From great to unforgettable: what makes a game stick in our memories?

Nostalgia is a powerful thing. It's an effective tool for any creative medium, but I don't think it's off-base to say that nostalgia is an especially potent tool for game developers. Most of us who love video games grew up with them, so characters like Link and Mario feature heavily in our childhood memories, and we remember our favorite game worlds with the same fondness that we might remember a family vacation, or holidays at grandma's house. Let's admit it, when a new game comes along, no matter how great it may be, odds are that it won't quite measure up to the games you played and loved as a child.Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying that modern games aren't as good (on the contrary, they're only getting better), but once a game becomes lodged in our memories it's tough to replace it. So what is it that makes a video game so unforgettable? What are the x-factors that separate the good games from the classics?

Obviously there are many answers, but there's one particular facet of game design that's been on my mind lately, though it rarely gets mentioned in reviews. It's tough to fit into a single sentence, but here's my best shot: great developers don't simply focus on crafting addictive gameplay and pretty visuals, but also make sure that the player is constantly anticipating what will come next. It sounds simplistic, but let me explain.

I recently read a short article on lifehack that explores the reasons why video games make us happier, and one of their points is that games give us something to look forward to. This can be both straightforward and highly nuanced at the same time. When you're having a good time with a game, chances are you can't wait to get home from work/school to throw the disc back into the console and keep playing. Simple. These are games that sell well and garner high scores on metacritic. But the games that stick in our memories for long after the credits roll tend to be the ones that went even a step further, and the last two Fallout games are a great example of this. From the moment you step into the Mojave Wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas, the towers of the titular city loom on the horizon, enticing you forward. Same with the crumbling Washington Monument in Fallout 3. The kicker is, it took many hours of questing and leveling up before you're character was strong enough to actually reach those areas and explore them for yourself. Regardless of what you do in the meantime, these locations will be waiting for you once you finally get there.

The funny thing is, I remember being pretty disappointed by the city of New Vegas when I actually got the chance to check it out, but by that point it didn't even matter because, after all, it's about the journey rather than the destination.

And it really is about the journey, right? Christmas wouldn't have been nearly as exciting when you were a kid if not for the first twenty-four days of December. The drive home from Best Buy with that AAA game in your lap that you've been anticipating since E3 of last year (or if it's a Square Enix game, since E3 five years ago) can be just as exciting as actually getting home and playing the game. Hell, stop and grab a Jamba Juice on the way, why not? The anticipation makes the experience.

So, we've established that the Fallout games are good examples of developers using environmental markers to build excitement, but they're not the only games to utilize that technique. Grand Theft Auto IV keeps you out of Algonquin for a good five or six hours before that most exciting of borroughs finally opens up and lets you in. The explanation is that the police have blocked it off due to a terrorist threat, so you get to stare longingly at the glittering towers of Liberty City's Manhattan while completing relatively menial tasks for Roman. By the time you actually get to cross the Broker Bridge and check out Algonquin for yourself, and buy a posh apartment downtown, you really feel like you've made it. Just like Niko! It's masterful storytelling, it really is.

And of course, there are countless other ways for developers to create a sense of anticipation, and that's what makes video games such an awesome medium. Maybe, as in the case of Final Fantasy X, the in-game characters constantly discuss a city or upcoming event (the Blitzball tournament in Luca) that you can't wait to see come to life. In Bioshock, our curiosity kept us looking forward as the game gradually let us into it's world and showed us not only how Rapture descended into chaos, but how this underwater city operated in the first place.

I'm interested to hear what you guys all think of the different ways that your favorite games have kept you enthralled and excited for more. This is only one of the pieces of the puzzle that goes into crafting a masterpiece, but it's tougher to pull off than we realize. Without a doubt I'd say it's one of the more nuanced aspects of game design and story telling.

So what are some of the techniques you've noticed that your favorite designers use to build anticipation? There's definitely a reason why the most highly respected game developers, like the guys and gals at Rockstar, Nintendo and Valve among others, are able to constantly produce such top quality work. I guess some people just have a sixth sense in terms of knowing how to keep their fans engaged. Pretty graphics and solid gameplay are important, but a game that can build excitement- an expectation of great things on the way- is truly remarkable. Games that pull this off are the ones that stick in our top ten lists for years to come.