Last week, I discussed games removing control from the players and creating a cinematic feeling similar to that of Hollywood films. I discussed how removing the control from the player results in less of a game and more of a movie and a blurred line between the two visual mediums. Well now, I’m going to play devil’s advocate in this special Halloween-themed blog about horror video games and what they need to do to succeed in frightening the player.
Resident Evil 5 and Dead Space 2 are two of the most popular and well-received horror games of this generation. And neither of them is scary or fear-inducing. So then why are they categorized in the horror genre? That question is answered by the detriment of the design of both of these games. Resident Evil 5 takes place in Africa, in the daylight. And nearly all of the enemies appear in front of you, which effectively removes any sense of mystery. The entire game can be played cooperatively which removes any sort of horror themed tension when battling your adversaries. And the player is too capable. I can strut around Africa with a shotgun and an AK-47 and I feel more competent and less victimized. It feels more like an action-packed film, or the horrible movie counter-parts, and less of a journey through a creepy and daunting area like the previous games.
Some of the design criticisms applied to Resident Evil 5 can be directly applied to the Dead Space franchise. Although the setting moves from a brightly lit African setting to a dark and daunting space setting, the player remains too capable and in control of his/her scenarios. The Dead Space franchise, unfortunately, uses a crutch of recent horror films: the jump scare. Monsters are constantly popping out of the woodwork to the point of it being more and more predictable as the game progresses. The only time I can remember being helpless in Dead Space 2 was when the protagonist is trying to escape a mental ward in a straightjacket and monsters are chasing after him. Let me be clear that neither of the above games are bad; I’m just questioning the video game industry’s categorization of horror games.
Perhaps the genre and label of horror is given out too flippantly to games that only require creepy settings and monsters. If video games are to be candidates for the horror genre, they need to remove a degree of control while submitting a degree of control to the player. Batman: Arkham Asylum succeeds in this regard towards the end of the game. When you walk down a long hallway, the game freezes, glitches appear all over the screen and the audio gets segmented and jarring. The game restarts and Joker is driving Batman into the asylum. The Joker then shoots Batman in the face and the game tells you to move, not the left or right stick on the controller, but the middle stick. The game does not use gore or dismemberment but instead chooses to remove control from the player to create a frightening scene in and outside of the game to the point where you are unsure what is real and what is fantasy. Happy Halloween everyone!
