The Top 100 Games of All-Time.

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ICJ

Post by ICJ »

pinback wrote:In ABQ that is cutting edge technology.
This is true. It was why the word "Breaking" in Breaking Bad was an anachronism. In Albuquerque, the matter that makes up the universe haven't split yet in the Big Bang. The technology of things being apart hasn't reached them yet.

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

I am replaying #98 so I get my WORDS. But it has been tough to find time. I'm on this though. I have been putting them to the front page and everything.
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Post by Roody_Yogurt »

When I played BRATACCAS, I was impressed with how much it reminded me of Total Recall (you explore this alien planet with a seedy underside and it's unclear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys). Of course, back then, I didn't realize that it also predated Total Recall by four years, so hey, that's pretty cool.

The controls are atrocious, but again, looking at the year it was released, you have to respect the kind of depth they were trying to add to the game.

Watching the gameplay videos available online gives me no motivation to revisit it, but hey, props to Psygnosis for making one of many memorably atmospheric games.

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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

#98 - SNATCHER (1988, 1994, Sega CD, Konami)

Image

I think I look at visual novels and CYOA games in the same way that developers of action or adventure games look at text adventures. If you are writing the engine for a shooter or even a Galaga clone, seeing an article on something with no real video buffer has to make you roll your eyes. It has to! Most of the time the developers of these games are too ensconced in crunch to get to the outside world to insult text adventure creators, but I bet it is there. It should be there.

Well, that's how text adventure creators look at visual novels and CYOA games. Having to deal with 1, 2 and 3 versus all the ways you can type in your desire to shoot somebody sounds easy. Moving an arrow up and down to select a course of action sounds like child's play.

The thing is, though, you can still make an entertaining game with a severely limited "vocabulary." Hideo Kojima directed what I consider to be the best visual novel ever, Snatcher.

* * *

... I have been stuck here for several months on the review. Snatcher is a good game, don't worry, but then I played "PT," the playable trailer that is also my Kojima, who is directing a new Silent Hill game.

PT was so amazing and so gorgeous I feel like a moron putting the same dude's Sega CD game on the list instead of it. Can we -- can we just agree that this is the Hideo Kojima slot and the guy is getting BETTER at his craft as he gets older. That never happens. Maybe with writers. But you normally hit a peak someplace and the rest of it is a slow, sad descent into irrelevance.

PT did a better job managing player expectations and horror than any other game I can think of. It deserves your consideration. It's absolutely the best teaser or trailer ever made. If you are alive on earth and if you've played it, then you know that is the case. It's obvious, I don't need to hammer it home. Yet it's not reviewable because I would hate to rob anyone of the experience.

The game puts you in a townhouse. Or a row house. Whichever. You can walk through the entire thing in a few seconds. Every time you do, you exit and enter ... the same townhouse. It doesn't sound scary or unsettling, but the house is a little different each time you enter.

There is a radio and a bathroom that is sometimes open and you just have this sense that someone is behind you and toying with you at all times. The Playstation 4's ability to render this terribly-maintained little home is up to par. I saw it on a friend's giant TV -- so much detail, so much texture. Roaches crawling about. Old black and white photos...

OK, I have it. This is what I have been struggling to write. The thing that PT does better than any other game is use the limits of the console controller in a first person game to inspire DREAD. If you're on a PC, you can turn around very quickly. You can look all around with your mouse or trackball and it's quite quick. You're a superhero, in game terms.

Game publishers can't let console and computer gamers play each other, because the console just isn't setup for it. And with that limitation comes the scariest parts of PT. Having to slo-o-owly turn around at console speed when you're convinced there's something else in the room. Add to it a brilliant console-exclusive puzzle and I have no problem saying that it was the 98th best game I've ever played.

I just wish I could afford a PS4.

And I really, really hope the new Silent Hill game is anywhere near as good as its trailer.

My hat is off to you, Kojima.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Roody_Yogurt wrote:Watching the gameplay videos available online gives me no motivation to revisit it, but hey, props to Psygnosis for making one of many memorably atmospheric games.
Ha, I know, right? I want to make a freeform exploration game LIKE Brataccas, but not really with that control scheme or anything.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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