10 Most Effective Jump Scares In Sci-Fi Video Games
6. Doom 3 - Dark Reflection
Jump scares tend to get a bad rap in gaming circles, as they're often used as a source of cheap frights by unimaginative developers. And no game on this list is more unimaginative than Doom 3.
iD Software's much-lambasted third entry in the Doom franchise is often (and fairly) derided for its dull levels, uninspired creature design and over-reliance on jump scares. It may seem odd to criticize the use of jump scares in an article designed to celebrate them, but Doom 3's over-usage of monster closets (having monsters leap at you out of nowhere) really does start to grate long before the campaign ends.
However, there is one decent scare amidst the dross. Near the start of the PC version (or the end of the Xbox one), there's a fairly innocuous bathroom placed in the player's path. Enter it and look at the mirror, and stuff starts getting really freaky.
Your characters face suddenly melts like Homer's under Bart's death glare in that one Simpsons episode, while the screen fades into a blood-red hellscape around them. It's abrupt, terrifying, and perfectly executed.
Then the game spoils it by having a monster spawn right behind you for the nth time.
Oh, Doom 3. Even when you get it right, you can't help making it wrong.