My favourite genre is auto racing.by Jerry Whorebach 04/15/2012, 2:17pm PDT
I also enjoy platform games like Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country, puzzle games like Tetris and Lumines, and just about any kind of shooter, from Geometry Wars and Space Giraffe to F.E.A.R. and Earth Defense Force 2017. I suppose I tend to favour these genres because people are always releasing new games in them and they seem pretty hard to screw up. Usually I have to actually try a game before I have any idea if I'm going to like it or not, since most of what appeals to me about games is the interplay between what my hands are doing with the input device (gamepad) and what my eyes and ears are receiving from the output device (TV). On top of that, the games that I end up liking the most generally take a while to learn, either because they have a high skill ceiling or because they're doing something vaguely original. This leads to me wasting a lot of time on games I end up hating. I've tried to be more selective in which ones I start, but about all I can tell from video reviews is whether what I'm looking at is so boring I never would've considered it in the first place, or whether I want the reviewer to shut up already and pass me the controller.
Oh! I also enjoy ball-bouncing games, like Super Breakout, Virtua Tennis, NBA Jam, and Pinball Hall of Fame. I find them especially satisfying when they get the rumble effect tuned just right, so it actually feels like you're bouncing a real ball. Whoever's job it is to make that happen deserves way more credit than he's getting.
