Editorials
Ten Worthy Game Of The Year Contenders You Won’t See In Our FEAR Awards
Because so many websites and publications have Game of the Year awards that cover many games across many different genres, we created the FEAR Awards, which since its inception back in 2009 has recognized the best and worst horror (and horror adjacent) games of the year. Unfortunately, this means we miss many excellent games. To remedy this, I’m going to recognized this year’s best non-horror games right now. Check them out after the jump!
I’m not a huge fan of turn-based games, but that hasn’t kept me from XCOM: Enemy Unknown. In it you control a multinational military organization called XCOM, which has been tasked with defending the Earth against an alien threat. You command troops in field missions and use found alien tech and prisoners to research and develop new technologies to equip your forces with everything they’ll need to defeat the alien forces. It’s an addictive game that you’ll try to play for an hour or so, only to realize days later you’ve been playing it nonstop, you haven’t eaten and your family is worried about where you’ve gone to.
This whole Call of Duty vs. Halo argument is dumb. Why can’t we lay down our arms so our hands are free to dual wield the badass alien weaponry in Halo 4? With a gorgeous, alien world that truly looks like concept art come to life, finely tuned combat fans have come to expect from the franchise, and an epic score by Neil Davidge, this is the Master Chief adventure fans have been clamoring for since 2007. Bungie may have left the series to work on something else, but they left a solid foundation that 343 Industries has successfully expanded upon. I can’t wait to see what the studio does next.
My love for Dishonored is no secret. I’d yell it from the rooftops of Dunwall if Corvo hadn’t sworn me to secrecy. If you still haven’t played this game, it’s best described as BioShock meets Thief, with a sprinkling of Half-Life. If that doesn’t get you nice and excited, I don’t know what will.
I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t yet played this game, but I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. Far Cry 3 released after everything else, essentially capping off 2012 as the last major game. Good thing too, because I wouldn’t want this year to end in any other way. It’s gorgeous, features a massive world where you can fight sharks, and other than a disappointingly unoriginal story, there’s a lot to love about this game. I’ll be getting my copy soon, I recommend you do the same.
Thatgamecompany is the studio behind Flow and Flower, both of which are great games, but I think it’s safe to say they really nailed it with the PS3 exclusive Journey. The goal of this game is give the player a sense of smallness and wonder, and to create special emotional connections between players, who meet anonymously in-game. There’s no talking, just these adorable chirps you can make to communicate with the players you meet online. It’s a stunningly beautiful game, and if you need any more convincing, you should know it was David Harley’s pick for Game of the Year. That alone makes it worthy, I think.
This is another game I haven’t had the chance to play, though I plan on changing that very soon. There’s been some change in the subscription-based MMO market, with Star Wars: The Old Republic and The Secret World both switching over to free-to-play within a year of their release. Guild Wars 2 took the smart approach by charging for the game, but not adding annoying subscription fees on top of that.
Assassin’s Creed III may have been the most anticipated game in the franchise so far — undoubtedly fueled by its uncommon setting (colonial America!), fantastic showing at several expos (the naval fight shown at E3 sticks in my mind), and because it promised to inject a breath of fresh air into a series that, after Revelations, had begun to stagnate. It also greatly improved on the combat and brought a realistic — though still undeniably flawed — portrayal of native Americans. Unfortunately, it’s a slow burn, and to me, the main character Connor is entirely void of any real personality. But my god, are those naval fights amazing. I say they drop everything else and focus on developing an Assassin’s Creed: Naval Warfare.
I have something to admit, and I’m probably going to make a few enemies here. I did not like Max Payne 3. Like, at all. It looks great, but when it comes to gunplay, characters, and story, I’m just not a fan. Granted, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Rockstar games (loved Red Dead and L.A. Noire, hated GTA IV), and I realize that I’m in the minority here. I might not see the appeal, but that doesn’t mean this game shouldn’t get the recognition that so many of you believe it deserves. I’d say my favorite thing about this game is the myriad hilarious videos it inspired.
I love Borderlands 2, even if that love doesn’t extend to its mascot, Claptrap. He annoys me. That aside, this is everything a Borderlands sequel should be: it’s bigger, funnier, and managed the impressive feat of adding even more guns. Did I mention how funny it is? Between the hilarious missions (like renaming enemies to Bonerfarts) and Handsome Jack’s consistently amazing dialogue, this is easily one of the most humorous games I’ve ever played.
For all the crap Diablo III took, Mass Effect 3 took way more. It’s unfortunate that Shepard’s sendoff has been so horribly marred by vast amounts of nerd rage, because to me, this series has been one of the best to come out of this console generation. Unfortunately, its ending got many fans riled up, and that ended up being the defining opinion on this game, when it should’ve been how amazing the game was as a whole. I even enjoyed the ending, to a certain degree, and if I never hear another disgruntled gamer complain about it again I’ll die a happy man. Shepard’s story may be over, but in my opinion, she went out not with a whimper, but with a bang. Anyone who says otherwise can fuck right off.
Did I miss a game you loved? Sorry about that. You should definitely let me know what I missed in the comments below!
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The penultimate season of Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996) aired its first three episodes on October 31, so it’s understandable that at least one of those three stories is set on Halloween.
Sandwiched between “Let the Punishment Fit the Crime” (Russell Mulcahy, Ron Finley) and “Whirlpool” (Mick Garris, A. L. Katz & Gilbert Adler) is the most severe episode of the bunch. Maybe the entire series? William Malone and Dick Beebe’s “Only Skin Deep” traded the show’s typical sense of fun for startling amounts of bleakness and kink.
“Only Skin Deep” is, apart from the Crypt Keeper’s intro and outro, noticeably unfunny. There are no considerable attempts at making the viewer laugh. Come to think of it, if those bookends had been replaced, and there was more of a sci-fi element in the story, HBO could have easily squeezed this tale into that successor anthology, Perversions of Science (1997). In Crypt, though, “Only Skin Deep” is much too grim for an audience that had become accustomed to campiness and levity.
What makes “Only Skin Deep” feel dark, among other things, is its protagonist. Showing up to a Halloween party where he’s not welcome, and where his former girlfriend (Diane DiLasco) is attending, Carl Schlag (Peter Onorati) first comes across as your standard bitter ex. You soon realize it’s much worse than that, once Carl threatens Linda (“You know, silly me, thinking I gave you what you deserved. If I’d have done that, I’d have killed you”). Now, I haven’t forgotten that Tales from the Crypt was teeming with vile men who did women harm. Yet Carl’s brand of misogynistic menace hits differently—it borders on being too realistic for this kind of series.
Mike Vosburg’s EC-style comic cover for “Only Skin Deep”, as seen in the Tales from the Crypt episode.
Despite donning a party mask for much of the episode, Carl can’t ever mask his true nature. The invitation did say “come as you are”, after all. That inability to change and be better, however, is why Carl ends up in such a karmic predicament. His outburst of anger at the party attracts the attention of one loner partygoer named Molly (Sherrie Rose, who was also in Season Four’s “On a Deadman’s Chest”). Her bone-white, featureless “mask” and body-bag costume don’t initially register as too strange, especially on a night like this. But at a party chock-full of colorful, cartoonish, and lighthearted ensembles, it does look out of place.
Darkness attracts darkness as Carl ditches the party and accompanies the mysterious Molly to her place. Which, by the way, should have been an immediate red flag. But perhaps she’s so hot, he doesn’t seem to mind the serial killer aesthetic. Resembling a warehouse that has been converted into living spaces, but never then decorated to remove the cold, industrial look, Molly’s home (or lair) is as gloomy as this whole episode feels. It’s like the set of a grungy music video, albeit a tad cleaner. The environments in a typical Crypt episode tend to be small, overfilled, and broken-in. Warm, regardless of any weird goings-on. All that empty space in Molly’s hovel, on the other hand, elicits a creepy feeling that Carl was unwise to ignore.
Tales from the Crypt featured more sex than it didn’t, but hands down, “Only Skin Deep” boasts the steamiest scene in the show’s history. Pushing it over the line, in addition to Onorati showing bare buns and the camera never turning down one of his pelvic thrusts, is the twisted dirty talk. Carl stays in the moment, whereas Molly unleashes charged lines like “the hurt, the anger, give it to me” and “take it out on my flesh like you want to”. It’s all quite kinky, as well as tied into the story’s theme of pain.
How else “Only Skin Deep” differs from other episodes is its twists. Or rather, its lack thereof. Nothing comes as a great surprise here, particularly because the deuteragonist’s ulterior motives are so obvious. By no means is Molly a wolf in sheep’s clothing; her face is a fright mask, she practically reeks of death, and she lives in what can best be described as a serial killer’s hideout. That last-act revelation of Molly’s mask really being her face is also nothing shocking. Cleverness is certainly not this episode’s strength.
A page from “…Only Skin Deep!”, as seen in EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt.
While “Only Skin Deep” isn’t the most universally loved episode of Tales from the Crypt, it’s an interesting preview of William Malone’s future as a director. Most notably, he went on to helm House on Haunted Hill (1999) and FeardotCom (2002), the former of which was co-written by Dick Beebe, this episode’s writer. Dark Castle Entertainment, that genre house founded by Crypt producers Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler, was instrumental in bringing out Malone’s gruesome, over-the-top vision in House on Haunted Hill. However, FeardotCom and Malone’s Masters of Horror episode, “Fair-Haired Child”, are the most stylistically compatible with “Only Skin Deep”.
As one might guess, this episode is nothing like its source material. The “…Only Skin Deep!” found in the pages of EC Comics is set during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and save for its last couple of pages, is pretty sweet in nature. There, a man named Herbert is enamored with a woman he met five years prior to the present-day story. Every year, he has come down to Mardi Gras to see Suzanne, who’s always dressed as a hag-faced witch. Well, this time, Herbert plans on popping the question and marrying someone who is, for the most part, a total stranger. Suzanne accepts his proposal, but with one condition: they stay in costume until they’re officially hitched. You can probably see where this is going…
Once they are married, Suzanne remains incognito, even when she and Herbert have consummated their vows. A semi-predictive nightmare then rattles Herbert; he dreamt that Suzanne’s real face was as wizened as her mask. Finally, in his haste to find out the truth, Herbert winds up killing his new wife. Faceless and well on her way to bleeding out, the dying Suzanne manages to say she never wore a mask.
For more traditional EC-style ghastliness, your best bet is reading the comic. It’s wickedly sad. For something less conventional, as far as Tales from the Crypt goes, the role-reversing adaptation is worth watching. It’s not the best this show had to offer, although Malone’s visual style, plus the sexual abandon, does set the episode apart. If nothing else, “Only Skin Deep” leaves an impression that, even years later, shows no signs of fading.
Season Six of Tales from the Crypt can be streamed on Shudder, starting on June 5.
Tales from Tales from the Crypt celebrates the show’s Shudder premiere by singling out one episode from each season. So don’t even think about changing that dial, boys and ghouls. More spot-“frights” are to come.
Carl discovers Molly’s collection of human ‘masks’ in the Tales from the Crypt episode, “Only Skin Deep”.
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