Sorry guys, not a midget throwing thread. But what are the little things in games you appreciate. I mean you can have the biggest, best graphics, amazing sound tracks etc, but its always a few of the little added touches that seem to stand out a bit. For example, i like that in some games the music will take on a flange effect (hehehe i said flange) or go quieter if you are to do a jump (ala most snowboarding games) and then come back in full blast when you land. I also like the fact that in NFSHP, in races where you have a TURBO, it really sounds like a turbo and the sound alone gives you a real sense of going insanely fast. you get the drift....(lol@unintended poor racing pun)
A decent looking character self shadow. I'll always remember how blown away I was when playing Crysis and no matter where I was I could visibly see my shadow reacting in real time. I'd stand high up on a hill or on a pipe and my shadow would appear way down on the floor in a realistic manner. May be a fairly simple aspect but it had a huge impression on me. :banana:
The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow in Bad Company 2... The shadows moving across rocks in the morning in the Stalker games... The crabs in the water and on the beach in Crysis... Random comments and conversations by NPCs in GTA4. I played that game for dozens of hours and never heard the same one twice. Tons of games have made me say "I can't believe they thought of that!" Great thread.
. The first time I saw a rocket light up a dark hall as it whizzed down the corridors. : ) I love lighting. Anything lighting catches my attention. Especially sun coming in through windows.
I pay attention to atmosphere in games. If you close your eyes for a moment and think you're in there its done perfectly. Also, interacting with little things around you is somewhat important to me. Searching rooms for stuff, destroying crates and cracking security measures has always been great fun and draws you into a game some more. (Halflife or No One Lives Forever2 for example) Shame they dont do that anymore. If you walk across useful things you just pick em up automaticly. If something is very important its glowing / flashing right in your face. As a result i just pass by all the funky little details in todays games because they're just dead 3dmodels / eyecandy. Best example would be Batman:AA. Corridors and rooms are full of cubboards, crates and computers but you cant use anything in there. Shame really.
Oh yeah man, I miss the days of secret areas where they had like hidden ammo stashes, or access to weapons you'd normally get later, earlier. Game have lost that sense of adventure. It's just PROGRESS TO THE NEXT PLACE.
The annoucer in Unreal Tournament. That **** made you feel like such a badass. I want another Unreal game
i love the funny stuff in games. easter eggs. like in zelda oot you hit chickens with your sword, and you would get attacked by multple angry chicken.
Yeah, but see, most gamers these days are so lazy they don't care for that, so 99% of gamers miss awesome stuff like that. Also, animations used to be awesome, anyone remember Half-life? You had bugs that'd nip at you and bite your finger, you'd feed that gun it's ammo through the mouth, you could shoot out flies and have them fly back. Prey reminded me of this recently with it's highly animated weapons. I miss that in games.
Yeah i know. people just want to rush the game, without actually paying any attention whats going on around them. its a sad thing really. lets say a guy finishes a game in 5 hours. for me it will take about 9 hours. its actually the reason why i enjoy games more than other people i think.
That one game, recently, Singularity, I am sure alot of people just ran through it, I took time to find notes, explore possibly hidden paths, read everything, watch stuff, ect. Games like that have a touch of class.
Atmospheric sound that envelopes you and makes you feel like you're there. The graphics don't even have to be top notch, but this one effect goes so far.
Ditto... I also love the little things that make you draw into the atmosphere that bit more... The sound of your own breathing in F.E.A.R immediately comes into mind.
Another like of mine, all of the sonic games, the wee animations when you tep close to the edge of a ledge.... Sonic2 especially, when you had the 3D moments as sonic span/flipped going up springs, around cages or over fans....... loved that at the time!
I do not find this impressive, I think any game can do this if it is happy to take 5 years to run on a home PC.
Decent multiplayer design with for example not too many keys used on the keyboard / not too many special mouse buttons. It's nowadays become something so little I have trouble finding it lol.
A great story mode like the one in no one lives forever, hitman 2 silent assasin, call of duty 1,2 and 4. Great music like in nfs6hp2/most wanted, nolf, hitman 2 sa and ofcourse great graphics like in the above mentioned games and crysis.