Weird videogames...like caring for babies and erotic horrors

by Steven Williamson on 20 June 2008, 12:26

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Jericho, Oddworld, Okami, The Sentinel

Jericho

Many might consider Jericho to be a strange entry in this particular list. However, the elaborate storyline of this supernatural-horror themed first person shooter was totally lost on me. I didn’t understand a word of it.

Time-travelling, where one minute I'm in the Crusades period and the next I'm in the age of the Sumerian Empire, magical Black Ops soldiers, jumping in between seven different characters -Barker's incoherent, complex and detailed universe was far too much for my brain to handle.

A very strange game that could have been great, but ended up being too clever for its own good.

Click for larger image


Oddworld (all of them!)

The Oddworld games and its bizarre characters surely make it for one of the strangest yet enjoyable videogames in gaming history. The fictional universe of this platform puzzle adventure series is rightly called Oddworld and very odd it is too, with the farting and burping Abe the Mudokon slave working at the Rupture Farms meat processing factory and starting off the first of 6 Oddworld titles by rescuing his fellow slaves through Bird Portals.

Since that first outing we’ve seen characters confined to wheelchairs and even dressed as a cowboy.

The Abe games are one example of where the word ‘weird’ doesn’t necessarily mean bad.



Okami - PS2

The Japanese role-playing game fits more into the category of surreal than weird, but it did manage to give me a feeling that I've never experienced before with a videogame. The 'weirdness' of Okami is down to the way the game makes you feel as though you're walking through the pages of a book.

Its artistry is spellbinding, creating a beautifully unique atmosphere. It's a strange experience, that once experienced will never be forgotten.




The Sentinel - PC, Commodore 64, Spectrum and others

The oldest entry in this list is The Sentinel.Cast your minds back to 1986 to the surreal puzzle experience of controlling a telepathic robot around surreal pixelated environments, such as checkerboard plateaus, whilst absorbing metallic trees across hundreds of levels and dozens of weird environments.

There was an equally superb sequel in 1998 called Sentinel Returns which was released for PC and PlayStation and had an equally strange but brilliant soundtrack. There's also been a number of clones. Personally, I'll remember the original one. It was my alternative to the acid trip at the age of 12.



Other games that I find weird are: Animal Crossing - I just don't understand the point. I spend most of my time in that game planting flowers and trying to pay off my mortgage. Weirdly addictive, when it really shouldn't be.

50 Cent Bulletproof - A real guy puts his persona into a videogame and he obviously wants people to think he's hard. Bull. I found the whole game cringe-worthy and couldn't really understand why someone would want to portray themselves as a killer. He's not hard, yeah so he got caught once for reckless driving. Big deal weirdo.

Let us know which games you find weird, in the HEXUS forums .


HEXUS Forums :: 8 Comments

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you REALLY don't get katamari?

first step is to not play beautiful katamari, which sucks - play we love katamari, for ps2. next, actually revel in the weirdness. pick a single level, and aim for a high score. by all means think “wtf” as you play, but you should be so focused on maximizing your karamari, your thought process should be along the lines of “coins coins coins coins ooh, cherries on mouse… EEK! CAT! aha! small cakes!” - play it franticly, aim to do as damn much as possible, and get some old-school crazy-taxi-style fun from it
directhex
you REALLY don't get katamari?

first step is to not play beautiful katamari, which sucks - play we love katamari, for ps2. next, actually revel in the weirdness. pick a single level, and aim for a high score. by all means think “wtf” as you play, but you should be so focused on maximizing your karamari, your thought process should be along the lines of “coins coins coins coins ooh, cherries on mouse… EEK! CAT! aha! small cakes!” - play it franticly, aim to do as damn much as possible, and get some old-school crazy-taxi-style fun from it

I knew there'd be someone who love s it. I don't get it at all.
Exactly the same reason I stopped playing Enchanted Arms, the characters were just to much to put up with.
The point of katamari is the existentialism, the need to collect things to define ourselves and mould the universe around us. It is about realising that everyday items around us are but small parts in the greater collection of being…

Or maybe the truth is, how much you get the game really does depend on how queer you are :P Katamari really is perhaps the campest series of games ever made, and I love them so much for this :D

Katamari also really will simply fail if you “sit down for a good long hardcore gaming session”. Katamari really isn't the type of game that works for that, and indeed even the King of All Cosmos tells you to go outside and do other things :P It is best used for instant de-stress, and then put aside to allow more serious gaming to take over. Next time you've just finished something stressful and need a gaming unwind, try starting off with a round of katamari, and it should make more sense then.
Enchanted Arms
Atsuma’s friend, Makoto is the most camp character that I’ve ever witnessed in a game - think Graham Norton crossed with Will’s flamboyant gay friend Jack from Will and Grace and you’ll get the picture. Now, I haven't got a problem with people being camp, but it’s totally over the top in this game, so much so that it distracted me from playing it and I had to turn it off.

Very annoying character that one, luckily he drops out of the game fairly early on (the first chapter I think). I quite enjoyed playing the game though and I still need to finish it (I'm about halfway through looking at the achievements)