The Game with the Greatest Atmosphere
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Half Life 2 and BioShock spring to mind - the latter especially, particularly in regard to its sound design. But pre-3D... I would say The Secret of Monkey Island (and the sequel) conjured its world better than any other game around that time; Doom (no it is not 3D) had a scary atmosphere without necessarily placing it in a believable environment; and the original Syndicate was memorably oppressive.
Thats a great shout.haruvister said:
Flashback was quite wonderful - each of the different environments had their own atmosphere.
I found Call of Duty 2 was actually a touch stressful at times - the noise in parts of that game is astounding.
Obviously there's Killer 7 which, like Resident Evil, does a great job of keeping you continually unnerved.
I'm currently playing Metroid Prime for the first time and the atmosphere is just one of the many things that are near perfection.
QFT.KamikazeSailor said:
I even enjoyed Thief 3, for all its sins.
I always felt the Splinter Cell series was quite well done as far as atmosphere went too.
Someone mentioned Bioshock - while I enjoyed it to some extent, I felt that it overdid the twitch factor. I think out of the two System Shock 2 was the better game.
My favorite has to be the first flashback in FF7 where Cloud narrates the events in his town 5 years ago, brilliant, brilliant music and storytelling, that part alone made up for all the game's flaws
conflict: vietnam. the first couple of missions were not great. but it soon sucks you in with the bobby traps and the random guys hiding behind some foliage with a submachine gun. spent half my time playing that game crawling and praying. and the rest blind-firing. was an absolute gem.
Have to say Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines. By far the most immersive game I've ever played (make sure you get the unofficial patch)
Half-Life 2 is up there for it's brilliant delivery and depiction of a dystopia. Any of the Resident Evil series too for the dread you get any time you hear groans, growls or footsteps. Just got Umbrella Chronicles and it's even pretty tense
Half-Life 2 is up there for it's brilliant delivery and depiction of a dystopia. Any of the Resident Evil series too for the dread you get any time you hear groans, growls or footsteps. Just got Umbrella Chronicles and it's even pretty tense
Lots of good ones here, but I'm gonna go in another direction: Mario 64. That's the video game world I'd like to live in.
Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube. The fact that they had it appear as though your system glitched when your sanity meter went way down, or the silhouette of a fly on your screen that you couldn't tell right away weren't real.
Definitely added the to game's desire to make you think you were seeing, and hearing things you weren't suppose to.
Definitely added the to game's desire to make you think you were seeing, and hearing things you weren't suppose to.
How can nobody have mentioned silent hill 2 yet? I mean, i know it's an obvious choice, but seriously, that game had admosphere so thick you could cut it. The feeling of being alone, being hunted... Gotta say a lot of the above choices are great too; system shock, bioshock. Starcraft had an incredible atmosphere in its campaign mode.
I'm going to go in a completely different direction too. The oft forgotten MMOFPS Planetside was, at times beautifully atmospheric. The rush from "Hotdropping" from a dropship in the heart of enemy territory, the experience being pinned down by enemy fire with artillery blasts going off all around you, the tension of infiltrating an enemy base, invisible unless you make any sudden movements... some of the greatest gaming moments I've ever had. The fact that everyone I knew in that game had some really unique "war stories" to tell just confirmed it's greatness. Sadly, it was screwed up by bad design decisions and low populations, which is sad.
Oh and FEAR. Dunno about all these expansions and the rest of that malarky, but playing it in bite sized chunks really improved the atmosphere for me (at midnight, with the lights turned off, natch). Alma was well and truely freaky, making you jump at the odd occasion, and the strange flashbacks were excellent (if a little cliched) methods of exposition, and handled better than in any game I've played before or since.
Oh and hi, I'm a long time listener, first time caller (as it were).
Oh and FEAR. Dunno about all these expansions and the rest of that malarky, but playing it in bite sized chunks really improved the atmosphere for me (at midnight, with the lights turned off, natch). Alma was well and truely freaky, making you jump at the odd occasion, and the strange flashbacks were excellent (if a little cliched) methods of exposition, and handled better than in any game I've played before or since.
Oh and hi, I'm a long time listener, first time caller (as it were).
I think Dino Crisis 1 and 2 (on the ps1, not the xbox one) had a great atmosphere. The camera and graphics may not have been the best, but once you get past that, the game did a great job to immerse one in the suspense and desolation that can be found in a city overgrown with a dense jungle or an abandoned laboratory.
