Games with the most innovative, original concepts

[Bronte]

Just wanted to think what people think.

It could be as complex as the wonderful experience "The Path" is (and how different it is from a "gaming experience"), to the cover system introduced in shoot-em-ups.

I'll start off.

Max Payne:
Bullet-time may have been done before by John Woo, but to fiddle with it in a video game was sheer ecstasy.

Alice:
What an incredible, twisted twist (pun intended) on a classic story.

 

[manimani]

Assassin's Creed for the motion.
Skate and Skate 2 because it broke the Tony Hawk button mashing formula.

And thank you for starting a truly interesting topic.

 

[Weaver]

-Zelda for introducing saving into games.
-Pong for (as is generally believed) starting it all.
-Mortal Kombat for introducing over the top and pseudo-realistic violence, blood and gore.
-Wolfenstein for fathering the modern FPS
-Worms and Scorched Earth for taking the Gorillas formula and giving it a huge and awesome boost.

 

[D_987]

Gears of War - the cover system. (Yes I know it was done in a different game first but Gears was the game that truly grasped the concept.) That and having a chainsaw on a machine gun (Lancer).

 

[Nova Tendril]

half-Life 2 for the innovative method of story telling through the world rather than dialogue.

 

[willard3]

Mirror's Edge for immersive first-person gameplay. Sure, Condemned had a few "true" first-person moments (getting flung down an escalator is quite the experience), and there's supposedly another game for the original Xbox that tried real first-person, but there's nothing quite like leaping over a chasm while flailing your arms and legs, then doing a shoulder roll while maintaining the first-person camera. Or barely grabbing a ledge and having your camera look down for a split-second before you grab on with your second hand.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Mirror's Edge for immersive first-person gameplay. Sure, Condemned had a few "true" first-person moments (getting flung down an escalator is quite the experience), and there's supposedly another game for the original Xbox that tried real first-person, but there's nothing quite like leaping over a chasm while flailing your arms and legs, then doing a shoulder roll while maintaining the first-person camera. Or barely grabbing a ledge and having your camera look down for a split-second before you grab on with your second hand.

They were both quite innovative. Mirror's Edge reinvented platforming, while Condemned reinvented how to do horror.

And Fable 2 was quite innovative with its use of the dog, even though you stop following him to dig spots and stuff altogether once you become rich.

I loved my puppy...The other game you're thinking of is Breakdown.

 

[EzraPound]

Too many to name, really...

Fighting
- Karate Champ
- Street Fighter II
- Virtua Fighter

Beat 'em up:
- Kung-Fu Master
- Double Dragon

Racing:
- Pole Position
- Super Mario Kart
- Virtua Racing

2D Platformer
- Donkey Kong
- Pitfall!
- Super Mario Bros.
- Sonic the Hedgehog

3D Platformer:
- Alpha Waves
- Super Mario 64

FPS:
- Wolfenstein 3D
- DOOM
- GoldenEye 007
- Half-Life
- System Shock 2
- Deus Ex
- Half-Life 2

RPG:
- pedit5
- Wizardry
- Ultima III: Exodus
- Dragon Warrior
- Diablo
- Final Fantasy VII

Adventure:
- Adventure
- Mystery House
- King's Quest
- Maniac Mansion
- The Secret of Monkey Island

Puzzle:
- Tetris

RTS:
- Herzog Zwei
- Dune II

Rail Shooter:
- Virtua Cop

 

[randommaster]

Yggdra Union is a really innovative turn-based strategy game.

Not to mention hard as balls.

 

[Doug]

Psychonauts for its original theme, world, and the mechanic of having the mechanic of wholy different minds as 'levels'

 

[Gerazzi]

I'd say Silent Hill 2 but it's not really innovative, just awesome.

Let's see...
PORTAL
Can't believe no one posted that

 

[Earthbound]

I'm going to go with Team Fortress, even though it was just a mod. It was the very first multiplayer game to implement classes rather than just identical soldiers, if I remember correctly. Think of all the multiplayer games that have stemmed from that.

 

[XUnsafeNormalX]

Starcraft: Changing the RTS. Forever.

Halo 1: Changing the FPS. Forever

World of Warcraft: Changing the MMO. Forever

 

[CIA]

.
PORTAL
Can't believe no one posted that

Haha. Yes, a thousand times yes. Portal (and shortly after mirrors edge) has brought innovation into the firs person perspective.

Also, I've really been diggin' Ubisoft Montreal stuff lately.

 

[Erana]

The Endless Forest: The only troll-proof game in existence.

 

[CoverYourHead]

Pong... No one had used its ideas in another videogame before.

 

[black lincon]

-Pong for (as is generally believed) starting it all.

It's my duty to inform you that the first games were made by Ralph Baer in his system the Odyssey.

as to the most innovative game, I would have to say that Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World had an interesting concept in terms of story. For those of you who don't know ToSoaNW's story, the original concept was that after the first game you united the two worlds in an attempt to create a peaceful society, and then shit starts getting bad for various reasons. It may not sound interesting but it was if you played through the first game, or it was interesting up until they abandoned the concept of making a good game and went with a shitty fan game.

EDIT:

Pong... No one had used its ideas in another videogame before.

Once again, Ralph Baer, The Odyssey. in fact Pong was just a fine tuned version of one of The Odyssey's games, table tennis.

 

[b1gr1ck]

System Shock 2 for merging a FPS and RPG so well, and for it's use of a scary atmosphere with out turning the lights out every 5 seconds. (*cough cough* Doom 3)

 

[Boxinatorizore]

Anything made by team Ico.

 

[Barry93]

Resistance:Fall of Man
Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour
Motorstorm