Here we are - the end of the road, at least in this series. It's a challenging question we posed to the CGR team: name the video games that have been most impactful to you. It's a difficult question with no wrong answers, but we wanted to share our picks with you and invite our readers to do the same in the comments.
So with this, our fifth and final entry in the series, we'll kick things off with...
Robert
World of Warcraft (PC)
There's so much I could say regarding WoW that I wouldn't be able to sum up in a few short words but what I can say is that it is one of the most impactful games I've come across. From filling me with an exploratory and adventurous spirit while I roamed Azeroth to being a major factor in the ending of personal relationships due to my inability to prioritize time between real-world issues and in-game excitement. World of Warcraft has seen the good and bad in my life over the course of a decade-and-a-half, has experienced with me the birth of my child, moving across the country (twice), heartache and happiness, sorrow and torment, elation and excitement ... World of Warcraft filled a void when I needed it most, and helped usher me through some of the most difficult times of my life.
Pierre-Yves
Fire Emblem Awakening
This one was special to me. I love SRPGs, love, but, permadeath? Nope, nope nope. Permadeath for me has to be done in a very special way for me to even accept it.
Queue Fire Emblem Awakening. Finally, an entry into an amazing series where you could turn off that option. Characters defeated in battle? That's fine, they'll come back once you've completed the stage!
This for me opened up this series and also proved how much of a powerhouse the Nintendo DS / 3DS could be with this genre as it had stellar amounts of writing and awesome gameplay packed into an epic tiny portable package.
Richard
Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire
If you want a good example of using a system's unique feature to their utmost potential, don't look here. This is impactful not because it was good, but because of how bad it was. This will always be in my brain as the game that took the Wii motions controls and made the worst possible use of them conceived. Don't be impactful like this. Be better.
Mike
The Ace Combat Series - Playstation (1995-2004 by Namco)
As my other titles in this small list, each has a deep rooted impact on who I am and how I observe the world from the lessons and experiences I have shared and enjoyed in various game titles through the many years. The scream of jets, crashing boom of a G-force turn, the scorched remains of steel debris floating aloft where a target once flew: this is the beauty and majesty of Ace Combat. Watching my father play this series of games and grip tightly onto his controller with such enjoyment and excitement made me an instant fan of the series and another way to play along side him as we would take to the skies and be a team. He often times would mention the story and the events that the franchise had given him, recalling dogfights and dipping though the clouds to see how high or low he could take the fighter jets. I flew with such careless abandon as city structures and forest-lines would often times blur away in a flurry mere moments before the “Missile Lock-on” alarm would ring out, indicating that he had caught up to me. “Does the color of the sky mean anything special to you?” became a favorite question of his in his later years as we would reminisce over what game would come out next and where the locations would take place. I would have loved to see him take on the Erusean “Stonehenge” on the PC had they remastered “Shattered Skies”. I offered to buy him the seventh title in the franchise, just to fly with him again a few years back in March of 2019. He declined the offer saying “My arthritis from working all these years has me grounded, my hands cant keep up to the quick controls anymore, you fly solo bud”. I learned that the moments become memories too fast in life's grand design. So make the memories and always remember the good with the bad. Every bird lands at some point.
Valerie
Diablo II & expansion (PC)
Ah Diablo! Here's where I slid into RPGs. This game has a visual world with characters and a story as well as building friendships with people from other places around the world? Nothing can beat that experience. The wonder, the laughter, the teamwork, the cooperation or competitiveness! Wow! I even learned just how bad it could get when another player was just out to take all your stuff and leave you to die. Many a time my friend would school me on how to protect myself and my stuff by making a game and securing it with a password. Even back then I had very strong passwords. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction had two new classes of character to play, many new features, those Horadric cubes (which drove me nuts sometimes trying to make them all), and a wintery north area with these siege engines. Even though this game is now classified as a hack and slash ARPG, I attribute it and Diablo 1 with being my introduction into MMOs.
Susan
Chips Challenge (PC)
Last, but definitely not least, is none other than Chips Challenge. This game was included on Windows 3.1 as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack (damn, that's a flashback) along with classics like Pipe Mania, SkiFree, JezzBall, and Rodent's Revenge (We must get the cheese!) It was a puzzle game that had 144 levels of pure madness. Chip's challenge was to collect all of the computer chips and get to the exit without getting taken out by traps or creatures. The poor guy couldn't even go into water without his flippers and he had to wear protective boots if he was going to walk on fire. I became so good at this game, that I can't help but include it in this list. There was something great about a little 2D free puzzle game that kept my attention for years. In fact, Chip's Challenge 1 and 2 are available on Steam, and of course I have them both. I even have Chuck's Challenge too! This game is honestly one of my favourite 2D puzzle games of all time and I’m not ashamed to say so!
Hamza
Golden Axe III
Golden Axe III was perhaps my dearly departed sister's all-time favorite game. It’s insane how good she was at it. Her favorite character was Chronos Lait, and her dexterity with his combos was a thing of beauty. I’d often find her cruising through the single-player campaign, but when I joined the adventure, I’d take a supporting role. She’d man one of the ride-able monsters, while I’d handle the easier enemies on foot. I never mastered the game the way she did. She knew every map by heart, every enemy spawn, every boss battle combo. I only played through the game twice with her, but it remains one of my fondest gaming memories.
Nick
The Last of Us
Released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3, The Last of Us resonated with me in a way few games had before or since. Despite a couple of the titles I’ve discussed in this series of articles impacting me in large part because of their online modes, the fact of the matter is I am generally gravitate towards single player games. RPGs like the Final Fantasy series (it hurts leaving FF X off this list), adventure games like the Zelda titles and strategy games are all among my favorite genres. Yet there’s something about The Last of Us that has brought me back multiple times over the years. I don’t tend to replay single player video games very often. Once I beat them, I tend to never fire them up again because I have new adventures I want to experience. However, Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece has roped me in with its re-released PS4 and PS5 iterations. It’s an amazingly well-designed game from the sentimental music, dark and brooding visuals, grimy setting (I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic tales), outstanding voice acting and varied gameplay that has puzzle and action elements blended together to near perfection. For me however, The Last of Us is more than a bunch of outstanding elements though, it’s how these disparate aspects of the game blend together with a story that somehow manages to illicit an emotional response despite having experienced the story multiple times now. It is also worth calling out how this game led to a successful television show, after so many years of frustration at poorly adapted video game movies and television shows. My wife, who didn't even know this game existed, watched and enjoyed the television show, demonstrating on how The Last of Us was more than just a good video game narrative, it told an excellent story regardless of format. This appeal managed to cross over into another medium, and reach a different audience than just the game itself did. I feel as though the majority of the video games I play are those that have an interesting story, that provide me with some sort of an emotional response, and The Last of Us has done that in a way that few, if any, other games over the years has done.
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