[Ulala]

I enjoyed all of the Resident Evil games, even the old awful looking ones (for their time, they were quite enjoyable). The first set (1-Code Veronica) could get pretty freaky in some places; RE:4 was more action paced rather than creepy, it's still fantastic and I'm looking forward to the next installment. If you haven't played through these, I'd recommend at least the RE:1 remake, and even RE:CV despite its old, dreamcast graphics. I think they ported it to the PS2 and Gamecube even.

[SadisticSid]

Code Veronica's graphics look pretty decent even now - much better than some contemporary PC games IMO. For me it was the best RE game (though I've only played 2, 3 and 4).

[Colonol Dekker]

Res 1 remake, whoa, i wont even play that.............

Why the hell not?

Res 1 scared me stupid when i was a young teen, What year was it when it released originally?  The Gamecube remake is just too crisp, and moody, and atmospheric and spooky................*hides under deks whimpering*

[IPAndrews]

System Shock 2 and Silent Hill 2 mess with your mind like nothing else I've ever come across. Anything else you play will unfortunately be inferior. That said give Call of Cthulhu a try. It's hit and miss but when it hits it hits you between the eyes with a baseball bat. Be warned though, it's extremely difficult. You will need a walkthrough. You will die a lot. You will get frustrated with it.

[Colonol Dekker]

And you will break your shin, from a 4 foot drop..........

[Scooby_Doo]

System Shock 2 and Silent Hill 2 mess with your mind like nothing else I've ever come across. Anything else you play will unfortunately be inferior. That said give Call of Cthulhu a try. It's hit and miss but when it hits it hits you between the eyes with a baseball bat. Be warned though, it's extremely difficult. You will need a walkthrough. You will die a lot. You will get frustrated with it.

I dunno... haven't played silent hill 2, SS2 was more stressful, always hunting for ammo.... Undying had some extremely freaking moments (the writing on the wall, the view of the monastry through the pond). 

LOL actually the first jump out of the seat scare moment was when i first encountered a Quake fiend.

[Colonol Dekker]

Shamblers FTW.........

[Ferret]

7th Guest.

Also definitely Alone In The Dark.

[Sarafan]

A good horror game? Any Silent Hill is a start. There's a few been made, like Clyve Barker's Jericho (it looks promising, templars from hell! ) and Alan Wake.

[phatosealpha]

You know, I didn't care as much for the second Silent Hill as I did the first one.  The plot was too much psychological analysis and "Oh it's on fire cause she was molested, SYMBOLISM" and not enough "OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODWHATTHEHELLISTHAT?".  Didn't care much for the third one either, but that was more because they included instant death traps <> fun.

[Ransom]

Right, because the first game didn't rely on symbolism at all. Nuh-uh.

The reason the second game is generally considered the best is because it took emphasis away from the (rather boring, frankly) cult and focused its story on the characters. Silent Hill was never about shock value.

[phatosealpha]

Use it, yes.  Rely on it, maybe.  Hit you with bad psychological symbolism like a goddamned episode of Dr. Phil tied to a 2x4 the way the second one did?  Not even close.

The first used it's symbolism with subtelty, and it's plot left large portions unexplained - perfect in a game not about shock value, but the atmosphere of fear of the unknown (thus the fog and darkness).  The second felt the need for in-your-face exposition about how the monsters were manufactured by the characters own psyche - of course, it never bothered to touch on how the hell their psyche's managed to manifest anything, let alone walking freudian symbols with giant swords, because that would've taken the focus away from the characters (or rather, their rather one dimensional past agonies) and back onto the fact that some majorly weird **** is going on.

Perhaps the original's lack of exposition was more a function of technological limitations and not intentional - frankly, I don't care.  Intentional or not, the lack of clarity in the plot perfectly mirrored the game's tone of 'something in the darkness, hard to tell what'.  The second lacked that, and lacked it big time.

[aRaven]

Vampire: Bloodlines is pretty scary for me. At most the Hotel mission and the 2-handed monsters ^^

[brozozo]

Vampire: Bloodlines is pretty scary for me. At most the Hotel mission and the 2-handed monsters ^^

The hotel mission was creepy to the max. I highly recommend Vampire: Bloodlines to anyone looking for a good time.

[Nix]

Bloodlines, disappointed me because no other mission past the hotel really spooked me out!  I had a feel of when I felt playing SS2 for the first time during that mission..  Sadly, nothing else really did it for me.  It was a fun playthough, even though it was incredibly easy.

[Colonol Dekker]

[non pc]

Scariest game from my youth was ghostbusters on master system, (under ten years old i mean) That music..................

*tremb;les*

btw Silent Hill 1 wasn't subtle, there was just no plot...........

[IPAndrews]

SH1 was great but I felt SH2 was more adult, frightneing, and depressing in that order. I loved the symbolism too. The one dimensional characters I saw as characters trapped by their own particular problems. I got one of the bad endings too which also helped as it seemed more appropriate .

[Ransom]

of course, it never bothered to touch on how the hell their psyche's managed to manifest anything, let alone walking freudian symbols with giant swords

Wait. So you applaud the first game's ambiguity, but disparage the second one for it? They did essentially the same thing in the first game, anyway; all the 'weird ****' that happens in the town during SH1 is directly related to a particular character's psychological (and physical) suffering. You're right to some extent about SH2's heavy-handed symbolism, although I disagree about the exposition--there's a lot of problems with the game's dialogue, but unnecessary exposition isn't really one of them.

There's something to be said for SH1's subtle obscurity, but I didn't find the game especially scary, not at least when compared with the second or third parts. Still: one of the strong points of the series, I think, is that each Silent Hill is different from the others. They tell entirely different kinds of stories with different horror styles, and that's probably why the fan base is so divided on which one is the best.

What I'd really like to see, though, is an entry that focuses on the town itself. SH1 is the closest any of them have come to it, but even that was more of an introduction to the cult and the game's mythology than anything else.

[Colonol Dekker]

2's best for one reason, here it is..........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Head

[Ransom]

Pyramid Head is awesome, but I think he's gotten more than a little overrated.

...Besides, Walter Sullivan is far cooler.