What was the last game that really rocked your world? And why?

For me, it's a tossup between Skyrim and Borderlands 1 & 2.  But why?

Because Skyrim (2011) was so immersive and well designed that I didn't care about grinding for mats. Not at all. And Borderlands (2009) had such an amazing ambiance to it's atmospherics, a mish-mash of the old west, steampunk and science fiction, not to mention the endless gun porn.

Games that really rocked my world - I could play any of these right now and still have a ton of fun.

Wolfenstein 3D (1991) - The game that started it all. You haven't lived until you've blasted your way through endless waves of nazis and shepherds and found all the secret doors at two oclock in the morning, when it's minus five outside.

More Americans learned what verboten! achtung! gustafo? and mein lamen meant in 1991 than in any other year.

 

Doom (1993) - Dude. It's fucking Doom, man. C'mon.

And you thought Imps were scary.

 

Quake (1996) - The first truly multiplayer 3D game. Sure, you could play Doom with others but it required a lot of legwork just to play 1V1.  Quake's netcode made it (relatively) easy to play others. CTF as a favorite gametype  was pretty much born here. And there's the Shamblers.

Get ready to get punkd. Punk. - <3 The Shambler

 

Tomb Raider (1996) - I remember emailing friends and family shortly after trying the "beta" before anyone ever heard about this game. I predicted that it would be a huge hit and that they should give it a go. Nobody I knew actually picked up the beta, but after two movies, a pile of fan fiction and at least one amusement park ride later, I can safely say I was probably right on that call.

Yes kids, this was considered too provocative for a video game in 1996 by some reckonings. Heh.

 

From 1997 to 2000 there were a lot of games that I never got to play including Legend Of Zelda:Ocarina Of Time since I never owned an N64. 

Halo (2001) - no further explanation needed.

 

Jet Set Radio Future (2002) - A game that didn't take itself seriously, smooth as glass. Had it's slower moments but overall a cult classic.

Hey! You there! YEAH YOU!

 

Brute Force (2003) - A lot of people hated on this game for generic characters but it's squad based mechanics were innovative (and fun) for the time it was released. Other squad based games were clunky and meticulous.  I loved it but Im definitely in the minority.

Digital Anvil put a lot of love into their game using little more than a skeleton crew, pushing the original Xbox console's limits.

Despite their best efforts, the game was not well received and DA dissolved the following year.

 

Halo 2 (2004) - o rly owl.jpg

This blurry image, taken from a handheld camera shows the world's very first look at the Halo2 battle rifle,

covertly shot during the E3 demo in early 2003.

 

World Of Warcrack (2004)  - This game killed so much of my life I'm not even going to dignify it with a graphic. But I loved it.

Half Life 2 (2004) - Played through this game so many times I lost count.

"Here ya go, Gordon. Start ya off with the most useful weapon in the entire game. Enjoy."

 

Prey (2006) - This game simply creeped the shit out of me. But in a good way. The game was kind of generic but I actually had nightmares from this title. It's a shame that this game was forgotten. I think they waited waaay too long to release it. If they RTMed Prey in 2003/04 it probably would have been huge.

Say wat now?

 

Portal (2007) - I'm only here for the cake. And the love cube thingy.

Hello. Meet your best, and only, new friend in the world.

 

Brothers In Arms: Hells Highway (2008) While the enemy suppression system and "action cam" were not new, they got it right in this game. Environments were beyond incredible.  Story was well done, not half baked.

Ooh, baby.

 

Fallout 3 (2009) - This little number created such a rift in the nerd kingdom that cosplayers still don their real life Pip Boy 3000 even today. Wasted more hours on this game that probably any other game I have ever played.

All you want to do is find out WTF in the back of that derelict truck. Don't you.

 

Skyrim (2011) - The beginning of the end for really awesome story-driven games.

Abso. Fucking. Lutely.

 

Borderlands 1 & 2 (2009/2012)

Borderlands 2 was probably the last game I played where I actually enjoyed blue, purple and orange equipment drops.

 

And there's my list. Needless to say I've tried a few games here and there since 2012 but nothing has really "rocked my world" like the last couple of entries.

Wow. Can't believe I spent two hours compiling this mess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think Red Dead Redemption is the last game to really get me going.

Parasite Eve:

Figured I should only have one Square RPG and this is by far one of their most underrated and relatively unheard of games. Truly fantastic storytelling, a very unique  battle mechanic, and being downright horrifying this game really shaped my childhood and outlook on games. I mean, just look at this shit.

 

.hack// Series:

Innovative story telling through the idea of being trapped in a VR MMO where dying in game meant death in real life (as later seen in anime such as Sword Art Online, etc.) and a persistent save that carried your progress through all four titles of the original series. The idea of simulating an MMO in a strictly single player game really blew me away and still does to this day. Really ambitious series that I wish would make a return. Really fucking expensive games now too, I'm still trying to re-purchase the fourth game and it goes for $100+.

 

Armored Core Series:

What more is there to say other than giant fucking robots that you customize and pilot? So many incredible memories playing these games and extraordinary art and sound design. To this day, the sound of the Karasawa rifle or the over boost takes me right back to the late nights switching off every mission with my brother until we hit a wall. A wall named Nineball Seraph. An enemy that ground into me the importance of bunny hopping and circle strafing.

 

edit: Embedding isn't working right, fight starts at 5:51

 

Valkyria Chronicles:

Absolutely stunning art, likeable cast, enjoyable story, and a unique take on turn based strategy made me fall in love with this game. It more or less filled the hole that was left by Front Mission going to shit, but then both of it's sequels were PSP games and 3 was never even localized.

 

I could go on forever, but these are the lesser known titles that I figured I'd share.

Jet set radio future haha, that's awesome! Completely forgot about that game, but seeing it in the OP definitely gave me some nostalgic feels. The only games that ever really "rocked my world" are Halo 3, MW2 and Maplestory. I have some good memories from all those games.

This thread is yummy. I'll contribute however I can.

Really sleepy right now, but off the top of my head I'll name a couple of games that stick out: Lineage 2 (Korean MMO that defined grind. What WoW should have been like), Heavy Rain (the pinnacle of video game cinema. fully interactive mystery with ensemble cast and more wtf plot twists than anything ever. I can't do this game justice.), Tera (the spiritual successor to Lineage 2 (basically takes a huge dump on WoW's PvP system for free), Final Fantasy 9 (nostalgia + story + classic RPG sex), GTA V (it's the closest thing to a second life as I'm going to get), Read Dead Revolver (every cowboy's dream game), Freedom Fighters (hiding in the sewers and fighting Russian invaders for Murrica), Medal of Honor: Frontline (cinematic FPS WW2 sex), Super Mario and the Legend of the Seven Stars (RPG heaven), Red Faction (destructible environments sex), Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty (greatest action story ever told + sneaking + kung fu + some of the dopest graphics of it's era).

Halo 2 is everything.

Have to say MCC, biggest let down in gaming history. Just a colosal failure, truly amazing.

Pokemons crystal and Colosseum (I remember being blown away by the graphics on Colosseum and dreaming that one day it would look like that on handheld, that day has now come),  Spyro year of the dragon was a blast - i very nearly 100%d it but there was that one 'jack and the beanstalk' egg that was hard as balls, Oblivion was awesome, borderlands 1 was so much fun playing co-op campaign (and borderlands 2 was pretty good aswell), super smash bros melee goes down as my favorite multiplayer game of all time, timesplitters 2 is also some of the must fun i've ever had in multiplayer and finally of course halo 3, the single game i've probably sunk the most hours into. Something that always got me about h3 was the wonder and mystery of all the stuff that could happen, stuff like ricochet snipes, vehicle rubble splatters and so on, i used to just day dream about randomly hitting shit like that at school. There's that one clip by KSI sparky in the top 10 series where he splatters a guy with a mongoose fusion coil chain reaction, and to this day i believe  that that is one of the single greatest things that's ever happened in any video game. Here it is if you wanna see what i'm on about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cLn8wKn740

Red dead redemption bar none. Game is a fucking masterpiece. 

If we're talking about all the games that really enjoyed:

carnivores on pc, as well as the sequel

backyard baseball 2001

red alert 2(yuris revenge)

h1/h2

cod4

black ops

red dead redemption 

Definitely Halo 1-3. All for the multiplayer of coarse. Gears of War 1-3 with Gears 2 being my favorite. Played so much of a broken game. Call of Duty 4 will always have a place in my heart. MW2 as well. If it comes to single player, Bioshock Infinite and The Last Of Us blew my fucking mind. And to be honest, CS:GO is becoming my favorite game of all time.

A lot of the games already mentioned rocked my world. Some that haven't been mentioned: Road Rash, Star Fox SNES, Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Twisted Metal, Destruction Derby, Wipeout 2097, Gran Turismo, Dino Crisis, StarCraft, Frog Fractions, Morrowind, Splinter Cell, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Skate, Mirror's Edge.

Most recent game that blew my mind was DayZ Mod a couple years back (I haven't kept up with the standalone). Maybe I'll post a little write-up at some point.

Pretty much a certain few that'll always have a nice place in my heart. Super Mario 64, Smash Bros. (64), Final Fantasy 13th ( honestly just genuinely  love the graphics and storyline etc), WET, MW3, and Halo 3 multiplayer. 
some that i still havent seen mentioned: need for speed underground, tony hawk underground, sims, diablo, warcraft 3, rollercoaster tycoon
havent seen Age of Empires yet. transport tycoon. Star fox 64. Fable 1. dungeon Keeper 2 (that game had some cutscenes lmao).

Armored Core was crazy cool. Didn't hurt I was heavy into Gundam Wing at the time either. Reading about new AC announcements in gaming magazines was almost as exciting as the Halo 3 teaser. With all those dash movements and menus I figured I would see a PC game at some point, but guess not.

Beyond Armored Core, there was...

Very fun multiplayer. (If you used anything other than wristblades or a combat stike as a predator you are casual scum and would get rekt m8.)

and back on the PS2...

Those MISSION UPDATE moments... Shit got real.



Played the entire series, and most DBZ games on the PS2, but this one stands out as the most fun, primarily because it is the game I've played most with friends. (notably slapping Empty on one occasion.)

 

 

... and all those other secrets/easter eggs.

 

Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Smash on 64, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Vice City. Then the obvious ones.

and back on the PS2...

Those MISSION UPDATE moments... Shit got real.

Oh man, I still get chills listening to this and thinking of that final battle above the Megalith with the Yellow's. That series was so good, I hate that we haven't had a full game since 6. Infinity and it's pay to play shit is atrocious.