Great Games

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Pick a game you think was truly great and tell why.

My first choice: Adventure (Atari 2600). This was WAY ahead of its time and was an early example of the find your own way by yourself quest involving the use of found gadgets and other stuff in order to capture a mystical prize. Nintendo would reproduce this a million times over in the Zelda franchise.

This game was all the more incredible for being written for a 4 bit dinosaur of a council system. At the time this game was made, nearly all games had score boards (the only way of documenting progress and achievement in a mindless shooter like Space Invaders or Defender) and a time limit was also common since many were arcade ports and the goal of an arcade cabinet game was to force the player to keep spending quarters on it. Adventure had neither of these.

Traveller -- "Science Fiction Adventure In The Far Future"

A tabletop role-playing game set in a star-faring empire about 3600 years into the future. It uses a dice-paper-pencil format, with one of the players as the Referee. The dice are six-sided, thus simplifying rolls for combat, skills, and tasks. An 8 or greater on two dice means success, less means failure.

The game is open-framework, meaning that with a little tweaking, the rules can be applied to any science-fiction milieu in literature, television, or cinema. Characters do not advance in level, but may acquire wealth and property and improve skills along the way.

Character generation begins at age 18 with the character being drafted or enlisted into one of several careers, and progresses in 4-year terms. During each term, skills are earned, experiences are gained, and contacts can be made. Play begins when the character retires from his or her career to go free-lance.

Most important of all, players interact with each other in the same location face-to-face. The game requires no electronic devices or Internet connections, only dice, paper, pencils, and an interest in science-fiction role-playing.

(Pizza and beverages are optional. )

Link to Wikipedia Article

I would have a very hard time picking any specific favorites here.... I can think of so many examples. I'll try to think of a few for various consoles:

Atari 2600:

Space Invaders - this is just a good example of a port done right. It did a good job in showing off the capabilities of the console, but also it showed how a developer could take a pre-existing concept, and add to it. The core gameplay was fully intact, but on top of that you had a bazillion different variations to choose from. It also sped up the action in rather subtle ways, making for a more engaging experience. The 2600 was very good at ports in general (even if some had to be missing out on some features) and this is one of the best examples.

I could honestly list so very, very many examples from that one console. Some of which were fairly popular... like Jungle Hunt... and others, most people have never heard of, such as Turmoil (one of my personal favorites).


Arcade:

Robotron 2084 - Absolute brilliance. The twin-stick gameplay this used was novel at the time, and would later go on to form an entire genre, which has evolved quite far into all sorts of creative new forms. A genre that has been growing in popularity for years now. But the original still remains one of the best. And one of the hardest.

Others: Juno First (personal favorite), Major Havok, Asteroids, Mario Bros.


NES:

Metroid - It was buggy as all heck (no, seriously, Metroid has ALOT of glitches) but this game was one that showed what "exploration" could mean in a video game. While at the same time providing a unique, otherworldly setting, with graphics and music that truly made it feel like an alien world. This is my personal favorite entry in the series.

Others: Super Mario (the first), Zelda (both)


I could list piles of games for every console really.

When it comes to modern games though, I can think of two very specific ones.

The Binding of Isaac - I honestly consider this one of the greatest games ever made... I'd say, it's in my top 3. Yes, I know it's full of turd monsters and assorted horrors, but it's the gameplay that truly makes this shine. Isaac is credited as essentially kickstarting a genre for a reason (roguelikes/lites, of the sort that arent turn-based) and still remains the best of them. It took the formula used by the very first Legend of Zelda, turned it up to 11, and then combined that with the concept of a roguelike. And the way it's mechanics work add another layer of brilliance past that. Items synergize dynamically with one another, something that is *incredibly* hard to pull off in game design. And they do this to such an extent that the possibilities are endless. I have over 500 hours in this game. It STILL surprises me on a quite regular basis. It's still just as fun as the first time I played it. And it's a game that min-maxers can really get into. On top of that, it's a game that has real personality, in an era where that's hard to find. EVERYTHING here... playable characters, enemies, bosses, items... is memorable instead of derivative. Players who get into this game tend to REALLY get into it. The game has an absolutely baffling amount of content... there are 197 enemy types 72 bosses, 547 items, and 15 playable characters... and most players will easily remember the names of every single one of them. Even I know the names of everything (and often, the lore/trivia behind each one), and my memory is HORRIBLE.


Minecraft - No, I dont care what anyone else thinks of this one. This juggernaut rampaged through the industry and changed everything. It didnt just create a genre... it had an impact even on genres that were far away from it. Boundless creativity in all forms... including building and problem-solving, endless exploration, a superb crafting system, and a million other things I could rant about all day. I could spend pages and pages going on about why I think this game is brilliant. I really could. If I had to pick an absolute favorite game.... it'd be this.

Minecraft because at the time it came out it was a very novel type of game. There really wasn't anything else like it and it had extremely wide appeal (even though the actual game has always been cumbersome to run, especially multiplayer).

World of Warcraft because it popularised and became the poster child for an entire genre of game. It wasn't the first and it didn't even do that much to innovate, but it was huge in scope and very well executed. I don't have time to play it these days but from what I know it's still going strong over a decade since its launch with new content. When I think of the best times I've had gaming this game comes to mind for its well tuned, challenging cooperative play, and I know there's lots of people who find it just as satisfying for its solo and competitive gameplay.

Dark Souls because it's a great action RPG that demands much of the player. It has the difficulty of old school action games like Castlevania that requires mastery of its systems, both in moment to moment combat, and in preplanning with things like choosing the right weapon for the right situation. Like the other games listed here it's been incredibly influential and the phrase 'it's the Dark Souls of x' is commonly used positively to describe new games (even if it doesn't make sense).

Halo 3

Reason 1: The score - excellent accompaniment on each level, especially when Ascent plays just as you lift off in the Hornets to blast through the swarming Banshees, avoiding the ground fire, and push towards the destruction of the Scarabs. The same is true for Tsavo Highway and so many others. The you get the sad but hopeful pieces like Never Forget.

Reason 2: best multiplay shooter experience I've ever had. The balance of weapons, the control systems, the usilisation of vehicles in the Big Team Battles, the variety of modes and the ability to create expansive custom maps and custom games. The community for that game was excellent.

My arcade had a Satans Hollow mini cabinet and what drew me to it was the artwork on the sides.

Also, if you play the Xbox 360 Arcade Origins, there is a lone achievement attached to Satan's Hollow: 30 game points with the title of "Savior" for shooting the big flying Devil face during the bonus round.

In the film Wreck It Ralph, the Devil is present at the support group meeting for video game bad guys. It is speculated by some that he is the Devil from the Satan's Hollow game.

I miss City of Heroes. I had a good time and spent countless hours making and leveling up characters. I still have the email they sent out when they shut down the servers. I don't recall the exact date the servers went down, but the email is from December 1, 2012.

After hosting the final heroic battle between good and evil
the City of Heroes servers have been shut down permanently.


We've taken to the skies of City of Heroes but the game and community will forever remain in our memories and hearts. We thank our fans for their years of support. We couldn't have gone this far without you.

Pac-Man is a great game