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What I have noticed over the years as a gamer is the fact that originality rarely sells. Obvious example would be Giants, incredible original but hardly bought. However games that have no originality sell incredibly well. For example Medal of Honour, no doubt it is a great game but it has no originality. You could play many other good FPS's and not notice much difference but the storyline and bad guys. Ok, so Half-life was original I hear you all cry? Well not really. It was just an FPS, it happened to have a good plot and gameplay but no originality. But what about Deus Ex you then shout. But no, it was just a combination of ideas from different genres, RPG's and FPS's. So what I say to you cynics out there if your going to ask for original games at least buy them!
Half-Life was original in another context though: no game before had told its story in such an immersive way. And it sold. Originality is something that has not been done before. Deus Ex had not been tried before. It is original not by gameplay, but by feel. And it sold. Let's face it, the big sellers practically every year are not original. This is (probably) due to the fact that the eagerley awaited games every year aren't. I think all of the chart-toppers are either sequels or big franchises (there may be 1 or 2 exceptions). Now why is this? Because these are the games where we know what to expect. That may defeat the object, but what I mean is if the first game had good graphics, gameplay, storyline etc, unlike with films, game sequel's are usually better. Plus, they're bound to have a bigger budget, from sales of the first game. So where do the original one's come from? Well, NOLF is a prime example. The first game was original (well as original as a spoof-type thing can be), and it was very good. But did it sell? No. Yet look at NOLF 2. I've (almost) no doubt that it'll sell better than the first, and it's less original.
Gamers in general to be extremely demanding in terms of originality - how many games can there be that are truly oringial in their overall concept and design? Very few is the answer, but the same is true in terms of film, TV, radio, theatre and the printed word. If you want to argue that Half Life is not original because it is just an FPS then you can say that the overall concept of FPS is just a variation on the top down shooters like Ikari Warriors, or RTS such as Shogun are just board games on a computer. My own opinion is that originality CAN sell, but what we see is originality in the details - I loved MOHAA because it placed me inside Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan - no other game has done that. Other games have tiny changes that make that game original, because although the central design may be similar to x amount of other games, the minor details are different, and wonderfully so. A model may have a face, mouth, nose etc but the minor unique details make that face beautiful where others can be seen as quite the opposite. The same is true for games. I do not want to see complete originality in games, what I do want to see is innovation in the minor details - the plot, the graphics, level design etc.
The problem with discussing original games is that it seems different people have different opinions about what makes a game original. Some people need a whole new genre to be created before it can be called original whereas other people say Half-Life is original because it told a story in the game whether the actually genre of the game was original or not. Originality and innovation come in many different forms - I don't claim that Half-Life and Deus Ex showed no innovation, but neither were they especially original games. Just games that gave a polish and a shine to things that had already been done before. System Shock was made before Half Life, for example. The majority of them are more original than Deus Ex. What you've got to make a distinction between is original and revolutionary. Don't forget that all the groundwork for Deus Ex had already been laid down in System Shock 2, and all it did was combine two genres and refine them to create a different experience. This does not necessarily make it original. Taking elements that have already been used is not original, but using them in ways they haven't been used before is revolutionary.
Deus might have added an original mix of existing elements to its sub-genre, but it still provided enjoyment in the same fundamental way as nearly all videogames - a set of tasks, which are satisfying to complete. Rez breaks out of this mould entirely, almost to the extent that it isn't even a videogame any more. Enjoyment of Rez is on a much more basic, chemical level, an endorphin and adrenaline rush brought on by and intense cascade of light and sound. Using new technology to completely rebuild the definition of what a videogame can be, from the ground up, seems pretty original to me. The idea of combining two genres, as well as traditional FPS tactics and stealth tactics, is an original one. No-one had ever created a game where there were numerous completely different ways to reach the same goal. Halo doesn't add a great deal to this, but perfects it. I have come to the conclusion that there are numerous types of originality that manifest themselves on several different levels. There is visual originality, like in Rez; there is plot originality as in Half-Life; control originality as in Dance Dance Revolution; originality of concept, as in Thief; and Deus Ex falls chiefly into this final category. I stand by the claim that it is a truly original concept.
Can you think of any really innovative games compared with Half Life and Deus Ex?
Mario 64/Zelda OoT/Doom/Rez/Goldeneye/Ico/Thief/Halo/Blast Corps/Blinx/MDK/Metropolis Street Racing/Dance Dance wossname/Police 24-7/
Mario 64: the greatest platform game of all time, without a doubt. A game that uses the transition to the 3rd dimension to show off the extent of the designers imaginations. From the perfect use of the N64 joypad, to shell-surfing across lava, to the use of graphical and optical illusions in Tall, Tall Mountain. Mario 64 is a textbook example of almost perfect game design, and a shining tower of innovation.
Zelda: OoT By your definition, Zelda: OoT is just as original as Deus Ex - it takes elements of different games and genres and combines them into one; and Zelda is just as highly regarded as Deus Ex - of not more.
Doom: only the second ever FPS, I believe? One that invented the shareware model that ruled the '90s? The first to use full-3D - even if it was only psuedo-3D?
Rez: ostensibly an on-rails shooter, Rez is much more than that. The most aesthetically balanced game ever, Rez uses wonderful visual and aural innovations to enhance what is a rather bland game model. Less of a game, more of an experience.
Goldeneye: Simply the best console FPS until Halo; perfectly balanced gameplay, perfect control methods. It made the FPS sniper view popular, it began the one-hit-kill headshot craze, and basically reinvented the console FPS, which at that point consisted of a few oddities and around thirty-four different Doom conversions.
Ico: one of the most graphically beautiful games of recent years, Ico's playing field is huge, and yet if you can see it, you'll be there at some point in the game. The game area is completely self contained. Ico also succeeds where many games have failed in making you care for something - you have to lead Yorda to safety, and do the things that she cannot. There's no quicksave, there's no checkpoints - once you let Yorda die, it's game over. It's quite terrifying.
Thief: created the stealth FPS. And that's putting it simply, never mind the other innovations in gameplay; moss arrows, rope arrows etc, and the immaculate level design.
Halo: Bungie have made more advances in this one game than the entire PC genre has made since Half-Life. AI, level design, use of vehicles and marine reinforcements - and all with low levels of scripting.
Blast Corps: a game where you must clear a path of destruction for two runaway nukes, using trucks, cars and big stompy robots? Name me another game that's done anything like it. Quite simply, one of the most original games on the N64 - or, indeed, any system.
Blinx: you're stuck at a puzzle. So what do you do? Why, you rewind time and start it all over again. Or when faced with a bad guy, you rewind a little and distract the bad guy with your past self. Or you fast forward yourself down a long path so you get there quicker. Or you stop time completely to have a smoke. It's true when they say that the X-Box is the only console this could be attempted on - why it's not been done on the PC befuddles me.
MDK: invented the sniper mode that Goldeneye popularised.
MSR: a straight racer, but it's the first racing game to feature accurately mapped portions of a city, instead of developer designed courses using "themed" architecture.
Dance Dance Revolution: in whatever iteration, DDR and it's bemani predecessors - Parappa the Rapper, Samba de Amigo et al - created a new genre when we thought there weren't any more.
Police 24/7: a light gun game that uses your body movements and correspondingly moves your avatars position? Never been done before.
Just off the top of my head, like.
Flux.
Half-Life was original in another context though: no game before had told its story in such an immersive way. And it sold. Originality is something that has not been done before. Deus Ex had not been tried before. It is original not by gameplay, but by feel. And it sold. Let's face it, the big sellers practically every year are not original. This is (probably) due to the fact that the eagerley awaited games every year aren't. I think all of the chart-toppers are either sequels or big franchises (there may be 1 or 2 exceptions). Now why is this? Because these are the games where we know what to expect. That may defeat the object, but what I mean is if the first game had good graphics, gameplay, storyline etc, unlike with films, game sequel's are usually better. Plus, they're bound to have a bigger budget, from sales of the first game. So where do the original one's come from? Well, NOLF is a prime example. The first game was original (well as original as a spoof-type thing can be), and it was very good. But did it sell? No. Yet look at NOLF 2. I've (almost) no doubt that it'll sell better than the first, and it's less original.
Gamers in general to be extremely demanding in terms of originality - how many games can there be that are truly oringial in their overall concept and design? Very few is the answer, but the same is true in terms of film, TV, radio, theatre and the printed word. If you want to argue that Half Life is not original because it is just an FPS then you can say that the overall concept of FPS is just a variation on the top down shooters like Ikari Warriors, or RTS such as Shogun are just board games on a computer. My own opinion is that originality CAN sell, but what we see is originality in the details - I loved MOHAA because it placed me inside Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan - no other game has done that. Other games have tiny changes that make that game original, because although the central design may be similar to x amount of other games, the minor details are different, and wonderfully so. A model may have a face, mouth, nose etc but the minor unique details make that face beautiful where others can be seen as quite the opposite. The same is true for games. I do not want to see complete originality in games, what I do want to see is innovation in the minor details - the plot, the graphics, level design etc.
The problem with discussing original games is that it seems different people have different opinions about what makes a game original. Some people need a whole new genre to be created before it can be called original whereas other people say Half-Life is original because it told a story in the game whether the actually genre of the game was original or not. Originality and innovation come in many different forms - I don't claim that Half-Life and Deus Ex showed no innovation, but neither were they especially original games. Just games that gave a polish and a shine to things that had already been done before. System Shock was made before Half Life, for example. The majority of them are more original than Deus Ex. What you've got to make a distinction between is original and revolutionary. Don't forget that all the groundwork for Deus Ex had already been laid down in System Shock 2, and all it did was combine two genres and refine them to create a different experience. This does not necessarily make it original. Taking elements that have already been used is not original, but using them in ways they haven't been used before is revolutionary.
Deus might have added an original mix of existing elements to its sub-genre, but it still provided enjoyment in the same fundamental way as nearly all videogames - a set of tasks, which are satisfying to complete. Rez breaks out of this mould entirely, almost to the extent that it isn't even a videogame any more. Enjoyment of Rez is on a much more basic, chemical level, an endorphin and adrenaline rush brought on by and intense cascade of light and sound. Using new technology to completely rebuild the definition of what a videogame can be, from the ground up, seems pretty original to me. The idea of combining two genres, as well as traditional FPS tactics and stealth tactics, is an original one. No-one had ever created a game where there were numerous completely different ways to reach the same goal. Halo doesn't add a great deal to this, but perfects it. I have come to the conclusion that there are numerous types of originality that manifest themselves on several different levels. There is visual originality, like in Rez; there is plot originality as in Half-Life; control originality as in Dance Dance Revolution; originality of concept, as in Thief; and Deus Ex falls chiefly into this final category. I stand by the claim that it is a truly original concept.
Can you think of any really innovative games compared with Half Life and Deus Ex?
Mario 64/Zelda OoT/Doom/Rez/Goldeneye/Ico/Thief/Halo/Blast Corps/Blinx/MDK/Metropolis Street Racing/Dance Dance wossname/Police 24-7/
Mario 64: the greatest platform game of all time, without a doubt. A game that uses the transition to the 3rd dimension to show off the extent of the designers imaginations. From the perfect use of the N64 joypad, to shell-surfing across lava, to the use of graphical and optical illusions in Tall, Tall Mountain. Mario 64 is a textbook example of almost perfect game design, and a shining tower of innovation.
Zelda: OoT By your definition, Zelda: OoT is just as original as Deus Ex - it takes elements of different games and genres and combines them into one; and Zelda is just as highly regarded as Deus Ex - of not more.
Doom: only the second ever FPS, I believe? One that invented the shareware model that ruled the '90s? The first to use full-3D - even if it was only psuedo-3D?
Rez: ostensibly an on-rails shooter, Rez is much more than that. The most aesthetically balanced game ever, Rez uses wonderful visual and aural innovations to enhance what is a rather bland game model. Less of a game, more of an experience.
Goldeneye: Simply the best console FPS until Halo; perfectly balanced gameplay, perfect control methods. It made the FPS sniper view popular, it began the one-hit-kill headshot craze, and basically reinvented the console FPS, which at that point consisted of a few oddities and around thirty-four different Doom conversions.
Ico: one of the most graphically beautiful games of recent years, Ico's playing field is huge, and yet if you can see it, you'll be there at some point in the game. The game area is completely self contained. Ico also succeeds where many games have failed in making you care for something - you have to lead Yorda to safety, and do the things that she cannot. There's no quicksave, there's no checkpoints - once you let Yorda die, it's game over. It's quite terrifying.
Thief: created the stealth FPS. And that's putting it simply, never mind the other innovations in gameplay; moss arrows, rope arrows etc, and the immaculate level design.
Halo: Bungie have made more advances in this one game than the entire PC genre has made since Half-Life. AI, level design, use of vehicles and marine reinforcements - and all with low levels of scripting.
Blast Corps: a game where you must clear a path of destruction for two runaway nukes, using trucks, cars and big stompy robots? Name me another game that's done anything like it. Quite simply, one of the most original games on the N64 - or, indeed, any system.
Blinx: you're stuck at a puzzle. So what do you do? Why, you rewind time and start it all over again. Or when faced with a bad guy, you rewind a little and distract the bad guy with your past self. Or you fast forward yourself down a long path so you get there quicker. Or you stop time completely to have a smoke. It's true when they say that the X-Box is the only console this could be attempted on - why it's not been done on the PC befuddles me.
MDK: invented the sniper mode that Goldeneye popularised.
MSR: a straight racer, but it's the first racing game to feature accurately mapped portions of a city, instead of developer designed courses using "themed" architecture.
Dance Dance Revolution: in whatever iteration, DDR and it's bemani predecessors - Parappa the Rapper, Samba de Amigo et al - created a new genre when we thought there weren't any more.
Police 24/7: a light gun game that uses your body movements and correspondingly moves your avatars position? Never been done before.
Just off the top of my head, like.
Flux.
Scrap that last comment, I thought I clicked on my 'Online vs Offline' topic instead. That's what I wrote two weeks ago. Sorry for the confusing comments :P
Oh I see. Sorry. I wrote this topic about two weeks ago, you lost me for a sec there :P
just because you mentioned Blinx at one point...
And...what does that have to do with this topic?
I wish I was Blinx... stop time.. ooh the possibilities
torticollis wrote:
> Looking for a GAD are you?
Why do you say that on peoples topics? How about adding something that is a worthwhile comment instead of something stupid like that :\
> Looking for a GAD are you?
Why do you say that on peoples topics? How about adding something that is a worthwhile comment instead of something stupid like that :\
Indeed.
Looking for a GAD are you?
What I have noticed over the years as a gamer is the fact that originality rarely sells. Obvious example would be Giants, incredible original but hardly bought. However games that have no originality sell incredibly well. For example Medal of Honour, no doubt it is a great game but it has no originality. You could play many other good FPS's and not notice much difference but the storyline and bad guys. Ok, so Half-life was original I hear you all cry? Well not really. It was just an FPS, it happened to have a good plot and gameplay but no originality. But what about Deus Ex you then shout. But no, it was just a combination of ideas from different genres, RPG's and FPS's. So what I say to you cynics out there if your going to ask for original games at least buy them!
Half-Life was original in another context though: no game before had told its story in such an immersive way. And it sold. Originality is something that has not been done before. Deus Ex had not been tried before. It is original not by gameplay, but by feel. And it sold. Let's face it, the big sellers practically every year are not original. This is (probably) due to the fact that the eagerley awaited games every year aren't. I think all of the chart-toppers are either sequels or big franchises (there may be 1 or 2 exceptions). Now why is this? Because these are the games where we know what to expect. That may defeat the object, but what I mean is if the first game had good graphics, gameplay, storyline etc, unlike with films, game sequel's are usually better. Plus, they're bound to have a bigger budget, from sales of the first game. So where do the original one's come from? Well, NOLF is a prime example. The first game was original (well as original as a spoof-type thing can be), and it was very good. But did it sell? No. Yet look at NOLF 2. I've (almost) no doubt that it'll sell better than the first, and it's less original.
Gamers in general to be extremely demanding in terms of originality - how many games can there be that are truly oringial in their overall concept and design? Very few is the answer, but the same is true in terms of film, TV, radio, theatre and the printed word. If you want to argue that Half Life is not original because it is just an FPS then you can say that the overall concept of FPS is just a variation on the top down shooters like Ikari Warriors, or RTS such as Shogun are just board games on a computer. My own opinion is that originality CAN sell, but what we see is originality in the details - I loved MOHAA because it placed me inside Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan - no other game has done that. Other games have tiny changes that make that game original, because although the central design may be similar to x amount of other games, the minor details are different, and wonderfully so. A model may have a face, mouth, nose etc but the minor unique details make that face beautiful where others can be seen as quite the opposite. The same is true for games. I do not want to see complete originality in games, what I do want to see is innovation in the minor details - the plot, the graphics, level design etc.
The problem with discussing original games is that it seems different people have different opinions about what makes a game original. Some people need a whole new genre to be created before it can be called original whereas other people say Half-Life is original because it told a story in the game whether the actually genre of the game was original or not. Originality and innovation come in many different forms - I don't claim that Half-Life and Deus Ex showed no innovation, but neither were they especially original games. Just games that gave a polish and a shine to things that had already been done before. System Shock was made before Half Life, for example. The majority of them are more original than Deus Ex. What you've got to make a distinction between is original and revolutionary. Don't forget that all the groundwork for Deus Ex had already been laid down in System Shock 2, and all it did was combine two genres and refine them to create a different experience. This does not necessarily make it original. Taking elements that have already been used is not original, but using them in ways they haven't been used before is revolutionary.
Deus might have added an original mix of existing elements to its sub-genre, but it still provided enjoyment in the same fundamental way as nearly all videogames - a set of tasks, which are satisfying to complete. Rez breaks out of this mould entirely, almost to the extent that it isn't even a videogame any more. Enjoyment of Rez is on a much more basic, chemical level, an endorphin and adrenaline rush brought on by and intense cascade of light and sound. Using new technology to completely rebuild the definition of what a videogame can be, from the ground up, seems pretty original to me. The idea of combining two genres, as well as traditional FPS tactics and stealth tactics, is an original one. No-one had ever created a game where there were numerous completely different ways to reach the same goal. Halo doesn't add a great deal to this, but perfects it. I have come to the conclusion that there are numerous types of originality that manifest themselves on several different levels. There is visual originality, like in Rez; there is plot originality as in Half-Life; control originality as in Dance Dance Revolution; originality of concept, as in Thief; and Deus Ex falls chiefly into this final category. I stand by the claim that it is a truly original concept.
Can you think of any really innovative games compared with Half Life and Deus Ex?
Mario 64/Zelda OoT/Doom/Rez/Goldeneye/Ico/Thief/Halo/Blast Corps/Blinx/MDK/Metropolis Street Racing/Dance Dance wossname/Police 24-7/
Mario 64: the greatest platform game of all time, without a doubt. A game that uses the transition to the 3rd dimension to show off the extent of the designers imaginations. From the perfect use of the N64 joypad, to shell-surfing across lava, to the use of graphical and optical illusions in Tall, Tall Mountain. Mario 64 is a textbook example of almost perfect game design, and a shining tower of innovation.
Zelda: OoT By your definition, Zelda: OoT is just as original as Deus Ex - it takes elements of different games and genres and combines them into one; and Zelda is just as highly regarded as Deus Ex - of not more.
Doom: only the second ever FPS, I believe? One that invented the shareware model that ruled the '90s? The first to use full-3D - even if it was only psuedo-3D?
Rez: ostensibly an on-rails shooter, Rez is much more than that. The most aesthetically balanced game ever, Rez uses wonderful visual and aural innovations to enhance what is a rather bland game model. Less of a game, more of an experience.
Goldeneye: Simply the best console FPS until Halo; perfectly balanced gameplay, perfect control methods. It made the FPS sniper view popular, it began the one-hit-kill headshot craze, and basically reinvented the console FPS, which at that point consisted of a few oddities and around thirty-four different Doom conversions.
Ico: one of the most graphically beautiful games of recent years, Ico's playing field is huge, and yet if you can see it, you'll be there at some point in the game. The game area is completely self contained. Ico also succeeds where many games have failed in making you care for something - you have to lead Yorda to safety, and do the things that she cannot. There's no quicksave, there's no checkpoints - once you let Yorda die, it's game over. It's quite terrifying.
Thief: created the stealth FPS. And that's putting it simply, never mind the other innovations in gameplay; moss arrows, rope arrows etc, and the immaculate level design.
Halo: Bungie have made more advances in this one game than the entire PC genre has made since Half-Life. AI, level design, use of vehicles and marine reinforcements - and all with low levels of scripting.
Blast Corps: a game where you must clear a path of destruction for two runaway nukes, using trucks, cars and big stompy robots? Name me another game that's done anything like it. Quite simply, one of the most original games on the N64 - or, indeed, any system.
Blinx: you're stuck at a puzzle. So what do you do? Why, you rewind time and start it all over again. Or when faced with a bad guy, you rewind a little and distract the bad guy with your past self. Or you fast forward yourself down a long path so you get there quicker. Or you stop time completely to have a smoke. It's true when they say that the X-Box is the only console this could be attempted on - why it's not been done on the PC befuddles me.
MDK: invented the sniper mode that Goldeneye popularised.
MSR: a straight racer, but it's the first racing game to feature accurately mapped portions of a city, instead of developer designed courses using "themed" architecture.
Dance Dance Revolution: in whatever iteration, DDR and it's bemani predecessors - Parappa the Rapper, Samba de Amigo et al - created a new genre when we thought there weren't any more.
Police 24/7: a light gun game that uses your body movements and correspondingly moves your avatars position? Never been done before.
Just off the top of my head, like.
Flux.
Half-Life was original in another context though: no game before had told its story in such an immersive way. And it sold. Originality is something that has not been done before. Deus Ex had not been tried before. It is original not by gameplay, but by feel. And it sold. Let's face it, the big sellers practically every year are not original. This is (probably) due to the fact that the eagerley awaited games every year aren't. I think all of the chart-toppers are either sequels or big franchises (there may be 1 or 2 exceptions). Now why is this? Because these are the games where we know what to expect. That may defeat the object, but what I mean is if the first game had good graphics, gameplay, storyline etc, unlike with films, game sequel's are usually better. Plus, they're bound to have a bigger budget, from sales of the first game. So where do the original one's come from? Well, NOLF is a prime example. The first game was original (well as original as a spoof-type thing can be), and it was very good. But did it sell? No. Yet look at NOLF 2. I've (almost) no doubt that it'll sell better than the first, and it's less original.
Gamers in general to be extremely demanding in terms of originality - how many games can there be that are truly oringial in their overall concept and design? Very few is the answer, but the same is true in terms of film, TV, radio, theatre and the printed word. If you want to argue that Half Life is not original because it is just an FPS then you can say that the overall concept of FPS is just a variation on the top down shooters like Ikari Warriors, or RTS such as Shogun are just board games on a computer. My own opinion is that originality CAN sell, but what we see is originality in the details - I loved MOHAA because it placed me inside Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan - no other game has done that. Other games have tiny changes that make that game original, because although the central design may be similar to x amount of other games, the minor details are different, and wonderfully so. A model may have a face, mouth, nose etc but the minor unique details make that face beautiful where others can be seen as quite the opposite. The same is true for games. I do not want to see complete originality in games, what I do want to see is innovation in the minor details - the plot, the graphics, level design etc.
The problem with discussing original games is that it seems different people have different opinions about what makes a game original. Some people need a whole new genre to be created before it can be called original whereas other people say Half-Life is original because it told a story in the game whether the actually genre of the game was original or not. Originality and innovation come in many different forms - I don't claim that Half-Life and Deus Ex showed no innovation, but neither were they especially original games. Just games that gave a polish and a shine to things that had already been done before. System Shock was made before Half Life, for example. The majority of them are more original than Deus Ex. What you've got to make a distinction between is original and revolutionary. Don't forget that all the groundwork for Deus Ex had already been laid down in System Shock 2, and all it did was combine two genres and refine them to create a different experience. This does not necessarily make it original. Taking elements that have already been used is not original, but using them in ways they haven't been used before is revolutionary.
Deus might have added an original mix of existing elements to its sub-genre, but it still provided enjoyment in the same fundamental way as nearly all videogames - a set of tasks, which are satisfying to complete. Rez breaks out of this mould entirely, almost to the extent that it isn't even a videogame any more. Enjoyment of Rez is on a much more basic, chemical level, an endorphin and adrenaline rush brought on by and intense cascade of light and sound. Using new technology to completely rebuild the definition of what a videogame can be, from the ground up, seems pretty original to me. The idea of combining two genres, as well as traditional FPS tactics and stealth tactics, is an original one. No-one had ever created a game where there were numerous completely different ways to reach the same goal. Halo doesn't add a great deal to this, but perfects it. I have come to the conclusion that there are numerous types of originality that manifest themselves on several different levels. There is visual originality, like in Rez; there is plot originality as in Half-Life; control originality as in Dance Dance Revolution; originality of concept, as in Thief; and Deus Ex falls chiefly into this final category. I stand by the claim that it is a truly original concept.
Can you think of any really innovative games compared with Half Life and Deus Ex?
Mario 64/Zelda OoT/Doom/Rez/Goldeneye/Ico/Thief/Halo/Blast Corps/Blinx/MDK/Metropolis Street Racing/Dance Dance wossname/Police 24-7/
Mario 64: the greatest platform game of all time, without a doubt. A game that uses the transition to the 3rd dimension to show off the extent of the designers imaginations. From the perfect use of the N64 joypad, to shell-surfing across lava, to the use of graphical and optical illusions in Tall, Tall Mountain. Mario 64 is a textbook example of almost perfect game design, and a shining tower of innovation.
Zelda: OoT By your definition, Zelda: OoT is just as original as Deus Ex - it takes elements of different games and genres and combines them into one; and Zelda is just as highly regarded as Deus Ex - of not more.
Doom: only the second ever FPS, I believe? One that invented the shareware model that ruled the '90s? The first to use full-3D - even if it was only psuedo-3D?
Rez: ostensibly an on-rails shooter, Rez is much more than that. The most aesthetically balanced game ever, Rez uses wonderful visual and aural innovations to enhance what is a rather bland game model. Less of a game, more of an experience.
Goldeneye: Simply the best console FPS until Halo; perfectly balanced gameplay, perfect control methods. It made the FPS sniper view popular, it began the one-hit-kill headshot craze, and basically reinvented the console FPS, which at that point consisted of a few oddities and around thirty-four different Doom conversions.
Ico: one of the most graphically beautiful games of recent years, Ico's playing field is huge, and yet if you can see it, you'll be there at some point in the game. The game area is completely self contained. Ico also succeeds where many games have failed in making you care for something - you have to lead Yorda to safety, and do the things that she cannot. There's no quicksave, there's no checkpoints - once you let Yorda die, it's game over. It's quite terrifying.
Thief: created the stealth FPS. And that's putting it simply, never mind the other innovations in gameplay; moss arrows, rope arrows etc, and the immaculate level design.
Halo: Bungie have made more advances in this one game than the entire PC genre has made since Half-Life. AI, level design, use of vehicles and marine reinforcements - and all with low levels of scripting.
Blast Corps: a game where you must clear a path of destruction for two runaway nukes, using trucks, cars and big stompy robots? Name me another game that's done anything like it. Quite simply, one of the most original games on the N64 - or, indeed, any system.
Blinx: you're stuck at a puzzle. So what do you do? Why, you rewind time and start it all over again. Or when faced with a bad guy, you rewind a little and distract the bad guy with your past self. Or you fast forward yourself down a long path so you get there quicker. Or you stop time completely to have a smoke. It's true when they say that the X-Box is the only console this could be attempted on - why it's not been done on the PC befuddles me.
MDK: invented the sniper mode that Goldeneye popularised.
MSR: a straight racer, but it's the first racing game to feature accurately mapped portions of a city, instead of developer designed courses using "themed" architecture.
Dance Dance Revolution: in whatever iteration, DDR and it's bemani predecessors - Parappa the Rapper, Samba de Amigo et al - created a new genre when we thought there weren't any more.
Police 24/7: a light gun game that uses your body movements and correspondingly moves your avatars position? Never been done before.
Just off the top of my head, like.
Flux.