What about Psi-Ops? Using telekinesis to move objects, people, and moving objects that your standing on. Then you have rag doll physics on dead bodies that you can stack, toss, etc..
I tell ya that game is so overlooked.
George
· 3 years ago
Psi-Ops definitely had some interesting things you could do, but I felt like the game overall was just not strong enough to make it on my top ten list. Besides, a lot of the things that Psi-Ops did was pioneered in Star Wars: Dark Force III: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Star Wars: Dark Forces IV: Jedi Knight III: Jedi Outcast II: Jedi Academy, and I felt the game play was much stronger in those games, at least in my humble opinion.
I will agree that Psi-Ops is often underrated and most people I've talked to that have played it thought it was really fun. If this list were longer, it would show up, but probably after games like Jedi Outcast and Deus Ex.
Shane
· 3 years ago
I'm glad you included HL2. I had so much fun with the Source engine and Day of Defeat. After I built a great map, I started building other maps that revolved around fun with physics!
Richard
· 3 years ago
Nice list. I hear that Halo 3 will be using a quite more extensive physics engine this time around
HumpX
· 3 years ago
I would've given this list credence until I saw Halo getting preference over Painkiller (which is absent for some unfathomable reason). PK was essentially the FIRST AAA game to have extensive real-world physics that even to this day are unmatched by many current games.
For shame my friend, for shame.
BayC
· 3 years ago
Great list if a little FPS heavy (tho i guess that is a direct by product of the topic)
how abt some games from other genres?
Cant believe we dont have SINGLE racing game....tho perhaps that is a comment on their authenticity...but surely the mighty Gran Turismo - for all its other faults - would qualify here
WipEout was also a game that manage to convey good 'sense' of what the physics of throwing a two ton hover craft across a race track 'might' be like
And I thought the Winning Eleven series was the 1st footy game to more accurately model things like the true movement of players with things like inertia and a sense of acceleartion from standstill etc
and what abt Super Monkey Ball! Oh how many times have I lamented the games physics for sending me to my doom
BayC
George
· 3 years ago
I actually thought a lot about racing games, but in my mind, games like Gran Turismo are exceptionally good at having realistic physics... which kind of discourages collisions and explosions (my favorite parts of physics). Games like Halo and GTA encourage one to really just have as much fun as possible driving stuff off buildings, cliffs, etc. Gran Turismo has realistic physics, but you're constantly fighting AGAINST the laws of physics, to stay on the road, etc.
And the Burnout series... yikes... it certainly gets points for fun physics, but loses points for having all this "unlockable" crap. Same with Full Auto. It's like they took the fun driving parts out of GTA, and then handicapped it severely with the unlockables.
Painkiller had excellent physics, but it just didn't prompt the kind of Mythbusters-like experimentation that Halo did.
Super Monkey Ball on the other hand... another Honorable Mention!
The Rayven
· 3 years ago
I'd have to add another vote for Psi-Ops. TK Surfing on crates while still being able to fire an automatic weapon accurately at people, cackling maniacally as you careen around the room in full control... so much fun. Granted, many of the elements of Psi-Ops have been used before, but never did the controls feel so *intuitive* after the initial learning curve.
If you remake the list into a Top 10 or Top 20, or even just add some honorable mentions, consider Psi-Ops. :D
Lothar
· 3 years ago
I forgot about the racing games. I still havent been able to pull a wheelie in a car with Forza, seem movies of it and tried must of had the wrong car.
simon
· 3 years ago
The original Prey had a demo at e3 '97 and '98 which had portals in.
To mention Doom as a dungeon crawler, and Quake as the first truly "3 degrees" of movement is completely absurd, while Doom was limited, there were elevation changes (no jumping) and stairs, while before Quake there was DUKE 3D. With a jetpack, fool
Pushing people down stairs for points? I dare someone to do better physics.
alwong
· 3 years ago
what about driving games? the best physics of any racing simulator hands down belongs to live for speed... you should try it out, www.liveforspeed.net
it's easily the most realistically portrayed driving sim out there, with the best physics.
GrantTheGr8
· 3 years ago
What about Scorched Earth? That game had the best physics I've seen in a DOS game.
George
· 3 years ago
Holy crap, Sushi K! You're totally right! I spent HOURS and HOURS on those! Updating now...
Anonymous
· 3 years ago
This list was made by a faggot
Joseph
· 3 years ago
OK - how can the original Prince of Persia be missing from here? That was the first game to use stop-motion-graphics which created a whole new level of physical realism.
And what about Max Payne? Talk about physics!
Matthew
· 3 years ago
Physics game lovers should check out Fun-Motion, a site dedicated to physics games (game reviews, developer interviews, and such). Currently the site has 46 games reviewed--full list at:
Not qa very good top 10 IMO, you placed portal at 1 (an unreleased game) and yet you never even mentioned "Cell factor"???, have you seen the video's for that, it's system looks incredable.
Brody
· 3 years ago
I remembered this, but it is also on halo.bungie.org that Halo 1 actually didn't have the Havok physics engine.
Mig
· 3 years ago
I know I'm in the minority here, but if you like Halo's physics, you would've absolutely loved their previous game: Myth: The Fallen Lords. They used the physics engine there for Halo. But in Myth, the game was Real Time Tactical, set in a medieval fantasy world. So dwarves were throwing molotov cocktails, archers were plucking their bows, and Thrall (think zombie) body parts were flying everywhere. The fact that you could replay your adventures and have free control of the camera (rotate, pan, zoom) meant you could see just how critical the lob of your dwarf's hand had in popping a pile of satchels. KABOOM! Beautifully arcing debris and undead body parts!
Vincent J. Murphy
· 3 years ago
Independence War has some great physics: your spaceship had to be piloted with inertia in mind, making for some great manuevers.
awesome
· 3 years ago
portal is being devolped by the narbacular drop team
Coreburn
· 3 years ago
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Flat Out 1 or 2. In 2 especially there is a lot of physics processing going on, the graphics are great and you still don't need a top of the line machine for it to run smooth. It's easily one of the most fun & replayable games I've ever played.
TommyTM
· 3 years ago
How can Thruster not be number one? I think any game that can give you realistic physics on a ZX Spectrum has to win, surely?
Dhruv
· 3 years ago
You forgot to mention PSi-ops man , the article is incomplete.
LazyGit
· 3 years ago
Ermm, exactly how difficult is it for people to forget about Worms, the first game to make people realise that physics in games is important? Pretty easy, apparently. cheers
Ross
· 3 years ago
Interesting article. As far as racing games go, and if you included virtua fighter as an example of a genre breakthrough, you should have included Grand Prix Legends. The 1998 game which simulated 1960's F1 racing. Notoriously difficult due to its realism, it is still played competitively online today.
The best physics game for the GBA, better than "Bionic Commando" on the NES is Ninja Five-0 if you have not played it then you don't know what you are missing.
IVkm
· 3 years ago
How can an article like this, about physics in games, miss out the first, physics oriented 3d game, TRESPASSER?
Paul
· 3 years ago
It's really kind of an obscure game, but there was an N64 platformer called Rocket: Robot on Wheels that had an AMAZING physics engine for the time. Most of the game's puzzles were based around it to at least some extent, and the game itself was a lot of fun to play.
That one is a bit too far out of left field for most people to remember/know it exists, but it's definitely a worthy option.
Mantees de Tara
· 3 years ago
I find also Oblivion physic model not too bad.
While Jumpgate's near-Newtonian physics model is the best model ever used in a MMORPG: http://www.jossh.com
deathmaster
· 3 years ago
ROFL!!!
Portal is made by the Narpacular Drop Team!
Joshua Rice
· 3 years ago
Well, the list is pretty good but..
I'd have to say Quake 3 has the best physics implemented INTO the game, sure the other has physics, but they all stick and the games feel, less reponsive, with teh exception of HL2, but Q3 and HL2 are pretty much some of the best games around (gameplay/physics etc.)
Rip
· 3 years ago
This article sucks. Many notable exceptions have already been listed.
You claim to not know the history of the portals idea, but you go ahead and suggest that Prey stole the idea, even though they had it in 1996. How can you even say Prey's feels "tacked on" when the game is built around it? The only difference between Portal and Prey is that Portal lets you have a portal creating weapon, which was initially an idea from the 1996 version of Prey.
And how does Portal even belong on this list? It's not even released and its the #1 physics game? This based on THE TRAILER?
Have you seen THE TRAILER for Killzone for PS3? There was crazy physics in there too.
BJ Woods
· 3 years ago
the idea of portals from Prey came out waaay before Narbacular Drop... But anyway, If youre gonna rate games that havent been released yet, check out the trailer for Force Unleashed... theres pleeeenty of physics you can play around with using the FORCE!
meast
· 3 years ago
How come no one remembers portals were in unreal 1
andym
· 3 years ago
"Yeah red faction was supposed to be really awesome but it kinda wasnt so thats why i put it on here"
"dead rising has great physics because you can use all sorts of weapons."
"the preset animations in virtua fighter means it has a great physics engine."
i could go on and on. this is one of the worst top ten lists i have ever read. i mean #1 hasnt even come out yet. plus you say the portals in prey seem tacked on when prey has been in development for years before portal itself.
do your homework or dont write stupid articles like this.
kyldere
· 3 years ago
Hey George .... What about Scorched Earth or even Worms? ... "Bureeeeeto"
Nimrod
· 3 years ago
Virtual Fighter?!? How did you even think of putting that shit on a "TOP 10" List when you didnt even mention ANYTHING about PHYSICS?!?
Skutarth
· 3 years ago
Unreal didn't really utilize actual portals. As far as I know, it only uses rendering portals for things like the sky/moving settings (fighting on a train in UT).
I'm pretty sure that Prey was first being planned in 1995... with Portals in mind. I'm glad at least half of you caught on that the author is full of crap.
Catchneyez
· 3 years ago
Although the marines bouncing around perfectly while riding on the back of my warthog was cool, Psi-ops is what really made physics in gaming stand out to me. I never bought it, but I rented that game 3 different times in 2 years just because I wanted to toss people around and blow up heads again.
Eddie
· 3 years ago
The Marathon series by Bungie had a versatile physics engine that you could edit if you wanted. Grenade launchers had arc, powerful weapons had recoil, you could "grenade hop," and best of all people you kill with an explosion could potentially go flying across the level in a pile of guts.
All Comments
I tell ya that game is so overlooked.
I will agree that Psi-Ops is often underrated and most people I've talked to that have played it thought it was really fun. If this list were longer, it would show up, but probably after games like Jedi Outcast and Deus Ex.
For shame my friend, for shame.
how abt some games from other genres?
Cant believe we dont have SINGLE racing game....tho perhaps that is a comment on their authenticity...but surely the mighty Gran Turismo - for all its other faults - would qualify here
WipEout was also a game that manage to convey good 'sense' of what the physics of throwing a two ton hover craft across a race track 'might' be like
And I thought the Winning Eleven series was the 1st footy game to more accurately model things like the true movement of players with things like inertia and a sense of acceleartion from standstill etc
and what abt Super Monkey Ball! Oh how many times have I lamented the games physics for sending me to my doom
BayC
And the Burnout series... yikes... it certainly gets points for fun physics, but loses points for having all this "unlockable" crap. Same with Full Auto. It's like they took the fun driving parts out of GTA, and then handicapped it severely with the unlockables.
Painkiller had excellent physics, but it just didn't prompt the kind of Mythbusters-like experimentation that Halo did.
Super Monkey Ball on the other hand... another Honorable Mention!
If you remake the list into a Top 10 or Top 20, or even just add some honorable mentions, consider Psi-Ops. :D
http://www.answers.com/topic/prey-video-game
http://jet.ro/dismount/
Pushing people down stairs for points? I dare someone to do better physics.
it's easily the most realistically portrayed driving sim out there, with the best physics.
And what about Max Payne? Talk about physics!
http://www.fun-motion.com/list-of-physics-games/
http://www.priyajeet.com/web/cache/cellfactor
cheers
http://www.ageia.com/
That one is a bit too far out of left field for most people to remember/know it exists, but it's definitely a worthy option.
While Jumpgate's near-Newtonian physics model is the best model ever used in a MMORPG: http://www.jossh.com
Portal is made by the Narpacular Drop Team!
I'd have to say Quake 3 has the best physics implemented INTO the game, sure the other has physics, but they all stick and the games feel, less reponsive, with teh exception of HL2, but Q3 and HL2 are pretty much some of the best games around (gameplay/physics etc.)
You claim to not know the history of the portals idea, but you go ahead and suggest that Prey stole the idea, even though they had it in 1996. How can you even say Prey's feels "tacked on" when the game is built around it? The only difference between Portal and Prey is that Portal lets you have a portal creating weapon, which was initially an idea from the 1996 version of Prey.
And how does Portal even belong on this list?
It's not even released and its the #1 physics game? This based on THE TRAILER?
Have you seen THE TRAILER for Killzone for PS3? There was crazy physics in there too.
"dead rising has great physics because you can use all sorts of weapons."
"the preset animations in virtua fighter means it has a great physics engine."
i could go on and on. this is one of the worst top ten lists i have ever read. i mean #1 hasnt even come out yet. plus you say the portals in prey seem tacked on when prey has been in development for years before portal itself.
do your homework or dont write stupid articles like this.
I'm pretty sure that Prey was first being planned in 1995... with Portals in mind. I'm glad at least half of you caught on that the author is full of crap.