Video games that broke the mould

[Stoic raptor]

Trespasser.

A game released in 1998. A jurrasic park game. Hated by many (though I love it)

What was revolutionary about it was that it was one of the first games ever to have physics. It inspired Valve to put physics in HL2.

 

[Atmos Duality]

It's sad to consider how so many of the original trend-setters are now mired in repeating their successes ad-naseum.
Granted, many of the best do make improvements over time, but each step seems to be shorter and shorter.

(Nintendo, Blizzard, Epic Games)

And of course, some just back-pedal hopelessly in their ineptitude because the people who made them succeed have since left the company (Square-Enix).

There are those who do nothing but ride on the backs of others for their successes, copying formulas without building a goddamn thing on top of the original work (Activision, EA, Zynga), yet inexplicably making shitloads of money because of marketing and hype.

 

[FreakSheet]

Half Life. When so many games were Dooms and Quakes, this really stood out through its first person story telling, placing you in the role of Gordon Freeman, and using action set off set pieces.

 

[LookingGlass]

How can no one have mentioned Thief yet? I don't think it was the first stealth game, but it might well have been the first first-person stealth game, and definintely had a huge impact ont he industry. Its use of lighting and sound was revolutionary.

 

[CAPTCHA]

I'm going to have to go with my avatar here and say Ultima Underworld. It pre-dates Doom by a year and uses a 3D engine rather than line-defs like Wolfenstien, Catacomb 3D and Doom did. I don't think there was another game (with the exception of Origin's other titles, UW:2 and System Shock) that used an engine like this until Quake was released in 1995, three years after the fact. To give you a better idea how far ahead it was, it's main competitor on release was the Eye of the Beholder series.

 

[Rabish Bini]

Dune 2 almost created the RTS genre.

Also the first Metal Gear Solid. And on that note Thief. Both were huge in the stealth genre being born.

 

[Blunderboy]

Probably Shogun Total War and all the subsequent games in the TW series.
For the first time (at least to my knowledge) someone had combined a massive turn based campaign map where you could take your time and think your moves through, and a real time battlefield, so that combat required sound thinking and split second reactions.
Some would argue that this lets both systems play to their strengths, and surpass their weaknesses.
In short, Total War games are like Blade.

 

[Hamish Durie]

any1 else see Elitist oldies tell us how great and mighty the games of your time where? instead of actual title?

No? ohk just checking

DOOM think about it

 

[AdumbroDeus]

Final fantasy 7

Dune 2

Doom



Yes, they're all mold-breaking cause they broke the mold so much, they resulted in a new mold.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Machines was the first attempt at an RTS/FPS hybrid.

Actually, [a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1998_video_game)]Battlezone[/a] was the first, or at least came before Machines. Just wanted to point that out.

 

[Johnnydillinger]

I'll say God of War because it has so many ripoffs, and just too many games that follow its fashion and call it a day.

 

[Antari]

Wolfenstein, Ultima 6, Donkey Kong, Rock & Roll Racing, Simcity, and Panzer General.

All ground breakers in their own right. Some of them may not have been the absolute first to do what they did, but they were the basis for a number of genres played today, either through origionality or doing it right.

 

[lord.jeff]

New, interesting, and shaped modern games gonna have to go with Space Wars.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Demon's Souls (and soon to be Dark Soul's) for it's punishing difficulty breaks the mold of all these "make it easy for the pussified casual gamers" crowd. Gotta love that!

I'm happy that From Software makes the game they WANT to make, instead of simply going for what sells. And honestly, I think that right there is what gets them their sales. They can have my money because Armored Core and Demon's Souls are super fun, and soon to be Dark Souls.

OT: I agree with jpoon.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

inb4 Half-Life 2

...Yeah, HL2. Pretty self-explanatory at this point.

How so? I mean, yeah it was a good game but what about it was mould-breaking?

It mixes the story in gameplay in a way I haven't seen any other games attempt, at least on the scale of HL2. I mean, letting the player have control essentially the whole time? And NEVER leaving the first person except in dream sequences? Those are some pretty unusual traits among games of that time. And it certainly wasn't easy, finding ways to have all of that rendered in real-time rather than just resorting to pre-rendered cutscenes.

inb4 Half-Life 2

...Yeah, HL2. Pretty self-explanatory at this point.

I'd say Half-Life 1 did more to break the mold than the sequel.

That's probably true, but I haven't played HL1 so I really don't know. Plus as far as I can tell, many more people have played HL2 than HL1, so I figured it would be a more accessible example.

Eh, just to clarify... breaking the mould has nothing to do with how many people play the game. Half Life paved the way for Half Life 2, Halo, Call of Duty, Killzone and so on... I love Half Life 2 as much as any other Half Life fan, but the original get's the kudos for "breaking the mould", Half Life 2 was a more refined evolution of what Half Life started.

Breaking the mould? Hmmm, I would say Daggerfall really broke the mould of free-roam games, or was it the first of it's kind (in which case, there was no mould to break)?

 

[DanDanikov]

Actually, [a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlezone_(1998_video_game)]Battlezone[/a] was the first, or at least came before Machines. Just wanted to point that out.

You're (half) right. I had considered it but I thought it came out later (turns out the Nintendo port did, which is how I was exposed to it). I do believe it was entirely first-person though, so it was more of an FPS with RTS gameplay elements. Machines had both an RTS view and a FPS view...

...which reminds me that we're both wrong. Dungeon Keeper (1997) was before Battlezone(1998) and that had both RTS and FPS elements. Yay, Bullfrog! Populous deserves a nod, too, as the first God game.

 

[42]

Alright I'm going to go there Call of Duty not Battlefield broke the mould of the FPS shooter genre. there i said it.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Elite.

1984, and all of a sudden you had a sandbox in space.

Before Elite you had never had the option to just set out into space and do whatever the hell you wanted. You could be a trader, a pirate, a bounty hunter, a miner, or any combination of the above. Apart from the innovative space flight and combat mechanics, apart from the RPG elements, it was open-ended in a way that had never been seen before. A stupendous, mould-breaking game.

 

[WaruTaru]

DotA. Not a game per se, but it spawned a number of standalone games based on AoS-style game play.

 

[go-10]

in b4 "I HATE YOU"

Zelda Link to the Past
Zelda Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy VII

they weren't just gaming milestones they became part of culture