JOE’s five scariest moments in video game history

With Dead Space 2 looking to put the willies up gamers this weekend, we look back at some of the scariest moments in video game history.

By Emmet Purcell

Dead Space 2 may not be your mother's favourite video game, yet critics and gamers everywhere are salivating at strapping into the miner boots of Isaac Clarke once more this weekend. The original Dead Space became a critical darling for bringing much-needed scares to the current console generation and helping lead the way for the ailing survival horror genre.

With DS2 hoping to outdo the enormous scare quotient of its predecessor, we thought it was time to recall our scariest memories of video games, past and present.

5. Zombie doberman dogs in Resident Evil

Probably the most famous scare on our list, the doberman dog scene of the original Resident Evil title has been often imitated but never bettered. Near the beginning of your exploration of the Spencer Mansion players reach a narrow hallway and you pass what appears to be an innocuous window.

No sooner have players passed the window, however, that a bloodthirsty zombie doberman has crashed through it and is chasing you down the hall. Players turn the corner, find another window and of course, another doberman has appeared! As you can see below, the doberman attack is an excellent 'jump' scare that benefits from the fact that players tend to not have the firepower necessary at this point of the game to survive the attack - the only option is to run. Many unprepared newcomers have found themselves chewed up on the carpet of that hallway.

4. The arrival of Necromorphs in Dead Space

While not many gamers will argue that Resident Evil 4 was a masterpiece of game design, the fourth installment of the venerable franchise shifted its gameplay from survival horror scares to intense, often overpowered third-person shooting. With that in mind, some longstanding fans of the franchise felt that survival horror would struggle to find relevance in the modern age. They hadn't counted on Dead Space.

With a plot that cribs from sci-fi stalwarts such as Event Horizon and Alien, Dead Space was the sleeper hit of 2008, not that its fans managed to get much sleep from the soliary, scare-filled experience. There are plenty of frightening moments to pick from but we love the opening scenes embedded below.

What begins as a routine investigation of a mining vessel goes awry within minutes as our protaganist Isaac Clarke witnesses his crewmates mauled to pieces by Necromorphs from behind the glass of a locked-down room. No sooner have the alarms been set does the player realise that the grotesque creatures have breached the room and are chasing them down. With absolutely no weapons introduced at this point in the game it's a case of sprinting for the elevator. Once players make it to the safety of the elevator and shut its doors, its many a player that set down their joypad and breathed a sigh of relief. Their mistake...

3. Meeting Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2

As perhaps the most famous video games villain that resembles a piece of Toberlone, the aptly-named Pyramid Head. Lacking a voice or any prime motivation for his actions, Pyramid Head stalks players in Silent Hill 2 and his appearences were so effective that many consider the character to be one of the most terrifying villains in video game history. Here he is raping a mannequin:

2. Turning on a first-generation Xbox 360

As perhaps the most iconic and dastardly nemesis of gamers everywhere this console generation, the Red Ring of Death aka RROD was the bane of early adopters of the Xbox 360. The first year failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles after the console's launch was between 3 to 5%, according to Microsoft themselves, though the fact official figures were never released, one imagines it could easily have been higher.

Simply put, the red rigs that replaced the regular healthy green rings when your Xbox 360 was turned on meant one thing and one thing only - ship that console off to Microsoft and wait impatiently for the next few weeks. Such was the horror stories and general fear for the dreaded RROD, just turning on your first generation Xbox 360 was a pants-soaking ordeal of the highest order.

1. The evil piano from Super Mario 64

Yes, it's Super Mario 64, one of the happiest, most evergreen titles in existence. However, who won't admit to being ever-so-slighty unnerved by the Big Boo's Haunt level? Hmm, everyone I'd imagine. Well screw it, the haunted mansion in Super Mario 64 was frightening in our opinion for one reason and one reason only - the killer piano. At first glance it's a regular piano but take a few steps closer you become chased by a manicial music instrument with pointy, razor-sharp teeth! It's horrendous - take a look at the clip below if you dare.