THIS LIST IS NOT IN ANY SPECIFIC ORDER, BUT IF I FEEL A GAME DESERVES SPECIAL MENTION, IT WILL BE NOTED. I WILL NEVER LIST MORE THAN ONE GAME IN A SERIES (example: half life, half life 2) BUT I WILL MENTION SEQUELS (or previous titles) IN MY BLURBS.
What can I say about this game that hasn't been said before?
Nothing, but I can say how great it is again, because it's just that good. This is a fun game that is still fun for me to play.
"Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss" has so many compelling elements that the only drawback of playing it is that, since Looking Glass Studios was disbanded, there hasn't been another game like it, and that's just depressing.
What I like about "The Stygian Abyss" is that the first person view is actually functional, the item management is superiorly implemented, the dungeons are well designed, and it features a fun story that ties in with the game nicely.
Also, I can't mention enough how good Looking Glass Studios was; "The Stygian Abyss," has a kind of intangible special sauce of goodness that is uniquely of the Looking Glass variety.
The Looking Glass dev team obviously loved what they were doing, and obviously had a love for the RPG genre and the "Ultima" franchise in general. There is no other way that a game could come together as well as this one does. (or any other title they were involved with)
The Sequel to "UU" is just as good as the first one, and plays like they just continued working on the same game. But why mess with something good?
I know, I know. Everybody likes this game.
But there is a really good reason... It's fun.
I read a review on another site which criticized the story of "Half-Life." The idea the reviewer had was that, although it is a good action/platform game, it doesn't deserve the avalanche of praise it gets for it's story.
I think this is an interesting point, but it is not entirely true.
Obviously, there is not much of a story in "Half-Life" when compared to adventure games with deep stories complimented with a plethora of text or even when compared to more recent first person shooters like "Hale-Life 2."
On the other hand, "Half-Life" does have a story, it's a fun story, and it's extremely well implemented in the game.
This cannot be said of other FPSs of the day. "DOOM" doesn't really have a story, and, "Quake" doesn't really have a story either.
Furthermore, "Half Life" tells it's story through the environments of the game. You live through the story, rather than read about the story.
I believe that Valve could have thrown in some cut-scenes and possibly wrote some discoverable text to supplement the story if they wanted to, but it would have broken up the pace of the game too much.
The story of "Half Life" is it's back-story, and the story of the events that you unfold during the game.
Obviously, this is an early attempt at this approach, and it's not perfect. Also, the technology was not refined enough to have the kind of story-driven NPC interaction that is present in the sequel, but it's a really good start.
So, I have to mention "Half Life 2" here, of course. "Half Life 2" is one of those games that is larger than life. Some folks have complained about the dorkiness of the main character, or expressed a general disinterest in the Science Fiction theme of the game, but those people were never going to like this game, no matter how good it was. To everyone else, "Half Life 2" is the one of the best FPSs ever made. "HL2" picks up where the first game left off and ups the anti with vastly improved graphics, and a brilliant physics engine.
My only complaint with HL2 is the anti-gravity gun, it's just too easy to kill people with. About the only time it isn't useful is against those giant spider things and when you have to fend off large numbers of combine troops at the same time. Regardless, this is really fun game, with less bugs than most games and incredible replay value. Both "HL" games get honorable mentions for "extremely high fun factor."
The game that changed my life. "Resident Evil" just rocked. It was the coolest, funnest game I had ever played at the time it came out. Along with it's direct sequel, RE2, it is still unmatched as an example of a horror themed video game.
The worst element of "Resident Evil" is the fact that the camera, which is designed to imitate a horror movie, frequently makes enemies invisible to you at times when your character should clearly be able to see them.
In the first four "Resident Evil" games, this issue was a serious point of contention among fans; some folks considered it an important convention of the "survival horror," genre, and others just felt it was unfair. IMHO, the camera angles were awesome. Furthermore, the predictable enemy encounters, and the interesting suspense theme more than made up for the minor inconvenience of the camera.
Everything else speaks for itself... Spooky mansion, zombies, weird creatures, shotguns, fun puzzles involving zombie killing, a secret underground laboratory with, you guessed it, zombies!
I don't think blowing a zombie's head off with a shotgun will ever lose it's charm, and Resident Evil remains one of the most fun games i have ever played.
Although it's gameplay is essentially identical to the first game, Resident Evil 2 is great game in and of itself. Although my memories of both games have blended together, I distinctly remember having more trouble with the second game, in a good way.
I admit, I had a hard beating this game. Granted, I played it when it came out, and I was Willy's age at the time, but I called the hint line once or twice maybe. Nevertheless, I had an absolute blast playing it, more so than any of the other Dynamix titles.
Fans of simulators undoubtedly prefer the much lauded "Red Baron" series, but I'll take Willy Beamish over those any day.
You play a kid with a skate board and a tree house, on a quest to stop some evil adults doing typically evil adult-type stuff in a super-realism inspired cartoon parody of the perfect suburban neighborhood.
What isn't fun about that?
Well, actually, what I remember as a punishing level of difficult wasn't too fun at the time, but I remember it feeling worth it.
Why else would I have called the hint line, right?
Question. What list of fun games could possibly omit Faxanadu?
Answer. A list written by someone who has never played it.
Faxanadu is one of the first games that I simply could not put down. The gameplay was so addictive, and so well implemented that I fell completely under it's spell the first time that played it.
Faxanadu is a brilliant mixture of RPG, action, and adventure. The gameplay is similar to the second Zelda game, but with a more overtly RPG atmosphere.
Don't misunderstand me, this is not an RPG, but your character has gold and experience, and you can buy better equipment like swords and armor, and the setting is a totally RPG-inspired affair, complete with dwarves and elves.
It's best described as "a platformer with an RPG flavor."
In any case, this game just totally rocks and was fun to play. I feel fully comfortable recommending Faxanadu to anyone who hasn't played it before, provided you aren't completely repelled by the 1987 era, 8-bit graphics.
Yeah, me too.
Who didn't like "Civilization?" It is one of the most famous franchises in video game history. Loved by legions of gamers for it's addictive gameplay, innovative resource management implementation, and strategy-like combat, "Civilization" commands a historical respect that I cannot hope to describe in my blog-blurb.
However, I had loads of fun playing it, so it absolutely belongs on my list.
I also think that it is worth mentioning that I liked the first two "Civ" games the best. After that, the increased complexity took the 4x thing a little outside the realm of fun for me, and pushed it distinctly into the realm of "work," that I wasn't getting paid for.
Surprise! Another NES title that I played for three days straight! "Kid Icarus" was tons of fun. It was a Mario-alternative in the early days of the NES, only you could shoot stuff.
I am a big fan of being able to shoot stuff, and not just in a Mario-can-occasionally-shoot-fireballs kind of way.
I have many fond eggplant inspired memories of "Kid Icarus," and the unique mixture of a flying character in a platform game is something that has never been done quite so well in my opinion.
Looking at the screen shots for the upcoming "Kid Icarus" game for the 3DS, I can see that will remain unchanged.
I really did like this game better than the first one. The first one was the first time that actually laughed at a video game. "The Secret of Monkey Island" deserves special mention for that alone. However, "LeChuck's Revenge" is better in every respect. It is frequently funnier, it has better music, better graphics, better puzzles, and a better ending. I can't think of anything bad to say about "MI2" other than it ends, and there is a limit to the amount of times you can replay an adventure game. Maybe once every ten years? Any more than that and I can remember all the solutions and all of the jokes, but then, I have an exceptional memory.
"Jedi Knigh"t raised my future expectations for every action game that came after it.
It was, and is, the most fun I have ever had playing any video game. I can think of several games that have come close to it, but none that are it's equal. That is not to say that "Jedi Knight" is completely without problems; the punishing level of difficulty in the early stages of the game, several serious bugs, and poorly implemented force powers makes for an entirely uneven experience, but the game is so good, that it just never seemed to matter. Even after you get your lightsaber and become invincible to gunfire, the sudden dip in difficulty doesn't subtract from the fun of the experience, and that's what this list is about. I think this title deserves a special "fun" mention from me. It is in an, as-yet unspecified, top 5 funnest games ever.
I prefer Quake to Doom. In all honesty, I liked Quake 2 better while playing alone, but the first game gets a special "fun" mention from me because it's the better game to play with other people around. Quake 2 is cool, and has a real story line and slightly better graphics, but the first game is great fun to watch else someone play. Probably because it completely lacks a real story, it lends itself superbly to rubbernecker video game violence.
I have watched my cousin blow up a thousand ogres, and it still isn't getting old. I still feel a sense of accomplishment when he succeeds in pitting enemies against one another and running out of the room so that they can finish each other off.
Enemies that hate each other is such a great idea.
Here they are again. It seems nothing less than a tragedy that the powerful collaborative force in the video game industry that was "Looking Glass Studios" is no longer. All video game fans have been robbed of a proper "Thief 3" or "Ultima Underworld 3."
My only solace in the matter is that I have not yet played System Shock or Terra Nova, two of "Looking Glass Studio's" most lauded titles.
Nevertheless, I mourned the loss of this brilliant creative team in the late 1990's, and "Thief: The Dark Project" is a perfect example of why.
Although I remember "Thief" having a steep learning curve early in the game, once I got used to the first person controls, it was non-stop alternate-universe fun until I beat the game.
"Thief" doesn't really qualify as an RPG, it's not level-bound, and your choices of weapons are not really that important. The melee system is decent for it's time, but it's never very useful. The direct approach is "discouraged" in "Thief" because you are, well, a thief. So, basically, "Thief" is a stealth action adventure. Which brings us to another popular game that is also considered stealth-based, "Metal Gear Solid." I never liked "Metal Gear Solid" very much. I found the stealth system in that game to be endlessly irritating. Every time I set off the alarm, I wanted nothing more than to shoot all of the people running around just to stop the awful alarm sound. In the "Metal Gear" series, that sneaking mechanic is basically the main object of the game. "Thief" involves a fair amount of sneaking around, but it never feels like it's the focus of the game. Furthermore, the engrossing story line helps to pull you in, and to make the sneaking around feel important. Perhaps it's the first person perspective that brings out the best in the stealth game mechanics. Whatever the reason is, I had tons of fun playing this game, and I highly recommend it to all those who have not yet played it through.
I waited outside of "Captron World of Nintendo" in Montgomery Mall to buy this game the day it was released.
I then lost at least a week of my life playing it. I can still remember leaving my nintendo on overnight because i was in the middle of a dungeon, and I also remember losing my savegame data once or twice.
In any case, "Final Fantasy" isn't really much different than the early "Ultima" games or "Dragon Quest," but it did have one thing that I instantly fell in love with, the evolving character classes.
I had never played an RPG that featured classes that physically changed in appearance when their skills reached maturity.
Indeed, they didn't just look different, but they became significantly more powerful and useful in different ways.
I also has great fun playing "Final Fantasy 7;" it stands as one of the best RPGs I have ever played. However, I'm not really into these kind of RPGs anymore. Although I liked the localized, third person dungeon-crawl game design (ala "Diablo"), I do not like the classic RPG combat interface. Level humping characters is no longer fun for me, it has become tedious. Both games get high marks for fun back in the day, but are officially off my list of "play it again games."
First of all, let me say that "Far Cry" was a difficult game. It took me until the second level to master the game mechanics, and I still believe that the first level is possibly the hardest in the whole game. It's hard to get past the first military outpost, it's REALLY hard to get past the first gun-boat that starts shooting at you before you can even see it, and it's almost impossible to get into the wrecked freighter without already knowing where the hole is. If none of that made any sense to you, you have never played this game. Thankfully, after that, the enemies are killable, and the rest of the game is one of the most fun and challenging games I have ever played. Highly recommended.
This is the game that proved adventure gaming wasn't dead. Plenty of other good adventure games came between the "Gabriel Knight" series and "The Longest Journey," but nothing as good.
It's hard to say why I cared so much about the story in "The Longest Journey," or why it's stayed with me for so long after I played it. The only drawback I can see from that is that I still remember all the puzzles, so I can't replay it yet.
I have only recently played "Blood." I picked it up with it's expansion pack over at GOG dot com. This game has virtually no real story that I can see, but I had a blast murdering mimes. Totally worth the price of admission, even if it is a "DOOM" clone.
I don't know why this game isn't more available than it is. "Warlords" was the first game that I had so much fun playing that I beat it over and over again.
"Warlords" is basically a cross between an RTS and an RPG, but it totally predates any other successful implementation of a similar gameplay mechanic.
The basic premise is that you play one of, i think 5 different races. You start off with only one hero, but you can eventually aquire more.
The basic premise is that you have little cities, and you can produce armies in your cities, and you can wage wars on other cities and add them to your territory.
In addition to conquering enemy cities, you can explore the map and discover ancient ruins with magical items and advanced army units that will follow your hero into battle.
The map is fairly simple, and I don't remember it ever changing. But that never mattered. I played this game maybe twenty times or more when I first bought it, and I wish I still had it, because I would like to play it again right now!
If you missed this one, pick it up.
One final comment, this game was sort of "remade" (more like ripped-off) a few years later and combined with elements of the game "Civilizations." They called it "Master of Magic," which is also a really fun game, but not as fun as "Warlords."
The best "Castlevania" game ever. I beat this game in the passenger seat of a truck three times. Not only was it better than any of the other handheld "Castlevania" games, it was the best Game Boy Advanced game, period.
I have to mention the "Castlevania" franchise here, because almost all of them are fun, and they have a nifty horror movie theme.
My favorite weapon was always the boomerang.
I played the PC version of this game, not the SNES version.
They appear to be substantially different from the screenshots that I have seen. "MechWarrior" is one of the first true 3D games from back in the day. I have many fond memories of playing this game, but I also remember one serious flaw... The game has a time limitation, so you have to plan a winning strategy from rather early on. Furthermore, if you do manage to build up a strong army quick enough to win, the game is over too quickly. "MechWarrior" had an enormous amount of untapped potential. It could have been more of a resource management, long-term, empire-building game (or at least army building), but the development team imposed a strict time limit on winning the game, destroying any hope you had of trying out a variety of Mechs. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't still awesome to play, that just means that it was over to quickly.
Colorful and Innovative? check! Frustratingly difficult? check! Funner than a barrel of monkeys to watch your character impale himself in a pit of spikes? double check!! "Prince of Persia" is destined to go down in history as an innovative, challenging game; perhaps more than it really is. IMHO, "Prince of Persia" is nothing more than a historically themed "Super Pitfall" with better controls. That I am saying it has better controls than "Super Pitfall" is not saying very much, because the first two or three "Prince of Persia" games definitely had questionably accurate controls by today's standards. However, at the time it seemed reasonable, and I certainly had a blast playing it, even when my character died over and over again.
Fast forward to "The Sands of Time," and, not only do the controls get better, but the graphics are phenomenal and the story actually becomes something more than a backdrop for falling on spikes. "The Sands of Time" is, without a doubt, one of the most fun Action/Adventure games of the past decade.
Post-apocalyptic nuclear radioactive mutant bliss. Excellent in every way; superior introduction and character building implementation; mercifully interesting combat; perfect balance of sandbox and mission-driven game play. The only major drawback to "Fallout 3," is that it all feels a bit unfinished. However, in spite of feeling like the end was a bit of a letdown, I had an awful lot of fun playing the game while it lasted, and I look forward to "New Vegas" with great anticipation.
The first two "Fallout" games are also on my list of "fun" games for their terrific, adult themes, and their decisive role in pushing the RPG genre away from the traditional combat window, and into a real-time model. Very fun games all-around!
NOT THE ATARI VERSION! THE ARCADE VERSION! PREPARE TO QUALIFY! Best racing game ever! I spent enough money on this game to send my kid to college, if i had a kid!
Brilliant, early attempt at a first-person, 3D RPG dungeon-crawl. (If you don't count the parser-driven "Wizardry" titles from the early 1980's!)
"Eye of the Beholder" kept me enthralled for weeks with it's novel "new" gameplay and close ties to the AD&D universe. I was a sucker for all that stuff, but I had tons of fun with this game, and it's sequel.
"The Dig" is just awesome. I remember seeing this game at Price Club, which now calls itself Costco, when it was new. They had a huge stack of the shiny, gimmick boxes from the first run. I didn't buy one (too expensive), but I eventually borrowed it from a friend and have not yet returned it! Actually, I think he has my copy of the first Lucasarts "Archives," so he's got the better deal at the moment. In any case, "The Dig" is one of the most memorable, beautiful adventure games that ever had the pleasure to be imminently re-playable. You play an American astronaut who must defeat an ancient alien evil and save his drug-addicted, German astronaut friend. Doesn't that scream fun?
The "Gabriel Knight" series is special in the hearts of many adventure gamers. The unique and spooky settings, the innovative game-play mechanics, and the adult themes all contributed to the series' good reputation over the years. Perhaps, most importantly, "Gabriel Kinght" games were a whole lotta fun!
I know that this will undoubtedly be a controversial choice of favorite "Gabriel Knight" game, but I swear that I had the most fun playing "Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned." I am fully willing to admit that the graphics suck, and that the voice acting is horrific, but those things never seemed to bother me. In fact, the campy voice acting always seemed a charming counter-point to the overall seriousness of the game. Furthermore, I felt as though the game played well as a "whole experience," completely eclipsing any smaller concerns that I had about individual aspects. The first two games were good, but I felt as though they were not as cohesive as the third game.
Nevertheless, I also had a great time playing the first two "Gabriel Knight" games and I recommend all three games to any current, or would-be, adventure game fans out there.
