If you don’t know this about me already, I’m really into animations, more specifically videogame animations. I love to see how animators creatively establish a believable and interesting world in games through the art of movement, whether those games be absurd and comical or more serious and realistic. One of the things that makes a game super good and memorable for me is how well the animations work in the game to bring the world to life and make me, the player, feel plugged in and awestruck at the environment around me. That being said, I thought it would be a nice little treat to talk about my top 5 animations in games, so let’s get into it!
5. Fortnite
Starting out this list, is no other than Fortnite. Now I’ll be honest with you, I don’t really care for Fortnite that much. I don’t think the gameplay is super great and I can’t build to save my life. The only reason I really started playing it was because Epic added the cross play functionality to the game, so I could play with my friends, but after awhile I kinda stopped caring. Now I know what your thinking, “Dean why put Fortnite on this list if you’re not even into the game?” Excellent question reader! While I may not find Fortnite super fun, I’m always blown away by the awesome emotes you are able to pull off in that game. The amount of emotes in Fortnite is crazy. From simple emotes, like waving to insane and complicated dance emotes, there are, to my current knowledge, over 135 emotes you can get in Fortnite.The emotes are very unique and fun and sometimes I just go crazy on my emotes instead of actually playing the game (if you’re not good at the game, might as well try to have fun am I right?). The emotes in Fortnite really help bring personality to your character and I think it’s pretty cool how Epic let’s the player craft their character not only on what skin or costume they’re wearing, but also by what animations they can do. The emotes don’t make you any better at the game, but it allows you to put a little bit of yourself in your character by which emotes you choose to use the most. Besides I can’t think of a better way to celebrate a Victory Royale with a drop the mic emote or, if you’re like me, the good ol’ fashioned default dance emote!
4. Bound
Bound is one of those games that serve more as an interactive art piece than a traditional game. Bound is a platforming game in which you play as a princess who is a ballet dancer. In the game, you move as a ballet dancer does.. You don’t walk in the game, but instead you tiptoe lightly across the floor performing a pointe technique. Instead of jumping like a regular person, you perform a graceful ballet jump. I really like this game because the creative direction to create a game based entirely on the movement of the art of ballet is a concept I’ve never seen before. Also, the ballet movements really made me feel like I was gliding across the world. From jumping between platforms to attacking enemies, I honestly felt like a ballet dancer. Instead of mashing buttons like in Smash Bros, I’m subconsciously planning out my movements. I time my jumps to make it to the next platform, but more importantly to make a graceful landing. The game really makes you feel like you are travelling on air and makes you feel elegant and intentional with each movement you make. It also makes you feel the brokenness of an abrupt break in your continuous movement. Have you ever seen a ballet dancer performing an eloquent dance and all of a sudden they trip and fall? If you have you know how devastating it can be for the performer because the fluidity of their motion is grinded to a violent halt because they made a mistake. Bound emphasizes this feeling of brokenness when you miss time a jump or get knocked back by an enemy. The animations in this game really allow you to take on a unique role that’s different from any other game out there. I would definitely recommend you try out this game if you have the time.
3. Monster Hunter World
Alright so I came a little late getting on the bandwagon when this game came out in January of last year. I started playing it a few weeks ago and I am officially obsessed with this game! There are so many cool aspects of this game that make it great, but the one thing that gets me is the insanely cool animations that really brings the world alive! Every animation in this game has been polished so well that it makes you feel ingrained into the world. The different weapons you can wield have great weight and intention in the animations that it makes you feel like you are actually attacking the monster instead of just mashing buttons. The monsters have such unique and crazy attack animations that I become petrified when I see them start winding up for an attack. The anticipation in the animations is so well done not only to give me a heads up as to what they are about to do, but they also spark a level of fear through their prepped movements. I don’t just think “Ok he’s about to do this attack I got to dodge now.” I’m more like “OH MY GOD HE’S COMING! GET DOWN!!!” (This is not an exaggeration by the way, I have said this out loud multiple times in fear of my life). I think one of the most memorable animations in this game is the one that plays when I order food from the Cantina. If you’re not familiar with the game, they are these cat-like creatures called Palicos that you bring on your hunts to fight monsters or have them cook meals for you that give you buffs to prepare you for especially tough monsters. When you order a meal, a cutscene plays showing all these cats prepare an epic meal for you. It is amazing and adorable and your jaw will drop the first time you see one of these animations. Guaranteed. All these animations are so well done and make you feel a part of the world and it's one of the reasons I can’t put this game down.
2. Spiderman
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big Spiderman fanboy, so it’s no surprise that I would jump at the chance to talk about the Spiderman PS4 game. However, my bias for Spiderman isn’t why this game makes the list, but rather the amazing animation mechanics of Spidey’s famous web swinging. When Insomniac Games first decided to make a game revolving around the friendly neighborhood spiderman, they focused a lot of time making sure they got the web swinging right. They didn’t want to have Spiderman shoot a web straight into the air and magically swing across New York, like it’s predecessor Spiderman 2 that came out on the PS2. I am so grateful that they spent a majority of their time polishing the swinging mechanic in the early production stage because this mechanic would be the staple of the Spiderman game. Now this mechanic was mostly done through programming, but it opens the door for some amazing swinging animations that would make the famous web-head come to life through the input of a button. I don’t know exactly how they did it, but they made the web-swinging in this game feel so freaking good. I literally get a rush swinging around New York and zipping from building to building. When you shoot out a web onto a building and begin swinging forward you can feel the weight and momentum of your swing from the point you first shoot your web to the second you let go and launch yourself. I’m sure the animation and the programming department worked very close together to pull this effect off. When I am traversing through New York I feel unstoppable. From the tricks I can execute in the air to my parkour wall running across buildings, I feel an intense rush traversing the jungle of New York. Even though I’ve completed everything there is to do in this game, I still find myself coming back to it after a stressful day and just swing around New York feeling my heart being lifted with each new web swing. I’ve only felt this way with this game and so, Spiderman PS4 has rightly earned its spot as #2.
1. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
I’ve never played Spyro as a kid because my parents decided I would be born in the late 90's instead of the early 90's, so I missed the first generation when PlayStation first came out and grew up on the PlayStation 2. Therefore I missed out on Spyro as a kid and never got a chance to play it until the company Toys for Bob decided to remake it from the ground up. When I got my hands on this game, I felt like a kid again. I was transported into a cartoonish and imaginative world and I didn’t want to leave. Man this game just blew it out of the park for me! The animators did a phenomenal job in making the world breath life through the different character animations and they followed the 12 principles of animation beautifully. Each character in the game whether it’s an enemy or an NPC has great personalities and traits that are, a lot of the time, shown exclusively through their animations. One of my favorite levels in the game is in Spyro: Ripto’s Rage at the Sunny Beach level. The main goal in this level is to guide some baby turtles to their mother, so Spyro (aka. The player) has to pave the way for them by fighting enemies and moving platforms around. However, these baby turtles aren’t your typical turtles in a boring shell. They are turtles in diapers that walk, talk, and act like babies! These turtles waddle around talking baby talk in diapers like real-life human babies. The baby turtles will sometimes even fall down and cry and throw a little tantrum. It is beyond adorable! When I played this level for the first time, I could barely contain myself by how awesome these turtles were! I thought it was so cool that the developers put so much intention in making these babies have a real presence in the world rather than just an objective I had to complete. While these babies are amazing, nothing really competes with the dancing starfish you find in the level. Yes, you heard me right, a dancing starfish. This starfish is one of the small creatures in the game that you can attack to get some extra health. This starfish is so cool because it dances around the beachfront having the best time of its life. It has hearts for eyes and is just so happy to be alive. The cool thing is that by watching that starish dance and be so happy and carefree makes me happy as well. I am so happy when I play this level because of how these characters and creatures in the game are just brought to life through their animations. If you haven’t played this game and you want to feel like a kid again, quit reading this blog and go out and buy/rent this game. Believe me, it’s worth it!
Well that’s about it. Those are my Top 5 Best Animations in Games. It doesn’t have to stop here though! What are some animations in games that you enjoy? Comment below!
Dean Willms
~Gamer. Designer. Friend.
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