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I like it when developers have put some effort in making menu and loading screens dynamic or playable. One of my favourites must be the menu screen in Metal Gear Solid 3, where you can control several elements in the background like animation speed of a CQC combat scene, what icons are floating down and in which direction they move. Fun times for a simple menu!
So, what's your favourite playable menu/loading screen?
Although I've barely played the game, FIFA 2010 was great in that rather than going straight to the menu, you would just be in a training session as soon as you started the game, then from there you could either move your player around, try tricks or shots at goal, or alternatively you could open up the menu to do something else. I like all kinds of games where they are innovative with removing menus (or at least the main menus) by making you move around a character to different destinations/items/etc. instead.
I thought Heavy Rain's was exceptionally clever, showing you how to make the origami figure with the paper that came with the game while it installs. There was just something so cool and novel about it that I wish more games had, made you feel like you were watching an old TV show for kids or something.
I liked the MGS4 install screens with Snake as well, when I was at my Dad's (where there's an HDTV and smoking permitted in the house) I would light one up with Snake and enjoy a cigarette to calm my senses after the usually blood-pumping endings to each Act. The initial one takes a long time, but the later installs usually gave me enough time to finish a smoke before starting. And the little notices like "be sure to use an ash tray when smoking" and such were cool.
One thing I both like and dislike which is sort of to do with loading times is when a game spends it's installation process displaying information about the backstory behind a game. The dislike part is when some parts install too fast and I don't get the time to read it all. :(
lol Wow, those are some great examples. Sorta wishing the 360 did something like that with its installs. The only game I can recall doing anything like this off the top of my head is the Adventures of Willy Beamish Sega CD game. It just had like a screen saver thing while things loaded, which you could also access by simply pausing the game or whatever. And it was just a squiggley line that you could control as it veers around on screen. Pretty simple. But it means the idea was in place like 15 years ago. Its odd that it hasn't gotten more popular. Especially with smaller/newer developers that haven't figure out how to cut down their loading times substantially yet. It'd keep critics and fans from bitching about long loading times if they had something to do during it
in Okami you can collect some extra demon fangs if you press the buttons at the right time during the loading screens
That is indeed one of my favourites aswell!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bolivar
Recording medium, method of loading ... - Google Patent Search
Short version: Namco actually owns the US patent for loading screen minigames. Which I'm pretty familiar with from all the Dragonball and Gundam games I get.
3D Dot Game Heroes, which is just one big NES/Famicom reference in itself, has neat nostalgia loading screens.
Playable 'loads' or Installs are a neat idea too. BoB mentioned FIFA, but the Japanese PS3 game Another Century's Episode R (From Namco/Bandai, incidentally) has you go through the game's tutorial while it installs the data, and you get a trophy for doing it too. Rewarding!
Wow, I didn't know that!Quote:
Originally Posted by JKTrix
Bayonetta lets you practice all your combos during loading screens. There's even an option to stick around so you can keep doing it. It actually helped make me a better player.
I cant think of any I like off the top of my head but what I really hate is when I play a game online (mmo, flash game or otherwise) and they make me watch an ad before the game starts and they dont even have the courtesy to start loading the game while the ad is running.
Unfortunately, y'all niggas is dead wrong. The best loading screen is the Galaga minigame on Tekken 1.
Did T1 have that? It's been so long.
I was going to go with FIFA 2010 as well. I quite like trying, in vain, to try and walk the ball past the goalkeeper rather than shooting/passing/chipping it into the net.