Conversations on the Xbox 360 and its library.

[Xeogred]

Condemned was the first big game my friends and I owned as well and probably the last horror game get together some of us had (after Fatal Frame, etc). Really good times with that one.

While the gameplay and improved detective elements in the second game are great, the rest of it is terrible. They dive deeply into the exposition of what's going on (which is a bad thing), turn the main character into something completely different (different voice actor I think too), one of the main villains in the first game dies instantly in here so it kind of retcons things and takes it into literally, laughable directions. They fully explain the reasoning behind all the monstrous atrocities in this series by the end of this one, and it is downright hilariously bad.

Not quite FEAR 3 bad to me, but still a really downgraded sequel. I remember the environments not being nearly as diverse as well.

There is an awesome crazy moment in a snowy cabin level though. That's all I want to say.

Buuuuuuut like I mentioned briefly above, I kind of want to get it and go through it again. Probably another game I just Gamefly'd but didn't keep. I think I only went through it once.

[Exhuminator]

While we're on the subject of 360 horror games, does anyone want to chime in and recommend some truly good ones?

[PartridgeSenpai]

While we're on the subject of 360 horror games, does anyone want to chime in and recommend some truly good ones?

The best actual horror game (not just horror themed like Splatterhouse or Alice Madness Returns) for last gen on the 360 I'd say was F.E.A.R. That game is a fantastic blend of actual tension-based horror and some crazy fun and solid FPS shooting.

[Xeogred]

To me FEAR is about as scary as Resident Evil.

IE, not scary at all.

Good "tense" atmosphere though.

[ElkinFencer10]

I agree with PS about FEAR being a great one. The two sequels weren't scary at all, but the first one did manage to keep me thoroughly creeped out throughout. Maybe not "scared" per se, but definitely well spooked.

Dead Space, obviously, is my big choice for 360 horror game. Really, though, I don't remember very many good horror games from that generation. A few damn solid ones, for sure, and some that were only on Wii or Playstation 3, but for the most part, not much comes to mind.

[Ack]

I liked FEAR, but it had some problems. For one, I felt like the horror elements started off great for the first two levels...and then largely vanished until the final levels. Sure, there would be brief flashes, but often I wasn't looking in the right direction to see these because I was focusing my attention on potential incoming hostiles, so I'd hear a sound effect and then get nothing. Beyond that, well, some of the levels felt like the same thing over and over again(the office building for instance), but the actual shooting was pretty fun, as was the slo-mo feature.

As for Dead Space, I liked it, but it never scared me. The first time I beat it, I only used the base plasma cutter. If I encountered a new enemy, I'd quickly learn its weak points, develop a means to quickly take it down, and never worry about it again. After a short while, taking out enemies became rote.

[Exhuminator]

So give me the skinny on:

Alan Wake
Silent Hill: Downpour
Dead Island
The Evil Within
Alone in the Dark (2008)
Clive Barker's Jericho
Saw
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Hydrophobia
Rise of Nightmares
Amy
Alien Isolation

[Ack]

So give me the skinny on:

Alan Wake
Silent Hill: Downpour
Dead Island
The Evil Within
Alone in the Dark (2008)
Clive Barker's Jericho
Saw
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Hydrophobia
Rise of Nightmares
Amy
Alien Isolation

Alan Wake - I haven't gotten to this one yet. I hear good things.

Silent Hill: Downpour - Problematic and not as great as the original trilogy, but better than the recent entries. Check it out if you're a fan.

Dead Island - It's first person Diablo but not as good. It also gets boring.

The Evil Within - Bland from what I've heard. Relies too much on gore and shock value rather than interesting gameplay.

Alone in the Dark - Terrible.

Clive Barker's Jericho - It's ok, though I prefer Undying.

Saw - Better than the later movies, but mediocre I've been told.

Silent Hill: Homecoming - I like the game, but I'm told I'm the only one who does. I have a little brother who looked a bit like the kid in the game. It relies too much on combat and "me too" Silent Hill movie moments.

Hydrophobia - Less horror, more survival. It reminds me of games like Disaster Report or Raw Danger.

Rise of Nightmares - It's a Kinect game, so I never paid much attention to it. I hear it's mediocre.

Amy - Universally panned. Probably best to avoid for the most part.

Alien: Isolation - This is in the same category as the Clock Tower series, Haunting Ground, or Hellnight. You don't fight, you run and hide. Out of all of these...yeah, go with this one.

[Sarge]

Alan Wake is one of my favorite games on 360. Can't believe I forgot about it. The mood it sets is incredible. It's not blood-and-gore scary, it's a much more psychological scary.

[Exhuminator]

Cool, thanks for the info Ackster. (And Sarge.)