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Bobby's Top Video Games: 5-1
By Bobby Bokista - 05.31.03
5. GoldenEye 007
1997 - Nintendo 64
Pure unadulterated fun. The number 2 best game on the Nintendo 64. Greatest multiplayer game of all time. All of these things are true. This was the first First-Person-Shooter to go transcend that name and be a First-Person-Adventure game. Assigned with missions at the beginning of each level, you become Pierce Brosnan as Bond in surprisingly detailed areas. The immersion into the world of GoldenEye makes an incredible game out of a category that has not had much luck throughout the ages: movie-to-game. Think of all those other great movie-to-game games it has to compete with… uhh… The Goonies II for NES… E.T. for Atari… those awesome Disney games… (my point exactly) The reason the game worked so well was because the missions were similar enough to the movie's plot and you kill people. While this may sound elementary, it is actually an important part of the success. Think about most movies that become games and think about how the main characters in those movies aren't always running around beating people up: but that's what makes video games fun. James Bond runs around and kills the bad guys while on secret missions: an excellent item for translation to the video game medium.
Not only do I consider GoldenEye to be one of the best games ever, but I crown it the greatest multiplayer game of all time. The multiplayer aspect is about 60% of why the game is so good. It wasn't the genius of Nintendo for building a console with four controller inputs but rather the stupidity of Playstation for not doing so. Combined with the N64's graphical technology and processing power, the four controllers allowed multiple people to interact on screen like they had never done before. Most multiplayer games for consoles that game before GoldenEye could be classified as one of the following three types: sports/racing games, "1st player then 2nd player" alternating, and simultaneous cooperative in the normal story mode. When developing GoldenEye 007 there must have been some genius R&D team at Rare that said something to the effect of, "why not develop a whole mode that will receive specific attention and is separate from the story mode but integral to the game and let's put some real thought into it."
It makes me wonder if other developers got pissed at Rare for making multiplayer a must-have feature in First Person Shooter adventure games. Follwing the success of GoldenEye there was an influx of FPS games for the N64 with multiplayer modes that just couldn't compete with thee original… and believe me, my friends and I sought hard. (Only Duke Nukem: Zero Hour came close, but it was still a far second.) Finally, after a few years another game came out which was as fun… and it was pretty much the exact same game: Perfect Dark. But I will not digress into my love for that game.
What really matters is that GoldenEye is insanely fun. Hours and hours were poured into it by my myself, Kevin, and our friend Tiger. We spent one whole night, for like 7 hours, playing with rockets in the caves. Kevin was forced to run around as the Baron while Tiger and I hunted him down like scared hyper-active children. So many stories come from people you'll talk to about their bonding experiences (pun quite intended) playing this game. And just to let you know… I will own you with proxy mines in the facility.
4. Metroid Prime
2002 - Nintendo Gamecube
Prime has earned the distinguished title of "Most Recent Game" on the list. Now I feel bad for lying to J a long time ago, but it was worth it. I told him this game wasn't even going to be on the list and here it is at number 4. I just lied about it for the sake of making things interesting. Anyway, onto the good stuff.
This is the game that caused me to break down on my birthday in October and buy a GameCube. I played some Pikmin, Shine, and Melee… but these could not prepare me for what was going to happen when I got my copy of Prime. It came during the worst time of the year: Final Exams. First semester was just ending and the last thing I should have been doing was getting involved with one of the greatest games ever made. But I did and have no regrets. My astronomy grade was probably a little lower than it could have been… but I was too busy exploring the planet Tallon IV to worry about the planets in the solar system. (Another note: I did better during fall final exams when playing lots of video games to help me through then when I gave them up for spring finals.)
Samus Aran returned in a very true to past traditions environment. The game basically takes a Super Metroid or Metroid world and makes it 3-D without losing the effects of the 2-D world. I never felt that having to travel through the same environments over and over again was tedious. The areas are so well crafted that travel becomes quick enough for even the most impatient gamer (specifically myself). One of the difficulties in designing a circular environment is how to keep the player from entering areas where they are not supposed to be. The development team did a great job of setting Samus out on quests in which she has to find items to help her get through the various areas she could not access.: like double jump boots to reach high places or the grapple beam or the varia suit to access areas of extreme heat. As these new areas open up with the new items shortcuts are opened up in the circular structure of the environment and travel becomes faster. This is the reason that travelling never feels "back and forth". There are always different ways to travel to any area and depending on where you are located you can take a different route.
Another great aspect: NO FMVs!!!! Very few games of epic proportions in the new generation of consoles cast of the full motion video as a "necessary" aspect of game play. There are only a few seconds at a time where you cannot play as Samus. This includes story telling. Metroid Prime is a throwback to some of the old adventure games like Zork and Myst in which you discover the story as you go along. You may say this happens in most games, but you don't know jack shit when you begin Metroid Prime. As you go through the game you read various panels and bits of the story in the environment as well as have it revealed to you through game play. You effectively take the role of an anthropologist constructing meaning through evidence presented. While I make it sound all sophisticated and what-not it's actually just simple pure fun: and that's what it comes down to. Metroid Prime was the first game in a while that I couldn't just put down no matter how hard I tried. It was no more frustrating than any good game is and I never was inclined to give up (something that happens often with me, i.e. Final Fantasy X).
Overall, as you can tell, Metroid Prime rocks my planet. So much, even, that I purchased this awesome hanging display which I have in the corner of my room. Beat that.
3. Super Mario 64
1996 - Nintendo 64
Why is it that the first game for the Nintendo 64 is still the best? What is it about this game that could no be duplicated? How come N64 was the only Nintendo system to have only one Mario series game on there? I think it's because the greatness of this game seriously limited the creativity of developers to go above and beyond the Mario 64 design. Super Mario 64 was not the first game to place you in a 3-Dimensional world but it was the first game to immerse the player in the world. The development team behind SM64 finally had the technology to take their mascot and go crazy with him. I say that you can thank the N64 controller's design, the capabilities of the console, and the software design for the excellent game. I don't know this for a face, but based on what I've learned about digital technologies, I'd say the controller and the game were developed for each other. Some games were able to duplicate this interaction, but for the most part the symbiotic human-machine interactions of Super Mario 64 were untouchable.
Sure this babbling is important to me, but to most other people this would not be a deciding factor on a good game. So let me break it down to its most simple aspect: it's fun. Whenever I played this game when it first came out I always felt like I was in this gigantic world in which to play. All of the missions in the game were just different enough to not feel too repetitive but similar enough to maintain a level of continuity of gameplay throughout. The levels are also great for numerous reasons. The level of graphics used in the game was just appropriate for the environment. It was nothing too fancy and overdone but above and beyond the look of any other console game up to that point. From level to level the graphics were stunning and well developed for their purpose. It was downright astounding to see how much better they were than the Playstation. Nintendo didn't try to wow you with their attention to details in the background but instead showed you how hot the worlds were and made them to fit the expected design of a Mario world in its tradition. This is the same type of thing that they did in Metroid Prime and Ocarina of Time (as J pointed out to me). Kudos, Nintendo, for maintaining respectability when making games 3-D.
Nintendo knew all the right points to hit on in their next generation Mario game:
1) Mario has to fly because it will be insane fun to fly him through his new environment. Flying is cool. That's all there is to it.
2) The game needs to stray from even the little amount of linearity in Super Mario World to make the game seem more immersive.
3) Mario needs personality while allowing the player to be imaginative.
4) Tasks have to be short to keep the levels the length of previous Mario levels but diverse enough that playing the same level on multiple missions isn't repetitive.
All the elements came together perfectly in this game and its spot in the top three was in hot contention, but the top two spots are of totally different genres. Super Mario 64 is the best platform, 3-D adventure… non-puzzle or RPG game, basically. Which brings us to our next game.
2. Tetris
1987 - Many Systems (especially GameBoy)
Tetris is about as far from Super Mario 64 as you can get, I'd say. The graphics are nothing special, the game isn't huge and impressive, and didn't make a huge breakthrough in gameplay. What did happen was the whole world stopped what they were doing to watch bricks fall from the top of a screen and arrange them so they formed complete rows. Nothing more than that. So what is so special about Tetris that it begins its descent from above the 25th spot and fits nicely along the bottom to clear four rows to sit at number 2? There is an awesome history of Tetris in the book Game Over by David Sheff, but I'll give you the quick and dirty overview of it. Alexey Pajitnov was born in Moscow and his interests were mathematics and movies. He didn't quite fit the normal mold of math geeks but ended up taking a job in computers when the computer industry began to boom. To keep himself occupied he programmed some puzzles and games on his crappy Soviet computer at work. I especially like how Sheff described Pajitnov. "To most of us, puzzles are a diversion, but for Alexey Pajitnov they are metaphors and mirrors that reflect nature, emotion, and patterns of thought." The idea for Tetris came from an American puzzle game in which blocks of five squares in various combinations were to be put together to form whole pieces. Pajitnov took the idea and instead of five blocks used four; tetra in Greek. Thus Tetris was born out of simplicity.
Why does Tetris work so well as a puzzle game? There are plenty of puzzle games out there but none can do what Tetris did. Tetris has seven different types of blocks that can be rotated to any interval of 90 degrees. These pieces fall from the top of the screen and the player has to fit them into the pieces that have already been placed. The object of the game? Don't let your play screen fill up by removing lines across that are full of blocks. Anyone can pick up Tetris and go to town with it as long as they know to fill the lines. The game then requires you to have fast reflexes and almost an instinct to lay pieces as they fall more rapidly. The pieces are easily recognizable and the gameplay is simple. The purpose of Tetris is not to beat the game but to get a high score or high number of lines cleared. Tetris can't be beaten. All you can do is improve or get worse. No matter how bad you are you still get satisfaction out of playing it. No matter how good you are you enjoy playing it each time through even if you're not at your peak. Tetris is a game for everybody. Tetris is as grassroots gaming as you get. Nintendo made one of the smartest deals in their history by fighting to aquire rights to Tetris and subsequently making it the bundled game with their new GameBoy handheld system. GameBoy and Tetris teamed up to form the unit which made the GameBoy the best selling system in history. Small, affordable, fun… these were all things that appealed to a wide range of audiences. Kids in long car rides, businessmen, housewives, even the first George Bush could be found getting in a round of Tetris.
Tetris has many great selling points. It's completely non-violent, it stimulates the mind to think logically and quickly, and it was so unique and perfect that it could not be touched by other puzzle games. Tetris is poetic in its own right as a lucid composition which can take on many meanings based on the player. I think of Tetris as a constant struggle while others may see it as a release of control. But whichever form it takes Tetris breaks down into the epitome of "fun for all ages." This is why it is so good.
1. Chrono Trigger
1995 - Super Nintendo
Chrono Trigger can be seen as somewhat a controversial pick on my behalf for the number one game of all time, but I am prepared to defend this to the death. In all my experiences with video games, this is what it comes down to. Tetris is the greatest of the super-genre of puzzle games; Super Mario 64 is the greatest of the mega-genre "everything except puzzles and RPGs" and Chrono Trigger is the greatest RPG of all time. I don't intend to infer that RPG is the best genre, but it's like saying that the best song of all time is not by the best band of all time. I feel that CT does amazing things to push the artform forward and combines many fantastic elements into one game. Sure the play control of Metroid Prime or Mario 64 may be better, or Tetris may be more addicting and open to more players, but Chrono Trigger has all of what I think makes a game great. The properties that Chrono Trigger possesses, when echoed or amplified in other video games, are what increase playability and are what designers strive for. Now obviously the R&D departments of other companies aren't thinking, "Chrono Trigger did this and this so we should too," but they're searching for the qualities that make games good. These criteria include the often talked about fun-factor, environment, atmosphere, control, immersion, personal involvement, and replay value. To take a look at each of these categories is the proper way to do the game justice.
Fun-Factor: This term, which I have seen as a quality used in rating games since I began to play them is of utmost importance. What's the point in playing something if it isn't fun? The word play denotes fun. That's the whole reason the industry has been successful: games are entertainment… and about the only real interactive digital entertainment medium. The games that suck are not fun. Either the control is bad, the premise is ridiculous, or it relies too much on not playing the game and instead watching things happen. Chrono Trigger is fun to play and even entertaining to just watch. The battle system is key to this. No random battles! There is no overworld map on which you walk and somehow come across flocks of the same monsters over and over to build your levels up. Experience in this game is designed to climb at a fast enough rate so that the player doesn't have to spend big chunks of time leveling up. This puts the Chrono series above the Final Fantasy series in design.
It is also central to Chrono Trigger that the dynamics of the party's abilities changes so much depending on the formation of the characters. Double-Techs and Triple-Techs, which allow characters to perform moves with other characters for increased damage or healing, help to make battling more fun. The animations for these can be quite cool… like Marle and Lucca's Antipode 3. The individual characters are well constructed too. All of them are good at a number of things, making them more useful than your standard 'fighter-black magic-white magic-tech guy' party. Each character possesses their own strengths but all but two have their own type of attacking and defensive magic. I'll talk more about the magic system later. Moving on.
The story greatly enhances the game play. The narrative is well composed and superbly delivered. Much of what I enjoy comes from the "effect then cause" unwrapping of the story. This is one thing I've heard Chrono Cross does very well. You're just minding your own business and some crazy shit goes down and then you're thrust into the event before it happens by traveling through time and suddenly you get that "ah shit, now I get it!" feeling. Not only is time travel an interesting story component but it is also a great device to use for game design. So let's bring this into environment.
Environment: Though the first two-thirds of Chrono Trigger is linear it does not feel so constraining because the player can change their environment by traveling through time. Chrono Trigger begins by whipping you through various different time periods. This then makes the player want to go back and explore anything they may have missed. Chrono Trigger gives you a fairly open beginning. Crono's mother wakes him up and tells him to go to the fair but the story doesn't start until you trigger it. You're not immediately thrust into a story or running stupid errands like many games. You get out of bed and can roam around in your small little environment until you're ready. I like to say that "the story manifests itself around you" as opposed to "you are manifested to fit into the story line." You get the feeling that it is because of you that things are going on. Much like Metroid Prime you assume the role as a historian constructing pieces of the great puzzle until eventually it all makes sense. During the journey Crono and his party find themselves in the most interesting environments. The graphics are amazingly good for just a Super Nintendo game. There is no lack of creativity put into each of the time periods and Squaresoft delicately interwove the different time periods together so that the player is likely to get goosebumps when they come across something they recognize from another time period.
Atmosphere: A lot of the important pieces to the environment maintain a certain atmosphere. Atmosphere can be described as the way the individual components of the gameplay come together to form a distinctive world which is totally stand alone from other games. Important factors include the characters, the story line, the different places visited, and the music, put together in an uninterrupted way. Chrono Trigger does a great job of making every part of the game fall together so that its all distinctly Chrono Trigger. There's always a little humour, a little social commentary, a little reflection, a little rejoicing, and a lot of personality. No part of the game feels like it was neglected in the development process. If anything, the fantastic atmosphere leads the player to wish they could explore all sections of the worlds and that Super Nintendo carts could fit more data so they have more to play. If you can find it, download a song or two from Chrono Trigger like the Enhasa Zeal song. I guarantee that if you've played Chrono Trigger before you'll get goosebumps from the nostalgia. That's atmosphere.
Control: Ah the great battle system. First off, I love how you see the enemies on screen and you don't cut away to some battle screen to fight. It makes it seem more realistic to have battles where they occur. I also like that it doesn't Final Fantasy on you and have the characters just wave their weapons to attack. Whenever the characters ended up from when they were stopped they fight from and actually move to hit the enemies. Chrono Trigger is turn based but each character has a bar that fills up depending on their speed. I like this because it allows you to develop a strategy based on visual timing. Moving away from battle, I like the fact that the overworld map is only used for travel and to give an overview of what the land is like. Overworld battles seem very primitive to me and I find them very interrupting to the gameplay. Chrono Trigger goes above the Final Fantasy control by allowing you to run around and travel on diagonals. Small detail, but very important. The menus are also very intuitive and well organized and never feel overwhelming like some RPGs nowadays.
Immersion: The best games do this. I discussed it with Metroid Prime, Super Mario 64, Tetris, and Gran Turismo 3. Immersion is when you feel that the game is a whole world of its own and that you are placed in that world. There's always a lot to do, colorful environments, interesting characters, and the designers have totally created something that stands alone. Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City also do an amazing job at this, especially Vice City. The thing that Chrono Trigger does the best is combine these elements to make the player attached to the game. You begin to identify with the characters and feel emotions toward the story and people in it. This leads us to personal involvement.
Personal Involvement: This happens as soon as you can identify with a character or chracters. Maybe you express excitement about what's happening to them or sadness toward something that happened. You don't just feel like you are controlling them with an appendage on your system but as if you were there helping the group along. RPGs do a fantastic job at making this happen. Part of the reason for this is that the stories can be so in depth and in order to accommodate what happens the characters must develop personalities. There are some people that cannot stand playing video games. They see it as a waste of time. They cannot understand why a player would get frustrated when losing and they laugh when you throw a hissy-fit over what is happening. Often times the non-players are content with a quick game or two of solitare as a brief escape from working on the computer. There is a great difference between solitare and Chrono Trigger which some people fail to realize. I don't get attached to my Nine-of-Hearts in solitare the way I would a character in a Role Playing Game like Chrono Trigger. Many games have great characters, like Earthbound, but there's something about the composition of the group in CT that fits so well into the rest of the game.
Replay Value: New Game +. This is the feature in Chrono Trigger that allows you to play the game over with all the weapons, items, and HP/MP/experience that you had when you first beat the game. It's such a good idea. There are often times that I want to play a game again quickly but can't because it's just too long. New Game Plus allows me to tear through the game quickly by using Luminare on every boss I encounter. Sure, this does defeat the spirit of the game, but it's a great way to enjoy things again without feeling like everything is too repetitive. Besides, each time you play through you can try to get a different ending depending on what you do and don't do! Another unique feature! A person is going to want to play CT multiple times through and this is an excellent device to allow them to do so.
PHEW! I know I had a lot to say about this last one, but I sincerely believe what I say and I hope it inspires you to pick up a copy or download it on emulator or something to see what I'm talking about. And that's it! Those are the Top 25 Games of All Time in my opinion. Though it took many months longer than planned it feels good to have all of it written out. Now I suppose I can throw away the drafts that I worked on while in my classes on the back of papers I was supposed to be taking notes on. And I bid you and the games… ADIEU!!!
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