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Best Original Games of 2003?
PapaZit writes "It seems like most of the games that I purchase these days are sequels: GTA3 and Vice City , Zelda: Wind Waker, even Knights of the Old Republic and Galaxies built on the Star Wars franchise. What are the best original (not a sequel or franchise) games that you've played this year?"
Viewtiful Joe and Beyond Good and Evil are both excellent.
Later,
Patrick
I haven't played a game more original (or bizarre) in a very long time.
STOP ROCK VIDEO
Eye Toy: Play - it got my parents, my inlaws, and even my wife's aunt and uncle up out of their seats to "Wash some windows"
Awesome fun for the whole family.
is Neverwinter Nights. Not sure if it was *made* this year though. I think you could make an argument for it being a sequel to Baldur's Gate, but in my eyes it's a totally new game :-) Oh yeah, and fantastic to boot :-))))
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
By far the most original game I've played this year was Viewtiful Joe. 2d gameplay, best 3d cell shaded graphics since JSRF, slow down/speed up/zoom in effects, amazing puzzles, amazing bosses battles. Overall great mix of old school gameplay and cutting edge gameplay/graphical innovations. Totally original, totally great. My personal favorite game of the year.
Seems like a pretty silly game, but I ran my demo time out and am seriously considering buying the full version. Orbz 2 demo and screenshots can be found here. Seriously, don't knock until you try it out.
I am not sure there *is* an original game : there are strategy games, like Civ, Warcraft, there are Doom like (once again obviously unoriginal), there are multiplayer games...
Well, the last time I saw a NEW game and said "WOW" was when I saw people playing Dance Dance revolution...
Trolling using another account since 2005.
By far the best and most original game I purchased this year is Super Mario Sunshine. I'm really amazed that Nintendo hasn't followed up this genius Mario theme with at least 10 games by now.
Duke Nukem Forever. It's the first game to have been in development for 5 years with no apparent progress. It's like these guys invented slacking. Actually they stole the tactic from Ion Storm and John Romero, but 3D Realms has taken it to a whole new level.
How much more original can you get? I owe all of my failing grades to these gods of slothfulness.
This generic DNF-bashing comment has been made possible by too much free time during winter break.
True story.
Great game, killer AI, and massive support from the publishers. Never had this much fun with turn-based strategy games since Alpha Centauri.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
It's just like The Sims, except with adorable animals, and interior decorating is rewarded! The thing that sucks is I finally bought my own copy recently and now my mom keeps me up until 3:00 am playing it with her character in my town...
I'm on a road shaped like a figure eight; I'm going nowhere but I'm guaranteed to be late.
One thing that I'd like to know is why does nobody create any 2D games anymore? 2D is a great format for many types of games - scrolling shooters, platform games, shoot 'em-ups. Why does nobody make these any more?
3D is fine for many types of games, but personally I'm a bit bored of 1000 variations of the DOOM format, and long for some 2D games. It's a good format for the screen, and it's a good format for games - afterall, most of the classic games of all time (Go, Chess, playing cards) are essentially 2D games in a 3D environment, which suggests to me that there is something intrinsically right about 2D for game formats.
With the capabilities of modern consoles some fantastic 2D games should be possible, but I've looked everywhere for good 2D games for the Playstation 2 and can't find any. Very frustrating.
But isn't pong based off of tennis? I was going to say pacman personally.
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
Believe it or not, one of the most original/unique games I've played this year is on the Apple Mac platform!
It's called "Enigmo", and it's sort of a "real-time puzzle game", in the tradition of something like Lemmings. You have falling drops of water, oil and lava which must be captured in the proper containers at the bottom of the screen. You're given a set of objects you can place anyplace on the screen to attempt to achieve this goal. (Of course, there are lots of interesting little catches. If a stream of drops of lava intersect a stream of water drops, the water drops evaporate, for example.) As you complete levels, you get more interesting challenges and new tools in your arsenal of objects to direct the flow of the droplets.
It's a very well done little game, and can be quite addictive.
Funniest game that was never released in 2003. A shockingly original concept where the game would be in not actually releasing a game. And the franchise can continue on in that mode, literally forever. Brilliant concept and execution all around.
Another game I've played is Bejeweled by Popcap Games. Definately the most addicitve puzzle game I've ever played. Between those two I've wasted enough time to limit my capability to produce the cure for cancer this year.
"It's here, but no one wants it." - The Sugar Speaker
Can I just say that I'm sick and tired of people equating sequels with a lack of creativity in games? No? I'll go ahead and do it anyway.
I'm sick and tired of people equating a sequels with a lack of creativity in games.
We need to get over the mistaken notion that sequel == uncreative or even easy. It may be true (but not 100% true) that sequels are indicative of recycled creative ideas in the world of film and books (though note that we have no problem with good dramatic television shows that run for many episodes). But games are different from these things. One of the important ways that games are different from movies is that games are software. I don't think that any of us would complain that Adobe keeps releasing sequel after sequel to Photoshop. Photoshop 7.0 is a dramatically better product than Photoshop 1.0. Linux kernel current.number is a more robust OS kernel than Linux kernel 1.0. Likewise, it is reasonable to expect that (game title) 2.0 could be a better title than (game title) 1.0.
To pick a recent example - by all accounts, Project Gotham Racing 2 is a dramatically better product than Project Gotham Racing 1. They tweaked the interface, they made it prettier, they added new gameplay functionality and they generally made it a BETTER GAME. It is uncreative? I would argue that the cool new things that they added were very creative indeed.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
There was that Viewtiful Joe game.
And that Megaman Network Transmission game.
And that Guilty Gear XX game.
And that Half-Life 2D game.
And Galactic Civilizations.
And Mobile Light Force 1 and 2 (aka Gunbird 1 and Shikigama no Shiro 2, finally ported to North America!).
And Ikaruga.
And Risk.
And Dance Dance Revolution.
Or Disgaea, that game was isometric top-down.
Or even Contra: Shattered Soldier!
Well, gee, it sure seems like the 3D consoles and PC still get a lot of 2D games! This is ignoring the huge amount of 2D games that come out on the GBA, naturally.
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GTA 3 is such a huge departure from GTA 2, I happen to think it's much more original than most non-franchise games. Yes, its the same gangland/pedestrian-killing/jacking game, but vastly further developed.
Compare to Call of Duty which is just more WWII-themed-FPS. Very fun, not original.
At a certain point, who cares about originality? I'd rather go see Return of the King than some other lame movie.
The only game i've been playing for more than two years now is world war 2 online (www.wwiionline.com). The game is constanly updated and has really come into its own this year. It is a massively multiplayer online war simulation, with thousands of players fighting it out on a single, continuous map spanning hundreds of miles. It has everything - tanks, planes, infantry, naval vessels, you name it; and all in a world with the most detailed physics model yet attempted. If you're tired of the gaminess of BF42, MOH:AA etc and you want a war game done properly, check out wwiiol. The game is AWESOME.
Wario Ware is a fast paced collection of super simple games for the GBA (and soon GC). It's not only original, it can be played for a few minutes at a time, great for a portable system like the GBA. It should also be noted that it contains the wonderful new Pyoro games as unlockables. These are some of the best homages to classic arcade games I've seen recently.
Wario World is a less than steller platform game for the GC. It's the one made by Treasure but that doesn't mean that it's good; it's actually quite mediocre. I love Treasure for games like "Mischief Makers", "Radiant Silvergun", and "Gaurdian Heroes" but this was a letdown.
Gee, you can choose an alignment (i.e., "Light" or "Dark" force). I can't tell you how many games I've played with an alignment attribute since the 80s.
That's not a new thing in an RPG. A new thing in an RPG would be abolishing ridiculous "experience levels" and finding new ways to simulate skill improvements that don't require textbooks of rules and numbers to understand.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I thought Savage was one of the best, blending both RTS/FPS together. While you might say that it copied Natural Selection, development for Savage started way before NS. Not only was it a good game, it came with a Linux port right on the CD.
uh, yeah, a three word blanket dismissal of one of the best rated games of the year gets modded "insightful."
Viewtiful Joe is among the best games I've played this year, for any system, from any year. And just for perspective, I also beat games like Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, and Gunstar Heroes this year.
The controls are tight and intuitive, the challenge is incredible, the story is entertaining and very amusing. The graphic design is consistent and unique. There are great extras that extend the replay value.
It also manages to bridge the gap between classic old school gaming and the tricks availible to current developers.
Overall, it's a very solid game worthy of your time.
Now, was that insightful?
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You know, on second thought maybe Pacman isn't so original. Munching pills and thinking you see ghosts is probably pretty common to anyone doing acid.
For every post, there is an equal and opposite re-post.
You can have side-view gameplay with real-time polygon graphics. Try Viewtiful Joe for GameCube and be amazed.
Trogdor!
beautiful 2d graphics and a fresh viewpoint to knights vs dragons
Well, poster, all the stuff you listed is major publishing mainstream content. It is widely known that usually, and even more so in times of low sales, slow economy, etc., mainstream publishers will shun any and all risk and put out nothing but surefire titles, i.e. either sequels or stuff with a movie license.
...) without adding anything new.
So if you look for originality, you're simply looking in the wrong place.
Some of the original games I've bought and/or played (some are free) this year:
(note: I'm Linux-only, so these games are as well, you might find even more in the windos or console world)
Marble Blast
3D roll-marble-around and complete puzzles game.
Originality factor: Combining marble games with FPS and turning it into a fast-paced, thrilling action game.
Bridge Construction Set (only played the demo on this one)
Build a bridge game. Simple, fun, addictive. It is a sequel to an older game of the same kind, by the same guy.
Originality factor: I don't know any other games of this kind, the idea is brilliant.
Orbz
Shoot-yourself-around-the-track game. Somewhat tricky to describe what exactly it is about.
Originality factor: No other game of this kind exists, AFAIK.
Scorched 3D
3D Clone of Scorched Earth.
Originality factor: While the idea is old, this is one of the few games really benefiting from the 3rd dimension, and it was done greatly. It is one of the few "clone" games that are actually more original than most of the "original" games you find which just rehash a basic idea (FPS, RTS,
Savage
A blend between RTS and FPS.
Originality factor: Combining two genres in a unique blend. No, it wasn't done this way before. It's not an RTS with first-person perspective for the commander, it actually is a full-blown FPS for all the non-commander players.
BattleMaster
Ok, shameless plug, this is my own game. I do, however, honestly think that it's quite original.
(it's a turn-based, multiplayer strategy game)
You will note all of these games come from small or independent developers.
Games are really like music in that regard: If you are looking for originality, look to the small and unknown. If you are looking for polished, perfectly produced, know-what-you-get stuff, shop in the mainstream.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org