What are some neat design features you have seen in video games? X2: Wolverine's Revenge (Xbox): Many cool things in this game, particularly inspired by Metal Gear Solid. - Although a free-roaming brawler, when you attack someone, you get locked into battle, for a unique "fighting game" feel. Godzilla (the latest one for the Wii, I forget the name): - There are about 30 monsters, and they are categorized into a "team" of sorts. Depending on what you do and what level you choose, it affects the percentage of success each team has-- its not always black and white/win or lose, though. Story-wise, the team with the highest percent wins. X-Men Legends 2/Ultimate Marvel: - You have a list of characters and compose a team. Each character has a specialty that makes him/her useful in the team (example: Transportation/Flyer/Bruiser/Projectile) Army of Two: - Co-Op gameplay. Something you have to play to understand.

Bioshock - While most elements of this game had been done in one form or another before, the presentation and style of the game really brought all the elements together and made the whole thing seem innovative and cool. I especially love the way, say if there's a trail of gasoline on the ground, you can shoot fire at it and the whole trail will start burning. People standing in a puddle of water will be shocked if you zap the water. All these elements are very cool and original.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - While I didn't like the camo system much myself, it was definitely an innovative and cool way to throw a new element into the MGS franchise.

Knights of the Old Republic - The whole game just oozed with awesome design. C'mon, there's not enough that can be said about this game, so I won't sell it short with words. Just play it and you'll see what I mean.

=== A couple not so new games with gameplay mechanics I still love ===

Final Fantasy VII - I absolutely love the materia system. I'm looking for any game with a similar system, but even to this day, I've not found anything like it.

Xenogears - The battle system in this game was like a unique, turn-based fighting game. There were combos, special moves, and the likes, but the whole thing still managed to play and feel like a turn-based RPG. Quite frankly, this is one of my favorite games of all time (as is Final Fantasy VII, mentioned above).

Jade Cocoon (the first one, the second one sucked from what I can remember): Initially a Pokemon rip-off, the fighting system is unique in that it has only four elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Air). Instead of breeding monsters, you merge them to create a new specie, which has a percentage based on what types of monsters you merged (you can even have a monster that has all four elements, +/-25% each).

Battle-wise, each monster has a different kind of attack per appendage: Head, Claws, Arms, Legs, Tail. Merging monsters is the only way you can utilize the monster's entire body in battle.

Finally, when in Pokemon, you can't attack the trainer, in Jade Cocoon you have to first defeat the monster THEN defeat the "trainer".

The game even goes so far as to stretch and skew the base models of your mmerged monster with attributes from the second monster. Also, if all the merging has left your monster's skin looking awkward, you can collect other types of skin-- spotted, striped, and other types-- to make it look cooler.