Best Games Of This Generation

[Tuffty]

Well it's fast approaching that time. That time where it's the twilight of this current console generation as we look ahead, with excitement, to the next generation and the possibilities they will have. While this current generation still has to see some potentially great sounding games yet to before it can officially call it a day, I think now is appropriate to look back and reflect on what have been the best games to have come out for the 360, PS3 and Wii. Of course, any PC games are also worthy of nomination as are handheld games (PSP, DS, 3DS, Vita).

What a generation of games it's been. It's easy to look back on the negatives. The over abundance of linear 'me too' Call of Duty clones. Pre-order store exclusive content. Always online authentication. But really, stop and think. Has there ever been a better time to be a gamer? So many consoles to choose from. Games released in Japan that might never have seen the light of day in the West have a greater chance of being found and translated over here. If a game has bugs, the patches for them can be downloaded to your console. You can even buy digital copies and downloaded to your console without ever having to leave your house. Multiplayer now more readily available to play against anyone in the world. More girls playing games than ever and the medium having an ever popular increase in the media and are accessible for anyone to play. This console generation brought about a lot of positives that have made it better for all of us.

Let's not forget the games. From AAA titles to small budget indie games, this generation has seen an embarrassment of riches across all platforms and for many, these games have gone on to be some of their favourite games of all time. I know that's true for me.

So here's how this topic will work. You can share what you thought some of your favourite games are. You can choose one game per post and write about it as much or as little as you would like (the more the better obviously!) Or even have a Top 5 or Top 10. Let's get a discussion going, let's all spread a little love for those games that kept us playing until late at night or kept us thinking about it long after the credits have rolled. If you disagree, please keep it to yourself. Let's focus on the positives! And if possible, try to avoid talk of spoilers. I'll continually update the thread just because there's so..many...games. I'll start off with a game that I completely recently but one that is absolutely worth the merit.

The Last Of Us



One of the swansongs of this generation also delivered one of it's best games. While other games have a good start or finish with a forgettable middle section, TLOU is gripping from start to finish in a way few games fail to capture. A large part of that is down to the gameplay, which marries third person action with a greater emphasis on stealth in a way that's not been done before. Having to sneak past armed guards as they're aware of your presence or sneaking past at a snail's pace in a room full of one hit kill undead creatures was always unbelievably tense and eventually satisfying to get through an area unscathed. But when it was time to roll up your sleeves and fight, the combat is absolutely brutal, with every skull crash, gunshot and fist fight underscoring the desperate struggle of the game's characters to survive in a cruel and unforgiving world.

Which then leads onto the story and indeed, perhaps the key reason to play TLOU. Expectations were high, considering Naughty Dog's excellent story telling and characterisation in the Uncharted games. TLOU certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. While it is often prone to succumbing to cliches and tropes found in other post apocalyptic fiction, it is to TLOU credit that it both often exceeds and subverts those expectations by delivering a mature and meaningful blockbuster in a way that only the medium can provide. I'm not just talking about what happens in the 'cut-scenes'. The story telling is there all the time. In the character animations. The environmental detail. The emotions you feel as you play through. It sets the tone within the first 15 minutes of the game and where other story tellers may be content to drip feed out the protaganist's past as some kind of narrative payoff, TLOU starts with an emotional gutpunch that both shocks and saddens.

To say anymore about the story may veer into spoiler territory, so let me just summarise by saying that the game almost does away with such heavy handed exposition seen before in other games. Instead it's replaced with technical wizardly that's only possible now such as fleeting facial expressions and gestures which better serves a tight script. You know why Joel doesn't want to go on this journey because you can see it on his face. The game does such a good job at showing the player some respect for a mature, well told story with complex characters. It's a game where it often says more to show and not tell. The main characters themselves, acted with amazing conviction by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, is believable and at times, completely capable of tugging the heart strings.

I also have to mention the sheer level of detail that's put into the game to make a believable world. Assets like paintings and furniture which is seen once and never again. The fact that there are notes scattered around the world and after reading them, Joel and Ellie will comment on what you just read. Unique animations like Joel's hands placed on a wall as you approach it. The gorgeous environments, the somber soundtrack. TLOU really is the complete package with each element working with each other into a cohesive whole. It's one of the best games I have ever played and one in which I can show to someone as both an example of how far games have come and to demonstrate the possibilities for the future of the medium.

[zoolander]

Great Idea! Sounds like I really need to play TLOU. There were certainly a few games that stand near the top of my video game playing career that have come out of this generation.  One game that does come to mind first when I think of the last 6 or 7 years:

THE ORANGE BOX

A sublime, surprising, cleaver puzzle game with some of the funniest black humor you will ever hear anywhere. [noembed][/noembed]

A extremely polished, fun, well supported and charmingly visual designed multilayer fps. Still remains extremely popular to this day.


Pretty great!

Oh yea, it also has maybe the greatest shooter campaign ever made! (plus it's two prequels  )


F you Combine Advisors! Also F you garden gnome!

[Tuffty]

Can't argue with that. Portal alone is easily one of the best games of this generation, but to have it among HL2 and TF2? Bargain.

Vanquish



I remember it all too well. After the brilliance of Bayonetta (which I intend to write more about later), came a live action teaser for Vanquish, a game from the same developer Platinum Games. And I remember the complete disappointment that people had over it. They've gone towards making a third person shooter? Obviously a Japanese attempt to capture the Western zeitgeist, because you know, Japan doesn't make shooters. A boring looking Halo clone, I read a few people call it.

How wrong they were. Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4) had an idea on how to create a third person shooter and in the process, made every other third person shooter before and even since, look slow in comparison. As if you were running through treacle.

The joy lies in the AR Suit. Not only a cool piece of Japanese design (inspired by Casshern) it also houses one of the best risk/reward mechanics I've ever seen. See with the suit on, you feel nigh on immortal. Not only can you slow down time but you can also use it to move at ridiculously fast speeds with rockets built into the suit. I mean...fast. The environment goes rushing past you without dropping framerate at all in such a way that it's always exciting when you choose to use it. But it also comes at an expense, as use of it is determined by a gauge that starts to deplete when you use these powers. It regenerates over time, but the idea is to use as much of the meter as you can, launching a full assault and giving you a brief moment of recovery before going again. If you use all the meter up, your powers are gone, you move slower and you are horribly exposed and could easily die.

This might be more manageable if Vanquish played like any other third person shooter you care to name. Just hide behind some waist high cover, reload and wait til it regenerates right? Wrong. Unlike other third person shooters, cover is there, but you are just using it to get the fuck away from enemies that are powerful, aggressive and usually bigger than you are. Cover is destructible so you can't even hide for long. If you're trying to play Vanquish by hiding behind cover and taking pop shots when possible, i.e. like any other third person shooter you care to mention, you're doing it wrong.

But then the encouragement to move into the open and face the onslaught head-on is there from the start. Hell this is a game where, from the very start, you can quite literally rocket slide across the map, dropkick an enemy, leading into a somersault where as you are arcing back, can then go into slow motion and shoot at other mechs. It's high octane, blood pumping action from start to finish. I mean look at this for a display of high level skill and at how fast the game moves in motion. Look!



With chapters split into easily digestible chunks, it's easy to go back and experiment with new methods of attack and weapons to use, giving the game as much depth as something like Bayonetta or any other character action game, where the joy of playing is digging deeper into the mechanics and seeing just how far you can push yourself. This depth is Vanquish's long-term payoff, but there are plenty of immediate rewards, too. The game regularly offers moments of astonishing spectacle, blistering set-pieces and boss fights so gloriously unrestrained that it even gets away with a cavalier use of quick-time events. As you repeatedly pummel the face of a robot the size of a house with your rocket powered fists, you would wonder why the game didn't sell millions.

I guess that is down to the concerns players had about the campaign length (a few hours) and no competitive multiplayer. Which is a shame, as it is a game that deserved more success for daring to take on an already tired genre and reinject it with a bit of life by daring to take on a new approach. I think it's one of the best action games ever made.

[Tuffty]

The Walking Dead



There are few titles in any entertainment medium that have made me so overly emotional that I could cry. I get reflective when I listen to John Frusciante's music. I feel the heartstrings start to pull on the opening to Up. The Walking Dead game produced actual tears multiple times. The closest comparison I can make is to Studio Ghibli's 1988 anti-war film, Grave of the Fireflies (a movie which also brought me to tears), in that after experiencing once, I would be hard pushed to do it again.

Let's get this out of the way first though. The Walking Dead is an ok adventure game, in that the actual gameplay mechanics are entirely serviceable and inoffensive. Puzzles are taxing without being punishingly hard. Finding objects in the environment is a chore but comes as part of the genre. And the first person shooter elements aren't great but they last for such a short period of time that it doesn't matter. It's not even the first game to introduce moral questions raised to the player. So why include it as one of the games of the generation?

In short, it's a game which challenged my perception of effective story telling in a video game. The game actually does a great job in removing player agency and showing that less might be more. Take the main protaganist, Lee, as an example. Other games will have you play as a character with a blank slate with no trace of personality other than what you instil in him or her, making them pretty boring. Either that or they have defined identities which is broken as soon as you make them do something stupid like wear boxers on their head. Lee's different. A character with an established backstory, he is his own man most of the time. A likeable, sympathetic, kind man racked with guilt over his anger issues which led to a tragic event in his past (and indeed, the basis of the start of the story). In short, he's human and like most people, he intends to do good but is also capable of evil. We the player, only influence him in times of tough moral decisions to make.

People can act differently under pressure and the way they act can differ from what we see of them normally. The Walking Dead constantly asks difficult questions of you in a harsh, post apocalyptic environment where survival is paramount. The answers to these questions may surprise you. But it's also a world where your decisions have consequences. People live, or die, on your choices. Those that live to carry on have different opinions on you based on your actions and react to you differently, which in turn changes your perspective. I knew people who hated Kenny and considered him a psychopath, yet in my game I was sympathetic to his plight and he reciprocated my kindness in turn. The crux of the game is your relationship with Clementine, a little girl you find on your travels and act as something of as surrogate father towards. The game does a wonderful job to make you care for this little girl, to the point where you feel influenced that any decision you make is for her. But at what cost? The Walking Dead has no good or bad decisions, sometimes the events that happen in this game are already pre-determined and your decisions have little to no consequence as to how it plays out and you're powerless to stop it. Other games with these kinds of moral choices usually get resolved based on the choice you made, so it was surprising and refreshing to see that some events are just out of your control. Just as in real life, the most you can hope for is to accept the hand that's been dealt with and make the most of what's been offered. How many games can boast that?

Most of The Walking Dead's accolades have stemmed from its writing, and for good reason; its sophisticated script is laden with realistically understated characters, morally complex situations, and an unflinchingly sombre tone from start to finish. Many moments in the game that will stick long in the memory come from me having to make incredibly difficult decisions. That's the success of the game and the reason I can't go back to it. As far as I'm concerned, that story is my own creation. The decisions I made were my own which lead to me caring for the crew I was with. Especially Clementine, whose mix of childish naiveity and optimism being constantly tested made me care more for a video game character than any other I can think of. That too is also something to be said of The Walking Dead. How many games do you know of that can make you feel such strong feelings of paternal instinct? This game is available on all platforms, even on iOS and other mobile devices for pretty cheap. It's accessible for anyone to play, skill level is irrelevant here and all 5 episodes are pretty cheap. Do yourself a favour and experience it for yourself. Bring plenty of tissues.

[SomethingWild]

Kirby Epic Yarn (Wii)



The Kirby games have always been experimental when it comes to gameplay and styling, with mixed results.
After several years without a proper Kirby platformer they came out with Epic Yarn and it's a truly unique game.
You can tell there went a lot of love into this game. The attention to detail is amazing. This shows in the graphics and gameplay.

Even though Nintendo also came out with a new Kirby Adventure (AKA Return to Dreamland) I actually feel that Epic Yarn is the superior game.
It uses more of the classic Kirby soundtrack from the older games and it captures the series charm much better.
Even though everything is made of yarn and you can't suck up enemies, you can still transform! Firetruck, dolphin, jeep, train, UFO...
It's a genius new take on an old concept. Yes, it is a tad on the easy side, but that simply doesn't matter with a game like this. 

[Tuffty]

Dark Souls



Dark Souls is notoriously difficult, obtuse and cryptic. In essence, qualities that modern video games rarely are. Other games now have waypoints which guide you to your next quest/objective. Dark Souls literally throws you into the world after a brief tutorial and tells you to figure out where to go next. Other games have nice shiny cutscenes to go with their attempts at an immersive story. Dark Souls just sets up the world in the beginning and then has practically no direct storytelling after that, leaving you to piece the story by yourself. Other video games help you out if you're ever stuck by lowering the difficulty somewhat or offering you the chance to skip a difficult section. Dark Souls only has one difficulty and it never ever makes it easier. You either improve, or you don't. So why then, in spite of all these negative feelings, does it rate so highly among it's fans as one of the best games ever?

To me, my appreciation of the game came at a certain point, where I had felt the lowest I had ever felt playing any game. I had died once on a boss, well, two bosses, the Bell Gargoyles. By dying once you leave a bloodstain on the ground which you can go back to and retrieve all your souls, the games version of both XP and currency. On the way back I got careless, attempted to rush past enemies, but I died. I knew better, I did, but I got reckless. It was a horrible loss...but I wanted to keep going. I knew it was my fault, I knew I could do better, I know I could beat those Gargoyles if I just tried it again. Then the moment came, when both Gargoyles were defeated and I had rarely felt so elated from playing a game.

That is part of it's charm. Unrelentless and always challenging, Dark Souls essentially tests your resolve. If it's not the aesthetics of the dead world of Lordran first, then it's the inhabitants within it, always the obstacle between you and progressing further. Make no mistake, there will come a point, just like I had experienced, where Dark Souls just breaks you. But if you let it, you're willing to learn. To show patience? It rebuilds you. You're smarter as you go into it. More aware, your resolve getting ever stronger just so you can see what's in the next area ahead. What other challenges lay in wait? Cruel and unforgiving it might be, but Dark Souls is anything but heartless or even, soulless.

The most astonishing thing about Dark Souls is the world and level design. The seamless way you can navigate through the map (with zero loading times), taking multiple routes that involve seemingly improbably jumps that were clearly designed to be possible, curling back on yourself and approaching the same area from a different angle, suddenly surprised that you can look down and see where you have come from. Or later in the game, descending or ascending, scannning the horizon and seeing a glimpse of architecture that suddenly puts your location in perspective. It's incredible and intricate and so easy to miss.

Then there's the way the environment itself tells the story, rather than any exposition or dialogue. The flooded city left to rot, filled with piles of bones from desperate people trying to escape, lying forgotten and untouched below the town built on top of it. The giant, malformed brother protecting the corpse of his sister, amidst the flaming demon pits that their folly created. You found some hidden chests in the Firelink Shrine? Think about what was in them. Think about who hid them there. There's an answer, if you can make the connections. There's always an answer, in Dark Souls. You just have to ask the right questions. Observe the right things and have enough patience to grasp what it's telling you.

Dark Souls is a unique game, one that perhaps shouldn't exist as games are getting increasingly accessible with huge arrows telling you where to go or scaled back difficulty. For those couple of months last year, I obsessed over it in a way I've rarely done over a game. Only Metroid Prime, perhaps my favourite game of all time, has had the same effect and Dark Souls is right up there. Easily one of the best games this generation and to me, one of the best games ever made.

Without wanting to get too poetic about it, I love that the core concept of the game, an undead character coming back again and again to progress further, speaks towards the idea that no matter how dark or oppressive things become, there's always something deep down inside that just makes you want to keep going.

[Tuffty]

Batman : Arkham Asylum



Now be honest. Back in 2009, when you heard of a new Batman game, you weren't that optimistic. A good Batman game? Come on. But coming out of nowhere, Arkham Asylum came out and surprised everyone by just how good it was.

Think back to the combat, an innovative approach which is now setting an industry standard for action games. Rather than resort to genre tropes with light/heavy XXY or XYXY commands, the combat took a different approach by instead focusing on timing. Parrying. Depending on Batman's fighting ability and gadgets together. With plenty of unique animations which made fights a new experience every time you walked into a fight knowing full well you were the goddamn Batman and if you were in the zone, fights were fluid, brutal (those takedowns!) and you could take out a number of thugs without getting hit. It was empowering and thrilling and hitting that sweet spot of being both accessible and deep enough to satisfy the hardcore players. Anyone can pick up and play the combat but if you want to not get hit at all, especially in fights involving tougher enemy types? You need to be good.

But it wasn't done there. The Predator sections of the game, where you stealthily take out enemies in an open area slowed the tempo down, heightened the tension and made you empowered for different reasons. Do you distract an enemy with a sonic batarang before sneaking up and stealthily taking them down? Do you swoop down, cape outstretched as you plant a kick right in a prisoner's face? Or would you swing from gargoyle to gargoyle, before hanging upside down, patiently waiting as a clueless prisoner is scooped up from below and left dangling on a rope? The joy came from instilling fear into the bad guys, watching through the detective vision as the heartrate picked up, shooting wildly at the slightest sound terrified of you.

It also has plenty of depth, with Riddler Challenges testing your platforming and environmental puzzle solving abilities, rewarding you with unlockables and information on Batman characters that is great to hear for any Batman fans. Even after completing the main story, the challenges teased you just enough that you wanted to find it all and I can't say that about every game that tries it.

The sequel, Arkham City, gave a bigger area to explore, better boss battles (the Mr.Freeze fight is one of the best boss battles in any game), more depth to the combat and predator sections, but there was something missing from the equation. Something was special about Arkham Asylum in a way that City lacked. Maybe it was the environment, with Arkham Asylum being so dark and gothic and oppressive that it was just the perfect fit. Maybe it was just the fact that it came first and was already held with such regard in a way that a sequel couldn't live up to expectations. Whatever the case might be, rarely does a game do a character justice in such a satisfying way. Arkham Asylum finds room for every major aspect of Batman's enduring appeal, and it does so in a game compelling enough that doesn't just make it the best comic-book to video game adaptation ever made, but an impressive and innovative action adventure game in it's own right.

[Hart]

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)



If you have played any of the Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney games, you probably wanted to get a copy of this game. Especially since it was create by the same person behind said franchise. Unfortunately that is probably how you would know about this game (I know I did) if you look at the low sales when it was released in early 2011. Hopefully that changed when it was imported on iOS last year.

Like the Ace Attorney games, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is visual novel-type game mixed with puzzle-solving. Though the gameplay is sometimes tedious with repetitive point-and-clicking various objects, and long dragged-out dialogue boxes, the game make up for this with the humor, character animations, character designs, soundtrack, and intriguing storytelling. I almost forget about the puzzle aspect as I was drawn into the story line. It never felt dragged out and I was anxiously awaiting for the next chapter to unfold. The plot twists surprise me at ever turn, even at the very end when everything is resolved and all questions are answered.

I had mixed feelings the first time I finished the game, happy that I completed it, sad that the story had ended. Kinda makes me wish there would be a sequel of some sorts. I actually waited about half a year to forget everything so that I could enjoy a second playthrough. I was not disappointed at all. I might have to give this game another go before the end of the year.

If this game had been released after the 3DS came out, I might have enjoyed the visuals, but not by much. I liked how all the characters moved as though they were in a 3D environment despite being shown in 2D. I think this game brought out the best of the DS.

Currently Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective can be bought on the iTunes store with the first two chapters free (I think there's 18 chapters in total). Haven't tried it on iOS yet, but if it's as good as it was on the DS, then you wouldn't be disappointed.

[Tuffty]

Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare



I imagine that some of you reading this entry may be rolling your eyes. While it's easy to harass Call of Duty for simplifying games, creating a whole list of 'me too' carbon copy clones and building up more annoying children over Xbox Live, it's hard to argue that COD4 is one of, if not the, most influential game this generation.

While the single player isn't different to the previous 3 games that came before it (aside from the jump from WW2 to modern era), the scale was greater than ever, with a campaign delivering some high octane action and some memorable setpiece moments. COD4 is the best amongst the series, without having to deal in the bullshit of MW2/3 and the heavy handed seriousness and Hollywood voiceovers in Black Ops, COD4 is unique in that it does help to create a clear, cohesive narrative while having some strong characters and villians.

But the multiplayer revolutionised the console market. If you had said before this generation began that first person shooters would now have RPG elements, most people would laugh at you. But COD4's multiplayer was the first to have character levels, XP, class based systems, unlockable weapons and perks, killstreaks. It was all brand new at the time and it was easy to have it's hooks dug into you and never let go. So revolutionary in fact that it's now affected other genres as well like racing and sports games. It had it's problems (no host migration at all, so salty players who were the host could just quit the game and end the match for everyone) but on the face of it, it was ultimately pretty balanced and had some of the best multiplayer maps.

I've many fond memories of playing the multiplayer with friends during my Uni years and over the summer til the early hours of the morning. For that reason, I can't not have it as one of my favourite games this generation.

[pikapikapika]

Which version of FIFA will you add to the above choice 

[Jul3]

Great thread! When I first opened it I thought I was just going to post a simple list but then I read all these epic write-ups 

I've been wanting to check out The Last of Us and Kirby's Epic Yarn since they came out and your write-ups make me want to more.

As for the games mentioned which I have played, both I think I could also have included in a similar list. Dark Souls just creates this fantastic atmosphere and has so many unique features. One thing I like about it is that it really gives each action you take, however small, a real meaning, and everything has to be considered. One little move wrong and you are toast. And each strike of your weapon has real weight and effect. Near the start, I was likenening the game to a shmup. There was this one run from a fireplace through a series of smaller enemies along a fixed path and then an epic boss battle to finish on this bridge. And like a shmup, each opponent, no matter how small, has an equal chance of killing you. And also similarly, I played that one "level"/path hundreds of times until I memorised exactly what you needed to do to conquer it. Later in the game I felt it became more like a standard RPG which I didn't like so much. As a side point which might amuse those of you who know me, but I named my character Mayu, and gave her twintails etc. I started off as the deprived class, so she was running around in her underwear and obviously I lost my humanity or whatever its called and so she became this horrible thing of flesh and blood, and it was disgusting looking at her.

Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare is also a great choice. Some people find this strange, but I play the CoD games for the singleplayer campaign. They are this rollercoaster epic full of setpieces and memorable moments. This was the first CoD I played and the stand-out moments were fantastic -  the highlight being when your helicopter doesn't escape the nuke and you crash, and then you awake and your vision is all blurry and you try and move your character but he doesn't control properly... and then you die... That was an amazing moment. The other main stand-out moment from the CoD series for me was the trench battle in CoD2. This really made me feel like I was in the trenches. The whole experience was horrible, I was in a trench, I got out and was gunned to death. Rinse and repeat and then finally one time I made it through. Made me think of the real battles and how many countless soldiers must have lost their lives in the same way.

I'll try and post my choices for games of the generation later, with also a segment on how they only could have worked this generation.

[Jul3]

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved  - Xbox 360 Live Arcade (Bizarre Creations)



This is basically a hugely addictive 2D score-attack shooting game done almost to perfection. It's really very pure in what it sets out to do. It's a single screen twin-stick shooter which doesn't evolve apart from getting more intense. There is one level and you just start and have to survive, whilst all hell breaks out around you, fighting for that high score which becomes oh so addictive. At its most intense the entire screen if basically filled with enemies and you are just carving a path out amongst them whilst still dealing with all the unique enemy types. That's one of it's strengths - each of the enemy types is very unique and requires a different tactic to dispose of, and each could damn kill you if you aren't on top of your game and concentrating on every pixel with sub-second timing. It's also worth noting, that since none of the enemies actually shoots, it's all about their movement, and you knowing how to run away and handle their movements. The scoring system really keeps you going. The extra lives and bombs given at specific intervals are constant targets you are fighting for. There is a real incentive to use your bomb rather than lose lives as you gain multiplier which resets with lost life rather than bomb use.

Why it works well this generation:

Firstly the game came kicking and screaming into the HD generation being the best show-off of gorgeous high resolution graphics. The amount of pixels on screen all doing something, and that glaring neon and the warping background is a really stunning aesthetic and the audio aids this completely warping as space does. This type of game had been neglected for so long as it's quite a simple arcade game - but the start of this gen and the online downloadable game services were a perfect match for this type of game. It was released I think close to console launch and showed just what could be done - an A++ quality game but not one so epic people were going to spend £40 for it. It paved the way for a lot of future great downloadable arcade style games which has been one of the strengths of this generation - the small games and the indie games. This game was also perfectly suited to the twin-stick control of modern gamepads, although the asymmetry of the Xbox's sticks isn't ideal here. The achievements also all were something to aim for, which was very beneficial for a score attack game. And one of them - pacifism, completely changed the way you played the game as you weren't allowed to shoot. Perhaps the best use of an achievement to enhance gameplay - and one of which spawned a new gametype in the sequel.

Speaking of which, there are a whole raft of sequels to this game (Wave, Retro Evolved 2, Galaxies) and a predecessor which was a mini-game on an original Xbox game. All of which are enjoyable, but none work as well as this one. The sequels start to add lots of gimmicks, have a less pure scoring system and feature many different levels, which takes away from the purity of this one single-screen score attack game. The other twin-stick shooters released for both the 360 and PS3 also fall prey of that, and this is the purist game of its type. All reaction and focus and score attack based.

[shadowstar]

Tuffty, reading your detailed and lengthy posts...you're such a nerd and I love you for that 

[Tuffty]

^ Bless you for being so supportive of my nerdy ways

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved  - Xbox 360 Live Arcade (Bizarre Creations)

Haven't played it myself but I've only heard good things about it. It is a worthy nomination considering that it was really one of the first of that type of downloadable indie games which has gone on to become incredibly popular during this generation.

Red Dead Redemption



Open world games are fantastic for letting the player be able to do all kinds of fun, creative and potentially morally reprehensible actions that they just otherwise wouldn't be able to in real life. But few open world games have a powerful, resonant story to go along with it. Usually a story in these types of games is there to unlock gameplay features or to experience nice scripted moments. But because of the very nature of these types of games, it's easy to experience a narrative dissonance between the story the game wants to tell and what you the player actually do in gameplay. GTAIV was a big offender for this. The story focused on Niko Bellic, an immigrant looking to do the right thing and make a new life of himself in modern day America, but outside of a cutscene you can go on a mass slaughter of innocents.

Red Dead Redemption is perhaps the best example of a good marriage between the two in a way that's not only believable but also tells an interesting story in it's own right. The stroke of genius lies in the setting. The Old West is an era when the friction between content and context makes perfect sense. Every time you wrack up a huge body count in GTA, the sort of slaughter that would dominate headlines for weeks in reality, and then snap back into the prescribed narrative without consequence, the painstaking immersion falls through. They are still fine games in their own right for allowing you to go on a rampage like that, but it can be a little jarring when you start to really think about it.

In RDR, out on the dusty Western frontier, where the law still struggles to make its mark, you can gun a man down in the street and it only serves to enhance the fiction. Whether you choose to play John Marston, the Clint Eastwood inspired protaganist, as an honourable man trying to redeem his criminal past, or as a scurrilous outlaw cashing in on his fearsome reputation, it all fits into a western archetype that many fans of Western cinema have dreamed of living out through a game.

The era of which it's placed also helps to create a good story. Set in the early 1900's, John literally looks like a man out of time when placed next against the first automatons and advertising billboards across the neatly lined streets of Blackwater. When you first approach Blackwater, about 3/4's of the way through the game, it literally feels like a new world, one that you know will soon be everywhere. The sprawling sun-kissed landscapes you have ridden through on horseback, the lawlessness of the Old West is a world that is dying and soon to be replaced with a new one and it's one that's rarely, if ever, explored in games before.

As mentioned before, whatever actions you do is not only meaningful to the gameplay (NPC's react to you differently based on lawful or unlawful actions, shop discounts etc) but the game gives you the freedom to do things that allow you to play out aspects of the gunslinger myth that you had dreamed of doing. Want to bring in a criminal, dead or alive? Maybe even play the dastardly villian by using your lasso to capture a fair lady and tie her to the rail tracks. Or go bear hunting in the wilderness. RDR never clutters your screen with to much 'To Do' actions but is happier giving you the freedom to just do them yourselves.

That's not to say it's not without it's flaws. The Mexico section can drag, with John Marston playing the gullible fool the whole time in service of progressing the story. Taking cover was also sometimes dodgy. But what RDR does right more than makes up for it. Rockstar could quite easily have replaced cars for horses and gangsters for bandits and it would still be a fine game. But instead, it is more ambitious than that and all the more impressive for it. It's easily the best story told in an open world game and when you also consider the beautiful vistas and impressive soundtrack, it's made even better.

It would be remiss of me not to mention THAT ending and THAT moment when you cross into Mexico for the first time. For me, I was trotting along slowly on my horse, seeing the moon rise above the clouds when this starts to play. Magical.

[zoolander]

^ Far Away was definitely one of those moments that made you stop and say "wow!". Metal Gear 4 had a similar thing. Skyrim had a emergent moment for me when that crescendo of [noembed]Far Horizons[/noembed] kicked in right as the sun was rising and I happened to look up at a huge smokey mountain towering over me. Tears kind of came to my eyes from the beauty of it all.

Sort of related to Skyrim two of my top 5 games of the generation. Fallout 3 and New Vegas. I remember watching the E3 where they did a demo of Fallout 3 and I remember saying 'why on earth would anyone play this?' Probably 300 or 400 hours later totally immersed exploring the dense worlds and twisted charm of those games, hundreds of water cooler stories told and heard from others . . . don't I feel silly.


In fact just thinking about it I kinda want to start them up with a new character/build now.