Discussion: what's your favorite genre-defying game?

It’s easy to pick favorite games in gaming’s most popular genres. But arguably a greater accomplishment is to create a game that has no genre, or a game that creates its own. What are your favorite truly unique games?

Chris: Ratchet and Clank. I’ll be honest, this was a tough one for me. I had to go through my favorite games from each genre and only Ratchet and Clank popped up in multiple genres. The series had superb platforming and shooting action and to top it all off the games were hilarious. To this day, I’ve never seen a game mix genres together better than Ratchet and Clank and that is why it is my favorite genre-defying game.

Xairylle: Warcraft 3 DotA, the game that ignited the popularity of the MOBA genre. Even League of Legends traces back to Dota, as Steve ‘Guinsoo’ Feak, one of WC3 DotA’s primary modders applied many of the mechanics and concepts of Dota to LoL. From being a Warcraft 3 mod, WC3 DotA managed to grow and eventually gave way to its sequel Dota 2. To date, players still debate on the true genre of WC3 DotA and Dota 2, as some refuse to call it MOBA, saying that it is an action real-time strategy (ARTS) game and that “Dota has no genre. Dota is Dota”.

Iain: Soul Sacrifice. I picked up this little gem because it was free on the PlayStation Plus, and it impressed me a lot. Soul Sacrifice revolves around reading a book and playing through the memories captured within it. You play as a sorcerer, but not the happy, floppy hatted kind. These are the kind that use your entrails to tell the future. When you defeat monsters they revert back to their original form, usually some kind of animal like kittens or rats, and you have the choice to sacrifice them for more magic or save them for a health boost. In short it’s a cool, weird game that part third-person shooter, part action, and part RPG. And it’s all contained in one of the darkest worlds I have ever seen.

Charlie: Katamari Damacy. Third-person rolling simulator? Size-based rolling puzzle/action star builder? Trying to put Katamari Damacy into a category is near-impossible, even if you don’t mention the game’s wacky story and music. But despite how strange it sounds, rolling around a sticky ball of junk in the hopes of making it big enough to pick up even bigger junk is really fun. You may feel like you’re playing a game inside someone else’s dream—or maybe someone else’s acid trip—but that doesn’t make the experience any less cool. Every day is a good day for rolling!

Mary-Anne: I’m going to say Tearaway just because it’s the first game (and still the only game) to incorporate the PS Vita’s bells and whistles so effectively in its gameplay. Were it made for any other console Tearway would be just another platformer, albeit a cute and whimsical one, but when combined with the PS Vita, boy, this is one game that can’t and shouldn’t be stopped. The use of the Vita’ hardware functions, while not exactly groundbreaking, elevate Tearaway into a realm close to videogame perfection. It’s just unfortunate that not many people have noticed it because, you know, nobody sees a need to actually buy a PS Vita.

What games do you think are truly unique? Let us know in the comments.