The 'I Love' Thread

[measurements]

As a counterpoint and balancing act to El hato-thread (which isn't half bad). I present the 'I fugging love it' thread.

My pick is Thief 2: The Metal Age. A game that took everything exceptional from it's predecessor, removed everything flawed and polished the resultant stone to a sparkle rivalling the sun. I think that enough has been said about this game across the breadth of the internet for me to really have nothing more to add. If Thief 4 (sorry I mean Thifo?rtf) was just a modern engine reverently made remake of Thief 2 I could not be happier. Because it would be so hard to live up to it.

I also suspect you could make quite a good film out of the Thief universe and art style (maybe animated?). The religious zealotry, the pagan weirdness, the sophistication of Garrett.

Despite having written a whole bunch up there, I feel like I haven't done my own thread kick starting enough justice so I'll mention Batman: Arkham Asylum for the uninitiated. I actually got the game free with a graphics card, of all things, and had no expectations other than vague murmurs of positivity. It quickly became apparent that this was no ordinary third person action punchup. As I raced though the game I began to realise just how exceptional every single element of it was. The two combat mechanics are the epitomy of well designed systems and every fucking game designer should be taking lessons from them. Nothing quite beats having a terrified enemy firing his gun at the dark, screaming out at shadows.The voice acting and characterisation is so spot on, I want to play it again right now just for some of the cut scenes. Occasionally bombastic music swells and cascades around the entire edifice, wrapping you up in the pace of the action or bringing your stealthy machinations to a satisfying conclusion. Every facet of this game was lovingly fine crafted and neatly fit into a greater whole in a way that can only be concluded by calling it a masterpiece.

So... what do you love?

[Jockie]

The feeling of an epic comeback in competitive multiplayer, where your team has pretty much given up the game. Then, a moment of amazing individual skill or fluid teamwork tips the balance back in your favour as the sweet tears of your opponents start to fill the chat.

It's especially satisfying if your opponents are the kind who have spent the whole match bragging previously.

[Hunt0r]

The feeling of an epic comeback in competitive multiplayer, where your team has pretty much given up the game. Then, a moment of amazing individual skill or fluid teamwork tips the balance back in your favour as the sweet tears of your opponents start to fill the chat.

It's especially satisfying if your opponents are the kind who have spent the whole match bragging previously.

Quoted for absolute truth i love this to bits makes you feel on top of the world!

[Heliocentric]

The feeling of an epic comeback in competitive multiplayer, where your team has pretty much given up the game. Then, a moment of amazing individual skill, fluid teamwork, a stupid gambit or dumb luck tips the balance back in your favour.

quoted for preference

[sinomatic]

Games that make dying/losing just as entertaining as doing well (see: Burnout, Left 4 dead, Frozen synapse, Magicka etc).

[Skalpadda]

Despite it not being anywhere near my favourite game ever, I love the stealth system in Crysis. As far as I'm concerned the first half of the game is one big, brilliant hiding-in-bushes-simulator.

I love it when a game manages to tell a story through it's environment, or when the environment is rich enough that you can piece together your own little stories while exploring it.

Most of all, I love it when a game genuinely makes me feel like I'm going on an adventure, whether it's a ride on rails like Half Life or Portal or setting my sights on a landmark in a Bethesda game and just finding out what the game will throw at me along the way.

[G915]

I love Beyond Good & Evil.

[Shakermaker]

I have loved destructibility in games, ever since I played Soldiers: Heroes of World War II for the first time. I can set up a Company of Heroes skirmish, simply to blow everything up on the map. Build three of four Howitzers and blast away. So therapeutic.

[Wizardry]

I love games that make you think. Turn-based CRPGs with lots and lots of statistics. Games that allow me to create the character I want without forcing me to actually be them by fighting enemies as them in real-time. I tell the guys under my control what to do and they try their best to do it, with their own attributes and skills determining their success or failure.

[MaxwellKraft]

First person games that switch between mouselook and a floating mouse cursor (Shock 2, Arx Fatalis, Shock 1 and Realms of the Haunting if you set them up right, etc). It's the perfect interface for when you want to interact with your environment but also shoot some mans in the face.

Pistols that go BLAM BLAM BLAM instead of pew-pew-pew (I'm looking at you Half Life 2 ಠ_ಠ).

Games with lots of places to explore.

GoG.com.

Mods that make mediocre games fantastic.

[SMiD]

I love you guys. Hugs all around. Seriously, this site and its frequenters are pretty boss. I also love games and scotch; often times together.

[Wizardry]

First person games that switch between mouselook and a floating mouse cursor (Shock 2, Arx Fatalis, Shock 1 and Realms of the Haunting if you set them up right, etc). It's the perfect interface for when you want to interact with your environment but also shoot some mans in the face.

Pistols that go BLAM BLAM BLAM instead of pew-pew-pew (I'm looking at you Half Life 2 ಠ_ಠ).

Games with lots of places to explore.

GoG.com.

Mods that make mediocre games fantastic.

I think you'll like the Ultima Underworld games. They are available on GOG.com.

[outoffeelinsobad]

Games with dynamic worlds. Terraria, TES, Minecraft, etc.

[riadsala]

CivIV.

I've recently returned to the game, and am starting to investigate some of the awesome mods. (only scratched the surface of Fall from Heaven 2, and have been trying to get to grips with Legends of Revolution recently). And there's also a SMAC inspired mod called Planetfall that I want to try out.

[AndrewC]

I love walking around worlds and exploring, so this latest generation, with its open worlds, is pure joy to me. It makes the Oblivion-is-broken speech of many feel very odd to me. Let us say that all of their criticisms are right (and mostly they are, merely rendered daft by the hyperbole of their expression): none of them matter a bit to me. Mechanics are not the game, but the way the game tells me what its world is like. They are means towards atmosphere.

I also love that this current stasis in technological (specifically graphical) development caused by the consoles is leading devs away from using graphics as the selling point and instead adding more, or at least different, interaction. More interaction with the world: more atmosphere in the world. New mechanic for interaction: new atmosphere. Mmmm, tasty, tasty atmosphere.

Well, this is more of a hope, but i'm optimistic.

Anyway: lots to love with current stuff.

[Batolemaeus]

The Civ series. World domination is simply the least ambitious goal games should be about.

I just wish I could have the depths of Civ4 combined with Civ5's hexes to form the übergame to end all games. People laugh about Ghandi threatening people with nuclear weapons, but this is what Civ is all about. Anything can happen and each game can be completely unpredictable.

[òscar.]

I loved the huge mod community that the first Half Life had. Matchless: Day of Defeat, Natural Selection, The Specialists, Science and Industry, etc. When HL2 was announced, I dreamt about the possibilities that a new engine would entail. Unfortunately, that didn't happen :(

[rhizo]

I love games that have outstanding replay value. It's just one example of how games with a proper idea and a clever design behind them are superior to "AAA" mold cast gaming industry products. Often cheaper to make and certainly better value for gamers.

Take a Paradox GSG for example, ambitiously modelled complex systems that attempt to emulate the reasons for something happening not just the consequences. Easily some of the best value I've ever gotten out of a game purchase. Or take a proper management game for that matter, I've gotten hundreds of hours of dynamic problem solving from games like FM. MP games work as well, I've been running around shooting people in BFBC2 for some 300h and still enjoy a game now and then. What's not to like. A good 200+ hours of interesting gameplay trumps all-star voiceover casts and hours of prerendered cutscenes in a heartbeat.