Mmm. I realised I just didn't care about the graphics anymore when I first played System Shock 2 in around 2007, and realised I was more immersed thanks to my imagination and a solid game design than any game made in the eight years since it had been crafted.

That still hasn't changed.

However I don't see any significant ambition in the indie world. Immortal Defense I first discovered when it was new some years back and loved it to little bits, but rather than being an ambitious design it was merely the absolute refinement of Tower Defense into something both radically simpler and infinitely deeper. It was a creative -mutation- rather than a newborn design, it broke no new ground it merely made better use of it than anyone before or since.

Amnesia is a beautiful and horrifying experience (judging by the demo and my faith in the team) but rather than breaking new ground its gameplay is largely a step -back- from Penumbra, removing freedom and the ability to fight back in favour of a -refinement- of the horror experience.

Sleep is Death, absolutely wonderful but rather than being ambitious it simply provides tools with which the player can be ambitious.

AI war has scale, but not depth - quantity isn't quality, however nicely made it is. Although that reminds me, I might be tempted to add Supreme Commander to the list for its epic scale compared to the rest of the field.

Oh! And Men of War! How did I forget you, my lovely little hat-sim..

Technology won't go backwards but it has, until recently, stalled - to the great benefit of gamers, I feel. Although we're starting to lose out now as the Xbox processor speed holds back the complexity of physics calculations in mainstream games.

So, can you think of any epic, ambitious, creative, NEW ideas presently in development? There's always at least one.. Except now I am not sure there is o.o

Whitebrice wins cookies! [Image Can Not Be Found]

You nailed one! Yes, I'd consider Interstellar Marines a truly ambitious game. Thankyou for bringing a ray of optimism into my dreary view of gaming, I had completely forgotten it in the lull after Running man.

Also, shark-creatures. Joyful shivers.

Toger: ... I wrote a list of over seventy before realising I was only allowed fifty. Fifty WORDS? But what about games like Shadow of the Colossus, that's four words in just one title! I will foil you by removing the spaces from individual entries!

Fallouts, STALKERS, DeusEx, SystemShock2, GrimFandango, FullThrottle, Morrowind, DungeonKeeper2, Startopia, BlackandWhite, ResidentEvils, Sacrifice, SyndicateWars, TheVoid, Necrovision, ShadowoftheColossus, RedAlert2, GhostMaster, Neocron, Planetside, TotalWars, MenofWar, RedFactionGuerilla, DwarfFortress, VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines, AssassinsCreed(Both), Hitmans, NooneLivesForever, Commandos(All), OddWorlds, Carmageddons, Warhammer40kDawnOfWar, Defcon, BaldursGate2, Halos, FEAR, BushidoBlade, JaggedAlliance2, SoulCalibur2, MetalGearSolid, TheSuffering, EternalDarkness, GTA123, SilentHills, AVP2, PlanescapeTorment, TheWitcher.

FIFTY WORDS by the standards of wordcounttool.com >.>

*collapses to recover from running around his house checking shelves dictating this list to the dear Pixie*

I rise to the challenge, prepare to digest polyester fibres and little eyelet/buttons depending upon the type of ridiculous hat!

NecroVision possesses one of the most varied combat systems ever implemented into an FPS – a game in which I can carry any pistol or melee weapon in one hand, and any pistol, melee weapon or general combat device/tool in my other hand, firing/stabbing/illuminating/throwing my way through, with melee attacks available on the firearms, throwing attacks available on the melee weapons and a quick-grenade button, among many other things I've forgotten. Oh, and the holy Kick button.

The end-result is the ability to dive through a window firing two luger pistols in slow motion into a crowd of fifteen german zombies, grab and hurl a grenade from my belt to the right, reload the left pistol while entering a combo attack with the right that involves pushing the pistol into a zombie's mouth and blowing the top of its head off, swap that empty pistol for a trench shovel with one keypress as I fire my freshly reloaded left luger at another zombie (as the grenade goes off behind him, staggering him forwards and destroying two others), the round causing him to stumble and spin away as it impacts his shoulder, kick him in the ass with my huge American boot  causing him to fall staggering forwards over the fallen bodies of the shrapnel-laden corpses beyond, then throw the trench shovel after him, penetrating his spine and nailing him to the opposite wall as my character howls out a drawling insult to its ugly undead mother, while simultaneously firing the reloaded right pistol into a crowd of oncoming zombies before deciding to sacrifice my vision in the dark in favour of survival, pulling a gas lamp from my pocket and hurling it at them, where it explodes in a ball of improbable flame, consuming another three – all the while, time is rippling as my combo-chain digs deeper, popping up sequential comedic combo names, my character is spouting off increasingly melodramatic satanic idiocy in a deeper and growlier voice and blood and limbs are spattering everywhere.

In order to leave the room, I have to physically jump and wiggle and clamber my way over a pile of physics-active ragdolls which are still twitching in the doorway, requiring several more kicks, then a grenade to dislodge/dismember them so I can actually get through.

The closest I've seen to this kind of variety of combat techniques in an FPS is Duke Nukem Forever or Blood, for their massive, varied inventories – or perhaps a Thief/Deus Ex for their various nonlethal options and traps. None of them had the sense of speed or fluidity of Necrovision, though.

The latter portions of the game collapse into a bizarre and incomprehensible sequence of gigantic tunnels filled with monstrous lumpen shrieking things with no feet, and vampire molemen in crab-shell armour. I think I remember wearing a demon-possessed glove that launched fireballs and summoned the undead, and there was a bit where I rode a dragon. It wasn't very good. It was a bit of a chore, actually – but much better than Painkiller's weaker levels, still.

Throughout the game you'll find very nicely voice-acted notes, written by lost and terrified soldiers on both sides of the conflict, relating twisted, amusing, chilling or touching stories about their experiences – coupled with various strange individuals who drop in and out of gameplay – including a memorable meeting with a gentleman locked in a German cell beyond the trenches, who, well.. Okay, it's J.R.R. Tolkien.

It's packed with similar easter eggs and secrets from end to end – very much in the vein of Duke Nukem/Wolfenstein, its strongest early inspirations.

Now that I've played Necrovision I can't return to Painkiller. I tried. It bores me senseless now. Where are my zombies throwing rocks at me because I won't get off the roof, where is my bolt-action rifle with four different attachments, where is my kick button to launch living enemies off the battlements of germanic castles, where are my CLOCKWORK ELECTRICK MECH SUITS.

Where are my giant robotic scorpions, where is my dragon-riding segment. Where is my ability to freeze enemies in time with magic before firing rockets at them, or my dual machineguns held under each arm, my zombies who keep getting back up or my ability to collect and carry six trench shovels then throw them in rapid succession like a circus performer.

This is a game designed from the very beginning with the intention of being an incomprehensible Eastern-European b-movie containing demons, vampires in crab suits, giant robots, the living dead in the trenches of World War 1 – in which a combo system slows down time, reduces ranged damage and increases melee damage in order to incentivise NOT using cover or hiding, making it easier to run through a hail of bullets throwing stolen bayonets and then stamping on the enemy's face until he stops screaming than to sit at the back exchanging bullets/shooting explosive barrels/waiting for them to reload. Then you snarl, standing over a bloodied pile of limbs, "REMEMBER MY NAME.", or perhaps "CONSIDER YOURSELF PURIFIED…".

It has all the heart and spirit of Duke Nukem-Serious Sam-Painkiller, with gameplay, AI, combat systems and weapons variety massively superior to any predecessor.

As I just discovered another writer has already brought up (Here), Necrovision is in fact the predecessor to Bulletstorm in many of its features (kicking enemies in combination with attacks to create combo chains while howling automatic taunts) – so I'm guessing PCF had some discussion of this design before the team split up, some joining Epic and others forming The Farm 51.

It's a total mess, it makes no sense, the voice acting ranges between excellent and embarassingly horrific, and like most games it falls apart toward the end – I am nonetheless absolutely in love with it – because unlike so very many, it's fun. So much fun. And I cannot predict it.

Who's convinced?!

Better get down to the milliners, Fink! [Image Can Not Be Found]

Edited post-script: Oh god, don't make me ramble this early in the morning.. *clutches head*

I feel I should probably clarify what makes it innovative rather than just raving about how good it is; vast array of weapons I can assign to either hand with a variety and flexibility unprecedented, combo system effectively implemented in an FPS encouraging you to play the game the way the developers envisioned it, in total opposition with the design zeitgeist of the moment, de-emphasising the use of cover in favour of berserker behaviour, totally giving in to immersion in the thick of combat as you swap between weapons bashing, slashing, stabbing, throwing, casting magic and burning with hellfire. Active physics capitalising upon Painkiller's ragdolls by making corpses semi-permanent, resulting in the massing heaps of the dead blocking further AI from getting into the room, or you from escaping it without doing a bit of work.

That last bit is important. My first real active thought about game design at the age of around 12 was when I told an old friend, as we sat playing the early Counter-Strike betas on his shiny Tiny PC, that oneday 'ragdoll' physics on dead bodies would result in the ventilation shafts of cs_assault being blocked to further access. I was wrong, Counter-Strike Source chickened out and made the ragdolls noclip players, but NECROVISION SHOWS THE WAY... The way to a better tomorrow, in which I can PILE UP MY ENEMIES AND SIT ENTHRONED UPON THEM IN THE AFTERMATH OF BATTLE! O.o

Or perhaps play a zombie MMO where the fighting is only as important as your clan's willingness to work together to rebuild the fallen walls and throw the bodies into the fire with discipline and protective gear that offers immunity to disease, rather than +10 fire resistance..

*drifts off into fantasy*

You're making me miss the original STALKER design again. This isn't difficult, someone does it on these forums once every two or three days. I'm remembering plans for every man to die to fall, but become food for scavenging animals, dragged around, dismembered - decomposing over time, allowing you to judge how long he had been dead... The idea of shooting birds out of the sky, trading the bullets for food and a bit of radiation poisoning.

It's a mistake by game developers to think that just because a character is dead their story is over and they are no longer relevant - few games, Hitman among them, accord the dead the respect they deserve - a misplaced corpse in a few special games can ruin your whole day 😉

Vampires in crab-shell armour.. Hrmm. I would draw the line between 'innovative' and 'amusingly retarded' here. Got to admit, that section of the game was bad >.>