Most Influential Games (in your opinions)

[Cadren]

Starcraft and Everquest need to be on this list.

Starcraft is still played regularly over ten years after its release by a large number of people and essentially made world wide competitive gaming. It's the only game that countries play like America plays basketball and also made the RTS a much more popular genre.

Everquest was the first really successful MMO. MMOs led to change in how games are viewed and did wonders for social interaction within games. They also brought the idea of smaller regular fees for games, something that changed gaming economic structures.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Being a Half Life fanboy myself I still thik Doom is the most influential FPS. It brought proper 3D for the FPS(in that time this is), support for custom maps, the WAD was the first SDK to be released for the public and multiplayer! After Doom only Half Life can match Doom's influence in the FPS genre.

Sure, Doom's undoubtedly one of the most influential FPS's of all time, but my point was that Half-Life's influence extended beyond first-person shooters to nearly all major action titles since.

I wouldn't call that innovation as much as a refinement in first-person view storytelling, for me the first FPS to tell a story in a first-person view is the original System Shock then Marathon.

Many gamers mention System Shock 2 but few mention the original from Origins. I miss Origins.

Fair enough, I've never played the original Shock because, well, it's pretty damn creaky nowadays so I never got round to getting it to work on my PC. But anyway, I never claimed that it was the first game to introduce first person storytelling, only the first that showed how the game's environment could be used to communicate the story to the player, creating what is possibly the most immersive way of combining story with gameplay.

 

[GonzoGamer]

I can't believe how far down this topic I had to go to see GTA3. Not the best GTA but definitely one of THE most influential games of all time.

Really? How many GTA clones can you list?

A bunch.
There's even some good ones (Hulk UD, Crackdown, Mercenaries, Godfather, Saints Row 2....) which is why I said it's one of the most influential games of all time. The OP asked what games we think had a big impact in gaming and GTA3 had a huge impact. What's the confusion?

 

[fenrizz]

Doom [or Halo/Halo 2]... also Goldeneye for starting the whole console FPS in infancy

Or Halo? OR HALO?!?! that truly is a slap in the face!
/facepalm

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

You can probably find a ROM of the original System Shock some where on the internet. I remembered that Unreal was the first to use scripted events and its own enviroments to tell a story, Half-Life just did it better.

Don't get me wrong, Half-Life & Half-Life 2 are two of my favorite games of all time but I wouldn't call them revolutionary as many people claim. Same thing with Halo and Doom.

I surprised that no one mention Jurassic Park Trespasser, that game has the most influence of today's modern FPS. I guess people intentionally forgotten it because it was so bad.

Ah yeah, I forgot about the original Unreal... Still, I maintain that Half-Life's method of storytelling has had one of the biggest impacts on gaming. I'll concede that it is more of an evolution than anything else but then you could say the same about so many games which have changed the gaming landscape. Half-life 2 for example; the introduction of physics so successfully has led to nearly all games including their own physics engines (sorry, I know this is blatant half-life fanboyism but it was the first thing that came to mind,). Revolutionary? No, but the influence has changed the way that games play as a result.

Trespasser did indeed do physics first, but it was so poorly implemented that it failed to have an effect on anything. In order for something to be influential, it needs to be effective and to have a positive effect on the rest of gaming. I think it's fair to say that Trespasser didn't really have any effect on the gaming landscape.

 

[oliveira8]

Doom [or Halo/Halo 2]... also Goldeneye for starting the whole console FPS in infancy

Or Halo? OR HALO?!?! that truly is a slap in the face!
/facepalm

Halo is not a influential FPS apart from being a good console FPS. Were Doom,Half Life and GoldenEye 64 are much more influential.

Being a Half Life fanboy myself I still thik Doom is the most influential FPS. It brought proper 3D for the FPS(in that time this is), support for custom maps, the WAD was the first SDK to be released for the public and multiplayer! After Doom only Half Life can match Doom's influence in the FPS genre.

Sure, Doom's undoubtedly one of the most influential FPS's of all time, but my point was that Half-Life's influence extended beyond first-person shooters to nearly all major action titles since.

I wouldn't call that innovation as much as a refinement in first-person view storytelling, for me the first FPS to tell a story in a first-person view is the original System Shock then Marathon.

Many gamers mention System Shock 2 but few mention the original from Origins. I miss Origins.

Fair enough, I've never played the original Shock because, well, it's pretty damn creaky nowadays so I never got round to getting it to work on my PC. But anyway, I never claimed that it was the first game to introduce first person storytelling, only the first that showed how the game's environment could be used to communicate the story to the player, creating what is possibly the most immersive way of combining story with gameplay.

You can probably find a ROM of the original System Shock some where on the internet. I remembered that Unreal was the first to use scripted events and its own enviroments to tell a story, Half-Life just did it better.

Don't get me wrong, Half-Life & Half-Life 2 are two of my favorite games of all time but I wouldn't call them revolutionary as many people claim. Same thing with Halo and Doom.

I surprised that no one mention Jurassic Park Trespasser, that game has the most influence of today's modern FPS. I guess people intentionally forgotten it because it was so bad.

Usually bad games no matter how many new features they have if they bad, they cant be called influential. I remenber playing JP trespasser, I think it was the first FPS to have physics...but they were very bad.

 

[EzraPound]

Can I ask, how in the pink moon is Sonic the Hedgehog influencing?

Sonic the Hedgehog influenced the Sonic Team making bad Sonic games years after its release.

Oh. Now I see it too.

Anyway, I think the most influential games are mainly Super Mario Bros., because without it, playformers wouldn't be what they are today, and consoles would've died (or atleast Zelda would be the biggest Nintendo mascot then)

Uh, Sonic the Hedgehog had a big influence on 2D platformers when it came out, because it was so damn fast it influenced the genre to less conservative styles of gameplay than seen in most Mario clones. This trend was expecially evident on the Genesis - think of Rocket Knight Adventures or Dynamite Headdy - because the console possessed more processing power than the SNES (blast processing OMFG!!!!1111) which meant its platformers were typically faster-paced.

Fuck, I'm so tired of people lipping Sonic, or not appreciating the evolution of 2D platformers extant Mario in general.

Well Gabe Newell said that Half-Life 2's physics were inspired by Trespasser which means that it doesn't have to be well executed or not.

Uh, influence is often contingent on execution. Noone cared about Trespasser because it sucked, so I doubt the sole fact it influenced Gabe Newell really matters since HL2 set the benchmark for physics.

Doom definitely popularized the genre to the mainstream audience, but I can't say the game was particurly innovated or revolutionary. Don't get me wrong though, I love Doom.

Uh, no. There were alot of original concepts in DOOM, and the game was innovative and revolutionary, moreso than Catacomb or Wolfenstein.

Really? How many GTA clones can you list?

Uh, alot: True Crime, Saint's Row, The Getaway, Scarface, The Godfather, etc. Not to mention the full-court press towards sand-box gaming it inspired: after GTA III, games like Spider-Man, The Hulk: ID, etc. began utilizing larger, more flexible environments, and we began to see more titles that were expansive in nature like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed.

Halo nor Half-Life didn't influence the genre, both games took what other games have done and refined them.

Catacomb 3D is the most influential first-person shooter of all time.

...And massively influenced the industry in the process.

Noone invents things out of thin air. Nascent first-person = Ultima Underworld = Catacomb = Wolfenstein = DOOM = Half-Life, etc. Shit! I guess Catacomb is derivative, too!

 

[codac42]

Come on people Tetris were would the puzzle games be without it. everything else seems to be mentioned already

 

[veloper]

A bunch.
There's even some good ones (Hulk UD, Crackdown, Mercenaries, Godfather, Saints Row 2....) which is why I said it's one of the most influential games of all time. The OP asked what games we think had a big impact in gaming and GTA3 had a huge impact. What's the confusion?

GTA seems more like a honorable mention to me, not the father of a genre, like Dune 2 for example.
Also I'm not sure the Hulk counts. Yeah it's a free-roaming gameworld, but free-roaming already existed before GTA. The Elder scrolls comes to mind.

Why Street Fighter? That game was terrible.

Actually, I think Street fighter may not be the best choice afteral. Street Fighter II was the hugely popular one, but I'm thinking since fighting games are merely derivative of beat-em-ups, maybe Kung-fu master is more influential.

 

[Ezzay]

World of Warcraft

WAIT LET ME FINISH

This game has negatively influenced the design of any MMORPG we are likely to see in our lifetimes. Not to mention it owes me 4 years of my life back.

 

[bjj hero]

Unexpected choices all around. Except for maybe Gauntlet. I'll do some research on Barbarian, but the rest I think I can agree on.

http://www.maxgames.com/play/barbarian.html

Obvioously this is a remake but the game play is the same, although much superior with the joy stick i used 20+ years ago...

Now imagine playing this in th 80s on a zx spectrum (amstrad in my case), admittedly with worse graphics, poorer sound and only one back ground (it wold take about 4 minutes to load a new back ground off of the tape). Infact my copy had 2 backgrounds depending on where you started the tape from. Its a pioneer.

Pac-man... nuff said

I cant believe how long it took for someone to mention max payne. Just think how often weve seen bullet time since then.

Does anyone know which is the first game to get an 18 certificate? Id guess mortal kombat but that has to be an influential first as many of our games are now rated according to age.

 

[HolyMouse]

The old Westwood games e.g Dune, original C&C because they basically started the RTS genre.

 

[joystickjunki3]

Doom [or Halo/Halo 2]... also Goldeneye for starting the whole console FPS in infancy

Or Halo? OR HALO?!?! that truly is a slap in the face!
/facepalm

Are you in favor of Halo being on the list, or are you saying that it's insulting to put DOOM and Halo on the same, or a similar, level?

 

[joystickjunki3]

Can I ask, how in the pink moon is Sonic the Hedgehog influencing?

Sonic the Hedgehog influenced the Sonic Team making bad Sonic games years after its release.

Oh. Now I see it too.

Anyway, I think the most influential games are mainly Super Mario Bros., because without it, playformers wouldn't be what they are today, and consoles would've died (or atleast Zelda would be the biggest Nintendo mascot then)

Uh, Sonic the Hedgehog had a big influence on 2D platformers when it came out, because it was so damn fast it influenced the genre to less conservative styles of gameplay than seen in most Mario clones. This trend was expecially evident on the Genesis - think of Rocket Knight Adventures or Dynamite Headdy - because the console possessed more processing power than the SNES (blast processing OMFG!!!!1111) which meant its platformers were typically faster-paced.

Fuck, I'm so tired of people lipping Sonic, or not appreciating the evolution of 2D platformers extant Mario in general.

Well Gabe Newell said that Half-Life 2's physics were inspired by Trespasser which means that it doesn't have to be well executed or not.

Uh, influence is often contingent on execution. Noone cared about Trespasser because it sucked, so I doubt the sole fact it influenced Gabe Newell really matters since HL2 set the benchmark for physics.

Doom definitely popularized the genre to the mainstream audience, but I can't say the game was particurly innovated or revolutionary. Don't get me wrong though, I love Doom.

Uh, no. There were alot of original concepts in DOOM, and the game was innovative and revolutionary, moreso than Catacomb or Wolfenstein.

Really? How many GTA clones can you list?

Uh, alot: True Crime, Saint's Row, The Getaway, Scarface, The Godfather, etc. Not to mention the full-court press towards sand-box gaming it inspired: after GTA III, games like Spider-Man, The Hulk: ID, etc. began utilizing larger, more flexible environments, and we began to see more titles that were expansive in nature like Far Cry and Assassin's Creed.

Halo nor Half-Life didn't influence the genre, both games took what other games have done and refined them.

Catacomb 3D is the most influential first-person shooter of all time.

...And massively influenced the industry in the process.

Noone invents things out of thin air. Nascent first-person = Ultima Underworld = Catacomb = Wolfenstein = DOOM = Half-Life, etc. Shit! I guess Catacomb is derivative, too!

It seems to me that we're on the same page most of the time. Thanks for all the contributions so far and, by all means, please continue to comment.

Come on people Tetris were would the puzzle games be without it. everything else seems to be mentioned already

Added.

Unexpected choices all around. Except for maybe Gauntlet. I'll do some research on Barbarian, but the rest I think I can agree on.

http://www.maxgames.com/play/barbarian.html

Obvioously this is a remake but the game play is the same, although much superior with the joy stick i used 20+ years ago...

Now imagine playing this in th 80s on a zx spectrum (amstrad in my case), admittedly with worse graphics, poorer sound and only one back ground (it wold take about 4 minutes to load a new back ground off of the tape). Infact my copy had 2 backgrounds depending on where you started the tape from. Its a pioneer.

Pac-man... nuff said

I cant believe how long it took for someone to mention max payne. Just think how often weve seen bullet time since then.

Does anyone know which is the first game to get an 18 certificate? Id guess mortal kombat but that has to be an influential first as many of our games are now rated according to age.

Intense to say the least. I'll play it some more; thus far I'm not sure if I consider it influential to the industry so much as to individuals, though.

 

[Fenring]

Dune II, honestly, how did it not make your list (unless you forgot it, inwhich case, that's why).