Poll: So the game sucks... but what about the universe?

[Christemo]

where is Too Human? the game was bad, but it had a great concept and the universe was pretty good, the game itself just sucked.

 

[Arrers]

Out of the above, Half-Life. but I prefer Bioshock's setting or Fable or Mass Effect, more for the depth and effort put into ME's universe than it's look. As for Fable and Bioshock, my appreciation of them is more aesthetic.

 

[Skeleon]

Once again, my lack of console gaming makes it difficult for me to answer this thread/poll.
Couldn't you have asked for some old PS One stuff, like Medievil?

Anyway, of those 5, I only played Half-Life and Halo.
Halo is pretty uninspired and basic: Space Marines versus Aliens. Not a great contender.
On the other hand, Half-Life is a very basic Black-Ops/Science-Gone-Wrong scenario with, yes, Aliens. Not that original, either.

Honestly, I don't know what to vote for.

 

[JackVykios]

Half-Life, easy. People say "oh the settings bored the shit out of me", but that isn't what amazes me. It's simply the believability, as someone has already said, it feels like it could happen, and everything that happens is backed up. Not like Halo where science is ignored simply to get to the meaty fiction bit. On top of that, Half-life has me asking about its universe, even when it doesn't apply to the situation (i.e. a LOST sort of conundrum); I mean, there are so many theories on the G-man, the combine (their motivations, their evolution, their biology), the game's technology, and the history that's presented. Another thing is that it all takes place on Earth (conveniently forgetting about Xen for the moment...), and I never feel like the developers aren't making full use of the planet instead of simply saying "oh, another environment; YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS! NEW PLANET!".
Anyway, I just find Half-Life's universe to be so much more satisfying and interesting than the others you listed. Killzone...could've been better done, Gears is just about the killing, really (although the destroyed beauty theme is a good one, it's always outshined by the violence), whilst Resistance had a very clever universe that was ruined by the second game...but there you go.

 

[lava_lamp]

i would recreate half-life 2 as you hiding in the city and having to use stealth to take out the combine

 

[TheHorizon]

I think the word you are looking for, OP, is "mythos", not universe or setting.

 

[Wargamer]

Out of the above, Half-Life. but I prefer Bioshock's setting or Fable or Mass Effect, more for the depth and effort put into ME's universe than it's look. As for Fable and Bioshock, my appreciation of them is more aesthetic.

Okay, I hold up my hands and say Bioshock really should have been included. That setting is fantastic!

 

[Wargamer]

The Halo series has a bad plot, with average gameplay, but I've always thought the universe had potential to be great. Oh well, too late now. They "finished the fight".

And then released Halo Wars. *rolleyes*

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

The Halo series has a bad plot, with average gameplay, but I've always thought the universe had potential to be great. Oh well, too late now. They "finished the fight".

And then released Halo Wars. *rolleyes*

Well, that was made by a different studio (they are now gone) and did right by the universe, imo, but I just despise RTS games, be them on a console or on the PC.

 

[Amarok]

Halo has the best sci-fi universe of the games on display (40k would shatter them all, but then again that's why it's not on there).

But no doubt, people won't look at the first post/title and just vote 'half-life' because they heard Yahtzee likes it, even though the universe itself is just...dull.

Hmm I'm gonna completely warp time and space here and say that I really like the universes of both halo AND half life for different reasons.
Halo is a very cool space-aged universe with the most interesting "generic space marines" I have seen, the whole stuff with flood, the halo rings, and AI rampancy etc. etc. is decent, I like it.

Half-Life I like because of just how plausable it is by comparison of most stories and how dark it becomes because of us. Like, say Gears of War, sure it's a dark story, but we know monsters arent gonna pop out of the ground, whereas Half Life... could happen. don't mistake me for a nut here, I know it's astronomically unlikely, but a hopelessly superior alien race could feasably rape our planet to its bones and leave us living in a dried up sack of shit.

So yeah, both universes get good marks from me, Halo for its pleasing just-deep-enough hollywood-esque feel, and Half-Life for it's grim yet reasonable setting.

Now how's that for a wall?

 

[WittyName]

Resistance, because it is actually based in real places. I thought that was a cool idea, rather than just making up some fictional setting to base the game in.

 

[phoenix352]

ok ..how about you add some choices that dont include evil aliens...i mean common every choice on the poll has u fighting bad aliens...in like a future setting when earth got blown up...
oh yes killzones helgans are technically aliens.

how about the settings of mirrors edge? what about god of war or something .....
i dont want any post war universe tyvm.

 

[IrrelevantTangent]

Mirror's Edge has a good universe. Maybe not a good game or plot or balance, but a good universe.