Issue Date: October 18, 2009

Get spooked!

Creepy new video games, just in time for Halloween

Dodge terrifying zombies in "Left 4 Dead 2."

Some video games give Herculean powers. Others offer heavy artillery to blow enemies to bits. But "survival horror" games, perfect for Halloween, make you feel weak and helpless.

These games drop you into no-win situations (battling disfigured zombies and mutated psychopaths) and dare you to get out. But, as a few new games prove, nothing can beat a scary setting.

Anyone afraid of heights and the specter of dead climbers will want to avoid "Cursed Mountain" (Deep Silver, $49.99), the Wii game about a mountaineer's search for his brother in the Himalayas. In Left 4 Dead 2 (Electronic Arts, starting at $49.99), the survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic wander through trailer parks and fairgrounds in the Deep South, fighting the Infected.

Then there's the movie-based "Saw" (Konami, starting at $49.99). But if you've been dying to try out those deadly mechanical traps from the film, you might want to skip Halloween and check into the nearest mental asylum.

-- Scott Jones