Every now and then I come across a game that gives me a new found appreciation for the videogame medium. I never really know exactly what it is I am looking for in a game; I just know when it happens. It is these moments that make the medium of videogames special, because no book, movie, show, painting, or song can deliver these same experiences. There might be better games out there, maybe I didn’t play them, maybe I just didn’t understand their genius, but here is my list of games that made me love games. Hopefully you can suggest some other games that gave you that special feeling in your uh…brain.
Super Mario World
I had played games before this, but a combination of both myself and the games not being advanced enough prevented me from really loving them. I remember starting Super Mario and marveling at how graphics couldn’t possibly get any better. I put countless hours into Mario unlocking secrets and defeating Bowser multiple times. Eventually I came to the conclusion that I had done all there was to do in Mario. That was until one magical day when I was bored out of mind during a bus ride home and I removed the instruction booklet from my backpack. In it I saw it passively mention that all the levels with red dots had 2 ways of beating them…my mind was blown. The bus ride took the usual hour and a half but seemed liked both an eternity and a millisecond at the same time. I ran up my driveway, went directly to the basement door and played the entire weekend. The only red level I hadn’t found the secret on was the level on the bridge where you had to fly under the finish line and get up on the other side in order to get to the secret hidden finish line. This inspired me to check all the ghost castles and gave me countless new hours out of what I thought was a totally defeated game.
Mario 64
I suppose Super Mario World gave me a bias towards Mario 64, but again it was a game changer for me. I don’t know how long it was between playing the two, I just know they each game on its own is legitimately awesome. I am still amazed that arguably the best side scrolling platform series was able to translate into such a great 3D experience. Triple jumping, long jumping, wall kicking, climbing trees, even riding turtle shells, were all new and pleasing actions I had never done before. I played through Mario 64 much like I did Super Mario World, beating every level, getting all the stars, and unlocking all the secrets.
Grand Theft Auto 3
It would be a while until my next mind blowing experience would occur. The very first time I played GTA3 the first thing I did was run up to a pedestrian and punch him the face. This was awesomely awful. I couldn’t believe I was doing that and then I proceeded to punch everyone in the face until a cop came and I stole his car and drove away. I remember just the feeling of having this entire city before me and being able to drive or walk anywhere I wanted. I remember saying out loud, "The world is my oyster." And then thinking, "I’m glad no one was around to hear me say that."
Halo1
The first FPS I ever played was Goldeneye, sitting around with friends screen watching was a great time. After Goldeneye I played some Timesplitters and I tried playing FPSs on the PC, but they never really took. Then I bought Halo. The day I brought it home my friend and I played through the entire campaign until it was completed. Halo was unlike any FPS I had ever played. I didn’t care about the story, I had always hated alien games, but somehow it grabbed me by the ghoulies. I didn’t think I could like it much more until a friend invited me to go with him to play a 16 player LAN party. It turned out that I COULD like Halo more, a lot more, and that I was awesome at it. The next day I went to the store and bought a second Xbox, TV, 4 more controllers, and another copy of Halo so I could play 8 player in my house. It cost me every dime I made that summer and it was worth every penny.
Oblivion
Before I played Oblivion this is what I knew: I don’t like fantasy games, and I don’t really like playing games all by myself for hours at a time. I especially don’t like walking round made up worlds for hundreds of hours ala Diablo 2. Why did I buy Oblivion? I have no idea…but I’m damn glad I did. I found myself just walking around the woods and thinking, "This looks like real woods. How do they know how trees grow? Is that a unicorn, I wonder if I can kill it…oh bad idea." The engaging guild missions, the feeling of talking with people who were showing me their wares, the slaying of beasts, it all made for the perfect storm of games. This game was the first game that made me feel like the world around me was important.
Bioshock
GTA 3 and Oblivion to varying degrees gave me a real sense of my surroundings, but Bioshock upped the ante and sucked me in hard. I really bought into the art style, the ambiance, the story, the whole shebang. Rapture was unlike any environment I had ever entered making me feel as if I was really there. The ending was disappointing, but I don’t know that they could have ended it in a way that would have pleased me, unless they made it never end like a game of WOW.