A Game About Games

[DJ Ice]

Again, Mass Effect 2. Many points in the storyline had me like that. I don't normally buy non-war story games, so I don't have much to choose from (I really only buy sports games). Oh forgot, Nuke in Modern Warfare, Great!

What's your best single-player experience

[Farmer Reil]

A few select questions I was too late to answer:

Scariest VG moment: the Hallowbrook Hotel level in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The graphics are pretty shoddy by modern standards, it was all fairly standard "haunted house" fare for the most part, but for some reason most of it scared the shit out of me.

Favourite Protagonist: Duke Nukem

Oldest game I own: Probably Transport Tycoon. No, Elite actually. Fucking hell, Elite was a masterpiece. I watched a documentary about the making of it the other day and now I hold it in even higher esteem. But Transport Tycoon is the oldest game I can still play, due to not owning a Commodore 64 anymore.

Worst game: Fade To Black. It was fucking terrible. Shit story (it was basically the same story as the movie version of Doom (well, the start was. I didn't get far enough in before throwing it away. Literally, I put it in the bin IIRC), but with terrible graphics and it was released in 1998 I think, for the PSOne).

Most hated character: Logain from Dragon Age: Origins. I can think of plenty of "cool heels" in video games, and quasi-generic satan/devil stand-ins. But I can't think of a fully developed character who's more than just a template Lord of Destruction, who I genuinely hated while playing the game more than Logain. He's an absolute bastard.

As for the actual question: Best single player experience?

That'd have to be from Deus Ex, the bit where the NSF have just turned on you, and you're at the top of a huge building (can't remember the specifics, it was a long time ago). You've basically got to run all the way back down the building, fighting as little as possible because it's not a fighting game so you don't have much health, you're just running like hell and trying to kill as many NSF soldiers as you can along the way. Then when you get to the bottom you have to make a break for it along a street and to a hideaway somewhere. When I got there I was fucking knackered, it was intense. I remember having to take my headphones off and have a breather, thinking "Christ that was awesome!".

What's your favourite game that introduces a unique gameplay element/feature/new piece of technology/gaming mechanic/idea, and executes it, in your opinion, to perfection?

I know what most people will say here, and 99% of all answers will come from somewhere in the Orange Box I'm sure, but my favourite is definitely in Prey. The use of portals and gravity manipulation in that game is incredible. There are so many awesome ideas, and fantastic things they do and ways in which they do it. The Spiritwalk thing is kinda meh and has been done before, but the portals and gravity and wall-walk stuff is immense. Bear in mind it came out over a year before Portal... I love that game to bits.

[TKz]

The answer to some others...

Favourite Protagonist: Again, Solid Snake. Just such a fantastic character and true badass.

Favourite Single Player Experience: I'd probably say either Metal Gear 4 or Batman Arkham Asylum. Loved travelling around Arkham and taking out thugs in fun ways.

Most Hated Character: I'm not sure if this is 'UGH GET OFF MY SCREEN' hate or 'Oh you wonderful heel you' hate, so I'll answer both. The first would be Niko's cousin in GTA4. I didn't even like the game anyway, but christ, he was so fucking annoying. Actually pretty much any of the GTA4 side cast, they were all awful. Otherwise, it'd be Ocelot/Liquid Ocelot. God damn, everything about him was cool, but that final fight in MGS4 just sealed the deal for me.

I'm probably not enough of a nerd to answer this as I'm sure it's been done before, but Red Faction Guerrilla having so many destructible buildings added a wonderful element of gameplay to what otherwise would have been another boring sandbox title. It made all the missions so much more interesting, being able to decide exactly how to infiltrate a certain base, how best to exit and the Destruction Missions (with a timer for destroying something to a certain percent before a certain time) were lovely.

Since I've mentioned MGS4 a fair few times in this, I'll ask a question relevant to me: What game have you absolutely loved to bits but had no interest in playing through again?

I love MGS4 and I've tried a few times, but I just can't make it past the first hour or two again. It's a wonderful story, but as a game I don't enjoy it as much as I think I did the first time through. I don't think it was so much the game either but the story coming full circle after following the series since MGS on the Playstation. Finally seeing a conclusion to it all and the return to Shadow Moses and just everything was, for me, what made the game so incredible.

[NM!]

That would kind of be Kingdom Hearts 2.

Absolutely loved it when I first played it, but I'm sure there would nothing different if I were to play it again.

Has there ever been a game you never finished, even if it was good?

Mine would be Batman Arkham Asylum. I love the game, but I can never finish it. I do little parts of the game and then leave it be for about a month. Maybe its just me not wanting to finish it.. Also Bioshock 2 has been decent, but I still haven't gotten around to finish it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

There are lots of games I've never finished even though it's good. Fallout 3 and Oblivion because my PS3 died and lost all the data, Dragon Age, Batman...The list goes a LOT further than that.

Another answer: "what is your favorite "OH SHIT!" moment."....For me it was playing Metal Gear Solid 2 towards the end when the HUD goes weird and the Colonel's face flicks to being a skull and it says that you're died but the game continues in the background....And then at some point the Colonel says "Shouldn't you turn this off? You've been playing for a long time?"

It was amazing cos it was about 2am and I was tired and it just messed with my mind. Some brilliant game design there as the Big Shell tries to "trick you" into leaving the game.

[NM!]

There was no such scene...

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Oh yeah, question.

Favourite female character?

[Benji]

Quistis from Final Fantasy VIII. Unlike most female characters she's not some ridiculous stereotype or the result some guy's idea of one of the facets of what a woman is. She's just a person, plain and simple, who has interpersonal relationships and crisis' like any other person.

What game have you played more than any other?

[NM!]

Shamefully it would be Modern Warfare, as I play it more than any other game ever.

Was there a scene in a game that just prevented it from being perfect or at least a really really good game?

[Bobfoc]

The ending of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II or, more specifically, the lack of one.

Which game do you think most exemplifies a title that, despite having several notable flaws, is greater than the sum of its parts?

[Benji]

Final Fantasy IX. It's my favourite game of all time but I cannot deny the flaws. BUT, as an absolute FF nerd, to me the game is the very definition of what the franchise was. It's fun, it's got plenty of side quests, it's got great story and terrific characterisation, its combat system is entertaining (as is its learning system) and is just generally a sodding fantastic game, mostly let down by random really stupid moments (like the final boss being unexplained within the game and only being explainable by outside notes or the ridiculous situation with the guide).

What film to game translation is your favourite?

[probablyoliver]

Any and all of the old mega drive disney games. Especially Aladdin, Toy Story and The Lion King. Seriously, I can still play those games today and adore every moment.

What's the hardest game you've ever played?

[EWB's Best Poster.]

Willy in Mega Man 2. After all that you had to go through to get to him, to finish off was a fight and a half when I was wee.

Single greatest moment that people in the room said "fuck that was good" to?

[MDK]

Willy in Mega Man 2. After all that you had to go through to get to him, to finish off was a fight and a half when I was wee.

Single greatest moment that people in the room said "fuck that was good" to?

Playing Goldeneye on the 64 on the facility level. There is a part of the map that has three rooms separated by bullet proof glass. My two friends were having a shoot-out in two of the rooms (shooting thru a door that was opening and closing) and I was in the other room. One magnum, one bullet, double headshot later and I was calling them bitches again.

Another one was during a four-player, 2vs2 sniping game on TimeSplitters Future Perfect on the UFO level. I was on a ledge and a friend was camping somewhere with only a little slit to fire from. I proceeded to say out loud 'I wonder...' as I dropped from the ledge, zoomed in and bagged a headshot from range. Followed again by some name calling.

If you could pick a game to be remade/revamped (alá Perfect Dark on xbox), what would it be?

I would have to pick No Mercy. I'd love to play that online with updated graphics and maybe a slightly altered game engine.

[Kaney]

I'd pick Future Cop LAPD. One of my favourite PSX games, I'd love to see the same kind of gameplay but with bigger levels, better graphics, online etc.

In response to the earlier question, the best single player experience? The second half of MGS4 easily takes it. I was considering putting something like Deus Ex, or Half Life 2 since they're both incredible, but from Shadow Moses onwards in MGS4, everything was just amazing. I loved everything they did with Solid Snake, but finally riding in a Metal Gear, and the epic level on the boat leading up to the finale slugfight against Ocelot/Liquid was jaw-dropping. That could actually be my favourite boss fight of all time, just for the way the music played throughout, how they made a simple punch kick dodge fight seem like it was genuinely a world-changing event, that these guys were actually fighting for their lives, yet they were injecting each other to keep themselves on their feet. Everything was just sheer fan service, and to me, it was worth sitting through hours of cutscenes to get such a satisfying conclusion to what I already said was my favourite protagonists story. This also fits for a game I love to bits but can't bare to sit through one more time.

Have you ever felt genuine emotion from playing a video game? And don't say Aeris made you cry, real answers here >_>

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Heavy Rain took me through a LOT of emotions - fear, panic, happiness, actual sadness, empathy...Fantastic.

MGS4 took me through a lot too, partly because it was the "end of the road" as it were and it played perfectly on emotion.

Which game made you the most scared?

[DMN in the House]

I don't really get 'scared' by games, but, as a kid, playing DOOM in the dark hours of the morning, turning a corner, and BAM! Hell Baron? Yeah, unsettling.

Just to answer some other questions:

Favorite Protagonist: Bayou Billy. I don't expect anyone to know who he was, but it was from an old NES game, and dude was a total Cajun badass.

Favorite Female Character: Chun Li, easy.

Most Played Game: Outside of NCAA games, San Andreas. I used to spend hours just hunting drug dealers. I took over every little piece of territory in Los Santos. I did it all.

Most Frustrating Game: A Boy and His Blob. The original. Fuck that game. Or the first TMNT game, with the fucking dam bomb mission.

Oldest Game I Own: I think I still have most of my old NES games around here somewhere, so probably Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt, which would also be the first game I played, when I was a wee lad of 4 or 5.

Most Wanted Cross-Over: Street Fighter VS Mortal Kombat.

What is your favorite FIGHTING game character?

Easy for me. Johnny Cage, mothafucka!

[Sousa]

Zangief. If I played Street Fighter 2 more competitively (ha!), I'd probably pick somebody else. But when I was a kid I decided one day that I would try to get good with Zangief, which took quite a bit of time since he's pretty far outside of my style. But I plowed ahead anyway and eventually beat the game on the hardest difficulty with him, meaning my reward was... well.

Zangief is fucking awesome, basically.

What was your favorite arcade cabinet growing up, and why?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

My favourite female character:

or

or

or

My favourite fight game character:

Either Sub-Zero or Johnny Cage from Mortal Kombat 2. From Soul Blade/Edge it's Taki. From Tekken it's Hwoarang if I'm feeling cheap or Bryan Fury if I'm feeling tough.

My favourite arcade cabinet was the Astroids table at my local fitness centre/swimming pool.....cos I'm THAT old.

You have the power to destroy a genre of games forever. Which would you choose?

[Herr Matzat]

You have the power to destroy a genre of games forever. Which would you choose?

Ego-Shooters, for some reason i always found them very booring and right now they seem to be everywere and i just don´t know why.

Whats the game (not series!) you spend the most time on?

Edited October 18, 2010 by Michael Matzat on a Plane