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1 | An interesting observation: As I grow older, I tend to play less games - from grade 5 to high 3, it's hard to find 3 games per year. But in recent 2-3 years, I played a ton of games. 40% of games listed here were played in recent 3 years | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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3 | # | Game | When | Year | Age | Details | |||||||||||||||||||||
4 | 1 | Contra | Kindergarden | 2001 | 5 | It's easy to waste a whole day on Contra. The game itself only leaves some vague memories, but the joy it brought by allowing me to play with my friends was very valuable. Game design-wise, I would say Contra achieved exciting gameplay that requires a high level of skill with limited graphics power and processing power, which at that time is genius. The game also keeps its interest curve through introducing different enemies, changing enemy behaviors, different weapons, boss fights, and different levels | |||||||||||||||||||||
5 | 2 | The Legend of Kage | Kindergarden | 2001 | 5 | An early form of "parkour" games which requires low reaction time from players. I didn't enjoy it as much as my brother, who was extremely good at making quick reactions. "Parkour" games are usually exciting to play because of the fast speed at which everythings move, and the small amount of time with in which player needs to make the right choice | |||||||||||||||||||||
6 | 3 | Snake | Kindergarden | 2001 | 5 | The rules are super simple but the game was super fun with infinite replayability! I played this game for so long but I still wasn't good enough. There were always "small mistakes" that leads to failure. What interests more is that, I grew up, I played a lot of modified versions of the original Snake, and no matter what rules they add, they all preserved the same gameplay aesthetics as the original one. | |||||||||||||||||||||
7 | 4 | Tag | Grade 1 | 2002 | 6 | This game took most of my playground time. We even periodically introduced modified versions based on the original one. This game was fun to play because it involves physical movement and thinking - sometimes, you can escape if you take a certain route. | |||||||||||||||||||||
8 | 5 | Hopscoth | Grade 1 | 2002 | 6 | After the first assignment I can't really remember how I felt while playing it. But I can picture in my head: on the community playground, under blue sky, me and some other kids drew lines on the cement ground with boulders, throw bean bags as the marker, and hop around. It was pretty fun and left some valuable memory | |||||||||||||||||||||
9 | 6 | Mahjong | Grade 1 | 2002 | 6 | Six was an early age for someone to start playing Mahjong, and I started from a high point. At that time, my dad and his friends usually play Mahjong at my home, and I would be his "royal piece revealer". He taught me how to tell what a piece is without looking at it by touching the piece face with my finger tip. It was a good exercise for my hand and memory. Generally, as a game, Mahjong has enough depth and allows different strategies. It's also a good example where randomness can create great dynamics without ruinning the fairness of the game. | |||||||||||||||||||||
10 | 7 | Poker | Grade 1 | 2002 | 6 | Like Mahjong, I learned Poker from my Dad. We started from a simple version: take turns to place your top card in a pile, when the new card (A) shares the same number with any card (B) in the pile, that player take all cards between A and B in the pile. From there, my Dad introduced me a more complicated version called "Beat the landlord", which is played by 3 players. One player is the landlord, and the other two players need to cooperate to beat the landlord. Poker also involves a lot of randomness, but not long after playing, I figured out that the victory is not determined by the randomness, because I barely won :) Then my Dad started teaching me some common strategies. This game was fun, can be played anywhere, and can faciliate the bonding between people | |||||||||||||||||||||
11 | 8 | Age of Empires II | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | This is the first computer game I played, I feel so lucky! Age of Empires II is a great real-time strategy game based on real history. It introduces almost a dozen different civilizations for the player to choose from, and allows a great depth and breadth of strategies. The game opend the door of history for me. I learned the story of Joan of Arc and Genghis Khan from the game. It was also a great mental exercise - one need to be aware of the characteristics of each civilizations, and all of the technology trees, battle units, buildings to develop a working strategy. I suspect that this game is partly why I can learn faster than most of my peers. | |||||||||||||||||||||
12 | 9 | Gold Miner | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | This is a simple flash game which mainly requires reaction skill. A hook is always moving like a pendulum, when the player presses a button, the hook was send out toward its current direction and fetch the first gold it touches. This game practices my reaction and planning - sometimes the sequence of fetching gold means a lot. | |||||||||||||||||||||
13 | 10 | Spots (finding the difference between 2 pics) | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | Another game I played with my Dad. This game is purely about observation skill. Each round, the game presents two almost identical images with little differences, and the player need to fidn the difference and click on it. It created a lot of happy memories between me and my dad. The game teaches me the importance of attention to details | |||||||||||||||||||||
14 | 11 | Billiards | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | I didn't play this game a lot, my Dad did. He played it so much that he could win the game without passing the turn to his opponents. The game is about estimating reflection angles and change of speed - purely physics. If someone is a living physicial calculation machines, he can surely dominate this game. Compared to real-world Billiards, this digital one eliminates the uncertainties of the action of hitting a ball, rather, it simplifies the game to only leave the strategic calculation and planning part. (which is, I think, partly why my Dad loves this game. He is good at calculation and planning, but not so good at physical activities) | |||||||||||||||||||||
15 | 12 | Sand castle building | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | Yeah, it's true that my first memory of playing sand castle building was when I was 7 years old, I was born inland so I didn't get the chance to play at the beach. So, instead of using sand, the material I used is carefully excavated clay from the other side village. Me and my brother excavated clay and transported them to my grandfather's yard and start building "clay castle".
The structure we ended up with are usually fortress like, sometimes we even build fullly-fledged trench. This game is about creating something in one's brain and really building it with one's hands | |||||||||||||||||||||
16 | 13 | A card game that's played on the ground | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | This game is about everyone putting a pile of card on the ground, and take turns to pat on the ground near that pile without touching the cards. If that pile of cards flips, the one who successfully flipped them get that pile of card. This is one of the games I played with classmates during breaks. It encourages us to play together, although it involves a little bit of gambling. | |||||||||||||||||||||
17 | 14 | Toy car racing | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | This is the first time I saw the concept of "anime-game" cooperation. Some physical racing cars were put into the market after the screening of a famous anime called “四驱兄弟”. Everyone watched that anime and ended up wanting to own his/her own toy racing car. So I did get my own car, and I started to modify every single part of it: the engine, the chassis, the turning wheels, etc. Then I race with others. After winning or losing, I race again. I was fun to use your own brain to upgrade your own car, and compete with others | |||||||||||||||||||||
18 | 15 | Gyro | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | Similar to toy racing car, the Gyro became a hit with the screening of an anime. Everyone got their own gyro, upgraded it, and battled with each other. It was fun to act like it really hurts when your gryo combats with others' gyro. | |||||||||||||||||||||
19 | 16 | Tetris | Grade 2 | 2003 | 7 | An all time classic, I first played in on my Dad's phone, and I usually play it for a whole afternoon. This game offer simplicity with a reasonable amount of randomness, and provides space for strategy and practicing reaction time | |||||||||||||||||||||
20 | 17 | Red Alert | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | The second RTS game I played after Age of Empires II. This time, playing RTS games became more social - I usually play with my friends and teachers at our school's computer lab. We would discuss about different strategies and sharp our skills to challenge higher level of AIs | |||||||||||||||||||||
21 | 18 | Insaniquarium | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | This game was fun for me because I can start with a single fish and grow to many fishes of different types, and it was satisfying to see coins drop from everywhere and click on them to collect. My Mom was usually annoyed because I click the mouse button really fast and hard when playing this game. | |||||||||||||||||||||
22 | 19 | Super Mario Brothers | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | Another classic games. I wasn't thinking about "teaching through level design" or anything like at that time. Super Mario was appealing for me because of the feel of controlling a character and navigate him through all kinds of dangers. And indeed, the game provided a lot of "stealth learning" that I wasn't aware of at that time. | |||||||||||||||||||||
23 | 20 | Block Breaker | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | Another game I played in the computer lab. The best thing in this game is the custome level editor. My classmates and I created our own levels and let others play it. It feels good to create something that's really hard so no one can beat it. Maybe this is my first experiecne of "making mods" | |||||||||||||||||||||
24 | 21 | Tower of the Sorcerer | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | Another flash game on the web. It's the first RPG game I played. The combat system, collection system, adventure elements, storytelling, and strategies in the game were all very appealing to me. Another game that I can play for the whole afternoon. | |||||||||||||||||||||
25 | 22 | Pocket Mon: The portable machine | Grade 3 | 2004 | 8 | This is not the classic pokemon game, it actually has its own machine. A little pokemon lives in the machines, I can feed it, train it, and battle with my friends with it. For kids, nothing feels as good as owning his own unique pokemon. Also, seems there is something in us that loves feeding and training virtual pets. | |||||||||||||||||||||
26 | 23 | Starcraft | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | Another RTS game. At that time I couldn't read english at all, but I still enjoyed the game! Imagine you cannot understand any of the building and unit descriptions, then what should you do to understand what they do? Just build them and experiment with them. So, for me, the joy mainly comes from the loop of building and experimenting. When I found a strategy that I could use to beat medium AI, I lost passion for it. (Oh, I didn't have access to battlenet at that time, so I didn't play with real people) | |||||||||||||||||||||
27 | 24 | Diner Dash | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | A game where player is a waitress, who need to place orders, serve dishes, clean dishes, and get tips! It was fun to play. Sometimes the game get overwhelming because a player needs to do so much at the same time, but I think that's how a game can train someone's multi-tasking skill. | |||||||||||||||||||||
28 | 25 | Fantasy Westward Journey （梦幻西游） | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | I kept playing this game for around 5 years. It's a miracle that this game is still being operated by NetEase in 2018. Someone at the computer lab introduced this game to me and I instantly fell in love. This is the first online game I played and, this is the start from which I make friends through games. All of my best friends in grade school play this game. This game presents a whole fantasy world for me, where I play as my own avatar. The role-playing elements in this game really attracted me. I also met many friends online in this game and had many valuable memories with them. So, social elements, role-playing elements, and fantasy made this a great game. | |||||||||||||||||||||
29 | 26 | Counter Strike 1.6 | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | CS1.6 is where I found myself a bad FPS player. But this game was still appealing to me: even I was really bad, I could feel my heart beat when hearing someone else's footstep. And this is the first game I saw as a social tool. I never played it alone, I only played it when my friends invited me to. So for me, the appealing elements are: immersion and social elements. | |||||||||||||||||||||
30 | 27 | Diablo II | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | Diablo II has excellent procedural map generation system that I didn't realize before turning 20. The map, characters, stories, bosses, equipments were all new for me. Clicking on waves of monster to destroy them; leveling my character and get better equipment, was very satisfying. | |||||||||||||||||||||
31 | 28 | Grand Theft Auto IV | Grade 4 | 2005 | 9 | What happens when you give two grade 4 kids the power to kill people and drive a helicopter? GTA4 fulfills the wish from the dark side of myself. Robbing people, killing cops, assasinate VIPs were fantastic! Although, I shouldn't have been allowed to play this game when I was so young | |||||||||||||||||||||
32 | 29 | Warcraft III | Grade 5 | 2006 | 10 | One of my all time favorite games. The main game is not so complicated, but it offers a huge space for exploring different strategies. And the three races were almost balanced. So everytime the player wins, it's his effort pays off. When one fail, it's his own fault. The game is fair. Warcraft III also tells an compelling story, which later leads me to the world of WoW. Warcraft III world editor is also one of the greatest tool I've seen. I enjoyed a lot of mods. | |||||||||||||||||||||
33 | 30 | Theme Hospital | Grade 5 | 2006 | 10 | "Patients, please don't die in the corridor!" I wasn't mature enough to understand all the black humours in TH, but I enjoyed the process of expanding the hospital and cure more patients (also kill more at the same time). TH is Architecture 101 for me | |||||||||||||||||||||
34 | 31 | Virtua Cop 2 | Grade 5 | 2006 | 10 | A great shooting game, even after playing CS1.6 and GTA4, I still enjoyed Virtua Cop 2. Part of the reason is that I can cooperate with my friends. Sometimes, it's also enjoyable to see the boss hits my partner without hitting me. | |||||||||||||||||||||
35 | 32 | Devil May Cry 4 | Middle 1 | 2007 | 11 | The first action game I played, with a good difficulty and breautiful visuals. I don't remember so much about it, but controlling a character and beat bosses were satisfying. | |||||||||||||||||||||
36 | 33 | 怒海激战 | Middle 1 | 2007 | 11 | The is where I spent my whole summer. Build a ship, complete a mission, get rewards, and build more ships/upgrade old ships are very fun! This was Ship Manufacture 101 for me. I learned how to allocate limited resources to build the best ship, and how to control the ship to achieve its full power | |||||||||||||||||||||
37 | 34 | Crazyracing Kartrider （跑跑卡丁车） | Middle 1 | 2007 | 11 | The first racing game I played. This is another game where practicing makes perfect. But it also offers a variety of different mode to include all kinds of players | |||||||||||||||||||||
38 | 35 | Age of Empires III | Middle 2 | 2008 | 12 | A sequel to AoE II. But I didn't enjoy this one so much. AoE III became way more complicated with the introduction of card system. And I love the historical background of AoE II much better | |||||||||||||||||||||
39 | 36 | Dungeon Fighter Online | Middle 2 | 2008 | 12 | An online role-playing action games. I enjoyed the process of growing my chracter, getting better weapons, playing through main storylines, and challenging epic dungeons with friends. I enjoyed the moment when after countless practices, I could finally use a cool combo | |||||||||||||||||||||
40 | 37 | Left for Dead 4 | Middle 2 | 2008 | 12 | Excellent world design, excellent atmosphere, excellent difficulty adjustment (which I didn't realize at the time but I could feel it). This is the game where my friends and I can play while screaming out loud! It was so immersive and stimulating | |||||||||||||||||||||
41 | 38 | DOTA | Middle 2 | 2008 | 12 | One of the first mod of Warcraft III. I didn't enjoy it in the beginning because I was so bad. But after learning about all the champions, items, and map elements, I started to get into the "zone". Later I invited more friends to play the game together, and we had a good time cooperating with each other (and shouting at each other) | |||||||||||||||||||||
42 | 39 | Warcraft III mod: Beyond the Limit | Middle 2 | 2008 | 12 | One of my favorite Warcraft III mod. It's a defensive mod, the player chooses one character, and use it to defend the main building. The mod offers a lot of interesting choices to make at different stages, and offer special events to elevate the interest curve. Also, different characters have strong personalities. I enjoyed trying out each of them | |||||||||||||||||||||
43 | 40 | Starcraft II | Middle 3 | 2009 | 13 | The sequel to Startcraft. This time I can play the simplified Chinese version. The graphics got a lot better, and the control was a lot easier. I enjoyed the story mode. But after that, Starcraft II quickly became just a toy where I can press F2 - A and win. | |||||||||||||||||||||
44 | 41 | Balance | Middle 3 | 2009 | 13 | The best balance ball game I've ever seen. I can recall the scretion of epinephrine when I saw the ball rolling on the edge. The level design was excellent. And the switch between three types of ball really makes the game | |||||||||||||||||||||
45 | 42 | 大话西游 2 | Middle 3 | 2009 | 13 | A similar game to Fantasy Westward Journey. It has better graphics and a new stats system. But I didn't enjoy it as much, because no one played it with me | |||||||||||||||||||||
46 | 43 | World of warcraft | High 1 | 2010 | 14 | A whole new wold with endless adventures and epic stories. I spent most of my spare time playing WoW during high school. The story, quests, dungeons, raids, guilds, character progression system, all come together to make this epic experience. I still come back to that world and see what happens there from time to time, althought WoW has become a single player game for me | |||||||||||||||||||||
47 | 44 | Warcraft III mod: new Wow | High 1 | 2010 | 14 | A simplified mod that tries to simulate raids in WoW. I enjoyed it becuase I can experience raids without spending 1000 hours levelling up and gathering gears - it offers similar exprience without requiring long play hours | |||||||||||||||||||||
48 | 45 | Ministry of War | High 1 | 2010 | 14 | An online simplified RTS game. I enjoyed building my own empire. I was fascinated that it successfully integrated real-time battle system into a browser based game | |||||||||||||||||||||
49 | 46 | Call of Duty 4/6/8 | High 2 | 2011 | 15 | I enjoyed the story in the Modern Warfare series. COD was well designed so the game is enjoyable even for someone who is as bad as me. Good control, good difficulty, good story | |||||||||||||||||||||
50 | 47 | Warcraft III mod: Troll and Elf | High 2 | 2011 | 15 | I did spend a LOT of time on Warcraft III mods. This is the last one I really loved. At the beginning of each turn, one player is chosen as the troll while others are elves. Elves work together to prevent themselves from being caught by the troll. It was really fun and created a good momentum. | |||||||||||||||||||||
51 | 48 | League of Legends | High 2 | 2011 | 15 | I see League of Legends mainly as a social tool, where I can meet new friends and strengthen my relationship with old friends. The game is also well designed because it managed to achieve a sense of balance with more than 100 champions. | |||||||||||||||||||||
52 | 49 | Where's My Water? | High 3 | 2012 | 16 | A simple puzzle game from Disney, where players use fingers to create a path for water to flow. It was lightweight, suitable for playing before bed | |||||||||||||||||||||
53 | 50 | Subway Surfers | High 3 | 2012 | 16 | A mobile parkour game with easy controls. The game has three trails, the player can switch between trails to avoid dangers. But after I found the secret - that if I surf of a skateboard all the time I can easily avoid dangers - I got bored quickly. | |||||||||||||||||||||
54 | 51 | Temple Run | High 3 | 2012 | 16 | Similar parkour game, without the skateboard that breaks the balance. I enjoyed this one more | |||||||||||||||||||||
55 | 52 | The Werewolf | High 3 | 2012 | 16 | a party game. Good for team bonding. Offers a variety of strategies. Enjoyable for both experts and new bees | |||||||||||||||||||||
56 | 53 | 剑网3 | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | Another social tool. The game tried to mimic WoW but used a Chinses kung fu background. It attracted a lot of Chinese college students with its appealing stories and cutome avatar systems. It's essentially an online chat room | |||||||||||||||||||||
57 | 54 | Monument Valley | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | I was shocked when the first time I found path by rotating the structure. I played through the whold game in two hours. It was like a long talk with a master of space. This game also tells me how beautiful mobile games can be | |||||||||||||||||||||
58 | 55 | Minecraft | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | Freedom!!!! I enjoyed building houses, water jumping platforms, roller coasters, and long long train routes. This game appeals to everyone who loves creating stuff. | |||||||||||||||||||||
59 | 56 | Limbo | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | A strong story told without using a single world. This game is an example of telling story through atmosphere and mechanics | |||||||||||||||||||||
60 | 57 | Cities XL | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | A city planning game. I was a building engineering student so I was interested in how city planning workds. I enjoyed laying out roads and the process of developing a metropolitanfrom bare soil. | |||||||||||||||||||||
61 | 58 | UNO | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | Another party game, which is often called "friendship breaker". But this game is really suitable for connecting people on parties | |||||||||||||||||||||
62 | 59 | Hearthstone | Freshman | 2013 | 17 | A card game which I often use as the foundation of commenting other card games. It has rich content and different strategies, and a good balance of randomness and skill | |||||||||||||||||||||
63 | 60 | Assassin's Creed II | Sophomore | 2014 | 18 | The first adventure action game I really enjoyed. The architecture was really beautiful, too | |||||||||||||||||||||
64 | 61 | Quell Memento | Sophomore | 2014 | 18 | - good puzzle design - good music - good game art - this is a puzzle game that managed to incorporate a story into it. I liked how the | |||||||||||||||||||||
65 | 62 | Deemo | Sophomore | 2014 | 18 | - my favorite rhythm game - good difficulty adjustment - great songs | |||||||||||||||||||||
66 | 63 | (Someone's) adventure | Sophomore | 2014 | 18 | - a mobile platformer game - good game art and story - the control feels good even when the character is controlled by physics - good level and environmental puzzle design | |||||||||||||||||||||
67 | 64 | Heroes of the storm | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a MOBA where everyone is important, where healing characters are fun to play - great Blizzard style art - brings team cooperation to a whole new level through the "everyone shares experience" design | |||||||||||||||||||||
68 | 65 | Ori and the blind forest | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - compelling music, compelling story, great visuals - the control is the best I've seen, the abilities are good and make sense in that world - this is my all time favorite platformer | |||||||||||||||||||||
69 | 66 | Firewatch | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - walking simulator, great visuals with great voice acting - tells a good psychological thriller which encourages players to think about mid-age crisis | |||||||||||||||||||||
70 | 67 | Dear Esther | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - another walking simulator, encourages players to talk to themselves in the game - unlike firewatch, the world is quiet | |||||||||||||||||||||
71 | 68 | Starbound | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - another platformer. player travels in the unverse, and can land on procedurally generated planets - good use of procedural generator, and successfully integrated narrative into a procedurally generated world | |||||||||||||||||||||
72 | 69 | Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a walking simulator kind, but involve some puzzle solving and battle - good story and good visuals. And a good use of hero's journey | |||||||||||||||||||||
73 | 70 | Tengami | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - one of a kind, paper cut style game - the major appeal is the art style, other elements are just ordinary | |||||||||||||||||||||
74 | 71 | Evoland | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a story told through the development of video game technologies - it's satisfying to see the graphcis evolve from black-white to realistically rendered 3D graphics | |||||||||||||||||||||
75 | 72 | Flower | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - the first zen game I've ever played. I enjoyed flying in the air with a bunch of beautiful flowers with me - the game is very quiet, it's like an invitation from the nature | |||||||||||||||||||||
76 | 73 | Flow | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a game with great dynamic difficulty adjustment system. Jenova wrote his master's thesis on how dynamic difficulty control works in this game - this game allows each player to play as they like. players always have the freedom to choose from descending or ascending - it's also a fair game, when the play fails, it's his/her own fault | |||||||||||||||||||||
77 | 74 | Journey | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - I want to work for thatgamecompany after playing this game. it's the best journey I've went through in video games. I can see their effort of removing stuff until the game only presents its best aspects to the player. And the interactions in this game are designed so that players can only help with each other but cannot damage each other. - use different colors and visual designs at different stages to facilitate invoking player emotions - great music that suits the theme and story - a great use of hero's journey | |||||||||||||||||||||
78 | 75 | ANNO 1404 | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a real-time SIM game, where the player is the lord of a new colony - citizen leveling system keep a good interest curve - different special events always keep the player engaged - The sense of exploration was well conveyed through the mechanics of sailing - I wish the pace can be faster. Each game now approximately lasts ~10 hours | |||||||||||||||||||||
79 | 76 | This War of Mine | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - A game about wars with a serious tone. The game looks at small individuals who live in a war zone - What is humanity in that situation? What is morality? What is right? Is it right if I kill a weak elderly because I have to kill him to survive? - This game successfully leads players to think about wars by letting them making decisions as citizens rather than generals. It also includes a bunch of hard and meaningful choices | |||||||||||||||||||||
80 | 77 | Alto's Adventure | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - Another games that feel like art, in the wat paintings are art. - The sound and graphics make me feel peaceful while playing this game. The interactions are so simple that I don't need to pay a lot attention to it. Eventually, playing this game is like meditating. I enjoyed playing this game every morning during the first half my junior year. Then I got bored, which taught me that, even a scene is extremely beautiful, you'll eventually get enough of it. Surperficial beauty doesn't last forever | |||||||||||||||||||||
81 | 78 | Samarost | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - one of the first point-and-click games that ever exists. The tone, the story, the setting, the character, are all very *bizzare*. It took me sometime to get used to this game world. But all the interactions and puzzles make sense - I'm usually not a lover of point-and-click puzzles, but I enjoyed playing the first Samorots. I think this is where art and sound affect the feel of play | |||||||||||||||||||||
82 | 79 | To the Moon | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - A lovely story told through simple graphics. The music and story are really touching - But the gameplay of this game is so weak! In the latter half of this game, the process of gathering memory shards was very frustrating. Note: this, in my mind, is a pitfall. To the moon essentially packed a movie into the game, and it's main appealing point is not really "playing", it became "watching", which is, a switch from active state to passive state | |||||||||||||||||||||
83 | 80 | INSIDE | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - another deep story told without any text. I really love this game, I feel like I need to play it again while writing this. It did a good job telling a compelling story through atmosphere, interactions, environment (and people) puzzles, etc. - I really loved the implicity of this story. i think this is something that games are traditionally good at - with the action of playing, the player can "feel" the story without being told what it really is. | |||||||||||||||||||||
84 | 81 | Super Meat Boy | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a brutely hard but fair platform. Everything in the level is layed out and visiable, and the control is tuned to the highest level. So it's purely the player's fault when they die - This is a great example of "using death as a way of learning". The game also encourages death by eliminating the cost of death to a minimum. So player won't feel frustrated when they die - they are willing to just try again - Its purity really suck me in | |||||||||||||||||||||
85 | 82 | The Totally Accurate Battle SImulator | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - a hilarious physically simulated battle simulator - the game still has some strategy elements in it, and I would say the strategy design is not bad. But it's so hilarious and funny, so that no one gives a shit about strategy anymore - careful here! I'm pretty sure this is the designer's choice to make this game this way. But not all designers are aware of "the mix of aesthetics". I mean, when you are really trying to make a strategy game, but that game has some funny, un-serious elements in it, and those elements prevail, you're probably doing it wrong. This is actually another advice of "eliminating noise" | |||||||||||||||||||||
86 | 83 | Titan Souls | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - brutely hard boss fighting game. I wonder whether all games with "souls" in their title are hard - Like Super Meat Boys, dying is also the way to learn in this game. However, dying in Titan Souls is not as "satisfying" as in Super Meat Boys. I would love instant respawn in this game - Bosses are both extremely powerful and extremely fragile, most bosses takes one shot to kill and that's it. So for most time, the player just runs around trying to find bosses' weak spot | |||||||||||||||||||||
87 | 84 | Superhot | Junior | 2015 | 19 | - an extremly interesting concept which makes "bullet time" comes true - time only flows when you moves - this interesting concept itself can generate endless good ideas to be put in the game. This is a good example where a "foundational design" can help generate other designs | |||||||||||||||||||||
88 | 85 | Reigns | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - a card game which simulates the feel of ruling a country. Each new card tells a story or ask question, the player reacts to it by saying yes or no. After the reaction, a new card is shown and the game continues - I was lucky enough to participate in the Chinese localization of this game - It's an example of randomized storytelling, storytelling with a main story line and "supplement" smaller stories, and creating emotions through meaingful choices. | |||||||||||||||||||||
89 | 86 | Northgard | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - a game who claimed itself to be a RTS, but plays more similar with Turn based strategy. The game was still in alpha when I played it, but it was catching in that it eliminates a lot from usual RTS games and dives deeper into the core aesthetics. It achieve a reasonable strategic depth with a handful of buildings and units. - But this is an example where asymmetry caused by randomness can hurt a game. That's to say, there may be plenty of food resources near one player's camp, but limited food resources near another player. As food is crucial resource in this game, that asymmetry can real cause in-balanced games | |||||||||||||||||||||
90 | 87 | The Last of Us | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - great photorealistic graphics, great story, great characters, great feel of playing the game - the game did a good job picturing humanity in an apocolypse world - the twist in the end really shocked me and led me to a deeper thought about what humanity really is | |||||||||||||||||||||
91 | 88 | Uncharted 4 | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - unlike The Last of Us which invoke a lot of emotions and thoughts, Uncharted 4 was like a Hollywood movie for me. For the most time I can enjoy the shallow but exciting story, enjoy shooting, driving, and immersing myself in a beautiful but dangerous world | |||||||||||||||||||||
92 | 89 | Mario Kart 8 Deluxe | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - the first racing game I played after Crazyracing Kartrider - this time, I was more mature, so I can easily pay attention to every detail and make perfect tricks and turns. But the game quickly became boring for me - this happens when skill grows faster than difficulty (but really, the difficulty of Mario Kart almost remains unchanged) | |||||||||||||||||||||
93 | 90 | Playerunknown's Battlegrounds | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - I have a mixed feeling for PUBG. Game design-wise, PUBG made a lot of clever and absolutely right choices, but I just can't like it. When I think about it, the main reason could be that, even though I love purity, I'm not a fan of pure violence in games. - But, anyway, PUBG is a great game. | |||||||||||||||||||||
94 | 91 | Horizon: Zero Dawn | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - breaking-through level of graphics. I love the in-game camera system, I'm still wondering how they achieved that - the combat, especially shooting, feels so good - the story is ok, but the mechanics and feel of freedom really made Horizon stood out - this is the first open world single player RPG I've played and I love it | |||||||||||||||||||||
95 | 92 | Rise of the Tomb Raider | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - another open world game. The shooting feels good, but the story is not attractive, kinda similar with Horizon. But the graphics is way worse, and I don't think this Tomb Raider fully utilize the power of tombs. - I would love a tomb raider game set in ancient Chinese tombs | |||||||||||||||||||||
96 | 93 | Risk of Rain | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - probably the first fully fledged rogue-like I've played. The control feels weird in the beginning, but I felt at home after some practice. - the variety of monsters, random generation algorithms, rich visual effects really made this game - but I don't love some of the characters. They are too distinctive so that they are not balanced - the introduction of "rune" system made this game far more interesting (for example, there is one rune that makes you take 500% more damage while making 500% more damage | |||||||||||||||||||||
97 | 94 | Don't Starve | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - another game I have mixed feeling with. Generally, Don't Starve is a well designed survival games, but I don't like some of it - if I think about it, for me, the pleasure of collecting stuff doesn't really come from the action of collecting, it comes from the act of looking at my collection after collecting. But in Don't Starve, your collection is easily destroyed by the environment and animals. I think the ease of losing collection is a majro reason why I doesn't love this game | |||||||||||||||||||||
98 | 95 | Refunct | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - a very simple, 10 minutes platformer about reviving a world to its former glory. This is a of the kind of games that are quiet - they don't tell you much - but you would have a long conversation with yourself after playing | |||||||||||||||||||||
99 | 96 | Heavy Rain | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - a very well told thriller story. I loved how they used different point of views to tell a single story. It's very interesting. In later stage I almost guessed who is the killer, so when the game allows me to control that character, I would explore ways that I can get more evidence from that character. but the game was clever enought that it didn't allow me to do so - this is a good example where good story can surpass boring and repetitive gameplay. But really, in my humble opinion, QTE is much better than "object hunting" in To the Moon | |||||||||||||||||||||
100 | 97 | Overcooked | Senior | 2016 | 20 | - a very delightful party game, every time I played it with my friends, there were always some very good momentum in the room - very carefully designed interesting curve, lovely art style, haunting music | |||||||||||||||||||||