I was giddy as a monkey's uncle to find out that some of my old xbox games work in my 360 console. I've spent the week playing the classic Japanese horror, Crimson Butterfly. I think this game is the sole reason why I found Dead Space so disappointing. Anybody that's played Project Zero (Fatal Frame) will know what I'm talking about; a game steeped in a ghoulishly delightful dank atmosphere with beautifully paced game play. You won't find scores of monsters trying to bite your head off around every corner like in Dead Space. Instead it uses steady pacing and bottom quivering suspense to deliver an experience that leaves you shaking and slack jawed. Sure, you're plodding around in the same environment for the games entirety, but if anything that only lends credit to how good the game is. The very fact that you can be suspended in the same creepy village throughout the whole game without your eyes rolling out of their sockets with boredom is sheer testimony to the quality of depth on offer. The only drawback to this game is that it has propelled my expectations of survival horror to a level that other games can't reach. It's broken something in my head that can't be fixed. After the nauseatingly frightening experience I can't find games like Dead Space frightening. Hordes of charging, drooling monsters might look cool, but it's not scary and lacks the subtleties of a true horror game.

I think it's going to be a while before Crimson Butterfly gets knocked off my top spot.