Ten Games that Blew My Mind
In no particular order...
Doom: The original game that I lost sleep over. Holy freaking crap, was this thing ever awesome when it came out. I have never before been so enthralled with a video game. Mere childsplay by today's snooty standards, this will forever stand out as the single video game that had the most paradigm-shifting impact on my young mind. Period. This game gave birth to the entire genre of first person shooters, and there have been very few games that have actually surpassed this one in terms of raw fun. This was the birthplace of multiplayer. id software coined the term deathmatch with this game, for crying out loud! And it's one of the only games to ever feature online co-op mode, something not even Halo can boast. When the chips are down, every first person shooter owes a great deal to DOOM, and they had better remember to give respect where respect is due.
Duke Nukem 3D: Destructible environments. Dynamic lighting effects. Remote-detonation pipebombs. No useless weapons. Droves of fun, well designed enemies. And a 3D engine capable of placing rooms over other rooms. Sounds like a modern game, right? Nope. Just Duke 3D. This is by far what I would call my "all time favorite video game." Why? Because developers are just now catching up to what this bad boy could already do. Sure, it didn't have the spit and polish of a modern game. Heck, all of the sprites were 8 bit. But it had one thing that a lot of modern games just don't have at all whatsoever today: FUN. And you know what? After nine years, it's STILL more fun than most of the other games I've tried.
Super Castlevania IV: A SNES classic. I absolutely loved this game. It had such incredible music, special effects, cool enemies, and a flair for the horror-macabre dramatic that is just flat out absent in today's market. By far, the best Castlevania game in the lot (that I've played).
Super Metriod: A true addiction. Some of the best storytelling and game-designing I have ever seen. Mystery, action, loss, and righteous indignation. Oh, yeah... the screw attack ruled, too.
Ninja Gaiden: Yes, I am reffering to the Xbox version. No other game in recent years reminded me so much of that old feeling I used to get when playing games as a kid. You see, this old feeling was a mix of "oh wow that is so freaking awesome" with "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH." Ninja Gaiden had both. Resident Evil 4 and God of War together don't hold a candle to this game. The depth of gameplay this title offered was sadly coupled by the sheer amount of vein-scalding homicidal anger that the player feels. Oh, how I wanted to make a controller-shaped hole in my television. By far, one of the most difficult titles I have ever encountered, and among the most addictively entrhalling.
Command and Conquer: I love this game. You get to make a little army of people who will happily march off a cliff for you, give them a bunch of cool tanks and guns, and then march them off into the fiery fray of death. It forever set a standard for all the real-time strategy games that would follow in its wake, but none of them would ever be as basely satisfying.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past: Best. Super. Nintendo. Game. Ever. Period.
Unreal Tournament 2004: The game that reminded me that multiplayer could be fun. No, not just fun, EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE. Constantly being re-invented through the mod scene with fresh maps and mutators, this game truly lives and breathes. Never the same way twice but always fun, the massive outdoor environments, fast-paced indoor deathmatch, and incredible selection of useful weapons and vehicles keep this firmly placed at the top of my list of favorite games. I honestly haven't had this much fun with a game... well... ever!
Halo: Mysterious, mystical, and very well written, Halo is the game that got me back into video games. Heck, I bought an Xbox just to be able to play it. What amazes me about this game is it's simplicity. It's really nothing too flashy, just a basic first person shooter set in space. Ah, but here's it's secret: It's fun. REALLY fun. Storyline? Meh. I've read and played better written ones lots of times (see any Zelda game, the Half-Life games, Metroid Prime, or any Final Fantasy Game). Original? Not really. Groundbreaking? Not especially. Fun? YES. Compelling? YES. Addictive? YES. One of my favorites? Without a doubt. The best ever? Hell no.
Half-Life: The only first person shooter that could arguably be said to be just as important to the genre as DOOM. This game was the first to introduce a continuous, deep, well-written storyline with characters that you gave a crap about. It was also the first time anyone had ever taken the Quake engine and used it to render environments in colors other than brown and green. Both are huge, monumental contributions to the FPS genre. Playing Half-Life is like living through an episode of the X-files mixed with a classic Science Fiction film, and you're the star of the show. For the first time ever, a video game could be said to be a true work of art. And that is exactly what Half-Life is: Art. Pure and simple.
Doom: The original game that I lost sleep over. Holy freaking crap, was this thing ever awesome when it came out. I have never before been so enthralled with a video game. Mere childsplay by today's snooty standards, this will forever stand out as the single video game that had the most paradigm-shifting impact on my young mind. Period. This game gave birth to the entire genre of first person shooters, and there have been very few games that have actually surpassed this one in terms of raw fun. This was the birthplace of multiplayer. id software coined the term deathmatch with this game, for crying out loud! And it's one of the only games to ever feature online co-op mode, something not even Halo can boast. When the chips are down, every first person shooter owes a great deal to DOOM, and they had better remember to give respect where respect is due.
Duke Nukem 3D: Destructible environments. Dynamic lighting effects. Remote-detonation pipebombs. No useless weapons. Droves of fun, well designed enemies. And a 3D engine capable of placing rooms over other rooms. Sounds like a modern game, right? Nope. Just Duke 3D. This is by far what I would call my "all time favorite video game." Why? Because developers are just now catching up to what this bad boy could already do. Sure, it didn't have the spit and polish of a modern game. Heck, all of the sprites were 8 bit. But it had one thing that a lot of modern games just don't have at all whatsoever today: FUN. And you know what? After nine years, it's STILL more fun than most of the other games I've tried.
Super Castlevania IV: A SNES classic. I absolutely loved this game. It had such incredible music, special effects, cool enemies, and a flair for the horror-macabre dramatic that is just flat out absent in today's market. By far, the best Castlevania game in the lot (that I've played).
Super Metriod: A true addiction. Some of the best storytelling and game-designing I have ever seen. Mystery, action, loss, and righteous indignation. Oh, yeah... the screw attack ruled, too.
Ninja Gaiden: Yes, I am reffering to the Xbox version. No other game in recent years reminded me so much of that old feeling I used to get when playing games as a kid. You see, this old feeling was a mix of "oh wow that is so freaking awesome" with "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH." Ninja Gaiden had both. Resident Evil 4 and God of War together don't hold a candle to this game. The depth of gameplay this title offered was sadly coupled by the sheer amount of vein-scalding homicidal anger that the player feels. Oh, how I wanted to make a controller-shaped hole in my television. By far, one of the most difficult titles I have ever encountered, and among the most addictively entrhalling.
Command and Conquer: I love this game. You get to make a little army of people who will happily march off a cliff for you, give them a bunch of cool tanks and guns, and then march them off into the fiery fray of death. It forever set a standard for all the real-time strategy games that would follow in its wake, but none of them would ever be as basely satisfying.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past: Best. Super. Nintendo. Game. Ever. Period.
Unreal Tournament 2004: The game that reminded me that multiplayer could be fun. No, not just fun, EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE. Constantly being re-invented through the mod scene with fresh maps and mutators, this game truly lives and breathes. Never the same way twice but always fun, the massive outdoor environments, fast-paced indoor deathmatch, and incredible selection of useful weapons and vehicles keep this firmly placed at the top of my list of favorite games. I honestly haven't had this much fun with a game... well... ever!
Halo: Mysterious, mystical, and very well written, Halo is the game that got me back into video games. Heck, I bought an Xbox just to be able to play it. What amazes me about this game is it's simplicity. It's really nothing too flashy, just a basic first person shooter set in space. Ah, but here's it's secret: It's fun. REALLY fun. Storyline? Meh. I've read and played better written ones lots of times (see any Zelda game, the Half-Life games, Metroid Prime, or any Final Fantasy Game). Original? Not really. Groundbreaking? Not especially. Fun? YES. Compelling? YES. Addictive? YES. One of my favorites? Without a doubt. The best ever? Hell no.
Half-Life: The only first person shooter that could arguably be said to be just as important to the genre as DOOM. This game was the first to introduce a continuous, deep, well-written storyline with characters that you gave a crap about. It was also the first time anyone had ever taken the Quake engine and used it to render environments in colors other than brown and green. Both are huge, monumental contributions to the FPS genre. Playing Half-Life is like living through an episode of the X-files mixed with a classic Science Fiction film, and you're the star of the show. For the first time ever, a video game could be said to be a true work of art. And that is exactly what Half-Life is: Art. Pure and simple.
posted by Raoul The Destroyer at 6:38 PM
1 Comments:
I agree with your sentiments pertaining to Half-Life. In my personal top 10 I rate it the best game I have ever played:
http://20thcenturyhistorian.blogspot.com/.
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