That Gaming Site: Best Horror Game of 2008

That Gaming Site presents the award for best horror game of the year, with contenders including Alone in the Dark, Condemned 2, and Dead Space.

[Marcello]

Alone in the Dark best horror game ?? more the like worst!

Dead Space should have won this by a mile.

[Bnet343]

I'm only approving this so people can see what a pathetic choice it was. Alone in the Dark was the worst of the three. And they gave Runner Up To Condemned 2. They must of thought it was opposite day. Dead Space should of won no brainer.

[boodybandit]

They must have thought it was opposite day.

[Elven6]

In the end really it's all about personal choice, because of what Alone in the Dark brought to the table we felt it deserved some sort of recognition from at least someone, because lets face it, no one else is going to be giving the developers kudo's for bringing these ideas to the table, idea's which we will probably see in more games in the near future.

At least when I played, Condemned 2 really played mind games with me, I was only able to play it for about 30 minutes at a time before having to do something because it really screwed with my mind, something very few games have done recently. Others on staff who were apart of the voting felt the same way. It would have receiving the award hands down had Sega and Monolith patched the game, getting to the 4th level only to find your save was deleted by the gaming is not a fun experience, especially when it's a horror game. Despite telling people a patch would come out days after launch it never did, we can't give someone who is willingly penny pinching a award. Atari was in a worse off situation then Sega yet they went back and made a patch for Inferno.

Dead Space was definitely a contender but it didn't have any moments that really freaked you out as much, especially later into the game you realize its mostly all scripted making it feel like a Call of Duty game with horror elements in it.

Excuse the avatar, I've been a Alone in the Dark fan since day 1 and even I agree the latest wasn't upto par with the series. ;)

[ChampIDC]

Alone in the Dark was definitely a great concept, and it had so many good, new ideas going for it, but it just plain failed on execution.

[Panipal2005]

Um, Elven? SIREN. BLOOD. CURSE. Hands down the horror game of 2008. Hell, it's probably the only PURE horror game released this year. Not even a mention? What are you smoking?

Whoever said you were playing 'opposite day' was right.

[IzKyD1331]

Eleven6, one look at your avatar is enough to know that your opinion is biased.....

http://www.metacritic.com/g...

IGN: Nice visuals, great fire effects and valiant efforts at innovation don’t make up for boring combat, frustrating controls, poorly designed levels and a hackneyed story.

Game Informer: Alone in the Dark can be applauded for its innovation, but it cannot be saved from its dysfunction. Had Eden Games added polish, or dare I say it, play-tested the game, it could have been a welcome addition for survival horror fans.

GamePro: A frustrating and inconsistent mess that truly disappoints.

EGM: Every good idea here is brought down by bad basic design, including a shoddy third-person camera, a too-slow first-person mode, and bizarre forced switching between the two.

[orakga]

Just out of curiosity, how does Dead Space end?
Describe the exact last scene before the credits roll.
(and don't bother reading wikipedia for it, because it doesn't contain your answer; I just checked)

And do the same for Siren: Blood Curse too, for that matter.

I'm asking because I find it really hard to believe that you actually played anything other than the two you decided to mention (AITD and Cond 2). IMO, If you'd actually played the other two (Dead Space and SIREN), you'll have reached a different conclusion (the choice should have been one of the two, regardless of "taste" IMO).

If you can't respond within the next day, I'll conclude that you just didn't play through those, and that your GOTY pick was an ignorant one.

However, If you can describe them accurately, I will respect your choice. Until then, I will reserve my apology for doubting you.

[badz149]

and Siren is not even in top 3? I can't even stand the demo of that game! Dead Space is more a shooting game than horror for me but seriously, Siren is the best hands down!

[Elven6]

@ IzKyD1331: Your judging someone based off an avatar? Do you judge thieves by the color of their skin as well? I may have a Carnby avatar, a character associated with how many different games now? The nominations and final awards were decided by a group of us, not just me. I happen to have a N4G account and decided to submit the story, nothing wrong with that, is there?

What you need to realize is reviewers always have a difference of opinion, if you were to judge games solely on how someone else played them you probably wouldn't have much fun. We don't base our reviews, nominations, awards, etc on metacritic scores, we base them on how we liked the game.

@ orakga: Check your PM, as for Siren I did not play that game but such always happens, instead others on staff had played that game and it was also up for the award as well, in the end those who can get their point across and argue their cause can validate their point.

[Stu1981]

It's terrifying that you can find anyone that would agree with you that any of the other three games i've listed weren't better than AITD.

Or was it a case of your "team" all choosing one game, and you taking your ball home? "It's my site, and i say AITD takes it".

Comical.

[Elven6]

You and your conspiracy theories, wasting my last reply on you! If that were the case they all would have left long ago, we decided on Alone in the Dark a few weeks ago but didn't post anything until everything else was decided upon. If you want to discuss this matter further send me a PM, although I don't see what's really left to discuss at this point, really all you've done is make outlandish accusations saying I somehow managed to "rig" this.

We looked at what was brought to the table and how it worked, you have to admit AITD has some really cool gameplay elements that might take some time to figure out but are really cool to see play out (Such as the tape/nest scene in the museum). In the end we decided Alone in the Dark was worthy of the award.

[Graphics Whore]

Great Concept poorly executed, even worse journalism?

[MajesticBeast]

siren blood curse?

[harv052]

Dead Space should've won by miles!!!

[ChampIDC]

Dead Space wins for me in overall quality, but Condemned 2 definitely creeped me out more. That game doesn't get as much love as it deserves.

[Elven6]

It would had Sega/Monolith fixed the technical issues that plagued it on both console ports.

[ChampIDC]

Hm, I didn't run into any issues with it. Guess I'm lucky. More polish is always welcome, though.

[BLUR111]

Are you serious? OMFG alone in the dark!

Dead Space was amazing!
At Least give it to Condemned 2 instead of alone in the dark

My God Man.

[bobdog626]

Something Wrong with You!Dead Space should have Won Hand,s Down.Do You Need Glass,s or something?Somebody,s getting Payed Big Time.

[pippoppow]

Why they dont make a sequel that returns to a haunted house or maybe village/town with a dark macabre H.P. Lovecraft inspired story is unbeleivable. Maybe some else will come out with a game similar to the 1st but of course updated all around.

[SAiOSiN]

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[farhsa2008]

this choice is pathetic, siren is by far the best horror game of the year, its Resident evil with silent hill mixed together.

[bobdog626]

Im Calling My Lawyer . (pull,s out cell phone, call for help)

[Stu1981]

"because lets face it, no one else is going to be giving the developers kudo's for bringing these ideas to the table"

Almost sounds like you're giving them the symaphy vote.

"it didn't have any moments that really freaked you out as much"

Very good point, compared to Alone In The Dark where i spent my whole time playing the game freaked out by how any company could be as inept to release such an unfinished product out of the door!

"especially later into the game you realize its mostly all scripted"

And how is that different from ANY other videogame out there?

Seriously, don't bother with the excuses. There's no excuse for leaving out Dead Space, Left 4 Dead, Siren or even Silent Hill: Homecoming from the list at all. But no doubt it'll at least generate a few more hundred hits for your site, eh?

[Elven6]

There's a reply button you know,

If you call giving developers credit and acknowledgment for something they have done "sympathy" then sure it was out of "sympathy". Infact with that logic it must mean all developers credited with innovating or bringing new ideas to the table are out of "sympathy".

Again it's about personal choice, not everyone is freaked out by the same thing.

Not all games are heavily scripted, I can personal vouch for AITD where I saw very few scripted enemy spawn points and such, of course it also had it's share of scripted cinematic moments.

If you don't agree with the choice thats fine, it's nothing new, such things always happen in the industry.

This decision was in no way on related to hits but to give developers the recognition they deserve, that's kind of the point of GOTY awards, sure we could have done it your way and copied what everyone else is nominating, but why? A diverse opinion is always a better alternative.

[Mutley416]

Dude DeadSpace Was Fantastic!!! Not the Winner? Not a good article-

[Stu1981]

Always a good way to start, pointing out to someone that they pressed a wrong button. Right up there with pointing out typos don't you think?

It's the line "no one else is going to be giving the developers kudo's" that makes it sound like a sympathy vote. There's a massive difference in fulfilling potential, and failing miserably...perhaps there's a reason why no one is else going to give this "kudo's"?

"A diverse opinion is always a better alternative."

So it's about looking different? How pointless haha. You give games prop when games deserve it, not because it's the ugly duckling sat in the corner sulking because no one wants it in their pond!

Sure, it's about personal preference, fair enough, but if you're going to put your point out there then obviously people are going to counter-act it...especially when it's a viewpoint as jaded as this one.

[Elven6]

It makes thing's easier to manage,

The phrase "nothing is ever clear cut" fits this perfectly, the game brought a lot to the table and did it's best to execute, it executed some of those ideas perfectly, others not so much. I as well as a few other writers enjoyed the game, that's what GOTY awards are about, taking games you enjoyed that year and discussing which ones are award worthy in a civilized manner.

Alone in the Dark in our opinion is worthy of praise so we gave it, simple. It's not like we gave Dead Space or any other nominated game bad credit, I believe our reviews are also up on the site as well, assuming everything transferred during the switch.

I'm all for receiving constructive criticism, but when it gets to a point where you attack the person/site with the opinion..... (Not saying you are but their are always cases)

[Homicide]

So they nominate the worst game of 2008 for best horror and not Siren Blood Curse? Fail.

[Elven6]

Unfortunately Sonic Unleashed was narrowly beat out by Siren so it wasn't even nominated.

[Draperc]

I'm glad Alone in the Dark won this award, as I said before, the only reason why this game is being hated on is mostly because we've been spoiled by simple run and gun games that don't challenge our brain like alone in the dark does. The only real problems I had with this game is that the graphics, while detailed, could use a bit of polish. The voice over work was also kinda crappy too, but overall I thought this game was pretty good.

[Stu1981]

haha, what horseshit! It's nothing to do with brain challenging, it was a glitchy mess...how anyone can deny this when even the developers decided to go back and gloss over the cracks for the PS3 version is beyond me.

Regardless of how "good" anyone thinks it was, it still wouldn't come close to the quality of Dead Space, Siren or Left 4 Dead.