Top 10...Horror Videogames

10.  Dino Crisis

What do you get when you cross Resident Evil with Jurassic Park?  A classic, that's what.  The Dino Crisis games took pleasure in stranding us on an abandoned island and surrounding us with bloodthirsty dinosaurs and frustrating puzzles.

The games were original and action packed with a decent storyline to boot.

9.  7th Guest

One of the few groundbreaking titles for the defunct CD-i console.  7th Guest tried some original things that had not been possible on previous, cartridge-based, systems and managed to use video and audio to highten the cinematic feel.  The game was spooky throughout and the storyline became progressively darker as one progressed (an evil, child-killing toymaker).  The puzzles could sometimes be a bit too hard but they were all memorable.

Wouldn't hold up much by today's standards, but back in the day, this game was scary.

8.  Dead Rising

Not a frightening game at all, but more a comic book homage to the zombie genre.  The first game obvioulsy took it's inspiration from Dawn of the Dead as it locked us inside a shopping mall infested with the undead.  The aim of the game was to complete a bunch of tasks whilst simultaneously dismembering zombies by increasingly insane methods.

Not scary, but a whole lot of fun.

7.  Bioshock

A truly unique setting makes this game stand out as a bleak, desperate tale of science gone mad.  The game features hi-tech graphics and Grade A storytelling equal to a Hollywood blockbuster.  Some of the 'splicers'  are pretty creepy, and the game's ending is great.

A modern classic.

6.  Doom

It became a genre unto itself and set up the FPS boom that is still going today.  The games version of hell was horrific at the time and lead to many memorable 'baddies' as well as the classic shotgun to blow them apart with.

A game that paved the way for future videogames.

5.  Dead Space

A highly polished, highly enjoyable horror game that seemed to come from nowhere.  The premise of the protagonist being a lowly engineer without proper weapons to fight an endless onslaught of mutated monsters aboard a derelict space ship was what really added to the sense of hopeless survival.

The purest survival horror videogame of the last few years.

4.  Vampire: The Masquerade

This game ruled and came out when vampires were still monsters and not angst-ridden outcasts.  The story world is a deep and involving ones, featuring a deepwoven society of vampires and their clans.  As a newly made vampire, it is imperative that you learn how to fit into this world as quickly as possible.  To do this, you're gonna have to start picking sides.

A deep and enthralling story that is true to what vampires 'should be'.

3.  Parasite Eve

These games were epic and featured horror on a much bigger scale than the other more confined genre entries.  They were also different in that they were RPG-like in many aspects, allowing the user to level up their powers and weapons.  The puzzles were smart and the plot was a sci-fi infused journey into the very esscence of what we are.

A rare gem.

2.  Silent Hill

A truly unsettling game that set up an entire town as the bad guy.  Aimed purely at adults and aiming for a more traditional horror atmosphere then some of the 'comic book' styles of other titles.  Atmosphere was key to the brilliance of the games and no one that played it could not be un-nerved by the clinging mist and the sharp crackle of the radio whenever danger approached.

The game features knife-wielding babies...need I say more.

1.  Resident Evil

An obvious pick but, as the game that pretty much started the 'survival horror' genre, it deserves its place at number 1.  I believe the series as a whole has lost its way, but the earlier entries were fun-packed and horrific.  The joy of exploding a zombie's head with a shotgun was pretty much unrivalled at the time.

The worst voice-overs in history, but absolutely nailed everything else.  They tried to ban this pioneer but thankfully they did not suceed.  Get your 'zombie-killing' hat on.