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Which title is the Citizen Kane of gaming?

GametimeUK

Member
The Last of Us, duh.
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Doom influenced one genre. Super Mario 64's influence spans genres to affect nearly every 3D game made.
I think the influence of DOOM goes beyond genres, and far more into the technical achievement it was.

Not only was it revolutionary back in it's day, but it was the reason to develop and the precursor of Quake, a game which technology was waaay ahead of it's time. It rendered fully 3D environments much faster than anything else back in the day, and the Source engine was basically a modification of Quake's engine, so it also helped spawning Half-Life.

I know this kinda makes it sound like Quake was more influential than DOOM, but I doubt we'll ever had the former without the later.

DOOM was also the reason for the deathmatching craze to even start, so there's that too.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
What, a game that's a technical masterpiece but only actually interesting and/or entertaining to a very small group of people? Dunno, Flight Simulator 2020?

If you're talking about most influential then probably Doom. And if you think Doom's reach doesn't expand beyond just FPS games you're really not thinking very hard.
 

Patrick S.

Banned
I'd say:

Halif-Life 1 and 2
Deus Ex
Metal Gear Solid
Skyrim
Diablo
Hitman
3D GTA
Sytem Shock

These are games that defined genres and shaped the games that came after them. They all are masterpieces that had innovative game mechanics, top quality art and sound, and are still awesome to play all these years later.

If I had to select just one game from my list, I'd say it must be Half-Life 2 or Skyrim.
 

Dr Bass

Member
If you're referring to something that influenced nearly everything that followed it, the answer is easy.

Super Mario 64.

From analog controls to 3D cameras, that game influenced the entire 3D era of gaming.
Wow, FINALLY someone out there gets what Citizen Kane meant to movies and makes an actually proper gaming analogy.

All this talk of The Last of Us being gaming's "Citizen Kane" moment always left me frustrated. TLoU was VERY incremental and hardly inventive IMO. It was a "more serious" take on the Uncharted formula. It has zero corollary to being what Citizen Kane was for movies.

Mario 64 is a way better call.

Bravo.
 

Notabueno

Banned
From a strictly technical POV, yeah you can mention Super Mario 64. But as a whole, there are very few video games that qualify:

Chrono Trigger
Doom
Earthbound
FF7
Metal Gear 1/2
Ocarina/Majora
SM 64
Half-Life 1/2
GTA 3
SystemShock 2/Bioshock Infinite
MW2
Last Of Us 1
BoTW
Mario Odyssey

(and Mirror's Edge Catalyst, but nobody would agree with that).

Those aforementioned games are paradoxically, within their context, the few almost perfect games that were ever released.
By that I mean, they almost perfectly nail every aspect of video games, in a coherent, artistic craftmanshift, while being revolutionary one way or the other.

This is what Citizen Kane was, it's not just camera work, it's the writing, the art direction, the set-up, the decors, the acting, the leading etc...and so if you want to compare it to video game, the list above are games that qualify, and other games might but I forgot about them.
 
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Patrick S.

Banned
To me Control is one of those great AAA game that have unfortunately so many kinks in aspect or the others. However this makes me think that Max Payne 1 could qualify...
Damn, yeah, Max Payne definitely qualifies. I have more vibrant memories of playing Max Payne when it came out than I do of most other games. I'd really like a good remaster/remake of it.
 

Bragr

Banned
From a strictly technical POV, yeah you can mention Super Mario 64. But as a whole, there are very few video games that qualify:

Chrono Trigger
Doom
Earthbound
FF7
Metal Gear 1/2
Ocarina/Majora
SM 64
Half-Life 1/2
GTA 3
SystemShock 2/Bioshock Infinite
MW2
Last Of Us 1
BoTW
Mario Odyssey

(and Mirror's Edge Catalyst, but nobody would agree with that).

Those aforementioned games are paradoxically, within their context, the few almost perfect games that were ever released.
By that I mean, they almost perfectly nail every aspect of video games, in a coherent, artistic craftmanshift, while being revolutionary one way or the other.

This is what Citizen Kane was, it's not just camera work, it's the writing, the art direction, the set-up, the decors, the acting, the leading etc...and so if you want to compare it to video game, the list above are games that qualify, and other games might but I forgot about them.
Why MW 2 over 1? what do you mean by ME Catalyst?
 
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