Now that it’s officially November I can start looking forward to winter. As someone who grew up in a warm climate, I’ve always been fascinated with winter and icy climates.
In sf and fantasy, “ice worlds” are a natural place to go – an extreme version of our own toughest weather, all year, spread over an entire planet. Whether it’s Julian May’s Denali or George Lucas’ Hoth, the elements prove just as much of a challenge as the forces of evil.
In video games, ice worlds were usually visually some of my favorites, but some of the most antagonzing in terms of gameplay – especially those darn Mario games. My favorite frozen world, even with slippery ice, goes to Adventure Island II for NES – the ice world was a welcome change from the rest of the tropical dino climate.
What I want to know, however, is about your favorite wintery worlds in movies, literature or video games. It doesn’t have to be an entire planet – it could even be a mountain. And it doesn’t even have to be sf or fantasy. Let’s make some cocoa, sit by the glow of the monitor and welcome winter by celebrating the iciest places we can think of!
About j
Ok, this doesn’t count really, but I totally loved Ice Hockey for NES. It was so awesome to make a team of really fat guys or a team of really skinny guys and watch them slide around on the ice.
I think the one game doing the best job at creating an “ice world” is Lost Planet. I just tried the demo for the sequel a few weeks back and it was as visually impressive as expected.
Well, the obvious comes to mind.
Icewind Dale – the subsetting of the Forgotten Realms which spawned arguably one of the best PC RPG experiences of all time. OF ALL TIME. Add to that the literary trilogy which gave the Realms some of it’s most loved heroes and characters.
I’ve always loved snowy, wintry realms in video games. From Everquest’s snowy lands (which I cannot now recall the name of) to WoW’s recent WotLK snow-covered zones. City of Heroes also did a great job with it, love the way they would make your character slide when you’d step out onto ice. Recently, Champions online added a nice touch to their Canadian wilderness zone… you can see your character’s breath steaming in front of them.
@ Ken – I remember Everfrost Peaks in EQ. Weren’t the barbarians from around there? I’m having a major nostalgia event skimming over the names here – http://everquest.allakhazam.com/zones/Level_Chart.html
I also loved the snowy areas around Ironforge in WoW.
I don’t play WoW any more, but the wintery zones were some of the most beautiful environments in the game – or any game, come to think of it.
Dun Morogh, Winterspring, and indeed most of Northrend. The strange sky reflecting off the white ground, the sound of wind, the crunch of snow underfoot; these things really made those places feel real to me.