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Destructible Environment
A destructible environment means the player has the ability to destroy his/her surroundings. This allows players to use the environment to their advantage.
Appears in 484 games
First appeared in Gun Fight
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Aftertouch
Aftertouch is a technique where the player is able to manipulate the path of an object that they would realistically have no control of, such as a fired bullet or a crashing car.
Appears in 15 games
First appeared in Bases Loaded
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Friend Code
A safeguard method of adding friends to friends lists on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Appears in 27 games
First appeared in Metroid Prime: Hunters
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Backtracking
Backtracking is the act of navigating through previously explored areas, usually for the purpose of progressing in an objective-based adventure game. Players who are lost may also backtrack to reorient themselves.
Appears in 305 games
First appeared in Rogue
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Launch Title
Games released coinciding with new hardware.
Appears in 460 games
First appeared in Table Tennis
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Cheat Code
Special codes or button combinations used to gain powers or advantages in a game. Generally hidden.
Appears in 557 games
First appeared in Frogger
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Web Integration
Many popular multiplayer games (particularly for PC) may integrate player or clan/guild information into a web interface to be accessed from anywhere. The player may also be able to see your current achievements on his or her game.
Appears in 14 games
First appeared in Lux
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Heartless
Heartless are creatures from Kingdom Hearts that lack Hearts.
Appears in 13 games
First appeared in Kingdom Hearts
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Tactical Turn-Based Combat
Gameplay type emphasizing deliberately paced tactical battle where each side politely takes turns moving and attacking one another through varied forms of combat.
Appears in 511 games
First appeared in Tanktics: Computer game of Armored Combat on the Eastern Front
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Customization
Customization in games that allow users to change various parts of their equipment or moves to fit their gaming style.
Appears in 277 games
First appeared in The Screamer
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Advisor
The inferred primary antagonists of Half-Life 2 and its Episodic expansions.
Appears in 3 games
First appeared in Half-Life 2
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Headcrab
Spider-like parasitic animals from an unknown universe with amazing powers of genetic transformation. Introduced in the original Half-Life, headcrabs come in several varieties, all of which are incredibly dangerous to unsuspecting or unprepared humans.
Appears in 13 games
First appeared in Half-Life
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Boss
Bosses are enemies that fight you at the end of a level or at a significant point in the story.
Appears in 1366 games
First appeared in Wild Gunman
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Escort Mission
Missions during which players are tasked with protecting a non-playable character or object from harm until a certain goal is met.
Appears in 203 games
First appeared in Flicky
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Flashback
Flashbacks take a player into a flashback sequence. Often playable, but not always.
Appears in 206 games
First appeared in Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True
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Quad Damage
A collectable power up which increased the damage output of the player. Introduced in Quake, and since then has been a key factor throughout the whole franchise.
First appeared in Quake
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Payload
An attack and defend-style game mode in Team Fortress 2.
Appears in 6 games
First appeared in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory
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Kingdom Heart
A heart-shaped moon that is able to absorb released hearts and which is the doorway to a world that contains the power of all hearts. It plays a major role in the Kingdom Hearts franchise. The goal of Master Xehanort is to exploit its powers.
Appears in 8 games
First appeared in Kingdom Hearts
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Vortigaunt
Vortigaunts are an extra-dimensional sentient alien species seen in every Half-Life game to date.
Appears in 11 games
First appeared in Half-Life
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Consumable
A form of game item that is only useable a limited number of times (typically once) before being discarded or destroyed.
Appears in 13 games
First appeared in Last Chaos
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Linear Motion Battle System
A real-time battle system used in Namco Bandai's Tales franchise.
Appears in 23 games
First appeared in Tales of Phantasia
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Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, commonly refers to the programmed behaviors of NPCs in a game, whether it's the fact that a soldier takes cover behind a wall in Gears of War, or that townspeople cheer upon your arrival to their village in Fable.
Appears in 1045 games
First appeared in Computer Space
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Character Creation
Character Creation refers to characters created by players themselves, rather than developers.
Appears in 542 games
First appeared in The Black Onyx
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Samurai
Samurai, or Bushi (literally, "warriors") were a social class in feudal Japan, equivalent to Western aristocracy, knights.
Appears in 198 games
First appeared in Heiankyo Alien
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Synaesthesia
A sensory juxtaposition of sight and sound.
Appears in 27 games
First appeared in Rez
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4X
Strategy games which encourage users to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.
Appears in 128 games
First appeared in Andromeda Conquest
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Duality
Duality discusses the conflict between two opposite forces and their struggle. Those two forces may also complement each other or are the two sides of a scale and must be balanced.
Appears in 43 games
First appeared in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
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The Zero Prequel
The common use of "Zero" or "0" at the end of a game's title to emphasize it as a precursor to the rest of the series. Similarly, some series will title a prequel "Origins" instead to denote it as the earliest point in the story.
Appears in 16 games
First appeared in Zork Zero: The Revenge of Megaboz
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Graffiti
Graffiti is the practice of painting, etching, stickering, pasting, or in any way marking public or private property with lettering or images for a variety of different ends. Depending on one's perspective, graffiti can be considered either art or vandalism.
Appears in 206 games
First appeared in Alley Cat
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Open World
Non-linear level design where the player is able to freely traverse the game world and choose where and when to visit certain areas in the game.
Appears in 579 games
First appeared in Jet Rocket
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Randomly Generated Map
Games with randomly (or rather, procedurally) generated environments create new levels from predetermined pieces each time the game is played.
Appears in 163 games
First appeared in Barnstorming
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Horse Riding
Horse riding is mostly used in games to get around from one place to another quicker than you could on foot. They can also sometimes be used in combat or racing.
Appears in 159 games
First appeared in Dogies
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Umbrella Corporation
A giant, multinational pharmaceutical corporation that produces many daily use goods as a cover for its primary focus; the production of biological weapons. The source of some of the most deadly viruses found in the Resident Evil series, Umbrella Corporation and its backers are among the franchise's core antagonistic forces.
Appears in 26 games
First appeared in Resident Evil
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Vehicle Customization
The building/editing of vehicles, mechs, and the like.
Appears in 221 games
First appeared in The Screamer
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Stacking
Team stacking is when players will all join the winning team or all the good people will join the same team. Stat stacking is when players will maximize one or two beneficial stats so their character is extremely efficient at one role.
Appears in 13 games
First appeared in Puggsy
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Celebrity Tie-in
Games prominently featuring celebrities, who either endorse the game or act as the focus of the story. Games with characters who happen to be played by celebrities are not always tie-ins.
Appears in 359 games
First appeared in Ali
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Microtransaction
Small payments made with actual money which result in an in-game bonus, such as an extra item, character, etc...
Appears in 366 games
First appeared in Colony 7
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PlayStation Trophies
Trophies are an incentive-based system for the completion of various objective in PS3, Vita, and PS4 titles.
Appears in 1361 games
First appeared in Pac-Man
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Light Bloom
A graphical effect used in video games where an object blocks light and around the edges of the object the light is significantly brighter than normal.
Appears in 202 games
First appeared in Skies of Arcadia
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Helghast
A warlike civilization in the Killzone universe. Once human colonists on the planet Helghan, they faced hellish conditions that killed many; only those who adapted survived, later overthrowing the human government and taking control of Helghan.
Appears in 8 games
First appeared in Killzone
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Turn-Based
Turn-based games divide game actions into distinct parts, called turns. This gives the player time to strategically choose actions as the battle or events unfold.
Appears in 927 games
First appeared in Brain Wave
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Unreliable Narrator
Don't believe anyone. There's more going on here than is immediately apparent.
Appears in 79 games
First appeared in Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken
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Context Sensitive
An action that is sensitive to context. Like going up to an object and pushing a button, which would normally perform a different action, to interact with it.
Appears in 165 games
First appeared in Pro Wrestling
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Original Soundtrack Release
Games that have had an Original Soundtrack album released.
Appears in 939 games
First appeared in Pac-Man
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