Even the ending? I finally beat it last night, but I was underwhelmed the the conclusion.
I think there’s a subtantial amount of crossover in the plots and feel of SS2 and DS.
The basic structure of both games is: go to deck A, accomplish a task to open deck B.
Both games have humans converting into horrors due to an infectious agent.
Both games have substantial background revealed through logs.
Both games have you synthezise an agent to disperse through the ventilation system. (This is the one that clinched the relationship for me.)
Both games have logs with crew members choosing to kill themselves rather than be mutated.
Both infections are the result of a the captain picking the vector up off a planet then going a little nuts.
Both games feature a civilian ship with a smaller military ship.
There were also several times in DS when I felt using the telekinesis to grab a remote ammo pack was highly reminiscent of SS2.
Some of these commonalities are reasonably common throughout shooters, but they add up to a common feel.
Bioshock is the better successor in my mind, but I think DS wouldn’t exist without SS2.
The biggest weakness in the horror feel of DS is that once you clear a room, it will be safe until you are forced to come back through after advancing the plot. SS2 never let you feel safe. It was never long before you heard the servos of a protocol droid or a zombie moaning “Wherrrrrr arrre youuuuu?”
Ending was less than impressive - but it didn’t take away from the overall scope of the game. In fact, I put off "ending’ the game solely so I could explore, and I still haven’t gone to every location available.
I have all sorts of minor quibbles with the game (maps, the fact that you can carry so much, ending, etc) but the fact is Fallout 3 is a fantastic gaming experience. So much so that I’m finding all my subsequent purchases (Resistance 2, Killzone 2) and my demo tryouts (FEAR 2) to be somewhat lacking.
As far as scary…for me, not so much.
Metal Solid 2 does something similar. Towards the end of the game it gets really postmodern and breaks the 4th wall in several ways.
At one point it goes to the “Game Over” screen, but the game is actually continuing in the replay window in the corner of the screen. Also, at one point your mission commander yells at you to turn the console off, and starts going nuts and quoting from other games.
Personally, I haven’t played all that many modern games, but for me the scariest I’ve played were Silent Hill 1 and 2. I rented 3 and 4 briefly but never bought them.
Doom 3 was filled with lots of cheap scary moments.
Another vote for System Shock 2.
I remember hearing that Clive Barker’s Undying was really scary but I never played it.
Jeez, with all these votes for System Shock 2, it makes me wonder what the hell I was doing while everyone else was playing it. I just feel like it’s too late now…
No, I’d say it was creepy and wonderfully atmospheric but not terribly scary.
Silent Hill (the original) is still the scariest game ever. Many parts of the game are just plain disturbing. The sequels aren’t bad either.
Another old one was Aliens vs. Predator, which did pretty well as survival horror, if you played as the Marine.
I had to quit playing it because it gave me the willies.
Not the whole game, per se, but there’s one segment in Half Life 2: Episode 1 (I think) which had me seconds from crapping my pants. You’re down in a mine shaft type thing with Alyx Vance, waiting for an elevator car to come down to you, when the power goes out and you’re left in total darkness with just your flashlight… and then, with your flashlight and the horde of zombies.
There’s a segment in *Metroid: Prime * which was almost as scary… you walk into a room with this great guy called the Omega Pirate encased in a glass stasis tank. You tiptoe around forever trying to make sure you don’t do whatever it is that will wake him up, nervously glancing over at him the whole time, and then of course as soon as you try to leave the room he wakes up anyway and crushes you like a bug.
There are a ton of great things like that in that game. My favorite:when you pop in a room and it tells you your controller is unplugged while baddies beat the snot out of you only it turns out to be a hallucination.
Totally agreed. There are a couple outright scary moments, but really it’the whole atmosphere of the game is just unsettling. I absolutely love this game, no other game drew me in as completely with such a compelling first hour of gameplay as this did.
If we’re going to be mentioning old games, another good one is the original Diablo. Now, don’t get me wrong, the gameplay in Diablo II is much better, but man, did they ever nail the atmosphere in the original.
Wow. I’ve never been a fan of the sci-fi video game genre (Halo included), but it sounds like I need to run out and get a copy of BioShock.
Three more, inlcuding one major spoiler for both games:
The infection includes huge flesh growths covering the walls of the ship.
You spend most of the game being directed by a female NPC who is lying to you about her motives in helping you, and who eventually tries to kill you when she no longer has a use for you.
The apparent alien threat ultimatly proves to have terrestrial origins.
Half-Life. Quake 4 has some pretty good scary moments.
I bought this last week. I’ve only played maybe an hour so far, but I’ve seen some creepy things.
That female splicer who is gently talking to her child in the cradle. You walk around the corner, and before you see anything, you hear her saying a lullaby and comforting the baby. Then as you get closer, her shadow, as well as the carriage’s, appears on the wall. Once she hears you creeping up on her (you’re not even sure if she’s an enemy at this point), she turns, screams, and lunges. After taking her out, you peer into the cradle, and find not a baby, but a handgun. Very cool!
Not really a spoiler, but I was dyin’ to see the new spoiler code in action.
Nothing about Psycho Mantis?
Nothing quite like going through an area you cleared at 3 AM only to hear “Kill meeeee!” First time it happened I jumped out of my skin.
Oh, and “they grow up so fast.”
The creepiest part of System Shock 2 was the superb sound.
Odesio
The thing I never understood about SS2 is (PLOT SPOILER) why the reappearance of SHODAN was supposed to be a surprise when she’s right there on the cover of the game box.
Has System Shock 2 been mentioned yet?
Ah, the distant clink-clank of a cyborg nanny… :eek: This game has atmosphere. That’s all a game needs. - Yes it’s old. Up to today’s standards? It’s one of the few games that still define today’s standards.
Forget about the ten year old graphics. I bet the carefully designed radiosity lighting of those sparingly lit areas with corridors alternating between dark corners and strategically placed lamps is still better than most of the effect-heavy overhyped HDR stuff you get today.
Equally old, and equally immersive: Thief: The Dark Project, as well as Thief 2. (And probably Thief 3. Haven’t played it yet, but I heard “The Cradle” is known as one of the pants-wettingly scariest game levels ever.) - Exploration of unknown environments. Distant sounds of unknown enemies. Some damn scary “undead levels” there. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a zombie in the bone hoard, a fire elemental in the lost city, or just a guard that might be behind you. You don’t want to fight them, you want to avoid them. Not much action, but always listening, flight reflexes on edge. The whole feeling of this game is like playing around with a loaded mouse trap. In the dark.