Just like movies and music, I think a lot of computer games borrow too much from each other. Sure, if one game does something good, it would make sense to include it in other games as well, and every design borrows something from another, but I sometimes feel that too many things are being borrowed, too many ideas are being copied. So, here''s a chance to herald those few games that have chosen to go a different path. The games that do things differently. I bring you: Majesty What does it do different? Majesty could be summed up as an RTS where you can NOT manually control your units. Instead, you, the king, place reward flags. There are two types of reward flags: a) bounty: place this on an enemy unit (usually an AI monster) b) explore: place this on a location on the map The units that you create (rogues, warriors, wizards and more) each have a customized behavior pattern. Some will quickly set out to collect the reward flags you placed (rogues are easily attracted because of their greed), others take a little longer to attract (gnomes, who care mainly about building things). Some other behavior patterns: -certain units will follow and support certain other units (rangers for example will follow and protect barbarians) -morale: determines if your unit will stand and fight or flee when a monster approaches -some units will quickly seek to buy new items available in your many stores, others seem to not care about items as much The automated behavior of the units is the number one creative element in this game, but I also like the fact that some buildings affect other buildings. For example, after constructing a blacksmith, the price of all new buildings is lowered by 5%. After constructing a Library, the price of new research is lowered by 5%. After constructing an Elven Bungalow, all Marketplaces double their income. After constructing certain Temples, certain other Temples can no longer be built. I''ve been playing this game exclusively for the last few weeks, and am still amazed at how a basically simple premise like this (you can''t control your units but can only try to affect their behavior by placing reward flags) works really, really well. Okay, now let me hear about your personal candidate for ''The Games That Do Things Differently''.

Battlezone and Battlezone 2 combine strategy and first person shooting.
You can fight and build your base and units at the same time.
Trough first person view or "satellite" view later and the game...

I may have sung this song before but it''s still a good one.

Grim Fandango is a LucasArts adventure game with no visible interface - that is, no onscreen icons. Control is through the keyboard; your character can be made to walk around with the arrow keys, and turns his head to look at objects of note. Once he''s looking at something, different keys will make him comment on it, attempt to manipulate it, or pick it up. Your "inventory" is your character''s jacket; accessing the inventory changes the view to a close up of his jacket and hand, and he''ll pull objects out of his jacket one at a time until he grabs the one you want. The only things on the screen that isn''t an object in the game world are subtitles for conversations (which can be turned off, except where you need to make a decision).

The upshot is that it plays more like an interactive movie with subtitles than a standard game. It''s very visually interesting and immersive to play. The graphics work around their lack of sophistication (it''s an early 3D game) by taking place in the Mexican Land of the Dead, where everyone''s a sort of papier-mache skeleton such as those made for the Day of the Dead. The net result is like watching a surreal film noir. And of course, since it''s LucasArts, clever dialogue and interesting characters abound. Oh, how I love that game.

Barely worth saying, but...

Thief was quite original in applying stealth to a 3D game, de-emphasising combat, and making sound more important. All these elements have surely been done before in other games, but as a whole the Thief experience was totally fresh and new, showing that first person games didn''t have to be clichéd RPGs or fast-paced shooters.

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black and white. the interface for that game is ingenious. not to mention its like the majesty game you mentioned.. where you don''t control your creature directly.. but you can give it directions and teach it new things to do. yea that game is definatly worth mentioning

"The human mind is limited only by the bounds which we impose upon ourselves." -iNfuSeD

Die by the Sword
A third-person melee-weapon action game where, instead of clicking to swing your weapon, you moved your mouse to control where your weapon went. So sliding your mouse left to right or up and down would swing your weapon that way. It didn''t always feel right or respond correctly and it had a huge learning curve. But once mastered, it was a ton of fun.

The Sims
Although the Sims includes a lot of tedious on mundane actions like washing dishes, taking out the trash, and going to the bathroom, it''s emphasis on social interaction is something you rarely (if ever) see in games. I think a lot of games could benefit by incorporating some of the more interesting aspects of the Sims into their gameplay.

The big one, for me, is Super Smash Brothers. Yes it was a fighting game and there have been many fighting games, but anybody who has played it knows that it is a very different experience from those.

but also all the genre-busters out there that have made us invent new terms for classifying games.

Wolfenstein 3D, Sim City, Pong, Street Fighter(earliest fighting game I know of), etc.
Black and White seemed to defy genre classification...and the upcoming "Project Ego" for XBox looks like an RPG significantly different from any that yet exist.
Half-Life introduced a level of immersion beyond nearly any game before it.

here''s a wierd one:
Serious Sam. I consider it to be innovative just because it abandoned a lot of trends in the FPS world(story, realism, grittiness) in favor of pure gameplay. maybe that one doesn''t belang in the list *shrug*

THe most original game concept I''ve seen to date is Majestic. I couldn''t find an official site for it so I linked to this USAToday article. The game actually calls you while you''re at work, emails you clues, etc. It''s a freaky idea. The game writers create a story and intertwine it with your everyday life. I never played it myself but I had a friend that was totally addicted.

- Jay

Get Tranced!

Oh wow I can''t believe I forgot about The Terminator, by Bethesda Softworks in 1990.

This game had elements of the Grand Theft Auto series about 11 years before GTA3. It was a 3D FPS where you could either play as Kyle Reese or the Terminator, and you had to find and kill the other. It was pretty open-ended. You could enter and rob stores or just buy items. You could enter a sports store and buy sneakers to run faster. You could enter a hospital and get healed, or buy medical things from a pharmacy and heal yourself. You could break into an army surplus and get huge weapons. The world was littered with cars you could hijack and drive. The gameworld was pretty big and littered with people. Weapons included pistols, uzis, grenades, and rocket launchers. You could go on a killing spree on innocents and the police would show up, just like the GTA series.

I think this might be an example of too much innovation before technology could really catch up. There were so many cool ideas but since the graphics technology was downright primitive, I guess it didn''t have quite the effect that GTA did. But still a blast to play back then.