Weekend Hot Topic, part 1: Games you’ve never played

GameCentral readers admit to the famous franchises they’ve never played, from The Legend Of Zelda to Call Of Duty.

This week’s Hot Topic was suggested by reader Joe90, who asked what’s the most famous video game series you’ve never played a single entry from? In the style of TV show I’ve Never Seen Star Wars, what well-known game have you never played and why?

Naturally it was console exclusives that were primarily responsible for missing out on some of gaming’s most famous experiences, but there were still some surprising admissions – including the seemingly unavoidable Resident Evil and even FIFA.

Never too late
This is going to make me sound like such a casual gamer but I’ve never played Call Of Duty, Halo, or Half-Life. And the weird thing is I would normally regard myself as a fan of first person shooters. Halo is an obvious excuse though: I’ve never owned an Xbox console. And similarly I’ve never had a gaming PC, so Half-Life has never really been an option either.

Call Of Duty I do admit I’ve seen being played, but I’ve never bought a copy myself. And unlike in the 16-bit era you don’t really borrow games nowadays, at least not in my friendship circle, so I never really got around to playing someone else’s copy. I guess that means I was never that interested but actually raising the subject makes me interested in maybe trying this year’s one. After all, it’s never too late, eh?
Decker

Moral objection
There are a lot of games I haven’t owned, but I have at some point played a famous franchise, even for a little. However, there are some I haven’t, and when thinking about which they are a few come to mind.

The first would be Resident Evil. I have never in my life played a Resident Evil game, and I’m not really much of a fan of horror so I don’t want to either.

The second is Wolfenstein. I have never played a Wolfenstein either. I would very much like to buy The New Order though. To be honest I’ve never owned a Doom either, but I have played it. Borderlands is another first person shooter I’ve never played unfortunately.

Now the big one. I have never, ever, not even once, played a Grand Theft Auto game. Why? Because it is too violent and vulgar, and for religious reasons I’d rather stay away from it. Plus, the idea of stealing cars as a criminal just doesn’t hold much appeal.
ar1speedboy

Uncharted waters
I’ve never played Uncharted. I’ve never got to take Nathan Drake on a globetrotting adventure through jungles, temples and a big ship. I don’t know how the game handles and never got to fall in love with any of the well-rounded characters I hear so much about. After playing and enjoying the recent Tomb Raider reboot and hearing how similar it is to Uncharted I am sure I would love it.

But having bought and sold a PlayStation 3 just for Metal Gear Solid 4 (which I didn’t enjoy so swore never to do the same for another individual game) I never got the opportunity to play it, and now owning an Xbox One I probably never will. Reading this back now it’s the epitome of first world
problems!
Chaos JC (gamertag)

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Modern relations
Rare’s GoldenEye 007 on the N64 is probably my most famous gaming omission. I’ve heard endless praise for that game yet I’ve only ever seen a couple of screenshots and the real life box.

During the nineties I was heavily into flight simulators and SimCity 2000 on the Apple Mac so I ignored most other games and that generation’s consoles. I don’t know if I’d go to the trouble of seeking out Rare’s heralded shooter nowadays. First person shooters have evolved quite a bit and they aren’t really my favourite genre.

Wasn’t part of the TimeSplitters 2 story mode inspired by a GoldenEye level? If so, I sort of know what I missed out on.

One unplayed ‘classic’ I would like experience is System Shock. I don’t know much about the title, other than it also came out in the nineties and unsettled lots of people. Is the game somehow related to BioShock? Does it deserve its scare inducing reputation? If System Shock is as sinister and unusual as it sounds I might finally check it out.
msv858 (Twitter)

GC: TimeSpiltters is by many of the same people, and does have at least one obvious homage to GoldenEye, but it’s a more straightforward action game in terms of the single-player. Wolfenstein: The New Order is probably the closest recent relation to GoldenEye’s story mode. System Shock is in a similar position: BioShock is supposedly the spiritual sequel, by many of the same team, but it’s more action-based and System Shock more of a horror role-playing game.

Card revoked
As a card-carrying geek, (yes, the printing costs for those are pretty steep) it may surprise you to learn that I did pick up a FIFA once. It was a demo in a games store way back in the mid-nineties but it still counts. And I also played the racist, right-wing fantasy that is the Call Of Duty series. It was akin to putting a monkey poo in my mouth. Rest assured that such things do not stay in my mouth for long no matter what else you may have heard. I didn’t like it.

But one series I have never touched, and not for want of opportunity, is the Metal Gear series. Now, I still have a working PlayStation 2 – I could probably track down the first three Solid games for it fairly easily. But, why on Earth would I wish that upon myself? Don’t get me wrong – I love a well put-together stealth section. But that’s the key word: section. A whole game built around the concept? Sounds boring. As does Hideo Kojima’s cut scenes. A load of preachy claptrap. And not the funny robot from Borderlands.

Never played Battlefield either. But hey – why go through life angry?
DMR, offender of many fans

Almost never
I love football. I really, really do. I have a season ticket for my local team; I go to all England matches at Wembley (like a sucker); I’ll watch pretty much any live match on TV – even if it’s League 2 Scottish football; I pour way too much effort into Fantasy Football websites (and won the GameCentral league last season!) and didn’t miss a second of the action during the 2014 World Cup (or any other World Cup in my lifetime).

I also love video games. Over the years I’ve owned an Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear, N64, PS one, Dreamcast, GameCube, PlayStaiton 2, DS and Wii – and I currently own a PlayStation 3, Wii U and 3DS (and will be getting a PlayStation 4 this month).

But I have never played FIFA. And likely never will. It just doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest – which most of my chums find positively surreal.

I just find the notion of football video games wholly mundane. Video game creators are only limited by the depth of their imagination (well, and the available technology I guess), and I take great pleasure in being transported to otherworldly realms and outlandish scenarios when I pick up a joypad. I enjoy such games/franchises as Zelda, Super Mario Galaxy, Rayman, Bayonetta, Mortal Kombat, Half-Life, Pokémon, Monkey Island, Journey, GTA, Golden Sun, Uncharted, and Batman’s Arkham outings.

Playing football video games just seems mighty dull in comparison to anything listed above. I associate video games with escaping from reality – not indulging in it… If that makes sense.
Bingo Rose
Disclaimer: I may have mildly exaggerated when I said I’ve ‘never’ played FIFA. I vaguely recall playing a Mega Drive version at a friend’s birthday party in the mid 90s.

Unknown legend
I’m another one of those readers since the Digitiser days that’s never bothered writing in. There’s more of us than that guy last week thinks. Love your work though. So despite having owned a Game Boy, GameCube, DS, and Wii I’ve never played a Zelda game.

Despite the praise lavished on it by my long time gaming-barometer (that’s you GC and all the GC community) it just never seemed like it would my thing. Where would you recommend I start. What’s the best Zelda for nice wooden ladders? Keep up the sterling work gents.
somasonic (PSN ID)

GC: If you have a 3DS, or access to one, then Ocarina Of Time 3D and A Link Between Worlds should cover you bases in terms of both 3D and 2D Zelda.

Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here

The happy few
I’ve never played Call Of Duty. While it’s become the done thing in the last few years to slag Call Of Duty off at every opportunity I can honestly say I’ve never once been tempted to play one. I was never keen on World War II first person shooters when they were all the rage in the late 90s/early 2000s, so when the first one came out it was another clone in a stale genre.

The same goes for numbers 2 and 3. When the first Modern Warfare was released I can remember reading the Edge review and thinking that at least they were trying something different but I never gave it a second thought. Besides there was Super Mario Galaxy, Assassin’s Creed, and Uncharted out shortly after it came out and they all looked far more interesting.

But then Call Of Duty 4’s multiplayer took off and made competitive shooters the biggest thing in gaming. Now I love a good multiplayer deathmatch as much as the next man but there’s something about Call Of Duty’s style that leaves me cold. I feel the same about Halo too so maybe it’s just modern design, but it all looks so samey. Everyone says it’s excellent but I bet it isn’t a patch on either GoldenEye or TimeSplitters 2.

As for the single-player, I know the campaign’s not the focus but they always come across as being one huge set piece after another with nothing really linking them. Maybe they’re not like that but sometimes a little subtlety goes a long way, though I can see how that wouldn’t go down well with the thirteen-year-olds.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, though. I may feel differently if I tried them for myself but my gut instinct is they’re not for me. Maybe if Activision tries something different with the games I might try one. As the designer said to GC in an interview once, if they did that they wouldn’t really be making a Call Of Duty game. Until that happens however, I’m happy to be one of the few gamers never to have played Call Of Duty.
andy_b720 (PSN ID)

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