Games with exceptional gameplay?

[laclongquan]

Unreal World got good gameplay. Pity it's broken when you are one or two years into the game, though.

 

[Shannow]

Exceptional gameplay? Not just combat?
I'd say M&B, UT, Streetfighter Alpha 2, Double Dragon, Moonstone and Gothic 2 (though with G2 I'm probably very alone in that opinion).

Exceptional combat would have a few more (Wiz8, ToEE, JA2, KotC...).

 

[Jasede]

X-Com:

Difficult for novices, easy for experts, always varied, enormous detail. This is the one game that always makes me wonder, how come these older games were way more detailed and complex than what we can get now? I'd love a new X-Com, but I also know it'd never be the same again. But I still play this game as I'm not very good at it, even though I poured hundreds of hours into it. Always engaging, so much to do, so many different tilesets, plenty of guns and stats and growth and base-building and research and on and on and on. Just great. The tactical combat is my favorite in any game- I like it even better than JA 2 because it somewhat feels more fast-paced. Or maybe because of nostalgia- this game is one of my very earliest memories, watching my brother play this while waiting on Santa Claus.


Master of Magic:

This is just amazing again. Another case of "how could they have put ALL this into such an old game"? The wizard creation, the wealth of creatures, races, spells, terrain tiles, terrain effects, stats, skills, heroes- it's amazing how much value this game contains. And it's not all haphazard either- it's a fun game and another one of those I poured 400+ hours into. And not one of these was spent pretending to be a wizard fighter assassin from Cyrodil who is a compulsive burglar.


Master of Orion 2:

This is almost the same as Master of Magic. The sheer scope of this game is unparalleled. You might say Gal Civ 2 or something I didn't play have more things to do, but whenever I try them out, they never quite flow as well as this game. The thing about this game, and the others before, is that they contain a lot of things, but they all sort of organically work together. They never felt superfluous to me, or poorly balanced or designed.


SMAC:

If you're going to play 1 Civilization game, you must make it this one.


Ketsui:

Possibly the best shoot 'em up ever made, this game combines brutal difficulty with simple scoring, agressive gameplay and fast-paced, carefully designed enemy formations with original shot patterns, forming the cream of the crop of the genre.


Thief:

This is the best stealth game ever, and I fear, it'll be for a long time to come. That it has marvelous atmosphere and an amazing gameworld only elevate it further into one of those games we'll always remember.


Terra Nova:

An often under-appreciate Looking Glass game that features incredibly smooth FPS/vehicle (you're in an armored suit that controls a little like a mech) combat and at the time, amazing graphics, with plenty of weapons and bonus objectives to the missions, making it all-around very entertaining.


Wizardry 8:

This is in my opinion the last real dungeon crawler ever released, and also the best one. Everything has evolved to cater to my preferences: there's a LOT of numbers that do things, there's a lot to explore, thousands of items, an incredible amount of races and classes, and on and on, and they all combine into one amazing game.


Doom:

Needs more to be said?


Super Metroid:

I really tried to like Metroidvania games, but I can't. They either contain story, which I consider pointless in them, or weird level up systems, or rooms that aren't unique enough. With one exception: Super Metroid is the perfect game of this genre, with useful pick-ups, a very clever and well thought out map, great music and interesting jumping physics that may feel awkward at first, but after a while make you feel like you're controlling Samus with your brain. I remember reading a review of this game on my favorite gaming magazine as a kid and they gave it a D in graphics- causing me to drop my jaw. A D? This game is beautiful, even today!


ADOM:

THE rogue-like.

 

[Serious_Business]

Well, my favourite games is what I'll call the holy trio, and no I'm not talking about Torment and Arcanum, but rather : Thief, DX, System Shock 2. I think those games are stellar on every front.

I can't find any fault with the Thief series (1 & 2). I've already spoken plenty about it, so I don't think I need to add much, and this thread shows that everyone with taste recognize their excellence. I think Thief was a revolution in gameplay, a short lived revolution that helped the other two games come out. I guess you could call it the "smart action game" kind of revolution, whatever that means, although of course DX and SS2 have rpg roots (UU is obviously very important here as well). We have plenty of stealth games now, but none comes close still, mostly because of their lack of non linearity, and style. You have to give points for style.

DX, well, the gameplay is clunky, the AI is horrible and the C&C is superficial, but it's still one of my favourite. I think the gameplay for all its faults works very, very well. The narrative and the general atmosphere (using generic words, but you'll get it if you played the game) help, but it's mostly the attention to details that make the gameplay stand out. Giving the player options is what DX is all about. I think your choice of build in this game feel much more consequential than pretty much any other game, which is probably a false statement, but I stick by it

SS2, well, the problem with it is the lack of balance and the last few parts of the game which are kind of rushed. Otherwise, everything is perfect about it. I like the idea of a horror rpg - it plays with two very paradoxal dynamics. Horror games are all about making you feel powerless, rpgs are about making you feel powerful, in one word. Here we have a contrast. You can be powerful in Shock, that is, if you manage ressources smartly. I don't play it very often because honestly I'm exhausted just thinking about it. It's a pretty wild ride.

These games are all based on shooters, but strangely enough I don't like shooters at all. I guess there's something about the first person view. In a way, I'm more of a fan of action rpgs than actual rpgs. I think actual rpgs have fairly dull gameplay. The best ones are the ones that are shameless about character building, but the gameplay itself is pretty repetitive. Only very tactical games like ToEE, KotC and JA2 (which I don't consider a rpg at all) manage to bring something else to the table, but otherwise, it's all about powering up

For actual good gameplay, you need to go with strategy games of course.

As I've said I'm primarily a strategy gamer and there are TONNES of great games gameplay wise. Sadly they are all hampered by terrible AI :-/

That is very true. I think playing strategy games basically comes down to a couple of phases :
1. Figure the game out
2. Master strategies and the AI
3. Play

Unfortunately, when you're at step 3, there's no more discoveries to make, so playing the thing can actually be boring. So in a way strategy games are a learning experience. When you know how to win, there's no more point to play them anymore, there needs to be a hint of challenge left which you try to overcome. It's very weird. It does bring up the point of what "gameplay" is supposed to be. I mean people who play shooters or grind shit in rpgs "play" games for the sake of it, but I don't consider that stimulating. I guess mastering the game is indeed where the fun is at.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

When I first saw this topic, I was reluctant to give an answer as I couldn't think of any title that fitted the criteria.

After having read the suggestions here given by others, I STILL can't think of any titles that fit the criteria. I can find some fault with every single title that's been mentioned.

I guess I won't be participating in this discussion.

 

[Shannow]

When I first saw this topic, I was reluctant to give an answer as I couldn't think of any title that fitted the criteria.

After having read the suggestions here given by others, I STILL can't think of any titles that fit the criteria. I can find some fault with every single title that's been mentioned.

I guess I won't be participating in this discussion.

Exceptional, not perfect. Won't you reconsider? We'd like your input so much.

 

[Phelot]

Myth and Myth 2 have exceptionally fun gameplay, especially multiplayer. Single player has a lot of cool strategy and satisfying combat (satisfying as in watching your enemies explode into bloody chunks that permanently stain the ground) and multiplayer is more of the same except with tougher opponents, fun games like bodycount, capture the flag, king of the hill, etc. And there's a fun level of randomness thrown in, like having dwarven grenades not go off when you need them to or actually sneaking a wight into a mass of enemies and popping him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niLBL44VOxc&feature=related

This is a cool compilation video of random crap that can happen in a multiplayer game.

 

[Jive One]

Wizardry 4

Did you manage to complete this? Without a walk-through and pre-made maps? If so you have nothing to prove to anyone ever again.

As for good gameplay Staflight 1/2 and Star Control 2 are excellent. Lots of exploration, adventure-style dialogue, arcade combat, and even some degree of character improvement.

 

[Trash]

X-Com:

Difficult for novices, easy for experts, always varied, enormous detail. This is the one game that always makes me wonder, how come these older games were way more detailed and complex than what we can get now? I'd love a new X-Com, but I also know it'd never be the same again. But I still play this game as I'm not very good at it, even though I poured hundreds of hours into it. Always engaging, so much to do, so many different tilesets, plenty of guns and stats and growth and base-building and research and on and on and on. Just great. The tactical combat is my favorite in any game- I like it even better than JA 2 because it somewhat feels more fast-paced. Or maybe because of nostalgia- this game is one of my very earliest memories, watching my brother play this while waiting on Santa Claus.


Master of Magic:

This is just amazing again. Another case of "how could they have put ALL this into such an old game"? The wizard creation, the wealth of creatures, races, spells, terrain tiles, terrain effects, stats, skills, heroes- it's amazing how much value this game contains. And it's not all haphazard either- it's a fun game and another one of those I poured 400+ hours into. And not one of these was spent pretending to be a wizard fighter assassin from Cyrodil who is a compulsive burglar.


Master of Orion 2:

This is almost the same as Master of Magic. The sheer scope of this game is unparalleled. You might say Gal Civ 2 or something I didn't play have more things to do, but whenever I try them out, they never quite flow as well as this game. The thing about this game, and the others before, is that they contain a lot of things, but they all sort of organically work together. They never felt superfluous to me, or poorly balanced or designed.


SMAC:

If you're going to play 1 Civilization game, you must make it this one.


Ketsui:

Possibly the best shoot 'em up ever made, this game combines brutal difficulty with simple scoring, agressive gameplay and fast-paced, carefully designed enemy formations with original shot patterns, forming the cream of the crop of the genre.


Thief:

This is the best stealth game ever, and I fear, it'll be for a long time to come. That it has marvelous atmosphere and an amazing gameworld only elevate it further into one of those games we'll always remember.


Terra Nova:

An often under-appreciate Looking Glass game that features incredibly smooth FPS/vehicle (you're in an armored suit that controls a little like a mech) combat and at the time, amazing graphics, with plenty of weapons and bonus objectives to the missions, making it all-around very entertaining.


Wizardry 8:

This is in my opinion the last real dungeon crawler ever released, and also the best one. Everything has evolved to cater to my preferences: there's a LOT of numbers that do things, there's a lot to explore, thousands of items, an incredible amount of races and classes, and on and on, and they all combine into one amazing game.


Doom:

Needs more to be said?


Super Metroid:

I really tried to like Metroidvania games, but I can't. They either contain story, which I consider pointless in them, or weird level up systems, or rooms that aren't unique enough. With one exception: Super Metroid is the perfect game of this genre, with useful pick-ups, a very clever and well thought out map, great music and interesting jumping physics that may feel awkward at first, but after a while make you feel like you're controlling Samus with your brain. I remember reading a review of this game on my favorite gaming magazine as a kid and they gave it a D in graphics- causing me to drop my jaw. A D? This game is beautiful, even today!


ADOM:

THE rogue-like.

 

[DakaSha]

X-Com:

Difficult for novices, easy for experts, always varied, enormous detail. This is the one game that always makes me wonder, how come these older games were way more detailed and complex than what we can get now? I'd love a new X-Com, but I also know it'd never be the same again. But I still play this game as I'm not very good at it, even though I poured hundreds of hours into it. Always engaging, so much to do, so many different tilesets, plenty of guns and stats and growth and base-building and research and on and on and on. Just great. The tactical combat is my favorite in any game- I like it even better than JA 2 because it somewhat feels more fast-paced. Or maybe because of nostalgia- this game is one of my very earliest memories, watching my brother play this while waiting on Santa Claus.


Master of Magic:

This is just amazing again. Another case of "how could they have put ALL this into such an old game"? The wizard creation, the wealth of creatures, races, spells, terrain tiles, terrain effects, stats, skills, heroes- it's amazing how much value this game contains. And it's not all haphazard either- it's a fun game and another one of those I poured 400+ hours into. And not one of these was spent pretending to be a wizard fighter assassin from Cyrodil who is a compulsive burglar.


Master of Orion 2:

This is almost the same as Master of Magic. The sheer scope of this game is unparalleled. You might say Gal Civ 2 or something I didn't play have more things to do, but whenever I try them out, they never quite flow as well as this game. The thing about this game, and the others before, is that they contain a lot of things, but they all sort of organically work together. They never felt superfluous to me, or poorly balanced or designed.


SMAC:

If you're going to play 1 Civilization game, you must make it this one.


Ketsui:

Possibly the best shoot 'em up ever made, this game combines brutal difficulty with simple scoring, agressive gameplay and fast-paced, carefully designed enemy formations with original shot patterns, forming the cream of the crop of the genre.


Thief:

This is the best stealth game ever, and I fear, it'll be for a long time to come. That it has marvelous atmosphere and an amazing gameworld only elevate it further into one of those games we'll always remember.


Terra Nova:

An often under-appreciate Looking Glass game that features incredibly smooth FPS/vehicle (you're in an armored suit that controls a little like a mech) combat and at the time, amazing graphics, with plenty of weapons and bonus objectives to the missions, making it all-around very entertaining.


Wizardry 8:

This is in my opinion the last real dungeon crawler ever released, and also the best one. Everything has evolved to cater to my preferences: there's a LOT of numbers that do things, there's a lot to explore, thousands of items, an incredible amount of races and classes, and on and on, and they all combine into one amazing game.


Doom:

Needs more to be said?


Super Metroid:

I really tried to like Metroidvania games, but I can't. They either contain story, which I consider pointless in them, or weird level up systems, or rooms that aren't unique enough. With one exception: Super Metroid is the perfect game of this genre, with useful pick-ups, a very clever and well thought out map, great music and interesting jumping physics that may feel awkward at first, but after a while make you feel like you're controlling Samus with your brain. I remember reading a review of this game on my favorite gaming magazine as a kid and they gave it a D in graphics- causing me to drop my jaw. A D? This game is beautiful, even today!


ADOM:

THE rogue-like.

Whole list owns except i havnt played ketsui.
Terra nova... now that was some awesome shit that doesnt get mentioned often

 

[Trash]

Aside from his 'unusual' sexual preferences Jasede's got an impeccable taste in games.

 

[SCO]

Master of Orion 1. Unrivaled simplicity and abstraction, addictive like crack.

I agree with thief, I & II, and i would add the dark mod.

 

[Orgasm]

OH YAY A CODEX LARPER CIRLEJERK! HOW NOVEL AND AWESOME!

LETS SEE I LOVE OBLIBIAN AND YOU CANT TELL ME ITS SHIT BECAUES I TASTE ITS COCK AND ITS AWESOME WHO CARE BOUT OBJECTIVISM AND LOGIKKK

Any widely played competitive game that people take semi-srs, e.g. basketball, chess, super turbo.

 

[saenz]

Ruling out sound, c&c, presentation, graphics and immersion, I feel safe to recommend Tom Proudfoot's Natuk and Nahlakh.

It's a classic party-based dungeon crawl with turn-based combat circa early 1990's. It's a eight person party that gets to see some accordingly huge battles.

The real gem though is the magic system. All spells consist of three syllables. However, you are never explicitly told the meaning of each syllable. You cast new spells based on what you can puzzle together and the spells you hear the enemy use against you. Kind of like with the runes in Celtic Tales but with many more possible spells.

De-spoilered example
Say you know these three spells:
Minor fireball = Kah la rah
Minor heal = Gul la xu
Minor poison = Kah la puk
Based on the logic of the syllables, you can make a good guess cure minor poison.

http://www.proudft.com/natukdown.html

Tom Proudfoot was actually posting on the Codex not too long ago either.

 

[Demnogonis Saastuttaja]

Trash, you seem like a guy who would enjoy Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament. Get three buddies, beer and snacks and you'll bound to have good time.

Mega Man had perfect jumping controls and I like the fact you can nearly always see what you need to i.e. you don't need to make leaps of faith. Also I like many of the weapons and the freedom to choose in which order you clear the levels. Level design is also usually great. I feel that Mega Man, not Mario, is the finest platforming series created.

Metal Slug is my favourite run 'n gun game, shooting enemies is satisfying as they usually die fast and there's a lot of them, so guns feel powerful, and the controls are, of course, excellent. In some of the later games the backwards jumping is removed, I don't know why they did that but that makes them a bit crap in my eyes.

I think Super Turbo was probably the best Street Fighter game, though I haven't played them all. While SSF4 is good, I don't like how everything does so low damage and everything takes more time in general.

I like SC2 a lot even while I thought I wouldn't. It's great fun to play and very exciting, so I guess I have suddenly turned into a RTS whore. Skill based, fast-paced and balanced enough to allow a variety of strategies.

And there's many more, Steel Panthers, Dominions, KoTC, C&C, Thief, Doom, JA2... There's no shortage of games with good gameplay, why would we even play games if it was so?

 

[Excidium]

Trash, you seem like a guy who would enjoy Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament. Get three buddies, beer and snacks and you'll bound to have good time.

Such a fun game.

 

[tennishero]

elder scrolls oblivion

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I think Super Turbo was probably the best Street Fighter game, though I haven't played them all. While SSF4 is good, I don't like how everything does so low damage and everything takes more time in general.

Gameplay-wise, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike kicks Super Turbo in the balls so hard it splits in two.

 

[Raapys]

Oh, Dwarf Fortress. Despite having no sound and no graphics, it's still one of the best games I've ever played.

 

[gp1628]

I see many games that I have enjoyed. Some of the "never die" games on my machines are Stars!, Space Empires IV, Master of Magic, King of Dragons Pass, and Dominions 3.

Dominions 3 is presently the winner. Its old, the graphics and sound suck, and its expensive. But even though it has been out for years I still play it almost daily even in solo mode. The game start variations are almost unlimited, when patched it has 73 unique nations not to mention the many modded ones, and the strategy is very deep. I got into it because I really liked the mythology based armies but stayed with it for the strategy.

I know its expensive but even after years no one has ruined it by posting a walk-thru always-win-strategy. It STILL gets free patches/updates from the developers. And most importantly the forums are STILL arguing over who is weak, who is strong, and new strategies. Ive paid as much for games that died within a month for those things. I definitely got my money worth for this one.

 

[deus101]

These games are all based on shooters, but strangely enough I don't like shooters at all. I guess there's something about the first person view.

I said it before but the reason why Deus Ex and System Shock works is because the combat is sorta clunky, this gives room to the builds you make instead of making them meaningless if they were as smooth as quake.

Like they did with Bioshock....hell, who are we kidding, thats not an RPG at all since there is no CnC in the builds you make on top of the fact that everything can be circumvented by being twitchy enough.

 

[AZ]

Gearheads - smart and fun two player game of wind up toys - really great concept

Worms series - the party game as it was said

Dominions series - deepest strategy, simply too many choices

GTA 1 - when came out, had a really new concept

System Shock, or Thef series - the concept of "smart" fps

Battlefield 2 - some will disagree, but squad management made it pretty interesting

Invaders Corruption - if you have five minutes to play something to let of the steam

Mount & Blade - the sandbox world works pretty well

The Void - the style makes it interresting

RPG games are harder to recommend, since they have usually the same mechanics but should shine in choices and story. I really liked the closed small and living world concept of Gothic 1.

 

[AZ]

and Minecraft - it is like playing lego again

 

[deus101]

Fuck...never played through GTA 1....only bits and pieces of it.

GTA 2 i bought....good lord...THOSE GAMES WERE AWSOME!

Also that London Expansion pack....FUCK *isohunt*

"Battlefield 2 "

Im am...were a big battlefield gamer, but what i love the most with those games were the mods.

I had a clan even playing desert combat....good times.

Now i do play forgotten hope 2 once in a while.

Battlefield 3 wont be worth shit to me if there aint gonna be mods like FH.

 

[Gragt]

Any love for Solium Infernum?