Day 10: Game with the best gameplay

Mike

I promised I wouldn't write about Bayonetta again, so I'll go with my other choice

Serious Sam/EDF Series.

  

These games, while almost completely unrelated except in terms of a similar plot and very similar gameplay.

Basically, point your giant weapon at the evil invading alien and fire, while dodging the other 100 aliens that are swarming around you.

 

Lots of havoc and tons of fun. The engines of each game are built specifically for wide-spread one-on-50000 wars with little emphasis on physics or graphical quality. Basically, they cut out the unnecessary junk and get to the core of a mindless slaughter fest.

Each game is cheesy, ridiculous, over-the-top fun that many modern first-person shooters and third-person shooters seem to have abandoned nowadays. And I feel like that's really what is important.

Kam

This was another tough one to write. Because unlike most people, I have two separate standards for “best gameplay” 

1. Fun: something like Earth Defense Force, Metal Storm, Bastion, etc.

2. Tournament fun: Fine tuned competitive games like Starcraft, DOTA, etc. 

I have a feeling Mike's going to go for “fun” so I'll go with “tournament fun.” What is the most tournament fun video game of all time? 

Virtua Fighter 5. 

VF5 is the smartest designed fighting game ever. The only other two that I can give a complement of that magnitude are Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core and Vampire Savior. 

Sega AM2, continuing a trend of excellent games and game design, did two things in particular that might be the best idea for a fighting game ever.

1. One game designer makes one character. Think about that. You know how everyone has a personal preference of what kind of characters they like to play in fighting games? Imagine a fighting game character designed by someone who likes the same kind of characters you like. All their best traits, and things you love about that kind of character put into one awesomely dense, puzzle of a character with no right and wrong ways to play them? That's fighting game heaven right there.

Normally, this would be a case of “too many cooks spoiling a good soup” but the opposite happened, because every VF5 tune up has kept a remarkable, almost non-existent “tier list” just due to how well balanced the cast is. 

And hey, it's fun to watch in high level play. 

2. A loot system that ties into mastering the game. To me, this is the holy matrimony of the compulsive loot system of games like Diablo or Phantasy Star Online, and the learning and improving one's self of fighting games.

Basically, in the single player mode, on a random fight, an “item battle” will happen. If you win that “item battle” you get a cosmetic item for your character, or money to buy more cosmetic items.

I for one, love character design and making characters. Heck, my Eileen (not pictured) looks pretty cool but I only got her that way because I beat a lot of people, thus improving as a player.

It's honestly a win/win, not only do you get the satisfaction of learning how to kick people the right way, you get to develop practical, real strategies. Plus you get this fun little side thing that gives more incentive to keep playing. Best of all? These items aren't stat based, they never get in the way of actual competitive play.

And thus that ends part 7 of 46 of Kameron Monk's Virtua Fighter 5 tribute. Tomorrow, he'll be presenting a lecture at Cambridge University about Eileen's 6K