Everything is average nowadays.

[Brotherofwill]

The rate of improvement of games as a whole is declining. The massive increase in graphic-, audio- and visual-quality has long since slowed to a trickle and most of today's games slowly edge each other out frame by frame.

So, what was the last game that truly blew your mind? I'm talking about blowing your mind here, something that you couldn't possibly have expected and that, through it's advances in technology, shattered your ideals of what a game was and what it could be?

Mine was the N64 era when Mario 64 was released and I couldn't comprehend how games could have taken such a massive leap in both 3D gameplay and graphics from previous consoles like the SNES. Please don't use Mass Effect 2. It's good, but c'mon.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Please see: BioShock. The atmosphere in that game outdid anything I'd ever played before. That game was most certainly not average.

 

[Neonbob]

Crysis was pretty amazing to me.
The level of detail I was shown blew my mind, and the gameplay was fun for me.
And the fact that my computer could run it was pretty amazing to me as well.

 

[oppp7]

I thought that Guild Wars was pretty awesome. I'd play more good MMOs if they were free...
So while the whole thing of new concepts may be running out, there's still huge amounts of ground still not covered. What about stealth RTS like Yahtzee said? Or something like Auto Assault?

 

[Distorted Stu]

Gonna have to say GTA4. I have games that blew my mind for other reasons, but back onto GTA4. I had constantly been playing GTA3 & GTA:SA. I got so used ot their square cars and simple modelling that GTA4 blew my mind at how great the city, cars and characters looked. Shame about the story ey.

 

[aros777]

mine was the first halo game growing up on the N64 I had some decent games with storyline and fps's like turok which wern't that great. Halo blew my ming in graphics and story line opened me up to fps's.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Shadow of the Colossus.

It showed that we don't need any more technical improvements: We need inspiration, we need dedication, we need spirit withing the game!

We need originality created from the love of a developer. Now those kind of games can be far and few in between, but they exist, and they will come.

I for one will await The Last Guardian with glee.

 

[Katana314]

Technology-wise? Possibly the lighting and physics in Mirror's Edge. The game did have a very high feeling of realism to it, but more than looking realistic it looked GOOD. Plus, if you have a powerful Nvidia graphics card on the PC version, you get things like flowing smoke, tearing cloth, and other such things.

Also, the E3 demo of Spore. NOT the final game. The things they had in place at that time were much better than anything we got in the end.

On the CON side, one aspect of technology I'm surprised we've advanced so little in is facial animation. Ever since Half-Life 2, I thought "oh, everyone's gonna start ripping off their techniques now." Yes, Unreal Engine 3 has entire systems dedicated to the subject, but they're not really that astounding. Even in Mass Effect 2 it feels like the Asari are always scrunching up their eyes in some weird way.
And in some ways, animation in general. That's why when a high-graphics game is coming out, they show screenshots, not videos.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I'll use Mass Effect 2 if I want.

Why wouldn't people? It's amazing.

I've been a gaming since the Atari 2600 and ME2 is one of my 2 favorite I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

The OP sounds like my grandad complaining about the kids and thier rock music.

 

[DoctorNick]

I'm a little disturbed that you're confounding better graphics with better games. I'm generally of the school of thought that constantly chasing the newest extra-shiny bump-mapped super-pixels is making games worse because it ends up eating the lions share of the games budget that could have been spent on, you know, gameplay, story, good characters, etc.

There are reasons why games are getting shorter, more expensive and all the same, namely the graphics tread-mill.

 

[Kollega]

Half-Life 2 with it's episodes (played in 2007), Team Fortress 2 (2007 to now), Bioshock (also in 2007), and Psychonauts (in 2009) were pretty damn good. But i think Braid takes the cake.

As for the average-ness, the answer is simple. Publishers invest in what sells, so the games end up samey. It's pretty tragic, if you ask me.

[HEADING=1]And now, a public service announcement: BETTER QUALITY OF GRAPHICS DOES NOT EQUAL BETTER GAMES! Really. They're important, but not crucial.[/HEADING]

 

[BolognaBaloney]

Well there's a simple explanation for this. Gaming as a whole, has become much more mainstream and socially accepted, as such, the demand for top-notch quality has declined, because many newer gamers will purchase any release that is hyped well enough. Many developers, are now content to merely create games that are good enough to sell, instead of crafting games as well as they could.

Oh, and on topic, I would probably have to say Morrowind.

 

[JeanLuc761]

The oldest "mind blown" game I can think of is probably Half-Life 2 and/or Doom 3. Both of them astounded me with their attention to detail and it was the first time I started thinking about the potential of the medium.

More recently, Gears of War once again blew my mind with the outstanding visuals and wonderfully tight gameplay. I was stunned once more when Crysis came out and set the peak for modern visuals and I was wonderfully immersed in the sandbox gameplay. One of the biggest revelations hit me when I played the original Mass Effect. It was the first western RPG I had ever played and I was drawn in immediately. It completely re-defined player-to-NPC interaction in a videogame, the storyline was among the best I had ever heard, and every single character was realized with such exceptional depth that I was truly in awe.

That's about all I can think of right now.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Shadow of the Colossus.

It showed that we don't need any more technical improvements: We need inspiration, we need dedication, we need spirit withing the game!

We need originality created from the love of a developer. Now those kind of games can be far and few in between, but they exist, and they will come.

I for one will await The Last Guardian with glee.

Completely agree. If there's a game that is mind blowing not necessarily on a technical but mostly artistic and design level it was Ico and Shadow.

 

[Mother Yeti]

Your problem is in equating technology with quality.

 

[Baconmonster723]

The rate of improvement of games as a whole is declining. The massive increase in graphic-, audio- and visual-quality has long since slowed to a trickle and most of today's games slowly edge each other out frame by frame.

So, what was the last game that truly blew your mind? I'm talking about blowing your mind here, something that you couldn't possibly have expected and that, through it's advances in technology, shattered your ideals of what a game was and what it could be?

Mine was the N64 era when Mario 64 was released and I couldn't comprehend how games could have taken such a massive leap in both 3D gameplay and graphics from previous consoles like the SNES. Please don't use Mass Effect 2. It's good, but c'mon.

Resident Evil 4 probably blew my mind seeing as it was my first true introduction into mainstream gaming. However, even though you don't want it mentioned I will bring up Mass Effect as a whole. If they are truly able to do what we all hope they are working towards, it will be one of the greatest innovations in the genre, and possibly even for gaming. Think of it as a symphony, right now it's in the middle, it's been damn fine up to this point, however, nothing is really THAT out of the ordinary. But, if ME3 ties together every choice, every decision you made in the first two. The story throughout will be the crescendo leading to the grand finale. It will be the pinnacle of a story truly carried through 3 games, where YOU are the one who decides how it ends (Beyond I shoot at it and it dies, we win, hurray). It will be an incredibly innovative storytelling technique that will make replayability a thing of the past. A story with a different ending each time you play. Granted this could just be wishful thinking, but keep a lookout for it. I believe Bioware will be able to pull it off.

 

[Brotherofwill]

Your problem is in equating technology with quality.

I'm a little disturbed that you're confounding better graphics with better games.

I'm not equating nothing. All I said was that the increase in technology has slowed and asked what game blew you away through said increase from the past. I never said that I think increased technology leads to better games so I'm not sure where you are getting that from.

When I played Crysis my first thought wasn't "Wow this is an astounding game", it was "Wow, this looks pretty amazing". Thus I'd say Crysis had a pretty big impact on me on a technological level but nowhere near the impact of the switch to the 64 generation which lead to amazing 3D visuals + amazing 3D gameplay for the time.

 

[Jandau]

The rate of improvement of games as a whole is declining. The massive increase in graphic-, audio- and visual-quality has long since slowed to a trickle and most of today's games slowly edge each other out frame by frame.

So, what was the last game that truly blew your mind? I'm talking about blowing your mind here, something that you couldn't possibly have expected and that, through it's advances in technology, shattered your ideals of what a game was and what it could be?

Mine was the N64 era when Mario 64 was released and I couldn't comprehend how games could have taken such a massive leap in both 3D gameplay and graphics from previous consoles like the SNES. Please don't use Mass Effect 2. It's good, but c'mon.

First of all, I WILL use Mass Effect 2 because it DID blow my mind like no other game since Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate 2. I'm sorry you don't find it that good, but c'mon, some people like different things than you do.

That being said, there is a simple reason why you feel like you do: You've likely been gaming for a while now and you've seen what there is to be seen. It's harder to get blown away because you're used to the industry and the products it makes. If you were to suffer total amnesia and enter today's game market with a fresh mind, you'd be amazed on a regular basis.

There are two things you can do at this point. One is what most people in your position do: grow more and more cynical and dismissive until your only motivation for playing games is to ***** about them. Or your second option: Accept that you know all the standard tropes and models used in today's gaming, stop expecting someone to reinvent everything for you and learn to enjoy the subtle nuances that differentiate games.

I can safely say that the second option is going to provide more fun. Oh, and there IS a third option: Start making games and show everyone how it's supposed to be done.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

I'm not equating nothing.

Uh-Oh, double negative alert...

In answer to your question, Isn't it the point that now that video games aren't a 'niche' hobby, and most of the big leaps have already been made, games are being made, not so much for people to enjoy, but to make money?

The only thing that could blow my mind now would be actual 3D (Like glasses type)

 

[Katana314]

Yeah, I think people are generalizing the topic here. All tech improvements are not just graphics-related, and all tech improvements are not necessarily good. We're focusing on the innovative ones.

For instance, Half-Life 2 wasn't the first game to include physics, but it did fine-tune them, and basically inspired a slew of new physics-based games.