So... what games are actually impressive to you?

[scooby_dooby]

I'd say the most impressive game for me last gen, bar none, hands down, was KOTOR1.

I wasn't expecting much when I popped it in, and wow, what an amazing, innovative RPG. It has deep dialogue trees, an exciting turn-based/realtime tactical fighting system, the choice between good and evil, realtime force powers, one hell of a story with multiple endings no less...

It took standard RPG's and stood them on their head, just a thoroughly awesome and excellent game. Looking back on last gen, nothng stands out like KOTOR.

Honourable mentions to: Splinter CELL 3, Forza, Halo 1 and Jade Empire

 

[Farid]

From a graphical standpoint only

Back in the day quite a few, a random list would be:

- Virtua Fighter - I saw it and said "this, is the future!"
- Virtua Racing - "bis"
- Daytona USA - "bis"
- Star Fox - Super FX
- Elite - "whoa, cool" were my first words when I first read a preview about the game
- Wolfenstein 3D - The keyword is 3D
- Commander Keen- Smooth scrolling
- etc...

These days, none...

 

[Master-Mold]

In no particluar order and I am factoring the wow factor that happened upon first viewing:

Shadow of the Beast (Amiga)
Ninja Gaiden (NES version & Xbox)
Speedball (Amiga)
Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)
Halo 1&2 (Xbox)
Actraiser (SNES)
Black Tiger (Arcade)
Rygar (Arcade)
Gran Turismo 2 (PS)
God of War (PS2)
Doom (PC)
Forza (Xbox)
RE4 (Gamecube)
RE1 (PS)
Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)
Deathrow (Xbox)
GTA 3 (PS2)
Duke Nukem (PC)
Half-Life 2 (PC)

 

[jvd]

Shenmue .

Nothing even close to it this gen

 

[scooby_dooby]

In no particluar order and I am factoring the wow factor that happened upon first viewing:

Shadow of the Beast (Amiga)
Ninja Gaiden (NES version & Xbox)
Speedball (Amiga)
Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)
Halo 1&2 (Xbox)
Actraiser (SNES)
Black Tiger (Arcade)
Rygar (Arcade)
Gran Turismo 2 (PS)
God of War (PS2)
Doom (PC)
Forza (Xbox)
RE4 (Gamecube)
RE1 (PS)
Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES)
Deathrow (Xbox)
GTA 3 (PS2)
Duke Nukem (PC)
Half-Life 2 (PC)

No love for Street Fighter 2?

 

[Master-Mold]

No love for Street Fighter 2?

Actually I almost put it on the list. The gameplay of virtually the whole SF series is great and holds up well, but I was never graphically wowed by it or its music. For gameplay, surely, but I just never saw SF2 and said "Whoa look at that".

As bad as it sounds I thought Samurai Showdown packed more visual oomph that SF2. SF3 was purty though.

 

[drpepper]

Some other games that impressed me... Not on consoles this time.

-Mortal Kombat 2, yes a classic.
-Street Fighter 2
-Marathon 2: Durandal (Mac)
-Myst
-SimCity 2000
-Civilization 2
-Iron Helix (A very old mac game that got me into gaming in the first place)

 

[wazoo]

Mario 64

Shenmue

ICO

Metroid Prime

 

[Corwin_B]

- Wing Commander 3
- 3D-accelerated (Glide) Mechwarrior 2
- Unreal 1
- Metroid Prime
- Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance (PS2)

 

[scooby_dooby]

Actually I almost put it on the list. The gameplay of virtually the whole SF series is great and holds up well, but I was never graphically wowed by it or its music. For gameplay, surely, but I just never saw SF2 and said "Whoa look at that".

As bad as it sounds I thought Samurai Showdown packed more visual oomph that SF2. SF3 was purty though.

lol, great list BTW, we share the same tastes

 

[PeterT]

I was probably most impressed this gen (or is it last gen now? ) when I reached the pond in front of the mill in ICO.

 

[<nu>faust]

dont know about the most impressive but here is alist of my alltime faves:

legend of zelda ocarina of time/ a link to past
civilization 1/2/4 alpha centauri
shadow of the colossus/ ico
super mari bros 1 / 3 / 64 / super mario world 2
half-life/ counter-strike
virtua fighter 2/4
panzer dragoon1 /2/saga
final fantasy 4/ 5/ 7
metroid prime/super metroid
secret of mana/chrono trigger
dune 2/ starcraft / c&c
phantasy star /shining force 1/2/3

 

[drpepper]

I was probably most impressed this gen (or is it last gen now? ) when I reached the pond in front of the mill in ICO.

I have a feeling I'm missing out on something big... Why did I skip on Ico?

 

[jonnyp]

Only PGR3 and GOW look impressive to me. COD2 is average.

I agree. The smoke effects in CoD2 are nice though but the rest of it isn't as impressive.

 

[MrWibble]

Games that have left a lasting an impression on me, in rough chronological order:

Star Battle (Vic20) - as pointed out recently this was one of Iwata's early efforts. However it's also the first computer game I played and is responsible for my learning to program.

Elite (C64) - First really immersive game I ever played.

Koronis Rift (C64) - Solid 3d landscapes on a 1Mhz 8bit. Intruiging premise. One of the few games (along side Elite) that I played along with my brother.

Paradroid (C64) - classic, still playable.

Uridium (C64) - an advert for why 50fps is necessary.

Zak McKraken (C64), Monkey Island 2 (Amiga) - I love (mostly) all of the Lucasarts adventures, these two were more or less the first ones I played through, and so get the mention.

Wipeout (PS1) - One of the games that sold me my first dedicated games console. I was hooked to this continually shaving fractions of a second off my best times (something I've not bothered to do with any other racer). Actually changed my taste in music.

Tomb Raider (PS1) - but not the sequels... definitely not the sequels. The exploration, massive puzzles and hauting music made for a memorable experience.

Silent Hill (PS1) - genuinely disturbing.

Goldeneye (N64) - I didn't think I liked FPS games and I didn't think I'd ever bother getting a Nintendo. I got an N64 after playing this for a while and played it solidly for 6 months. I never did get two of the bonus cheat modes...

Zelda, Link's Awakening (Gameboy) - I didn't think I liked this kind of game either but was conviced to play it by a fanatic colleague. He was right, it's genius.

Zelda, Wind Waker (GC) - I loved it. I disliked Ocarina for it's murky graphics and (from my point of view) fairly dull gameplay. To me WW is how Zelda should be, but looking at Twilight Princess, and the praise for Ocarina, no-one else agrees

ICO/Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) - I'm lumping these together because although they're different games they both had an emotional impact.

Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy almost makes it into my list for a brilliant opening. Sadly it doesn't live up to the promise and the latter half of the game gets increasingly ludicrous.

 

[<nu>faust]

you called ocarina's gameplay dull???? what's wrong with you ?? don't you know talking this way about our master miyamoto's masterpiece is nothing but utter blasphemy!!!! the thing puzzles me is that you thought ww was good, for real what's the deal ??

 

[Rodéric]

In no particular order, except for the first one being my all time favorite.

Outcast (PC)
Definetly amazing, all characters speaking (not text), all characters able to answer various topics (no auto text repeat), amazing terrain and effects, great soundtracks and sounds, nice story and hero.

Quake II (PC)
Good fast graphics, lots of multiplayer fun (CTF...)

Unreal (PC)
The graphics, original weapons, IA. (Although I have to say I only replay the first two levels.)

Chrono Trigger (SNES)
Dynamic battle system, no random encounters, very good story, nice Akira Toriyama designed characters.

Final Fantasy 7 (PC/PS1)
Amazing FMVs, great story, nice characters, excellent villain, boring to hell battle system, annoying random encounters.

Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
Great game, story, characters, and interactivity (Psychomantis and the moving pad, reading memory card to tell you how careful you are...)

The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time (N64)
Everything, day and night cycles, Epona, Link kid & adult, the story, the music, the characters, the gameplay...

The Legend of Zelda : Wind Waker (NGC)
Great graphics, nice story, link to previous games, immersive world.

Beyond Good & Evil (NGC)
Definetly something different, great gameplay, great story, very good music, a game you must play. (It's not old enough for the graphics to hurt you )

 

[Deepak]

Mario/Contra/Kungfu/Double dragon/other countless games I palyed in arcades to the death

OT: There was one arcade game in which your character had to collect a key at end of every level to enter the door to the next level, you could kill enemies but digging their graves, which one was it. I was a master of it, I could play it for hours....while others kept waiting for their turns)

Cyberia (My first PC game)
Duke Nukem (PC, my first encounter with FPS gaming)
UT (PC, I have played it countless times, best online game yet)
Max Payne
Half Life

MGS1 (I had never ever had played such an immersive game, I almost felt Snake's emotions, awesome story and characters)
MGS2/3 (If I was ever wowed by graphics it was with MGS2)
RE2/3/CV (great adventures) and RE4
Quake 2 (PS1, great game)
Need For Speed : Hot Persuit (I never enjoyed a racing game so much, played it to death...I specially liked police chasing cars)/HP2
Road Rash series (Why didn't they make another RR game, it was so much fun)
Moto Racer :World Tour (Best Motobike racing till now IMO)
Tekken 3 (Awesome fighter)
DoA2 (DC, I really enjoyed playing it)
Soul Blade (Best weapon based fighter at that time)
Medal of Honor series (Such an engrossing series)
Silent Hill1/2/3 (Best horror games untill FF arrived)
Fatal Frame1/2 (See above)
God of War (The sense of scale in amazing)
Ico/SOTC (Masterpieces)
Ratchet and Clank (Best platformer, better than Jak/Sly IMO)
Devil May Cry (I loved the crazily fast action)
Zone of Enders 2 (Amazing, amazing)

 

[fearsomepirate]

Games that blew me away:

-Donkey Kong Country. I didn't know enough about graphics at the time to realize that I wasn't supposed to be impressed. I thought it was gorgeous...and still do, actually.

-Doom. The most amazing 3d graphics engine I'd ever seen at the time, except it wasn't 3d. ;-)

-Unreal. At the time, I still didn't have a 3d video card (had a laptop), yet Unreal would do coronas, colored lighting, glowing particles, and metallic surfaces in software mode and still run at an acceptable framerate. Then I saw it on a real 3d card and was floored.

-NFL 2K. My introduction to the game went like this: "Hey guys, who's playing? IS THAT A VIDEO GAME!?!?" The graphics impressed me, but what really astounded me was the announcer.

Nothing I've played on PS2 or Xbox did it for me the way F-Zero GX, Rogue Leader, and Metroid Prime did. Those three games were basically my introduction to the current generation of consoles, and I haven't seen anything that wows me in a way those haven't already. Wait, I take that back. Chronicles of Riddick wowed me (hadn't played Doom 3 yet).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

For impressive I'd rate anything either clever/artistic or technically good for it's time such that it makes me say 'oooh, how'd they manage that.' EyeToy impressed me though it's quite simple how it works. GT3 impressed me for looking so darned good compared to everything else out there; it was the first game I remember seeing make that graphical leap. CON impresses me 'coz it looks so darned good still on an old PS2. I imagine SotC will impress me but I haven't played it yet so can't say. Shadow of the Beast did it for me in the 80s. though i can count many games I really liked, I don't think any impressed as such.

For next-gen I'm awaiting a game that goes beyond just being an incremental improvement; a technological tour-de-force spearheading new gameplay or graphics standards. Heavenly Sword impressed me in its trailer in having big armies. That was the first time I saw a hundred or so warriors rushing over a hill, though of course the game's not out yet and it'll be judged by different standards once it has better counterparts. Graphically in the main nothing so far seems beyond what would be expected from the next iteration. GOW might be the first game out to impress next-gen once I see it for real. I have to say high and consistent frame-rates are a requirement for me to like any graphics. No matter what screen-shots look like if it runs at 20 fps I won't ever be impressed. To which I'll add Lego Starwars impressed me with it's sheer quality. Constant high frame-rates and what console gaming should be all about.