First post, by gerry
a little different from games you spent lots of time playing perhaps - this is a question about which game environments left a lasting impression on you.
it's games where 'being in the game environment' gave the sense of immersion of supplied a wow moment as much or more than the gameplay itself
trying to look back i spent a fair amount of time in doom, duke3d, various rts and plenty of other games - i got to know them well. there were familiar places in deus ex and half life for instance, places i liked to go back to.
however if i have to think of one environment that left a lasting impression on me its gta3. of course it is surpassed now but on first being in that city it felt truly amazing, a 'world' that seemed to have its own existence and which you joined - rather than a 'level' that existed for you to pass or solve. the ability to drive around, get a train, go in the subway, listen to radio, look over the foggy bay, overhear the (comical) talk of pedestrians. Even now if go back and play i can remember well hoe to get from one place to another, how different cars will drive, the music and radio talk.
how about you?