THQ's upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon marks a departure from the terraforming series, adding a viciously horrific wrinkle to its science fiction trappings.  This new development has got us waxing nostalgic for space horror titles of the past and all of the things that make the genre so great: the palpable sense of isolation, the dank corridors festooned with James Cameron-esque pipes and wires, and the undeniable dread of facing off against something not of this world.  Take a (space)walk down memory lane with us and reflect on our favorite horror games from beyond the stars.

Dead Space
Like a deliciously deadly cocktail of Resident Evil 4, Event Horizon, and John Carpenter's The Thing, Dead Space took unknown developer Visceral Games (nee EA Red Shores) and put them on the map while singlehandedly revitalizing the survival horror genre.  Players took on the role of Isaac Clarke (double nerd reference!), an engineer investigating an accident on a mining colony, only to find the scrambled DNA of the Necromorphs.  Players were subjected to a one-two punch of space faring horror: the isolation of your character squaring off against a hideous alien threat and the terror of trying to fight off said alien threat with a miserably low ammo supply.

The Franchise Defining Moment - While Dead Space and its sequel were filled with memorable moments, its prequel Dead Space: Extraction had one of the franchise's most gut-churning events.  Nathan McNeill, after defeating one of the game's final bosses, finds himself in a painful predicament: low on oxygen and unable to get back to an airlock due to his arm being impaled by one of the boss' mammoth quills.  Players had no choice but to swing their Wiimotes to hack their own arm off.  Just think about that: you're using the same controller that your kid sister uses to play virtual tennis to commit an act of self-amputation.  Nice one, Visceral.

Aliens vs. Predator
After the excellent Dark Horse comics and before the terrible movies, Aliens vs. Predator experienced a healthy life as a series of first-person shooters, as well as a few brawlers and one weird strategy game, for various platforms.  While the first title for Atari's failed Jaguar console gained special notoriety for being one of the only playable titles on the platform (not a difficult task), it was the PC titles that really hit the mark, capturing the Mexican standoff between the Aliens, Predators, and Colonial Marines perfectly.  However, if you're ever wandering the arcades and happen to stumble upon Capcom's Streets of Rage-flavored take on the franchise, do yourself a favor and sink in a few quarters…better yet, do me a favor and steal it for me.  I'll love you forever.

The Franchise Defining Moment - As phenomenal as the original Aliens vs. Predator was on the PC with its groundbreaking Alien controls which allowed you to run on any surface, it was Monolith's take on the Xenomorphs in Aliens vs. Predator 2 that's permanently etched in our minds.  Not only do you get to play as the nimble killing machine, but you get to live out the Alien's full life-cycle, from facehugger to drone, the highlight of which is the chestburster stage, where players literally had to gnaw their way through their host's ribcage to freedom.

System Shock
The futuristic forebear to Irrational's excellent Bioshock, System Shock was a game that wore many hats: it was a first-person shooter, an RPG, and a hacking simulator all wrapped in one horrific package.  Players squared off against SHODAN, a rogue AI who viewed herself as a goddess and who decided to wipe out the population of the space station Citadel, leaving the player as the lone survivor to face SHODAN's army of mutants and cyborgs on the intergalactic abattoir.  The sequel upped the ante with an additional rogue AI named XERXES (didn't anyone watch 2001?) and the horrifying hive-mind known as The Many.

The Franchise Defining Moment - While System Shock 2 was far more terrifying than its predecessor, the original features one of the most gruesome puzzles ever committed to disc.  The game featured its own gory take on "use someone else's body part to get through the biometric lock" cliche, forcing players to examine various severed heads up close until they found one with its eyes intact in order to get past a retinal scan.  The silver medal, however, easily goes to System Shock 2's murderous monkeys, who only compound their freakiness by having the tops of their skulls sawn off to reveal their brains.  That's pure nightmare fuel right there.

DOOM
The granddaddy of space horror games (as well as a landmark in the FPS genre), DOOM was set on the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, and found players fighting off the invading forces of Hell.  While the first game emphasized lightning-fast action and the sequel DOOM II: Hell on Earth took the fight to terra firma, DOOM 3 rebooted the franchise back to Mars and an industrial environment draped in shadows and littered with monster closets, proving that just because you're a badass Marine with an assault rifle doesn't mean you can't be scared shitless.

The Franchise Defining Moment - As much as people bitched about it, DOOM 3's sadistic decision to let you wield either a flashlight or your weapon, but not both at once, added immensely to the atmosphere.  Having one of the game's demonic entities pop into your flashlight beam, then hack away at you while you're trying desperately to switch to your weapon is truly the stuff of nightmares.