Josh

I sure think so!

I tend to stay away from the general "favorite" game/movie/song/etc gobbledegook, but when I count up the games I've loved more than any other, System Shock 2 is usually at the top of the list.

Those who have played it, do you agree? I've yet to encounter a game with such an incredibly terrifying atmosphere and delivery of story. BioShock could have been a true successor, but ended up getting neutered, which, I can tell you, pains me to no end.

Those that haven't played it, what are you doing reading this post?! Go play one of the best games ever made. Scoot! Scoot now!

I like Gordon specifically because he doesn't talk. He's the epitome of the Silent Protagonist.

Those of you that haven't read Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar (which is the official Valve art book released with HL2), well, really should. It goes into some depth about why Valve designed Gordon to be a silent protagonist. They produced the Half-Life games with the intention of putting the player as closely into their world as possible. Subsequently, since the person playing the game can't speak to the characters, neither can Gordon. This attempt at player immersion means the camera never once leaves Gordon's perspective. You are supposed to be experiencing the saga of Half-Life as if you were there yourself. I think the Half-Life franchise accomplishes this better than any other series of games yet made, with the single exception of System Shock 2.

The fact that Gordon doesn't speak isn't due to a design decision to limit the player's interactivity with the game, it was intended to do the exact opposite. Aside from that, many/most FPS games that involve a visible or talkative protagonist don't do it all that well. The player's character has poorly written dialogue that isn't interesting to listen to. Off the top of my head I'll site Perfect Dark Zero, Haze, and Red Steel as examples of a talkative protagonist being a detriment rather than an asset to a game's design. Obviously there are the odd few fps games that actually make use of a talkative protagonist brilliantly, like Deus Ex and...uh...

...

Yeah I'll have to think about that a bit more.

See now I thought Grandmas were supposed to smell like aspirin and feet.

No?

Please define what a grampa smells like. I mean it's not exactly like you can find a cologne called "Grampa Smell". Although there is Old Spice.

Mario will never die, for Mario is eternal.

Unfortunately. I hate the little bastard.