So, lately I figured out how to get System Shock to work under Windows XP, lots of fun. Anyhow, a problem I have encountered, aside from the contortionist control scheme the game employs, is that, well, it gives me the mad wiggies. In short, it creeps me out. Mostly I think it’s because of the sound effects, and the gloomyness, and the general state of all screwed up that everything is in, with flickering lights, staticky viewscreens, corpses littered everywhere, and automatic doors idly opening and shutting by themselves.
All in glorious 640x480 resolution.
Anybody else get creeped out in some older computer games?
System Shock 2 creeped me out as well. It wasn’t so much the visuals as it was the sound. Running around a deck I had already cleared (late at night) and all the sudden hearing some zombie try to give me a warning like, “Run”, or “Kill me”, was seriously creepy.
Despite such serious flaws, like weapons that wear out so easily, this remains one of my favorite video games of all time. I wish they still made FPS games like this. Maybe they do, but I don’t know them.
Depends what you define as “classic”, but the original Silent Hill (on the PS1) is the only game I haven’t been able to continue, because I was too creeped out.
If you’re still playing do a google search for System Shock Rebirth. It’s a texture pack that updates some of the graphics in System Shock and makes it look a little better. (note: there is two versions of the file Rebirth and Rebirth: Complemented Version the second one is what you want)
Came in specifically to mention SiniStar. The state historical society had a fundraiser this past week featuring classic video games, including SiniStar. Initial reaction - “Ooh, sweet, I used to love SiniStar!” Reaction after the first time that goddamn face roared and ate me - “AAAAGH!”
They also had Tempest and Dig Dug, which were much less scary. Also BurgerTime, which isn’t scary but with its wiggly hot dogs running after you is creepy.
Again, it depends on what you mean by classic I guess.
Going very old-school, those damned roaring dragons in the old Atari 2600 game Adventure scared me at the time.
I was more or less fine with the aforementioned Doom, but someone made a realistic-looking Aliens version using the Doom or Doom 2 platform. Scared the shit out of me; I don’t think I made it out of the first level before I had to turn it off.
I remember both 7th Guest and 11th Hour making me hit the ceiling at times. The game’s pretty quiet, it’s late, you’re wearing headphones and working away at something or walking down a hall, and bam, you hear the evil villain whisper something in your ear. Bastard.
I finally found Sanitarium a year or so ago, and it might have scared me more if I could have finished the damned thing. It was mostly a puzzle/figure-it-out adventure-style psychohorror game, and then they threw in something about having to destroy (IIRC) a killer pumpkin-head scarecrow and killer crows through combat - i.e., dodging and hitting. I’m not exactly amazing at computer games, so I was never able to get past this part.
The level ‘Robbing the Cradle’ from Thief: Deadly Shadows is one of the scariest games moments I’ve ever experienced. I’m not alone; I’ve seen an entire games magazine article dedicated to this single level and its creation. Excellent use of storyline, sound and atmosphere.
Hell, the setting is an abandoned mental hospital that was also a freakin’ orphanage. You can’t go far wrong in the scare stakes using a foundation like that.
The Thief series in general has many creepy moments and a capacity to scare. Furthermore, the first couple of games in the trilogy were brought to you by the same guys that made the System Shock games - the now defunct Looking Glass Studios.
I don’t know how many of you played Clock Tower for Playstation (there’s another Clock Tower for an even earlier system but I’m talking about the 3D one,) but that game was scary as hell. You are all alone in a series of creepy buildings being pursued by a guy with giant scissors.
As far as I can tell, that’s only for System Shock 2. There was a project or two for porting SS1 to the SS2 engine, but I dunno if anything came of that.