There are some games in this category which are might belong to an established genre, but it also might be the sole entry worth mentioning in terms of revolutionizing the genre. There are other games in this genre which completely resist categorization. Of all the categories in this list, here is where you will find the most innovation.
Portal
Gamers used the ol’ mirror trick with the portals to get a good look at our otherwise invisible protagonist, Chell, probably to determine if she’s “hot” or “not.” Between her and Alyx Vance in HL2, do you think Valve was trying to convey some sort of political message on race and gender? Or do they just have a thing for the exotic?
Remember Prey? Oh, few do. I would certainly say that Irrational Games, when they were developing Bioshock, borrowed the idea of the player being virtually immortal. Upon death, the player enters into a dreamscape arena on a mountaintop, where s/he must use an ethereal bow and arrow to snipe swarming spirits which will restore the player’s own spirit, returning him/her back into “reality.” That was certainly much more interactive than Bioshock’s Vita-Chambers*. Why am I talking so much about Prey when I should be talking about Portal? Well, that is because another heavily borrowed feature of Prey are the portals, where upon entry, the player might end up walking on walls or even upside-down as the player battle against enemies that could be shooting from a variety of directions. The story is stale, and the combat underwhelming, but the portals were frikin cool. You should know where I am going with this by now.
Prey was the first 3D game on the market to use portals where one could shoot though one window to defeat an enemy on the other side, but Portal perfects the concept. In fact, it wholesale eliminates the concept of killing as an objective! One plays as (the racially ambiguous) Chell, who is apparently the guinea pig of the day FOR SCIENCE(!) experimentation. She awakens and is instructed by GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System) to use the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (a modified gravity gun from Half Life 2) for the purpose of solving puzzles in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center with the promise of cake as a reward when the puzzles are completed. Much of the charm from this game is generated through the personality of GLaDOS, whom may give instruction or taunt Chell, paired with the ingenuity of the portal system that takes some elements of physics into consideration. One puzzle that I am fond of requires placing an entry portal at the bottom of a pit that appears to be over 1,000 ft deep, then placing the exit portal above Chell’s head so that the momentum from falling into the entry portal at the bottom of the pit will propel her across a chasm that cannot be crossed with a simple running start. And I think that puzzle is one of the simpler ones. Portal is the kind of game that will remind the player that there is more to gaming than what the mainstream has to offer. It stands above most of the games on this list for its entertainment value without being rewarded for using lethal force.
*The relationship between Irrational Games and Human Head Studios is closer than you think. They both shared the same publisher, 2K games.
Mirror’s Edge
Playing this game will make your toes tingle.
At the turn of the century, there was like, a split second where Parkour was popular to the point where movies like Casino Royale and Bourne Ultimatum would feature some elements of “free running” just for the sake of coolness. Although the Prince of Persiawas doing his “free running” thing long before Parkour was coined a term, Mirror’s Edge established itself as one of the most unique games on this list. In fact, as much as I loathe rankings, if I were to create a perfunctory one to add with all the others found on the internet, I would rank Mirror’s Edge in the top three of “generation defining” games. You won’t find anything else like it.
While the game is in first-person, its similarities to other games end there. Actually, I should back up and highlight the obvious-yet needs to be stated fact that this game features a female protagonist who is also a minority, Faith. Sure, I still could make an argument that Faith is an eroticizedobject of desire, though this could be attributed to the fact that there are so few (playable) minority protagonists in video games, and even fewer women who are not intentionally designed whose sole purpose is to appeal to the interests of an overwhelmingly male gamer audience. Not even a strong character such as Alyx Vance of Half-Life 2 could escape the antics of “audience appeal.”
Politics aside, Mirror’s Edge offers an experience unlike any other in gaming, where the first-person perspective among the pastel color scheme as Faith leaps, climbs, rappels, ziplines, or spider climbs all about the cityscape occasionally if not often provides that sinking feeling as if one speeds over and down a hill in his/her car. The tricks this game plays on the poor ol’ brain are accompanied by primarily non-lethal methods of thwarting enemies during the rare encounters. The story resembles some strange evolution of that found in Jet Set Radio concerning misfit anarchists, but one does not play this game for the story, but to be spider-man woman.
Heavy Rain
Single? Don’t have kids? Didn’t come from a stable family? Heavy Rain makes these basic elements of living matter profoundly.
I’ll even make this one spoiler-free!
For me, Heavy Rain isn’t just the best game this generation. It’s the best game of all time. I do confess that there are two plotholes in the game, with one of those elements represented by a “wut just happened?!?” scene with Madison, and the other beginning as quite a significant plot device concerning Ethan that is arbitrarily dropped. Quantic Dream explains in its commentaries as to why these elements are misplaced, but for me, a couple missteps do not ruin the entire project.
There is a lot of discourse on the internet concerning this game, including if it is even a game, which is an important question to address since I have listed it here among games of the generation. I think the question to be silly if one leans in the direction of less than a game, yet brilliant if one leans in the direction of transcendence. If Mario Galaxy represents the sum-total of everything we love about video games, Heavy Rain represents the sum-total of everything that we know about video games, featuring four distinguished characters who will certainly make an emotional impact upon the player, be it positive or negative. The orchestra/score is Hollywood-quality, seamlessly integrated with the melodrama on display. And of course, Quantic Dream flexes its graphics engine with up-close images of its characters during the loading screens when switching between the protagonists. If you have read what I said concerning the Witcher, then you will remember what I said concerning how choices made in the first hour of the game will impact you in the tenth hour, but you’ll not know it until it happens. Heavy Rain executes this with perfection. There is only one other game this gen that comes close to Heavy Rain in terms of elite production value, and it is neither a MGS nor GTA game. I’ve already mentioned it here, actually….
Super Mario Galaxy (2)
Giant World in Super Mario Bros. 3 is my all-time favorite series of stages in all of Mario games. So when I saw this…words cannot express my joy.
Mario 64 brought the Mushroom Kingdom into the third dimension, eschewing Luigi, Yoshi, and several other members of the cast while bringing forth all the charm that Princess toadstool’s world had to offer in a non-linear world. Mario Galaxy….This is the game that, outside of mostly indie games, killed the platform genre. It is the kind of game that forced Sonic to take queues. It is the kind of game which where (ex) Capcom Legend Keiji Inafune asserts that unless you’ve played it, you don’t know video games. Compared to the power of the PS3 and Xbox360, the Wii was graphically The Little Engine that Could, but Galaxy’s silky smooth animation and vivacious color palette made everyone forget that this game was not in HD. As the name suggests, Mario is in space searching for stars while navigating a variety of intricately designed planets of assorted composition, all to an orchestrated soundtrack which provided the game with the sensation of epicness, and by that I mean an epicness akin to the scrolling text in the Star Wars movies. Every mission is packed with wonder as Mario is propelled like a rocket from the star launchersto different sectors in the galaxy. Every powerup, every enemy encounter, every gem collected provides the feeling of satisfaction that reminds the gamer why they play video games in the first place.
Ah, and the (2)? That’s inclusive of Mario Galaxy 2, which is essentially a “I would pay full price for another set of levels even if they con’t change anything” game, except that they gave us Yoshi. Why mess with success?
Ratchet and Clank tried. Jak and Daxter cried. Crash Bandicoot died. Mario rolled…well, you know.
Donkey Kong Country Returns
There may be many distractions on this screen, but one must remember that DK is always on a 2D plane even as the background and foreground are manipulated.
After finishing the Metroid Prime Trilogy, Nintendo’s second-party studio Retro Studios was eager to take on other projects. It would so happen that Shigeru Miyamoto was feeling nostalgic, so he assigns Retro the task of recreating the magic of the SNES Donkey Kong Country franchise which, paired with Super Mario 2: Yoshi’s Island, represented the zenith of 2d platform gaming.
In ways similar to but not quite like Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country would succeed in cultivating delight and charisma. Borrowing from 32-bit era 2.5D games such as Pandemonium , many of the stages fluctuate with various levels of visual depth, though Donkey and Diddy Kong are always on a 2D plane. Of course, this form of platforming signifies a return to a byegone era set off by the eponym of the title. Donkey Kong Country Returns exudes nostalgia not in a way where antiquated gameplay elements are celebrated despite their flaws, but instead, celebrates all that was great about 2D gaming with flash, zest, and a silky-smooth 60fps.
Some critics loathe having to shake the WiiMote to roll rather than simply hit a button, and while I agree that there are enough buttons between the WiiMote and Nunchuck so that rolling should take less effort, some have gone as far as to suggest that the 3DS version of this game is superior because of its lack of waggle. Such opinions are absurd.
Demon’s Souls/Dark Souls
This dragon wants to use your cadaver for dental floss.
So this is a bit of a confession: when I first conceived of this idea to do a piece on “Games of the Generation,” I had made a commitment to not include multiple iterations of of franchises. Thus, I would not include both Fallout 3 and New Vegas even though latter is essentially a stand-alone expansion to the former. I also did not want to cheat by including Metroid Prime Trilogy or God of War Saga. For Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, I was unable to differentiate between the two to decide which game is best. Also, I would have never heard of, let alone purchased a game like Demon’s Souls had it not been for a certain popular gaming forum that is infamous for its exclusivity and myopic moderation.
Don’t get me wrong; there are a lot of things that the sequel, Dark Souls gets right, from the multiplatform release to the PC port with the essential mod, to the interlocking world where one can begin from a firelink shrine and walk through almost the entire world, without a single portal or load screen. We’re talking hours in real-time of a journey, the most welcome addition to the series. That, is, if the player manages not to die along the way, which is highly unlikely due to the game’s high difficulty.
Actually, it would be more accurate to say that this game possesses a formidable learning curve rather than a high difficulty. But this is only realized while playing, for the Demon’s/Dark Souls franchise is one that does not participate in hand-holding, nor does it drop the player off a cliff expecting only the strong to climb back up only if s/he is worthy. It includes natural hints such as Red Eye Knights, who will not attack unless the player crosses a certain distance threshold, and then it will lay the beatdown, breaking the player’s guard and stanima meter and delivering a one-hit kill. The hint is don’t attack until you are ready, and some players might be, knowing to evade the Red Knight’s strikes and delivering a backstab. The choice is the player’s, and there are plenty of choices to be made even after the game trains the player to approach corners slowly and take on enemies one at a time lest one be overrun and become quite intimate with the “You Died” screen. Well, that last part is going to happen regardless.
Lastly, when you see the “Amazing Chest Ahead” message after Smough and Ornstein in Dark Souls, you will laugh despite yourself.
Company of Heroes
War is hell. Paradoxically, it is a masterpiece.
What’s this? A strategy game making the list? Yes indeed. Unfortunately for me, my favorite genre is all but dead because while the genre shows up on consoles every now and then, its true home will always be PC, and as Crytek has demonstrated, developing games exclusively for PC is no longer a viable option, with rare exceptions such as the Total War, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, and StarCraft series.
Company of Heroes deviates from the traditional real time strategy (RTS) to the Real Time Tactical (RTT). Some might recognize this genre through games such as Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines and Fallout: Tactics. Gone are elements of micromanaging economy by mining resources or creating territorial expansions. This game does emphasize territorial and unit control, however. Rather than building massive end-game armies, this game rewards players for making the best use out of small squadrons. Maintain one tank throughout a mission rather than fifty. A tank-busting team here, a sniper team there. Precision, not brute force. While I personally favor World in Conflict over CoH because it is a modern take on warfare and WWII is all but completely exhausted, CoH belongs here because it was first to remind the industry that there remains a healthy, hungry market for strategy games.
League of Legends
Momma taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
I am gritting my teeth while writing this because the Warcraft III mod, DotA came first, and DotA 2 is by far the more serious, advanced, mechanically superior game. DotA 2 has even surpassed LoL in popularity.
But one million strong concurrent global players 24-7 is hard to argue with. LoL was first to hit that number, first to provide this style of gaming a defining genre category, “MOBA,” or “multiplayer online battle arena,” and first to coin the term “F2P,” or “free to play.” As gamers would tell you, yes, the game is free to start, but not necessarily free to be competitive, which is another area where DotA 2 is superior: there is no fee to unlock all the heroes.
Okay, this space isn’t supposed to be one where I take a dump on LoL. So I’m going to end it here by saying that LoL should be recognized for streamlining a multiplayer game, because the degree of difficulty for a player new to DotA is hellacious, and the community isn’t kind to newbs. LoL is DotA on easy mode. Okay, I’m done.
Uncharted
I just wish that Uncharted featured more of this and less usage of that AK.
The running joke concerning Tomb Raider (2013) was to call it Uncharted: Laura Croft Edition. The irony in this joke is beautiful, because had it not been for the Tomb Raider franchise debuting in the 90’s, there’s no telling what Uncharted would have looked like or if it would even exist. Tomb Raider brought forth an entirely new dimension the action/adventure genres, providing the wondrous sensation of exploration with dumbfounding puzzles and rare, but meaningful enemy encounters. Fans both old and new (thanks to the sublime remake, Tomb Raider Anniversary) fondly remember the wolves in the caves, that bear, the dinosaurs in the hidden paradise, the lions in the coliseum, and of course, Natalia. Arguably, one element missing from the excellence that was the Tomb Raider franchise was social interaction. Here, Eidos fumbled good use of Laura’s personality, because for all of her wit, end the end, Laura ends up shooting even those who would moonlight as a sidekick.
Uncharted remedies some of these problems while making others worse. I personally believe that the realtime animation applied to Drake as he climbs, shimmies, repels, runs, jogs, ducks, crawls, and fight is the best for a player character that I have ever seen, and Naughty Dog improved upon this with every game. I am especially impressed with how Drake ascends and descends stairs. Comparatively, Laura would run up stairs in a way that makes one wonder how she does not sprain her ankle every other step, or when she stands still on stairs, one foot would be suspended in the air as if she were playing tricks on a high platform. An additional and welcome improvement to the genre includes an actual persistent cast which completes the Indiana Jones allusions; Sully is likable enough and Elena Fischer ain’t no damsel in distress. Chloe Frazer in Uncharted 2&3 is the typical femme fatale, and it is the combination of her existence as fan service and the elevated level of crude language in the later games are among cause for me to hold Uncharted 1 above them. The other reason is that Uncharted borrows too much from its industry completion; the template for this genre is Tomb Raider, and as I have already stated, it contained rare but meaningful encounters. Uncharted deteriorates into a shooting gallery at times, where Drake is more Jason Borne than the aforementioned Jones. The puzzles are also pretty weaksauce, because should the player get stuck, the camera will pan toward the solution. Where is the sense of accomplishment in standing around waiting for the game to solve the puzzle? I remember getting stuck on the Hand of Midas puzzle in the original Tomb Raider; it took me two years to figure out to find three pieces of lead to move forward. HARDCORE!
At any rate, Uncharted is among the PS3 exclusives which made the system worth buying when it finally hit its $300 price point.
Batman: Arkham City
By: Greg Phillips
What kid doesn’t dream of one day becoming Batman? Well, I know I did. The closest any of us ever got to feeling like Batman, however, was jumping off the monkey bars using a towel as a cape. All that changed just a few years ago, though.
There had been attempts at replicating the Batman experience through video games prior to 2009’s Arkham Asylum. Some of them (Batman Returns, Batman: Vengeance) were even good. But none managed to really make the user feel like he or she was the Dark Knight. Rocksteady Studios managed to change all of that in one fell swoop, crafting (in Arkham Asylum) a game that finally managed to give gamers the sense of wonder that the comic books so often conveyed. You could glide like Batman, kick butt like Batman, swing from ledges like Batman and even outwit supervillains like Batman. But there was still something missing, and Arkham City (2011) filled in that piece by expanding the scope of Asylum.
The map was twice as big. Finally, for the first time ever, gamers had a chance to freely navigate Gotham City, swinging onto gargoyles and brooding over the Caped Crusader’s hometown. Almost everything was improved from the already impressive Arkham Asylum. The combat was smoother, the techniques more vicious and the gadgets more useful. Even battles with random thugs, which got repetitive on Asylum and even Arkham Origins (2013), were thrilling on City because of the sheer variety. If you prefer fisticuffs, you can seamlessly slug your foes at well. However, if you like sticking to the shadows, you can find ways to pick your opponents apart one by one. The gadgets also allow you to use technology to clear the area, which made for a thrilling experience.
The biggest change between the games was certainly the sheer scope. The side missions are more important and more bountiful. The boss fights are extensive. The downloadable content is actually useful and enjoyable. And the game even mixed up the gameplay with Catwoman missions that were fun, challenging and very different from Batman’s missions. This game helped define action gameplay in its generation, and it set the template by which all future superhero games will be judged. If you make a game in this genre, it must be made with passion, a commitment to strong gameplay and the promise of a strong story.
The rare combination of action, stealth and detective gameplay, combined with a great story and strong voice acting, along with a commitment to quality side missions and downloadable content, make Arkham City one of the Games of the Generation.
