The Game with the Greatest Atmosphere

[vede]

I don't have Vista, and don't plan on having Vista for a very long time, so I don't know what to say. One of the patches might fix it, though. It's supposedly pretty buggy on its own (although the only thing I ever noticed was a dog spawning in front of me) but people say the patches fixed most of them (I haven't seen any dogs spawn in front of me, or even around me). Running Vista with it might be a killer, though, if you don't have an elite computer, Vista being a bit of a memory-hog. It's not the stablest game I've played, but it still works great for me. I'm running XP with 768 mb RAM, 1.26 GHz, Nvidia GeForce 7600 GS on extremely low graphics and it stutters occasionally in big fights. I don't know exactly how much Vista takes up, so you might do some research beforehand.

Nice to know I got someone to try it out.

Wovels, eh? I don't know about wovels, but I certainly know vwls r fr wmps. Nd thr xpnsv, t.

 

[wgreer25]

The game had mixed feelings from gamers, but I thought Assassin's Creed did a wonderful job of creating a mood and atmosphere of a 12th century terminator. Uber repetative missions sucked, but the atmosphere was great. Also COD4. The single player missions sucked me in. I played through on Veteran difficulty and it had me on the edge of my seat.

 

[wgreer25]

AvP, good one. I remember playing as the marines and hearing a that Predator sound for the first time. Scared the heck out of me.

The original Unreal was a really good one too. I also remember those first few moments and all the chaos. I also seem to remember a hallway where all the lights go out and you get attacked. Ahh... good times.

 

[poleboy]

I've got 2 GB RAM, 2x2.2 GHz dual processor and some sort of reasonably new Nvidia Gfx card (8600 possibly), so I think I'm good. Anyway, at 20 bucks on Steam I can't pass this up even if it turns out to be a lot less than I'm expecting. And to be fair, you got my expectation cranked up pretty high now, so f t scks 'm hldng rspnsbl!

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

Metroid Prime. This game is perfect in every way, and the atmosphere is simply amazing; I really felt the solitude when I was walking around on Tallon IV.

Amen to that! The music, the landscapes, the chlostrphobic rooms and then a big sprawling hall, just epic from start to finish.

Although for pure atmosphere the best bit is the very begginning. When i was 11 and the first moving space pirate limps up to you it scared me shitless.

The Valhalla in MP3 did that kinda atmosphere even better.

But by that pount in the game, there's not much you haven't seen in terms of enemies, but at the very beggining of MP1 everything is new and potentially hostile.

 

[StevieC]

Agreed about Eternal Darkness and System Shock 2. I'd say the first two Descent games as well, ESPECIALLY when you consider that Descent 1 was the first EVER first person shooter to use polygon 3D models instead of 2D sprites both for enemies and other player characters. Descent was atmospheric enough to give some players motion sickness. Then again it's played in a zero-G environment.

 

[TheGreenManalishi]

Haha! Oh yeah, like in good stealth games your breathing slows and if anyone talks in real life you give them a harsh "SHHH!!"

 

[ScreamingCrab]

The PS version of Doom was also somewhat thick on the atmosphere. Sound has a huge impact on a game, and that was the perfect example of how it could be so. Rather than the dodgy (yet entirely worthy) synth-solos and wierd 8 bit evil techno, it was all some kind of oppressive grey sludge. One I remember well was one that had a crying baby effect that sounded like it was slowly mutating, as a general background effect. It was also slower (due to the PS) and had better sound effects. Distant snarling had a more psychological effect than the kind of sore-throat office-worker-through-a-kazoo effect of the PC version.

I thought Dead Rising had a good atmos at times, there were some genuinely desperate moments in that one when trying to guide survivors through the horde. Most of it was a bit foolish though.

And back before I grew slighty tougher balls, Silent Hill 4 terrified the living hell out of me numerous times (as I played it before the others). A lot of that game was a dull, numbing terror which I shant forget in a hurry.

 

[Rob Sharona]

Another World was the first game to really captivate me. Cinematic, scary and totally amazing.

 

[Kinichie]

Doom 3 gets my vote. Just so dark an I know the bloody thing is gonna come out the next corner and it still makes me jump.

 

[shatnershaman]

Gears of war because it had good graphics and voice acting.

 

[Shadow Tyrant]

F.E.A.R. hands down. For creepy, at least. Granted, I've never played Silent Hill or the like.

The Ratchet and Clank games always have a unique and cartoonish atmosphere. Can't really think of anything else that stands out at the moment.

 

[Drbog]

I know I'll be disagreed with here but I pefered Oblivion to morrowind I thought it was more immesive.Also I felt that Mass Effect is a great game that makes you feel your captain of the Normandy.Gears of war was a horrible failure that had a crap storyline and blatant bad design choices

 

[Fire Daemon]

Half life 2 episode 1. It felt like an adventure I could be in! This created atmosphere because I felt like I was in the game. This was due to Alyx Vance and Barney mostly and the relationships they set up.

I think CoD4 created a wonderful battlefield atmosphere and Bioshock captured the Atmosphere of Rapture really well.

 

[Fire Daemon]

*Double Post*

 

[1blackone]

I'd have to say, aside from the said HL2, ehh maybe Final Fantasy XII-*hears various weapons loading* Wait don't shoot! im gonna go with GTAIV!

When you're a big time rpg'er and rts'er like me, in all its forms, from Secret of Mana to Disgaea to Front Mission spanning consoles from nes to ps3 and beyond. its hard to immerse yourself even in today's latest titles when you are supposed to imagine things like a bustling, living city symbolized by a dozen npcs, 3 npc houses, an inn, an amour/store, a generic castle gate/road, and a butload of wasted textures to run past make it feel "grand"(looking at YOU Lost Odyssey)

Enter Liberty City, each of the npc citizens acutally have mini stories, recieve calls, enter buildings, have activities, and interact with each other smoothly. All within a sprawling landscape; all of it chock-full of details in every corner. From an elley in Hove to Star Junction: you feel like a tourist rather than a gamer.

As a result, when you add storyline and gameplay, you feel like you are having an experience, rather than playing a video game. I can't think of a better set of criteria.

And this is from someone used to the epic scale of JRPG's FF7 anyone? FF9 much?

 

[SurferRosa]

STALKER: the only game I uninstalled through sheer fear.