What's your opinion on jump-scares in games (or movies if you don't play horror games)

[ZedClampet]

Of course, you may not watch horror movies either.

Anyway, it's now popular to refer to jump-scares as "cheap jump-scares" and a lot of people seem to prefer that their horror experience doesn't include them at all, but to me, jump-scares are basically all I'm afraid of. Wandering around a spooky setting doesn't bother me at all. Seeing a monster or ghost come chasing after me doesn't raise my adrenaline anymore. The one thing that can still really get me is a well done jump-scare. When do I get nervous in a horror game? When I think there's about to be a jump-scare. Oh, I can also get uneasy from sounds, but no one does that correctly.

To be sure, jump-scares can be overdone. I've played games where there were so many that I stopped caring. They can also be telegraphed, which lesson's the impact. The perfect usage, I think, is to keep them somewhat rare and always sudden with little to no warning.

Your opinions?

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I'm too chicken for horror movies and games. The closest I've gotten recently is we watched The Sixth Sense with my youngest son a week or two ago.

 

[Pifanjr]

To be sure, jump-scares can be overdone. I've played games where there were so many that I stopped caring. They can also be telegraphed, which lesson's the impact.

F.E.A.R. 3 (I think it was 3) did this, at least in my opinion. Basically every quiet part in the game had a jump scare, so any time there weren't any enemies around you could expect one. It removed all of the impact.

My main problem with most jump scares is that they don't add anything mechanically. Often you get no way to interact with the scare, it just happens and then it's gone. Maybe you get a QTE, but that's perhaps even worse. I prefer jump scares from actual enemies that sneak up on you.

For example, while playing Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, I walked into an alley that ends in a chain link fence. On the other side of the fence are some boxes and if you crouch, you can see through a gap where one of the monsters is... violating another human. Since there was no way to pass the fence, I turned back and as I turned the corner, I heard something behind me. Turning around and being face to face with one of those monsters right after seeing what they would do if they caught me was probably one of the worst jump scares in my life and because it wasn't just a cutscene or something, I actually had to respond to it. Miraculously, I made it out alive, after which I put the controller down for a while to give my heart some time to stop trying to escape my chest.

 

[mjs warlord]

One of the first pc games i got was the thing in 2002 , it is tame compared to now but the gore and jump factor back then produced a lot of complains , i picked it up to buy it at the same time as pc world staff were pulling it of the shelves , splitting a guys head open with a sniper rifle was not acceptable in 2002.

The only other gore game i have is manhunt ..... purchased before the ban.

 

[Zloth]

To be sure, jump-scares can be overdone. I've played games where there were so many that I stopped caring. They can also be telegraphed, which lesson's the impact.

Doom 3. Ugh. Having a demon jump out of the closet is a jump scare. Having a demon jump out of EVERY closet is just pathetic.

 

[ZedClampet]

Doom 3. Ugh. Having a demon jump out of the closet is a jump scare. Having a demon jump out of EVERY closet is just pathetic.

The beginning of that game scared the crap out of me. At the time, I didn't use a headset and had it blasting through a very nice pair of Cerwin Vega speakers. The game's sound design was amazing. I got used to it after awhile, though.