Every now and then a game will be released that has a magic formula: a combination of controls, look, sound and gameplay that all comes together and just ‘feels’ right. Here are five examples of just that.
1. Skate – Xbox 360
Cool is a very subjective thing. You can’t describe or force it but when something’s cool, you absolutely know it.
Skate is cool.
From the Booker T. and The MG’s’ Green Onions playing on the menu, to the revolutionary (at the time) control system and the environment created in the fictional town of San Vanelona, it all came together in a way that just worked. Throw in a perfectly balanced soundtrack, range of clothes, great injury mini-game and intuitive replay system and you had a game that got skateboarding right.
2. Batman: Arkham City – PlayStation 3
Batman: Arkham Origins showed that you can have the best game mechanics in the world but if you throw in a poorly paced plot, an extended map that was designed weakly and clunky menu design, you can spoil a lot of the good work done by your predecessors.
You can tell it was made by a different team than Arkham City, which set the bar bloody high.
An amazing story that’s well written and acted, exceedingly well paced in terms of gameplay and cinematics, and side-quests that are just distracting and testing enough. Then come the controls, the stealth, the gadgets. If you want to know what it’s like to be Batman then play this game. No pressure Arkham Knight, no pressure…
3. Gears of War – Xbox 360
Big hulking men, all military testosterone stereotypes shooting the bejesus out of their invading foes sounds like the premise of an 80s Schwarzenegger film. If I’m honest, Gears of War could (should!) have been a movie from that decade. There’s nothing complicated about the plot: all you have to do is go from A to B and mow down everything in your way.
So how does it get it right?
Cover, fire, ingenious active reload system and a chainsaw strapped to the base of your primary weapon. Playing the game puts you in the middle of that Arnie flick, one of his comrades, fighting side by side with the great man himself. The enemies feel threatening, the weapons feel powerful, the impact of each bullet hits home. It feels right.
4. Sorcery – iPad
Sorcery brought the choose-your-own-adventure books into the twenty-first century like none before it. The scroll-like page design, the character pieces that move along the map, hand-drawn art and good use of sound fit the tale perfectly. Simple but effective touchscreen controls and basic role-playing elements add an extra twist to keep the title from being just a story with multiple routes.
It’s digital books done right.
Super Mario World – SNES
Gaming perfection. If you’ve played it you’ll know that nothing feels wrong, everything feels right.
And if that wasn’t enough, it introduced the world to Yoshi. Truly a game that got everything right.
