Exactly. I for example have GTA IV as my third favourite game of all time, because I thrived off of its realism. I was hooked on the story because of said realism. It felt like I was literally Nico Bellic, going through his struggles and such.

and that's exactly why it stressed me out to play it: my easy life doesn't compare with what Nico Bellic went through, but it is just too horribly realistic for me.

I've lost count of the number of scars on my face, from just a few pathetic fist-fights here and there. All just teeny tiny almost-invisible scars, thank heaven, but I prefer my virtual violence more on the cartoon-side.

A lot of days I go outside, and see evidence of gang people in my neighbourhood: paedophile pimps are especially a problem around here, and the locals just ignore or condone them... makes my frickin' blood boil

But (what I saw of) the GTA 4 story, it ranks for me as one the best game-stories ever, it was just too much for me to deal with... too close to my bone.

Haha, I guess since I haven't had such an easy life is why I thrive off of it so much. It's compelling!


Ooih, that sounds like a bit of a frightening place. Protect the children!


Totally one of the best, and I just... UUOOUHG I can't get enough of it. The stress, depressing atmosphere and anxiety it brought was heart-pumping.

I also rank Assassin's Creed II up there as my favourite game of all time (as a singular game; Rayman is my favourite series of all time). It has everything. An amazing story, amazing graphics, amazing characters, amazing gameplay, amazing atmosphere, amazing music, just... everything about it was amazing, and it also had that "fantastic" element that seems to only be present in Ubisoft games. I can't wait for III.

I hope that one day Crytek will be able to pull off something that could leave such an impact on gamers; I say take games like the above as a little bit of inspiration (I DON'T MEAN COPY OOLOLOLOLOLO), because I see them being the kind of company who could pull something like that out of their hat if they assembled the right team of people, especially when they have such an artist-friendly tool like CryEngine3 on their hands.

fortunately, these days it is less frightening, and more creepy. Fortunately, I seem to be untouchable unless I really start something. Yeah, a video camera is a useful tool.

The way you described yourself as "untouchable" certainly did emphasize your point.

^ not sure what you mean, but let's perhaps allow this to get back on topic

I agree, but the seriousness of games is getting old and annoying, we need more games like rayman (it's also one of my favorite games and was also the first video game i ever played)

Well you're in luck, the silly adventure genre seems to be making a bit of a comeback on kickstarter, and of course rayman himself is doing fine with origins and the upcoming origins sequel.

My favorite is the original Crysis.

All their games seem more like tech demos than stories. I am exaggerating of course, but seriously, the tech component is sublime in all of them yet the stories are so cheesy and lacking. In all of the 3 games you basically don't care what happens because you've seen it a hundred times. I remember reading an interview with Cevat some time before Crysis shipped and he said something in the way of all major hollywood blockbusters having something like 12 story elements more or less and that's what their games were gonna be because that's what sells. What a pity. Gaming has so much potential that's unfolding right in front of us, the comforting thing is that apart from the story lines all of crytek's games are very much innovative in the gameplay department (save C3 somewhat) and are doing what games ought to do in order to carve a niche radically distinct from (and eventually superior to) movies.

Crysis 1 was the best. It just had a certain charm about it.

yeah, I agree... In fact, I even tried to play more of Crysis 2 a few nights ago. I think I'm about 60% through it.

Crysis 2: I love Crytek and playing FPS's, but it was like a visit to the frickin' dentist: the dissonant music grated on my ears, the dank and dark colors onscreen lacked contrast, the alien AI had me at their mercy twice but ran away instead (but hey, they are aliens). Frankly, I just felt stressed and uncomfortable, instead of empowered and challenged.

Crysis 1 - Warhead: Compare this experience with the joy of running about a beautiful, open, lush tropical island, with acceptable non-intrusive music, and quite decent human AI. With more control over the pace of the action and risk, by moving in and out of the danger areas.

Crysis 1 was good. Crysis 2 was ****.

Crysis 2 was crysis 1 with all the good stuff taken out, and replaced with crappy stuff like that Hargreave guy, shitty "vertical" gameplay, boring walking aliens instead of super-awesome-floating-blue-squids and a serious lack of gullible North Korean soldiers. Also setting was changed from paradise island to city, which was the last straw.

far cry 1: the most difficult game i have ever played,the most frustrating and the most rages i have made, for masochists players like me...that was paradise
farcry1 and fear1 are the games i enjoyed the most at the time

crysis:a generic game i played only for he graphics
crysis 2: well, i watched an HD walkthrough on youtube...
crysis3: they say it has a bow

my top games of all time...
Dark Souls
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (all of them + tons mods of course)
Fall out 3 (+ tons mods of course)
skyrim (+ tons mods of course)
Dragon Age 1 (+ mods)
far cry 1
F.E.A.R. 1