Big Studios Can't Produce Good Horror Games

[Beautiful End]

Yahtzee is always right.

Now...

Ummm...how about one of those Mana Bars over here in the US? Someday? Any plans on that...?
I gotta admit that was a great entrepreneur idea that I'm tempted to try out someday in the future if I'm rich enough to do so. There's no place for grown-up gamers to go drink an--

Well, that's off-topic.

I always thought HD collections were pretty dumb if the game being remastered is either not that old or doesn't look THAT bad. Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank and Devil May Cry collections seem pretty lame to me considering I still have these games for the PS2 in perfect condition. Hell, I even have the original Devil may Cry collection for the PS2.
Games like Ico/Shadow of the Colossus or MGS Collection are actually good. Ico/SofC is kinda hard to find at a retail store and if you do, they're like 40 bucks each. Better to buy the two of them for the PS3 for the same price. MGS Collection was even smarter about that because it was released with a beautiful artbook and Peace Walker, a game made originally for the PSP. So of course, I had to the get the Collector's Collection even though I also have the original collection for the PS2.

I wouldn't mind if there was a Spyro or Crash or even Tomba Collection for the PS3. I'd buy that immediately.

 

[yatterman1]

i feel its fallen as an art its like horror movies they've all become the same with some psycho killer and the victims entering the same classifications as all others (jock, loner, smart one, hot one, ....) its not getting hard to figure which one survives. its like all horror games have become what to expect next out of a corner, a locker, random door, or random monster popping out of no where. i sort of miss the old days when the first horror games came out now its just oh wow another undead thing shoot it. i find some of the old Japanese horror games to be still scary, some of the newer stuff not as much.

 

[Dave Davidson]

Well shit, I was looking forward to picking up the HD remake, I never played the original SH2.

Oh well, good thing I still have my PS2 lying around somewhere.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I like to believe that Survival Horror is simply a genre that studios can't get behind because they're either trying way too hard to recapture the elements of games before (Silent Hill 2, System Shock) without fully understanding the context that MADE them good, or that they're so caught into the sharpness and hi-fidelity, in-your-face gung-ho action of modern-day FPSs that they're unable to play any game without trying to insert some of the modern FPS genre into it in order to maximize their audience (and, as a result, alienate everyone).

The latter factor, imo, is the reason why Triple A companies can't make a good horror game; not limitations. Everything they need is there; the companies are just too interested in making a net profit that they try to encompass everything to appeal to mass audience while also trying to target their 'niche' audience and end up failing on all accounts.

 

[Brett Bowling]

Well of course triple A developers can't make scary video games.
They are video games and video games aren't scary. It's just a gas station attendent wandering around in the dark, stopping every few meters to fire a few shots at some deli-meat monster.
Now a game where you have to talk openly about your feelings, now that's some scary stuff right there.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

A lot of the problem here is that the rule of making anything concerning horror well is that what you don't see is always far more terrifying than what you do see. Creating good, lasting fear, rather than just a quick jump scare, requires one to build up dread by suggesting things in the environment around the player rather than just putting a monster down in front of them. I've always been convinced that indie is better at the horror genre anyway, not just in video games but in film as well.