Game enemies that creep you out

[Tig]

Admittedly, it was only bad that first time... when you didn't know.
By the time you know all their tricks, you can run rings round them, because they're very slow.

[Freddo]

Most badguys suffer from that, they really have to invoke totally irrational fear to consistantly scare the crap out of you, like system shock2, you can walk circles around the zombie dudes but they still scare the willes out of me.

[Ostrog]

Decided to play Serious Sam after many months, and that brought to mind enemies that don't creep me out, but still fill me with dread when I hace to face them...
Those bloody headless kamikaze blokes. Good grief, I shiver everytime I hear that long drawn-out "aaaaaaahhhhh!!"

That's the last thing you want to hear after mowing down an army of ravenous monsters...

[EvilBoris]

Shy guys freak me out

[Tig]

Those bloody headless kamikaze blokes. Good grief, I shiver everytime I hear that long drawn-out "aaaaaaahhhhh!!"

My mate has Serious Sam on GC (great game!) and yeah, those guys are probably the most memorable enemies in the game. From the moment one spawns in, the distance between you and him is closing fast. There's no outrunning them. All you can do is frantically spin on the spot to target it before it gets ya!

Also, the distant sound of "aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa" is just quiet enough for you to sometimes think you can hear it when there aren't any around. Paranioa time.

Spend too much time with the game, and you'll start hearing that sound while not playing it

[KingOfTheSwingers]

Also, the distant sound of "aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa" is just quiet enough for you to sometimes think you can hear it when there aren't any around.

reminds me of the classic zombies in DoomI/II, silence except for occasional "arghhhhh".

The freakiest game character definitely has to be in Alone in the Dark One for me, walking into a room... silent, a semi transparent lady in a chair... and there was me thinking HA it?s just a lady.

A moment later I?m being furiously chased by a bubble monster which vibrates the screen ferociously ... you die. Mentally scaring stuff.

[Peet]

When I was a kid I used to be really creeped out by all sorts of grinning faces, so the grinning asteroid in Starfox (at least the one that takes you to the black hole -- when they appear all the time in the asteroid belt on level 3 it kind of cheapens the effect), the floating masks that start chasing you when you pick up a key in Super Mario 2 and that grinning face bonus in Star Force (never actually got to/found that one, I just remember seeing it in the manual). I wonder how I would've liked that grinning moon from MM.

The skull boss from Life Force was a little creepy too, the way he looks straight at you (the player) if you circle him for a bit.

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare managed to cause some chills in places, as well as did the new and improved zombies in REmake (suddenly waking up, running through doors..). The ninjas (as well as the guy with the suitcase... G-man?) in Half Life managed to creep me out too. HATED the ninjas.

SNES Clock Tower caused quite the scare the first time you run into the guy with the scissors. You kept hearing that sound even though you couldn't see him, had nowhere to run and no way to defend yourself.

Haven't played HL2 or Silent Hills 2-4 btw, but I'd very much like to.

[Ostrog]

Also, the distant sound of "aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa" is just quiet enough for you to sometimes think you can hear it when there aren't any around. Paranioa time.

Spend too much time with the game, and you'll start hearing that sound while not playing it

Aye. That happens to me a lot.

But d'you know what's even more terrifying? Facing a whole army of the feckers. First one...then another...and another....

The Cyberdemon in Doom used to freak me out as well, mainly as I'd be low on health and ammo whenever I ran into one.
The first time I came across the thing, it destroyed me before I saw it. I walked out into the courtyard, heard this bellow from somewhere behind me, and a few rockets whizzed past my head. Before I knew what hit me I was a pile of guts on the floor.
When I respawned I kept to the small rooms nearby and all I could hear were its' metallic footsteps. Something big and nasty was out in that courtyard waiting for me, and it could kill me with one shot.
I loved moments like those, and Doom was filled with 'em. There were times when you'd hear various snarls and growls behind the doors and walls and wonder what exactly was making them. "What's that?...oh, just an imp...that one's a zombie.....*inhuman gutteral snarl*... "What the feck was THAT?"

Oh, and the sinister Arch-Vile from the second game was very creepy too.

[peeveen]

If I go to hell, it will be a tall craggy mountain around which I am constantly chased by "The Swarm" from Crystal Castles, while I am observed from on high by "The Sentinel".

Other (dis)honourable mentions ...

The robots from Impossible Mission (C64)
The big head-and-arms thing from the last level of Splatterhouse (arcade)

As for the current genre of horror games (RE, SH, etc), I'm generally scared more by the atmosphere than by the enemies. Waiting for something to happen is a lot more tense than when it actually does, at which point my only fear is that, if I do get killed by whatever hybrid monstrosity has jumped through the window, I'll have to do the last bit ALL OVER AGAIN!!

[marcus]

That almost invincible doll from Genma Onimusha on the Xbox that followed you everywhere, and slashed you with its spinning blades!

[Ostrog]

^Oh yes. Evil, evil little thing. Certainly not what you'd want to find after barely surviving an encounter with some massive irritable minotaur things with big hammers. Or when you've just found some important artifact or whatnot.

Does anyone remember 'El Oscuro' from Rise of the Triad? He was the final boss in the game. This tall robed figure who often manifested as this big giant ominous-looking head which always rushed at you, filling the whole screen with his hideous visage. Bit of a shock when I first saw him.

[marcus]

I could never kill that bastard demon-doll. I think this was it -

[mr_rich]

those weird breathing / giggling regenerator monsters in resi 4. the way they jump on you when youv blown their legs off is too grim....

[koenshaku]

The knife toting toddlers in the school in Silent Hill get me everytime.

Weren't they changed for the PAL version?

[Ostrog]

Marcus, that's her all right. Nasty little creature.
All this talk of these fearsome Regenerators and Resi 4's other horrors has convinced me to go and get the game. I'm not mad about the games,(despite owning Resi 2 and 3) but I think I'll give this one a try. Sounds like some soul-shredding flesh-crawling fun there.

Another horror just popped into my head - those severed hands from Blood on the PC. I hated those little things. They'd be scuttling 'round going "I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!" and they always went for your throat. Plus some of the levels had eerie paintings that seemed to rot before your eyes....