Modern games that renewed your interest in gaming?

[Gamerforlife]

Well in the past few months (after Skyward Sword) my gaming interests have dipped, mainly because of school. But I did get a 3DS yesterday, and holy hot damn is it awesome! I had already accumulated 6 games over the past half-year, so I had 6 different genres/experiences just ready and waiting.

I love the 3DS, much like I loved my PSP 2000. I think the 3DS's software line up could be better though. Some of the eshop/DSiWare games are overrated (like Pushmo and Starship Defense) and there is a bit too much of a focus on ports(Starfox 64/Ocarina of Time) or recycled ideas(Super Mario 3D Land)

I also really liked gears. It was the first game in this generation that really felt next gen to me.

Oddly enough, the first game to feel "next gen" to me was Viva Pinata. It was unlike anything I had played before. Everything else I was playing was a souped up, HD port (like King Kong) or just felt like last gen gameplay ideas with souped up HD graphics (Gears of War)

I think the best games I have played this gen, including digital downloads have been Mass Effect (ME 2 is great too, but it lost something when compared to the original), Batman Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham City, Viva Pinata, both Portal games (and I'm not even a big fan of Valve or PC gaming), Flower, The Dishwasher Vampire Smile, Sonic Generations (for proving that Sonic is still awesome and breaking the curse) and Castle Crashers.

Others that I really enjoyed a lot are Final Fantasy XIII (I don't care what anyone says, that combat system is superb), Heavy Rain, Lara Croft and Guardian of Light (best TR game since Crystal Dynamics took over), Brutal Legend, X-Men Origins Wolverine(I just loved its REFINED take on the God of War combat system and find Wolverine more appealing as a character than Kratos), and the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games for being the best super hero action rpgs I've played

Some games that didn't blow me away initially but I remember more fondly in retrospect are Valkyria Chronicles, Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction and Ratchet and Clank Quest for Booty

EDIT: One of the things I also love about this gen is FINALLY seeing console releases of classic arcade beat'em ups like The Simpsons, X-Men and TMNT

EDIT: Meant Valkyria Chronicles, fixed

[BurningDoom]

Halo: CE still has my favorite campaign. Halo 2 will probably always have my favorite multiplayer. Everything released since then has just gone downhill, IMO.

Haven't played CE, but I still think the original Halo was a great game that didn't need to become a franchise. You can argue that it was an overrated game like Gears of War and that's fine. However, it was-at the very least, a well made shooter with good controls(for a console shooter), good story, good voice acting, great soundtrack, good enemy AI, fun gameplay and a surprisingly good multi-player mode. If deserves credit for one thing, it's created a good control scheme for other console shooters.

It's only real flaws were an overly long, campaign that started to repeat itself and the lame Flood. The introduction of the flood was done well, but every other appearance by them in the rest of the game was just annoying, especially that stupid, library level. There's also a part of me that hates Halo for being the catalyst for Microsoft trying to make every goddamn game in existence a multi-player, online experience and for them pumping out fifty gazillion shooters. I mean the 360 is basically the online, shooter console

So I guess I have a love/hate thing with Halo. At the end of the day though, it was a good game

Halo 2 just felt like a soulless sequel with a half-assed campaign and a broken, cheap as hell multi-player. God was it unbalanced

How did Halo 2 have a half-assed campaign? The story was deeper than the first one. Not only was there the Flood, as you pointed out. But there was also the continuation of the Convenant/Human War, which the battlefront of it had moved to freaking Earth. You play through remains of human cities that you're still fighting to protect. And then you have The Arbiter's story (which it's awesome to play as both characters), where he learns that the leaders of his government are about lead his race to their deaths because of their blind religious fervor. Right as he discovers this, his race is stripped of their rank as high-warriors in a treacherous reach for power by The Brutes. And damn, that cliffhanger ending kept me wanting more. It's too bad Halo 3 didn't pick-up right where Halo 2 ended. The sci-fi story of the first 2 games was the best part of the games for me, so I'm different than most Halo fans because I'm not as focused on the multiplayer. And I felt Halo 2 easily had the strongest sci-fi story in the series. Then for icing on the cake, you get cool new weapons and vehicles, too.

I felt Halo 3 was the beginning of the series slipping. The ending to the trilogy's story just felt rushed and not as in-depth or story-driven as the first 2 games. Halo: Reach wasn't even worse with the story, but it was still somewhat fun to play. And Halo 3: ODST, I took back to GameStop because I was so disappointed.

[fastbilly1]

Skylanders and Braid have recaptivated my interest quite a bit. However I still play L4D2 more than most games I own. I have stated my opinion on Skylanders several times, Braid however is because it is just a magical feel good time. I hope that my drive will continue as I play more indies I bought on Steam over the past few years.

Edit:
Terraria was a terrible time sink and I got far more sucked into it than Steam shows, so I guess it might have been the better pick than Braid.

[christopher85]

I think my interest in gaming has always been there, but how much I'm obsessed with it has varied depending on whether I have people to talk with games about or to play games with. At times, I've been more obsessed with music making and music collecting, other arts, academic pursuits, or just being in love. When that happens, games just fade into the background temporarily.

I couldn't' agree with you more. Gaming for me has always been more greatly enjoyed when others were around to share in the experience rather than me gaming alone. This has always been the medium for me. Growing up with several of the popular consoles ( Sega Gen, Ps1, N64) my interest in gaming had vanished during my teen years. Thanks to a buddy of mine who took me with him to Frank and Sons (http://www.frankandsonshow.net/) all those childhood feelings I once had came back and my eyes were opened to how much I had been missing. Like a mad man I bought everything I never was able to get as a kid. I blew the dust off my old systems, took the dvd out of my ps2, and invested much money into this new hobby of mine. Thanks to sites like Racket Boy this hobby of mine is still ticking.

Today it's been harder to find friends of mine or just people in general who are interested or willing to sit through a level or two with me. Maybe losing interest is just another sign of growing up. If enjoyment means having to be alone then I'm not sure if I want any part of it.

Some modern titles that have renewed my interest:
Chronicles of Riddick: Assault of Dark Athena
Dead Space series
L.A. Noire
Red Dead Undead
Prey

[Forlorn Drifter]

I like how I make a single post about a game I have passion for, and everybody else tears it apart for something I didn't even mention in the post....

You guys are mean.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I like how I make a single post about a game I have passion for, and everybody else tears it apart for something I didn't even mention in the post....

You guys are mean.

Welcome to the internet.

[WiseFool22]

I like how I make a single post about a game I have passion for, and everybody else tears it apart for something I didn't even mention in the post....

You guys are mean.

Welcome to the internet.

Hahaha! Topics like this always seem to eventually lead to poster A calling poster B's game stupid, while poster C calls them both children because he/she prefers something "above" them.
Remember, all I asked was what modern games got you back into gaming, not what games you necessarily think are perfect or should have gotten GOTY.
Some people have brought up games I definitely need to look into playing, so thanks for that!

[sabrage]

The Path

Ugh, I hated this game! The only thing I liked about it was the fact that it warned me off Tale of Tales' other "Walk pretentiously slow for a long time" games.

[DomitorInvictus]

Early last year, somehow I regained interest into video games enough to buy a new Xbox 360. Before that I hadn't been interested in video games for years. One of the first games I gotten for the system was Bayonetta, and after playing through that game a few times I realized how much I loved playing through quality games. After that, I became more and more interested into playing games, and then after that, I started collecting them.

[J T]

The Path

Ugh, I hated this game! The only thing I liked about it was the fact that it warned me off Tale of Tales' other "Walk pretentiously slow for a long time" games.

I didn't hate The Path, but I didn't really enjoy it either. It's an interesting curio in its attempt to make art with the videogame medium, while destroying the central assumptions about what we would expect of a "game", namely that it be fun to play and that we are rewarded for skilled control of the central character. The Path presented a dark and decidely un-fun world where the best way to help your character "find her path" so to speak, was to simply let go. And when I say let go, I mean that both metaphorically and literally- your characters, just like real girls, develop on their own when you pull back and let them act autonomously, which in the "game" requires you to let go of your controller.

I don't think it was the best example of games as art, but it certainly was one of the most challenging, and therefore it deserves the little bit of time in the spotlight that it received. The game explored some dark themes about the loss of innocence and development in a world where evil is necessarily present. It told this story while simultaneously throwing down the gauntlet at "video games" and claiming that if we are going to do "art" then we have to get comfortable with the idea that not all games will be played for fun exclusively and that sometimes the game should be about losing controls when it fits the theme.

I don't recommend playing The Path for fun, and I didn't find that it completely worked as an art project either, but it was certainly fascinating and provided good food for debate about the nature of art in videogames.