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By Paul Furfari June 13, 2010 |
These 15 games challenged the presumptions of what games can (and should) be. Often critical hits, rarely commercial successes, these titles in hindsight are harbingers of what we play today -- and maybe tomorrow.
Check out the rest of our Sci-Fi Week Special!
Before being co-opted by marketing professionals and TV
networks to publicize product releases, Alternate Reality Games (ARG) were a
frontier for the major game publishers to experiment with new types of games. Majestic was one of the first ARGs and
wasn't played with a controller, but instead an innovative combination of phone
calls, emails, instant messages, faxes and online websites.
The game took place in real time and tasked players with
uncovering a sci-fi mystery involving a government conspiracy. Majestic was canceled due to low player
interest, but its sprit lives on in any number of ARGs.
Why it was ahead of
its time: Electronic Arts took a big gamble to create a new type of game
experience unlike anything else. Unfortunately few took notice.
In Looking Glass Studio's Thief: The Dark Project, players assumed the role of the thief
Garrett and needed to use the shadows to conceal their activities. On missions,
players needed to stay quiet and stay in the darkness to avoid tipping off
guards; if players were a little loud, they would pique the interest of the
people around them and if a guard spotted you in full light it meant trouble.
Thief: The Dark
Project was the first game to employ light and sound as a mechanic and was
unlike anything at the time. Light and sound now play heavily into all types of
stealth and even non-stealth games alike. Splinter
Cell, later Metal Gear Solid games
and even Sly Cooper tip their hat to
Thief for pioneering mechanics that are now standard in the stealth game genre.
Why it was ahead of
its time: It was the first game to use light and sound specifically as a
gameplay mechanic and a forefather of the stealth genre.
Sega's 1993 classic fighting title introduced dimension into
the fighting genre. Once defined by characters battling on a 2D plane, Virtua Fighter freed up the genre and
ushered in the next generation of fighting games, like Tekken, Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive.
Why it was ahead of
its time: Virtua Fighter was the
first arcade fighting game to use polygonal 3D graphics.
While nostalgia might pull towards the Genesis version of Shadowrun, the SNES version (a
completely different game) was the version that was well before its time.
Shadowrun was a mature RPG (like Fallout) on a console full of Japanese RPGs.
Shadowrun's freedom in exploration, keyword dialogue system and consequence-laden
environment were unusual for the time and were precursor's to things you see in
today's games.
The keyword dialogue system alone shows that Shadowrun's developers at Beam Software
were experimenting with game design and being forerunners. As you talked to
NPCs in the world, they mentioned words, which you learned and stored in your
inventory to ask other NPCs about later. As you developed a vocabulary, you
were able to talk your way into new sections in the game and moved the story
forward. This wasn't unusual at the time in PC RPGs, but it was completely
foreign in a console game.
Why it was ahead of its
time: Shadowrun was a mature PC-like RPG on a console system. It used gameplay systems uncommon
on consoles.
Arguably the pinnacle of RPGs on the SNES, Chrono Trigger offered a dynamic story
and multiple endings depending upon their actions. Squaresoft incentivized
players to replay Chrono Trigger via
its New Game Plus mechanic. Once a player beat the game and earned one ending,
they could take their experience, items and abilities and replay the game to
find an additional nine endings.
Why it was ahead of
its time: New Game Plus is a fairly standard feature in modern games.
Modern games owe player interest in New Game Plus to Chrono Trigger and its unique incentives.
