Pixelated Panic - The Fear Factor in Games

It was a beautiful day outside. The temperature had risen above 40°F for the first time in weeks. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and sunlight was streaming through my windows. Then why was I on the edge of breaking down in fright? Well, after months of waiting, I was finally playing Bioshock.

Now, I have played "horror" games before, be it from the Resident Evil series, or even as recent as Condemned: Criminal Origins for the 360. And yet, never before have I been this scared while playing a game. Every encounter had me on the edge of my seat, and every corridor held the possibility of another splicer sneaking up behind me and stabbing me through. But why is it this game that got me?

For one, I think it has to do with the perspective. With a third-person game like Resident Evil, you are detached from the situation. You can see if there is a zombie sneaking up behind you, whereas in Bioshock, you are blissfully unaware until it hits you, or turn around and nearly piss yourself. The character has such a strong feeling of immersion in this game, and to see the story unfold around them is far more effective than watching it through cutscenes and experiencing the game how OTHER people want you to experience it.

But it's more than just the first-person perspective. It's the player's complete embodiment of the character. In other games, you take the role of a pre-assigned character. Even in Condemned, which was also in the first-person view, you take the role of Ethan Thomas, interacting with other friendly characters at different points in the game. But in Bioshock, your character has no name. You know nothing of him or his past, and on the slight offchance you interact with a friendly NPC in the game, you are still wary enough to distrust them.

Which brings up another reason Bioshock had people so scared; The setting. Other games choose to place the player in decrepit locales like a forest, or a derelict building. While those are certainly frightening, it's because they are MADE to be frightening. Horror movies have used these places for years, and it's because they are, by nature, scary.

But with Bioshock, the city of Rapture is created to have a strange, unfamiliar feeling. It gives the feeling of a place that was once grand and beautiful, but something went wrong, and it's the fact that you don't know what happened to this place that makes it so scary. Throughout the game you see glimpses of what life was like, as well as some of the horrendously disfigured splicers trying to hold onto a past long gone. I'll never forget rounding a corner to see a woman standing over an empty carriage crying and singing to a child that isn't there.

It's moments like this that make Bioshock so memorable. But not all of the best moments are scripted. At one point, I had to chase down and kill one particular splicer. As he ran, he was throwing bombs behind him, and one of them hit a Big Daddy. Well, he wasn't having any of that, so he started chasing after the splicer as well, and as I shot, I had to make sure not to hit the Big Daddy, else he turn on me.

Then there's the extreme rationing of ammo. The Resident Evil games did this to some extent, but I think it was really perfected in Bioshock. Whenever a player gets into a fight, they have to quickly decide what precious little ammo they want to use. Every time a battle starts, they have to ask themselves "Do I want to use my shotgun, even though I've only got four shells left? Do I want to use my pistol, even though I only have six shots? What about my two frag grenades?" The game forces you to make these decisions, while still giving you a slow, yet steady trickle throughout.

Now, this doesn't mean that any horror game can get this right. It's the perfect balance and fine-tuning of all the minute details that make this game just right. It's a combination of the gameplay, the story elements, the setting, and the music. The music, in particular, is chillingly wonderful. The free soundtrack released before the game's launch (found over at the Cult of Rapture site) is utterly fantastic, and what put the game on my radar in the first place.

So kudos, Mr. Levine. You've created something that's not only given me a great deal of enjoyment, but has managed to bring a college-aged man on the verge of tears. Bravo.