Another one of these! Hooray!
021. Reverse RPG
So, you start at the end right? Take out the big evil thing and save the world from not being big evil thinged. But alas, you've sacrificed so much on your journey, like losing the love interest and having to kill the childhood friend that turned evil, that when the good gods and goddesses agree to your wish to turn everything back to how they were the consequences of that wish become apparent: You're forced to take your journey backwards, undoing all that you've done. This means running around the place, resurrecting evil warriors and creatures (who are now friendly again since you've removed the big evil thing's influence) and then smack them around to heal all their damage so they're nice and healthy. You also have to make sure to put all your best gear in the precariously located chests provided, replacing them with your crappier stuff as you drop levels. Finally, you'll return to the tranquil life you left behind, with the world all but mended and the big evil thing just a memory. Of course, there'll be various plotlines involving the big evil thing's minions following you backwards in time and such, but I'd just love to see the expressions on those hardcore grinder power-gamer types when they're told they have to throw their +7 Greatswords away and drop a few levels before they're allowed to leave the dungeon. And then resort to those missions where you go deliver a bag of rice to the farmer down the road. Or... take it from him.. I guess.
022. Something With Superheroes
OK, so you have this superhero, doesn't matter which one (Batman would be the ideal choice though) and you have to fulfill specific quotas of crimefightery to retire to the batcave (dammit, I was trying to make this non-specific) or what have you for the night. These quotas aren't based on bodycounts, or successful arrests or even fighting your way to the Joker (dammit!) or someone and then taking them out. Nope, the quota you have to meet is in big comic onomatopoeic sound effect bubbles. Five "Zok!"s, four "Kapow!"s and two "Smackk!"s oughta do it for the first level. The sound effect you get is based on a number of factors that you'll need to familiarize yourself with, including using certain weapons (a baseball bat might always produce a "Whockk!" effect, which may be easier to achieve with the bat than with some cumbersome unarmed combo attack) and aiming for an opponent's face rather than his body and so on. As you progress, the sound effects you need to collect become all the more difficult to achieve. Fortunately, you'll have a training dummy to test the various punching/kicking/thwacking combos on (the game would be like a beat-em-up with all that technical fighting jargon that the one-on-one fighter games have). Try and unlock the various easter egg noises, like "Newt!" and "Mint!".
023. Madden 2017
Not necessarily a sci-fi variant or anything, I just wanted EA Sports to make a version of Madden based 10 years into the future and see how accurate it ends up becoming. Anti-gravity zones would still be interesting though.
024. Robocrusher
You've been sent by some kind of hostile alien star empire to conquer the Earth but due to a slight mix-up, you're actually smaller than the people you're trying to overthrow. A lot smaller. Thanks to your sleek T-1000 design however, you can stealthily collect metal and add it to your own body, increasing your size gradually. Part Katamari, part Chibi Robo and part Godzilla Smashes Stuff Simulator, you'll take your pint-sized destroyer and buff him up with whatever metal deposits you can find. Here's the twist: While you can grow relatively quickly by simply eating common metals like copper and iron, you'll inherit the defensive properties of those same metals. That is to say, not a whole lot of defence against things like gunfire (and later missiles). Instead, you want to make an effort to snobbishly pass over such weak materials and only go for things like stainless steel or possibly something like titanium (which is very rare). Your metal composition, which will continue to grow and change through the game, will dictate your power and defence levels as you get bigger. You can whizz through the game with the cheap stuff, but you'll find it hard going towards the end: You need to seek out the good stuff and stay under the radar until you're ready. Those fleshy earthlings aren't going to take a steel colossal giant down very easily.
025. Popular Online Encyclopedia Battlers
As an Admin, it is your mission to monitor your domain and deal with any and all trespasses made by interlopers to your kingdom. Because this is a video game, instead of simply editing text changes to the Wik..errr, Popular Online Encyclopedia entries you govern, you need to head in there with some kind of internet spaceship dealie and shoot the edits down in a scrolling shooter variant. While simple typos tend to make up the bulk of the misinformation forces, they lead all the way up to conflicting opinions and original research: the deadliest of all edits. The game is based in real-time, so your territory will be constantly under attack. The longer you leave a zone alone, the more corrupt it will become from outside influence. As it heads from green to yellow to red (states of emergency as it were), cleansing them will become more difficult but ultimately more rewarding. You can exchange high amounts of points for moderator locks, protecting some of the problem zones by blocking all outside edits, so it's worth your while to go after the big ones.
026. Chess RPG
It begins as a simple chess game: move the pieces, avoid getting taken, wear down the opponent's defences and take the King. Add to that a variety of powers, personalities and playing possibilities and you have something.. well, pretty ridiculous. But that's the fun of it. For instance, the Black Queen is a master (mistress?) of the sword and she cuts down her enemies with a grim satisfaction while the kinder White Queen uses a staff to disarm her opponents. Bishops can use magic; Castles have techniques to defend themselves and allies alike; the Knights, though encumbered with the L shaped movement, have some of the most powerful attacks in the game. The pawns are basically comic relief. Though you face your traditional enemies a lot on the battlefield (the black side or the white side, depending on who's story you're following), there's all sorts of other opponents and monsters in the world out there, most of which are based on other famous board games. Like a clan of warrior checkers. Or that Dog from Monopoly.
027. Sim Sandwich
In this innovative title, you... well, you.. okay, I'll come even with you, this is a Simpsons reference. And I want a sandwich. That's why I wrote this one. I'm... I'm sorry. For everything.
028. Gritty Pacman
There's a burgeoning market for gritty. Gritty Bomberman, for instance, sold like hotcake. Now comes gritty Pacman, a journey into drug abuse, compulsive feeding and hallucinations about supernatural terrors. Terrors that never die, their eyes constantly wandering. Watching. Pacman's world has become dark now, black as night, and his only companion is constant, repetitive electronic music to emphasize his dire plight. A bit of a departure, sure, but this is what the kids want these days.
029. Call of Cthulhu: The Party Game
Like Mario Party, the game is split into two parts: One is a boardgame where you compete with others in the long term to discover the terrible secrets that lie beneath the veil of reality that mankind has shielded itself with for millennia untold. Then there's lots of fun minigames. Like "Don't read the weird old book under any circumstances" and "Whatever that thing was, I don't want to know". You'll be gambling with the malevolent and pernicious forces of the eldritch underworld and with your own fragile sanity, but great rewards await those who dare. Like power stars and candy. A party game the whole family can enjoy.
030. America Declares War On Everybody
A strategy game released to the generations of gifted video game players everywhere. For the public, it's a satirical statement made by supposed liberal game developers. For the US government, it's the Last Starfighter made real. You get 200 XBox Live Achievement Points for nailing China.
