Modern games educational thread (for me)

[Nikolas]

Well...

I was wondering about current and maybe slightly older games. Nut modern looking no matter.

The last big (maybe) games I've played are: Doom 3, Quake 2 and 3 and ONI! The End! And these are OLD!

What I need from you is maybe ideas about games from 2000 onwards (or maybe a little before that?) that can be considered 'landmarks' in the gaming industry. And the current best games around. I'm under the impression that fantasy games and gothic horror games still rule the gaming industry (along with St. Andreas and maybe a little sports? dunno)

I mean, I haven't even played Halo or Resident Evil.

And maybe the decades latest breakthroughs? For example the 3d in Wolfstein (older okay), and Quakes 3d in all directions and Dooms lightning stuff and ... so on...

Also although I'm sure to find them by googling, maybe a link to demos? (as I won't be buying 10 games in the next month... no way)

Thanks in advance...

Your faithfool thread maker,

Nikolas

[Mr Flibble]

Resident Evil 4

The Wind Waker

Katamri Damancy

Metroid Prime

Animal Crossing

Although if you meant PC games,
World of Warcraft

This list is in no way definative, and I have not played all of these.

[scotch]

The games Mr Flibble mentioned are perhaps mostly better, because I think the period of time you're asking for wasn't a great for PC games but it seems you're asking for PC, so here are some of the bigger games that I can think of:

Starting in 2000 you have Deus Ex, which many would consider the best RPG/FPS (if that was even a genre before), and iirc The Sims came out that year too... uh... it was a Little Computer People sort of deal that sold a lot of expansion packs to girls. The first Hitman game appeared, but I don't think it was the best. The Longest Journey came out, still haven't gotten around to playing it, though.

GTA3 appeared the next year, GTA worked really well in 3d, but we have two more 3D GTAs based on the same engine now, which are better.

In 2002 we got Morrowind, an extremely large RPG which I haven't managed to get into, but a lot of people like it.Ã,  If you have a very powerful PC you'd probably want to play Oblivion instead, which just came out.

2003 had Beyond Good and Evil, a game which a lot of people around here would recommend highly, but wasn't the major hit it deserved to be. Also enjoyable was Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars RPG.

In 2004 Half Life 2 finally came out, it's worth playing, still quite pretty, and if you want, you could try Counter Strike: Source which comes free with it, but only if you want to get killed a lot. GTA: San Andreas also came out, the best and largest GTA game (Vice City is still worth playing, however).

World of Warcraft appeared in 2005, check it out if you feel you're too productive and successful. SWAT 4 was kind of amusing. My favorite game of that year was Psychonauts, another kind of BG&E deal, not really successful commercially, but so funny, imaginative and fun.

This year, all I can think of on the PC is Oblivion, and the only good thing I can say about it is it's really very pretty, too pretty for my graphics card. Later this year, Hitman: Blood Money comes out, and Alan Wake looks interesting.

As for indie games... there was Uplink, quite fun for a few hours... not a lot else.Ã,  Also notice there aren't many adventure games? Adventure games suck now! You could try Runaway I guess... I tried not to list many shooters, there are so many, some quite playable, but few do anything new.

[Paper Carnival]

First person:
Doom 1 & 2, Quake 1, Half-Life (better than all their sequels)

1st person RPG Horror:
System Shock 2 (scariest game ever!)

Other:
Thief 1 & 2 (masterpieces!!!)

Action Adventure:
Tomb Raider 1 & 2 & 3 (especially 2, better than all the sequels)

There are definately more, but these are the ones I can remember. They don't make games like those anymore...

SS2 and Thief 1 & 2 were made by Looking Glass Studios, a team that got bankrupt despite their real devotion in quality gameplay. It's a shame just thinking about it.

EDIT: Nevermind, I got confused over the word "landmarks" and thought you were asking for classics. Still play the above, they're much better than most of today's games.

[InCreator]

I'd suggest Max Payne (both parts), Hitman (all three games), Fahrenheit... Landmarks? Hell yes. But they are not very educational. Especially if you're buying them for your kids.... 

Hey, there's NO educational quality games being produced nowadays.

Sounds like a shop trip for Sims 2 and some boring RPGs.

People still love racing games though - and there's lots to choose from. Last 3 games in "Need For Speed" series are quite cool. (NFS:Underground, NFS:Underground2 and NFSU:Most Wanted).

Spoiler

But for some sick violence fun / real chills - try Manhunt.

[close]

[Mr Flibble]

I forgot Beyond Good and Evil.
Its a bit short, and in places easy, but one of the best games ever.

[Nikolas]

oopps...

Yes, PC games it is... I'll also edit the initial post. My fault. But still I think that all this info is great!

Thanks guys!

[Mordalles]

might i add diablo 2:lod. the game that i played for 3 years non-stop.
what? what? its addictive, okay. that stupid FE bug cost me countless guardians.

[m0ds]

Condemed - but only revolutionairy to me because its the phattest game I've played in a long long while

[Pet Terry]

I don't know if you know about Fallout 1 & 2 (released in the late 90s though) but they are both some of the awesomest games out there. I'd also second Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Beyond Good & Evil and Psychonauts.

[LimpingFish]

Some links to demos:

http://www.3ddownloads.com/

http://www.gamershell.com/

Both have a wide range of demos going back to around 2002.

[ManicMatt]

Games!! A subject I like! Most of what was said is agree-able, although without knowing your exact game tastes it's hard to say.

Half Life 2 is a great FPS with lovely physics and graphics!

Oblivion has grabbed me by the balls and my every waking moment is about wanting to play the game when I am not playing it.

San Andreas.. best game ever? Possibly.

Knights of the old republic was/is great because you could decide to be good or evil or inbetween, and effect the outcome of the story. And I'm not even into star wars.

Deus Ex and it's sequel. the first one was better but has aged somewhat in terms of graphics and physics. It's sequel was of less depth but I still thinks it's one of my fave games of all time.

As for education, dynasty warriors may be about twatting as many soldiers on screen as possible, but I sure learnt a lot about the romance of the six kingdoms and how to pronouce names like Zhang Fei and Zhou Yu! (Chinese history)

[The Bedminster Incident]

I did play "The Longest Journey" back in 200x, and I loved it. I'd still recommend it to anyone who's into Adventure games. But that's probably partly because there are memories connected to it.
However, take a look at http://www.longestjourney.com and download the demo version, if you like. It's a rather short one, considering the game consists of 4 CDs. But it's a demo version.

I can't really say much about other games, though. I haven't played "new" ones for ages.

And I probably won't in the next few months.
- Blodvarg

[juncmodule]

that can be considered 'landmarks' in the gaming industry

Right now it seems that in the main stream you have First Person Shooters and Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. Those two types of games dominate everything. I imagine that most would consider Everquest to be the godfather of all MMORPGs. Not the first, but certainly the first one to become massively popular. If you are interested in the development of game technology I suggest you check out Masters of Doom, it is a quick, interesting, and easy read. Gave me new found respect for the guy that said "Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there, but it's not that important."

Currently, as already mentioned, the Half Life 2 engine (Source Engine) and the new Unreal Engine 3.0 are dominating the headlines and will determine the graphics of what we will be playing over the next few years. On the good side of things games are evolving in some interesting directions with the big "next gen" cost of development problems. Developers are being forced to either purchase Source or Unreal Engines or actually make a game that is interesting.

One of my favorite genres is RTS games. Starcraft and Age of Empires set the standard for this format. Age of Empires III, in my opinion, kind of missed the boat. I understand that one of the Lord of the Rings RTS games really broke some ground. The upcoming sequel/follow up to Rise of Nations, Rise Of Legends looks promising. The graphics demands of RTS games are beginning to drive me away though.

I'm under the impression that fantasy games and gothic horror games still rule the gaming industry

I would say that it's more about military games. There are tons of WWII games. Battlefield 1942/Battlefield 2 being the best online and Call of Duty 1 and 2 being the best single player. If it isn't present day military then it is all about space marines/alien hunters. If you haven't played Halo, you should. It defined a whole slew of FPS games. Now they all feel exactly like Halo. It is a redundant game at times but extremely fun at others. Unfortunately all of the knockoffs just got the redundant part down (anyone ever play Unreal II?)

Finally there is The Sims...which I won't even bother talking about. But do keep an eye out on Will Wright's Spore game. It looks really interesting.

Most of what I've talked about are strictly PC games. Console games are a completely different animal. FPS games go over somewhat poorly on consoles (Halo being the exception to the rule). Racing/Sports, RPG, and tactical games (Splinter Cell) go over rather well.

If you want to see what is coming out as far as big and flashy graphics, look at what Unreal and Source licensees are doing with those engines. Also, check out the new CryEngine2, it looks rather promising. One final thing, check out the new Super Mario game, this sort of use of 3D could very easily redefine video games. Nintendo has been such a bizarre company over the last few years. Like some sort of loud embarrassing cousin that keeps on shouting out really strange things. I'm just waiting for the day that everyone stops to listen and realizes that he's right.

later,
-junc

[Toefur]

I work at a games store, and let me tell you whats hip at the moment: World of Warcraft, Battlefield, Tomb Raider Legends, and well...whatever is advertised a whole lot next...

As for what is actually good and of a high quality, well, that's a different story...