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Games Entertainment

2004's Most Creative Games 82

Posted by Zonk from the katamari-revolution dept.
Gamasutra.com has the first in a new series of opinion gathering articles, where individuals can pipe up with their responses to a question of the week. The first query was "What was the most creative game of 2004?" From the article: "Katamari Damacy, hands down. Unique concept. Unique gameplay. Solid execution. And most important of all, it was _fun_."
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2004's Most Creative Games More

2004's Most Creative Games

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  • Amazing (Score:4, Funny)

    by Pan T. Hose ( 707794 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @03:25PM (#11610207) Homepage Journal
    I swear I was just about to write about Zero Wing being the most linguistically innovative game ever and at that very moment I saw--and I still see--a banner saying: "Roses are #ff0000, violets are #0000ff, All my base are belong to you" and it really scared me. Amazing, is it not?
  • there were creative games released last year? after all the sequels i thought it had dried up :)
  • NS, that quite old (2 years now?) Half Life FPS/RTS mod is still the most creative/daunting game out there, imho. Multiplayer FPS/RTS against 2 different sides, one which is ranged, another melee, utlizing different command structures and technology. For multiplayer excitement, nothing beats it. Read more, if you want http://manual.nsguides.org/ [nsguides.org]
  • I'm sad to say, I don't think it'd make the list.

    An awesome game, I loved it. But it wasn't really super creative.
    • It looks like you have your wish because a number of people in that article agreed with you by also mentioning Half-Life 2. I can't say that it would be my first choice, but it is definitely up there.
    • I don't think it tops the list, but it certainly had some creative elements that made for a very fun game. Not least of which is the fact that they didn't just toss in a physics engine and say, "Look, you can knock over the barrels, wheeeeeeeee!" They actually worked to make the physics simulation an integral part of the gameplay by including many puzzles that utilized it as part of the solution.

  • Creativity, not originality (Score:4, Interesting)

    by stpitner ( 164196 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @03:33PM (#11610317)
    At first I was questioning a lot of games on that list. A lot of people talked about Half-Life 2, and then I realized that it was creativity we were looking at for 2004, not originality. That one change in word opened the door for all the sequel games that came out last year. No sequel is going to be loaded with originality since it's the second (or third or fourth or bazillionth) rendition of something that has already been done.

    They have a good choice of games in the creativity department though. Too bad I don't have time to play them all!

  • Satisfing the Need for Something New (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pnice ( 753704 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @03:37PM (#11610404)
    I'm a fan of Katamari Damacy and it's nice to see so many people enjoying such a unique game. It makes me wonder why no company has made it their priority to translate and bring over more unique games from Japan for the American gamer to enjoy.

    Fresh Games (the branch of Eidos) did bring over a few special games (Mr Mosquito, Mad Maestro!) but they pretty much stopped there. Maybe the demand just isn't there....or these games were not quality enough.

    Taiko Drum Master for PS2 is a welcome addition as well but it would still be nice to see Vib Ribbon, Vib Ripple, Mojib Ribbon, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, etc. I know most of those are music/rhythm style games but some of them are great fun and it's a shame they can't be enjoyed by those limited to playing only games without a modchip
    • I don't have exact numbers, but I've been told that most of those games didn't sell very well.

      The critics love them, as do most of the people who actually play them, but they don't have the sales of GTA or Halo.

    • Katamari Damacy was the game of the year.

      It is the killer ap for the video game fan. It is pure fun. How many times does a game come along that has replay value simply because you desparately want to play it again?

      As a die-hard Nintendo fan, I put down the money for a PS2 simply to play this game, and I have no regrets. Games like Katamari Damacy are the reason I play video games.

      God that game is good.
      • "It is the killer ap for the video game fan. It is pure fun. How many times does a game come along that has replay value simply because you desparately want to play it again?"

        That's really it, isn't it. It's fun. You play it again and again for the gameplay - not to admire the flashy graphics or latest effect.
    • I'm hoping that the two-player mode of the sequel doesn't suck as much. That's the only weak part of KD, in that you're competing in a freaking bowl, with nothing but random objects and the chance to pick up your opponent if you were already winning anyhow. A longer time limit for 2-player mode would be nice, too.

      Total coolness could be achieved by having a multi-player LAN mode. (But a KD MMORPG would be going a bit too far.)

    • Its cultural. On the other side of the coin, the Japanese don't get many sports themed games, while games like Madden 200* are bestsellers in the US. Unfortunately most publishers are going for big blockbuster sales, which means less thinking "outside the box."
      • Its cultural. On the other side of the coin, the Japanese don't get many sports themed games, while games like Madden 200* are bestsellers in the US.

        Ummm, you might want to check up on that [ea.com]. The Japanese get plenty of sports themed games, both American and Japanese, including Madden.

        The Japanese get pretty much everything. Their tastes are different - they do not like genres such as fps's that much, and they're obviously not that interested in American football - but that doesn't stop publishers from
  • the year of the monkey lacked a monkey ball game. Monkeyball 3 was supposed to come out last year, but now release dates for it vary wildly.
    Shame too, since the first 2 monkey ball games were such a blast(if only they hadn't screwed up monkey golf in monkey ball 2)

  • H8 2 b a gr4mm3r n4zi (Score:3, Funny)

    by ArmpitMan ( 741950 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @03:48PM (#11610586) Homepage
    But teh proper spelling is "Super Soviet Missile Mastar [shopcdsbooks.com]".

    Clearly the editors of that article have never seen Alien Hominid's glorious giant, yellow, pixellated "PWNED" superimposed over a dancing Russian; otherwise they would not have made such a grievous "correction" to two of their posted emails.

  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Xoo ( 178947 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @03:59PM (#11610754) Journal
    Katamari Damacy deserves this award. I won't argue with that.

    But take a look at a little gem of a game called Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater that also happened to be released in 2004.

    Kojima's series has always been innovative in each incarnation, but I think this time he and his team outdid themselves.

    Hunting for food, using trapped animals to distract or attack enemies, feeding enemies poisoned food, interrogating guards, holding them hostage, slitting their throats if you are so inclined... not to mention the new camoflague system that allows you to blend into the environment to prevent being seen.

    Playing this game just feels so badass. I've never played anything like it in my life.

    I felt as though this game deserved a mention in this thread, since in my opinion it's one of the more innovative titles to come out in recent memory :-)

    • Re:Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Game scores, over the ages:

      MGS: 10
      MGS2: 9
      MSG3: 7

      Hmm.

      Seems no one else agrees with you.
      • Game scores, over the ages: MGS: 10 MGS2: 9 MSG3: 7 Hmm. Seems no one else agrees with you. Umm, where did you get your numbers from? I got mine from www.gamerankings.com : MGS: 92.7% MGS2: 95.1% MGS3: 91.4% MGS3 is an excellent game that was overlooked by big names such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and World of Warcraft being released at roughly about the same time.
        • Either way, its proof that the masses don't know what the hell makes a great game. MGS2 is easily the worst of the lot, and rated the best!?! I suspect that the 3rd has some downwards rating force from those unimpressed with mgs2.

    • What's creative about that? These are all things that you could do in real life, and I've seen movies and whatnot where people do those things. Freeform gameplay isn't creative unless you have to do something that you normally couldn't do in that situation. I haven't really played any Metal Gear games so maybe I'm just missing out on the creativity.

      Everything you're talking about sounds like it makes for a great game, but not creative.

      • Sure, it may have been done before in the movies and in real life... however, the implementation of such a system has never been done before in a video game.

        Your point doesn't hold up, because filming a scene in a movie, and creating a scenario for interactive gameplay are two very different things.

        Like I said before, Katamari Damacy is the most original game of 2004... if you don't think highly of MGS3, then play that.
    • In the Commandos series of games, one could use animals (dog) to distract enemies (Nazis), one could poison enemies' drinks with toxic poison, tie up guards temporarily or forever (kill them first), and one could sneak around by avoiding their cone of sight or steal enemy uniforms and dress up as them. There are dozens more possibilities to the gameplay. MGS3 was not that innovative.

  • yay (Score:2, Funny)

    by OmgTEHMATRICKS ( 836103 )
    *Rolls up anyone or anything that doesn't agree*

  • Say what now? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by njfuzzy ( 734116 ) <{ian} {at} {ian-x.com}> on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @04:06PM (#11610849) Homepage
    Katahada Damahoocha?
    • Explanation [justfuckinggoogleit.com].

      (Not explaining acronyms is one thing...)
      • I hate having to explain something like this... But I was actually quoting "Penny Arcade", the source that many people first heard about this game through.
        • Ah, apologies. It's complete impossible to tell that apart from the bitching that has lately come into vogue on slashdot... "Hey, if you're going to post something about HTTP what about explaining the acronym to us?"

  • Psi-Ops (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Thag ( 8436 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @04:15PM (#11610973) Homepage
    Disclaimer: a friend of mine worked on it.

    Nonetheless, it's a nice game that manages to stand out from the field of paramilitary/commando games.

    You play a soldier with psychic powers ranging from telekinesis, to pyrokinesis, to mind control. You're fighting a clandestine group of Very Bad People who are also dabbling in the same field.

    What saves it from being Metal Gear Psychic is the gameplay and the engine.

    The controls are built around being able to use your psychic powers, and they work really well for that, while being very unlike your standard shooter controls. The levels are generally centered around puzzles that involve using your powers in creative ways. There is a nice balance between puzzles that involve stealth, and out and out combat. And the boss battles rock.

    The engine features a very nice physics engine. When crates and boxes are being thrown around, they hit things and tumble around in a way that just seems right. This really grounds everything in reality, which is good for a game with a fantastic premise.

    At any rate, I liked it, and it got solid reviews. I say give it a rental at the very least.
    • This was actually a fun game. I was playing it for awhile until I ran into a Save Game glitch. I didn't feel like backtracking (short attention span).

      The combat system was good. The bosses were cool (took me awhile to beat the big black guy). And I loved the Ragdoll Physics. And nothing beats using telekinesis to toss the bad guys around.

    • Also had really good music. I bought the version that came with the soundtrack CD as done by the band Cold. "With My Mind" is a great song.
  • I loved Katamari Damacy as soon as I started playing it after hunting it down through almost a dozen game stores. The best part of the game though is the difference in reactions you get between telling someone about how the game works and what it is, versus letting someone actually play the game.

    I described it to about half a dozen people and the usual reactions ranged from "sounds weird" to "is this some stupid animu game?". I bring it over and let someone play it and the usual reaction is "where can I fi

  • So that's what it looks like (Score:4, Funny)

    by mollyhackit ( 693979 ) on Tuesday February 08, 2005 @07:14PM (#11613221)
    Katamari Damacy - just in case ever wanted to visualize a slashdotting.
  • Anyone know if there's a gamecube release of KD planned? It seems like a natural Nintendo game, when I first saw it I assumed it was actually on the cube.
    • You know, that isn't the first time I've heard someone say that. Is that what Nintendo's reputation has come to? People see anything vaguely cutesy and/or different and they assume it's a Nintendo product?

      I suppose the ultimate irony is that the answer to your question is No, I don't think a GameCube version has been announced. Seems to be PS2 exclusive, although only for the utilitarian reason that oddball games have a better chance of selling on PS2 purely due to the higher installed user base.

      But whi

      • For me, I figured it was coming out on the Gamecube because the graphical style looked very similar to Cubivore.
        • wow. i thought i was the only one who bought that game! i was so disapointed when i couldn't find the little toys that they advertised in the back of the manual anywhere, would have been great fun to have kicking around my desktop for when i am loading stuff (or should be working...) :-(

      • Re:Gamecube (Score:3, Insightful)

        by raygundan ( 16760 )
        There is some truth in that, in both directions. People see oddball, creative, "cutesy" titles like Super Monkey Ball, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Viewtiful Joe, etc... and think of Nintendo. There are those of us who *like* that sort of thing, and bought gamecubes specifically because of it. And then there's the (larger) crowd that isn't big on that, and avoids the cube like the plague.

        Truth is, the playstation has always had oddball innovative games like this-- Mr. Mosquito, Ico, Parappa the Rapper, ReZ,
        • Rez was originally a Dreamcast game, so it's (just) a port in that sense. People have been finally realizing in this last year the the Gamecube hardware (game library aside) is quite capable - remember when it first came out how everyone sneered and dismissed it as inferior to the PS2 BECAUSE of said 'kiddie games'? Very few people still hold this opinion, but I'm sure there are still some out there blinded to the various weaknesses of the PS2. I say this as a PS2 owner. And a Cube. And XBox. I'd say the
  • "Karaoke Revolution - unique gameplay accessible to gamers and non-gamers alike. Fun to play and fun to watch, proves that playing games can be a sociable activity."

    "Singstar is also another groundbreaking creative breakthrough. The idea of combining karaoke with actual gameplay (being rated on your performance) is simply brilliant, and deserves to go down in gaming history.
    - Soeren Lund, Deadline Games"

    "EyeToy is equally another game/gadget that open up new avenues of interaction with games. Unfortunatel
  • I mean, it's a good game. But it seems that people have been waving it recently as the flagship of underplayed games. Why didn't this happen when...say....Rez was released a few years ago.

    Just sayin...
    • Honestly, because Katamari Damacy has that widespread appeal to all gamers, whether they be seasoned collectors who play everything or your mom who's only played Tetris on a Game Boy. The controls can't get simpler -- push those analog sticks where you want to go. Rez, on the other hand, went straight past quirky into synthaesthetics (or whatever the term was -- it's been a while). The game, however fun and innovative it was, visually and aurally don't have that "this is for everyone" feel. It definitel
    • Rez just like Ikaruga got released on 2 consoles, it IMO was hardly overlooked.
  • First of all, originality is in my opinion the only way to be heard above the noise, with virtually everyone doing free or shareware games, most of them of excellent quality, this year, it seems like.

    Then of course when you're original, people don't know that they need or want your game, so you may not have many players even though the game is fun once you actually try it!

    Gameplay for a very original game is even harder, you have no reference point. The gameplay for my debut game as an indie, Garden War [funpause.com]

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