The Game with the Greatest Atmosphere

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jobr89

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Jun 3, 2008
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Spinozaad said:
Football Manager/old Championship Manager series (yes, I'm serious. Other FM/CM junkies know what I mean)
I know exactly what you mean, and I would have to say bioshock and Grim Fandango had the best atmosphere.
 

ImperialPyromancer

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Jan 3, 2008
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Another one for Vampires - Bloodlines. Bloody immersive, and I'll never forget how creepy the haunted mansion was, or the "eye harvest"
 

HardRockSamurai

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May 28, 2008
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Jesus, there are too many to count! I might as well tell you my favorite, Shadow of the Colossus...don't get me wrong, I love the atmosphere of most of the games mentioned thus far, but for me, nothing beats watching a boss taller than a skyscraper in the distance with a couple of my arrows sticking out of it!
 

Nozer

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Mar 26, 2008
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Either Eternal Darkness or AvP. When your the marine and your motion sensor starts to beep and you see 3 or 4 blobs close in from all around...
 

AlexanderAstartes

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Jan 1, 2008
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Call of Cthulhu is pretty good at creating an atmosphere; it's pretty creepy playing it alone, even before you realise the extent of the horror that is Innsmouth.

I would say Bioshock as well, and Beyond Good and Evil struck a nice balance between drama and humour. Oh, and Portal. I had no idea what to expect when I picked it up. The progressively more sinister insinuations of GLaDOS sent shivers through you; there was a kind of grim anticipation of what was to come.

Morrowind and Gothic most of all. I really felt that I'd been cast into an (undoubtedly hostile) backwater swampland. Oblivion lacked this; it forced heroism upon you, whereas Morrowind hated you. It tried to kill you. Cliffracers have scarred me for a lifetime.

Gothic shared this brutality. The magical prison seemed real at times.
 

klarax

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Mar 24, 2008
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Like most horror games. They are the best for atmosphere.

Can't stand horror films though. All they seem to be these days is large amount of blood and gore. Would rather films be more psychological than blood and guts. At least then, it's more intelligent.
 

Aries_Split

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May 12, 2008
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Metal Gear Solid series. The ONLY series that can make me tear up at the death of a character.
 

Pifflestick

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Jun 10, 2008
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Max Payne 1&2, I could actually sympathize with Max and understand his desire for revenge. Also, when he gets drugged and you go to those really f***ed up levels, that is f*** awesome. And the storyline sucked me in like a black hole, and thats saying alot because those are the ONLY games that actually did that.
 

Canniballisticduck

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Dec 13, 2007
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Definitly Half Life two Raven Holm when i played it on hard was absolutly nightmarish i played it with the lights off and when someone came in the room i jumped out of my skin, I lived in fear of the fast head crab zombies and most of all the poison ones they could take a grenadfe and not die! Also later in the game when city 17 rebels you got this feeling of liberation very good atmosphere though water hazard felt more like a cruise than a death dash
 

StatikShock

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Mar 18, 2008
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JD4566 said:
Is this guy talking bad about GTA IV, Mass Effect, Halo, and Gears of War
I loved all these games (except Halo 3 I jst thaught it was average)

There's sumthin rong wit this guy
No there isnt anything "rong" with me. Learn to type complete words.

JD4566 said:
I haven't read all the posts
Why not?

JD4566 said:
but I'm pretty sure Conker's Bad Fur Day isn't in there/
C'mon guys...Conker was amazing
horny bees, busty flowers, Nazi teddy bears, german weasels, hick pitchforks

tht game was awesome and the multiplayer 2...i loved the multplayer in tht game
D-Day wit squirrels (srry if i spelled it rong) capture the flag, bank heists, and cavemen stealing raptor eggs
You know that game existed pre-xbox, right? Wrong is spelled with a 'W', you actually DID spell "squirrels" correctly, but spelled multiplayer, that (twice!), with, sorry, and wrong incorrectly. And you replaced "too" with a number.

JD4566 said:
It was so innovative wit all sorts of random colorful ideas
Way better than Zelda or Portal (if ne 1 said tht)
It wasnt innovative in the slightest, it was childish humor. Unless you consider childish humor to be "innovative."

Also, Conker is hardly an "immersive" game, maybe look up what that word means, and you might have a better ability to respond.
 

jimjulius

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Apr 24, 2008
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Ahh, System Shock 2 is probably my most memorable terrifying atmosphere... the first time I played it I got as far as the crew quarters, had virtually no health, one healing hypo, a bag of crisps, and a broken pistol.

I was so frightened that my character hid behind the counter in a canteen for ten minutes before I could muster the courage to come out. The whole experience was made far worse by the hybrids setting off the automatic doors as they wandered about in the corridor, muttering crazy-talk and death threats. I knew that any second one would wander in and murder me. It honestly felt like it was MY life, and not that of my character that was at risk.

I like Bioshock a lot as a game, but after I had become used to being regenerated without fail I got that Boris from Goldeneye "I am Invinssseeable!" mentality, which stopped me feeling scared, so the creepy factor was spoiled quite a lot. Still think it's a beautiful interesting world, just not frightening.
 

Zombie_King

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May 26, 2008
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I can't say WoW, or any other MMO for that matter, because half of every MMO base are retarded d-bags, who want nothing more to frag you. I'm gonna go with GTA4 and my top pick, Assasin's Creed coming in a close second. Anyone whose played GTA4 and just sat on top of a building and watched the civilians just act can tell you that the developers did a wonderful job of creating the game, despite it erring on the real side a bit too far. Assasin's Creed is huge, with maybe not the level of interactivity one would desire, but the game just has a 'feel,' knowmsaying?
 

tobyornottoby

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Jan 2, 2008
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For one, I didnt say "new games are teh suck, old games are teh win" or whatever, I just think a lot of people, such as captain Gears triple post on the first page, are making claims to best atmosphere EVAR, without any actual gaming experience save the last five years. That being said... Bioshock IS System Shock 2, with the difficulty turned WAY down, the graphics improved, and the "Creepy factor" left somewhere in the middle.
I think that for things like atmosphere especcially, the graphics can make a HUGE difference. You had a nice experience playing system shock. But for somebody who has played bioshock first, I can imagine something looking less good will also be less atmospheric... like putting one finger in 0 degree water and another in 40 degree water and then put them both in 20 degree water...
 

Gamer137

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Jun 7, 2008
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BioShock overall. I have played many games with great and even better stories, such as FFX, but the overall feel of the environment and tone greatly made up for the story, which was still great but only had one major twist. I just wish the difficulty was harder. Even the Brass Balls achivement was pretty easy if you conserve your ammo.
 

The Bandit

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Feb 5, 2008
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StatikShock said:
I think so many people are saying Bioshock simply because, in the scheme of things, they are new to gaming, and when your game experience is limited to pretty much the past 5-6 years, well, your perceptions of what makes a good game is (IMO) a bit skewed.
And I, despite absolutely hating Bioshock, think it's ridiculous to claim everyone is inexperienced (as if 5-6 years is inexperienced) just because their opinion differs from yours.

Half-Life 2 sucked me in, but it was really the two episodes (especially ep. 1) that pulled me in the most. And, although the game was incomplete, KOTOR II really had a great atmosphere, a much darker one than the original.

EDIT: Apologies to whoever I quoted. I had pulled up this post when there was still only one page, and didn't get around to replying until now. So, I hadn't realized your post had already been addressed.
 

Alex the Pally

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May 29, 2008
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I'm going to say Morrowind. Just stopping and observing the Ascadian Isles... breathtaking.

Apart from that, I'm going to say World of Warcraft, the starting areas in particular, and Ace Combat 5 & 6.
 

Sirisaxman

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Jun 8, 2008
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The first Manhunt. It doesn't get any better than fighting for your life to film some sick fuck's snuff film. Especially when the sick fuck is Brian Cox. AWESOME.
 

Doctor Panda

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Apr 17, 2008
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Well hell, i'm bored and meant to be studying for exams, so it wouldn't be right if i didn't procrastinate and add in my two cents on the old/new thing here.

I have to say i had the same reaction as StatikShock to everyone posting bioshock. Or at the very least "Bioshock, hands down". It's not that it didn't have great atmosphere, it's damned good! Really damned good! But it's certainly got a lot of competitors. And if you've played the earlier games in the series, you've *seen it before*

I do think games have more atmosphere these days. Not as a general rule, most games coming out are still rubbish. But there's certainly a growing recognition of the potential of games to tell wonderful stories, and I think more developers are interested in taking advantage of that. This is, of course, on the back of a lot of old games that really did set the world on fire - fallout, starcraft, system shock. Some would seem a little dated now (because they've inspired so many titles after them that have the advantage of graphics). Some were so well made and original that they're as good as anything today. *Everyone* who games should eventually give fallout and starcraft a go, for example.

So it's not all blind nostalgia. And I think older gamers will be less excited about new stuff that is the same as old stuff but with a facelinf. But there's no denying that there's some amazing games coming out - GTAIV for example. And there's no denying that , even if I've seen it before, people who play bioshock or halo are definately feeling 'immersion' - possibly more than i did back when i played system shock because of advances in the industry. Just harder to get exited about stuff that seems less original to me than to people with a shorter history.

PS, i'm not *that* old, i've been gaming just less than 2 decades. Any really old farts like to comment? :p