Old games that hold up today

[viking97]

I was playing through the original Ratchet and Clank on my sister's PS2 (used to be mine, gave it to her when i upgraded) and i was pretty thrown by how awesome it is. Nostalgia taken out of the equation, that game was and is fucking awesome. Visuals gorgeous, gameplay excellent, mindblowing soundtrack, pretty decent voice-work and character animation is pretty great too.

this isn't a review for Ratchet and Clank though, i just got thinking about other games that still hold up this well.
No specific requirement, just that the game would still be good if released today (and you were able to ignore the fact that it doesn't look like a modern game, etc). the older is the more points you get. have at you!

(any valve game get's your points halved, just because valve seems to have a time machine that they use to very sneakily steal games from about five years ahead)

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Psychonauts.

The cartoony art style makes the visuals really stand out, and not look old, the story and mechanics are solid, and there really is no other game that's ever had a story even remotely similar.

 

[Lilani]

Psychonauts.

The cartoony art style makes the visuals really stand out, and not look old, the story and mechanics are solid, and there really is no other game that's ever had a story even remotely similar.

Just what I was thinking. That, and Kingdom Hearts.

As for older OLDER games, I'd say the original Spyro trilogy on the PS1 and Super Mario World. In fact, pretty much every Mario game on the SNES. Both series' have a timeless style and gameplay.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Let me check my Steam Library...

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Detective-sleuth, horror, action, general mindfuckery of a game? Challenging and pretty hard to understand while still being easy enough to get through and play.

 

[lewwatt]

Sly Cooper: Honour Among Thieves holds up pretty well due to it's art style. You could probably notice a lack of polygons but apart from that it looks good as new.

 

[GeeksUtopia]

Legend of the Dragoon: Got to say this game was one of the earliest of rpg gaming that had timed attacks. Also the story to it and character development was good. The down side though was when they used voice overs for some of the characters. If they were to release it today I would be in front of the line fighting the guy with a tent and lawn chair.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Edit: Actually, never mind, I'll nominate Max Payne 2 instead. The story isn't that connected to the original so it stands alone nicely, the shooting is fun and the fact that the character's mouths actually move helps it not look dated. And it's weird how Max always looks constipated in the original - again, due to no facial animation more than anything. (Original American release: October 15, 2003)

 

[John_Doe117]

Mechwarrior 2: 31st century combat (DOS): 1st person mech sim. Could use some revised controls, and the draw distances feel limiting on some missions, otherwise is still fun to play. CD quality music. GhostBear and Mercs should be in pretty similar conditions. Back when 2 years development was a "long time".
Rayman (DOS,win95): Platformer. Handdrawn artwork, good animations, cd quality music, does have cheap boss encounters if you die the first time and loss your powerups, otherwise a good game.
Sonic CD: Good mechanics, audio cd quality music (prefer the US tracks), has a save system, but is very short and fairly easy. I think this game has always been running at half speed on my old windows machines, feels strange and new to play it on XBLA.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2(win98): 2d shooter. Is more platformer than most shooters. Can be played at a slow and careful pace or trying to blaze through it like a Sonic game. Before EPIC had gears and unreal, they had jazz.

 

[Tanis]

Chrono Cross - While I know some folks HATE this game, I've probably sank (through the years) more time than any other JRPG.
While the graphics do look a bit, dated (moreso as I play it on my PS3 via the PSN), it's still good enough and I LOVE the OST and various side stories.
Though, to be fair, the main story is kind of 'meh'.

 

[blangblang14]

Any of the . hack// G.U. from the PlayStation 2 hold up a HD bundle would be so awesome for these. Also, Megaman Legend 1 and 2. So so fun.

 

[TephlonPrice]

Goldeneye, TWINE, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Half-Life, Deus Ex, Doom, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Nuclear/Soviet Strike, GTA 3, NFS: Underground, NFS: Most Wanted, 007 Nightfire, SOCOM series...

And a bit more if I felt like digging out more.

 

[LilithSlave]

Hold up? To what? The better question would be to ask which new games actually manage to match the classics.

 

[NortherWolf]

Fallout 2
Baldurs Gate 2 (sort of, the first dungeon is horrible, but it was horrible the second time you played through it back then too.)
XCom:Enemy Unknown.
Shadowrun(SNES-version)

 

[Dr Pyramid Head]

Diablo II. Although its visuals department is somewhat lacking, the gameplay is incredibly solid and addictive.
Edit: I'd also say so for Half Life 2, Deus Ex, and Silent Hill 2

 

[Vault101]

Half life 2..most definetly

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Lets see:

Master of Orion 2: it's old, it has gorgeous 2D VGA graphics, the gameplay still makes it one of the best 4X games in the world.
Nothing recent gets close, although Sword of the Stars 2 looks like it's going in the right direction.

X-COM: Terror From the Deep. A lot like Enemy Unknown, but much much harder, although you need to be aware of a few bugs to be able to complete the game (a specific kind of research that you need is bugged and can only be discovered with a precise sequence of research topics).
Gameplay is still second to none, and tense as hell. The addition of an aquatic environment really changes things up, and the smarter AI is extremely dangerous.

Planescape Torment: fantastic story, fantastic setting, great gameplay. With a few modern mods (to properly use widescreen resolutions in the game) this still looks absolutely fantastic, and the gameplay is unchanged and great.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

[sub][sub]**I know that Metroid Prime was rereleased as part of a trilogy. I have said trilogy and the console to play it on. And I still very much prefer it on the Gamecube because I can play it with a good and proper controller, not any of this newfangled motion control bollocks. Plus I would like to see that game in a true HD rerelease - it still looks really damned good.
[/sub][/sub]

I have the exact opposite thing going: I can't play normal first-person shooters for crap with a gamepad, but the Wii's pointer (without waggle, just the pointer) works like a charm.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

I'll still play X-Men 2: Clone Wars every time I visit my cousin and enjoy it more than 90% of games I play these days. And it's 16 years old.

 

[Tupolev]

Marathon Durandal

Not the other Marathon games too? Not that I take issue with M2 being singled out, as each Marathon is a qualitatively different experience, so it's easy to imagine that it might have aged better than the others. And M2 is something of a pinnacle of total carnage* (IIHARLIMSP perhaps being the pinnacle of the pinnacle). But IMO the other games haven't really aged worse than M2 has; any articulated reason that Marathon 2 is being singled out, or do you just like it more than the others?

*Given the way it's used in the game, I'm not sure if this counts as a pun or not.