Sammy's Sight and Sound List
Initially wasn't fully sure if I was going to do this or not but in the end it sounded kinda fun. Gonna do my best to do this right but we'll see what happens!
Gonna try to go with games that I feel use the medium interestingly OR that I feel are like peaks of their genres and even just some personal favorites! I'll also attach notes to explain the picks more in detail (and as an excuse to ramble about how special these are to me honestly lmao)!
Gonna try to go with games that I feel use the medium interestingly OR that I feel are like peaks of their genres and even just some personal favorites! I'll also attach notes to explain the picks more in detail (and as an excuse to ramble about how special these are to me honestly lmao)!
10 Games
I think this is peak PS1 horror storytelling with just such a gripping cast of characters and such a brilliant cast of actors that bring the performances a weight and heft that sell the emotions of the scenes oh so well.
One of those special gems that I feel like more people should experience.
One of those special gems that I feel like more people should experience.
Love the way this uses video games as a means of connecting with others and getting you to appreciate those small little moments. The way this uses multiplayer to extend that to shared unique experiences with each person that you meet throughout the experience is absolutely wonderful and really cements the whole package.
The greatest beat em up ever created.
Nothing has come close to dethroning this absolute masterpiece and I am genuinely convinced that nothing ever will.
Nothing has come close to dethroning this absolute masterpiece and I am genuinely convinced that nothing ever will.
To me this is the game that feels like the perfect end point for the Hard Boiled-esque Hong Kong action film inspired shooters that littered the 90's and 2000's.
The heavy and weighty combat gets you in the shoes of the protagonist. The violence is visceral and at points shockingly brutal.
Using its washed out, City of God inspired, color palette and cutscene direction in order to tell a Gran Torino type story about a total loser who fucks up every step of his quest trying his damndest to perform a white savior narrative in a place he clearly doesn't understand. It's fantastic and absolutely perfected. One of the better white savior narrative critiques that I've honestly seen.
The heavy and weighty combat gets you in the shoes of the protagonist. The violence is visceral and at points shockingly brutal.
Using its washed out, City of God inspired, color palette and cutscene direction in order to tell a Gran Torino type story about a total loser who fucks up every step of his quest trying his damndest to perform a white savior narrative in a place he clearly doesn't understand. It's fantastic and absolutely perfected. One of the better white savior narrative critiques that I've honestly seen.
Completionism as a destructive force.
Monotony used perfect to desensitize you to the horrific shit you're doing.
Nothing ever gets better the more bodies that pile up. You just add more bodies to the pile.
Nier also does this to an extent but the way Drakengard does this, intentional or not, is absolutely a masterstroke that I hate playing.
It's perfect.
Monotony used perfect to desensitize you to the horrific shit you're doing.
Nothing ever gets better the more bodies that pile up. You just add more bodies to the pile.
Nier also does this to an extent but the way Drakengard does this, intentional or not, is absolutely a masterstroke that I hate playing.
It's perfect.
The futility of choice in a world ruled by corporations. Doing your best to do what you think is right but to what end?
Using video games and simulations themselves as narrative device, bridging the player and the player character closer than you would think.
Using video games and simulations themselves as narrative device, bridging the player and the player character closer than you would think.
Games as visual album.
An absolute treasure that connects the beauty of music and the heartbreak of losing connections. Finding your way forward through the drudge of your own complex feelings and emotions. Love is messy.
An absolute treasure that connects the beauty of music and the heartbreak of losing connections. Finding your way forward through the drudge of your own complex feelings and emotions. Love is messy.
One of the few of these open world games that's about grinding missions to get more things that feels majorly like it actively rejects your presence.
Every aspect of it rejects your being. Few places are safe, you're alone and constantly losing the few people you do have.
Missions tend to be fairly similar and nothing is really effected depending on who you help. It's all blurry and you're another cog in the mercenary machine. In aspects reminds me a lot of Drakengard and Armored Core in slight specific ways but does enough its own that I think it deserves a place on this list.
Every aspect of it rejects your being. Few places are safe, you're alone and constantly losing the few people you do have.
Missions tend to be fairly similar and nothing is really effected depending on who you help. It's all blurry and you're another cog in the mercenary machine. In aspects reminds me a lot of Drakengard and Armored Core in slight specific ways but does enough its own that I think it deserves a place on this list.
The arcady skateboarding game perfected. Absolute zen gaming.
One of the best PS1 platformers and one that manages to sell its sense of adventure while using that to turn around into absolute devastating tragedy. Shit hurts and has stuck in my mind as one of the best to ever do it.
2 Comments
They're so fuckin GOATed
BlazingWaters
1 year ago