Re: What is your favourite video game
Couldn't pick just one, and alot of my "favourites" are informed more by nostalgia than the relative quality of the game, buuuuuuut...
Resident Evil/Resident Evil 2 - I heart these games hard. Then AND now. I would have been about 12 when I played the first one and remember being blown the fuck away by the graphics. Back then, I didn't realise that by using static, pre-rendered backgrounds, it was easier to make them look good and stuff. I was easily impressed.
I loved the story, I loved blowing the heads off of Zombies, the Hunters scared the poop out of me, the giant Spiders gave me the heebie jeebies and I thought Jill Valentine was hot (you know, for a collection of conputer generated polygons).
These days, in addition to the nostalgia, I love the game's use of camera angles. The fixed camera was no doubt born of necessity, but the awesome and weird camera angles they use give the whole thing a Hitchcock-ian vibe and keep moaning enemies just out of sight - hearing something moaning around the corner but not beaing able to see it is still kinda creepy. I also dig the doors/loading screens. Again, born of necessity, but fucking genius. Not only do they disguide the loading times and create the illusion of a smooth-running game, they also heighten the tension - not knowing what's on the other side of the door with only a few bullets left in the clip = awesome.
The sequel looked and played even better than the first. It was bigger, more ambitious, told a more intricate story, and I loved every second of it.
Final Fantasy VII/VIII/IX - I love me some classic Final Fantasy. Probably the greatest consecutive three-game-run in any video game series ever. As much as I'm starting to enjoy Final Fantasy XIII-2, I long for the day they go back to the formula used in the three PSOne era games.
WWF No Mercy - Best. Wrestling. Game. Ever. If you don't like wrestling, then you were never gonna like No Mercy. If you did (or if you do), then No Mercy was (or is) the game for you. I loved the fact that the matches implemeted actual wrestling psychology. Different moves damaged different body parts. If say, you were playing with Kurt Angle (whose "finishing move" was the Ankle Lock), then you'd wanna target the leg/foot and wear it down in preparation for your finishing move. Using leg locks and kneebreakers and dropkicking your opponents leg until they're limping around the ring on borrowed time before locking in that Ankle Lock and watching them tap like a bitch was the most satisfying thing ever.
Metal Gear Solid - I love the sequels (to varying degrees), but the original is still the best. It's the game that transcended video games! The depth of the story and the cinematic delivery of that story was a thing of beauty; the gameplay and the choices presented to the player regarding how they played the game (sneak around like a ninja or shoot the fuck out of everyone you see) presented more than one way to go about things; graphically, it was revolutionary; Snake is maybe the most bad-ass computer game character of all time; and the stuff with PsychoMantis (being asked to place your controller on the floor and then crapping yourself when he "makes it move through the power of psychic ability" or the game tricking you into thinking your TV has broke) was just fucking inspired.
Yeah, I'm a giant nerd :geek:
Katamari, and House of the Dead for arcade. And Ms. Pacman. And Ocarina of Time. and Left4Dead.
