Legendary videogame developer and current head of Lionhead Games, Peter Molyneux has not only survived in an industry forever changing, he's thrived. During a lecture given at this year's BAFTA Annual Games Lecture this week the creator of such classic franchises as Populous and Fable dished out his picks for the most revolutionary games of the past twenty years. He prefaced his picks by challenging designers to 'defy perceived widsome and custom," citing the best innovations "come from challenging the foundation stones of conventional wisdom."
See how your picks measure up to Molyneux's after the jump!
In a report filed by our friends over at ThatVideogameBlog, Peter Molyneux's top five most innovative games of the past twenty years:
Dune 2, as it "took gaming away from twitch-based reactions and instead encouraged a slower, more cerebral approach." Molyneux also cited the classic real-time strategy title as pioneering still-familiar play styles still in effect, such as 'turtling'.
Super Mario 64 for "moving the platform genre convincingly into 3D," citing series creator Shigeru Miyamoto as a "true genius of the industry." He also singled the game as a precursor to open-ended (i.e. sandbox) style titles like Grand Theft Auto 3.
Tomb Raider, for introducing a big-chested, enduring character that "subverted convention" and creating an icon in the process.
Halo, for "bring FPS' to consoles" and introducing regenerative health and limiting the player to an inventory of 2 guns.
World of Warcraft, for helping pioneer the 'carrot dangling' method of promising players newer items for completed quests, in direct opposition to traditional game design which "dictated that the player should have access to everything the game had to offer almost immediately," therefore helping relieve boredom.
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Of course, the best part of any list (particularly those of well-respected, industry veterans) is often seeing how well their thoughts and opinions match up with your own. Does Dune 2 match up with the likes of Warcraft 2, or even Starcraft? If Halo's marked innovation lay with bringing the FPS to home consoles, than where does Goldeneye fit in? Is Tomb Raider's busty Lara Croft really the symbolic strike for digital female equality that Cooking Mama was? Or can World of Warcraft really lay claim to introducing a series of progressive empowerment, especially when (gaming's first true female superstar) Samus Aran did so a decade early?
The twenty year limitation may put some - if not all - of these and other comparisions into question, but as mentioned above the real joy of such innocuous listing is the conversation and henpacking that follows.
So how do Molyneux's picks match up to your own?
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