Top 10 Winter Worlds in Video Games

Well, it is that time of year when the white stuff is on the ground.  Sure, it can make the roads a great big pain the ass to drive on, but at the same time, it is true that the winter can be beautiful, and snow can be beautiful when it falls.  And nowhere else is the beauty of winter captured quite as well as in video games, where they have free reign to make it as different as they can.  Here is my personal list of the top 10 worlds where winter is nothing short of a wonderland.

10. Flanoir
Tales of Symphonia
Something about this place is just so peaceful to me.  If I were big into small town living, this would be the kind of town that I would want to frequent.  In the world of Tethe’alla, this little place is constantly cold due to the Spirit called Celsius who lives nearby.  This town is also host to be a brilliant doctor who robs you blind.  Old prick.  But yeah, it is peaceful, it is quiet.  It is a place where one can just chill and relax in a winter wonderland.  What more does one need?

9. Ice Cap Zone
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Back in the day, when Sonic games were actually cool, instead of getting perpetually worse, this was the winter world that just wowed.  From the moment you start, you are on a snowboard, cutting it down a mountain, and then you are racing through a winter world that is populated by dangerous penguins, iceberg surfing, and for its time, some pretty intricate backgrounds.  This was definitely Sonic at his best, and it shows.  It’s kind of a pity that this character couldn’t make the transition into 3D with as much style.

8. Frappe Snowland
Mario Kart 64
Of all the Mario Kart games that have been made, arguably the best is Mario Kart 64.  It is a game that so many others tried and failed to improve on.  It’s like Nintendo didn’t get the memo that the format they already had worked, and you shouldn’t improve on something that isn’t broken.  The controls were simple, the worlds were fun, and the elements were neat.  And in this game, this was my favorite of the two winter tracks.  It was just so mellow and calm.  I like how it was just a nice little track to feel good on, unlike the other one with the annoying-as-fuck penguins.  Sure, it was a race, and you wanted to win, but this track just felt a lot calmer and generally more pleasant than the other.  Disagree all you want, but that’s my pick.

7. The Winter Region
Halo: Combat Evolved
When you are playing Halo for the first time, it is pretty cool how this ring world has so many various places.  But none are so intense as the winter area in the first game.  Some of the game’s most intense moments come from this part of their world.  The realization of what the Halo is.  When Cortana tells you to run and stop the Flood from being released.  This is some cool stuff.  And it looks pretty awesome too.  For its time, this was impressive stuff, pushing the limits of the original Xbox.  This was a cool place, and I am hoping to see more of it in the series to come.

6. Phendrana Drifts
Metroid Prime
This was, by far, the best part of this game.  The Phendrana Drifts has everything.  There is the original very peaceful winter scene that you start into.  There is the mystical temples of the Chozo, where you get a new weapon and learn more about their culture.  There is the intense and pulse-pounding Space Pirate base, and then there is the section in the back where the pirates were trying to set up a network inside of this winter world.  Probably my favorite part of this region is there, with all of the neat ways that they integrate Pirate technology and the winter landscape.  This was a cool place, and exploring it was a lot of fun.  Plus, there was a very epic final boss battle here.  What more do you need?

5. Shadow Moses
Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes
Shadow Moses comes into multiple Metal Gear Solid games.  The one that we will be looking at, for this post, is the one in Twin Snakes, which is the Gamecube remake of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.  This is a very imposing place.  The cold military nature of it is daunting enough, but there are doors that can’t be opened, security cameras, security guards everywhere, and in some games, Metal Gear monsters keeping an eye on things.  This is a place where one has to watch their back, and for a very good reason.  But at the same time, it is also still pretty cool.  The places where the boss fights happen are some of the best in any game.  The final battle with Vulcan Raven is just awesome.  And the fight with Sniper Wolf is also pretty fun.  This was a great game, and the setting was just awesome.

4. Click Clock Wood
Banjo Kazooie
Of all the worlds in this game, this was the one where I had the most fun.  Click Clock Wood has you go through all of its seasons, and each one has some unique properties associated with it.  I had a lot of fun with the winter version, though I will admit that the fall one was my favorite.  But winter still has a lot to offer.  A lot like Flanoir, this is the kind of place where I could just see myself chilling.  Especially around the humongous tree that makes up the bulk of this place.  It is kind of a pity that this series has gone downhill so fast, because I would have loved to see some of this kind of world in HD.  There was a lot of fun to be had here, and it is a pity that I wasn’t able to go back.  Though a LOT of these kind of games suffered in the High Def generation, which is a real pity.

3. Arkham City
Batman: Arkham City
I was going to put the GCPD, but to be honest, this entire game takes place in a winter world.  Arkham City is in the middle of winter, and it plays to this element well.  Each section of the game has a bit of the winter element in play, and it looks awesome!  This game looks amazing, and no area feels half-assed.  They wanted it to be a frigid winter, and they made just that in this game.  Even the indoor areas have some signs that winter is in the air, and it is making things miserable.  I love this game so much, and a lot of why I love it is because of the amazing atmosphere that it has.  This was the Batman game that we all were hoping for, and man does it deliver!  Just an amazing place.

2. Hoth
Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire
In the world of underrated games, this game is high on that list.  Shadow of the Empire was an awesome shooter, and some of the fighter combat segments were awesome.  Having the original orchestral score from the film of the Battle of Hoth doesn’t hurt, either.  Not only was the Speeder segments where you are destroying Walkers fun, but inside the Hoth base, where you are getting out while the getting is good is also a lot of fun, with a really neat boss fight at the end.  A difficult as fuck boss fight too.  This is a completely unappreciated game, and it really was fun, giving a new character with his own agenda a neat story to follow.  This was a great game, and anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

And my favorite winter wonderland to traverse is…

1. The Top of the Mountain
Journey
I was tempted to put the journey up the side of the mountain, because it does lead to the emotional climax of the game, where you see this little wanderer trying so hard to get to the top, yet seeming to fail and die, but to be honest, we all loved when he finally gets to the top.  For one, it gives him a chance to redeem his failure, but the payoff is amazing.  The graphics on top of this mountain are breath-taking.  The music is so beautiful that you feel like you have made a great accomplishment, traveling with this silent companion.  And how it all comes together is just poetry.  This is my favorite game, and this last area always reminds me why.

Until next time, a quote,

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”  -Edith Sitwell

Peace out,

Maverick