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Eurogamer's Games of the Generation

Zia

Member
Also, #4 was World of Warcraft. Which... I'd actually forgotten fell within the remit of this generation (IIRC, it hit *just* before the 360). It's absolutely right to include it, though.

There are a few massive PC games that could easily slot into the top two (Minecraft and Team Fortress 2, off the top of my head), but probably won't. My money is on Dark Souls, and one of the Super Mario Galaxy games is a given since I don't think Christian Donlan has done a write-up yet.
 

Eidan

Member
F3 ahead of New Vegas is all kinds of wrong. I absolutely don't see how you can make a case for that. Oh well, opinions..
Fallout 3 was first. Fallout 3 was more successful, thus having a larger impact (hell, there would be no New Vegas if Falliut 3 was a failure). Fallout 3 had a more interesting world.
 
I don't like definite lists, but Portal, RDR and Fallout 3 are very good games. This morning I bought Spelunky and TLoU is hopefully a game, which I can play somewhere somehow in the future.
Hence, not a bad list, but there is so much more. I personally would put Battlefield 1942 on this list.
 

Celegus

Member
Portal 2 sacrificed tight level design for borderline memetic writing and "find the 3 pixel wide white wall to shoot a portal and progress" "puzzles". Portal 1 was way better as a game and had way more cultural impact.

Yeah, and other frustrating elements like "actually having to think about puzzles"

The difficulty in Portal 1 puzzles was trying to figure out the solution. Once you figured it out they weren't that hard to execute.

Most Portal 2 puzzles were extremely easy to figure out almost immediately, but the execution was frustrating and time consuming. To me, this school of thought in puzzle games is a huge failure.

So I'm not the only one after all!

Great list overall, not what I would have personally picked but all of those games have had a huge impact.
 

szaromir

Banned
Yeah, and other frustrating elements like "actually having to think about puzzles"

The difficulty in Portal 1 puzzles was trying to figure out the solution. Once you figured it out they weren't that hard to execute.
Is this for real? There's no difficulty in Protal, the pules are piss easy.
 
Great list overall.

Is it done? I think Gears should have made it, not because it is superb or anything like that, but because it re-shaped the TPS genre for a whole gen.

Or you could say that was done by RE4. In that case, Gears could be out.
 

K' Dash

Member
No Mario Galaxy?

Even if I agree those are excellent games, I can't believe there is not a single Nintendo title there.
 

E92 M3

Member
I stopped caring for these lists after EGM stopped doing their mega-issues. Everyone has their own tastes and opinions. In general, I think lists (in all media) are used to create a little extra revenue on the side because it's so easy to make.
 

mclem

Member
Great list overall.

Is it done? I think Gears should have made it, not because it is superb or anything like that, but because it re-shaped the TPS genre for a whole gen.

Or you could say that was done by RE4. In that case, Gears could be out.


Two more to come. That said, I've put my predictions for them on the previous page, and Gears isn't one of them.

No Mario Galaxy?

Even if I agree those are excellent games, I can't believe there is not a single Nintendo title there.
Not done yet, and I suspect SMG may well take one of the remaining slots (and one of the Souls titles the other). I'm stuck mentally on a two out of three of SMG, DS and Minecraft to fill the remaining slots, and I keep going back and forth on which one is likely to miss out.
 
There are a few massive PC games that could easily slot into the top two (Minecraft and Team Fortress 2, off the top of my head), but probably won't. My money is on Dark Souls, and one of the Super Mario Galaxy games is a given since I don't think Christian Donlan has done a write-up yet.

Dark Souls will be Rich Stanton if I had to bet, he's gone on record saying that his favorite game of all-time
 
Fallout 3 was first. Fallout 3 was more successful, thus having a larger impact (hell, there would be no New Vegas if Falliut 3 was a failure). Fallout 3 had a more interesting world.

And it was way, WAY worse a game. Is this list about the most influential or best games?
 
Dark Souls:

Tom Bramwell said:
I haven't played Dark Souls for over a year, and anyone who has played it extensively is going to find it infuriating to discover where I am: I'm at the end of Sen's Fortress, just before the fight with the Iron Golem. I know! I haven't even made it to Anor Londo yet and it's right there! I'm not stuck. I just haven't done it yet.

Perhaps that's because I'm slightly intimidated by Dark Souls, even after the 25 hours it took me to reach that last bonfire before the rooftop. When I arrived at Sen's Fortress, I felt strong and confident. I had survived Darkroot Garden and Midnight Butterfly, Blighttown and the Depths, Gaping Dragon and the Capra Demon. I had spent an entire day grinding for XP in the Undead Burg, listening to NPR Planet Money podcasts on my laptop. (I have no idea if the former was wise or not, but the latter is always recommended.)

As I walked up the Fortress steps, past the spot where I had once encountered an onion knight (not to be confused with that impostor in Game of Thrones), I thought I would be overmatched for whatever lay within. I didn't kid myself that I had out-levelled the rest of the game - I knew better than that, at least - but I was hoping for a bit of respite. Maybe a couple of hours where I could let my concentration slip and coast a little.

I can't remember if it was the first Serpent Soldier I encountered who pasted me all over the floor, but if it wasn't him then it was the arrow trap I didn't notice I was triggering as I panicked at the sight of him. Next time, I made it past this room onto a narrow walkway punctuated by swinging blades. I was sent flying into the gloom below either because a hidden Serpent Soldier came running at me and I lost my footing, or possibly because I was knocked back by the Mage casting lightning spells from a distant platform. I can't remember which of these fates befell me first, I should say - they both did for me at some point.

My money is on Uncharted 2 being the final game.
 
Liked the Dark Souls write-up. I was sure Galaxy would be in there at some point but top spot?! I don't know... Doubt it'll be Uncharted 2, they already had one Naughty Dog game and there's been a bit of an Uncharted backlash in the last couple of years. #1 will either be Galaxy or something out of left field.
 

system11

Member
I don't envy them trying to publish a list of the best games, there's over 1000 titles just on the 360 alone. Really don't agree with Journey being there to be honest now that I've had a chance to try it, SF4 is a surprise excellent pick. Fallout 3 was impressive in scope but I personally found it lacked character and quickly traded it in.

I made an unordered list of 20 games that I really enjoyed this generation, just things I actually paid for, and played through to the end in all but one case.

http://blog.system11.org/?p=434
 

Cyrano

Member
Games of the generation eh...?

Pokemon
? ;)

I always hate seeing these threads though. Just shows that it's unlikely I'll ever find a game website I can go to for articles.
 

system11

Member
Games of the generation eh...?

Pokemon
? ;)

I always hate seeing these threads though. Just shows that it's unlikely I'll ever find a game website I can go to for articles.

Inevitable really with such a long generation. There's not a single site I agree with consistently, EG reviews in isolation are some of the ones I agree with least though.
 

Cyrano

Member
Inevitable really with such a long generation. There's not a single site I agree with consistently, EG reviews in isolation are some of the ones I agree with least though.
It's not so much about agreeing or disagreeing, just the writing quality and how consistent these lists all seem to be. The problem with the game writing industry isn't about whether or not people like or dislike certain games, it's that almost none of them can write coherently and consistently as to why they like them. It's creepy how much backdoor fellatio must be occurring in order for so many games to be so consistently in these lists.
 

Hypron

Member
Sadly, Bioshock 1 isn't in this list. :/

GrumpyCatGOOD.jpg
 
Bioshock and Arkham City deserve to be on the list.

Is the list done?

One more game tomorrow. They said they're going to publish the entire top 50 that was voted upon, though. From yesterday onwards, though, it's the top three. So...

Third - Spelunky
Second - Dark Souls
First - ???
 

Creaking

He touched the black heart of a mod
I don't like definite lists, but Portal, RDR and Fallout 3 are very good games. This morning I bought Spelunky and TLoU is hopefully a game, which I can play somewhere somehow in the future.
Hence, not a bad list, but there is so much more. I personally would put Battlefield 1942 on this list.


A PC game from 2002? That's last gen at least.
 

pooch

Neo Member
Poor review of Dark Souls. Not sure why they didn't get Rich Stanton to do it rather than somebody who confesses to being less than half-way through. Oh but it has some New Games Journalism personal anecdotes in so what need of actual insight eh?

My prediction for the #1 is Minecraft.

Cyrano:
It's not so much about agreeing or disagreeing, just the writing quality and how consistent these lists all seem to be. The problem with the game writing industry isn't about whether or not people like or dislike certain games, it's that almost none of them can write coherently and consistently as to why they like them. It's creepy how much backdoor fellatio must be occurring in order for so many games to be so consistently in these lists.

Agreed completely. You can predict pretty accurately what these lists will feature, including the (small) variations between each site. One part of me thinks it is writing to your target market (in the same way you can easily predict the slant each newspaper will put on the same events), but the larger part agrees with you that there is not actually the critical faculties to make proper judgments, and so these reviewers' actual opinions all creepily cohere in a mutually reinforcing cycle.

A good illustration of both points is Eurogamer's recent ocarina retrospective. The genesis of the piece starts from the truism that Ocarina is, and always will be, the best of all time and just goes to town with literally meaningless (seriously, read it) homilies to its unquestionable greatness. There is no analysis in there whatsoever.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Poor review of Dark Souls. Not sure why they didn't get Rich Stanton to do it rather than somebody who confesses to being less than half-way through. Oh but it has some New Games Journalism personal anecdotes in so what need of actual insight eh?

My prediction for the #1 is Minecraft.
Has to be.
 

mclem

Member
Poor review of Dark Souls. Not sure why they didn't get Rich Stanton to do it rather than somebody who confesses to being less than half-way through. Oh but it has some New Games Journalism personal anecdotes in so what need of actual insight eh?

Well, it's not a review, as such, is it? It's an opinion piece looking to reflect the feel of the game and why it's special. And, let's be honest, the importance and impact of failure in the game - and the associated difficulty - is a significant component of the appeal of it.

I was actually expecting a Souls game to take the top spot, so I'm a little surprised it's #2. Well, unless Demon's Souls is #1, but I doubt that. I can only see it being Minecraft or SMG for the last one; for me, SMG would take it.
 

Yagharek

Member
Eh, I can easily see Halo 3, Call of Duty: Something (probably MW), Minecraft, Skyrim, GTA 4 or 5, Bayonetta, Fez, Super Meat Boy, Oblivion, Orange Box, Mass Effect (2 most likely), The Walking Dead or Bioshock getting picked before Super Mario Galaxy.
 

pooch

Neo Member
Well, it's not a review, as such, is it? It's an opinion piece looking to reflect the feel of the game and why it's special. And, let's be honest, the importance and impact of failure in the game - and the associated difficulty - is a significant component of the appeal of it.

I was actually expecting a Souls game to take the top spot, so I'm a little surprised it's #2. Well, unless Demon's Souls is #1, but I doubt that. I can only see it being Minecraft or SMG for the last one; for me, SMG would take it.

That's a fair point - I suppose its a matter of expectations. It's not a review in the sense we usually use the term in gaming, but it's still a review in that they are justifying why their staff considers the game the second best of the generation. Just seemed very thin for a game which is perhaps especially ripe for analysis.

My view is that this review much better reflects Galaxy's value than the great mass of 97% reviews, but that could take this thread in a different direction...
 

eot

Banned
List redeemed. Though they didn't pick Dark Souls for the #1 spot did they?

edit: yeah Minecraft is more or less the only game I'd be okay with winning over Dark Souls.
 
That's a fair point - I suppose its a matter of expectations. It's not a review in the sense we usually use the term in gaming, but it's still a review in that they are justifying why their staff considers the game the second best of the generation. Just seemed very thin for a game which is perhaps especially ripe for analysis.

My view is that this review much better reflects Galaxy's value than the great mass of 97% reviews, but that could take this thread in a different direction...

That's one of the worst reviews I ever tried to read. Less is more, especially when writing. But he goes on and on and on. What a bloated mess. It's the AC3 of game reviews. It also uses the words 'soul cancer'. I rest my case.
 

pooch

Neo Member
That's one of the worst reviews I ever tried to read. Less is more, especially when writing. But he goes on and on and on. What a bloated mess. It's the AC3 of game reviews. It also uses the words 'soul cancer'. I rest my case.
You are looking at the style, not the substance. It's clear why you're so keen on Galaxy ;)
 

Cyrano

Member
That's a fair point - I suppose its a matter of expectations. It's not a review in the sense we usually use the term in gaming, but it's still a review in that they are justifying why their staff considers the game the second best of the generation. Just seemed very thin for a game which is perhaps especially ripe for analysis.

My view is that this review much better reflects Galaxy's value than the great mass of 97% reviews, but that could take this thread in a different direction...
Much as I'm a fan of Tim's rants, they are oftentimes a bit too rant-y for my tastes. They feel like the travel section of videogames mixed with twenty or so years of bitterness. I like reading them, but they're also reads, and it's hard for me to sit down and escape my own hallucinations about games. Sort of a, "actual conversations about design are hard, ya know?" Tim plays it off all very jovially and I love him for that, but I do find myself distracted by his wordiness at times. Or maybe, thinking about things that aren't games (which might actually be a better way to write about games in the first place).

I suppose what I would really like to read are the stories of a writer playing a game, and I get some of that from a variety of writers; I just feel that it's not really a consistent thing from any of them. Though maybe that speaks to how poor most games are, as I think being able to tell a story from an experience is a result of that experience also being memorable enough to have a story to tell. There are really only a handful of games I can go into any great detail about, and a whole horde of games that I've played and couldn't tell you the first thing about aside from scant details that you could probably glean from a back-of-the-box scan.

Though at the same time, I feel like games of the generation might be selling the generation a bit more than it's deserving of. Just the consummate critic in me I guess.
 
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