This is the 2nd part, otherwise known as Part 2 of the round-up of ghoulish games for an interactive Halloween.

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Fatal Frame for PlayStation2
From: Tecmo (www.fatalframegame.com)
ESRB Rating: Mature

Though touted as a game "based on a true story," Tecmo's Fatal Frame has about as much veracity as the "JATO car meets Arizona rock face" urban legend. Still, as a game based on a bona fide ghost story based on bona fide paranormal phenomena right there in Tokyo, it sure does a remarkable job of scaring the bona fide crap out of players. Taking what is normally a hindrance to true player "immersion," Fatal Frame's innovative design actually makes that glass barrier of the television screen integral to gameplay. The main character's main "weapon" is a camera, which, as superstitions often suggest, has an adverse effect on spirits and poltergeists and such. When required, the TV screen becomes the camera's view finder pressed to your eye, effectively blinding you from everything in the periphery as an unnerving result. Considering the game already has you skulking about a haunted mansion of know ethereal danger, intentionally blinding yourself to see it better in extremely unsettling.

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Blood Omen 2 for PlayStation2, Windows PC and Xbox
From: Eidos (www.eidosinteractive.com)
ESRB Rating: Mature

Those who know anything about the Legacy of Kain franchise will know that buddy Kain is actually a bad guy. Sure, reluctant about it at first, but definitely and un-dead dude who slid the slippery slope down to the dark side to become a domineering, blood-sucking bad-ass. In Blood Omen 2, we rejoin our anti hero after 400 years of "sleep." Though this game is easily the weakest in the 4-game franchise (there's also Soul Reaver and Soul Reaver 2), it is good for a frolic through the cobblestones in a frilly shirt, made all the cooler--though not redeemed--with the addition of some ad hoc magical powers like going misty or charming the hapless. Good vampire stuff here, tired tail-end game of the series that it is.

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Silent Hill 2 for PlayStation2 and Xbox
From: Konami (www.konami.com/silenthill2)
ESRB Rating: Mature

The moral of the story: If you ever receive a letter from your wife after she's been dead for three years, don't take her up on the invite to revisit the ol'--ahem--haunting grounds for some fun in the sun. Matched perhaps only by Tecmo's Fatal Frame, Silent Hill 2 redefines interactive entertainment as something that can potentially make for sleepless nights, or at least a whole lot of extra lights as you scurry past the basement door. An admitted ode to Hollywood brain bending, spine chilling, stomach turning thrillers such as Jacob's Ladder and Hellraiser, this game is as sick and twisted as they come, a methodically paced trip through a hideously surreal mystery with frequent detours to an alternate dimension where things are doubly disturbing--which seems impossible, but Silent Hill 2 is just that unapologetic in its delivery of interactive macabre.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Xbox
From: Electronic Arts (www.ea.com)
ESRB Rating: Teen

You don't have to be a fan of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV show, in order to fully enjoy Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Xbox game. Though there are many Halloween-ish, gothic-themed, horror-steeped 3rd-person action/adventure games out there, Buffy stands out in a crowd. It helps that the lead character is recognizable as flaxen-haired heart-staker Sarah Michelle Gellar (in looks, anyway, but not in voice), but what's more important is the fact that this game is not the mere licensing gimmick it could have been. The special effects emulating supernatural effects are astounding, the combat systems is sharp, intelligent and intuitive and gameplay in general is frightfully fluid, Xbox-gorgeous, thoroughly immersive and replete with "Buffyverse." Really, Buffy the Masterpiece.

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Monsters Inc. Scream Arena for GameCube
From: THQ (www.thq.com)
ESRB Rating: Everyone

Yes, there is at least one "scary" game suitable for kids… THQ's Monster's Inc. Scream Arena--not to be confused with the Sony's Monsters Inc. PlayStation2 game based on the movie (a second scary game for kids)--is a simple game with a simple premise which has very little to do with the actual smash hit movie but everything to do with the licensing of the charming characters in that smash hit movie. Scream Arena, is just a mind-numbingly simple game of virtual dodgeball where up to 4 players go at it simultaneously. Charming. Not particularly good, mind you--almost as horrible as Sony's Monsters Inc. game, which is actually based on the movie--but charming enough to satiate the Monsters-loving tykes and their penchant-of-the-month for all things Inc.

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Be safe.