Welcome back to Part 2 of this series where I go through history to pick out some of the most influential and groundbreaking games that have made an impact on the game industry.
We got a great list of games to dive into today, but if you haven't read the first Part of this series I encourage you to click the link here. Also, if you haven't already, sign up to The Man Behind the Controller's mailing list to be the first to receive new blog updates and posts. Now that's out of the way, let's get into some games!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
You can ask any Call of Duty fan in the world what their favorite COD game is, and most people will agree that Modern Warfare 2 is the best Call of Duty title hands down.
MW2 was really a game changer in the franchise. It wasn’t until the debut of the Modern Warfare titles where COD games started focusing on incorporating storytelling, engaging characters, and interesting environments to bring a compelling experience to the player.
Modern Warfare hit the ground running for this new age of first person shooters, but MW2 built off of that foundation to create a truly new and remarkable campaign. Vibrant and colorful locations, a cast of old and new veteran characters, intense shootouts on vehicles such as boats and ski riders, and a story of national betrayal.
This game had all the right stuff to quickly make it a fan favorite for both veteran and rookie COD players alike and still proves to have one of the best campaigns over 10 years later.
This game, while wonderfully designed, coincidentally, also serves as one of the first worldwide videogame controversies. In MW2, there is a mission where you play as a American spy, under the guise of a Russian terrorist, who shoots down hundreds of innocent Russian citizens in an airport.
The fact that players were in the position of terrorist actions for incredible violence has, even to this day, been met with scrutiny and posed questions such as how much violence is too much and where is the line drawn in these circumstances.
Interestingly, this game is both revered and critically scrutinized by many people and has been a staple in videogame history.
Grand Theft Auto
GTA has been a rising franchise for decades now. One of it’s great appeals, is the ability to release your inner anarchist and cause mayhem in an open world.
No other game lets you steal people’s cars off the streets, blow up a crowd of people with a rocket launcher, and get chased across the city by the police all in one sitting. It offers players a type of release that they can’t get behind their cubicle at the office.
Sure, GTA has been criticized by it’s intense violence and romanticising the life of murderous criminals, and yet it still holds firm today, despite each title being more violent than the last.
Grand Theft Auto was one of the first 3D open world games and laid down the line and standards of freedom and exploration that many other future open world games would adopt from. From the first title that launched on the NES to GTA V and it’s countless expansions and updates, GTA continues to offer something new to players and pushes the envelope on the potential of the open world genre.
It’s hard to imagine a world without GTA and despite it’s M rated nature, I believe the game industry would be very lacking if GTA never existed.
Dance Dance Revolution
Who doesn’t love Dance Dance Revolution? It’s a game you play through dancing. It doesn't get much better than this.
DDR first released in the late 90s and has been a game-changer (literally!) in the arcade and gaming scene ever since. It was such a hit that there would be constant lines of people waiting to play to show off their dancing skillz in the arcades.
Also, since two people could play at a time, it was the ultimate test among friends and rivals to see who was the better dancer.
Before Dance Dance Revolution, no one would have ever thought they could play a game through rhythm and dance coordination. DDR helped inspire other rhythm type games like Just Dance to emerge in the videogame market and paved the way for other physical games like WiiFit in the not so distant future.
Pokemon
Anyone who hasn’t heard of Pokemon must’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years and, if that’s you, I honestly feel sorry for you for missing out on one of the greatest franchises in videogame history.
Pokemon was the first game to introduce a franchise solely based around collecting and battling hundreds of creatures, or “Pocket Monsters” as they’re referred to in Japan. Since its debut in 1996, Pokemon has grown into a huge franchise spanning from games to movies and everything in between.
What makes Pokemon so alluring is that it prompts the player to collect all the creatures they can and train them as their own to get the edge in Pokemon battles. Pokemon’s tag line literally says “Gotta catch em all”!
It’s a super appealing franchise for those who are OCD and want to get 100% completion in games because it capitalizes on this completionist-like mechanic. With so many different styles, personalities and fighting abilities it’s hard not to want to catch them all.
It has inspired other fan favorites series such as Digimon and Yokai Watch and spreads its collect-a-thon influence outside of games into tv shows and card games.
Pokemon has proven to be a cute and fun series throughout the years and is really the first of it’s kind that continues to garner more and more fans to become the ultimate pokemon master.
Journey
Journey is one of the most revered titles in the gaming community.
That game company (yes, that’s the actual name of the company) created a game fueled by a heavily story-driven experience without relying on traditional story elements such as expository background, character introductions or even a single line of dialogue.
There’s no lore to discover to shine light on the world’s background. There was no dialogue between characters to drive the plot, there was only the player and the world.
The player would explore a world whose story was explicitly told by the player’s journey through the atmosphere and environment of the world. The reason why this game gets such high acclaim is that it’s able to take the player on a journey through a power, emotional story driven experience all based around the player just playing the game.
The game focuses on the Hero’s Story structure, which sets up a character, a goal, a seemingly insurmountable evil or obstacle, pitfalls, a climax, and resolution all without a single line spoken.
This allows Journey to create a deeply personal experience by allowing them to discover new secrets of the world and leaving the player curious as to what happens next instead of the game laying it out for them.
This experience is more like a journey instead of a game and has left a mark on the potential that games have to offer us on a deeply emotional level.
That’s it for this round of games. Do you agree with this list? Comment below your thoughts and I look forward to next time.
Dean Willms
Gamer. Designer. Friend.
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