Clive Barker's Undying.

Undying is a scary game.  You play Patrick Galloway, an Irish soldier turned ghost bust that makes his living debunking supernatural events.  The story of Undying starts in 1923 during the great war.  (World War One) With Patrick in a group of Soldiers that fight in special op missions... His leader, Jeremiah Covenant, saved his life during the war and thus Galloway comes when he is called.  Covenant did something bad... he went to a spooky ancient place that has these standing stones in it with these runes carved in them, and of course he reads spells from a spooky and ancient book.  This is a bad thing to do, and of course causes bad things to happen.  Bad things start to happen quickly, such as all his family getting killed.  His brothers and sisters of course are a little pissed off about the whole thing and wants Jeremiah to hurry up and get dead too.  Patrick comes in to stop that from happening.  Things get spooky right off the bat.  The environment is very rich and detailed.  Wonderful light effects and music fill this universe... you can really get into the game.  The characters are very well done but come off just a touch cartoonish in the Undying world.  Some of the monsters in the game are just really and seriously scary... Others are not so bad.  The "Howlers" are the most common through most of the game... easily killed and you can generally hear them coming.  Don't take them for granted because they are fast and can surprise you.  Never miss the chance to pick up a health pack.

The story is interesting... and it unfolds in a series of letters and journals that you have to read.  This isn't a game for your average Quake III junky... this is more of an intellectual puzzle to be slowly unraveled and not just torn open by the Instant Gratification crowd. 

You have a couple of guns which is nice, but you only start out with a revolver.  You also start out with a green glowing stone.  This is a magic rock, so it is better than a regular rock.  It does help you out some what, but it is still just a rock.  What does it do?  It can boost a spell up one level.  This is nice, but I find it much better to use your gun with a spell instead.  That's right... spells.  Magic.  But this isn't any Harry Potter shit... these are serious spells.  Ectoplasm is a nice spell and gets a lot of use.  D&D players would call them Magic Missiles.  They are not very accurate and don't do a great deal of damage unless the beastie is allergic to ectoplasm.  Luckily a lot are.  Bummer if you waste a lot of mana on something that isn't.   There are other spells that I like better... such as the skulls... Oh yeah.  Nothing better than summoning up a living skull that flies into your target and explodes.  Save up you "Amplification Stones" for this one.  Once you play the game, you'll know what I am talking about here.

My wife doesn't like computer games... much less a scary one.  She wont even look at Aliens vs Predator II... but she was impressed with Undying.  She asked me an interesting question, "Which one is scarier?"  This is a very personal question that involves one's own fear engine.  What is scary to one person is amusing to another.  Both games are indeed scary.  To me, I would have to give the nod to AvsPII because I saw the flick ALIEN when I was a very young lad and it earned a top level notch in the "Scariest Fucking Thing Ever" totem.  But that is just me.  Your probably different.  Results may vary.

This game scores an 8.  It's worth buying, but don't pay full retail. The story is railed but that is okay because its such a good story.  It's from Clive Barker for crying out loud.  Who is Clive Barker?  The creepiest motherfucker that ever lived, that's who.  Stephen King is scary?  Dude... I'll let Stephen King baby sit my kids for a week before I let Clive Barker even get near them.  That is right - Stephen King is a Primary Sunday School teacher, and Barker gets shot just for knocking on my door.   He is creepy, evil, twisted, and just plain sick.  There is something seriously wrong in that man's head.  You don't think so?  Read his "Books of Blood" series of short stories, and then get back to me on this.  Back to the game... Being railed, right.  Also, there is no Multiplayer for it.  It's all just single player.  This is too bad because these weapons and spells would make for some cool death matches.  But this is okay... not too much of a minus.  Why?  Because this game is best played while you are alone in the dark with the only light coming from the glow of the green stone in your hand.  There is a disappointment to it... and that is the very very end.  It's pretty good all the way through up to that point. This is where a lot of horror stories fail... the ending.  When everything is going along just fine and it's like the writer just gives up and says "Oh Fuck it, I'm bored.  Let's just toss in a big ass monster and be done with it."  Well, that must be just what Clive Barker said, because that is what happened.  At the end, instead of finishing the story the right way, we get a giant bug.  Nice going, Clive.  Bitch.

When the price comes down to 14 bucks or less, snag it.  Seriously, you will enjoy it up to the point where you see the big ass roach come out of the ground.  When that happens, turn the game off and delete it from your hard drive... your done.  It was a good ride, but its over now.  For those that get the game, there will be some places that you WILL get stuck in.  In those cases, here is a walk through.