Halloween 2018 – Ranking the Horror Movie Spin-off Games

Ghosts, goblins, and ghouls, it’s time for the spooky season to get started!

If you’re like me and a big fan of horror movies, then you know that October is one of the best months to sit down and marathon through a ton of frightening masterpieces. From classics like Halloween and Friday the 13th to new-ish entries like Saw and Human Centipede, there’s just so many choices in regards to what you want to scare yourself with.

The scares don’t just stop at films though, as videogames have also had a long history of horror behind them. You have Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Dead Space, Pajama Sam, and so on and so forth. These titles just scratch the surface though, as the amount of spooky out there is downright crazy. Not only are there the original IP’s as listed above, but there’s also several spin-offs of well-known franchises that have made their way onto the gaming scene.

These spin-offs are going to be my main focus today as, before Halloween gets started, I’d like to take the time to rank the spin-off games that come from horror movies. Just a quick note though, I’m only going to be ranking the best game per franchise as, otherwise, we’d be here all day.

7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1983) – Atari 2600

Oh man, what a gem. I say this sarcastically of course as, if you’ve ever played the 1983 Texas Chainsaw Massacre game, you’d know that it was terrible in every sense of the word. Perhaps this is just me looking back on it with my 20/20 modern gamer vision, but this title is really, really bad. Don’t believe me? Then I encourage you to find a gameplay video of it on YouTube, you’ll see that I’m not just being unfair to a game that came out 35 years ago. You’ll see!

6. Halloween (1983) – Atari 2600

Well, I guess Atari redeemed themselves. Yeah, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre game was bad, but this 1983 version of Halloween has an 8-bit version of the original theme music, so it’s game of the year, right? Right? Okay, this title is no good either. Yes, despite my eternal love for the Halloween movie series, this game is as basic as basic gets in interactive media. Again, this is probably just due to more modern technology being available nowadays. Still though, this game just doesn’t feel finished.

5. Chucky: Slash and Dash (2013) – iOS

Okay, I take it back, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I’m sorry! *sigh* This is, by far, the most disheartening entry on the list, Chucky: Slash and Dash is… a game. It’s better than the previous two entries because it is a game that feels finished, but as for the type of game it is, it’s rather unfortunate.Long story short, it’s a Temple Run clone with Chucky from Child’s Play as the main obstacle. My oh my, what new heights will this franchise reach. Honestly, it’s hard to compare this with Friday the 13th: The Game, I mean they’re both so interesting and dynamic in their own ways (sarcasm alert, sarcasm alert).

4. Predator: Concrete Jungle (2005) – PS2, Xbox

Moving on to a personal favourite of mine, it’s time to talk about Predator: Concrete Jungle! So, much like the Halloween franchise, the Predator series are a collection of films that I just can’t get enough of (yes, even the new one!) I gotta say, though, this is one of those games that just didn’t get enough love. Possibly because of the absolutely awful control scheme or that the story was all over the place, but if you look past that stuff, it was great fun! Now, I understand that’s like saying; “if you look past all the bees in this hive, then throwing it like a football would be neato”, but Predator: Concrete Jungle is pretty neato, and deserves the benefit of the doubt.

3. Saw (2009) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC

I will admit, I’ve played more of Saw II: Flesh and Blood than I have of the original Saw. However, due to the reception of the original, it finds its way onto the ranking list instead of the sequel. For fans of the franchise, this is one of the few spin-offs that tried to do justice with its source material, rather than going; “Oh! That’s a cool thing, let’s make a game about the cool thing without understanding what the cool thing is!” That being said, it still had some issues in regards to controls and bugs, but it certainly gets an A for effort.

2. Friday: the 13th: The Game (2017) – PS4

Ah yes, the title that tried. I feel bad for the developers at GUN, I really do. All they wanted to do was to make a neat, Jason versus campers style survivor game, and what do they get for it? Copyright lawsuit! Yes, it seems there’s nothing that stops creativity quit like a good ol’ fashion cease and desist. Now I don’t know about you, but I loved this game. Friday the 13th: The Game was a solid title that offered a lot in terms of both scares and replayability. Honestly, if it weren’t for the bullshit tag-teaming that players could do by playing as both Jason and a camper, than it might be number one on this ranking.

1. Alien: Isolation (2014) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Now I was really debating whether to put this, or Colonial Marines up as number one. Then I thought to myself; “Nah, I may as well be serious with this one.” So yes, after all is said and done in the horror world, Alien: Isolation is a master stroke from the fine people at Creative Assembly. A wonderful combination of both stealth and action that works itself well into the story, this is one title that’ll have on the edge of your seat until the very end… and maybe a bit after.

So there it is, the horror movie spin-offs ranked from worst to best. This is, of course, just my opinion and I would love to hear yours about which horror titles I either missed or should’ve put on the list. Even if you didn’t agree with it though, I hope it was an interesting read and I wish you the best this coming Halloween season!