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Sure, these days have almost every game sporting the newfangled 3D, but way back when, everyone had to live with plain old 2D. 2D, or two dimensions, limit the game to scrolling backgrounds, but some games even now make use of this basic concept.
Running at 60 FPS is standard for arcade & PC games, but hardware restrictions of consoles often force developers to aim for lower framerates in order to preserve visual detail or allow greater scale. 3D console games hitting 60 FPS are thus uncommon, though the trend of re-releasing games on newer hardware has technically resulted in more 3D console games hitting 60 FPS.
8-bit can be a reference to actual computing power, or it can be a retro look for videogames that want to recall a bygone era.
An Artificial Intelligence Construct is a synthetic technological creation that is a part of a bigger whole. The AI Construct can be a self aware computer or simply a grouping of technologies that come together to form one large being.
Abilitease is an aspect of game design wherein a game will provide a glimpse of your full skill-set at or near the start, only to remove most of these skills, stats, and abilities soon after.
The ability to fling oneself around an environment gracefully. Wall-running, jumping, massive drops, climbing, and other physical activities are what acrobatics is all about.
Adaptation refers to the development of a trait that better enables an individual to thrive in a given environment. In video games, the word is often used to explain radical physiological transformations in characters or the environment.
Common in modern war video games, air strikes are usually used to take out large targets such as enemy vehicles or buildings. Laser designators are often used by the player to illuminate the target for a massive aerial attack.
Alcoons are a species of two-legged dragons in Super Metroid. They reside in the Crateria and Norfair regions of the planet Zebes.
Extraterrestrials appear in many video games in a variety of styles. Sometimes they're evil, sometimes they're benevolent, and sometimes they're very similar to humans.
Games with stories that involve aliens invading another planet.
Characters either begin with multiple outfits, unlock them through play, or purchase them as in-game items. These costumes are sometimes integral to play.
Games that feature more than one style of Game Over screen. Alternate Game Over screens are often used when the player loses in specific ways.
Instrumental music, often electronic, that does not follow conventional music structures, instead using various sounds to create a mood. Ambient music can evoke many different feelings in the listener, from tranquility to creeping dread.
Animals and Creatures that serve to populate levels and give the world life. Usually passive and may try to avoid or runaway from the player, But some may become hostile to the player once attacked/provoked. Some may not be able to be interacted with at all either being in the background/foreground or too far away.
Enormous wormlike creatures on the planet Aether.
This concept occurs in many RPGs and Sci-Fi games. The Ancient Advanced Civilization Technology is often a giant weapon (Halo Rings, Giant of Babil, etc.) that becomes a major plot focus in the stories of these games.
Games where characters have a cannon for an arm.
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.
A mode in which a game will play a gameplay demonstration video as a means to entice players into playing the game.
Audio logs are short voice recordings that a player comes across within a game that helps inform the player of the game's story and characters.
Aurora Units are a network of bio-mechanical supercomputers that run various scientific and menial tasks for settlements in the Galactic Federation.
Auto-aiming (or Auto-targeting) allows for a character to attack or interact with an object or enemy that's very near to the player or within their field of vision.
A map that is updated in real-time as you play a level. Usually seen in FPSs and RPGs.
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.
Be it an “unopenable” door, a sprawling fence, a sudden outcropping of land, an ocean, a cliff (often a deadly ocean/cliff combo,) a broken-down car, an “invisible wall,” or large trees; barriers in video games manifest themselves in a variety of forms (physical and otherwise).
When the player character (re)visits a certain area or location that was also present in a previous game, or visited later on in the same game, with some alterations.
Beetles are among the most widespread groups of insects in the world, with the largest number of known species. They have played various roles in human culture, and have been regarded as pests, beneficial organisms and sacred beings.
Beetoms are a species of parasitic creatures in Super Metroid. They are fast moving and leap at Samus in an attempt to latch onto her.
Hiding items, rooms, and all kinds of things behind waterfalls is one of the oldest concepts in the history of games.
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