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On this silly episode of the podcast, we each throw in 25 things that satisfy us in games – from Samuel nuking Paris in Civ to Matthew euthanising someone in Perfect Dark. Thanks, as ever, to Liam Richardson for the edits! And thanks to you for your ongoing support.

Samuel’s list

  1. Slicing through grass in a 2D Zelda - ooh yeah (and the interactivity of the world more generally, chickens and dogs, Link’s Awakening)
  2. Jumping off a building with a nice glide or landing mechanic (Jensen’s landing gear in Deus Ex: Human Revolution/Mankind Divided)
  3. Preposterous limit breaks in Final Fantasy games (Omnislash, Lionheart, Attack Reels). Can also extend to summon animations.
  4. Shooting enemies through the windscreen while they’re driving a vehicle (GTAs)
  5. The precise moment before an enemy attacks - mega damage sword attack (Onimusha 2) - the perfect parry can sort of link in to this
  6. A melee attack that knocks an enemy into other enemies (Resi 4, God Hand)
  7. Capturing a city you just nuked in Civ 
  8. Spider-Man’s webs actually connecting to buildings (Spider-Man 2, Marvel’s Spidey PS4)
  9. Murdering your own allies and getting away with it (Halo)
  10. Hopping over a fence in an immersive sim by precariously stacking a load of objects up (every Deus Ex)
  11. Going out of bounds and discovering cool shit or broken bits of the game (GTA3, FF15 demo)
  12. Deflecting blaster shots with a lightsaber (various SW games, best done in Jedi Fallen Order) - KH
  13. Hitting someone with an electric attack and watching them get zapped on the spot - bonus points if it conducts with water (stun rod in Resi, BioShock, God of War)
  14. When you burrow underground in Worms and airstrike from the safety of your makeshift base 
  15. When you do a jumping stab into a weak spot in Shadow of the Colossus - ooh yeah
  16. Watching a human player run through an area you’ve filled with remote mines (GoldenEye, GTA)
  17. Activating a parachute - or reactivating a parachute (Just Cause, GTA)
  18. A good, violent finisher (The Darkness, Doom Eternal, God of War, Ezio era Assassin’s Creeds, Sleeping Dogs, Sifu, Suplex in God Hand)
  19. Throwing a melee weapon as a form of attack (Sifu, superhot, Hotline Miami) - or indeed kicking one (Sifu)
  20. When you slip past another vehicle in nitrous mode (Burnout, Split Second)
  21. Active reload mechanics (Gears of War, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, new Star Wars Battlefront 2). 
  22. A slide that leads into a melee attack (Mirror’s Edge)
  23. Automatic shotguns (GTA, Doom Eternal - maybe shotguns in general)
  24. Clearing a room in bullet time (Max Payne)
  25. Turning into Super Sonic hehehehe (Sonic 2)
  26. Explosive barrels - even when they’re bullshit (007 nightfire) 
  27. Sliding a long block in Tetris and clearing 4 lines
  28. When you hold a button on a powerful attack for too long so the projectile automatically releases - but you stick it into an enemy at the last moment
  29. Bringing an AT-AT down (Shadows of the Empire)

Matthew’s list

  1. A row of coins perfectly placed to match a character’s jumping arc
  2. When a boss’s name comes up at the start of a Zelda boss fight
  3. The noise it makes when you pluck hair chins from an onion in Rhythm Tengoku
  4. Horrible beat em up fatalities (specifically the ones in Eternal Champions)
  5. Ragdolling through air after you crash a motorbike in GTA4
  6. Swimming in anti-gravity water (Super Mario Galaxy 2, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat)
  7. The harp autotuning/harmonising to the soundtrack in Skyward Sword
  8. Stealing a balloon in Mario Kart balloon battle, the ultimate fuck you
  9. When the camera pulls back in God of War and you keep playing, only teeny tiny
  10. Killing people in a tactics game when it isn’t even your go (overwatch in various, counter attacks in fire emblem)
  11. Manualling in Tony Hawk
  12. Moves that earn you back action points in turn based tactics games (Gears Tactics, Fire Emblem Engage)
  13. When there’s a piano and you can interact with the keys (Half Life Alyx, Overwatch)
  14. When 12 cars smash through a wall in unison in a Forza Horizon cross country race
  15. Good shadows cast by torchlight
  16. The brutal one-two punch of Perfect Dark’s Tranquilizer - sedate and lethal injection
  17. Window glass that shatters/cracks convincingly
  18. Landing a Smash Bros attack with slow wind-up - Samus’s beat, Little Mac’s KO.
  19. Seeing tranquilliser darts accurately stick into guards in Metal gear Solid 2. 
  20. When liquid in a glass or bottle reacts to it moving
  21. Weapons that pin enemies to walls (Messiah, Fear)
  22. A really good ground pound
  23. Weapons/abilities that make enemies attack their friends (various poison darts in Assassin’s Creed, etc)
  24. When a running powerup recontextualizes seemingly unimportant corridors (Metroid Dread Speed Boost)
  25. The music callback in the final case of Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations