Games that have gripped you ...

[Londonner]

I'm don't mean long term addictive.

.. you know, I'm talking about ones that seized your body and mind for those first few days. The game you slotted in and just couldn't get up from until it was beaten to death.

The lost weekend. I had one of those experiences last weekend.

I know I'm late (very late) to the party, but I picked up Splinter Cell on Gamecube for peanuts on ebay.com. Arrived Friday. Started playing Saturday morning ...

By night, I'd finished it. Thirsty, hungry and out of breath. A game hadn't gripped me like that for years. Well, not since Link's Awakening on SNES (PAL) or Goemon Warrior on Super Famicom.

By no means am I comparing it to either masterpiece (my all time favourites), but Splinter Cell (with all its flaws) had a certain something I find lacking in most of today's games: momentum.

Once you're thrown into it, the pace is set just right, compelling you to (literally) want to see the next surprise around the corner. Until there is no more to see.

I have a bunch of Gamecube games now (all classics, in Gamecube terms, I'd like to think) and nothing in my collection compared to the experience. When I look at the other games, I just think they are paced incorrectly. Just like an epic 3 hour Hollywood movie, they are so sprawling (in terms of depth, character and plot) that half way through you're tempted to pop to the loo. Only until you look back at the experience as a whole do you appreciate its brilliance.

But that's the point, only if you manage to last till the end.

Epics like Metroid Prime or Zelda Windwaker are so big it takes 25% of the game just to get into it - whether it's collecting all the moves/skills, or developing the story.

These epics are enthralling for different reasons. But they're long term affairs. Frequent experiences lasting weeks, or months. As much as I am stunned by both games, having completed about 50% of each, I feel as if I've seen all I wanted to see.

I don't think epic games have the same 'momentum' as those brilliant, short, and flawed 'weekend games'.

It's a shame there aren't more games like them in the era of multi-million dollar gaming 'epics'.

Anyway, what games have gripped you for a few days?

[Lactose Intollerant]

Suikoden 1 - Four lost days and a revelation (Gremio was male????)
Suikoden 2 - Became so obsessed for a week I actually cried and gave up playing near the end because of something...
Super Mario Sunshine - A week of PAIN. Possibly the most swearing I've ever done.

[Londonner]

Never head of Suikoden, but I'll look it up. Shouldn't you put your revelation as a spoiler ... who knows, someone might play it one day. You sure have blown it for me!

As for SMS ... interesting, as I would have put that into the epic category. Whilst arguably Super Mario World was as big, for some reason, I have not played any Mario games since which were as gripping (including Mario 64, the GBA re-releases etc.). Man, trying to find those 96 levels ...

[Lactose Intollerant]

Gremio is supposed to be male, but his icon and manner of speaking convinced me he was a lady on the first play though.

Not of any relevance to the plot at all

[Lyris]

Just Rayman 3, for some reason I just wanted to finish it in record time.

[Adam Stone]

I?m the opposite to you I think? It is the epic games like Zelda and Metroid Prime which grab hold of my senses? my thoughts and even my dreams and wont let go until I complete it. Not many games can do this to me, but when it happens, everything else gets put on hold and I find complete and utter contentment in another reality? I love it. These are the sort of games I love the most. The very reason I hold the Zelda franchise dearest.

The most recent game for me to do this, on a slightly lesser extent, is Beyond Good and Evil. It started off a little disappointingly, but once it reached a certain area, I was completely engrossed?

Splinter Cell was a game where I continued to play day after day until I had beaten it. But I never got truly absorbed. It took a week or two of an hour here and there before I beat it, not hour after hour like the first time through a Zelda for example. I can quite happily save and shut down the computer during a fairly action packed scene. But cant while being tantalized by the prospect of the mysterious within that Island in the distance, or the emotionally challenging story that fella over there may tell?

I tend to lose myself in the sheer dreaminess of the surroundings when im deep in concentration. Splinter Cell and Resident Evil, as examples, have that tension and concentration required to pull you in, but fails to absorb me fully?

Eternal Darkness, with its truly compelling story and characters however, is another like Zelda for me?

Hope that makes sense. heh

[Matt Hughes]

Hmm, a few

Final Fantasy 9: I don't know why, maybe it was the whimsical tilt this game had, but I absoloutely loved it. Bought the soundtrack (first and only time I have ever bought a game soundtrack to date), bought a few bits of merchandise and completed it at least 3 times. Cannot explain why for the life of me.

Grand Prix 2: I was playing this for years - even after Grand Prix 3 had been released. The AI was damned clever and the physics model was - at the time - unparalleled. Massively customizable too, which always helps a game's longevity.

Metroid Prime: An absoloutely top drawer game from start to finish. I had to play it for review so the first time round I had to rush through as quickly as possible whilst doing as much as possible, but the second time through without the constraints of a review schedule was just as fun as the first.

Ivan Stewart's Iron Man: Heh, not too many people will have heard of this I guess. Mini truck racing game that had me completely and utterly addicted shorty after my 12th birthday. I think I ended up playing it (not continuously, obviously ) for about 2 years!

That's all I can think of for now. By no means my top 4 games of all time, but that quartet kept me coming back for more over any game I have played.

[Tobal]

From this generation

Fire pro wrestling D
Shenmue 1&2
Dynasty warriors 3
SW:kotor
WE6:FE (gc)
Halo
CounterStrike

Currently
FFxi

[Garibaldi Biscuit]

Hmm, perhaps it's a sign of my growing apathy with video-games but I can't think of any recent titles which have secured me in a death-grip until the end credits were rolling.

Games such as Maximo VS Army of Zin and Prince of Persia are delights, but I could easily go a night, or several nights, without playing them. The last two games I can recall that had this effect on me were several years old, and both happen to be P.C games ( I adore my consoles, but by the same token there are some gaming flavours on the P.C which these machines cannot equal ), I am referring to the seminal FPS Half-Life and the game which breathed new life into the RPG genre - Fallout.

I can certainly see games on the horizon which have a good chance of absorbing me to such an extent, in fact the next year presents an amazing amount of such opportunities across all formats, so I remain hopeful that I will once again be pulling all-nighters in the near future.

[karlidog]

despite my idiotically short attention span, this happens to me quite a lot. especially with gba games, for some reason. never underestimate the addictiveness of something you can play in bed, i guess (that counts for 2d shooters in tate mode, too... ). i played mario and luigi at every single possible opportunity (including under the desk at work) 'til i finished it. same with ffta and pokemon sapphire, although i've always had a serious weakness for pokemon rpgs. i neeeeeeeed leaf green... i also need latios, although elbowing little kids outta my way this weekend should provide.

erm... also ico, which i only picked up fairly recently and absolutely adored both times i've played through it. i might start again sometime soon. and project zero, although i would've paced myself a bit more if i hadn't only been brave enough to play it while it was daylight. i did most of it in one day, then spent the next couple of nights half-expecting editor ogata or (shudder) blinded to be lurking behind a door... i've never been that scared by a game before. female head still freaks me out, and yet i'm gonna buy the sequel...

oh god, and amplitude and gitaroo man... rhythm action owns me.

[2097]

at the moment grabbed by the ghoulies. For some reason its well judged difficaulty curve, quality and strength of gameplay design makes the repetative tasks and slagged off features not matter.. love the style, characters and humour. Also for once its a rare game that isnt a collect-a-thon.. can see why ppl didnt gel with the game but its really gripped me.. ive only stopped playing to check messages and stuff on the net for a min or two.. i suspect i will spent my day at work tomorrow thinking about the game and then rushing home to play more

this is the first time in ages ive been really compelled, addicted and actually looking forward to playing something

[Sketcz]

Hmm, nothing recently. Ive even drifted away from recent GBA games.

But casting my mind back, Suikoden1+2 was great but Id argue it was more a long term game.

Game that gripped me from start to finish and wouldnt let me go?

A bit of an oldy, but Ill argue its brilliance until the admin order me not to.

Star Control 2.
I could never get the old DOS version working correctly, so I could only get a monochrome display without any sound. First 10 minutes were so damned good I spent the next 6 hours glued to my PC playing through it. Black and white, no sound, and poor frame rate. Ive since spent a fortune tracking down a 3DO to play the updated version, and in 2 days played it back to back to back again. Being non-linear I did everything backwards the second time through.

If your interested they ported the updated 3do version back to the PC as a free download:

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

info:

http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/

hehehe, thank me after youve lost a week of your life.

[mechamonkey]

Everquest (PC)

I demand 5 years back.

[Darwock]

Suikoden 1 - Four lost days and a revelation (Gremio was male????)

I experienced exactly the same shock.

Anyway, I am currently going through this with Suikoden 3, I spent an entire Saturday playing (11am-4am!!!) a couple of weeks ago and still was nowhere near finishing it. I'm now at 60 hours playing time and getting close to the end... I think. 1 & 2 didn't grip me that way though.

[bangaio]

Ivan Stewart's Iron Man: Heh, not too many people will have heard of this I guess. Mini truck racing game that had me completely and utterly addicted shorty after my 12th birthday. I think I ended up playing it (not continuously, obviously ) for about 2 years! .

Me too, played it to death for years.

Others include:

Day of the tantacle
Xwing and Tie Fighter
Indycar racing on the pc (papyrus game)
Doom
Desert Strike

more up to date

Mario 64
Ridge Racer
GTAVC

back in the days, games had you held you you couldnt leave them alone..now there are very few like that, or perhaps there are too many. Ahh to be poor once again!