Games that clicked for you, but not anybody else.

june gloom on 4/6/2009 at 23:09

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

Yes you are.

(COUGHING, FLUSHING, BANGING NOISES)

Myagi on 5/6/2009 at 02:15

Trespasser did it for me.

ZymeAddict on 5/6/2009 at 06:38

I remember coming across that game randomly at a friend's house about six or seven years ago. As I was rather uninformed when it came to FPSs at the time (I'd only played Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and a couple others at that point I think), when I started up the game I was rather nonplussed. As there was no HUD I actually thought the game was broken in some way, I never did figure out the weird controls, and finally gave up after about an hour or so.

Here's a rather interesting retrospective article about Trespasser. I might have to check it out again:

(http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=164062&site=pcg) http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=164062&site=pcg

Thirith on 5/6/2009 at 06:49

Trespasser seems to be one of those games that requires the player to put a hell of a lot into it before they get anything out of it. (Operation Flashpoint is another such game IMO.) The effect often seems to be that those people who put a lot of work into appreciating the game end up loving it despite its flaws. Games that offer more instant gratification tend not to have such committed fans - they have fanboys, but there the game in question seems to be less important in the end than which team you're rooting for. Amiga vs. Atari, Sega vs. Nintendo, Quake 3 vs. Unreal Tournament - how many of these were really about anything other than the fanboy's ego?

Toxicfluff on 5/6/2009 at 13:09

Trespasser is definitely one for me. I really enjoyed it when I played it a few years ago. It was shit, but what an unusual flavour of shit it was. I particularly loved the way the procedural animation for the dinosaurs would fuck up, occasionally giving me a great deus ex machina moment as the raptor that two seconds hence will have torn off both my tits traps a leg and suddenly launches into orbit.

Blood is another. Lots of people ragged on it for being dated compared to the glorious grunge of Quake, but Blood was my FPS of the year for certain. Awesome enemies, awesome levels, awesome weapons. You hit that many bullseyes in an FPS game and graphics can go and graphically fuck 'emselves. I suppose it has had a bit of a renaissance, so it ain't exactly "not anybody else".

KKND was a strategy I really liked which everyone seems to hate. Derivative no doubt, but a lot of fun.

Cyclones is an FPS everyone hated, but I really enjoyed, despite the fact that you'd move around better with a bloody wired up Twister mat than your keyboard and mouse.

Gryzemuis on 5/6/2009 at 14:09

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathologic) Pathologic.

Weird russian game. The russians loved it (their game of the year in 2005). The rest of the world didn't dig the terrible translation. I liked the game, it was different. Slow, weird. A bit like a Lynch movie. Unfortunately I didn't like the time pressure in the game. I stopped playing half-way, and I'm afraid I might never finish it.

Thirith on 5/6/2009 at 14:11

Pathologic is on my to-play list. It's a pretty long list by now, but the game is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be picked up and played.

Myagi on 5/6/2009 at 16:22

Quote Posted by Thirith

Trespasser seems to be one of those games that requires the player to put a hell of a lot into it before they get anything out of it.

For me it didn't take much "work" to get into, I was pretty much hooked and enjoying it from the start. The only thing that took me a few minutes of learning was what key did what with the arm and get the feel for it.

Maybe I was lucky that even though I had followed developement and was eagerly anticipating it, for some reason (that I don't remember) I never got around to playing it when it was released. By the time I got to play it a year or so later, I had read reviews and even the post mortem, so I knew which parts they had failed on and didn't have expectations that weren't met. So inspite of the failings, the game that was left still struck a cord in me big time (and from a tech pov it's one of the most underrated games). As bizarre as it may seem I'd have to say it's on my best games ever list right after the system shocks and thiefs of course ;)

demagogue on 5/6/2009 at 17:33

I had fun with Medal of Honor Allied Assault, and I know a lot of people didn't get into it. My standards are pretty basic with shooters, though, compared to other genres.

Harvester on 5/6/2009 at 23:28

I liked Allied Assault as well. I gave up on Spearhead though, when I got to a really annoying rail shooter level (where the car is driven for you and you have to man the machine gun) after an even more annoying escort mission. I also have Breakthrough but I've never even installed it.