Video Game Reviews DB: Need Genres!!!

[Mithrandir]

OK. We have a format for the VGRD, so I can start work on that presently. In the mean time, we need to solidify a list of genres for the games. Here's a partial list that I just slapped together. It is by no means complete. Please help me fill it out.

FPS
Sci-fi
Drama
Romance
Fantasy
Historical
Mystery
Action
Sports
Horror
Gothic
Cyberpunk
Comedy


OK. I lied. I just coppied and pasted it from the ARD list and added FPS. So come on everyon, be more creative than I!!!

[Saint Kevin]

Well, to be perfectly honest oldphil, I don't think just copying and pasting genres from ARD will work at all. As FPS would suggest, most people think of the gameplay when assigning a genre to a game. This is different from the normal artistic genres that we assign to novels or movies. I suppose that a video game could have 2 genres (an artistic genre, and a gameplay genre) but for simplicity's sake most people settle on only the gameplay one.

Here are some examples of videogame genres and how they relate to the gameplay involved:

FPS: You shoot things from a first person perspective. Many subgenres, if you like those.

3PS: You shoot things. This time from a third person perspective. Think of the new James Bond Games by EA, or Winback (for those that remember this game, kudos to you).

RPG: You play the role of some character. There can be subgenres to this (fantasy, action, etc.). What differentiates an RPG from an adventure? Storytelling and leveling up, as far as I can tell.

Platformer: Much of the gameplay revolves around running around collecting things and jumping from platform to platform. (Think Mario, Donkey Kong Country, etc.).

Adventure: I don't even know if this really is a genre anymore. It used to be that an adventure game was quest-based, and point and click like Monkey Island or King's Quest. My use of the genre adventure (or action/action/adventure) describes a platformer with a little more emphasis on combat and less on collecting things. Then again...Myst might qualify as an adventure...maybe. Your thoughts on this genre would be appreciated.

Sports: You play the sport in question, nuff said.

Racing: You race - cars usually, but sometimes boats or something else. The two main kinds of racing games are Simulation and Arcade, with the difference lying in the physics, and sometimes the tracks (street racing vs. nascar racing).

Aerial Combat: Dogfighting, bombing things...yeah.

Aquatic Combat: Not much a point in calling this a genre, since I've really only seen it done in Bloodwake, but, the concept is there, even if it isn't done a lot.

Beat 'Em Up: This genre doesn't see much use these days, as the good days of Double Dragon, Maximum Carnage, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Streets of Rage are about over, but they still exist. You go through a level and beat up enemies. Then you repeat. Till the boss. Then you kill him/her. Then you win.

Puzzle: While not always technically puzzles, these games require some thought, and are fairly simple. Think Tetris, Dr. Mario, etc.

Dance: You dance to the game with a dancepad. DDR, etc.

Music: Other musical games that you don't dance to. Amplitude, Pa Rappa the Rappa, Samba de Amigo, etc.

Voice-Driven?: There are some games out there that are hard to classify. Think Seaman and 'Hey You' Pikachu. I guess you could call these 'voice-driven' games or something.

Fighters: They can be 2d like Street Fighter, or 3d like Soul Caliber. You fight, someone dies, someone lives. Many quarters are wasted at arcades. Life goes on.

Shooters: This is what I call a game where you actually need a gun to shoot things. e.g. Duck Hunt, Area 51, Time Crisis 3.

Survival Horror: Is this a real genre? I don't think so. I think it's more of a subgenre to the more general 'Adventure' genre. Think Resident Evil and Dino Crisis. Or pretty much anything Capcom makes besides Street Fighter that still sells.

Tactical Espionage Action aka Stealh: Probably another subgenre under adventure games. Think Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell.

These are many of them, although I'm sure I missed a few. If I think of others, I'll add them.

The important thing to note though, I think, is that a video game genre usually tells you about only the gameplay. If we want to rate games, we ought to make the distinction between gameplay elements, and storytelling or otherwise narrative elements of a game. Just a thought.

[Ashley]

I'd throw in Massively Multiplayer Online games as their own genre, as well as Simulation games, and (Real Time) Strategy Games. Other than that I think St. Kev's list is pretty indepth.

[madphilb]

Well, to be perfectly honest oldphil, I don't think just copying and pasting genres from ARD will work at all. As FPS would suggest, most people think of the gameplay when assigning a genre to a game. This is different from the normal artistic genres that we assign to novels or movies. I suppose that a video game could have 2 genres (an artistic genre, and a gameplay genre) but for simplicity's sake most people settle on only the gameplay one.

To use the list the Oldphil wrote originally we'd have to add quite a few more and then have the option to select multiples for each game (i.e. sci-fi, RPG, action for something like Fallout Brotherhood)

Here are some examples of videogame genres and how they relate to the gameplay involved:

Allow me to expand on what you've posted, explinations where necessary.

RPG: You play the role of some character. There can be subgenres to this (fantasy, action, etc.). What differentiates an RPG from an adventure? Storytelling and leveling up, as far as I can tell.

This should be either as 2 or 3 choices or have subcatagories:

Action RPG: Gauntlet, Sudeki, and the console Baulder's gate games fall into this, they have the XP and leveling up of an RPG, but a more twitchy action based combat system rather than your normal turn based ones.

Console RPG: These are your typical console style RPG - think just about anything SquareSoft, and Anachronox even though it's a PC game fits the style. I'm open to a better term if you can think of one. Generally these have a more "eastern" feel to the style as originated by the Japanese RPG companies (i.e. Square).

PC or Western RPG: Archanum or any of the BlackIsle stuff (Fallout, Baulder's Gate, Icewind Dale, or Planescape). The art style and feel of these games are very different from their Console cousins.... often they're based more on pen-and-paper type RPG. Again, a better name might be presented.

A fourth type for games like Morrowind, Arx Fatalis, and Deux Ex might be in line too... but you can also sub-genre RPGs to death.

Adventure: I don't even know if this really is a genre anymore. It used to be that an adventure game was quest-based, and point and click like Monkey Island or King's Quest. My use of the genre adventure (or action/action/adventure) describes a platformer with a little more emphasis on combat and less on collecting things. Then again...Myst might qualify as an adventure...maybe. Your thoughts on this genre would be appreciated.

This needs to be split into two basic types:

Action/Adventure: Zelda (esp. the N64 and newer versions) being at the top of this list, there are quite a few others that fall into this category. Basically these are the RPGish games that don't have the Leveling and whatnot. Story Driven yet Action based. I think Beyond Good and Evil falls into this category.

Adventure or Interactive Fiction: These are the old games ranging from the old Sierra and Lucas adventures to text adventures like Zork. A Newer title includes Syberia (which got rave reviews). These tend to edge close to the Puzzle games, but I think they're more related to your Tetris, BeJewled, or Dr. Mario games.

Dance: You dance to the game with a dancepad. DDR, etc.

Music: Other musical games that you don't dance to. Amplitude, Pa Rappa the Rappa, Samba de Amigo, etc.

I'd combine these together into rythem (SP!?!) games, they are close enough to each other to drop them under one heading.

Survival Horror: Is this a real genre? I don't think so. I think it's more of a subgenre to the more general 'Adventure' genre. Think Resident Evil and Dino Crisis. Or pretty much anything Capcom makes besides Street Fighter that still sells.

This is a rough one, HalfLife and Doom technically fall into this by what they are, but are most likely to be thought of as simply FPS games, if you say Survival Horror you're going to get RE and Silent Hill back as the most common responses.

Tactical Espionage Action aka Stealh: Probably another subgenre under adventure games. Think Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell.

I think Stealth games cover that best, Theif falls into that as well. This should be reserved for games that are mostly focused on sneaking past rather than anything else. There are quite a few games that have Stealth aspects or sections: NOLF, Star Trek Elite Force, even Beyond Good and Evil. In the end the focus of the gameplay isn't that, it's just one part of it.

The important thing to note though, I think, is that a video game genre usually tells you about only the gameplay. If we want to rate games, we ought to make the distinction between gameplay elements, and storytelling or otherwise narrative elements of a game. Just a thought.

This might be good..... a Genre item, for the style of storytelling: SciFi, Fantasy, etc. and then a GamePlayStyle one using the above categories to tell what type of gameplay there is.


To add to the list:

Sim(ulation): The Sims, heck, any Maxis game (Sim_whatever_). Included would be games like MS's Flight Simulator or the Railroad simulator game that MS released as well. You might also include with this or keep it seperate the next one....

Tycoon: These are your Rollercoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, etc. Building a business up based on simulating an enviornment (Theme Park, resort, etc.).

RTS (RealTime Strategy): C&C, Warcraft, and Total Annialation are the biggest in this category as well as Myth (which differs in that you're not worried about collecting resources as much).

Empire Building: Civilization being one of the biggest of the franchise. Similar to Tycoon games, these are on a bigger scale in that you're ruling a country or whatnot and expanding that out and up. This is basically a cross-bread of the RTS and Tycoon games, but I think it has enough to stand on it's own.


Anyone else got any?

[Link Antilles]

Here's my idea on the genre deal.... I think we need a simple list of board genres…. Here’s my list with sub categories that would fall under each…..

1.FPS or Shooter
a.Tactical = These are squad based team shooters like the Rainbow Six games
b.Sci-fi = Halo, Jedi Knight 2, Elite Forces…
c.Run ‘n Gun = Serious Sam… just classic arcade style shooting
d.Rail = Games like Panzer Dragoon fall in this category…. The player doesn’t move the character just shoots
e.War = These are massive battle games either online or off
f.Traditional = Straight Forward shooter like Unreal, Quake, Half-life, Doom…..

2.Puzzle
a.Rhythm = DDR, Get on da’ Mic, all those singing games and beat games
b.Game show/Trivia
c.Board game
d.Traditional = Tetris, Dr. Mario

3.Action
a.Flight = Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Ace Combat 4
b.Fighting = Smash Bros., DoA 3, Soul Calibur
c.Stealth = Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Splinter Cell
d.Platformers = Mario 64, Jak and Daxter, Kirby….

4.Adventure
a.Survival Horror = Silent Hill, Resident Evil
b.Traditional = An action game with a quest and a little freedom and exploring…. Beyond Good and Evil, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid Prime and Zelda fall here -or exploring and solving puzzles = Like Myst to Sam Max

5.Racing

6.Sports

7.Strategy
a.RTS = Command and Conquer, Age of Empires
b.Turn Based = Civilization, Advance Wars

8.Simulation of ------ = More on the realistic side and are more complex and deep than normal games… this are sometimes made for the gear heads of things
a.Flying games, Mechwarrior, Steel battalion, Sim City, Train sims., The Sim, X-wing Alliance, a few racing games……

9.RPG
a.Single Player Focused = Knight of the Old Republic, Final Fantasy, Diablo…..
b.MMORPG = Everquest, Planetside, Final Fantasy XI….

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Steampunk. The Thief games are fantastic stealth-orientated games.

[Fsiphskilm]

[quote="Saint

[Saint Kevin]

As usual, Link seems to be the guru of games. Nice list...I say we run with it.

Just so you know...if you guys plan on having a side by side comparison of many reviewers thoughts on the same game, I'm down to do that on a consistent (once or twice a month) basis, should we decide to do a 'featured game' to review every so often.

I think this might be a good idea for highly anticipated games (Halo 2), or games that a lot of people plan on getting (anything Zelda or Metroid, etc.). This might cut down on the bias that some reviewers have. For example, I could see Link saying 'If it's Star Wars, how could it possibly suck?', or something. Well, maybe not THAT biased, but you get the idea. Hopefully multiple reviews limit this.

Any ideas on how to incorporate/compare multiple reviews for the same game? Perhaps we could put the 2 or 3 reviews side-by-side with a bar/star/numerical rating system?

[LorentzForce]

I believe this website clearly shows most of the genres out there that's even remotely foundable.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Computer_and_video_game_genres

[edit] Ok, allow me to be more helpful in this case to seperate this.

Create a prefix-list and postfix(sp?)-list.

Prefix should have something like

Real-time
Turn-based
Sport
Fantasy
Sci-fi
Weird

And etc. It should be descriptive of the follow list of postfixes;

RPG
Strategy
FPS
Simulation

----------

The lists are obviously not complete, but when filled up (which shouldn't be too hard if you read that website at the top) should allow for anyone to define a genre of the game somehow. E.g. 'Turn-based Simulation'. Well, no one will have played turn-based simulation before... But you get the point.

[Link Antilles]

Just so you know...if you guys plan on having a side by side comparison of many reviewers thoughts on the same game, I'm down to do that on a consistent (once or twice a month) basis, should we decide to do a 'featured game' to review every so often.

I think this might be a good idea for highly anticipated games (Halo 2), or games that a lot of people plan on getting (anything Zelda or Metroid, etc.). This might cut down on the bias that some reviewers have.

That'd be a cool thing to happen on the big games! We could have one person do the main review and the other reviewers give their second opinion... more or less, in form of an essay, kinda'. (This also would be nice for the people who just want few quick reviews.) Hey, Oldphil, do you think it would be possible to add comments and string them to the bottom of these "big game" reviews? Kinda' like a thread, but of course have people to verify the accuracy of the second opinions before they are stringed to the main review. Also, the second opinion could have a general 1 out of 10 score at the end for their score on the game.

For example, I could see Link saying 'If it's Star Wars, how could it possibly suck?', or something. Well, maybe not THAT biased, but you get the idea. Hopefully multiple reviews limit this.

Haha, you'd be surprised how more cynical Star Wars lovers can be to some Star Wars games. But, as we all know, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is just the perfect game. Seriously, though, I loves all types of games and I don't think it will be a problem for me being Swiss (neutral). Well, expect for games that fall along the lines of Postal 2, Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt, which I don't play anyway. And I'm not a fan of normal sports games... expect soccer and maybe a little skate boarding on the side.

Yeah, I do have a bias to game consoles themselves, because I’m a Nintendo fan. And even though, I do own a PS2…. I doubt you’ll see any reviews from me there. There are plenty of PS2 owners to cover their games here. Though, I’d like to add a “second opinionâ€

[Mithrandir]

My personal preference in this area (from a "programmers are lazy" perspective) would be:

1) Allow only a single review of a game.
2) Link that review to a related discussion thread, where people could add insights and ask questions.

Would that serve the purpose above? Jumping to a thread requires a minimal ammount of code, whereas encaspulating some of the board function into a new area requires a substantial re-working.

[Saint Kevin]

But editing the review to add a few other lines wouldn't be that hard either. E.g.

Second Opinions:
Link Antilles - 9.5
Saint Kevin - 8.5
Ashley - 6.5
etc.

I DO think that linking to a discussion thread is a good idea, but it's gonna be hampered down with comments like 'Star wars sucks', 'nuh uh', 'you're just an Xbox fanboy', etc.

So...how do we cut this down? Either title the thread "(Halo 2) Reviews" and hope that members have enough restraint to only post if they actually have a constructive or well-thought out opinion. Or, allow for multiple reviews in the VGRDB, and give Old Phil way more code to do. Hmm...

I'd say that second opinions should be tacked on to the main review (numbers only, and only then if you've written a complete review elsewhere) in addition to linking to an 'Other Reviews' thread (serious discussion only, leave the banter for a corresponding goof off thread).

Sorry for making that last paragraph so hard to read, but yeah, I think that would work. Hopefully it won't add too much work for Oldphil, but I do know this: This will only work if people show some self-restraint and only post in the 'Other reviews' thread with actual reviews.

[Mithrandir]

...and if you come here very often you know what *that* means... Hmm... Perhaps a /. style voting system would help out. It would be a lot more work, though... Hmm... I need to mull that one over a bit more, I think.

Perhaps a second graph beside the first one would work? That graph would be an average of the other people who voted for it?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

oooh ooh! I know this is early, but i'm gonna reserve my spot to make a review for Final Fantasy 6 yay

[Saint Kevin]

Yeah, I'll call the review for Halo 2. And I'm going on the record now, if you guys want a CAA clan for Halo 2, I'm down to lead it. How else am I gonna review the 'Online Multiplayer' category after all?

[Fsiphskilm]

Why don't we allow

[Link Antilles]

Well, thinking back about the multiple review thing or second opinions stringed to the main review idea..... we should get the basic VGRD up first and see what total amount of support/popularity is received before hand.

So..... how about we save Oldphil the extra trouble and just have a Video game review forum.... like the Anime Review forum. But, with a poll for each, so people can vote in their score for the game.... then they could post their comments of the review, the game, or some people could just pop in to post a mini-review. If we start getting a lot of solid comments.... we could find a way to string those on the main review.....

[MorwenLaicoriel]

Well, if we're calling reviews, I call Tales of Symphonia. ^_^

[Mithrandir]

NO CALLING REVIEWS!!! If you want to post one, then keep poking me until the system is in place, then, when it comes up, you'll be the first to konw, and you can go post. But *I* am not going to enforce a "so-and-so called this review..." rule.

We have a standard that we try to live up to. Just like the ARD, we'll reserve the right to make any/all changes to the system/your reviews. If you submit one, and it's got all sorts of nasty typos/etc, but the next review in the system is perfect english, which do you think we'll use? I'm sorry, but some games are going to solicit a lot of reviews, and like the ARD, we're going to approve ANY/ALL reviews we get. If it's a dupe, and there's a better one, we'll go live with the better one.

I've had CTS once, and I'm certainly not going to agitate my wrists by fixing someone's typos just because they called a review first. *whew*

[mastersquirrel]

I'm late but I guess I can put in my two cents.
I agree with Link that we should let the basic VGRD go at first and then change anything if it comes up.
Anyway, when it comes, I will give my two cents yet again. Thanks for the hard work Old Phil.

[Mithrandir]

Well, since "changing" things is by no means an easy thing, I'm all for planning it out in advance. Seeing as how I'll be doing the programming and all...




While I'm here, the status update is: on hold. I think I'll have a bit more spare time next week, though, so I'll be sure to get some work done then... maybe...

[Kireihana]

Heh, well if it's not too late to make suggestions, you might also want to categorize by gaming platform. Like in any of the anime reviews it says "Genre: action, sci-fi, etc.," but in the game reviews we could have an extra subheading that says: "Platform: ....." and lists all the platforms that the game is availiable on.

[Mithrandir]

Let's see... I haven't actually done any programming in a while, actually. I've spent most of my time on that silly chat. I guess it's ok to still make requests/suggestions.