Scariest video game characters

[trashcanman]

www.ugo.com/games/the-scariest-characters-in-video-games

They left out a bunch.

Remember the hunters from the original Resident Evil? Fast and sneaky mutant monsters who can behead your ass with one flying leap. Jesus, I had some insane chases running from those bastards when I was low on ammo.
Here's a typical encounter.


There was an old arcade game called Toobin' that was basically a 2-player co-op game about floating down a river in inner tubes chucking cans of beer at stuff. It was awesome. But every few minutes this bigass crocodile would come swimming up from behind with this freaky Jaws-style music playing to nab one of you while both players paddled like motherfuckers trying to get out of the way. After all, you didn't have to outrun the croc, just the other player. Majorly fucked up and almost always caused vocal expressions of fear from the players.
Couldn't find a decent pic of it, but it's on the side of the machine.

Trust me, the players never looked that happy when that fucking murderous reptile showed up. Blind panic was more typical.

And this creepy bastard from Dead Rising 2. Observe.



There was a game on the PS1 called Nightmare Creatures 2 which was fairly lame, but it had an enemy that was just freaky as hell.
Not the best pic, but it's all I could find.
Basically it was this gangly-ass nightmare that stared right through you and slowly stalked you with a knife. When it gets you within reach, it went from slow to lightning fast and STABBED THE FUCK OUT YOU several times before jumping back and licking the blade with this nasty slurping sound. It then commenced to slowly stalk you again. Goddamn freaky.

What've you got?

[The Curmudgeon]

Slappy? Brrrr. Why are the grinning monsters always more frightening?

On the subject of Resident Evil, the guy with the chainsaw was more of a "oh fuck!" instant death as he would cut your head off in seconds and the game was (er, obviously) over. In that game (and indeed, the only Res game I've played.. I tried the first on the PS1 and didn't like it. I really wish I'd stuck with it).

Anyway, there's a monster in the later stages of the game called a Regenerator. Basically - you shoot it, it gets back up. It doesn't chase you, it just.. walks.. slowly towards you. And you can't kill it (well, not yet). The music changes to a barely there pulse, and all you can hear is this horrible thing breathing. Honestly, the first time this fucker came at me I almost shit my pants.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq5bTE_wwcg&feature=related

Ever played Alone in the Dark? It's probably horribly dated now, but when I originally played it there was a weird, mutated man who would pop out of the dark and say "MORNING SIR!" in this weird distorted voice before trying to kill you. No idea why he said it but it got me every time.

I'm sure there are some more I can think of.

[trashcanman]

I'm finally going to be able to play RE4 when it comes on on the 360. It skipped the original Xbox so I was deprived, but it's being packaged with RE: Code Veronica for re-release on the 360 so I'll finally get to play it.

I missed AITD although it's a classic. The first RE is very hard to play now because the controls were a nightmare, but it was routinely terrifying. There is this one part where you walk through an outdoor corridor and the tops of the walls are lined with all of these crows just sitting there fucking watching you. Hitchcock definitely came to mind. There is a puzzle at the ned of the corridor and if you get it wrong, guess what happens. Blind. Fucking. Panic. Then there's the part where you are walking around in chest-deep water and you suddenly see and Evil Dead-esque POV shot from under the water of something rushing towards you and then you see one of these coming at you:


That's from the remake (which I'd love to have been carted over as well), but you get the idea.

[The Curmudgeon]

Not hi-jacking the thread or anything, but this seems as good a time to talk about RE as any. I would never normally have bought REIV (especially for the Wii) but was actually given it. It's easily my favourite game on that console.

So I would like to explore the series. I'm glad I wasn't alone in thinking the first game was virtually unplayable thanks to its control system. Talk about frustrating.

So what are the other games like? Is RE2 worth getting for the PS2? I see there's a version of Resident Evil you can buy that's basically a shinier, updated version of the first game - any idea if the controls have been fixed? And what's Code Veronica, then?

By the way - that shark? Fuck me. Brutal.

[trashcanman]

That shark about made me shit myself. I've only played the original (classic for the time) and some of Nemesis (very, very good). Code Veronica is another highly-regarded entry that didn't ever show up on Xbox. I got the PS1 at a late stage and was stuck on extremely lengthy JRPGs for most of the time, and RE was one of the casualties of me deciding to hop onboard the Xbox train. I was always hoping those games would get transferred over and it never happened. Even family-friendly Nintendo was getting them, which just struck me as bizarre. RE4 is on a lot of people's short list for greatest games of all time so I'm really happy I'm finally going to get to play it and Code Veronica is a nice bonus. RE is one of those series I think can be remade over and over again as the tech improves because it really is a shame to think that such a great horror series wouldn't hold up because of graphics and control schemes. Games just aren't timeless like movies are in that regard.