Jun 18, 2006 02:25 AM
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After a prolonged hiatus of wandering the prince came back. wait. I shouldn't sound like Enid Blyton. So you are bored like with the same old dingy fps? Or that arcade racer? Technology is like greed. The more you have it the more you want more of it. So we have quad-core processors coming up and SLi and Crossfire graphics solutions.
What are we gamers getting? Same old story with better audio and visual effects. But does that make a better gaming experience. Well not necessarily if you ask me. I certainly do not intend to play just another game with just another story and gameplay tagged with better graphics.
The industry is suffering from the lack of freshness. Sequels come in aplenty. Here I look at the most innovative games I have played(in no order). And by innovation I mean new concepts(good or bad).
Half Life
Possibly the best first person shooter ever. Cinematic gameplay that seemed straight out of a Hollywood flick, guns that actually differed in every respect(damage, looks, weight etc.), and a story thats well. stuff legends are made of. Yes it was an FPS which we had seen a lot of but the freshness of it all was really breathtaking.
Bhagat Singh
Good because it was first "playable" FPS from our country. Bad because it was playable only if you lost all your sanity. Guns hung in mid-air(new concept, that!), hindi obscenities was what the protagonist spoke and what not. It did everything so badly that it found new ways to achieve that. God save us gamers from atrocities like that. Amen.
Counter Strike
Well I just sort of clicked like no one could have ever imagined. It was(and still is) just so perfect. Innovation? Simple team based combat done in a way that unsurpassable.
GTA 2 and 3
Open city to explore, great 3D atmosphere(GTA3) and a gameplay that made moms cry out all over the world. There is great fun in riding a babe pillion on a Harley with your favorite mp3 in the background.
Hitman
Style. Style. Deadly style.Those chilling silent murders were amazing. The stealth was'really' requisite and the AI was amazing for that time. You just wanted to play to see Agent47 walk and sneak.
The Sims
Who thought a game about mundane daily tasks would be so enjoyable. An idea so obvious and yet not tried for so long. Picking up kids, making and having food and the doing some'other' stuff.
Quake 3 and Unreal Tornament
For the run, jump, frag, die, spawn, run gameplay. It was all so exciting. Die and you respawned in miliseconds and hopped around creating havoc. Maps were amazing and the online gameplay was well. legendary.
NFS series
For producing the best arcade racing experience ever. Title after title they do it all over again. and hit it on the head. As other racers fall by the wayside the gameplay(particulary the tuner-cum-street culture) combined with amazing sountracks gave NFSs the edge none else has been able to achieve as far as arcade racing is concerned. Arcadish yes but the physics could still put some sims to shame.
Battlefield 2, Vietnam, Redux
Team based modern combat with a usage of vehichles thats bang on. You are evading attack, and you are killed by a pack of enemies who are killed by a tank which is destroyed by an aircraft. The seamles and yet multi-level gameplay is great for online play.
Some classics
Tetris (for ridiculously simple yet addictive play)Doom3 (for mind-boggling lighting and layering effects and dead scary indoor atmospheres) andColin McRae Rally 2.0(beacuse I am biased).
Suggestions are welcome in the comments section.
