App of My Eye » Horror

Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus

Art — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:33:07 +0000

Do you know what’s scarier than a thin, scrawny disheveled, pasty little girl whose face is hidden by her hair and comes at you like Boris Karloff in the original 1932 Universal release of The Mummy? It has to be the panic caused by the emergency closing of the Bay Bridge. There I was Wednesday night making pretty good time from the East Bay to San Francisco until I hit the MacArthur Maze. Suddenly, everything was black at the entrance of the span with cones and cops strewn all over the place. The only things illuminating the bridge itself were the lights outlining its frame and the brake lights of the last hundred cars trying to get over to The City. 2 hours later, as I finally reached the driveway to my house, all I could think about is the horrific experience of stop-and-go traffic with impatient, overaggressive drivers edging through lane after lane, who thought they were making progress. Surprisingly enough, from this experience, it seems the baton for jackass drivers, outside of delivery truck and taxi cab drivers, has passed from BMW to Toyota Prius owners. I guess it’s not too much of a stretch after all: the majority of both groups are self-righteous, condescending buttheads anyway. Yet, I survived it all and was able to tell my tale here because honestly, I was able to play Bendroid’s Mystique. Chapter 1: Foetus for a good portion of my commute. A 1st person horror-survival game reminiscent of Silent Hill, this nightmarishly atmospheric and moody game focuses on you waking up in a bathroom (sound familiar?) and not knowing why or how you got there. Blood stained walls lead you to escaping out into other areas to put the pieces of the puzzle together. But you have to be careful as a sinister environment can only lead to potentially disasterous conclusions. Plus, there is a thin, scrawny disheveled, pasty little girl whose face is hidden by her hair and comes at you like The Mummy. But unlike me, you won’t have the side effects of a massive traffic jam to hide behind. Highly recommended. Play the sequel for more. Price: Free.

Share/Save with...

Ghost Stories From Around The World

Art — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:59:24 +0000

Growing up, the younger of my two older sisters had a big influence on me. As we were only 8 years apart, we had our ups and downs fighting as siblings do, especially since she was the baby of the family until I came along. In between getting on each other’s nerves, we did have our peaceful moments, which strangely enough came to us in the most tense of times: watching scary movies. While my sis would watch any scary movie imaginable, I believed she was quite the connoisseur knowing the difference between camp versus a real thrill fest. After all, we had Bob Wilkins (R.I.P.) and John Stanley to thank for Creature Features on KTVU as we were growing up. So, we were battle hardened so to speak as the 80′s came and went producing some of the finest (Poltergeist and The Thing) and worst (Silver Bullet anyone?) flicks in the genre. Yet, through it all, we both knew the best way to scare someone is by telling them a scary story in the dark, especially at night, with just a flashlight or a candle providing the only source of light. With Halloween fast approaching, I’m reminded of my sister once again through an application like Ghost Stories From Around The World by Joe Kwon, Inc., which takes user submissions of supposedly true accounts and adds them to an easy to navigate archive. It’s pretty ingenious really: new content provided by users just like you and me that is used to populate an entire paid application. But the real winners here are the users themselves, who now have a creative outlet to make good scary stories just in time for Halloween. A well-made app with the promise of new content daily, I wish my sister was alive to enjoy it with me… But I’m sure she already has in spirit. Rest in peace, sis! Price: $1.99.

Share/Save with...

Hysteria Project

Art — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 03:14:30 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I still get nostalgic for good ol’ Night Trap, one of the best FMV (full-motion-video) games ever made. Oh, wait… I got that mixed up with Dragon’s Lair. Well, at least it had Dana Plato (a swig for me and another for my homie… RIP, girl!) from Diff’rent Strokes in the lead role. “Watchoo talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” Anyway, Hysteria Project brings the grand tradition of video with gameplay overlays to the iPhone. It’s in the survival-horror genre: you’re fleeing from a black-clad axe murderer through the spooky woods rather than endless zombies, but there’s enough axe-into-skull thwocks and splatters for the gore-lovers. The sound and video effects are very well done. The actual gameplay is a mix of choose-your-own-adventure decision-making and Shenmue-style quick action button presses. Overall, something a little different with high production value. Definitely worth a look. Price: 99¢.

Share/Save with...