The Smart Game Catalog

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/the-smart-game-catalog.html
^trying too hard or good idea?

Starcraft II
Blizzard, 2010
PC, Mac
The amount of mechanical skill, strategical thinking, and ability to read your opponent makes this a very difficult game to get into, and an infinitively deep game for someone who can recognize all the nooks and crannies in it.
Clayton Morris

good idea inasmuch as i like lists of games, bad idea inasmuch as idiots telling you what's smart

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Infinity Ward 2007
PC, PS3, X360

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Gearbox-2008
Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Assassins Creed 2
Ubisoft, 2010
PS3, Xbox 360 and PC

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Ninja Theory 2010
XBox 360 and PS3

Final Fantasy
Square Enix
Multiple

Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar 2008
PS3, XBox 360, PC

etc

Saints Row: The Third
Volition, Inc. 2011
Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

not that kind of list dude

ok i like lists of slightly recondite games with interesting opinions4u attached to them

looks like a mix of challenging opinions, pseudo-intellectual braidlikes, simducational + strats, and occasional bizarro games like spacechem or dwarf fortress that should have their own list

also my experience of ILM threads says that if you leave that site running for long enough then every game ever released will find its way there

Super Crate Box
Vlambeer, 2010
PC, iOS
Super Crate Box is a poem of profound meaning. Its mechanics only require players to collect crates, the sole source of a "score" providing validation of your advancement. The crates themselves provide the final piece of the puzzle, randomly changing the player's weapon with each box collected. Not all tools are equally effective, with the disc gun particularly notable for being harmful to both the player and enemies, adding a force outside of the player's control. However, progress is impeded by an unending deluge of foes. Combating enemies offers safety, making indefinite survival fairly simple with the right weapon, but resigns the player to stagnation. Meanwhile, letting enemies pass allows them to return even faster, and with ever-growing numbers, ensuring that they cannot be ignored.
It is a thoughtful metaphor for work and ambition. Does one still reach for advancement when the reward is uncertain? Success is dependent on balancing one's personal safety with taking risks outside of one's comfort zone. Ultimately, it is versatility that becomes Super Crate Box's thesis, as the capacity to adapt offers the skills necessary to persevere through life's gremlins.

Super Mario Bros.
1985
NES
There is a quote from german philosopher Theodor Adorno that he said during one of his discussions with his cinema-loving fellow Siegfried Kracauer in the 1920's: "Ich bin noch immer aus einem Kino dümmer herausgekommen als ich hineinging". ("I'm still leaving a movie theater dumber than I went in"; sorry for the bad translation.) Yet today, how do we perceive the early silent films from Murnau, Lang, Chaplin, Keaton, or---even earlier---Eisenstein, Vertov, Griffith, Melies, Porter? Today, we say they are great works of art and precisely mean that in the 'artistic or intellectually sophisticated' sense. We look beyond what we may perceive as clumsy today and see more subtle art than ever before. We see that the basic mechanisms of early film reach deeper than we thought for a long time, that something simple like changing frame 1 can totally alter how we perceive frame 2. Today, no one would say that the early works of Murnau are not 'great art', yet still it took another 40 years before something like '2001 - A Space Odyssey' came out. Early video games are nothing less subtle and great than early film. I think we will see this clearer the greater the distance to early video games becomes.
Thomas S.

- Leif

its kind of fun to mashup the descriptions from one game and the title of another

Animal Crossing
Nintendo 2001
Nintendo Gamecube
The story is also very well written, with notes being dispersed around the game for you to find, as well as flashbacks, both providing information about the horrible events that lead up to the time of the game itself. There are no cutscenes, the entire story being told in realtime. I won't say anything about the story itself though, as it would diminish your experience of the game. All in all, it's an amazing horror experience, that I would recommend to anyone, provided you stock up on some extra underwear first, as this game is more than likely to make you shit your pants in fear.
Sigurd Stenseth

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

also, Tom Nook is a douchebag

this shit makes me sick

which review is that from?

Barbie Horse Adventures

Well intentioned, but... well, not everyone is a Kurt Kulata...