Top 10 Games - #7
11/09/09 10:03 Filed in: Gaming Goodness
Recap time:
#10 Prince Of Persia
#9 Bloodnet(took a lot of flack for this one...but it's my list so everyone else can stfu)
#8 The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
A person born when "Bloodnet" was released would now be able to drive in most western countries(16 years old). Being born when "Link To The Past" was released would mean that you could vote or fight in a war for many of those countries(18 years old). And if you were born when the original "Prince Of Persia" was released, you would finally be able to drink alcohol legally in the US(21 years old).
You may be noticing a trend here. I like classic games. And who can blame me? Memories are like photographs. And "time" is your average crappy photoshop user playing with the contrast slider. Time likes to crank the contrast up on your photos with each passing year. All the darker gloomier elements of your photos slowly fade into blackness at the bottom end of the spectrum. At the same time, the lighter happier elements become brighter. Meanwhile, all the finer detail in your photos gets lost, and all you're left with is a polarised view of your memories. Things you liked when you were a kid, you now remember loving. And things you didn't like or were indifferent towards, you now remember hating. I tried to compensate for this when compiling my list, but it's damn hard when all you can see is blinding white when remembering games long past. Modern games that have made this list must be truly special by that logic. Either they have shown me something completely new, or are refinement approaching perfection. Mass Effect falls into the latter.
Mass Effect was released in late 2007 for the Xbox 360, and mid 2008 for Windows. For me, this purchase was a no-brainer. I likes my sci-fi, and I was a fan of other Bioware games released prior to Mass Effect. So how was it? You can probably guess that I loved it due to the fact that it's among my top 10 games of all time. With every game that Bioware has released they've been able to refine gameplay, storytelling, and presentation. Mass Effect is the best of all the Bioware games in all three of these categories.
So what makes this game great? Well it has all the elements that a good Bioware game contains. They seem to know how to handle conversations in games. Where most games opt for the traditional "Talk to character, get quest, finish quest, return to character to get something from them" formulae, Bioware games tend to be more organic in relation to their character dialogue trees. Have a bad conversation with a character and they may start to dislike you, closing off future opportunities that would have presented themselves if you had curried more favour with them instead.
As for gameplay, Mass Effect is a departure from the traditional turn-based action present in previous Bioware games. Opting more for a first person shooter aesthetic. However, the gameplay when compared to the best shooters does fall a little short. The action isn't as kinetic as those titles, and can even be considered clunky at times. Even still, the gameplay is quite fun in its own right.
Presentation-wise, this game is top-notch. The detail is fantastic, and the worlds/aliens/technology envisioned in this game are all of the jaw-dropping variety. This is a pretty damn game. Although there is a load of slow-down to this game. So yes, there are technical issues present. But most are overlook-able in my opinion due to the brighter elements to this game.
Other games may play or look better than Mass Effect. But few(if any) can compete with the storytelling present in this game. Mass Effect contains a fantastic main story, but it's the actual storytelling that grabs you. The story isn't really as set as in other games. The player doesn't so much as play through the story as affect it with every action and every conversation. Characters literally live and die based on the decisions you make. And that's what makes this game so re-playable. I've finished it twice and both times were different experiences. That's something hard to accomplish in game development. But when it's pulled off right, it's truly awesome.
I would love to build a game where the player changes the story with their interactions with characters and the game world. Not necessarily in the scale of Mass Effect, but perhaps more in the form of a short story. An hour long experience that the game player could play through multiple times, experiencing different story elements each time. But that's a ways down the road for someone like me. For now, I've got to just focus on getting a simpler game out the door to get my feet wet.
You can play Mass Effect on either an Xbox 360 or Windows PC. Although you'll probably need a decent spec'd system to play through it in anything other than a slideshow.
#10 Prince Of Persia
#9 Bloodnet(took a lot of flack for this one...but it's my list so everyone else can stfu)
#8 The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
A person born when "Bloodnet" was released would now be able to drive in most western countries(16 years old). Being born when "Link To The Past" was released would mean that you could vote or fight in a war for many of those countries(18 years old). And if you were born when the original "Prince Of Persia" was released, you would finally be able to drink alcohol legally in the US(21 years old).
You may be noticing a trend here. I like classic games. And who can blame me? Memories are like photographs. And "time" is your average crappy photoshop user playing with the contrast slider. Time likes to crank the contrast up on your photos with each passing year. All the darker gloomier elements of your photos slowly fade into blackness at the bottom end of the spectrum. At the same time, the lighter happier elements become brighter. Meanwhile, all the finer detail in your photos gets lost, and all you're left with is a polarised view of your memories. Things you liked when you were a kid, you now remember loving. And things you didn't like or were indifferent towards, you now remember hating. I tried to compensate for this when compiling my list, but it's damn hard when all you can see is blinding white when remembering games long past. Modern games that have made this list must be truly special by that logic. Either they have shown me something completely new, or are refinement approaching perfection. Mass Effect falls into the latter.
Presentation-wise, this game is top-notch. The detail is fantastic, and the worlds/aliens/technology envisioned in this game are all of the jaw-dropping variety. This is a pretty damn game. Although there is a load of slow-down to this game. So yes, there are technical issues present. But most are overlook-able in my opinion due to the brighter elements to this game.
I would love to build a game where the player changes the story with their interactions with characters and the game world. Not necessarily in the scale of Mass Effect, but perhaps more in the form of a short story. An hour long experience that the game player could play through multiple times, experiencing different story elements each time. But that's a ways down the road for someone like me. For now, I've got to just focus on getting a simpler game out the door to get my feet wet.
You can play Mass Effect on either an Xbox 360 or Windows PC. Although you'll probably need a decent spec'd system to play through it in anything other than a slideshow.