'Harry' isn't scary but 'The Darkness' delivers a punch. RYAN PEARSON gears up for Halloween (never too early!) with a look at horror games.
The cool thing about horror games is you don't always have to be the one getting scared.
Sometimes you do the scaring.
That's what happens in "The Darkness" (rated M, $59.99 for Xbox 360), a new first-person shooter that bestows its star with tentacles, evil minions and other dark powers.
Then there's the more conventional in the genre. In "Vampire Rain" (rated M, $59.99 for Xbox 360), you've got to fight off the vampires using stealth and high-tech weaponry -- an unsuccessful blend of "Splinter Cell" and "Resident Evil."
Can Harry be scary? "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (rated E 10-plus, $59.99 for Xbox 360) certainly has potential to make it into the horror-suspense genre, what with all the ghosts and nasty villains lurking around Hogwarts and environs. Turns out, it's more of an adventure game -- though not a horrible one.
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See the video here.
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"Up Down Left Right" is a weekly video feature starring asap reporters and gaming gurus DERRIK J. LANG in New York and RYAN PEARSON in Los Angeles. From separate coasts, they provide their take on today's -- and sometimes yesterday's -- games. E-mail them at updownleftright@ap.org.
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