Power Bombcast: The Skin Doesn't Quite Fit
Giant Bomb Presents
Game Mess Mornings 05/03/24
GrubbSnax
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.27
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.20
The Community Spotlight 2024.04.13
Game » consists of 1 releases. Released Apr 27, 1990
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.
Action RPG (Action Role-Playing Game), also known as ARPG, refers to RPGs (role-playing games) that use direct, real-time, reflex-oriented, action combat systems, instead of the more abstract turn-based or menu-based battle systems.
A character in a game who has acted professionally, in movies, TV, or the stage.
An often used plot device where the main character wakes up and has lost all their memories. The game usually centers around getting your memory back or uncovering the events that lead to your confusion.
Cyberpunk is an aesthetic choice that is employed in many different media, it focuses on technology and how that technology encroaches on our natural, daily lives.
An organism consisting of both natural and artificial systems.
One or more events from someone's past that negatively affected them. Plenty of video game characters have such pasts.
Some games portray cutscenes as portraits of characters talking to each other.
Any game that represents a society noticeably worse or less desirable compared to those in the present. This can relate to kinds of political and economic organisation, excessive human suffering, social problems caused by technology, or as a result of an apocalyptic event.
An unofficial translation of a video game, created by people not associated with the original development team.
Literally meaning "black film," film noir is a term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas. This unique style of storytelling and cinematography is often incorporated into video games.
First-Person is a vantage point that attempts to simulate looking through a game character's eyes. It is most commonly found in first-person shooters, racing games, and visual novels, and to a lesser extent in other genres, such as RPGs, 3D platformers, and adventure games.
The concept of a game referencing another game through mockery, parody or even directly. A game reference to the same franchise does not count.
Most modern shooting games add the realistic touch of rendering shots to the cranium instantly fatal. Glorious for the shooter, kind of a bummer to the shootee.
An in-engine cinematic is a type of cutscene that is rendered in real time using the game's graphics engine.
A plot device where innocent characters are killed. Sometimes players forced to watch it happen and can do nothing to prevent it.
Limb Targeting is the ability to target specific limbs on the body with the object being either to disable the limb or kill the target faster. It may also be referred to as the "Limb System" or "Localized Damage".
These games have an agenda - social, political, or otherwise. The message is hard to miss.
An implementation of lore that is meant to flesh out the game world, without becoming a hindrance to the overall pacing of the game itself.
Poking fun at a specific existing work, whether a game, a movie, or something else, by imitating and exaggerating its characteristics. Some games use parody here and there, while others are entirely parodic.
The political thriller is a story, often action-oriented, that tends to revolve around two or more nations struggling to gain power. Outcomes are usually found through military confrontations, covert wars, and back alley negotiating.
A broad spectrum of games can be described as remakes, from straightforward graphical overhauls to extensive revision of gameplay and story elements. In the most basic sense, a remake keeps the original's core gameplay and plot but makes significant changes to peripheral aspects.
A Role-Playing Shooter (RPS) is a game that rolls both Shooting and Role-Playing elements together.
Romance in video games can either be interactive, in which the player attempts to woo another character, or an unchangeable part of the story of a given game.
Sometimes there are robotic characters that are programmed to think they are humans or have forgotten they are robots. Other times robots are meant to blend in with humans while knowing that they are robots. Either way they are eventually revealed to be robots as a dramatic plot twist.
The limitations of early gaming hardware, especially in the 8-bit and 16-bit days, made animated story sequences impractical for many games. One popular alternative was to convey the story through a series of still images, often with text and music alongside them.
Snatchers are a robotic life form which murder human beings, then take on their identity.
A game that takes gameplay mechanics, characters, or story elements from an existing series in a separate and different direction, sometimes changing genres along the way.
An art style prevalent in anime in which a character or other item is rendered in smaller proportions in order to make it small, cute, and cuddly.
What lies ahead, and is distant from the present.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.
Use your keyboard!
Log in to comment
Log in to comment