Five influential video games you should try

Five+influential+video+games+you+should+try

LIAM DYER, Staff Writer

Video games have come a long way since their introduction into popular culture. The gaming world offers players an opportunity to explore settings, genres, and situations that are often impossible to encounter in real life. Here are the 5 most influential games that have affected gaming culture in this generation. Whether someone wants to revisit a game from their childhood, or experience one they haven’t tried before, any of these games would make great gifts for the upcoming holidays.

Fallout 3      

Fallout 3 portrays the player as the survivor of a nuclear war between China and the United States that occurred in the 1950’s.  Most of the gameplay focuses on player character interaction and first person shooter elements. When it was released, it revolutionized the 3D RPG genre, and paved the way for a successful sequel game (Fallout 4) and inspired other games by both Bethesda and other studios.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft has become synonymous with the realm of online gaming.  Well loved by both Eastern style gamers, and Western ones, it has a well known ability to turn players into addicts.  Mainly focusing on group cooperation and fantasy style battles, it creates a convincingly real online world that players can explore.  Customization options stem from a player made choice from a few classes and are essentially limitless.  In terms of the games legacy, it has survived over a decade, and has passed on its qualities to almost every MMO on the market.

 Call of Duty 

A first person shooter released in 2003, Call of Duty has influenced almost every first person shooter game to date. The original game featured a playlist of campaigns that took the player through a fast paced version of the second world war.  The player has a large variety of weapons at their disposal to fight the Germans and everything from the bloodied screen (when players are shot) to the tinnitus inducing effects of grenades, serves to make it a very realistic experience. The legacy of this game is shown most specifically through one tiny detail – iron sights. The first Call of Duty game was the first game ever to incorporate iron sights, and shouldering a weapon for increased accuracy. This feature remains in their games, and has been taken up by many others of the genre.

Starcraft 

Now one of the most popular and competitive real time strategy games, Starcraft initially started out as a collection of stories and as a fantasy universe. It was made into a strategy game in 1998, and the hugely successful sequel was released in 2010 and is currently making its rounds on the professional gaming scene.  Gameplay focuses on real time strategy elements with players controlling one of three races (both human and alien), and pitting them against each other for control of the enemy’s command posts.

Metal Gear Solid 

Hideo Kojima’s hit series is a must play for anyone who is a fan of stealth shooters. Players control a special forces soldier named Snake who is tasked with all manner of missions such as, gathering intelligence, killing soldiers, and assassinating politicians. The original game is not as totally immersive as the sequels are, but was the starting point of practically the entire stealth genre. Series such as Hitman and Dishonored have drawn inspiration from Kojimas first game or its successors.