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2004's Most Creative Games
Gamasutra.com has the first in a new series of opinion gathering articles, where individuals can pipe up with their responses to a question of the week. The first query was "What was the most creative game of 2004?" From the article: "Katamari Damacy, hands down. Unique concept. Unique gameplay. Solid execution. And most important of all, it was _fun_."
I swear I was just about to write about Zero Wing being the most linguistically innovative game ever and at that very moment I saw--and I still see--a banner saying: "Roses are #ff0000, violets are #0000ff, All my base are belong to you" and it really scared me. Amazing, is it not?
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Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
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there were creative games released last year? after all the sequels i thought it had dried up :)
At first I was questioning a lot of games on that list. A lot of people talked about Half-Life 2, and then I realized that it was creativity we were looking at for 2004, not originality. That one change in word opened the door for all the sequel games that came out last year. No sequel is going to be loaded with originality since it's the second (or third or fourth or bazillionth) rendition of something that has already been done.
They have a good choice of games in the creativity department though. Too bad I don't have time to play them all!
I'm a fan of Katamari Damacy and it's nice to see so many people enjoying such a unique game. It makes me wonder why no company has made it their priority to translate and bring over more unique games from Japan for the American gamer to enjoy.
Fresh Games (the branch of Eidos) did bring over a few special games (Mr Mosquito, Mad Maestro!) but they pretty much stopped there. Maybe the demand just isn't there....or these games were not quality enough.
Taiko Drum Master for PS2 is a welcome addition as well but it would still be nice to see Vib Ribbon, Vib Ripple, Mojib Ribbon, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, etc. I know most of those are music/rhythm style games but some of them are great fun and it's a shame they can't be enjoyed by those limited to playing only games without a modchip
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Clearly the editors of that article have never seen Alien Hominid's glorious giant, yellow, pixellated "PWNED" superimposed over a dancing Russian; otherwise they would not have made such a grievous "correction" to two of their posted emails.
Katamari Damacy deserves this award. I won't argue with that.
:-)
But take a look at a little gem of a game called Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater that also happened to be released in 2004.
Kojima's series has always been innovative in each incarnation, but I think this time he and his team outdid themselves.
Hunting for food, using trapped animals to distract or attack enemies, feeding enemies poisoned food, interrogating guards, holding them hostage, slitting their throats if you are so inclined... not to mention the new camoflague system that allows you to blend into the environment to prevent being seen.
Playing this game just feels so badass. I've never played anything like it in my life.
I felt as though this game deserved a mention in this thread, since in my opinion it's one of the more innovative titles to come out in recent memory
Karma police, arrest this man, he talks in maths....
*Rolls up anyone or anything that doesn't agree*
Katahada Damahoocha?
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Disclaimer: a friend of mine worked on it.
Nonetheless, it's a nice game that manages to stand out from the field of paramilitary/commando games.
You play a soldier with psychic powers ranging from telekinesis, to pyrokinesis, to mind control. You're fighting a clandestine group of Very Bad People who are also dabbling in the same field.
What saves it from being Metal Gear Psychic is the gameplay and the engine.
The controls are built around being able to use your psychic powers, and they work really well for that, while being very unlike your standard shooter controls. The levels are generally centered around puzzles that involve using your powers in creative ways. There is a nice balance between puzzles that involve stealth, and out and out combat. And the boss battles rock.
The engine features a very nice physics engine. When crates and boxes are being thrown around, they hit things and tumble around in a way that just seems right. This really grounds everything in reality, which is good for a game with a fantastic premise.
At any rate, I liked it, and it got solid reviews. I say give it a rental at the very least.
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
The critics love them, as do most of the people who actually play them, but they don't have the sales of GTA or Halo.
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Katamari Damacy - just in case ever wanted to visualize a slashdotting.
There is some truth in that, in both directions. People see oddball, creative, "cutesy" titles like Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Viewtiful Joe, etc... and think of Nintendo. There are those of us who *like* that sort of thing, and bought gamecubes specifically because of it. And then there's the (larger) crowd that isn't big on that, and avoids the cube like the plague.
Truth is, the playstation has always had oddball innovative games like this-- Mr. Mosquito, Ico, Parappa the Rapper, ReZ, etc... but people seem to overlook it. I'm sure marketing has done their focus-group homework, but I wonder if titles like this might sell better to 'cube owners than they do to PS2 owners? After all, those of us buying cubes did so in large part *because* of this reputation, accurate or not.
At the very least, there's a bunch of cube-owning dorks who would buy whatever port they tossed out. I know I'd love a copy, but I'm not buying another console until they get down into clearance territory. I've got more games than I can play already.