This one makes the list without breaking a sweat. As much as I personally dislike it (because I'm old enough to remember the original Resident Evil games), I won't deny its quality and innovation. Capcom did something pretty incredible with Resident Evil 4 and it becomes more obvious with the passing years: the controller set-up and over-the-shoulder shooting has basically been ripped verbatim from this game for several of today's best. Uncharted, Gears of War, Dead Space, and even my beloved Mass Effect owe a great debt to Capcom's work with this one. It may not be my type of game, but you should give it a try anyway, at least to better understand how the gaming industry got a little bit further to where it is now.
Though people may think that Grand Theft Auto spawned the love of sandbox games on the console front, Shenmue did it first and you can see the influence the game has had. Without it, I'm not sure GTA III would have been the game it turned out to be, and today you see a lot of things Shenmue did first that other developers are doing. Passing of time? Check. Real weather? Check. Open and detailed worlds? Check. NPCs with human qualities? Check. Mixing of several different types of gameplay elements across genres? Check. Addition of older/arcade games and mini games? Check. It also made the QTE system popular, and coined the name ("Quick Time Events"). It was meant to be an alternative to the static, CGI cutscenes of other games like Final Fantasy VII or Panzer Dragoon Saga, and this effect has been used to great effect and to horrible annoyance in the games of today (for example, hacking in Bioshock 2 is beautifully done, while "special" attacks in Kingdom Hearts 2 just cheapen the experience). Shenmue's framework spawned a lot of different titles, ideas, and standards. Games like Grand Theft Auto III, Yakuza, Red Dead Redemption, inFamous, No More Heroes, Heavy Rain, Bully, Indigo Prophecy and even God of War and Resident Evil 4 owe Shenmue a great debt. The game also redefined the standard for high production values, being one of the most expensive games ever developed, and it created a standard of cinematic gameplay style that is visible in today's games as well.
As much as I hate this game, it is the primary reason the Playstation brand catapulted over the competition. The Playstation would have survived without it, no doubt, but it is what put the PSX above its main competitors. Unlike Halo, which is almost solely responsible for the success of the Xbox, the Playstation and Final Fantasy VII had a more symbiotic relationship: FF VII made the Playstation a success, but it was the CD format of the Playstation which allowed FF VII to come together in a way it arguably might never have had in cartridge form. It also brought JRPGs and high production values to the forefront of gaming and allowed Nintendo to lose dominance over the gaming market for the next two generations. This may not all seem like much, but the gaming industry completely changed when Sony became top dog and if they hadn't, who knows where gaming would be today under Nintendo's grip? For better or for worse, Final Fantasy VII has had a tremendous impact on the video game industry and even on gamers themselves.
This game is the standard for all 3D movement in video games today, spawning the use and need of the analog stick. The use of an analog stick to control characters in 3D is one of the biggest breakthroughs in modern video game design. There is an amount of precision that an analog stick can provide that is unmatched by the now nearly defunct d-pad (or that God awful touch-mess that Nintendo added to the DS version of the game). But Mario 64 didn't just standardize the use of an analog stick, it standardized the way 3D games animate in general. It's amazing how fluid character movement in this game is! And though it inspired other incredible platformers (like Banjo-Kazooie), it's the inspiration it has provided for all of 3D gaming that places it at the number two spot for me.
Why Halo? Because Halo: Combat Evolved has had an immense impact on the gaming industry that even to this day refuses to go away. Think of all the console shooters that have come out since 2001. Now name me how many of those games don't use the Halo controller scheme or some slightly modified version of it. Done? It's probably a number you can count in one hand, or two if you're REALLY pushing it. There is more though: Halo is what sold the original Xbox, and the only reason Microsoft even survived against the onslaught of the behemoth that was the Playstation brand. This may not seem like much, but Microsoft's foray into the console market changed gaming forever: from spanning the wonderful (if needlessly expensive) networks of Xbox LIVE to changing the way gamers play.
People may think that the Playstation 2 had the biggest impact last generation, but I'm not sure about that. The Xbox allowed PC and western developers in general a very wide strip of land to hit the ground running, because the lack of Japanese support left a huge void in the console's library that western developers bravely stepped up to fill. While western developers were doing well in the PC market, the Xbox marks the first console where they really thrived in a market previously inaccessible to them. It was no longer about the Final Fantasies, it was now about The Elder Scrolls for gamers. The Xbox is the reason that western developers are dominating the console market today, and it is the reason that previously complacent Japanese developers are now scrambling to really push themselves and take risks. The Xbox proved what SEGA had given glimpses of a few generations earlier: Japan was no longer crucial to the survival of a video game console.
Halo: Combat Evolved is the reason for this. Without it, the Xbox brand wouldn't even exist and we might not have seen the expansion of amazing western developed games. Sure, I don't doubt that Bioware would have still made amazing games, but truth be told, it was probably the success of Knights of the Old Republic across platforms which gave them enough money to create projects like Mass Effect. This is a pattern that basically repeats with other western teams like Bethesda, Valve, etc. And as much as I do love Japanese developers it's nice to see someone set a fire under their asses so they get moving. Square, for example, quickly became one of the most complacent developers in modern times, pushing out all kinds of cash cows (usually under the guise of a Final Fantasy VII offshoot). But the company has been struggling to get American market share and that's a good thing; competition leads to growth and development. Better yet, Japanese developers, previously convinced that their game design philosophies were superior to western game design philosophies are now trying their best to take what makes western games so amazing and implement those ideas into their own titles.
Halo made it all possible. That is why, for me, it is the most influential game of modern times.
- Kharlo -
I have to disagree with you on some of these only because you went as far back as Super Mario 64.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Halo's success is largely due to the popularity of the first-person shooter genre which had already been gaining momentum within our largest segment of gamers, the casual gamer, way before xbox was even released. If any game should receive praise, and we are talking "since the release of Nintendo 64," it should be Goldeneye 007.
Second, Resident Evil 4 (although a brilliant game) was not the first game to combine the third-person shooter (or "over-the-shoulder") with the "cover system" that I am guessing you are referring to. Winback, for PS2, is the first game that I can recall that really introduced this style of gameplay, which paved the way for not only Resident Evil 4, but Kill Switch, Gears of War, and Army of Two as well.
Sort of:
ReplyDeleteI Goldeneye is sixth on the list, exactly for the reasons you mentioned. More or less, Goldeneye made it cool to play first person shooters on consoles, so it's huge because of that, but even that doesn't change Halo's impact. I'm not talking about originality or how it became so massively huge, I'm talking about how it's influenced games since it became popular. It's definitely the most influential modern game.
And RE 4 doesn't actually use a cover system, just the over-the-shoulder shooting. It wasn't really original, but RE 4 basically standardized it and perfected it and there are many, many games that basically took that verbatim from it.
Modern, yes, but it depends on how far back you want to consider "modern." Like I said, if you are going back as far as Nintendo 64, then Goldeneye definitely trumps Halo. Honestly, what does Halo have that Goldeneye 007, or any FPS shooter for that matter, did not have? Control layout? Done before. Multiplayer? Done before. Compelling story? Done before. Here is the thing: Halo had an opportunity to take the FPS genre for console gaming to the next level with the help of Xbox Live. That is what made it popular! Throw in some competition and look where it is now... Just another FPS. As for bringing the FPS genre to the console to begin with, which allowed for Halo to take it even further with online console gaming, Goldeneye was the first. Again, this is only because we're going as far back as Nintendo 64 AND talking about the console platform. Otherwise, yes, Halo definitely set the new standard.
ReplyDeleteIt is the same argument for RE 4. It just depends on how far back you want to go, and since you mentioned Super Mario 64... You are talking about over a decade ago.
That's not exactly fair considering that Halo: Combat Evolved never had Xbox LIVE capability. In fact, Xbox LIVE didn't even exist at the time. The original Halo: CE became popular for a lot of reasons, but the closest thing to the Xbox LIVE comment is the lan parties, which weren't exactly widespread.
ReplyDeleteAs far as taking FPSs to the next level: only Bioshock has really done that, and that's only to a certain extent. There isn't much that the First Person Shooter genre can do with the gameplay mechanics.
Regardless, my point isn't how Halo became popular, it's the impact it had. There were games that came before it and the thing is that while Goldeneye 007 (which, believe me, I adore more than Halo) made FPSs popular on the console front, Halo's reach (hardy, har, har!) extends beyond its respective genre to affect platforms and even how the industry has evolved in the past decade or so.