The Fatal Frame games are indeed very scary, the kind of japan horror which I like a lot. When you walk through the corridore with your camera, and don't see anything, then look through your camera and a ghost suddenly appears, makes you jump sometimes.

Also a game which I found to be very scary, and also in the "make me jump" style was the Alien FPS on the PC, don't know how it's called again? Was that Alien vs Predator, or something with Hunter. Very dark atmosphere.

[Sharingan]

I really ought to try the Fatal Frame games some day. Heard only good things about them, but if half of what I hear is to be believed, I'll chicken out before an hour of gametime has passed.

I have some very fond scary memories of Silent Hill 2: Director's Cut too. The faceless nurses in the Dark version of the hospital were of course cringe-inducing, but the scenes at the disused prison complex made for some truely unsettling moments. Particularly the part where James had to take a leap of faith through a hole in the floor - even though huge amounts of blood could be seen leading to the hole. I believe that the hole was used to dump dead prisoners through in times long past.

That was a delightfully sick scene.

[Demon Cleaner]

Obscure is also very scary, and a sequel will be released soon.

[Sharingan]

Anyone played Clock Tower 3?

That game was made scary because, basically, there is no 'safe point' where you could park your character to catch a breath. Once the serial killer got on your tail, you can't shake him off unless you found one of the designated hiding spots. Also, because the central character doesn't have any armament, all you can really do is run. Because the main char is so vulnerable, and because the villain is so relentless, there's a real sense of urgency to the game that I didn't often feel in, for example, the Resident Evil games.

[Demon Cleaner]

I have that game, it's indeed very scary. You have to hide in lockers or under the table, and you are also very slow when running, so you need some time to shake off your follower. Also very sinister atmosphere.

[Harrison]

I've played Clock Tower 3 through partly but have yet to complete it. It was definitely interesting and, as you say, because the central character is defenceless (until you enter a battle with one of the subordinates) you have to just try to run from situations and the character's state of panic really works well to make you panic as well.

I also liked the switch of game design when compared to the previous two psx clock tower games that were point and click driven and more 3D graphic adventure in design. Those were never as scary or fast paced as the third. Also their graphics look quite dire by today's standards and have not aged at all well.

Another game that never got every good press, but that I quite liked, was Ring on the Dreamcast. This was based on the Japanese Ring films and I thought it was very well created in capturing the ideas of the films.

BTW, going back to Clock Tower 3, did you know that the second boss, named Corroder, was actually based on a real British murderer called John Haigh, who was also known as the Acid Bath Murderer?

[Demon Cleaner]

Acid Bath murderer? Sounds disgusting.