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For some of us university students, school is almost finished. Time to unwind in the warm heat of a summer day, as it shines through your window and burns the near-translucent skin coating your pale, molerat-esque body. How can us gamers experience a relaxed walk on a bright summer day? How can inner-peace breach the FPS, RTS, or RPG's of our existence? Well, normally it can't.
Anyway, enough of the SPIKE awards jokes. I have come here to discuss a favorite genre of mine which has yet to be properly defined. You see, this genre can exist as a subset of other genres, though it's most commonly found in action-adventure or action-RPG's (and once, even in a CARPG, as you will see).
There are few titles which let a gamer truly unwind. Many people claim that a round of Guitar Hero, or Tetris is how they relax. Others will say that teabagging a downed opponent is how they find joy. Some try with a quick round of Gran Turismo, or plowing into an intersection with Burnout. Yes, playing a favorite game can do this sort of thing, but after all the talk of the emotional impact of Journey it is worth mentioning the other emotions that some games with a properly tuned atmosphere can evoke.
It is impossible to say exactly what I mean, but the following three games are ones which have a feeling of relaxed exploration and discovery throughout most of their playtime. We shall call them…Chillventures, or Relaction RPG's.
…I'm still working on the name; without further ado, here they are in order of ascending obscurity and rarity.
1. Megaman Legends – PS1 (Also available on the N64 as Megaman 64)
It is blasphemy to say that any game exceeds The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but I am going to say it…Megaman Legends is a game I enjoy more than shooting spiders with that elf fellow (along with Brave Fencer Musashi, but that is a different article). There is an undefinable quality to Megaman Legends, one which has a feeling of calm when you are jumping around and exploring Cattleox island. Although this game should barely make the list, I have to include it simply for the over world exploration elements. Yes, the 'dungeons' in Megaman Legends are foreboding, occasionally fast paced, and sometimes a bit scary. On the other hand, the city where the bulk of the action in the game takes place is a cheerful and populated place where you can do numerous side-quests for the townsfolk.
Okay, sometimes the town is attacked by large robots, and the closed off sections of the city are eerily silent of music and mildly frightening. However, when I think back to why I enjoyed Megaman Legends so much it is mainly due to the bulk of the town where you have nothing to do but…well, whatever you please. Jump on cars, complete mini-games at the TV studio, help a group of boys build a clubhouse, and dig through trash to create obscenely powerful weapons. There is no time limit or feeling of urgency, just the ability to explore at your own pace.
Megaman Legends had a certain…Chillventureous tone which was not completely matched in either it's sequels/spin offs. I insist the game is a must play (and it also used 'z-targeting' before LOZ:OOT), simply because the town in the game has this unmatched tone–probably thanks to the cheerful music accompanying your visit. Seriously, it digs into your brain.
2. Steambot Chronicles – PS2
Here is a title you may have heard of…though probably not. This was released later in the PS2's lifespan, and is best described as a relaxing robot-fighting sandbox RPG set in a musically inclined steam punk universe. I am pretty sure that is on the back of the box, actually. In Japan it was titled Bumpy Trot, which is a much better name. I digress…
Anyway, you play as an absurdly named main character (Vanilla Bean, seriously?) who washes up on a shoreline, right next to a girl who immediately needs saving. In return, she lets you drive a giant robot fully capable of smashing everything in sight…or working as a taxi…or farming…or transforming into a stage so that you can play various instruments on the side of the road to earn some coin.
Yes, relaxing sandbox is an appropriate descriptor for Steambot Chronicles. Although you are fully capable of doing various combat missions and arena battles in your walking vehicle of destruction, most of the time you are calmly exploring the various cities and towns littering the landscape. The tone of this game is oddly calm, even though it has its fair share of warfare.
Okay, to this game's fault, the vocalized musical tracks and voice acting are horrible–and most gamers will initially tear their hair out trying to control the Katamari-like mechs. Despite these issues, the tone of this game is nearly unmatched and it will easily suck you in. This is the perfect rainy-day style game, and even has a pretty sharp sense of humor that occasionally pops up (Protip: Read the manual. This was the brief era where Atlus was stepping up to the spot Working Designs vacated, porting over strange and underrated games with a fairly clever sense of humor sprinkled all over the packaging and in-game text).
All in all, this is one of my favorite games on the PS2. It somehow manages a free and relaxed tone despite all the combat–sort of like Megaman Legends. If you can track down a copy, please do yourself a favor and empty your pockets.
3. Road Trip – PS2
For all of you looking for a something new, something unique, something you have never heard of, and something cheap, this is your game. It was released in 2002 at the low low price of $19.99, just as the concept of budget games were starting to reach the gaming consciousness in the US. It is part of the long-running series in Japan known as Choro Q, which has snuck onto American shores a few times over the years. However, Road Trip is utterly unique: It is a CaRPG. What is a CARPG? Well, it is an RPG where every living thing is a car. The houses in the game are basically oversized garages, and there are coffee shops and photo booths and farms. How do these cars eat, or use items that require opposable thumbs? That question is never answered–just take it on faith.
Is it an RPG? Well, not really. It is more of an open-ended adventure game where you use cash won in races, or found lying about, or earned by doing side quests and mini-games to upgrade your car with better engines–or for-fun cosmetic changes. You start off barely able to move as your car handles terribly and accelerates like a bath tub; after your first race you can drive across the street to the parts shop and buy enough "get up and go" to explore the HUGE environment. Sure, most of the world is a bit empty, but there are secrets and collectibles liberally strewn about to keep you busy.
So what exactly do you do? Well, the President decides he wants to retire (he is a Lincoln, by the way). The first person/car who can win all the races in every town will be the next ruler! You set off to do that, but maybe after you get your picture taken at every major landmark, collect every coin, get a stamp for every side quest completed, or play a few games of car soccer.
Races are intense, right? How can this game be a relax-fest? Well, for one thing the music is completely cheerful, almost saccharine. It keeps the tone of this game a bit childlike, despite the fact that the racing engine is closer to Gran Turismo than Mario Kart. You are basically let loose to explore with very few directions or pressing objectives. You just drive around and chat, and upgrade your car with increasingly wacky parts (wings, pontoons, and money-earning billboards).
I LOVE this game. The biggest problem about this article is trying to express the tone and mood these three games evoke–but if you need to know most directly, I would find a copy of Road Trip. With the exception of the racing, the game is an utterly relaxing experience where your only goal is to explore and do as you please. It is helped by the simplistic, but very smooth and well-lit graphics. It actually is pleasant to look at, which is more than you can say for most early, budget-priced PS2 games.
A few other games could perhaps fit into this genre of…Uh…Relaction games. Maybe Everblue 2 or Endless Ocean 2. Maybe something like Okami, but even these don't quite nail it.
I guess what these three games have is a bit more than just a relaxed and cheerful tone. There is a very vague and almost imperceptible sense of melancholy which hang just outside the frame of your television. Not necessarily foreboding, but sort of lonely. I guess the trade-off developers had to make for wide worlds on limited hardware was to make sparsely populated environments. There are many helpful/needy people in all these games–but they are all fairly spread out and kind of disconnected
As I said near the beginning of this article, it is really hard to describe what is common between these games–or the mood they inspire. That is why I have made a list of these games, so you can maybe buy one or two and see how these games feel different from most titles on the market. It's a shame they are so rare, but that is what Ebay is for, right?
PROTIP: To our European audience–Wikipedia claims that Road Trip was released for the PS3 on the PSN store. Shame it isn't out in the US, but if you live across the pond give it a go!