Top Ten Best Physics Games

By George Walker | August 21, 2006

In one of the many discussions I’ve had in the past concerning Our Beloved Hobby, a friend of mine made the assertion that certain games are fun because of their physics. He went on to explain that physics is a very important part of the male brain. I must say that I whole heartedly agree. There is certainly a part of our brains that is hard-wired to appreciate physics in all its forms. Why else would explosions, firearms, and car crashes be so inherently gripping? In light of this, our basic need for physics experiences, I thought I would give my Top Ten list of great physics games.

10. Pong
What made Pong so addictive? Obviously, it was the first mainstream arcade game, as well as introducing true multiplayer. But something a lot of people miss, is that it is also one of the first video games to utilize physics in some way (as opposed to the early text-based games and ASCII Trek clones). Granted, the physics consisted of simply bouncing a glob of pixels off of walls and your paddle, but the thing to notice here is that Pong is easily the first air hockey simulator. Air hockey tables are used by physics teachers around the world because of the near-frictionless environment it provides for observing motion and collisions.

9. Red Faction
As a FPS, Red Faction was pretty generic, and the story had some potential but fell pretty flat, overall. But the most hyped aspect of Red Faction was its destructible environments. Originally, everything was going to be destructible, but it turned out that only certain sections of certain walls in the single-player campaign were truly destructible as hyped. Notwithstanding its shortcomings, Red Faction’s Glass House level was a thing of beauty. A house made entirely of breakable glass contained in a giant room surrounded completely by destructible rock walls and ceiling. I spent hours experimenting, trying to find just the right way of causing the huge ceiling to all fall at once on the unsuspecting house. I easily spent far more time with the Glass House level than I did on the single-player campaign. I still eagerly await a game where everything is truly destructible, as was promised in Red Faction.

8. JSRF
This game epitomizes what I like to think of as “fun, but not realistic, physics.” Let’s face it, the rollerblading gangs of JSRF don’t even come close to obeying the laws of physics. But so what? Levels like the amusement park level and the skyscraper level were just elaborate physics playgrounds. It’s like being inside one of those Rube Goldberg-esque marble contraptions, where the marbles swing and fly around various rails and apparati. Good stuff.

7. Dead Rising
There’s nothing really new here, physics wise. But what Dead Rising delivers is a physics experience that is truly satisfying. From CD tossing to potted plant wielding, there are nigh infinite ways to keep the zombies at bay. How about a super soaker? What about stuffing rotten zombie meats into their mouth? There is just so much about Dead Rising that satisfies the physics part of our brains.

6. Quake
Once upon a time, there was Doom. And with it, video games were, once again, mainstream. When id Software released Quake, however, something entirely different occurred. The convergence of video games and the internet had occurred. But more importantly, Quake gave the new online gaming zeitgeist 3 degrees of freedom. (Doom, for example, only had 2.) Yes, now you could go UP and DOWN. The other great thing about classic Quake was the rocket jump. Again, because of the Quake physics engine, you could jump in the air, fire a rocket at your feet, and be blasted impossibly far into space. That’s what made Quake great, it was really the first time that players could bend the physics of the game to find completely new ways of playing. And in case you still aren’t convinced of Quake’s pioneering physics, you should note that there has been a Quake Classic mod for Quake 2, Quake 3, and Half-Life (which, coincidentally, was based on the original Quake engine) that lovingly recreated the original Quake physics in each respective engine.

5. Bionic Commando
If you somehow missed this gem on NES, you missed the boat on what is easily one of the best games of the platform, heck one of the best video games, period. What separates Bionic Commando from all the other 2D platform games was the little Bionic Arm that you could use to latch onto platforms, grab items and powerups, and push enemies around. Swinging around levels Spider-man-style was certainly one of my fondest memories of the NES. Good times.

4. Virtua Fighter
Before Tekken, Soul Calibur, or Dead or Alive, there was Virtua Fighter. This was the first fighting game to utilize 3D models and environments. Granted, they looked like something out of a Dire Straits video, but still. Playing this arcade game for the first time showed me that the era of 2D fighters like Street Fighter II was over… well, at least until Xbox Live Arcade came along.

3. Halo
At first glance, it may seem there is nothing particularly remarkable about Halo’s physics, and you’re probably right. So, why am I mentioning Halo at all? Because Halo, more than any other game, has inspired me to just have fun with the physics. The first time you get the warthog in the second chapter, I must’ve spent hours just driving around, jumping off things, power sliding, trying to do flips… and then there is the famous Warthog Jump video. Halo’s vehicles harnessed the in-game physics in magnificent ways. And that’s what makes greatness. Taking something ordinary, and using it in an extraordinary way.

2. Half-Life 2
First person shooters have been around for a long time, now. We’ve rocket-jumped, grenade-jumped, and force-pulled our way through hundreds of levels of castles, space stations, and burned-out buildings. But more than any other game before it, Half-Life 2 gave gamers (and modders) the tools to manipulate the physics of the Source engine in practically limitless ways. Yes, the grav gun was certainly one of the most entertaining ways to launch fuel canisters and saw blades, but more importantly, it’s been the modders that have taken the Source engine’s physics sandbox and truly create works of art. One of the first custom maps that I saw when Half-Life 2 was released was an accurately built trebuchet using in-game level design mechanics. I also encourage any budding physicists out there to spend some time with Garry’s Mod.

1. Portal
Whether Prey stole its portal system from Portal’s predecessor, Narbacular Drop, I don’t know. But based on the trailer, Portal looks like it’s use of portals to be much more innovative and complete… whereas Prey’s implementation felt tacked on. Portal is definitely my most anticipated game of 2007. It has the potential to bring something genuinely innovative to a genre (and industry, for that matter) that has become almost unbearably banal. Watch the Portal trailer. Now.

Update: Honorable Mentions certainly include the great Dismount series. Pushing rag dolls down stairs, or trying to fling them through truck windshields was certainly a good time. Thanks, Sushi K, for reminding me of those!

Correction: halo.bungie.org noted that Halo did not use the Havok physics middleware, but Halo 2 did. My bad!