Top 30 Gaming Moments (Part 2) – Feature

The second instalment; prepare for some odd ones!

    

•11.  Quake (PC) – Uncle Trent Gave Me An Eargasm

Everybody knows what Quake is, and knows that id Software revolutionised the multiplayer fps, the mod community, custom content, and a bunch of other things.  As much as I disliked Quake 2 and 3 (especially Quake 3), I do recognise the importance of the big daddy of them all.

Which is why it might be a bit peculiar for me to single out the Quake soundtrack as one of the best gaming moments of all time; that is, the decision is strange until you actually hear it.  Composed by Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame), the Quake score stands up today as probably the most atmospheric and complimentary soundtrack to a game ever, and one that won’t feel out of place on your playlist.  

   

•12.  Knights of the Old Republic (X-Box) – I’m Darth Who Now?

I pride myself on being one of those people that always sees the plot twist coming; yes, I’m the annoying git at the cinema that says “Of course he’s the father/It was always obvious that they were the one’s that brainwashed him/The drug addicted Romanian prostitutes were always going to have sideways blinking eyes” and all those other comments that spoil the movie for his loved ones and the general movie going public.

The same goes for games; now that I’m old and bitter I always see the twist coming.  So how in the hell did I not know I was Darth Revan? It was all going swimmingly; Darth Malak was the evil one, I became a Jedi under the tutelage of some Masters and prepared to embark on a quest to stop him; Revan was just a footnote; the character that got knocked off by his apprentice because the apprentice was more of a bad arse.

And then after numerous hints that were blatantly obvious in retrospect (as all good hints are), the mask comes off and there you are in all your glory; the baddest Dark Jedi this side of Vader. To say it was mind-blowing is an understatement; suddenly you weren’t just some random Jedi PC, but a character with a past and established motives and goals that you could choose to reshape at will.  Heady stuff indeed.

      

•13.  Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Megadrive) – I’m Super, Thanks for Asking

The old Sonic games are still fun to play to this day, with decent graphics and animation, good level design and a terrific sense of speed unrivalled by any games of the day.  This sense of speed has been the defining feature of Sonic for such a long time that many people have forgotten some of the other cool things that the games brought to the table.

One of the best features was introduced in Sonic 2, and came about after successfully completing all the bonus stages.  In the first game you were rewarded with a better ending for completing the game with the six Chaos Emeralds you could collect; in the sequel you could get all seven, and the results were surprising.

With all seven Emeralds and 50 rings the player could double-tap the jump button resulting in the transformation to Super Sonic.  Besides being the yellower, spikier version of regular Sonic, the Super version was also so fast he floated off the ground, and invincible to boot.  This was a whole new dynamic on the power-up/reward systems present in most platformers; finally there was more reason to be thorough in collecting the bonus items in a game beyond a congratulatory message after the credits.  The subsequent games in the series expanded upon the various Super states, with the introductions of different Super and Hyper forms and powers, but the first time was still the best.

       

•14.  Gears of War (360) – Real Men Hide Repeatedly

I was very tempted to name the dialogue from Gears of War for this; I know that may be surprising for a shooter, but damn it if the interactions between Fenix, Santiago, Cole Train, and (especially) Baird aren’t some of the funniest to be heard in a game.

Nonetheless, the most revolutionary feature to appear in Gears, and the one that really defined the gameplay was the one-button cover system.  Even on the easiest difficulty it is impossible to play Gears of War in a run-and-gun way; you just get slaughtered.  Instead careful use of cover is paramount, and thankfully this new system worked a treat.  Tapping the A button allowed you to hide behind pretty much anything.  Once in cover you could blind fire, aim, or hold the analogue stick and press A to do a bunch of context sensitive commando rolls and roadie runs.

This left us with a deep but simple to use system that revolutionised the genre, and still hasn’t been topped (although every 3^rd person game released these days tries).  Popping into cover, blind firing to keep your enemies heads down, and then charging in with chainsaw revving is an image that will stick with me for a long time, and not just because of the excessive gore.

      

•15.  Jumping Flash! (PSX) – It’s Robbit Hunting Season

Now here’s a game I expect almost no one reading this will have played; I only ever played the demo myself, and never saw a full copy for sale in the wonderful world of Aus.  So how does a game which I barely got to play make it onto a list of defining gaming moments?

Because Jumping Flash! on the Playstation was one of the very first 3D platformers, beating out Mario 64 by a significant period of time; even more amazing, it was played entirely in the first person.  Yes, a First Person 3D Platformer which not only didn’t suck, but actually earned universal acclaim from gaming critics.

The only problem was that it came out at a time where the platform genre was in a massive state of transition, and somehow Jumping Flash! and its sequels fell through the cracks outside of Japan; a true shame.  Apparently the game has seen a re-release on the PSP and the Playstation 3 online store; I’d still heartily recommend it, if for no other reason than to see a little slice of gaming history.

       

•16.  Mass Effect (360) – It’s Wheely Good (Oh ho ho ho ho)

I’ll be committing ritual suicide over that tagline, don’t worry.  Still, as anyone who has read my (or anyone else’s for that matter) review of Mass Effect will realise; it introduced a new way of having conversations in RPGS.

Rather than choosing from static dialogue responses which will then be repeated verbatim by the player character (assuming that the player character even speaks, a rarity in many RPGS); Mass Effect instead offers a radial menu (or Conversation Wheel) of basic emotional responses.  As the conversation progresses you can choose the type of response you feel the character should make; he does the rest.

This leads to some immensely satisfying (and sometimes surprising) cinematic cutscenes.  Choosing the hostile response while someone is lying to you may lead to your character cutting them off mid-sentence and pulling a gun for added emphasis; little touches like this add to the sense of immersion and flow immensely, and it’s hard going back to another RPG like Neverwinter Nights 2 or Oblivion once you’ve experienced this robust little system.

     

•17.  Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2) – Wide, Wide World of Crime

I’m not a massive fan of the GTA games, especially San Andreas.  One thing I can acknowledge about them however, is the incredible sense of freedom brought about by being in gaming’s first true living, breathing, wide open modern world. 

The storyline was stupid, the fighting mechanics were broken, and the difficulty was punishing, but all of this didn’t matter in the slightest when you stole a sports car from some poor shmuck and just went for a cruise.  Inevitably this cruise would soon lead to a bunch of squished civilians, and suddenly the cops were chasing you and the whole experience just clicked.

The same occurred when you just hooned around looking for jumps, or punching on with gang members for no reason, or whatever the case may be; these little incidental things peripheral to the main game are the main strength of the GTA franchise, and what made this game in particular pretty enjoyable. It’s a crying shame that San Andreas took the fun things established in GTA 3 and Vice City and turned them into work; hopefully the new one won’t be more of the same.

      

•18.  The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) – Picard Fathers Boromir; Best. Family. Ever!

Another game with enough refinements and the occasional bit of revolutionary design, Oblivion is still known primarily for its eye-blisteringly good graphics.  The huge game world, large amount of quests, first person swordplay, magic system and unique levelling system all made Oblivion an instant classic, but sweet Gorkamorka the graphics!

Nowhere is this more obvious than when you first escape from the secret catacombs under the Imperial Prison.  After a life or death struggle with evil cultists, and receiving a most important quest with the dying words of Professor X…I mean the Emperor (voiced, in case you haven’t worked it out yet, by Patrick Stewart), you escape the dungeons and step out onto the shores of a river.  The water sparkles under the sunlight, as shining white ruins shimmer on the opposite shore and dewy grass glistens underfoot.  After the dank, claustrophobic dungeon the effect is especially startling, and I have to admit I just stood there and stared for a few minutes before snapping back and fighting some giant crabs.

This scene may be the most poignant, but everything in the game is equally as pretty; your whole experience will be filled with beautiful, panoramic views of cities, mountains and lakes, and it is definitely worth taking a moment every now and then to just sit still and enjoy the visual feast.

    

•19.  Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament (SNES) – 3 Quick Laps Around the Sandpit

I’m listing the sequel for this article since to me it was the definitive Micro Machines game to me, with better graphics, more vehicles (including choppers and hovercraft), and the levels actually look like what they’re supposed to be.

The multiplayer component of Turbo Tournament is still as addictive ever.  Revolving around simple top-down races along miniature courses set in fun places like sandpits, tool benches, garden beds, etc, the gameplay is fast, furious, and involves a great deal of bouncing off pieces of fruit, nails, and opposing cars.

Standing out even from the really cool basic multiplayer is the elimination-mode style of races, in which the aim is to get so far ahead of the opponent(s) that they are off screen; this swings the little blue and red race bar your way, and when they do it to you the reverse is true; this leads to some truly epic tug-of-war style races which can last for ages, and get so intense that every corner and obstacle is of paramount importance.  Multiplayer racing in Micro Machines 2 is still hard to beat, and it’s still nice to play an arcade racer that doesn’t use weapons to cheapen the experience.

         

•20.  Tetris (Gameboy) – The Most Playable Game Ever?

I’ve listed the original grey brick Gameboy version of Tetris here, since it’s the one I owned, but the game has appeared on every gaming system ever devised, including mobile phones, calculators and the occasional wrist watch

Tetris is such a simple game in theory; rotate blocks, fit them into holes and make lines to get points.  It’s so incredibly basic that it is sublime, and has kept gamers of all walks of life enthralled for decades.  There is one particular aspect of this fiendishly simple game design that stands out above all others, and that is the ever elusive Tetris itself.

It is quite simple to just keep racking up single lines in Tetris and slowly acquire a score and advance through the levels; it’s also incredibly dull.  The challenge, and the thrill, comes from aiming to get multiple lines at once, building your score up rapidly.  The 4-line Tetris is the toughest of all to get, requiring the careful fitting of multiple blocks before putting on the finishing touches with the rarest of all; the straight block.

You will take risks pursuing the Tetris, praying that the right blocks will come along in the right order, resigning yourself to losing the first lines in the hope of having the big payout.  Suddenly the screen is full of half-completed lines and you’ve lost at Level 9.  It doesn’t matter though; you’ll be playing again anyway. 

                  

Thus ends part the second of the Top 30 Gaming Moments.  The final part should be up presently

               

- Tim Sweeney

Top 30 Gaming Moments (Part 1) – Feature

What exactly is a ‘great gaming moment’? It can be anything: a plot twist, a particular moment in gameplay, a certain visual, even a cutscene.  I should warn you in advance that something spoilerish this way comes; consider yourselves adequately forewarned.

I’ve compiled this list of some of my own personal favourites; they’re in no particular order, and this list is by no means meant to be definitive.  Enjoy:

   

•1.      Team Fortress 2 (PC) – The French Master of Disguise

It’s no secret that the Spy has always been my favourite Team Fortress class, with the TF2 incarnation in particular being awesome.  The first time I got behind the enemy team and backstabbed eight of them in rapid succession, I figured it was just about the coolest thing I would ever do in a game. 

That was until I realised that there was one even more entertaining thing to do; blend in so well that the enemy doesn’t even consider that you might be a spy.  Sure it doesn’t net you any extra points, but being so convincing that the enemy medic Ubers you while you lead the rush at your own CP point is just hilarious; even more so when you use said Uber to smash the attack, finishing with a nice knife in your erstwhile healer.  Who would have thought being a sneaky git could be so much fun?

  

•2.      Bioshock (360) – Andrew Ryan, Golf Pro

I wanted to avoid including multiple moments from the one game on this list; otherwise Bioshock would have claimed more than its fair share.  As it is, the death of Andrew Ryan stands out to me as the perfect example of an interactive (albeit only slightly) cutscene.

A pivotal story moment and huge plot-twist all rolled into one, this scene accomplishes so much on so many levels; it reveals your characters past, sums up just why you’re in Rapture in the first place, and gives us a powerful look into the psyche of Ryan.

It also gives us a rather powerful look at Andrew Ryan’s brain matter courtesy of a putter and a few “Would you kindly(s)”

  

•3.      Deus Ex (PC) – Sweet Lady Liberty

Another game where there are so many elements worthy of this list.  When you first leave the Liberty Island docks and look upwards to see the Statue of Liberty sans head, it gives a better indication of what Deus Ex is going to be about than any introductory cutscene or character monologue ever could. 

The fact that this opening level also introduces all the different elements making up gameplay and moral choices (including the ability to finish the entire level without killing anyone), as well as bringing the multi-layered conspiracy-theory based plot to the fore from the first interaction with another character; suffice to say that many full games have struggled to make the impression that Liberty Island makes on the player.

        

•4.      Baldur’s Gate 2 (PC) – Oh Yoshi, how could you?

Jon Irenicus (voiced by the wonderful David Warner) is one of the best gaming villains of all time.  At first appearing to be your run-of-the-mill fantasy bad guys, complete with propensity for torture and stitching his face on every morning, he is soon revealed to be an evil genius, a right royal bastard, and a massive thorn in your side.

While he manages to do a fair bit to hurt the main character throughout the quest, including the kidnap and torture of your sister Imoen, to me the worst part was what he did to Yoshimo.

Yoshi was my favourite party member from the moment I met him in the opening dungeon, and had stuck with me through thick and thin.  When he betrayed me, it was a massive shock.  When it was revealed that he had been planted by the dastardly Irenicus from the very beginning to get close enough to monitor me and slip the knife in, it was infuriating.  When I found out that a spell placed on him had forced him to behave this way, despite not wanting to, it was downright tragic; especially when you have no choice but to kill him.  Poor Yoshi.

Honourable mention goes to Edwin/Edwina; magical sex changes are awesome.

      

•5.      Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger (PC) – Skywalker and Hobbes

Ahh the games of our youth.  I remember getting WC3 when I was just a wee one, marvelling at the pretty graphics and even prettier FMV.  When the character of Hobbes was introduced again (after appearing in Wing Commander 2), I knew straight away he was going to be a favourite and going on every mission with me.

For Hobbes, you see, was a giant space kitty.  Well, actually he was a member of the Kilrathi alien race (who looked like big kitties) that had joined humanity in fighting his own kind.  From the very beginning he is a loyal and steadfast companion to player character Christopher Blair (played by Mark Hamill), and when it is revealed that there is a traitor among the Terran Fleet, Hobbes is such an obvious choice that it almost certainly can’t be him.

This is what makes this plot twist so brilliant, because the obvious answer is – for once – the right one!  Yes, the alien who everyone thinks is a traitor…is actually a traitor sleeper agent, with a false, cute-little-kitten personality overlaid over his true, rip-your-face-off self.  When the code words “Heart of the Tiger” are said by one of the Kilrathi commanders, he escapes, murdering a fellow pilot along the way and proving to be a right badarse when you fight him later on.  Origin should be saluted for having a plot so obvious it actually comes as a surprise.

  

•6.      Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360) – 95 Blackhawks Down

Ok, so no Blackhawks are actually in this bit; just go with me here.  While CoD4 is made up of a huge amount of incredibly awesome action set pieces (particularly Ghillies in the Mist), to me the most poignant moment was the surprise nuke detonation in Generic Arab City.

After all the effort rescuing stranded soldiers, you get called back to rescue a shot down Cobra pilot while being warned that you might not escape the radius of the nuke blast.  We all knew the bomb was going off of course; I just figured it’d be just after the American’s pulled out, complete with thundering rock music and shouts of “Yee Haw”.

Instead all of your heroism was in vain as the bomb goes off, knocking countless choppers out of the sky, including your own.  When the loading screen opens up and locates Paul Jackson, everything seems hunky dory anyway; congratulations, you’re radiation proof.  That is until control resumes and Paul wakes up in a nuclear wasteland, gasping in pain and heart thudding.  You crawl out of the downed chopper, examining the crispy remains of your friends.  Suddenly a building collapses, you fall to the ground and everything slowly goes white.

And then your heart stops. Paul Jackson: KIA.  Brilliant.

        

•7.      Command and Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (PC) – No, No, No, No Mercy

Joe Kucan is the world’s most dangerous video game designer.  I mean most game companies have tried to go out of their way over the years to get whatever D-grade Hollywood actors were available to be in their FMV (Westwood were no exception either, hello Lando!)

This is what makes Kane such an amazing villain in the C&C series.  Kucan IS Kane, and the fact that a guy that isn’t even a professional actor can play a megalomaniacal despot makes me worry for Kucan’s kids; assuming they haven’t been mutated by intentional Tiberium exposure already.

Easily the best scene featuring Kane within the whole series is his cold execution of Seth, his ‘Right Hand’.  Seth is briefing the player on an unsanctioned attack on Washington D.C., which he believes will begin his own rise to power within Nod. He claims that “Power shifts quickly in the Brotherhood”.  Suddenly, in what seems to be a theme for this article, the contents of his skull are decorating the camera as Kane calmly shoves the carcass out of the seat and resumes the briefing.

But not before stating; “Power shifts more quickly than some people think” in a way that makes your skin crawl and think “Kane is the greatest character ever.” Kucan makes Kane so real that I hope I’m never in the same room with him.  Creepy bugger.

   

•8.      Battle Realms (PC) – A.K.A Reason #82 Why I Hate Blizzard

For those people not in the know, Battle Realms was a fantasy Feudal Japan-themed RTS made by Liquid Entertainment.  It revolved around powerful heroes (which could be upgraded and gain experience) leading small armies of powerful warriors against their enemies; something fairly different to the run-of-the-mill giant, generic army RTS games of the time.

Does this concept sound familiar at all?  It probably should, since Battle Realms is the game Blizzard ripped off unmercifully for Warcraft 3.  The hero mechanic is almost identical between the two games, as is the focus on smaller armies of tough troops with multiple special skills.  Actually, between the blatant stealing of the Warhammer universe from Games Workshop, and the ‘reinterpreting’ of Battle Realms, it makes me wonder if Blizzard have actually had a unique idea before?  But I digress.

Battle Realms had one gameplay element which remains fairly unique to this day; the way new troops were trained.  Unlike pretty much every RTS game ever, new soldiers were trained, not bought.  Players would build the basic resource-gathering peasant, and choose to send them into various buildings to train them as a basic soldier, archer, etc.  They could then cross-train these troops in various other buildings, leading to a variety of unique soldier types.

Even more impressively, every single unit type was useful right until the end game; an army of max upgraded Samurai would be decimated by a combined army of far cheaper units provided that some intelligence had been used when choosing unit types.  The special powers of each unit complimented those of others, and even these powers could be further upgraded or altered completely if you so chose.

What resulted was an epic game of rock-paper-scissors, in which keeping your existing army of trained and experienced soldiers alive was far more powerful than spamming basic units; as the enemy countered your army, you would retrain units to counter theirs, and so on; this game was truly deep strategically, and epic in scope despite the small scale.  Plus Battle Realms is still the most beautiful RTS made, bar none.

  

•9.      Psychonauts (X-Box) – Rainbow Squirts Ate My Brain!

I might seem like I’m jumping on the “everyone must love Psychonauts” bandwagon a bit here, but I genuinely really enjoyed the game once I finally found a copy.  The whole thing was a deliciously twisted exercise in level design and storytelling (meat circus; just say it out loud).

While perhaps not the most fun level to play (it could be downright frustrating), the design of ‘The Milkman Conspiracy’ has got to be one of the best ever.  A journey into the fractured psyche of a conspiracy nut, this level consisted of sprawling suburban normalcy – pretty houses, picket fences, SUVs, Men in Black, little girls with machine guns…come again?

With a twisted landscape that flipped, corkscrewed, or just hovered at gravity-defying impossible angles, and featuring a legion of identical Men in Black cunningly disguised as gardeners, policemen, lollipop-men, or construction workers, this is different to just about anything you’ve seen before. 

All of this adds up to a level that is so incredibly bizarre that you can’t help but love it, frustrating bits and all; pretty good way of summing up the game as a whole, actually.

  

•10.  Lode Runner (Commodore 64) – Council Worker Sim; Now With More Robots

The games of my youth, how I don’t miss their scrotum-crunching difficulty and blocky, 4-colour graphics.  Still, Lode Runner does stand out amongst both platformers and puzzle games for a number of reasons.  Firstly was the strategic element of not being able to kill enemies; instead the player would use their laser to dig holes which would dispose of them temporarily.

The second interesting part of the game, and the one which is far more important, was the fact that Lode Runner was one of the first games to include a level editor, and one that was particularly easy to use at that.  That’s right boys and girls, a game from 1983 (!) accomplished what the vast majority of games these days cannot; easy to use custom content.

Within about five minutes of Lode Runner launching there were a bazillion custom maps showing up, including many bootleg tapes for the C64 being sold by shonky men at tiny market stalls; ahh memories. This level editor ensured that the active community of the game would far outlive its use-by date; and indeed there are STILL people that play this game.

  

Well folks, that ends the first instalment of this piece.  The next two parts should be up soon for your reading (dis)pleasure.

   

- Tim Sweeney