I LOVE those! It's like spiting the gods just because you can.

That's a great chain of discussion. I used to make up challenges to do in Mario 64 and was amazed to see enough people did that too that there was a tiny community online for it. Same with doing stunts in the earlier Battlefield games: that was how I wanted to play it. (If you haven't seen it before, a "bail loop" is…

The Sims 1 build mode music is unceasingly calming. Buy mode is peppier but energetic enough that it could send you off in a bad Great Day-type direction if played at the wrong time.

I'm going with Operation Neptune since that's the one I'm most familiar with (yes, I know, it's the Halloween 3 of Super Solvers), but Challenge of the Ancient Empires might be a good alternative…

I think it's a shooter (I haven't actually tried it yet!), but yeah, it's loosely based on the movie and probably many, many steps away from the TV show.

I'm playing a lot of things this weekend. Folks, here comes the plug!

Nothing to add except that I really enjoyed this and appreciate when underdiscussed game history gets its due.

Almost five years ago, I purchased a bag of 200 googly eyes and accidentally received 400 googly eyes. Many things were begoogled. To this day, I'm still finding googly eyes on things I forgot about, and I've moved twice. I recommend the largest quantity of googly eyes available.

It's so interesting to me because it's definitely weaker in terms of the creative side (character designs, music, etc.) and the overarching structure (too many things to collect, and the Brothers Bear do nothing for me). Burnout seems like a pretty realistic explanation. But I think the level design is the best of the…

God help me, I finally pulled myself away from Overwatch, but then this happened. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday, and I will consume anything with spooky music, jack o'lanterns, and skeletons. The biggest danger, really, is that this is cutting into costume prep time. Eek!

I love Soldier 76 as the tired dad handing out candy.

I have never known an intentional secret in a game with the same sense of transgression and voyeurism as creeping outside the boundaries like this and seeing what rests a little bit further.

I don't have Horizon 3 even though it looks great, but add me to the general club! Xbox handle is Shadsy.

Ori really is magical. Enjoy!

Holy shit, I'm so into this. I'm dying to see how the game builds character with camera movement, which is often written off as something to work around rather than use as a storytelling tool. The description of looking into the mirror in the introduction scene sounds fantastic. It'll be interesting to see how it…

The original still relies on teasing out the game's mechanics rather than the chaotic Lemmings interactions that the article rightfully says are the heart of the series. I disagree with the idea that the rough, repetitive rhythm of the game is a good quality to have; that much has aged poorly even if the characters…

Having played both and realizing Tank Wars is a bald ripoff, Tank Wars is still the best. It just feels… chunkier? The explosions look and sound so satisfying.

As great as the original is, and goodness knows I have fond memories of it, I think lionizing it as an example of perfect, tight design ignores how often the game relies on exact timing and exploiting the game's peculiarities to win.

I was also gonna say Mass Effect! But Mass Effect 3. There's that wonderful scene where a Reaper refuses to explain its motivations because "It is not a thing you can comprehend." This is horrifying and perfect, and it was a bit of a letdown that the game felt compelled to explain the backstory of the Reapers and try…

There's bright spots though! Todelmer, Direbo, and the Shaft are all pretty great.