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A post from Wookie Monster and the ongoing thread about games influencing behaviour got me thinking about the genre of “Survival Horror”.
I for one am a huge fan of these games and feel that they are an often overlooked entry into video gaming.
I started on these games with Resident Evil for the PSX, never played anything like it before and loved it.
It wasn’t really a scary game, there were odd moments that made you jump (the hands through the windows anyone?) but it was more gore than nerves.
And Res Evil 2 came out, a vast improvement on the 1st if nothing else in terms of voice acting.
I can remember laughing myself into a headache at the awful, awful acting in the 1st one, “Barry?….where’s Barry?…..(10 second pauses) He must be in trouble”. Imagine a group of drama students on valium and you might be approaching the level of suckage this had, it almost ruined the game for me.
The 2nd was an improvement, moments that made you jump (the big thing smashing through the wall and chasing you stands out), the graphics improved and the acting wasn’t straight from kung-fu dubbed movie-hell.
Then Dino Crisis. Same game engine but with Dinosaurs.
Hmmm…it was ok but the odd not-very-fast-asorous lumbering behind you didn’t give you a sense of urgency.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
Once more, little improvement, better acting but still “Run about, get ammo, solve puzzle, shoot undead” grew wearying.
And then was Silent Hill.
This, for me, stands as the definitive gaming exercise in terror. Still does, after a repeated playing.
Yes this is gory, yes there are “things” that chase you.
But Silent Hill concentrates on mood, atmosphere and moments that made two 27 year olds turn the light on and wipe sweaty palms on the dog, swear at the cat for leaping onto the couch behind us and take pauses to reassure ourselves that nothing was hanging outside the door.
I’ve never experienced anything like this game, and I don’t think you can match it.
Gruesome, but genuinely disturbing in most places.
The school, evil imps burst out at you, children crying, locker doors SMASHING open as you walk past…so many moments to make you cry like a big girl (not me obviously…er…guns and war and other manly things).
And soon we have Silent Hill 2 on PS2.
I’m anticipating it greatly, yet fearing it immensely because I’m not sure nerves can handle an improved, even more adult excursion through some twisted Japanese mind.
The developers admitted “We toned the 1st one down, but we gave them free reign with this one”
Christ…do I want this or not?
Yes and no.
I for one am a huge fan of these games and feel that they are an often overlooked entry into video gaming.
I started on these games with Resident Evil for the PSX, never played anything like it before and loved it.
It wasn’t really a scary game, there were odd moments that made you jump (the hands through the windows anyone?) but it was more gore than nerves.
And Res Evil 2 came out, a vast improvement on the 1st if nothing else in terms of voice acting.
I can remember laughing myself into a headache at the awful, awful acting in the 1st one, “Barry?….where’s Barry?…..(10 second pauses) He must be in trouble”. Imagine a group of drama students on valium and you might be approaching the level of suckage this had, it almost ruined the game for me.
The 2nd was an improvement, moments that made you jump (the big thing smashing through the wall and chasing you stands out), the graphics improved and the acting wasn’t straight from kung-fu dubbed movie-hell.
Then Dino Crisis. Same game engine but with Dinosaurs.
Hmmm…it was ok but the odd not-very-fast-asorous lumbering behind you didn’t give you a sense of urgency.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
Once more, little improvement, better acting but still “Run about, get ammo, solve puzzle, shoot undead” grew wearying.
And then was Silent Hill.
This, for me, stands as the definitive gaming exercise in terror. Still does, after a repeated playing.
Yes this is gory, yes there are “things” that chase you.
But Silent Hill concentrates on mood, atmosphere and moments that made two 27 year olds turn the light on and wipe sweaty palms on the dog, swear at the cat for leaping onto the couch behind us and take pauses to reassure ourselves that nothing was hanging outside the door.
I’ve never experienced anything like this game, and I don’t think you can match it.
Gruesome, but genuinely disturbing in most places.
The school, evil imps burst out at you, children crying, locker doors SMASHING open as you walk past…so many moments to make you cry like a big girl (not me obviously…er…guns and war and other manly things).
And soon we have Silent Hill 2 on PS2.
I’m anticipating it greatly, yet fearing it immensely because I’m not sure nerves can handle an improved, even more adult excursion through some twisted Japanese mind.
The developers admitted “We toned the 1st one down, but we gave them free reign with this one”
Christ…do I want this or not?
Yes and no.
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Bingo.
Any excuse.
Be it religion, video games, movies, territory, money, oil...we've been bashing each other's brains out since we swung through the trees.
Same monkeys, better technology.
What a wonderful world.
Any excuse.
Be it religion, video games, movies, territory, money, oil...we've been bashing each other's brains out since we swung through the trees.
Same monkeys, better technology.
What a wonderful world.
Nobody can state facts concerning their own religious beliefs, thats why it's called Faith.
Tricky one Ant. I guess if you said you had an obsession with games then that comes a cropper under the 'Do not worship false idols' part of the doctrine (before anyone asks, I'm not a Christian, in fact I don't have any religious beliefs). Though I used to know Christians up North who's kids supported Manchester City, because United have the nickname 'The Red Devils'. That's taking it a bit too far. I guess it depends on what level you view games. Dino Crisis contains dinosaurs ('evolution' vs. creation), RE contains the undead and monsters, and so on. You obviously know how you feel about it, and after all faith should be between you and your God. But what other views have you had from the Christian fraternity? I'd be interested to know how they interpret games that contain violence etc.
Goatboy wrote:
> Christians have been in a couple of skirmishes.
The
> Inquisition
100 Years War
The Crusades
But that isnt my point,
> arguing about religion isnt going to work, because X believes one
> thing and Y believes another.
Religion does kill, but only when
> fundamentalists start up.
The Gaza strip/Palastinian things,
> genocide in Bosnia between Serbs and Muslims, Pro-lifers murdering
> doctors...that one amazes me
Pro-lifers killing people...it's
> irony on a base level.
I think we need to agree that some
> believe, some dont but everyone should do what they do and get on
> with their own lives instead of trying to change everyone
> elses.
>That's all I want to say
Nicely put, and very true.
One comment that I read on here a while ago by EDGY was, "But the Bible is a book full of fiction!"
Now that annoyed me. A LOT. I wouldn't of minded if he'd put, "I believe that it's full of fiction," but instead he wrote it like it was a fact!
> Christians have been in a couple of skirmishes.
The
> Inquisition
100 Years War
The Crusades
But that isnt my point,
> arguing about religion isnt going to work, because X believes one
> thing and Y believes another.
Religion does kill, but only when
> fundamentalists start up.
The Gaza strip/Palastinian things,
> genocide in Bosnia between Serbs and Muslims, Pro-lifers murdering
> doctors...that one amazes me
Pro-lifers killing people...it's
> irony on a base level.
I think we need to agree that some
> believe, some dont but everyone should do what they do and get on
> with their own lives instead of trying to change everyone
> elses.
>That's all I want to say
Nicely put, and very true.
One comment that I read on here a while ago by EDGY was, "But the Bible is a book full of fiction!"
Now that annoyed me. A LOT. I wouldn't of minded if he'd put, "I believe that it's full of fiction," but instead he wrote it like it was a fact!
Christians have been in a couple of skirmishes.
The Inquisition
100 Years War
The Crusades
But that isnt my point, arguing about religion isnt going to work, because X believes one thing and Y believes another.
Religion does kill, but only when fundamentalists start up.
The Gaza strip/Palastinian things, genocide in Bosnia between Serbs and Muslims, Pro-lifers murdering doctors...that one amazes me
Pro-lifers killing people...it's irony on a base level.
I think we need to agree that some believe, some dont but everyone should do what they do and get on with their own lives instead of trying to change everyone elses.
That's all I want to say
The Inquisition
100 Years War
The Crusades
But that isnt my point, arguing about religion isnt going to work, because X believes one thing and Y believes another.
Religion does kill, but only when fundamentalists start up.
The Gaza strip/Palastinian things, genocide in Bosnia between Serbs and Muslims, Pro-lifers murdering doctors...that one amazes me
Pro-lifers killing people...it's irony on a base level.
I think we need to agree that some believe, some dont but everyone should do what they do and get on with their own lives instead of trying to change everyone elses.
That's all I want to say
Wòókiee Møn§†€R wrote:
However I do believe that religion creates many
> more problems than it solves - just look at practically any war
> going on around the world at the moment. If you could just snap
> your fingers and make it so that religion had never existed, the
> world would immediately become a much more peaceful place.
How can you say that?? I know from personal experience that christianity has improved many people's lives. We'd have a lot more suicides on our hands.
Also, most wars are caused by possesion and building empires-not religion.
Okay, in some countries you can be arrested for believing in something, and yes, that is wrong.
But without religion I believe the world would be a sad place. Some of us would fear death a lot more, and I think that defintely my life would be a sad, lonely one, without much fullfillment.
However I do believe that religion creates many
> more problems than it solves - just look at practically any war
> going on around the world at the moment. If you could just snap
> your fingers and make it so that religion had never existed, the
> world would immediately become a much more peaceful place.
How can you say that?? I know from personal experience that christianity has improved many people's lives. We'd have a lot more suicides on our hands.
Also, most wars are caused by possesion and building empires-not religion.
Okay, in some countries you can be arrested for believing in something, and yes, that is wrong.
But without religion I believe the world would be a sad place. Some of us would fear death a lot more, and I think that defintely my life would be a sad, lonely one, without much fullfillment.
*big finger points down from the sky and HUGE voice commands*
Ant...claim thy gameaday prize
Ant...claim thy gameaday prize
Okay, I'm a christian like The Game, and here are my views on this topic:
Okay, lets look at what my life would be like if violence and gore were against my religion, and I wasn't allowd to watch/play/think anything about it.
I wouldn't be able to watch much TV or many movies-in some cases even the news!!
I also wouldn't be able to play many video games, as there are lots of shoot 'em ups ans survival horrors around.
Doesn't sound like my type of life.
But anyway, yes, in the Bible it says that I must love my neighbour. Now, I do that. Not literally, but I like to think of myself as a kind person (not all the time, though), and I also hope that I haven't really hurt anybody (mentally and physically)
Now, survival horror games. I've played on Dino Crisis 2, Resident Evil, Doom and many more. Does that mean I'm going against my religion?? I don't think so.
I mean, is God going to reject me because I play games that with blood and guts??? No.
The thing is, it's all around us. There's murders, shootings, robberies everything-in the news, in games, in movies, in TV, it's everywhere!! Of course, it's not good when you see it in real life, but in a video game or a movie I think it's harmless.
Of course God is more important to me than games. He's helped me SOOOOO much over the last few months, that if he asked me to stop playing games that have lots of violence and gore in them, then I would say yes.
But I don't think he's asking me to do that. As long as I have a relationship with him, and that I don't go against his rules (that's actually doing these things in real life, not in games), I like to think that he's happy with me.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Okay, lets look at what my life would be like if violence and gore were against my religion, and I wasn't allowd to watch/play/think anything about it.
I wouldn't be able to watch much TV or many movies-in some cases even the news!!
I also wouldn't be able to play many video games, as there are lots of shoot 'em ups ans survival horrors around.
Doesn't sound like my type of life.
But anyway, yes, in the Bible it says that I must love my neighbour. Now, I do that. Not literally, but I like to think of myself as a kind person (not all the time, though), and I also hope that I haven't really hurt anybody (mentally and physically)
Now, survival horror games. I've played on Dino Crisis 2, Resident Evil, Doom and many more. Does that mean I'm going against my religion?? I don't think so.
I mean, is God going to reject me because I play games that with blood and guts??? No.
The thing is, it's all around us. There's murders, shootings, robberies everything-in the news, in games, in movies, in TV, it's everywhere!! Of course, it's not good when you see it in real life, but in a video game or a movie I think it's harmless.
Of course God is more important to me than games. He's helped me SOOOOO much over the last few months, that if he asked me to stop playing games that have lots of violence and gore in them, then I would say yes.
But I don't think he's asking me to do that. As long as I have a relationship with him, and that I don't go against his rules (that's actually doing these things in real life, not in games), I like to think that he's happy with me.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
This is becoming a religious discussion!
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