New Releases in Horror

New Releases in Horror by Geek Woman 10/13/05

There are plenty of new horror themed games that have been released recently this year. There are several more that look promising coming out. Women who enjoy horror based games will be sure to appreciate several of these new presentations. Whether your passion is first person shooters, or adventure games this fall has much blood soaked fare to offer. This past September, October and November will reveal the release of Indigo Prophecy, The Suffering 2 : The Ties that Bind, George Romero’s Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green, and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil,. There are two that I am especially looking forward to with female lead characters which are Fatal Frame III: The Tormented and Trapt, which is a new franchise from the horror havens over at Tecmo.

With all of the earth quakes and storms this year even the most rational gamer might be entertaining thoughts of end time predictions. Indigo Prophecy is the type of game whose time has come. If you are into mysteries, and urban legends then this game has plenty of intrigue and twists to keep you interested.

It plays like a movie. Credits roll out over the scene in the beginning, and it sets the stage for a truly unique game. The scenes and trailers don’t do this game justice. It has a certain touch to it that is all its’ own. The movie - like theme begins with the way the controls are handled, there is no button mashing. Even though you are controlling all the playable characters, the easy pass of the analog stick makes it feel more like you are witnessing events that are happening to you. The camera adjusts to give you a variety of ways to view the events that unfold.

The game was acted by actors and then motion captured. The whole thing gives you the experience of being a movie director. Game-play is different because you play not only the unwitting murderer, but also the female police detective who is trying to solve the case. The music score is unexpectedly awesome as well as eerie and symphonic. The graphics are very cinematic and affecting. They aren’t detailed so much as flowing. There are flash backs of a hooded figure enchanting a circle of black magic encircled by candles which is used to good effect.

Indigo Prophecy seems like a game that will make gamers that enjoyed Resident Evil and Siren happy. It looks like a good game that explores the nascent genre of the game - as -movie crossover. It is of note that this new style is being employed by developers in the horror genre. Indigo Prophecy is certainly worth a rental at least.

The Suffering 2 : Ties that Bind takes up again after the end of the first story. The main character named Torque ends up in Baltimore Harbor. Soon it becomes clear that these are not the sunny street of John Water’s beloved Baltimore. Now, as Torque travels there - disturbing feelings communicate that that demons have followed him off the island prison to the mainland.

Many of the horror titles are coming from Japan, Europe and Canada these days. The Suffering: Ties That Bind has kind of an American style to it. Torque takes the fight to the demons with the idea being that the best defense is a best offense.

There is celebrity voice acting in it with Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile, Armageddon, The Scorpion King and Sin City) who plays Blackmore. Rachel Griffiths from the creepy HBO show (Six Feet Under) plays Jordan. Her role is the woman in charge of a para - military cleanup effort. Torque’s dead wife Carmen returns from the first game to provide clues, but both female roles are non playing characters.

Many games now have players choose between good and evil. In this games there are three possible endings. There is a special cutscene for players with a save game from the first The Suffering game.

It is a disturbing story of terror with twisted creatures. It’s also a story of revenge against someone tied to the death of Torque’s family. It is a tough game with the grit of inner-city poverty and urban injustice. It is a different sort of horror, it takes on oppression, despair and insanity.

DOOM 3 : Resurrection of Evil for Xbox and PC had a an expansion pack this year. Doom is a favorite of hardcore fans and if you haven’t picked it up you might just want to. There is a Doom movie coming to theaters October 21st. The trailer looks amazing. In fact some of the characters in the movie; Dr. Carmack and Dr. Willits are named after members of id Software. John Carmack and Tim Willits are developers of the series of games. Actor / athlete ‘The Rock’ plays the part of ‘Sarge’. Supposedly the movie is loosely based on the games. We will see what the rabid Doom fans think about it soon.

Doom has always had a very scary, weird atmosphere that makes you jump. It has the ‘fear of the unknown’ going for it because the story is located on Mars. The sound tracks have this quality of grossness that has often been imitated but never matched. The creatures in the game make a sound when you shoot them that I will never forget. The corpulent corpses splatter horrifically.

DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil features a new breed of demons who inhabit a remote UAC research facility on Mars. The plot involves an artifact belonging to Hell, and those demons will stop at nothing to take it back to the netherworld. There was also a recent mod for the game called DungeonDoom. It is a Doom 3 modification that came out for Windows and Linux in late September.

Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green looks to be standard zombie slaying fare running on the Unreal engine. It is based on the recent horror flick George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead. Typically a plague breaks out and presto, zombies. It is a first person shooter that will be released for the PS2, PC and multiplayer on Xbox Live. In multiplayer mode players can choose sides and fight with either the humans or the zombies. Perhaps a better zombie game could be based on the comedy zombie movie Shaun of the Dead which might be lots more fun.

The Fatal Frame franchise may not be the most well known franchise. But it has a cult following. It is not a series that is like any of the other games I’ve mentioned so far. It is an adventure. Once again, not like any other action adventure games at all. The action is very minimal. The first two in the series were awesome. The game-play involves no weapons. It is a game that requires patience and tenacity to endure its exclusive melange of the macabre.

I am predicting that Fatal Frame III: The Tormented is going to be the biggest seller of all three. The main character is a Japanese girl named Rei. She is living under a curse. She has tormenting nightmares that seem to be lucid. The appearance of a ghostly tattoo on her back is a personal mystery that you have to solve. Tattoos and horror what’s not to like?

The Fatal Frame series signature weapon is called the ‘camera obscura’. This enchanted camera not only to fends off the ghosts, but can also detect them. You have to explore the haunted ‘House of Sleep’, and discover how to lift the curse of the tattoo.

In fact there are three female playable characters. Each young woman has her own special skills Rei Kurosawa is an expert photographer. She becomes skilled with the camera obscura. Kei Amakura can decipher ancient scripts. Fatal Frame character Miku Hinasaki carries a sacred mirror and can fit into small hidden passages. Her powers are back, and she has the strongest psychic abilities of the three characters in the game. Miku plays Rei’s assistant.

This game has the potential to be terrifying. Of the Japanese horror games the Fatal Frame games have a visceral effect on people. The games evoke very strong feelings from gamers. They aren’t games that one can feel ambivalent about. It isn’t just the dark sinister backgrounds or the frightful sound track. It has a quality to it that makes the gamer become completely immersed in its’ atmosphere. If you are planning a quiet (except for the screams) Halloween weekend with a special friend, you might want to turn out the lights, pour some Sake, and put on one of the Fatal Frame games.

As a fan of several of the Tecmo franchises I am curious about Trapt which will be released later this year. The game is set in old Europe. It features a female character called Princess Allura. She is being framed for her fathers murder. So she has to flee her castle home with her handmaiden. When they escape to the Black Forest a spell transforms Allura into an evil trap master which is rather original. There hasn’t been a trap based game that I can remember since Death Trap Dungeon

Allura is able to use the traps to foil the pursuers. Eventually she makes her way home to set up a series of gruesome medieval traps to lure the betrayers and then destroy them. We are told that gamers will have to be <blockquote> thinking in the most evil and manipulative ways to create the ultimate combination of floor, ceiling and wall traps in order to exterminate enemies.</blockquote>

Allura may at first appear helpless and sweet, but is wickedly calculating once she has been double crossed. Traps will be set via a map. It proposes to be an unusual game with different paths leading to multiple endings. As players gain more experience unlockables include diverse and deadly traps that can yield seemingly infinite combinations to make the experience unique.

There you have it, horror in all its’ diverse dimensions. A murder mystery, a tale of revenge. There is the loneliness of an alien world, and the standard zombie target shoot. Then finally there are some exceptional, and extraordinary supernatural ones. Scared yet? Try any of these games and you will be.

Recently:

Comments

Comments are closed.

Geek Woman Speaks

Present

Past

Archives

Xfire

Oct

13

New Releases in Horror

Recently:

Comments

Geek Woman Speaks