Recommendations Part 2: Gameplay

    

     For obvious reasons, gameplay is important to a game. But that seems to go over people's heads. Some games just feel clunky. Little to no love went into it, hoping to get by on interesting concepts alone. Yooka Laylee and Mighty #9 are perfect examples. They tried to ride the coat tails of their predecessors of Banjo-Kazooie and Mega Man. Even having the original creators and, in the case of Yooka Laylee, the original composer. But both games felt half-assed. They were glitchy and felt like fan games of the predecessors. 

    Some games seem great in retrospect, but when re-visited, don't stand the test of time. Often times people see a childhood game through rose colored glasses and can't see what's wrong with it. I've been recommended Shadow of the Colossus since it came out. When I finally played it, I was incredibly disappointed. The controls were some of the most frustrating I've ever used. Clunky and just awkward. But people still rave about it. It's well loved. It's very well possible I'm like that. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are a lot less smooth and reactive as games like Dark Souls and even newer Zelda games like Breath of the Wild. But I think it's still important to play them, just to understand why games are they way they are now. N64 Zelda games inspired so many 3rd person adventure games we have. I still think they're fantastic games even though their gameplay is a little spam-y. 


    But what makes a good game? Well, it's simple: the creators put love into how their game plays. They wanted it to feel natural. Some games have simple controls and some complicated. How complicated or simple they are doesn't affect how good a game is. Again, for this list, The numbers aren't necessarily rankings, just general thoughts and I will group some games that are closely related. It's not a strict list and is always subject to change, because we all are. 

List 2: Games I Recommend for Gameplay.

1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask (Hero of Time Saga). You all knew this was coming. I recently replayed Master Quest (A more difficult version of Ocarina of Time where dungeon puzzles are different), and it's still good. Yes you can kill most enemies by spamming stabs with the Biggoron Sword, but gameplay isn't just fighting here. The puzzles, finding of secrets, and fighting all together create a masterpiece. I think the gameplay on the 3DS enhances the experience with motion controls when aiming, but play whichever you think is better. Majora's Mask played basically the same, but implementing the 3 day cycle, creating a sense of urgency and new problem solving of keeping tabs on people's schedule and planning out your run. The uses of the masks made you have to think in more dimensions than OoT. Overall they're fantastic games.

2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I put this as a separate listing because it's so different from OoT and MM. The game came to be because of the complaints about the previous 3D Zelda title: Skyward Sword being far too linear. Breath of the Wild looked back on the series roots of the very first game. You could go anywhere in it. When designing BotW, they even created a version that looked and played like a more advanced version of the original NES Zelda game just to test concepts. Because of this planning, the game is near perfect. Any obstacle in the game has options when it comes to completion. The game challenges you of pre conceived notions of how games work. A difficult tilt puzzle can be solved by flipping the map over or catapulting the ball to the end. The game is hilarious in the fact that you feel like you can do so much. Nintendo even left in glitches that allow players to launch themselves across the map. One thing is there are ideas in the game such as the glider that I thought of for my games too. Now it'll look like I copied them. At least I know the ideas work really well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Super Mario 64 and Odyssey. I chose these two specifically because they feel the best. Mario 64 defined 3D platformers. 3D was really new around the time of release and no game company really knew what they were doing. Sure we had a couple 3D games before its release like Sonic 3D Blast and Bubsy 3D, but they sucked. The controls were either like walking on ice or super stale. The environments weren't flushed out and were repetitive. Nintendo put a lot of care and time into how Mario 64 played. So much so that they built the world around that and needed to push back the release date. The levels were like playgrounds that changed depending on what star you were going for, keeping the areas feeling fresh. This game showed the potential of 3D games. As you can probably gleam from my posts, I am a huge fan of 3D games. Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time were the trend setters. Mario Sunshine and Galaxy were fun but I feel like they didn't push the envelope or really improve upon the general playstyle much; only opting to have some gimmick that felt like it had potential but didn't quite get it. Sunshine had a lot of weird mechanics and "glitches" that made a lot of the levels unnecessarily frustrating. Galaxy added in the spin, which I think gave a few more options in how you traverse the levels, however Odyssey brought it home. Yes, it had a gimmick, but the gimmick in Odyssey (throwing your hat to possess beings or to bounce off) felt natural. Easily flowing between obstacles possessing, hopping out, tumbling, diving, it all just flowed into one another. Even after hours of playing it, I still find new ways to use these many simple mechanics to get to weird places.

4. Super Smash Brothers series. I'm not the biggest fan of fighting games. Soul Caliber, Street Fighter Mortal Kombat, Guilty Gear; they all were complicated and kinda felt the same. I get the appeal, but they aren't for me. Smash Bros, however, felt as though they just made a platformer into fighting game. The attacks are straightforward and don't require a complicated memorization of button combinations. Each character has the same general controls, but they all feel different. Success depends on how you utilize each characters strength and weaknesses as well as how you control them around the map. Each smash bros game feels different and it's up to each player to decide their favorite.

5. Banjo Kazooie. This game was released around the same time as Super Mario 64, but took 3D platforming in a slightly different direction. They kept the same design of going into levels through a central hub, but the way these levels are traversed doesn't just revolve around just how you control the character (s) but also based round abilities you unlock as you progress through the game. These can allow you to do abilities like climb up steep slopes, shoot eggs, ground pound, fly, fart grenades and more. All in a quirky, cartoon like world. It's a shame Nintendo lost the rights to the series and Microsoft has no clue what to do with the series. At least they put the titular characters in Smash Bros. 

6. Soulsborne series. Soulsborne, for those who don't know, is every Dark/Demon Souls type game by Fromsoft. So like Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring. Yeah, I know, Dark Souls again. I'll keep it quick. These games are based around combat. There are some platforming sections, but they are probably the worst part of the games. While the combat kinda differs between games, the general feel is the same: Incredibly difficult combat that has Ocarina of Time influence. It's a type of game that really flows well and each one changes it up enough where they feel different while keeping the same basic formula. There's a reason so many games now are defined as "Souls-Like" and are an inspiration for so many game designers.

7. The Orange Box (Portal, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2). This set of first person shooting games released in 2007 still stands the test of time even after so many first person shooters from the time fell off. Valve was at a peak at this time. Portal was a final add on to the box and was inspired by a similar game called Narbacular Drop. In this game, your gun is a portal creation device and instead of fighting enemies, you solved puzzles. It's a short story that can work well as an introduction into first person shooters. Half-Life 2 was revolutionary with its physics engine, selection of weapons and how the linear world was made to feel more open. Playing the first one helped understand the story but the second one is what brought in a lot of players. While you can no longer play TF2 from the Orange Box directly anymore, the community is still thriving through Steam. It captured the hearts of many players with its quirky art style and none too serious gameplay that gave way to most other player v player games such as Overwatch and Valorant. The game featured 9 classes to switch between with different weapons and abilities. You could unlock more weapons and accessories causing the game to be infamously declared "the game with all the hats." Even though the game is thriving, it's pretty broken. It has always been broken. With hackers and mods and glitches, this game is utter chaos. While there is a hacker and bot community that can kinda ruin it, most of these other issues are more gameplay features. 

8. Paper Mario (1&2). The first two Paper Mario games are turn based RPG's. If anyone knows me, they know that's a bit of a turn off for me. These games, however were fun, quirky, customizable and interactive. A huge problem I have with most turn based RPG's is they are long and complicated and can be stressful at times. Often these games rely heavily on random change which makes the games feel unfair if you are just having an unlucky day. Paper Mario keeps it simple but leans in heavily into the paper motif. The combat is interactive, putting in different quick time events for different attacks; so any failed attack feel like it's your own fault. Outside battle, you gain allies and abilities that allow you to traverse the world and find secrets. With Paper Mario games after these two, the gameplay is much different. The third one (Super Paper Mario) felt more like a Mario game but in 2.5 Dimensions with no turn based combat. While the story of the 3rd one is really well done (I need to add it into my previous list now that I remembered it) the gameplay is pretty cut and dry.

9. Fire Emblem Awakening. I know I just went on a little rant about how I don't like most turn based games, but Fire Emblem is different. Let me explain. Instead of just getting into a battle and hitting different attack buttons, In this game, you manage a squad of characters and command them around a battle field. Before you attack an enemy, you can see hit chances, damage and other stats to help you decide your moves. Different units have strengths and weaknesses to take into account. In all Fire Emblem games before Awakening, when a character fell in battle, they were gone for the rest of the game. That idea deterred many players from the series and it was failing because of that. Awakening was going to be the las game in the series. They added in many features such as casual mode allowing characters to return after a level was completed as well as bonds between characters that can lead to recruiting the characters children who were also based on the stats of their parents. It lowered the bar allowing many more players experience the series which allowed it to persist to this day to make Fire Emblem Fates, which was okay, and Fire Emblem Three Houses, which I was not a fan of. 

10. Kirby Super Star/Super Star Ultra. I love Kirby games. Some I think are better than others. Adventure, 64, Forgotten World, Planet Robobot, Amazing Mirror, Squeak Squad are all amazing games. I chose Super Star for this list, however for a few reasons. One being that it's probably the most accessible Kirby game. Being remade and re-released so many times on many consoles. Basically being free on the Switch. The game also isn't one big game but a series of smaller games/smaller stories with different gameplay or maps with each one, culminating in one intense and fun ending game that exists as the most memorable Kirby stories. It gives players an overall idea of how kirby games work because different games have different mechanics. I like the idea of how the game mode The Great Cave Offensive gave rise to Amazing Mirror which is my 3rd favorite Kirby game (only gone down because of the recent release of Forgotten World). 

11. Elder Scrolls 3, 4 & 5 (Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim): Here's a bonus one I wanted to include. Basically these games were released from their least to most accessible games. Marrowind being a bit of a learning curve while Skyrim explains more things and helps with quest markers. So pick your favorite. Mine is Oblivion. Being able to train more skills like jumping and walking made late game incredibly fun and a little humorous. I always remember soft blocking my game because I would get vampirism and then couldn't fast travel without instantly dying..... But Skyrim has been on every console since the Xbox 360. These games hold an incredibly large open world that isn't a collect a thon like most other open worlds like Far Cry or Watch Dogs. Instead it's a flushed out, lore ridden world with random events and a slew of quests. Even when you think you're done, you aren't. Each time playing will also be different. These games define open world games and I look forward to Elder Scrolls 6.

Honorable Mentions: Rayman 2, Wario Land Series, Fable 2, Monster Hunter Series