metazoa
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Vulgar Argot!
Posts: 222
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Post by metazoa on Apr 28, 2009 13:22:23 GMT -5
Penumbra is a great PC horror title with incredible atmosphere. It's more of a first person adventure game than anything else, and it falls apart just a little at the end, but it's cheap, creepy, and doesn't require a beast of a rig to run well. Don't forget that there are several parts to this game, and not every part is similar. Overture is definitely first-person adventure with horror elements, but Black Plague is a lot more psychological horror, with terrifying hallucinations being an integral part of the gameplay. After Black Plague is Requiem, but I haven't played that, nor do I know much about it. I haven't either: I've been meaning to, though! I loved the first one. There was a box set released recently that includes the whole series for cheap: I should try and hunt it down this weekend.
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Post by E. Randy Dupre on Apr 28, 2009 13:39:56 GMT -5
Demon's Souls on the PS3 could loosely be considered a survival horror action RPG, too, from what I hear. Not really - it's a high fantasy setting and the gameplay doesn't have much of anything in common with survival horror, beyond the fact that you can't take much damage from enemies before popping your clogs. As far as Siren goes, I've only played the PS3 remake of the first game - didn't want to support the crappy localisation of the PS2 original and didn't want to play the sequel if I had't first played the original - and wasn't too impressed by it. I know that cumbersome controls are par for the course with this genre, but that game takes the piss (it's largely unplayable with certain default settings, for example).
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terranigma
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Post by terranigma on Apr 28, 2009 14:41:57 GMT -5
You can add Carrier for DC to the list. The mechanics are kinda clunky, but the atmosphere is pretty cool. The voice acting is horrible, but good for a few laughs.
Also, I believe Cold Fear for PS2 (and maybe X-box) is a survival horror game.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2009 15:14:12 GMT -5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_FearDeep Fear for Saturn was pretty fun; apparently it was released in PAL territories, but I played the Japanese import (which has full english voice acting). Kind of reminiscent of Deep Star Six and Leviathan, honestly. **Edit: Whoops! Dual is a Cat had mentioned it earlier. My bad. If anything, it was fun from the standpoint that ammo was never really a concern; if you got trigger happy, you could always backtrack and load up at one of the supply stations. Of course, there were some times you couldn't get to one, so it was better to be safe than sorry. You also had to worry about air for your rebreather a lot of the time, or using oxygen grenades, so there were other factors that came into play that normally didn't in Survival Horror games. Voice acting was RE1 bad, but entertaining. It's totally accessible to English speakers, especially with FAQ assistance, and it's worth checking out if you still have your Saturn.
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Post by kal on Apr 28, 2009 19:41:49 GMT -5
joestar3 your description of Michigan paints it too kindly. The game is bad...how bad is it? It's so bad I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you absolutely must try it. Firstly the PAL release misses out on the Yingling extras (not really a deal breaker though) and the dubbing is understandably pretty bad.
But it's the way the game is handled that kills it. If you've seen REC or Cloverfield (Arguably Blair Witch) you know how interesting Handheld Camera reporting can be. Imagine those movies but nothing happens and everyone stands around. For those interested the erotic count is basically nil and disturbing for the wrong reasons (Congragulations you found some porn!) ruins the atmosphere. You can only die at two points so not really survival horror at all. The violence is hilariously bad because of how poorly realised the graphics are they're like a dirt poor mans silent hill. Not to mention the point system basically encourages you to dick around and not pay attention to what's going on. Shame the story had potential.
There's maybe 2 good ideas contained within. Firstly the reporter death/replacement mechanic is novel. The idea itself has so much potential but like the FMV games of old...this ones a poorly constructed mess...Night Trap was way more fun. For gritty realism I'm suggest Condemmend by a mile.
That aside a lot of good games listed here. Before anyone rushes out to try it I finished Demonophobia and not only is it punishingly hard you won't get squat out of the games story if you don't speak Japanese and the graphic content earns a true warning.
Chris's Survival Horror list posted a page back lists pretty much every Survival Horror title of note released ever. Barring some ridiculously obscure releases (And I'm only saying that because it's probably true I don't know for sure).
Alright how's this for obscure "Kaiki! Drill Otoko no Kyoufu" Japanese H-Game (don't judge a book by it's cover here) You play one of 3 girls in a mansion exploring room to room trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Plays like an old adventure PC game, with you clicking between rooms on a map and then examining objects and talking with characters. You lose by either getting successfully attacked by the Drill Man or through traps. Notable mechanic - your clothing acts as armour and you can replace your life therefore by finding new clothes within the mansion. Serious adult warning there but if you speak Japanese well worth a look since it's pretty unique as a horror title. I'd love it if someone made a cleaner game with similar mechanics.
Had never heard of Deep Fear now I really want to check it out.
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Post by Catalyst on Apr 28, 2009 22:54:02 GMT -5
I've got Galerians but haven't gotten around to playing it, Eternal Darkness I'm getting through right now, I can't wait for Fragile to come out, I've finished Haunting Ground and Rule of Rose (Best Use of Dogs Evar), I've also finished Cold Fear, and both Obscures and Manhunts. This repeated mentioning of Michigan is peaking my interest, and I'm waiting on a Dreamcast so that I can play some of those games. I don't really mind if a game is pure survival horror or even if it's that great. When it comes to survival horror beggers can't be choosers. In fact that's one of my problems with Chris' Survival Horror Page; they exclude handhelds and light-gun shooters. Please keep mentioning more games I'm really interested in some of these now.
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Vonlenska
Junior Member
spinning madly on
Posts: 56
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Post by Vonlenska on Apr 28, 2009 23:44:27 GMT -5
You also have D (lots of ports, I forget which is the best, you might want to youtube search HVGN + D and watch his review on the series), which is supposed to be more cinematic than a video game. The Happy Video Game Nerd, who generally has excellent taste in obscure titles, was rather fond of this one. There's the sequel, D2 (DC), which was really a lot different and met with mixed reactions. Just wanted to add another Kenji Eno game, Enemy Zero, to the list; I haven't played this but the premise seems promising (if frustrating). You're trapped alone in a space station full of invisible aliens, and have to use sound to locate/combat/evade them. Michael Nyman did the score, which is excellent. Also I plug Sanitarium pretty much everywhere. Not anything remotely close to survival horror, and not even specifically horror, but it has enough tense moments to warrant a place on this list. Very heavy on dialogue and cinematics, but the story is atypically wonderful, so.
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Post by zzz on Apr 29, 2009 5:50:34 GMT -5
Interesting discovery:
Y'know that SFC game Laplace no Ma, the one that's a huge rip-off of Sweet Home?
Well, turns out it's not a rip-off of Sweet Home. Laplace no Ma originated on the PC-98 computer back in 1987, pre-dating Sweet Home by two years. So in all likelyhood this game was the inspiration for Sweet Home, and not the other way around.
But what's really significant about this fact is that if you consider Laplace no Ma to be a survival horror game (despite the fact that it plays like a RPG) then that would make it the very first survival horror game ever.
Somebody should write an article about this game for HG101 to go with the informal "Spring of Surivival Horror" that we're kinda sorta having. I'd do it myself, but the original version ain't translated.
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Post by android247 on Apr 29, 2009 10:25:19 GMT -5
I recently bought a game called Martian Gothic: Unification for the PSX. Kind of a blind buy as the back made it look like a space Resident Evil and I like survival horror games. It also had great cover art.
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Post by kal on Apr 29, 2009 20:43:55 GMT -5
Martian Gothic: Unification is bland...it's not as bad as Countdown : Vampires on the PSone but it's lack of weapons and frustrating puzzle difficulty don't do it any favours.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2009 21:38:42 GMT -5
Interesting discovery:Y'know that SFC game Laplace no Ma, the one that's a huge rip-off of Sweet Home? Well, turns out it's not a rip-off of Sweet Home. Laplace no Ma originated on the PC-98 computer back in 1987, pre-dating Sweet Home by two years. So in all likelyhood this game was the inspiration for Sweet Home, and not the other way around. But what's really significant about this fact is that if you consider Laplace no Ma to be a survival horror game (despite the fact that it plays like a RPG) then that would make it the very first survival horror game ever. I guess the question is, what's the line between a survival horror game, and say, a horror-themed game (rpg, action game, whatever). If we're talking about any horror-themed adventure game, you had text adventures like Infocom's "The Lurking Horror" and "The House of the Seven Gables" back in the early to mid 1980's.
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Post by zzz on Apr 29, 2009 22:37:19 GMT -5
Well with Sweet Home it's a bit different. It's really just a 2-D survival horror game with the battle system and interface of a RPG. Laplace no Ma is borderline, as it's more of a standard turn based RPG.
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Post by Catalyst on Apr 29, 2009 23:37:50 GMT -5
Since everybody's been so kind as to write in and add to this list of survival horror, thought I'd return the favor and write a list of upcoming survival horror games that are coming out soon. Some of these I'm sure have already been mentioned earlier on this list.
Sadness - Fragile - Zombie Massacre - Cursed Mountain - Dead Space: Extraction - Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - Silent Hill: Arcade - Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles - Aliens: Colonial Marines - Dead Island - Alan Wake - Ghostbusters - Six Days in Fallujah. Fatal Frame IV used to be on that list, but well you know.
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metazoa
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Vulgar Argot!
Posts: 222
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Post by metazoa on Apr 30, 2009 0:43:14 GMT -5
Since everybody's been so kind as to write in and add to this list of survival horror, thought I'd return the favor and write a list of upcoming survival horror games that are coming out soon. Some of these I'm sure have already been mentioned earlier on this list. Sadness - Fragile - Zombie Massacre - Cursed Mountain - Dead Space: Extraction - Silent Hill: Shattered Memories - Silent Hill: Arcade - Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles - Aliens: Colonial Marines - Dead Island - Alan Wake - Ghostbusters - Six Days in Fallujah. Fatal Frame IV used to be on that list, but well you know. I've spoken (via the magic of the internet) with a few folks who've played the Silent Hill arcade game in Japan, and their opinion is that it's a lame cash in without much of the tension and helpless anticipation that makes Silent Hill so freaky. Not sure I'd put that on the list, myself. Also, Aliens CM has apparently been canceled (if you're referring to the Pandemic developed shooter that Sega was going to publish), while I'm not certain that Six Days In Fallujah (ALSO canceled, coincidentally) would be considered a SH game: it's a military FPS with a cover system and regenerating health. It's possible that we're thinking about the genre a bit differently, though. Survival horror is a strangely shaped genre, and some people can fit games into it that others can't.
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Post by kitten on Apr 30, 2009 0:52:45 GMT -5
Silent Hill Arcade's UFO ending which features Gradius on the NES and the Vic Viper is pretty damn neat, though. Gotta give the game credit for that.
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