My Gaming “Blind-Spots”
Originally published at The VidZone Network Blog. Please leave any comments there.
I find it amusing they used what appears to be a Countach for the car. [Image credit]
I took the opportunity during my drive back to Orlando to catch up on some podcasts. One of which was the Kotaku podcast regarding “gaming blind spots”-games or genres that one just hasn’t experienced, unintentionally or otherwise. I figured I may as well air out my blind spots, but first some background…
I first started playing video games in the arcades around the turn of the decade between the ’80s and ’90s. Then one day my dad brought home an NES and I was a Nintendo gamer (owning all their systems) up until the Dance Dance Revolution revolution where I was gifted a PSone for Christmas. I was surprisingly spoiled and was bought many games and also rented games regularly. Some of my friends had Genesis, so I wasn’t completely shut-out from its offerings, but all other consoles prior I haven’t had much exposure to.
Starting in the PS2-era, I was able to buy my own things. If you know me personally, you know I have a massive collection of video games. If I had to bet, my collection from this period onward (across all platforms) consists of about 1000 games, give or take. Have I played them all? Heck, no! I have an awareness of why I bought these games in the first place, though, but that doesn’t mean I’m thoroughly familiar with them. That’s why my “blind spot” list will likely include games I actually already own.
Now, let’s get started.
Metal Gear Solid series:
I have all of them except for Portable Ops, but I’ve only “tasted” them. I’ve played only about an hour or so of MGS 1 & 2, so that’s not nearly enough to consider “deep” into the game. The series is known, for better or for worse, for its storytelling, so at some point I’ll need to sit down and see what this is all about.
StarCraft:
I’ve played quite a bit of WarCraft 1 (don’t remember if I beat both campaigns), but that’s about it for the Blizzard RTSes. I have the collector’s edition of SCII, so I could probably jump straight into that. Would it be worth playing through the first one (and the expansion) for story or gameplay foundation reasons?
Mainline Command & Conquer series:
After WarCraft, I moved on to C&C Red Alert 2. Is there anything significantly different in the mainline “Tiberium” series?
Splinter Cell:
I played a little of the first one casually with my friends when the series first came out, but didn’t really get hooked on it. I think maybe similarly to MGS, I lacked patience for the stealth genre.
Castlevania (2D “Metroid-vania” design):
The whole gothic/vampire aesthetic just doesn’t do it for me.
Batman: Arkham Asylum:
I liked the 15-or-so minutes I played at E3 ’09 and bought the collector’s edition but just never got around to it.
Just Dance:
I only really note this because I generally indiscriminately buy any and every music/rhythm game that comes out. This one just looked barely interactive at all.
Civilization series:
During the CivII hey-days I was looking for more action-oriented PC games. I’ve got the III and IV games on my PC from Steam, along with Revolution for the 360/DS/iOS. Which should I play?
Sid Meier’s games:
For that matter, I don’t think I’ve played any of his games.
Elder Scrolls:
I generally don’t like western computer RPGs. Too much freedom (and punishment) for me.
Fallout:
See above. But from above. See what I did there?
Ultima series:
See above. Unless we’re talking Ultima Underworld. Har har har…
Beneath a Steel Sky:
I love point & click adventures but I think I was just never aware of the game at the time. Thankfully it’s now available for free and is sitting on my hard drive waiting to be played. [Link: Download from GOG.com]
Many Sierra adventures:
Speaking of point & click… I tried a few of these, but compared to the carefree experimentation allowed in LucasArts games, I didn’t feel like being punished for doing the wrong thing or being too ignorant to have done something now too late to remedy.
Dragon Quest:
I don’t think I even got around to renting any of the Dragon Warriors on the NES…weird. Or maybe it never stuck with me. Anyway, we didn’t get these in the US during my RPG experimentation phase on the SNES, and by the time the PS2 DQ8 came around, I’d been exposed to Dragon Ball Z, thus making me sick to even look at Akira Toriyama’s distinctive art style.
Zoop:
Does this game have any lasting appeal or nostalgia? This stands out because I love puzzle games, and when I was young I always saw the ads in magazines and the box on the shelf at Blockbuster. I never got around to renting it, though, because there was always something else I wanted to try at the time.
GTA Vice City:
Though I’m not fond of the series, I note this because despite this entry being lauded as the best of the series, I haven’t played anything more than a few minutes at a game store. Normally I play several hours of the other GTA games before getting fed up. (Note: The first three in the series (the top-down ones) made me physically ill.)
Shin Megami Tensei games:
I have so many of these games in all the different side-franchises but haven’t played any. I always tell myself I’ll get around to it, but then I remind myself they’re time-sinks and get discouraged/lazy.
Everquest, World of Warcraft:
I haven’t played these particular MMOs, but I’ve dabbled in a couple others. Skinning and quality aside, I don’t think I’m actually missing out on anything I haven’t played elsewhere.
Half-Life series:
My Aureal Vortex2 soundcard came with an extended demo version of the first game. I’m pretty sure I didn’t finish it. I started HL2 but barely even got into the combat sections before getting distracted by something else.
The Sims series:
I was a big fan of the Bullfrog sim games (BTW, Bullfrog > Lionhead) and of course played many of the SimWhatever games, but by the time the original Sims was released, I was more console-oriented. I bought Sims 2 for research for a college game project which got diverted almost immediately afterward, so I only actually got through a few tutorials. I was working at EA when Sims 3 was released, so I bought the collector’s edition and all the expansions with my discount…none of which I’ve installed yet.
Quake 1:
This was a landmark game that I just never played (though I actually might have rented the N64 port). When this came out there were two camps: Quake and Duke Nukem 3D. I had Duke Nukem. During the Unreal/Quake 2 battle, though, I was able to get and play both (though “play” may be too generous for Unreal, which only ran at a single-digit framerate on my computer).
X-Com series:
I think my young self felt too intimidated by the turn-based strategy and all the buttons on screen.
And now a poll (or two): [UPDATE: Seems the poll plug-in isn't working quite right, so until that's sorted out, please just make use of the comment section.]
You’re welcome to post other suggestions for either poll in the comments.