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I watched a lot of horror films as a kid. I really enjoyed them–but something little known about me was that some of them also scared the hell out of me. It’s those films which stuck with me the most. But horror concepts are very hit-and-miss. Different people scare differently.

The same is true for games. I, for one, have had a fear of total darkness (or more specifically what could lurk in it)–fortunately for me, that’s an extremely common way many films and games alike create fear. It’s an effective way of making sure the character–or player–doesn’t know what’s waiting for them. In a movie, this is effective because I empathize with the character on the screen, experiencing similar feelings of fear and dread. In a game, I am directly controlling the experience, and it’s so effective because it forces me to willingly advance into something I know I’m going to be afraid of–essentially, to face my fear.

I believe that this is the reason that horror games (or games with horror elements) in general seem to get by with less scary elements and original ideas than horror movies–it’s simply easier to scare people when they are directly involved instead of passively observing. Hollywood needs to think of ways to scare people who are sitting in a chair with no control over what’s happening other than to leave the theater or turn off the television. A gamer has many options, but knows the only way to progress is to cause more scary things to happen–a powerful scare tactic in itself.

I’ve finished every horror movie I’ve started, aside from the few that were simply so bad that I did not want to continue wasting my time watching them. I had no problem getting to the end, regardless of whether or not or to what extent they scared me.

Games, however, are a different story. I am much more of a game buff than a movie buff, but I’ll let you in on a little secret–I could never make it all the way through System Shock 2. I’ve never seen the ending of Doom 3. I played about an hour of Dead Space and have barely touched it since. Hell, I barely made it through the F.E.A.R. games.

Hold on now, I’m not saying every horror game I play simply makes me stop playing. But I can safely say that all of those I’ve listed are some of my favorite games of all-time. They are the ones I remember playing the most, and they have certainly affected me more deeply than almost any other game, because they tap into some primal sense of dread and oppression that I can neither explain nor understand. It would seem so complex, yet most of the games I listed use very simple concepts such as darkness, evil things jumping out at the player, ominous sounds and oppressive atmospheres. Top it off with limited ammunition and other resources, and you’ve got the majority of survival horror games in existence today. Yet–cheap tactics or not, many of them still succeed in scaring me.

But many people are not affected by the same things as me, and do not get scared by cliche things such as monsters in the dark. Others have already learned to overcome those fears and simply push on. The former often do not enjoy many horror games–many reviewers seem to look at horror games in this light, as well (either because the conditions and mindset they are playing the game in is not ideal or simply because they are not scared by the tactics being used). But that’s great, actually–it’s because of these types of people that the horror genre in general must advance–game developers need to think of new and less gimmicky ways to scare their players. And that should make for a continually evolving and ever-more-interesting genre of games.

Recently I have started to revisit many of the titles that I inadvertently abandoned due to never working up the willpower to click on them again. It’s truly satisfying to finish such a title and achieve the real-world benefit (by accident, of course) of pushing myself to overcome my fears.

First up, Dead Space…

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Although the style of game differs greatly, certainly the spy setting and overall feel are in many ways similar. One way in which they are similar is that when you are seen, if you do not kill that person immediately, or if you do and are seen or his body is discovered, then you will almost inevitably trip an alarm that causes everyone in the area to react differently.

Where the difference comes in between the two in the system is the way in which the enemies react. The mechanic works well in Splinter Cell–when you’re seen, the enemies in the direct vicinity will begin to search for you. If you stay hidden for some time, they will eventually start to patrol again and not really pursue you. This is realistic–they won’t know where you are as long as you’ve moved since the last time they’ve seen you. This is aided by the fact that you always see a ghost of where the enemies last saw you. This system lends itself well to this style of gameplay, and it works great.

Alpha Protocol handles alarms differently. If you are seen, then the enemies in the direct vicinity of whoever spotted you will immediately rush you and attempt to sound an alarm if he is near one. If you kill him first, then like Splinter Cell you may have gotten away clean unless someone else saw him die or finds his body. Once the alarm sounds, however, the system gets clunky. Every enemy on your map seems to rush your exact location and directly hunt you down as if they have psychic powers of some kind. This lasts until you turn off the alarm or, almost always, until you clear all of the enemies out, since there’s a somewhat slim chance of finishing a hack without getting shot by one of the many enemies who knows where you are.

Once you turn off the alarm, you can suddenly hide again. It’s this mechanic I feel is broken in Alpha Protocol. You should be able to hide out an alarm… if you’re hidden, you’re hidden, whether or not something–or someone–has triggered an alarm. Yes, everyone should be much more alert, and expect you to be around every corner, but they should not know where you are at all times whenever the alarm is triggered.

Anyway, that has really been bothering me lately, and when I was playing Splinter Cell: Conviction this evening again, I realized I was quite impressed with the way they handled it.

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I can’t explain it–I just keep coming back for more. After an hour or two, I’m left wondering why–it’s a very simplistic game full of simplistic game mechanics that have already been done in almost every way imaginable.

But not (arguably) since Diablo have these elements been combined in such a fun way that works so incredibly well. An overly simplistic game is no problem if that game is ridiculously fun–the point is to make you enjoy it and want to continue playing it, and in that sense Torchlight succeeds with flying colors.

The game has been out since October 2009 and it has been on my short-list of constantly-played games ever since. Big-budget $50-$60 titles fall to the wayside to other big-budget $50-$60 titles on an almost-daily basis, but here is this little $20 gem that seems to float to the top against any and all competition.

I am on my third or fourth character, not all of which have reached the end, and each experience is unique. Each class is challenging in somewhat different ways. The loot is simply amazing; that feeling you get when you find a really badass gun in Borderlands–that feeling was here first, and it sure does feel good.

The music is the best thing to happen to fantasy RPGs since Diablo’s music so many years ago (in gaming years, of course). It sounds very much in the same vein as Diablo/Diablo II, which isn’t a bad thing–in fact, it’s a magnificent thing. The soundwork in general is good and lends itself well to the fast-paced action during battles as well as the lull during a trip to town.

The graphics, while being a bit cartoonish as stated, are actually quite nice to look at. The effects make every battle a treat. Take a level 20 or 30 alchemist into a battle, and you’re going to be in for a spectacular light show. Everything just looks like it belongs in the world, and it very quickly stops looking cartoony as you start seeing some of the giant evil creatures and amazing scenery all around you. The variety of the environments between stages can also be quite staggering, and keeps things interesting.

I will admit–it took me a while to get into the game. Before ever trying it, I dismissed it as a low-budget Diablo-wannabe with cartoonish graphics that couldn’t possibly be a deep and engaging experience to even come close to the big-budget titles that have tried to touch Diablo before, let alone surpass most of them and come closest to reaching the original’s greatness. But I’m glad I stuck with it–within an hour, I was fully hooked.

If anyone out there gave any of their life to Diablo (or any number of “clones” since then–Titan Quest, Sacred, etc…) then it would be a shame if you did not give Torchlight a couple hours of your time to try it out. Not the 15 to 30 minutes I see many people giving it before deciding it’s not for them.

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As I seem to be one of the few not giving up on Alpha Protocol in the early stages of the game, I’ve noticed one thing: I really enjoy the soundtrack, and it really lends itself to feeling like a badass spy engaged in some badass espionage action. It is a sort of drum ‘n bass/techno mix and it’s very fitting to the game overall.

Unfortunately the AI structure of, if you trip an alarm, everyone knows exactly where you are until you turn it off, is a flawed system, but it does make for a lot of cool action music whenever you’re spotted.

The sound in general is quite good. The voice acting is very passable, the weapons sound powerful and weighty. The footsteps are a little bit much, but it allows you to really hear them without having to strain yourself.

Anyway, as I was playing through a mission listening to the cool battle music, I decided I needed to let that little tidbit be known.

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