Top Five Favorite Horror-Themed Video Games

Now, before anybody gets the wrong idea, this is not a list of what I think are the five scariest video games. Nor is it a list of my top five favorite survival-horror video games. I'm ill-suited to write either of those due to the fact that...I am a big chicken.  Let me give an example.

Years ago when "Resident Evil" was re-released onto the GameCube, I bought it thinking that I could finally experience one of the most talked about zombie games of all time. So, I popped the disc in and began playing what I thought would be a life changing experience. It turns out that the game's disturbingly quiet ambiance was too much for me handle, and I never actually made it past the first couple of rooms. As kind of a point of reference, the only zombie I ever saw was the first one near the dining room.

However, despite my cowardly tendencies, I like horror-related things. Zombies, vampires and other assorted monsters are all great in my book. So, this list is merely my favorite games that contain those kinds of creatures and elements. And now, without further adieu....

5. Dead Rising (Xbox 360; 2006) Cleary inspired by George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead," this sandbox game features the protagonist fighting off zombies in a shopping mall in order to survive for three days until his rescue helicopter comes. From what I can tell, the game does a good job of making the mall as expansive as possible. And thanks to the power of the 360 up to 800 zombies can be on screen at one time. Of course, the masses of zombies only matter if you can dispatch them in fun and creative ways. Luckily for the player, you can. I've seen umbrellas, 2 X 4's, and even Mega Man's Buster Cannon used as weapons. Truth be told, the only reason why this game is so low on my list is because I played less than two hours of it at a friend's house, and in that time I never got a good grip on the controls. So, while it seems like an awesome game, I had a slightly less-than-awesome experience with it. 

4. Left 4 Dead (PC; 2008) Much like "Dead Rising," "Left 4 Dead" is centered around the idea that killing zombies is fun. And if there's anybody out there that doubts this premise, I challenge them to play this game and not enjoy themselves. You play as one of four characters and go through various maps trying to get from Point A to Point B without being killed by zombie hordes. At your disposal on this mission are a variety of firearms as well as molotov cocktails and pipebombs. As is true with Valve's other games, this one was made with top-notch production quality and thanks to the artificial intelligence dubbed "The Director," the title has a fair amount of replay value. Just make sure that when you play you don't disturb the witch (graphic).

3. Resident Evil 4 (GameCube; 2005) Finally, a Resident Evil game that I had no problem playing. That is, of course, because it's not scary. Any creepy atmosphere that I experienced in the first one was wiped out in this game. However, it was replaced with fluid controls that created one of the best third-person shooters that I have ever played. After beating the single player campaign, I spent hours upon countless hours in mercenary mode, which was a survival mode to see how long the player could last during an onslaught of zombies. The only game that saw more action on my GameCube was Super "Smash Bros. Melee." Also, another great thing about "Resident Evil 4" is that it helped spawn this video (graphic). 

2. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube; 2002) If I were to compile a list of games that made the GameCube worth owning, that list would be very short. However, this title would be near the top of the list. The game centered on a woman whose grandfather was mysteriously and violently murdered. While snooping around his mansion for clues to his death, she finds a tome covered in human flesh. This book works as a sort of a MacGuffin and transports the player into the shoes of various characters throughout history. The story was unique and the composition was interesting, but what made this game a real gem was the Sanity Meter. This meter, as one might presume, measures how sane your character is at any given moment. If the meter goes below a certain point, then the character begins to hallucinate. These illusions could be something as simple as books floating across the room a la "Ghostbusters" to a myriad of other events. Not all were scary, but they were all fun to witness.

1. Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES; 1993) This is not only my favorite horror-themed game but one of my favorite games of all time. It is essentially a spoof of all B-Rated horror and sci-fi movies of the 50s and before, and everything in the game matches this tone. The art work, the music and especially the monsters all bring back memories of these cheesy cinematic gems. The premise of the game is that you need to go from level to level rescuing as many of your neighbors as you can before they get eaten killed by monsters. And the monsters themselves range from giant ants to demonic dolls to the eponymous zombies. Shoot, there are even giant babies that you have to take down with bazookas. This top down shooter had me addicted as a kid, and now children across the world can share my experience since "Zombies Ate My Neighbors" debuted on the Wii's Virtual Console earlier this week.