Man, you guys are GENIUSES!

[DocMcCray]

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for xbox, ps2 and gamecube did that for me. I felt that every minute of that title was pure gold and I cherished every minute of it, even though by most of today's standards it is a short game.

Assassin's Creed somewhat grew out of PoP:SoT concept. Would make sense though since they are both Ubisoft.

 

[Darth Rahu]

Mischief Makers.

They had a game that centered around the ability to grab items, shake them, and throw them, and made it awesome. Giant shoop da woop laser coming at you? You grab the f--king laser, it turns into a ball in your hand, and you throw it back! Grabbed a missile? Shake it! It gets bigger! Throw it back! Grab a ball, shake it, it's an elevator, hold on! It was the simplest mechanic imaginable and the game had you running through lava temples, fighting giant robots and monsters, playing a high stakes game of dodgeball (no, really!), and it ended with you taking on fighting something resembling a Power Rangers Megazord. A 2D platformer with just grab, shake and throw being your superpower, and you can redirect lazahhhs, redirect explosives, and be awesome. It is... brilliant!!

 

[rob_simple]

The Katamari games were probably the last time I felt that sense of childish glee playing a game the likes of which I'd never seen before.

In retrospect, it's probably the kind of idea every five year old would have if asked to make a game (just get bigger and bigger and bigger until you eat the whole universe) but the fact they were able to take such a basic idea and twist it into a fantastically amusing experience was quite special, I think.

 

[Bostur]

Bubble Bobble really was a stroke of genious. Another one was the Breakout genre, it was actually a Pong variety that didn't suck.

The first Civilization game gave me that same feeling, incredible depth and incredible simplicity at the same time.

 

[GamerAddict7796]

How at the ending to the original Fallout you can kill the Master with logic. You can literally kill him with loopholes!

 

[Racecarlock]

I cannot say it enough. Iron Brigade is a steampunk mechwarrior tower defense game about fighting evil televisions made by double fine studios. It's like they threw a bunch of awesome shit in a blender and just threw it on a mix setting or something.

 

[repeating integers]

Homeworld is the big one for me. Relic make the concept of a fully 3D RTS seem so... normal.

 

[ChupathingyX]

That happened to me numerous times throughout the Muv-Luv trilogy, mostly in Alternative.

Spoiler

Alternative is the only time I've ever seen a character actually explain the reasoning behind "sexualised" armour.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Pokemon.

This is how a Poke Ball works...

Spoiler: Yup

Stop it. I can't possibly be enjoying something that requires so much math.

OT: Props to the communists who made Tetris. I can't stop playing it and it stays challenging to me no matter how many times I go at it.

Real clever level design? Can't go wrong with the people who made the awesome stages in Super Mario World.

 

[Megacherv]

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30.

If you end up getting screwed by checkpoints, you know, hit one with 1 hp left and/or no ammo left. If you die 4 times in a row, the game gives you this message: "War isn't fair, but a video game should be. Would you like to spawn at that checkpoint with full health and ammo?"

You can choose to do that, or you can continue to try and power through with low health/ammo.

More games need this. Especially games with health bars.

Battlefield: Bad Company was good for this sort of thing as well. When you die, you just respawn outside of the area you were just in, and none of your progress is lost. It's as if your sqaudmates dragged you away from the action.

Also the auto-injector, best tool in the game.

 

[Appleshampoo]

Maaan, me and my mother used to play Bubble bobble together on the Amiga all the time! Ah, the good old days

 

[Scarim Coral]

The last time I reacted like that was Spore. You had complete freedom (well within limits) at creating your creature, vehicles and spaceship. It's a shame that the overall game isn't good.

 

[devilofthemist]

not really geniuses but when i first played conkers bad fur day and i met the great mighty poo and greg i just stopped playing and just admired the creators

 

[Dogstile]

I still think what CA are doing with the Total War series is awe inspiring. The amount of detail that goes into every fight now, alongside with the actual moves? Its amazing that they can get that to run efficiently.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Pokemon.

This is how a Poke Ball works...

Spoiler: Yup

That's JUST the Poke Ball...There is also a lot of brain-melting math that goes into other factors such as the gender and, ability of a Pokemon when hatched, found in the wild or, in-game gifted. Not to mention the odds of finding a shiny.

---

I'd say Kirby Epic Yarn. The game is made entirely out of arts and crafts supplies. Even spaceships and water are yarn and cut-outs. Just so clever

I'm kind of surprised we haven't seen a fan of EY re-create every stage/the over world out of actual craft supplies. I guess it would be an expensive venture though...haven't been to a Joann's in a long while...

---

Ikaruga is an interesting idea. A bullet-hell shooter where it's literally impossible to dodge every projectile so instead you change your color so as to absorb the right ones. I honestly haven't played this yet but I do plan to at some point in the not-too-distant future.

 

[havass]

I would say....Assassin's Creed. The first time I played the game it was on a whim, and I was completely hooked on the game's concept, story and gameplay. Here was a game with a very unique premise, set in a rarely seen time period and even though missions were repetitive, the story and gameplay kept me going all the way through the end. The sequels were vast improvements and the overarching story was intriguing, all while teaching a little history of time periods games rarely touch upon, in colours we never see in recent triple A games.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

Playing GTA3 for the first time. I loved the first one, then i skipped the second. The first screens of the third arrived in magazines and i was on the fence if this will work. I was hooked after playing it and how well they implemented the mechanics to a 3D game. There where some nice mods back in the day (motorcicles yay).

Batman Arkham Asylum: After starting it the feeling that finally someone got an superhero game right was awesome. Not just right it felt perfect.