Top 5 Worlds

An important aspect of our videogames today is the world in which it takes place in. It helps us believer that we are not only playing a game, but controlling that character’s life and helping him or her achieve their goal. The world helps create the atmosphere of the game and the general mood of the player playing the game. In turn, the player is completely submerged in what they’re playing.

It’s almost a given that the world is one of the most important features of a game, and I’m going to give you my top 5 favorite worlds on the Xbox 360.

5. Dead Rising

So we’ll start with one of my favorite Capcom games. Dead Rising puts you in the shoes of Frank West, who just happens to be covering a zombie apocalypse and ends up stranded in a mall that’s reminiscent of the Mall of America. What is so exciting about a mall? Well, there is so much to this mall.

When you’re running through the mall, it seems like it never ends. The mall is split up into several sections, portion of the mall, has a completely different feel to it. Your safe room, is full of the sighs of those you rescued and is completely depressing. The central park is tense and dangerous, with inmates driving around in a jeep wanting to kill everything that moves. It’s amazing that these two completely different feelings can resurrect in the same mall.

I’m hoping the same atmosphere is still present in the games sequel, Dead Rising 2. The second game has you take the role of Chuck Greene who is fighting off zombies once again in a world similar to Las Vegas.

The location and character have changed, but hopefully the game is just as good as the first game. It seems that this game will allow you to enter the main streets of this casino world which perhaps means we can go into a few separate buildings rather then be constricted by a mall.

4. Dead Space

Let’s go ahead and stick with titles that begin with the word dead. Dead Space will have you running scared into a corner waiting to die. The ship that all these horrible, horrible events take place is called the USG Ishimura. This place is just creepy to be in. Every time you turn a corner, you’re just expecting to be decapitated by a necromorph.

The ship is dark, stained in blood, has flickering lights, and sounds that will make you jump and shut off the game. A bit part of this world is how finely tuned the audio is. After playing this game, you will never look at air vents the same again. In fact, you’ll probably want to move to a place where there are none. If you for some reason still have not played this game, pick it up and only play for brief moments at a time. It’s that scary.

3. Batman: Arkham Asylum

Thank you Rock Steady. You have made the Batman game to end all Batman games(unless the sequel is better). Yes, you are only on Arkham Asylum trying to track down the joker, but the way Arkham is designed, it is much more then that. There’s office spaces, a jungle, prisons, hospitals and several other areas that you kind of forget you’re on a small island. This island is much much bigger then you expect and you can get lost on this island.

Arkham is very much a character in itself. It almost seems as though it changes to the mood you’re feeling. Especially when you get to the Killer Croc portion of the game. It’s very creepy, you see skeletons, and it makes you nervous to fight the 12 foot man-eating monster.  It’s a great feeling. And that feeling is completely contrasted when you’re in the Botanical Gardens, beating up jokers’ thugs and feeling invincible as they desperately try to find you.

Great job Rock Steady. Great job.

2. Bioshock

What game, aside from Bioshock 2, was like the first Bioshock? Yeah, none. Rapture is one of the greatest worlds we’ve ever laid our eyes on. And underwater metropolis ran cluttered with psychopaths who’s only goal is to kill you. Throw in a near unstoppable force known as the Big Daddy who’s mere presence will make you tremble with every earth shaking footstep that he makes.

Rapture is an eerie, creepy, slimey world that just feels disgusting to be in. Every step you take, it’s usually into something wet. You always think something is lurking in the shadows and you’re never at ease. Underwater, no one can hear you scream…is that how the quote goes?

1. Brutal Legend

Now, I expect just about all of you to disagree with this. Brutal Legend beat Bioshock and Batman? For me personally, yeah. If you’re a metal head, you’ll like the world of Brutal Legend. Jack Black’s Tim Schafer’s game drops Eddie, a roadie who dies in a freak accident, in a metal head’s dream world. It’s not as large as Grand Theft Auto or as polished as Rapture, but the whole fantasy feel of it along with metal memorabilia makes is completely unique.

When you enter the Metal World for the first time, you are greeted with giant axes coming out of the ground, chrome demons, pyro, pentagram mountains, and a plethora of other metal affiliated attire. There are several areas in this game that are based on what a metal concert would be. One area is covered in a thick mist and it’s basically hinting at fog machines. There’s a giant mountain near the ocean that pushes people away with it’s force. The mountain is a giant wall of speakers that make a loud shrieking sound due to these microphone birds getting to close to it.

Little things like that make this world a fantastic sight to see…Even though it’s not the greatest game.