Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Top 10 Close Shaves In Gaming

Top 10 Close Shaves In Gaming

You know you’ve experienced it, that moment when your character’s fate is left to chance. It’s that moment when you could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, or you could die a horrible death. We have all been there, but as frustrating as those moments can be, they are also some of the most exhilarating moments in video gaming. I’d dare say that these are the very moments that really drive us all to keep playing. Let’s face it, why else would you play video games if not to live out scenarios that would surely kill you in real life? That’s why we thought it was cool that the folks at the Schick Hydro® Challenge wanted us to give you the short list of some truly close shaves. The people behind the Schick Hydro® Challenge are looking for all types of close shaves right now. Click here to post a pic of your latest shaving creation, or tweet it using #schickfest @SchickHydro for a chance to win a pair of tickets to the music festival of your choice!  Click here for official rules.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

This one begins on a cliffhanger…literally. You wake up in a burning train car that is hanging precariously off a cliff. So you have to right yourself, gather your wits and strength, and then climb out of the entire train before it finally slips off of the precipice and falls into oblivion, taking you with it. Keep in mind that this scenario is the very beginning of the game, and there are so many more close shaves to be experienced in this title and throughout the trilogy. But watch your back–not everyone who is one your side at the moment will be on your side in the next. The beauty of this series is that you never know where the hits will come from next.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

This game is littered with close shaves. From walkers hounding your every movement and showing up at the worst possible times, to humans trying to find you and kill you for your loot–it gets a little daunting at times. Then there’s the whole societal aspect of who you can and can’t trust. Each and every moment of the Tell-Tale series gives you choices that may lead you down the safer road, or it might just lead you to an untimely and gruesome death. But no matter what situation you find yourself in, you can rest assured that you will never get a moment’s rest. You will always be on the run and should always be on your guard.

Mass Effect

Mass Effect

This series, much like the Uncharted series, is littered with close shaves. From your first battle with Saren to taking down a Reaper, to trying to escape from a deranged clone of yourself who’s trying to kill you to take your place–there is never a shortage of tight squeezes in this series. And that’s just the combat stuff. Then you have to maneuver yourself strategically within your crew to make sure they do what you need them to, when you need them to. All in all, the Mass Effect series will have you shooting, running, jumping and talking your way in an out of some of the most epic situations this galaxy has ever seen.

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid

The funny thing to me about this series of games is that no matter how awesome Solid Snake is, he always seems to get in over his head at some point and needs a little assistance. From the first time you tried to take down Metal Gear Rex to the time that you crawled through a room full of microwave emitters, there always seems to be a need for someone to have your back. Whether it’s Otacon or Grey Fox or even people who seem to be your enemy, they always seem to show up just in the nick of time, and it’s a good thing. How else would Solid Snake be able to do the things he does without a little help from his friends, and even some of his enemies?

Gears of War

Gears of War

This story begins with a close shave. Emergence day has happened, there are Locust everywhere. And where are you? Stuck in prison, watching all the other inmates being torn to shreds by an other-worldly enemy. Then, just when all hope seems lost, your old pal Dominic shows up and bails you out. Sadly, freeing you from prison is the first of your small victories as a member of Delta Squad. You would soon lose your commander, most of your troops, your support and eventually your friends in a series that seems based on stripping away everything and leaving you in your purest warrior form. And that in itself brings on a ton of close-call moments.

Outlast

Outlast

You are a journalist sent to investigate an asylum for some rumored shady dealings. When you get there, in true survival horror game fashion, it seems abandoned and the power is out. The funny thing is that since you are a journalist, you have no weapons. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for keeping batteries in your video camera you wouldn’t even be able to see. So as you work your way into and around the asylum to try and get to the bottom of the situation, you are pursued by all manner of unsavory characters. From deranged people to all-out zombies, your choices are to die, or outlast the threat.

The Last of Us

The Last of Us

A fungus has taken over and mutated nearly the whole of humanity. Only a fortunate (or not so fortunate) few have survived and been moved to quarantine zones to keep them safe from the threat. But a few people, as people often do, get curious about the world outside the quarantine zone and start to wander out into the wasteland of the places they used to call home. It is this very wandering that breeds tension within those who are left. Worse than that, it leads you to the truth of what really happened and makes you take some hard knocks and make some really hard choices that you usually don’t even have time to think about.

Battlefield

Battlefield

I can’t tell you how many times I have had a brush with death in this series. Whether on foot and assaulting an objective point, or driving a tank in multiplayer, there have been a ton of times where I was only barely able to escape from a situation with my life. For example, I was flying a jet in an online match and finally took enough damage that I needed to bail out. After doing so, I continued to fire at the other players below and racked up a solid number of kills before hitting the ground. The problem was, once I landed, I turned around just in time to see a tank about to roll over my head. So I quickly darted to the right just in the nick of time. Fortunately for me, there was also someone coming up from the other side of the tank who destroyed it before it had a chance to traverse and get a lock on me.

Splinter Cell

Splinter Cell

In a game series based on stealth it’s no surprise that there might be a close shave or two. From slinking around in the shadows in the very first game to the all-out onslaught in the most recent iteration, the Splinter Cell series has always given you those close shave moments to work through and try to survive. Then on top of there always being someone trying to kill you from the other side, you have to start watching your back, because as the series progresses, there seem to be just as many people on the inside trying to off you as there are on the outside trying to do the same. So no matter what side of the fence you are on in the series, there will never be a shortage of close-calls and tight squeezes for your character to navigate.

Titanfall

Titanfall

During the beta, there were a great many moments that had me biting my nails. If you lose your titan, it’s not a huge deal. You gun-and-run until your control operator tells you that your replacement titan is ready for deployment. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, if you were in the same matches as me you know that this is totally a crapshoot. You may be able to take cover and suppress your enemies or you may end up being a stain on the bottom of someone else’s enormous titan’s foot. But even if you are still in your titan, there are moments where you may have taken a little to much damage or gotten a little too close to your enemy. At that point, it comes to blows between you and your opponent. Then, when all seems lost and the next good hit from your attacker will spell doom–you hit the melee button one last time only to see your titan punch through the chest of the other titan and rip the driver from his or her seat. You watch them squirm for a moment before hurling them across the battlefield. Close shave indeed.

To top