Feature
1UP’s staff names the games that define the medium. You have to play these!
With all the headlines lately about whether or not videogames can be Art — you know, with a capital “A” — and the loudest critical voice against that recognition coming forward to concede that, OK, maybe they can, the merits of the medium seem to be on many people’s minds. What makes a game great? More importantly, perhaps, what makes a game unique from other media? What is it about a great game that can’t be replicated in film, music, books, or other established forms of entertainment — you know, the mediums whose artistic merits no one questions?
Spurred into action by this question, I took an informal poll of the 1UP staff to learn what my coworkers consider the essential videogame: The one game that everyone should experience before they die, whether they’re a gamer or not. The one game that perfectly captures the essence of the medium, that sums up everything that makes videogames unique and worthwhile. If you were to recommend everyone in the world experience only one game in their life, I asked, what would it be?