Posted in Commentary on July 22nd, 2008 by ZekeDMS
People love top 10 lists! I read it on the internet! In the spirit of such discovery, we’re proud to present a list of our top 10 most intense games ever. Games that make a pulse pound, often keep a ridiculous pace, and never fail to remind you how fucked you are.
Honorable Mentions, because we’re whores: Roguelikes, as a genre, deserve mention. Games where you can be wiped out by bad luck alone or the severe early ignorance you’ll have keep you on your toes, even if they tend to be turn based. Nobody has ever had a relaxed game of Nethack or Elona, especially when it turns out that ring you put on was a cursed ring of polymorph, and you are now a fish surrounded by dragons, dwarves, and/or jaguars.
Shadow of the Colossus almost made the list, but there are plenty of open relaxed areas when you’re not in the middle of a fight. Riding around the world hunting lizards and fruit is beautiful, but then a giant angry thing shows up which is both boss battle and puzzle. Climbing the beard of a giant or riding a flying stone bird is nothing less than gripping, and frankly not a single battle in the game disappoints, but that’s what happens when everything is a stunningly well crafted boss battle.
Damn it, can’t it be so easy in reality? Maybe it is, maybe the real secret is that no politician has broken it down into spreadsheet form and then put a spiffy UI on their campaign.
Because if they do that, they should win pretty easily, and have a pretty nice time in the process if it works as well as Stardock’s Political Machine 2008.
TPM 2008 isn’t a terribly complicated game, though depth is certainly present, and at a budget price without the budget production values. At its core, it’s a turn based strategy game, but instead of armies and combat units you have spin doctors, advertisements, and consultants. Instead of favorable terrain, there are areas which tend to be liberal or conservative, and easier to add to your Electoral College totals come election time. Three resources must be managed, being money, political capital, and clout. Capital and clout are how candidates win endorsements from special interests, or to hire agents such as spin doctors, smear merchants, and the various political tagalongs. Money, well, it’s money. Buys ads, keeps them running, builds outreach centers (each of which generates one of the three resources), and even move around the country until your stamina runs out for the turn.
Every year, Atari gives us a new Dragonball Z game, and every year consistently brings improvement in presentation and combat. Sadly there’s always a new problem added to the mix as well, but normally the benefits have outweighed the problems.
Dragonball Z: Burst Limit may be the first exception, with some serious improvements in terms of presentation and a tightened up fighting system, but a stunning lack of options and a real drop in combat depth.
