The Little Things In Life - Those special, small details in games

[Flammablezeus]

Almost the entirety of GTA IV and RDR. Seriously, just walk around on foot in those games for a few hours. Follow an NPC around. After years I still notice things in those games that I never noticed before. Everything lends itself to the world feeling truly authentic.

 

[Vigormortis]

Pretty much the entirety of the Half-Life, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series. Valve just relishes (and excels at) cramming in as many tiny details as they can into their map and level designs; virtually littering them with hidden nuggets of world building. You could write an entire dissertation chronically the stories and side-narratives they've told through these little hidden instances.[footnote]I know that sounds incredibly hyperbolic but you'd be amazed at how many of these little stories there really are in those series.[/footnote]

Another game that always surprises or pleases me with it's attention to the finer details is Torchlight 2. Every time I do another play-through of the campaign I see some little detail in the game world that I never would have expected. Whether it be a random/procedural event, a minute yet incredibly refined character animation, a bit of world design or art, an item description, a side quest, or an easter egg, the game almost never fails to bring a smile to my face.

 

[Idon'tcareanymore]

Well, in sandbox games I really like when you have a clean and efficient means of moving around the sandbox that's also fun. Batman: Arkham City really had a good example of this. The gliding was fun and intuitive, but you also had the grappling hook boost, the line launcher, and you could even make your own platforms with the ice. So combining these methods of transportation really made me happy. I'd long for the Victor Zazz puzzles where you had to quickly rush across the map, because it meant running across the map. The examples of a good movement systems are: Prototype 2, Saint's Row the Third (The cars are so much fun to drive), and the ship feature of Assassin's Creed IV.

But taking the time to mention something from tabletop gaming: cooperative games just make me happy. When new players and vets come together to win in a game like Pandemic or Forbidden Island? It always puts a smile on my face.

 

[Idon'tcareanymore]

Edit: Sorry. Double post. ^^'

 

[Krige]

One thing I really liked and wished was used more was in an old hungarian-made RPG called Perihelion. In it, you often used a "computer" interface to talk, access network and read files, and every keypress resulted in a immensely cool "computer beep" sound that's often associated with writing on computers. It even varied in pitch with every press so every time you used the computer interface, you felt like a true hacker.

I also liked how in the original Unreal the levels progressed in a logical fashion and with a few exceptions you can notice parts the previous and the next level, for example the hangar of Outpost 3J on Na Pali Haven, the Terraniux in both Harobed and Noork, the Sunspire on every single skybox, etc.