The clocks change and another Halloween heads our way. Halloween is the best celebration of the year. It's the only time you get to wear fangs outside of your local goth nightclub. The decorations for Halloween are better than most Christmas deccies too. Wave goodbye to tacky tinsel and say hello to carved pumpkins, twigs, skulls, candelabras and cobwebs. It's also a good excuse to drag out all your horror movies and maybe partake in a splash of Silent Hill or Resi Evil – whatever takes your fancy.
I for one will be staying away from horror games as they leave me paralyzed with fear. No, I'd much rather sit down to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie or anything involving vampires. I love horror movies. I also love horror games, but they don't love me.
My last dabble with the way of the horror game was Fatal Frame. The fear was so overwhelming that I couldn't even play the game while my boyfriend was asleep on the sofa beside me. He had to be awake and there with me, not off in the land of slumber, while I fought for my sanity with only a camera to save me.
I'm more of a Silent Hill girl, than a Resident Evil girl, but this may be because I played SH first. For me, it defines the way of the scary game. Restricted view point – check, Torch only source of light – check, Scary music resembling clang of scaffold poles – check, Stuck in small town America with no way out – check, Running from deformed monstrosities worthy of Hieronymus Bosch – check.
All that and more adds up to the best scary series of games ever, but I can't play them. It starts out well. Okay, so I'm walking down corridors thinking "is that rust or blood on the walls?" Okay, so the story has taken a spooky turn, but I can handle it. Then the first set piece hits, be it cat in a locker, or a ringing phone in an apparently abandoned town.
That's when it starts getting dark and I pray that the next door is also locked. Inevitably the door isn't locked and I must proceed. Then my palms go cold and clammy and I start thinking that maybe washing the bathroom floor isn't such a bad idea after all – anything other than going through that door.
It's not that I'm a scaredy-cat. I love a good horror movie; the jumpier the better. I've seen Ringu, Dark Water and 30 Days of Night and loved them. Horror movies I can do, but horror games – no way.
On the other hand, my boyfriend calls horror movies ‘video nasties' and won't go near them. He doesn't see why I'd pay to be scared witless or witness macabre acts being carried out by psychopaths. However, give him a horror game and he's fine. Apparently, the fact that he's in control of the character makes it more bearable than a horror movie.
If you ask me, horror games are scarier than movies because I'm put firmly in the shoes of the protagonist armed only with a baseball bat. Yes, I'm in control, but that doesn't make it a more comfortable experience. I'd much rather sit chomping on popcorn, while being taken on a horrifying visual ride.
In addition, a movie is a much quicker experience. It's over in two hours and you can walk out, jumping at your shadow, but leave the horror back in the movie theatre. However, a game is lurking under your TV and it's a slow burn. In two hours of play you may have only just uncovered one aspect of the horror. This is expansive dread that will be with you for days or even weeks, depending on your steely will.
This Halloween I'll be slipping in my fangs and standing round the bonfire gripping a glass of cider. I may even put The Howling on in the living room for atmosphere, but I'll be leaving Silent Hill firmly in its box.
Most played: Fable II
Most wanted: America to make the right decision this election!