Icarus Studios News

Finding the Right Game for You

Part 1, Platformers and Action

I’m going out on a limb here and assuming most of you have jobs, lives, personal relationships, and responsibilities that take up your time—or at least addictions which fill up the empty, empty void where a normal life should go. But when you’re ready to kick back and play a game, you want to pick one that not only is interesting (and perhaps cathartic) but also suits your personality and preferences. Luckily, the gaming industry is teaming with diverse choices, and I’m here to help save time for anyone new to gaming by breaking them down. (Please note that, no, I do not in any way have a subtle agenda to steer you toward the awesome and exciting features of an online virtual world, such as the ones I and my team develop. I will attempt to be objective and not, in fact, continue to point you in the direction of intellectually stimulating and socially oriented virtual games. Just so we’re clear: no bias here.)

First, I have to put games into two categories: platformers and everything else. Platformers are games that revolve around navigating the layout of the in-world space by jumping, swinging, or bounding in order to “win.” You’re probably already familiar with a lot of them. For instance, when Mario had to jump from pipe to pipe in Super Mario Brothers or Sonic the Hedgehog had to go into spin-dash to gather rings? They were navigating what’s called a “hop and bop” platform game. There are also adventure-platformers, puzzle-platformers, maze-platformers, and even “run and gun” platformers, such as Contra. Some of my favorite games were born out of the Platformer Scrolling Era (otherwise known as the 80s), and their focus not just on action but on interaction with the environment around them eventually lead to the more cinematic evolution of games, such as Prince of Persia, which had fluid, life-like animation (for its time). These days, most platform-driven games have wound up on handheld consoles, so, if you are feeling nostalgic or simply think you want to try your hand at kickin’ it old skool, you might want to invest in something like a Gameboy or a Playstation Portable or a Nintendo DS. (They also happen to have a lot of cool new stuff, too.)

For the rest of you, you probably are looking for a video (console) or online game. Console games are played on systems like Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii. Online games, you might have gathered from the context clues, are played online; typically, players purchase the client, connect to the game via the Internet, and pay monthly subscription fees to the game. These non-platform-driven games have tons of subcategories, but the basic genres break down into Action, Strategy, Simulation, RPG, and Puzzles. The reason games are grouped this way doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the way they look or even if they have common narratives (you can be the hero who saves the princess by fighting a dragon, planning a full-scale war, or solving a riddle to free her). Game genres depend almost entirely on the aspects of game-play—on the way the player must behave.  

First up are action (and action-adventure) games. You’ve had a hard day, your boss is riding you, maybe the car in front of you cut you off in traffic, or your special someone just will not stop nagging you. Rather than risk committing real, violent crime, it’s probably a good idea to invest in Action games and take out some of that aggression on virtual foes. You can take your pick of the myriad of fighting, stealth-shooter, and first-person shooter games, such as Halo or Call of Duty. For those not too keen on firearms and gunplay, there’re plenty of hack-and-slash games (my personal favorite, seeing as how I’m a saber fencer). Those who know me know that I’m soft and fuzzy and warm and cuddly most of the time; but when I’m in the mood, nothing beats the gory satisfaction achieved when shanking my enemy with a homemade blade or asphyxiating an opponent with my avatar’s muscular thighs while in the clutches of melee bloodlust. (I feel comfortable enough admitting that Mortal Kombat was my gateway drug into Fighting Games; however, some of you may prefer Street Fighter, and I’m not about to wrest your illusions away from you.)

(Continued in Part 2)

-Kara Stambach, Virtual Worlds Team