RE2 and SH are different types of scares. RE2 specialized in sudden jarring events making you jump (that interrogation room window, anyone? near gave me a coronary), whereas SH is a much more subtle, and effective, continual brooding unease. RE2 had jumps, but none of them were really surprising–in SH, you dreaded what was coming.
Varying mileages, of course. Oh, but RE2 was gorier, I do believe.
The very first Alone in the Dark was a thing of beauty, and for its time absolutely incredibly. The inspiration for the whole “survival horror” thing, several years ahead of Resident Evil. Once you learned the game, though, it could be played through in its entirety in about half an hour, and you could do truly amusing things once you got combat timing right like effortlessly slap a Deep One around and never be touched.
slight hijack
Has anybody played the new ALONE IN THE DARK? I’m disappointed so far, as it’s almost an exact copy of RESIDENT EVIL. (Yes I know AITD is the progenitor of the “survival horror” genre, but it’s still a copy of RE, even down to the idiotic save system.)
Also, these gory games are only terrible if you percieve them as such. I remember most of my family watching my four year old cousin go through the demo of RE2, and when he gunned down the licker in the first scene all by himself we all cheered. Good times all around. end hijack
I don’t recall too many games as being excessively gory. Sure there was DOOM and MORTAL KOMBAT violence, but that was never very much. I remember a fighting game called TIME KILLERS that involved hacking off the other players limbs, and disabling attacks. But probably because that’s the only game that the violence had an actual effect on gameplay.
Of course I’m a late comer to games like SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, where the area where your bullet hits actually effects how the person crumples.
By the way, anybody who thinks these are “murder simulators” should play the game and then actually try to shoot a real gun. Bring earplugs.
If you want a game that’s needlessly violent and excessively destructive (not to mention bizarre as hell), I would recommend the Worms series. Sure, there’s no blood or internal organs splashing around, but when you set off a Holy Hand Grenade (Ha-a-a-allejujah!) and send five enemy worms launching eighty feet into the air, it’s satisfying. And let’s not forget the satisfying multi-kaboom of the Super Banana Bomb, or the giggliscious incoherent mumbling of the Old Woman…