20 Great Games for Halloween Part 2

Here we go.

11. House of the Dead 2

Honestly it's one of my favorite games of the rail shooter genre.  It is gruesomely gory, hilariously acted, and just too perfect for its own good.  I have gotten pretty good at this game too.  One credit can last me a long time.  Go out and try this right away.

12. Luigi's Mansion

Obvious choice, but there is nothing more Halloween than this game.  It reminds me of that Lonesome Ghost cartoon with Mickey.  So great to play as Luigi and bust some ghosts with a vacuum.  As we all know, busting makes you feel good.

13.Monster in My Pocket

Based on a board game/trading card series/cartoon, this is a perfect Halloween treat.  Fun as hell to play and you get to be mini Count Orlok or mini Frankenstein's Monster.  You run around killing other monsters and they are all recognizable from their trading card counterparts.  Plus it is pretty fun.

14. Monster Bash

Nothing short of the most Halloweeny platform game ever.  Lots of fun and full of great looks.  You go around as a kid collecting candy on Halloween night and saving household pets from the likes of zombies and what not.  Just go play it.

15. Resident Evil

I love this franchise.  Sure the story is stupid and the games have become about superheroes fighting monsters (Soon to be rectified.) but it is a classic.  Most people complain about the early game's controls and the inability to see.  I say it looks like a horror movie and gives you just enough scares.  The original has that Haunted Mansion feel, but with zombies instead.  This game is the perfect game version of an Italian horror movie, complete with bad acting and a ridiculous story.  I love it.

16. Vampire Master of Darkness

Yeah I know, I am obsessed with Sega things.  Nonetheless, this game rises from it's Castlevania wannabe design to become a great game.  Nice controls, decent difficulty, hell even the item pickups make more sense than Castlevania.  This game is just too good to be missed.

17. Victor Vran

I recently got this game and fell deeply in love with it.  All the simplicity you would want from an action rpg dungeon crawl.  I like this game more than Diablo 3 honestly.  Not that it is a better game mind you.  Just that it really gets that Halloween style and is fun in a way that some action rpgs somehow miss.

18.Wanpaku Graffiti: Splatterhouse NES

It's too bad this game never made it to the US, because it is so fun and really translates the gameplay of Splatterhouse to the NES well while also being it's own game.  In the picture, the Dracula guy is making the monsters do a Thriller dance before sending them to attack you.  If that doesn't make you want to play it then you have no heart and do not respect Halloween.  So get outta here and give me all your Candy Corn

19.War of the Monsters

One of my absolute favorite PS2 games.  You run around as a big monster, killing other big monsters.  So much fun and really nails that Godzilla fighting idea.  Not only that but it gets the giant bug thing in there with a Mantis character.

20. Zombie Revenge

Technically a spin off of the House of the Dead franchise, this is one of my most beloved Dreamcast games.  It plays like Die Hard Arcade but you kill zombies by punching them to death or grabbing guns or drills and massacring them.  Violent, fun and perfect for Halloween.  Go bust your Dreamcast out and enjoy an arcade classic.  You Dreamcast is thinking... about how it collects dust and you never play it.  The system may plot a revenge of it's own if you don't use it.  So go play it before it kills you.

20 Great Games for Halloween Part 1

One of the best things about Halloween, next to candy corn and horror movies, is video games.  Games are all over the place so someone could easily do a list of 100 themed games for your Halloween frenzy.  Obviously this means there will be some games missing from this list.  However, I have chosen games that I think of every year I and think it is a great list.

1. Ghouls and Ghosts (Genesis)

Right here is the best of the best.  Ghouls and Ghosts for the Sega Genesis is not only the most playable and appealing game in the franchise, it is pure Halloween greatness.  I watched a friend beat this on Halloween once and I think about how great it is all the time.  It is for me, better than the snes version.

2. Bloodrayne

Bloodrayne is probably an obvious choice.  Insert jokes of its ridiculous sexuality or the bad Uwe Boll movie all you like, but there is a lot to love.  You run around as a blade wielding, gun toting vampire  and killed tons of nazis.  One of the best things is that sucking blood is pretty important as a game mechanic and bad guys serve as health.  Too cool, but this games is in no way perfect.  It is for a specific kind of crowd as well.

3. Eternal Darkness

It seems like forever ago when I was a lone dude, talking about just how great this game is.  Now everyone seems to know about it.  The hallucinations, the action, the puzzle solving, and the scares.  This game is nothing short of a masterpiece, and quite honestly one of the best Cthulhu Mythos games ever made.

4. Halloween Forever

I supported this game even before it came to Steam.  Back then it was just a short, entertaining little distraction.  Now with all the recent updates, it feels like a decently polished NES throwback with plenty to find, a nice difficulty, and a good amount of replay value.  This game is worthy of sitting among other titles like Ghosts and Goblins as a Halloween classic.

5. Blood

If Doom is too obvious a choice, try out Blood.  The game is full of violent and crazy imagery.  You go around killing undead things, cultists, etc.  Really awesome.  It reminds me of Duke Nukem 3D in graphic style, but with enough of its own flare to be great in itself.  This is sadly an overlooked classic.

6. Diablo 1

I put the first game on the list over the other ones for one simple reason, atmosphere.  In many ways, Diablo's simplicity is it's best feature.  The slowness of the game that some people complain about only adds to the atmosphere when you really give it a chance.  I played this one first and I still play it to this day.

7. Doom

Let's talk about the obvious here.  Doom is absolutely one of the best games ever made.  Even if you don't like the style of game, there is no denying the effect it has had on gaming over the years.  The thing I find fascinating is how few FPS games get the formula right.  Doom does it the best.  Don't believe me?  Spend time on the internet.  The game has endless replay value as well due to it's large and dedicated community of modders.  For an added bonus, try Doom 64.

8. Castlevania Bloodlines

For Halloween, nothing beats Castlevania.  My favorite may be Super Castlevania IV, but Bloodlines is nothing short of a masterpiece.  Easier than 3, Longer than 1, better than Dracula X, and gory as hell for a Castlevania game.  This is a perfect Genesis game and really shows off the awesomness.

9. Ghost Master

This game has had a rough life.  No matter how much people talk about it, no one pays attention.  It is a great game.  Kind of Sims like, but full of strategy and hilarious happenings.  Really this game is just too fun and it is cheap as well so go get it on Steam or GOG right now.

10. Fatal Frame

This is one of my favorite horror games of all time.  Truly scary and a lot of fun to play.  It's problems seem to help the mood and keep you in a box of controls that makes it hard to really get a ghost.  This adds to the scary factor, but some people find this game boring and problematic.  There are a lot of fans out there for this one and for good reason too.

Rodney Recommends for Halloween: House (1986)

Recently, I've been working on a project of sorts that has taken up my time.  So naturally this means very little posting.  That being said, it is related to this blog.  Also, one of my reviews had a huge spike in views and I was rather surprised to discover this.  Anyway I should be doing something for Halloween since it is my favorite holiday and I celebrate it throughout the month.  It's not as though I only watch horror during October either.  Honestly it is my favorite genre.

So naturally I would like to review a movie that was very important in shaping my taste in movies.  When I was little I saw part of Child's Play and it made me very scared of my favorite toy at the time, a My Buddy doll.  The damn thing even looked like me, but nonetheless I buried it as far as I could in the toy box and didn't dare take all the toys out for fear that the face would stare up at me.  I did continue to watch horror and monster movies though.  Most of them until around 7 were classic monster movies, or Godzilla films.

Then this happened, my father decided it was time for me to man up and he showed me some horror movies.  The first one on the list was a movie called House, starring William Katt (The Greatest American Hero).  The movie itself wasn't all that scary, but it did have jump scares and quite a bit of comedy, helped along by George Wendt.  I immediately fell in love with it.  Constantly I tried to show it to people, and still do to this day.  But let's review the damn thing already.

The movie is about a guy named Roger Cobb, a sort of two hit wonder in the horror novel world, who has had problems with writing as of late due to his son having disappeared, his wife leaving him, and his new book being about his traumatic experiences in the Vietnam war with a guy named Ben.  Anyway, fans are clamoring for his new book, and so are his publishers.  It's at this time his Aunt who raised him, commits suicide.  His Aunt always thought her house was haunted and painted morbid pictures as well as talked constantly about it in her old age.  She even blamed Roger's son's disappearance on the haunted house where the child went missing.

Roger decides to stay there and get some writing done after entering it again and quickly experiences paranormal activity.  He meets a neighbor who is pretty damn hilarious, and a fan of Roger Cobb's as well.  When Roger tells his neighbor about the ghost that attacks him in the middle of the night, he doesn't believe Roger.  Of course now Roger is convinced that his Aunt was not only killed by the house, but perhaps the house itself is behind his son's disappearance.  All this while flashing back to his time in Vietnam.

This movie works so well on so many levels.  First of all, it's a comedy horror film, and secondly it's sometimes in Vietnam.  Here and there you will spend time there for a few minutes before cutting back to the real world.  It all makes for some great pacing that keeps you interested.  The film is directed by Steven Miner who also did Friday the 13th 2 and 3.  Also the story (but not script) is by Fred Dekker of Monster Squad fame, and I think it shows.  It is honestly quite brilliant with both horror and comedy working well together as opposed to playing tug of war like some other horror comedies do.  The story itself is engaging enough for the average person, even those new comers with a short attention span, to see it through to the end.  Most importantly, when you do see it through, you are rewarded with a damn fine time as well.

I won't say much more as, despite it being popular I think there are plenty who haven't seen it and would love it not to be spoiled.  Here's what I can say for quality though.  I have been watching this movie around every year or two for more than 20 years now.  Clearly it must be good.