Little things that make games great.

[Bigeyez]

As the title suggest this thread is going to be about all the little things that really stand out and make a game great. Anything from the tiny little easter egg to something most people completely overlook counts.

For me one thing I thought people didn't really notice was the amount of awesome face acting Mass Effect had. Really look at a characters face when they talk and you can see Bioware went to pretty incredible lengths to show emotion in the characters. It was the first game I've really thought did a great job a showing emotion through the characters face and not their words. For example just about any conversation with your romance is filled end to end with great facial emotions. You genuinely get the feeling that npc really cares about what you have to say. Little twitches in a the npcs mouth, the batting of eyelashes that Ashley does when your nice to her, the sadness or fear you see in someones face when your mean/rude to them. It all comes across really well in the game.

I noticed it even more when I went and started to play Fallout 3. Most of the npcs there are nothing but emotionless faces with mouths opening and closing. Not trying to bash Fallout here but man did that little bit of extra facial emotion end up seeming so huge to me.

So yeah thats my example of something little that really made a difference in how I saw the game. I know there has to be tons of things like this that made you guys just love a certain game, so share it!

 

[HardRockSamurai]

Probably the easter eggs in GTA IV. They were some of the most comically interesting elements of an otherwise gritty, realistic game.

 

[iggyus]

Yes I will definitely agree with Mass Effect facials (Not THOSE facials, perverts) they really add great atmosphere to the game. Well lets see, in Crysis for instance on Delta difficulty the fact that you're enemies actually speak Korean. It really makes you believe you're a supersoldier battling actual Koreans

 

[XSA37]

I love the detail that went into the way buildings were destroyed in World in Conflict. The satisfaction gained from seeing the Space Needle crumble in beautiful detail just made the game perfect to me.

On the flip side, seeing buildings fold inward like boxes really put me off liking a game.
*cough* Mercenaries 2 *cough*

 

[Jedoro]

I love when everyone has a name. It at least tries to put some human into them. Much more than "Megaton Settler," anyways.

 

[ben---neb]

The writing on the walls in Portal and Left 4 Dead.

 

[atomictoast]

The thing that can really make a game great for me is Easter eggs, little hard to find secrets and hidden references scattered across the world.

 

[Proteus214]

A lot of times for me it's the soundtrack. I really like when the ambiance or music complements the given situation without being obnoxious or like it's trying to forcibly change the mood because the composer(s) never even talked to the game designers or the artists. I also like it when the soundtrack tries to be more subtle about the themes/moods. For example, the final boss fight in Shadow of the Colossus.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Easter eggs, and references to things outside the game: films, books, other games. Finding out that something is such a reference just makes me smile with satisfaction.

 

[Bigeyez]

A lot of times for me it's the soundtrack. I really like when the ambiance or music complements the given situation without being obnoxious or like it's trying to forcibly change the mood because the composer(s) never even talked to the game designers or the artists. I also like it when the soundtrack tries to be more subtle about the themes/moods. For example, the final boss fight in Shadow of the Colossus.

I completely agree. The soundtrack can totally kill a games vibe for me. Just like in a movie if the music doesn't flow with the game it makes the whole thing seem kind of off.