Empire magazine's "100 Greatest Games" list

norrie rugger

Time to move this thread to P.I.

CiDeRmAn

norrie rugger wrote: »

Time to move this thread to P.I.

norrie rugger

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Personal Issues forum

They might be able to give advice on how to solve the issue with your lady

Flying Abruptly

Baldurs Gate 2: Shadows of Amn

Memorable for...
Two of the greatest gaming characters of all time: Minsc the demented ranger and his 'miniature giant space hamster' Boo. "Go for the eyes Boo, GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAAAAGH!"

^Lol. Still one of the best games I've ever played! Ive played a few D&Ds any nothing compares

partyguinness

Where is:

1. GTA Vice City

2. Medal of Honor

CiDeRmAn

Best line in a game is in the cruelly overlooked Interstate 76, a car combat game set in an alternate, well 1976, great stuff,
the lines goes something like this,
"The Children Are Burning!"

Feel free to correct me, but it's great line anyway, when you fail to prevent an attack on a school bus.

nyarlothothep

Doom should have been no.1

Retr0gamer

Or at least ahead of Halo. In terms of dumb shooters it's way ahead of Halo and due to the amount of enemies it can display on screen there really isn't anything else like it. And no serious sam doesn't count because serious sam doesn't have any level design to speak of really.

nyarlothothep

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Or at least ahead of Halo. In terms of dumb shooters it's way ahead of Halo and due to the amount of enemies it can display on screen there really isn't anything else like it. And no serious sam doesn't count because serious sam doesn't have any level design to speak of really.

Yar Halo was ok, but looking back its not that memorable, its just a bit meh in terms of originality and level design, the latter which I found had mostly applied to 1, there were a few very samey levels.

Serious Sam was fun for a while but it got very reptitive and boring.

Doom3 sucked although the horror element was great. I'd like to see an FPS game again which mixes the same amount of gore, horror, humour and originality as Doom 1 and 2. Used to play it obsessively.

LoGiE

No more Halo... Don't make me add it to the charter

CiDeRmAn

I really enjoyed Doom 3 and Quake 4 and even Prey, regardless of their lack of sophistication or finesse, they were excellent fun.
Hopefully the next gen of FPS can grap my attention as well.
I'd love to see some more Hexen or a decent sequel to the Lovecraft styling of the original Quake.

Another game that was outside my normal grasp of games but never the less kept me playing for months was Flight Unlimited, by Looking Glass.
Absolutley brilliant.
I had them all, but especially liked the Pilotwings style ring challenges in the first one and the way you could combine the maps from the 2nd and 3rd games to make a really awesome, detailed landscape, plus I could land and take off with ease in the seaplane, nice!

Retr0gamer

I didn't like doom 3 at all and Quake was fun but nothing special. Did really like Prey though but wouldn't say it was amazing. some really nice storytelling though and the bit with the schoolbus was amazing.

CCCP^

What about Daikatana?

CiDeRmAn

Wasn't Daikatana the game that promised lots and delivered nothing?
Well at least Romero thought it promised lots, the twat!
He was embiggening that game for ages before it finally emerged from development hell like a particularly hardened, constipated turd, one that cuts, you know?

I never understood the whole Serious Sam thing, I mean, I have the Xbox version and I've also had the PC version and, nope don't get it, it's simply badly rendered enemies running at you before dropping in a hail of gunfire, and that's it.

I'd like to see a better stab at the Perfect Dark franchise though, the N64 version has suffered visually but it's ambition was plain, and the 360 game really sucked, so is there enough interest in the franchise left to get a reboot perhaps? Or did RARE kill it off?

Gummy Panda

Has Rare released anything amazing since MS bought them?

NeoKubrick

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I never understood the whole Serious Sam thing, I mean, I have the Xbox version and I've also had the PC version and, nope don't get it, it's simply badly rendered enemies running at you before dropping in a hail of gunfire, and that's it.

I'd like to see a better stab at the Perfect Dark franchise though, the N64 version has suffered visually but it's ambition was plain, and the 360 game really sucked, so is there enough interest in the franchise left to get a reboot perhaps? Or did RARE kill it off?

Serious Sam is mindless fun. Rack up the difficulty and get a friend or three.

Aren't they re-releasing Perfect Dark on the marketplace in the winter? I'm sure that's a litmus test for the future profitability of the series. And Microsoft killed the franchise, not Rare. Not that Rare didn't have a hand in weakening it. Single-player was actually depressing, but I did hear very good things about the multiplayer.

qt9ukbg60ivjrn

"It was the first reason to buy an N64 (especially considering the disappointment that was Mario Kart 64) and vies for the title of best Mario game ever."

A quote written on number 9

Super Mario 64

Is this person insane or does anyone agree with him/her/it.?

I think mario kart is one of the best games for any console.

Retr0gamer

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Has Rare released anything amazing since MS bought them?

Viva Pinata really is a fantastic game and I heard Nuts and Bolts is rather good. Other than that, not a whole lot much although they did create the middleware powering a lot of games on the 360 and are mostly R&D based.

tifosi 1

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Has Rare released anything amazing since MS bought them?

Viva Pinata is one of the best games of the last 5 years. It's not for everybody and it takes awhile to get into but once you do ,say goodbye to your social life as this game racks up the hours like they were minutes. Also Banjo N&B is brilliant providing you weren't expecting Banjo Threeie.

Back on topic my own list of 10 best games ever would be very different from the populas opinion. I did not like Zelda OOT or FFVII. I only played Zelda on the GameCube and I really didn't see what the fuss was about. I did play FFVII first time around but for all the will in the world i just could not get into it. It bored the crap out of me.

My own personal fave 10 games changes daily. So below is todays 10 in no particular order.

Nights/Xmas Nights - Saturn
Spinter Cell - Xbox
Mario Kart- All versions except the WII
Half Life - PC
Shenmue - DC
MSR - DC
Donkey Kong Country - Snes
Rollercoaster Tycoon - PC
Viva Pinata - 360
GTA Vice City - PS2

CiDeRmAn

It's telling that once Rares output was the envy of development studios the world over and they were once creative equals with Nintendo and Shigsy, since then they have produced lacklustre sequels, Perfect Dark Future, they've updated platformers into a genre that doesn't quite work, Banjo Nuts and Bolts, and they've made a game based on a kids show few of them have seen, and if they have seen it, they made the first game without any of the shows characters being in it! They fixed this for the party game sequel, not sure about the proper sequel to it though.
Rare have also graced us with a handful of reheats on the DS, Diddy Kong Racing etc, that simply can't cut it today and then weaken their legacy.
So then, Rare, not really the uber dev of yesteryear, not even in the top ten anymore, easily eclipsed by Kojima Productions, Q?, Bungie, Crytek, Bioware, Valve and the rest.

Maybe they should talk really nice to Ninty, offer to do Shigsy a few "favours" sexually and hope that they are allowed develop for the Wii again, maybe then they'll find out what MS did with their muse.

tifosi 1

I don't think Rare going back to Ninty would change anything. Nintendo ruled Rare with an iron fist. The quirky games that Rare did back on the N64 didn't sell that well either. Blast Corp wasn't a big seller, Jet Force Gemini didn't sell that well compared to their other big hits at the time.

I'd much rather have Rare making good games for the minority that have to pump out generic sequels and copies for the masses.

Banjo, Conker, Donkey Kong= Mario Clone
Diddy Kong Racing = Mario Kart Clone
Killer Instinct = Streetfighter Clone

Retr0gamer

I'm with tifosi 1, Rare even with nintendo weren't all that really. Their games haven't aged well at all other than blast corp and jet force gemini.

Donkey Kong Country is now regarded by the non rose tinted spec brigade as a very average platformer.
Banjo Kazooie was a gorgeous looking game but never a Mario 64 beater although it was loads of fun. The sequel wasn't all that great.
Donkey Kong 64 was a very poor mario kart clone and wasn't even better than it's rivel MK64, the worst in the series.
Killer Instinct looks impressive but really isn't that great a game, fun but no SNK or SF beater.
Donkey Kong 64 is a bit of a mess really.

And I'm sorry but Conkers Bad Fur day was pretty crap other than the gorgeous graphics and juvenile humour.

It seems when Rare are at their most creative they are at their best.

CiDeRmAn

Now Now, I know you have game quality judgement issues, but don't start knocking Conker man!
Just put it down and back away!

Retr0gamer

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Now Now, I know you have game quality judgement issues, but don't start knocking Conker man!
Just put it down and back away!

I know I'm right about conker. I'd even go so far as to say the humour isn't even funny and just juvenile nonsense.

And do you know how I know I'm right? Go play the swimming sections again and see if you don't chew the controller cord in frustration. That is if you can get to them after surviving the banal gameplay and seizure inducing framerate.

Kinetic^

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Banjo Kazooie was a gorgeous looking game but never a Mario 64 beater although it was loads of fun. The sequel wasn't all that great.

It was probably 2nd to only Mario 64 on the N64.

Retr0gamer

Yeah it was and it's still a good game but I played it again recently and it's not all that great shakes and there's a few pretty bad levels among some excellent ones. It's a good game but not he mario 64 beater some people think it is.

CiDeRmAn

i think we judge other 3D platformers too harshly on the N64, problem was that Mario 64 was so good, it was hard for anything else to measure up.
Never the less, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and, even Conker, made a good throw at it, and even in their failings were far superior to efforts on the machines peers, the PS1 had Crash and the Saturn had, erm, Sonic R?

Once again, to Conkers detractors, when did you last play it?
Try it again on the N64 and perhaps you'll feel differently, I played it to the end and loved it, the various movie satires, Matrix, Saving Private Ryan, Dracula, Alien, Terminator, loved the Alien gag most of all, the ship computer giving out because you're not throwing it out of the airlock.
The operetta singing Poo!
The tormented evil doctor.
The feckin wasps,
Death and his intense dislike of bloody cats, with their 9 lives.

But then, whatever I say Retro, you'll pick holes in it, you don't like it and like a dog with a bone you won't be happy til you've buried it, ho hum......

Retr0gamer

I last played it when it came out. You name off all the references and humour. My beef with the game is that it wasn't all that much fun to play. Even the update live and reloaded on the xbox wasn't much fun and they sorted out the awful swimming controls and challenges.

I think the N64 ran away with the 3D platforming genre. The saturn had nothing, the PS1 didn't have much to challenge it. Crash Bandicoot was basically a 2D game with 3D graphics and was awful really, other than the 3rd game which wasn't all that bad.

tifosi 1

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'm with tifosi 1, Rare even with nintendo weren't all that really. Their games haven't aged well at all other than blast corp and jet force gemini.

Donkey Kong Country is now regarded by the non rose tinted spec brigade as a very average platformer.
Banjo Kazooie was a gorgeous looking game but never a Mario 64 beater although it was loads of fun. The sequel wasn't all that great.
Donkey Kong 64 was a very poor mario kart clone and wasn't even better than it's rivel MK64, the worst in the series.
Killer Instinct looks impressive but really isn't that great a game, fun but no SNK or SF beater.
Donkey Kong 64 is a bit of a mess really.

And I'm sorry but Conkers Bad Fur day was pretty crap other than the gorgeous graphics and juvenile humour.

It seems when Rare are at their most creative they are at their best.

Retrogamer you've misunderstood me completely. I love Rare as a developer and prefer when they try something new and different.

In my experience

Donkey Kong Country is better than Super Mario Bros 3
Banjo Kazooie is equally as good as Mario 64
Conkers Bad Fur Day is better than Mario 64 because of its humour. Always found that Mario 64 got boring after a few hours. Give me Mario Kart over a Mario platformer any day.
Diddy Kong Racing/Donkey Kong 64/Killer Instinct were **** no question about that.


I know i won't be supported by anybody on this but I think Nintendo need Rare more than Rare need Nintendo. After Rare left Nintendo the creative output of Nintendo has dropped considerably(It has nothing to do with Rare as such other than that they can't rely on Rare's great releases to fill out the release schedule). Nintendo have to make all the big hits themselves now and as such the quality is dropping How many Gamecube games will be as highly regarded in 15yrs time the way N64 games are today. Don't get me started on the crap their releasing on the WII (Commerical success is no barrometer for quality). Mario Galaxy is the only franchise they've released that comes anyway near the same counterpart on previous machines.

CiDeRmAn

Well, I have to say Retro, you're wrong.
It was great fun to play, and I played it to completion.
I really enjoyed the game, quite aside from the humour, I found the controls just fine, the variations in gameplay, depending on chapter, brilliant.
The visuals perfect, yes it pushed the console to the limits and needed the expansion cartridge to do it, I don't seem to rememeber a lousy frame rate, only some of the best graphics on the N64.
Also, the use of the humour is excellent, unafraid to take the mickey out of videogame conventions, like the whole "context sensitive" joke early on with Birdy/Beardy.

Honestly, it might be time to break out the original and fire it up, don't worry about the Xbox version, give the original a whirl.