Aggressive Inline: An Unexpectedly Haunted Game

Well Halloween is over guys, and some of us are having a harder time getting out of the Halloween spirit than others.  That's why I'm going to be fitting in one more ghastly post even though it's no longer October.  Today we're going to take a look at some supernatural elements that unexpectedly make an appearance in the extreme sports game Aggressive Inline.

Well I probably shouldn't have said they would be unexpected, the extreme sports genre is known for some pretty whacked-out moments (ever play Toxic Grind, or a "little" game series featuring Tony Hawk?).  Anyway, we're going to cover some aspects of the first level in Aggressive Inline, which is the Movie Lot.

Your first impression of the level is that it's pretty standard fare for something of this genre.  You're basically busting combos on the street outside of a movie studio.  You can even enter the studio and continue your hijinks.  Here you'll find that the place is apparently set up for a horror film of some sort, complete with gravestones scattered everywhere, and a dead-looking tree.

Just a regular, non-haunted tree, right guys?

This brings us to the first "supernatural" event.  There is a objective you can activate near the tree, where you are given instructions by a disembodied voice who claims to be the ghost of a previous skater.  In actuality, it sounds like some surfer guy (possibly a bored intern at the studio) talking through a loudspeaker, trying too hard to sound scary and just coming off as comical.

However, completing this objective causes the dead-looking tree to start growing rapidly, with roots bursting out of the ground, and branches reaching out and twisting around overhead cables.  While this is happening we hear a deep, roaring voice and an evil-sounding laugh.  Maybe it really was a ghost we were speaking to?

Possessed tree pulling its roots out of the ground.

Also in one section of the film studio, amongst the gravestones you'll find multiple ghosts flying and walking this way and that.  At first you might assume these to be projections of some sort, just special effects for whatever movie is being filmed.  However after the whole experience with the tree, we just don't know, and the game never explains.

Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.

That wraps up our quick look at the possibly paranormal experiences you'll have in the Movie Lot level of Aggressive Inline.  Did you guys play this game?  If so, do you think our skating character really encountered ghosts?  Or were we just being messed with by the studio's staff?

Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts: A Very Square Halloween

Happy Halloween!  It's time to celebrate the scariest holiday of the year, pop in a creepy game (if you need some help choosing, feel free to pick a game that I've covered this past month), turn off the lights, and prepare to be scared!  Today we're going to look at a game that isn't very scary at all (wait, what's going on?!), but is still fitting for the 31st of October.  That game is Kingdom Hearts, and more specifically we're going to look at the Halloween Town level which is based off of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

For the uninitiated, Kingdom Hearts is a game that combined characters from Square-Enix games with those of Disney films.  It sounds very odd, but it made for an awesome adventure.  Besides, who doesn't want to see Donald Duck kick some ass?  Each world you visit is based off of a Disney film, such as the underwater city in The Little Mermaid, the jungle in Tarzan, and Agrabah from Aladdin.

Now, the Nightmare Before Christmas might not seem to be a Disney film, but it was developed by Touchstone Pictures, which is owned by Disney.  Therefore the developers of Kingdom Hearts made a good choice by reaching into this film's universe to construct a spooky and fun world to explore.

This level begins by dropping protagonists Sora, Goofy, and Donald Duck (yes I know it sounds absurd) right into Guillotine Plaza, which you'll immediately recognize from the opening of the film.  The signature guillotine is there of course, as are multiple Jack O'Lanterns and dreary-looking buildings.  Also, an instrumental version of This is Halloween plays in the background most of the time.

Indeed Goofy, indeed.

From here, we can access multiple locations, such as Doctor Finkelstein's lab, where the doc himself is trying to discover a way to implant hearts into "the Heartless" (the main grunt enemies in the game).  You'll also be able to enter Halloween Town's graveyard in all its creepy glory.  It's probably even more creepy in the game due to the multiple battles with ghost-like Heartless monsters.  Also making an appearance is the iconic Moonlight Hill, which you'll recognize from the film as the curled up hill which unrolls as Jack Skellington walks across it.

Last but not least, you'll get to visit Oogie Boogie's Manor.  Here you must scale the imposing structure while fighting off multiple Heartless.  This eventually leads you to Oogie's torture chamber, where you'll find the man himself (technically he's not a man but you know what I mean).

All these locations in Kingdom Hearts are very well done, not surprising given the quality Square-Enix is known for, and should make fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas grin with delight.  The locales definitely feel as though they were pulled right from the film, despite some changes here and there (such as an occasionally reddish-colored sky).

Locations alone wouldn't be enough to convey the spirit of the film, there needs to be characters, and the game delivers on that front too.  At the start of the level you immediately meet up with Jack Skellington and the double-faced mayor.  Jack even joins your party, which is awesome enough on its own.  As mentioned earlier you'll also see Doctor Finkelstein in his lab, as well as his creation (and Jack's girlfriend) the stitched up Sally.

Since Oogie Boogie is present in the game, his minions Lock, Shock, and Barrel are present and causing mischief.  Speaking of Oogie, he serves as the level's main boss, where you must battle him in a couple different forms.

When all is said and done, the developers at Square-Enix did an awesome job integrating the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas into this game.  Fans of the film will enjoy seeing their favorite characters and exploring their favorite locales.  For me it was worth it just to have the iconic This is Halloween theme music playing in the background (my favorite song in the film).  If you're looking for a mostly non-scary way to spend Halloween, what better way than to visit Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts?

I hope you guys have enjoyed this past month of spooky-themed gaming posts, thanks for reading!

Castlevania: The House That Dracula Built

Very few games can encapsulate the spirit of Halloween better than Castlevania.  A journey through a gigantic castle filled with all sorts of monsters and creepy scenery, which concludes in a showdown with Dracula?  The only way this could be anymore Halloween-themed is if it had a set of decorative Jack O'Lanterns scattered throughout each castle.  Today we're going to cover some of the monsters that our vampire-hunting protagonists encounter in the Castlevania games.

In these games you'll find the usual suspects in fantasy horror games/media, such as zombies, skeletons (so many different types of skeletons that it's not even funny), and bats.  Since these are so common in other games, let's discuss some other enemies that are less abundant outside of Castlevania.

Medusa Heads

If you've played any of the games in this series, then you're very familiar with this enemy (probably more familiar than you'd like).  Their appearance is pretty self-explanatory thanks to their name: they are essentially disembodied heads of Medusa, complete with the snake hairstyle.  These enemies tend to attack in swarms which fly through the air, usually in a bobbing pattern which generally makes them difficult to avoid.

Most people will list Medusa Heads as the most annoying enemy in the Castlevania games due to the relentless way they throw massive amounts of these monsters at you.  There is really no choice but to try and attack as many as possible, otherwise you'll take too much damage to continue much further.

Bone Pillar

Yes, I said I'd be skipping skeletons in this article, but I'm willing to make an exception for this iconic enemy.  Bone Pillars are usually represented as two or more skulls stacked on top of each other.  They aren't the boring overused human skulls either, they are dinosaur skulls.

Note the stack of dinosaur skulls at the right side of the screen.

At first you might consider these to be a mild threat because they are a completely stationary enemy, basically just a skull statue.  However, Bone Pillars are capable of shooting fireballs from their mouths, giving them a pretty decent ranged attack.  To make matters worse, sometimes these enemies hang out on the far side of a gap you must jump over.  Time your jump wrong and the knock-back from getting hit by a fireball will send you to your doom.

Mermen

Even though the name of this enemy might make you think it's some kind of pansy straight out of The Little Mermaid, make no mistake, Mermen are worthy to be in Dracula's castle.  They are actually quite hideous in appearance, looking similar to the Zoras in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.

Wherever you find pools of water in a Castlevania game, chances are a Merman is lurking within.  These enemies will jump out of the water and proceed to stalk towards you (bet you never thought a Merman would be capable of walking on dry land, did you?).  Every once in a while Mermen will shake things up by stopping and shoot fireballs out of their mouth.  Despite being fairly easy to defeat, you never want to underestimate a ranged attack.

There are obviously many more enemies in the Castlevania games, but to be honest most are variations of each other (there must be over twenty different types of skeleton warriors in these games).  Besides some of the more annoying enemies (I'm looking at you Medusa Heads), most of these creatures are fun to battle while you play as a vampire-slaying bad-ass.  Which Castlevania enemies do you guys consider to be the most memorable?

Creepers in Minecraft: Evil Self-Destructing Terrors

Today we're going to talk about the most brutal, most annoying, and most popular enemy in Minecraft: the Creeper.  Truly these creeps enjoy creeping around and causing massive amounts of damage to you and anything you've built.  Nothing drives home the point that you shouldn't leave your safe area at nighttime like one of these monsters.

Creepers are the most unique enemies in the game.  Whereas monsters like giant spiders and zombies are based off of popular fictional creatures, you'd be hard-pressed to find something in other fictional works that looks and acts like a Creeper.  They're basically armless beasts with four legs and a large head, with a face that appears to have a permanent expression of sadness.  I'd be sad too if my only means of defending myself was to use a suicide-causing exploding attack.

And that brings us to why Creepers are infuriating.  If one of them catches sight of you, which they will due to their good eyesight, it will run up to your location and explode as soon as it saddles up next to you.  Unlike the other enemies in the game, Creepers don't announce their arrival by making sounds.  In fact, they are completely silent up until the point when it's too late to run away (they make a hissing sound the instant before they explode).  Therefore they earn their name due to their ability to creep up on you when you aren't looking and cause devastating amounts of damage.

A Creeper explosion in progress.

If you're lucky enough to survive the initial explosion, you'll find that the blast has caused a huge crater, and taken out pretty much everything within a small radius.  If you're like myself and create your houses out of wooden planks, large sections of these structures won't stand a chance.  Stone holds up much better but is still not strong enough to be impenetrable.  And you thought Endermen were bad when it came to disassembling your creations?

Thankfully it is possible to take down a Creeper, but you must be much more cautious than you would with other enemies.  The easiest way is to use a bow and arrow to shoot them from a distance, which will give you plenty of breathing room.  However, I prefer to take them down with a sword, which is much more risky.  This requires running up to the Creeper, slicing at it, then retreating before it explodes.  Rinse and repeat until this evil monster draws its last hissing breath.

Beating down a Creeper using a sword.

Preventing Creepers from spawning is as good a reason as any to place torches every couple of feet in your safe zone.  A rogue zombie or spider is fine every once in a while, but you most definitely do not want to deal with a Creeper spawning there and potentially destroying your creative works.  Do you guys have any memorable moments of Creeper destruction?

ReDeads in Zelda: The Nintendo Take on Zombies

Zombies, zombies everywhere!  At least that's what it seems like when it comes to videogames (and more recently, television shows).  The Legend of Zelda games are no exception due to their own form of zombie: the ReDead.  Today let's observe this undead (does being re-dead technically count as undead? hmm...) monstrosity that Link must face.

ReDeads made their first appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and what a first appearance it is.  Link finds himself in an underground tomb of the royal family of Hyrule (located in Kakariko Village's graveyard), and comes across a large room filled with zombie ReDeads.  In fact, the majority of ReDeads are found in tombs, as well as Hyrule Castle Town after Ganondorf sacks it.  It wouldn't be appropriate to have this super-disturbing enemy hanging out on the sunny beach of Lake Hylia, now would it?

Before you even catch sight of a ReDead, you'll know it's nearby due to the distinctive moaning sounds it makes (maybe it's saying "braaaiiinss" in the Hylian language?).  They walk extremely slow, and with a hunchbacked posture, fitting for a zombie.  You might think that this would make them easy to avoid, but the game developers were one step ahead of you.  ReDeads will let out a high-pitched scream when Link is nearby, which paralyzes him in fear.  When this happens, you helplessly watch as one or more of these monsters shambles towards the frozen Link.  Once they are close enough, they will jump on Link's back and proceed to bite him.

Just like the Dead Hand in Ocarina of Time, this creature was clearly designed to give kids nightmares.  It's definitely one of the most-feared enemies in the game.

Like most enemies in Ocarina of Time, the ReDead makes an appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.  This game also contains an enemy called the Gibdo, which is basically a ReDead dressed up in mummy wrappings.  While wearing the Gibdo mask, Link can converse with some of these zombie mummies, while you try to decide if you're horrified or amused.

ReDeads even pull in a guest appearance in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.  Here they abandon their previous looks for something we are more accustomed to seeing with zombies.  They have greenish dead-looking skin, as well as a mouthful of teeth, definitely nailing the undead corpse look.  They have very long arms which almost drag on the ground, and a gigantic head (oddly enough, they even have earrings), making for an altogether disturbing visual appearance.  Like their previous incarnations, they have a paralyzing scream that incapacitates Link.

That about wraps up our quick look at the zombie creatures in the Legend of Zelda games.  ReDeads are definitely a frightening enemy, due to their appearance and their ability to freeze Link on the spot.  They are proof that Nintendo does display a bit of a dark side every once in a while, and that's fine with me!

What did you guys think of the ReDeads?  Did they give you a fright when you first encountered them?

The Berserker and Kryll in Gears of War: Heart-Pounding Action

When you think Gears of War, you're likely thinking of nonstop action, extremely gory chainsaw fatalities, and in the case of the later games in the series, awkward drama moments.  If you've played the very first entry in the series however, you'll also remember that Gears once had some truly scary and stressful moments.  For those of you who jumped into the world of Sera during the second or third Gears games, this is going to be a quick introduction to the Kryll and Berserkers, two of the most feared enemy types in Gears of War (I know there's a form of Berserker in Gears 3, but it's watered down so it doesn't count).

Marcus has a rough night ahead of him.

Kryll

The Kryll are essentially bats from hell.  They lived primarily underground before the chaotic events of Emergence Day (when the Locust emerged from their underground habitat to begin a siege on the surface of the planet).  Because they are accustomed to dark underground caverns, Kryll cannot tolerate light at all.  In the game we see that light has varying effects on these creatures, such as making them feel pain, or flat out causing them to burn to a crisp.  Therefore these enemies only emerge from underground at nighttime, and hunt in groups containing millions of Kryll.

Kryll filling the skies.

What makes Kryll dangerous is their carnivorous nature.  If they catch any living being standing exposed in the dark, they will swoop down in small (well if you call "hundreds" small) groups and devour it.  During the inevitable night missions in Gears of War, we witness Kryll reducing human beings to nothing but a bloody stain in mere seconds.

Using a UV cannon to neutralize glow-eyed Kryll.

During these night missions, you absolutely have to stay in lit up areas if you want to survive.  There are quite a few thrilling segments where you have to charge from streetlight to streetlight, occasionally diving into a well-lit building, all while taking heavy fire from Locust armies.  If you stay outside the light for too long, you're rewarded with a brutal scene of protagonist Marcus Fenix being eaten alive.

Berserker

You will encounter just a few of these enemies in the game, but the battles are definitely worth waiting for.  Berserkers are female Locust, and just like a Black Widow spider, the females are larger and much more dangerous than the males.

Berserkers for some reason are blind, and therefore rely on sound and smell to locate prey.  Your first encounter with this monster in Gears is inside a tomb, where a Berserker has gotten loose and proceeds to hunt you down.  As you creep through the halls you won't see her, but you'll hear her growling and smashing objects as she tries to locate you.  Before you know it, the Berserker smashes through a wall directly in front of you, and commences her charging attack.

This is not good...

This is an especially intense moment of the game, because the goal of the battle is to lure the Berserker out of the tomb so you can hit her with a satellite-based laser (she will shrug off your bullets as if they were spitballs).  Naturally you just want to run away from this huge, ugly creature, but since that's not an option you have to choose carefully when to get her attention so she will charge in the direction you choose.  Get too close to her and you'll get to see Marcus Fenix mauled to death.  This is a battle you'll have to experience yourself in order to feel the fear of being in close quarters with an almost-unstoppable enemy pursuing you.

In conclusion, I find these two enemy types to be the most frightening in the series, and I'm still disappointed that they didn't make any appearances in Gears of War 2 or 3.  They helped add variety to the battles and are sorely missed.  Did you guys play Gears of War 1?  If so, did you find Kryll and Berserkers to be pretty intense enemies?

Stalkers in Half-Life 2: Grotesquely Recycled Human Beings

Half-Life 2 is great at describing a worst-case scenario about first-contact with an alien species, or in this case multiple alien species.  Here you won't find aliens expressing greetings from far away star systems, in Half-Life 2 humanity is still dealing with the aftermath of a seven-hour war with the Combine after they first teleported onto Earth.  That wasn't a typo, the war with humanity literally lasted seven hours before humanity had to surrender, giving you an idea of how powerful this enemy is.

In previous articles, I've covered some of the horrors that arose as a result of alien species mingling with earthlings, such as the zombies and the town of Ravenholm where you first encounter them in abundance.  Today we're going to look at another disgusting result of the Combine invasion, which are Stalkers.

Believe it or not, Stalkers were once human beings.  Through heavy surgical modifications, they have been transformed into disturbing Combine slaves whose main purpose is to maintain Combine machinery.  As you can see, their hands and lower legs have been removed and replaced with some form of multi-use prosthetic tools.

Their internal organs and gender-defining...um....features have also been removed.  Whatever form of nutrition the Combine is giving them is obviously not enough, seeing as their skin clings tightly to their skeletons.  It appears that their vocal chords have also been messed with, because the only sounds they are capable of making are hisses and growls.

At some point before becoming Stalkers, these people were either resistance members who were captured and sent in to be converted, or they lived in a location such as City 17 and were unknowingly shipped to the processing facility.  The processing facility, a level in Half-Life 2 called Nova Prospekt, is a former prison which is now mainly used to create Stalkers and Combine Soldiers (they are heavily modified humans as well).

Although they make only a brief appearance near the end of Half-Life 2, Stalkers are encountered much more frequently in Half-Life 2: Episode One.  Here you will cringe in disgust as you see these mutilated beings working frantically to repair the collapsing Citadel in City 17.  Also you will be forced into some claustrophobic locations where you're forced to see these monstrosities up close.  It is in the Citadel where you discover that the metal plate attached to a Stalker's face contains a functioning laser beam.

Note the Stalker in the background using his head-mounted laser.

Attacking any Stalkers or interrupting their repair efforts will cause them to focus those laser beams on you.  Thankfully protagonist Gordon Freeman is always armed to the teeth, so these battles aren't too difficult.  Also, these former people deserve to be put out of their misery, don't you think?

That concludes our quick look at one of the most unsettling things in Half-Life 2.  Seeing a human being who is so disgustingly altered is sure to bring about a shudder now and then.  What did you guys think of the Stalkers?