I didn't hate Armageddon, but I'll always have a sour opinion of it since it essentially killed one of my favorite new franchises. Red Faction was far too young to die off because of a single failed game. There's no denying how awful the idea was to take the series underground into the realm of action horror pioneered by series like Dead Space, and not just because horror only limits the game's appeal. The worst part of going underground is that it ruined the big open world Guerilla tossed us into, then patted us on the butt and told us to go crazy. What other games let you attach satchel charges to the base structure of a massive building, then climb it, explode the charges, and surf down the building as it collapses into a pile of rubble under you? Armageddon should've been a horror film spin-off, to give us a taste of what a Red Faction horror game would look and feel like so we could see if we wanted more.
The Room wasn't a horrible game, and it would've been easily forgotten had it not marked the beginning of the slow death the Silent Hill series has been struggling with since it released. It wasn't even supposed to be a Silent Hill game until Konami decided to tweak it a bit and slap on the Silent Hill label. With that said, it was a marvelously unsettling experience backed by the unpredictability of the series and Akira Yamaoka's excellent scoring. The idea of waking up in an apartment with no memory of how you got there and no way out is an intriguing one, and I feel it could've been better explored as a film. The combat was never that great, and those ghosts were frustrating to a controller-breaking degree, but the atmosphere was all top-notch.
Metro 2033 was daunting in its bleakness and there was a sense of omnipresent dread that always seemed to hang thick in the air. It's a very atmospheric game that packed a few surprise punches, like the ghosts who despite being nothing but shadows on the wall manage to instill a deep sense of fear. As a shooter, Metro 2033 really needed to excel in that department, and unfortunately, it didn't. However, as a film, all you would need is the horror-infested post-apocalyptic wasteland. Thanks to Dmitry Glukhovsky, who wrote the novel the game is based off of, the story, characters, and world have already been brilliantly crafted.
From the beginning, Shadows of the Damned was doomed to become a cult hit. Even having three of the most creative minds of the Japanese gaming industry couldn't save it. As a film, Shadows of the Damned's quirky cast of characters, hilariously raunchy dialogue, and stunningly colorful interpretation of Hell would've been a feast for the senses.
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By Adam Dodd Contributing Writer Date: August 14, 2012 |
*The views expressed within this article are solely the opinion of the author and do not express the views held by Cheat Code Central.*
