Top 10 Nerve Shredding Video Games

Spare underwear at the ready.

With the launch of SEGA's gruesome action shooter Aliens vs. Predator just around the corner, now's the time to remember the games that make gamers' nerves shred the most. We did so huddled under our duvet with our torch very much on - we're wimps, obviously. But you don't have to read this top 10 that way. You might want to keep the lights on, though.

Dead Space

"It's quiet, too quiet." That immortal phrase is vocal shorthand for "things are about to get ugly", and so often it proves in Visceral's sci-fi horror. Atmospheric music, superb lighting, and an abandoned spaceship combine to form the video game equivalent of cult sci-fi horror flick Event Horizon. Gah.

BioShock 2

A Big Sister screams, the screen shakes, and then your heart pounds. 2K Games' follow-up to Ken Levine's critically acclaimed BioShock does a wonderful job of making you cack your pants as you desperately prepare for the inevitable: in all likelihood your very own death.