What is the Coolest Game YOU'VE Played?

[Rarefoil]

After I finished watching the Game Dungeon episode on Phantasmagoria 2 and it won the award "Coolest Game I've Played", a thought that keeps cropping up in my head even long afterward is: What IS the coolest game I've played? And what would others say is their coolest game?

 

I know it isn't Phantasmagoria 2. I can completely see why others would see it as cool, but it doesn't do it for me. So what is the Coolest Game to me?

 

When I tried to identify what is the Coolest Game I've Played, the problem I ran into is I think that most of the games that I really enjoy are cool and/or awesome in some way. Sonic, Sam & Max, Doom, Psychonauts, Resident Evil 2 (1998), Devil May Cry, Pac-Man: Adventure in Time, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Spy Fox, Mischief Makers, Viewtiful Joe... it's hard to narrow it down. I was initially going to go back to my childhood in what I considered really cool, which was going to be either Sonic Adventure or Psychonauts. But today, while my love for those games burns ever brighter, I wouldn't say they're the "coolest games" to me today. They're still cool, but I think I can go even cooler. 

 

And so, with some thought, I think I've decided the Coolest Game I've Ever Played is Shenmue 1. 

 

I'm not quite sure why, but I think it's simply due to the game basically fulfilling my ultimate fantasy: being a badass teenaged martial artist wandering around Japan on a epic quest. And all of its fine, insane level of details, while perhaps not making it the most perfect simulation of the real world in 2020, draw me into its world like nothing else and fully immerses me in the role of Ryo Hazuki. It's a life simulator where you play the role of a martial artist, but it's even better than real life, because every location has a music theme, there's colorful characters wherever you go, and there's wrong alleys and shops to go into filled with excitement, ruffians, and sailors. My town doesn't have those things, it just has Walgreens.  And this game has bar fights, martial arts, having to tangle with the seedy underbelly, Chinese mafia, Space Harrier, magical mirrors, all sorts of Japanese and Chinese culture and folklore, cats, soda, and having to unravel the dark secrets of your family as the situation grows far beyond a simple drive for revenge.

 

So I guess I am just be a massive weeaboo after all.

 

Just a shame my copy of Shenmue 1 had a damaged 3rd disc while appearing fine on the outside, always freezes sometime into the game, and the replacement disc I bought on eBay ended up being cracked in shipment.

 

Anyway, if anyone would like to share their Coolest Game They've Played, I'd be interested in what you choose. You'll probably make it a lot briefer than I did. I think this would just be a fun topic, so please share.

Edited September 6, 2020 by Rarefoil (see edit history)

[Luis]

Wow I've always heard Shenmue is amazing but you made the best argument I've heard yet. Any opinions on Shenmue 2? 

I'm definetely getting a dreamcast emulator soon to play it. 

My response would probably be Portal 1 and 2. I love how unconventional the portal mechanics were and GladOS as a character is amazing. I never dove deep into the community made levels but I'm sure you can invest hundreds of hours there and still be amazed. 

[veganbond]

Little big adventure 2

[BTGBullseye]

The coolest game I've played is hands-down Shadowrun, with D&D in a close 2nd. Now if you're talking about video games, that's a more complex and difficult to answer topic.

 

I'd have to put down Space Pirates And Zombies as the coolest 2-person indie studio title...

Probably have to say classic World of Warcraft (NOT WoW Classic) as the coolest MMO...

Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour as the coolest RTS, with Star Wars Empire At War in a close second place...

Need for Speed Underground 2 as the coolest racing game... (even though I prefer the original Underground for the gameplay)

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag is the coolest 3rd person RPG...

Age of Wonders 3 is the coolest turn-based strategy...

Pixel Piracy is the coolest whateverthehellitis...

XCOM 2 is the coolest turn-based tactical strategy...

Planetside 2 is the coolest F2PMMOFPSRPG...

Portal 2 is the coolest first-person puzzle game...

War Thunder is the coolest F2P war vehicle simulator...

Fallout 4 is the coolest singleplayer FPSRPG...

Black Mesa is the coolest remake FPS...

 

I could go on for pages...

[CD-ROM Fossil]

I have three that come to mind.

 

1: This is ganna sound kinda lame but SWAT 3. The voice acting and sound alone makes it one of my favorite games of all time. However, the missions is what makes it cool. It's all believable stuff (for the most part) and avoids the doomsday type scenarios like Tom Clancy games. A memorable mission is responding to a home invasion where you rescue children. Before each mission you get a briefing that sounds like a real life law enforcement briefing. I love this game so much. Coolest shooter for sure.

 

2. Wing Commander 3. The best FMV acting and amazing flight. Super rewarding game. It's hard to put into words why this game is the coolest flight game out there. If it wasn't for the FMV...I'd put Elite plus here. Both are some of the coolest space combat games out there.

 

3. Sim Ant...a crazy idea that's crazy fun. Man I miss the old days of Maxis. But anyway this wins coolest idea that actually turned out well.

 

I honestly could get going but those are my top 3 or so. Coolest games I've ever played.

 

 

[Gorilla]

This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime situation that I was lucky enough to experience.

 

It was early october friday in 2010.

I had seen a few mentions about "Amnesia the dark descent" online, and without any further research, figured that it was probably an atmospheric walking simulator along the lines of Dear Esther. ( Yup. That was bizarrely enough my assumption at the time ). 

 

Not expecting the game to be be even remotely frightening, I was determined to try and enjoy the things atmosphere to the fullest. 

 

So, having been avoiding spoilers, trying to maximize the games impact, I got the game, installed it and made sure it was properly setup.... Then I waited for the evening.

 

Started playing the thing around 7 or 8pm. Lights out, headphones on, completely empty, dark and silent house, doing my damnest to maximize the effect and the atmosphere of this "art game"...

 

Well... The end credits rolled around midday the next day.

It was hands down the coolest and the most immersive gaming session I have ever had, and probably ever will have.

 

I distinctly recall being at the morgue ingame and seeing sunbeams coming through the shuttered ingame windows, and looking at my own window splling the morning light behind the curtains at that very same moment.

 

Needless to say, I got the absolute maximum impact from this "art game", which turned out to be the scariest horror game I had ever played, given the circumstances and the immersion factor....

 

SInce then, I have never managed to duplicate the situation, as it's just not the same, when you know what you are getting into from the get-go.

 

 

[Eshanas]

X-com: UFO Defense (1994) hands down. It mixes everything I love. Base-building, tactical gameplay,  a huge scale and scope. To date no game has surpassed it, and only a few have come close such as Terror From the Deep, Terra Phoenix, 

 

A close second would be Fallout: New Vegas. Again - big scope, your actions have consequences, modability, and replayability. And it's half cooked, too! You can add a whole second layer to it, such as more quests per town, a whole questline about swayying towns over, fill in the Legion side of the map, etc.

 

A third is Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. Again, big scope, multiple paths, replayability, modability. The epitome of 4x so far.

 

 

 

[kerdios]

22 hours ago, Eshanas said:

A third is Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword. Again, big scope, multiple paths, replayability, modability. The epitome of 4x so far.

wait! do you mean the expansion on it's own? the game with all the expansions up to it including it? the vanilla game alone wasn't good? (I tried playing the vanilla but my pc couldn't handle the graphics at the time)

[Eshanas]

1 hour ago, kerdios said:

wait! do you mean the expansion on it's own? the game with all the expansions up to it including it? the vanilla game alone wasn't good? (I tried playing the vanilla but my pc couldn't handle the graphics at the time)

The vanilla was 'good' (i still have the og manual, one of the books I'll take to my grave) but the expansion vaults it to being superb. I have both the original, warlords, BTS, and colonization on my steam profile now and I just play BTS alone. It comes with everything beforehand save a few scenarios, so it's no biggy.

Edited April 21, 2020 by Eshanas (see edit history)

[kerdios]

I still have civ1 original manual, and maybe even the tech tree sheet somewhere

 

[Shizu]

Coolest game I've ever played? That is a tough one to narrow down.

 

Time Splitters was a phenomenal FPS game. I remember having the absolute shit scared out of me fighting the zombies in the first mission.

The Matrix: Path of Neo was probably one of the coolest adventure/fighting games I played for the PS2.

Left 4 Dead was also a great FPS, but its dark atmosphere was what did it for me the most.

Valiant Hearts was one of my favorite story-driven games despite being published by Ubisoft.

 

 

 

[cellargoat]

Honestly I have no idea, played so many games.

 

But... I guess I would pick Nier Automata as it does a lot of really, really cool stuff.

 

Another game I would pick would be Earthbound, again: does lots of cool stuff.

 

And Papers, Please. And Super Meat Boy. And Grim Fandango. And Neverhood. And... Aaaaah. You see? Played way too many games, I could go on and on.

[Bench]

I've played a lot games over the years, really hard to narrow that down.

 

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, was an awesome 3D mascot platformer with collectibles but the tech for the time and immersive gameplay was just really cool. It was one of the first games in my life that had seamless loading transitions, a day night cycle and you could see the whole game world in the distance from every location via landmarks. The whole series is super cool and very fun to play (The Naughty Dog made ones, we don't talk about...that Jak & Daxter game.) with tight controls.

 

When it comes to PC though, there's more, and it's ultimately the two greatest shooter franchises of all time in multiplayer: Quake & Unreal Tournament.

What more is there to say really? Just bad ass, balls to the wall action with a perplexingly high skill ceiling, so many game modes you're just spoiled for choice. There's a reason there's still people playing these today, me being one of them. Personal favourites are Quake Live and Unreal Tournament 2004 respectively but most games in both series have merit and are absolutely worth playing. Shout out to Diabotical for keeping AFPS going with a boat load of QoL features and more accessible settings, though it does have growing pains in its second season right now with no way to host/rent permanent server space as of yet. I hope they refocus their goals with the game soon because it deserves success in my opinon.

 

The most modern game to have released the impressed me to no end has to be the Total War: Warhammer games. The detail and dedication to the old world makes me want to cry with joy, and the spectacle of the battles is so unbelievably cool to watch unfold. If only the old world was still around on the table being updated...soon. Soon.

 

To condense it down for a top 10, here's how I'm feeling at the moment for brevity;

 

1. Unreal Tournament 2004

2. Quake 3: Arena/Quake Live

3. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

4. Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2

5. DotA 2

6. Awesomenauts

7. Rising Storm 2: Vietnam

8. Skater XL

9. Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

10. Elite Dangerous

[Im_CIA]

11 hours ago, Bench said:

I've played a lot games over the years, really hard to narrow that down.

 

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, was an awesome 3D mascot platformer with collectibles but the tech for the time and immersive gameplay was just really cool. It was one of the first games in my life that had seamless loading transitions, a day night cycle and you could see the whole game world in the distance from every location via landmarks. The whole series is super cool and very fun to play (The Naughty Dog made ones, we don't talk about...that Jak & Daxter game.) with tight controls.

 

When it comes to PC though, there's more, and it's ultimately the two greatest shooter franchises of all time in multiplayer: Quake & Unreal Tournament.

What more is there to say really? Just bad ass, balls to the wall action with a perplexingly high skill ceiling, so many game modes you're just spoiled for choice. There's a reason there's still people playing these today, me being one of them. Personal favourites are Quake Live and Unreal Tournament 2004 respectively but most games in both series have merit and are absolutely worth playing. Shout out to Diabotical for keeping AFPS going with a boat load of QoL features and more accessible settings, though it does have growing pains in its second season right now with no way to host/rent permanent server space as of yet. I hope they refocus their goals with the game soon because it deserves success in my opinon.

 

The most modern game to have released the impressed me to no end has to be the Total War: Warhammer games. The detail and dedication to the old world makes me want to cry with joy, and the spectacle of the battles is so unbelievably cool to watch unfold. If only the old world was still around on the table being updated...soon. Soon.

 

To condense it down for a top 10, here's how I'm feeling at the moment for brevity;

 

1. Unreal Tournament 2004

2. Quake 3: Arena/Quake Live

3. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

4. Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2

5. DotA 2

6. Awesomenauts

7. Rising Storm 2: Vietnam

8. Skater XL

9. Hot Dogs, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

10. Elite Dangerous

I have a hard time deciding what I enjoy more: TPL or Jak II

[Deep Dive Devin]

Both the Jet Set Radio games, easily. Stylish aesthetic, Naganuma's awesome OST, magnetic skates, grinding rails all the way up buildings, giant mechs and assassins chasing you, and toppling a totalitarian police state with nothing but spray paint. I really hope Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a worthy spiritual successor.

[BTGBullseye]

22 hours ago, Bench said:

When it comes to PC though, there's more, and it's ultimately the two greatest shooter franchises of all time in multiplayer: Quake & Unreal Tournament.

What more is there to say really? Just bad ass, balls to the wall action with a perplexingly high skill ceiling, so many game modes you're just spoiled for choice. There's a reason there's still people playing these today, me being one of them. Personal favourites are Quake Live and Unreal Tournament 2004 respectively but most games in both series have merit and are absolutely worth playing.

You should give Tribes 2 a try sometime... It's still going in multiplayer despite being 21 years old, and you haven't seen "skill ceiling" until you've seen a spinfusor snipe of one flying guy by another from the equivalent of 500m. (repeated every round or two, no cheats needed)

[Lucky_Strikez]

Tribes 2 was awesome. Magic Carpet 2 was the one for me, I started playing the game during christmas vacation when I was in school, and next thing I know I had played all the way into the next day. Some of those levels were tough when you had to battle four other wizards!

[StrixLiterata]

Hmm, difficult decision, but there are six games that really impacted me jostling for that position.

Ordered by when I played them, they are:

• Red Faction Guerrilla. I found it in a Gamestop's bargain bin for 1 euro, and brought home the first and only game to have complete building destructibility. The only conceivable fault of this game are the cringey cutscenes, but they're rare and always under a minute, then it's back to rigging condos to fall on convoys, ramming through buildings to save the hostages within, "stealthily" taking down guards through walls with a sledgehammer, and demolishing skyscrapers with HE missiles.
• Lonely Star. This little indie caught me by surprise at every turn: I thought it'd be just kinda neat, but I found magical realism, well-realized combat that is both technical and hectic, a story that swerves in the psychedelic and magical while never losing sight of reality and mundane human concerns, and the raddet music a one-man team has ever made. Don't be scared away by the fact that it's technically a Demo: it's a complete short game in it's own right.
• Supraland. As I've said before, this is a really good puzzle-metroidvania, but the reason it's so cool is that it's so much bigger than it looks: it's an explorer's paradise, and the secrets aren't dinky little secret rooms either.
• Far Point. My first VR game (specifically for PSVR), and a good medium-length FPS with a well realized story. Long before Half-Life Alyx, this game let me experience the visceral scare of having a headcrab jump at my face.
• Disco Elysium. I loved the art and it's special system for tying together personality and skills ever since I saw it's webpage, and was delighted to see it would come out that same year. I played it non-stop from release to finale and was awed by every second. The big gutpunch moment really had me cry in shock: the first and last moment a game managed such a feat. Everything about this game feels awesome and miraculous.
• Umurangi Generation. This game is cool in the most literal sense: the music, the NPCs, the expressive photography you do, even the developer himself (ThorHighHeels) ooze a quirky, cunter-cultural air of cool.

[StrixLiterata]

On 3/11/2020 at 5:13 AM, Luis said:

Wow I've always heard Shenmue is amazing but you made the best argument I've heard yet. Any opinions on Shenmue 2? 

I'm definetely getting a dreamcast emulator soon to play it. 

My response would probably be Portal 1 and 2. I love how unconventional the portal mechanics were and GladOS as a character is amazing. I never dove deep into the community made levels but I'm sure you can invest hundreds of hours there and still be amazed. 

If you don't want to ruin your childhood, don't. Let Shenmue rest in the pink mist of nostalgia.

[ekket]

I'm going to have to say System Shock 2, hands down (though System Shock's not too far off, I haven't completed it yet). The way the game handles the cyberpunk aesthetic is amazing, and so is the soundtrack (and I needn't mention the sound design[!]). Though at its core, it's a survival horror game, there's a good progression in that you get to be just that more imposing by the end. Sure, the game does get pretty tough, especially in Engineering, but that just makes it that much more worthwhile. Being an immersive sim, there are also lots of gameplay systems that all come together to form a great game.

 

I guess the “nah” in the ending is kind of a mismatch, but I like it for what it really is — giving SHODAN the middle finger.