USgamer Community Question: You're Stuck on a Desert Island with Only One Game. What is it?

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Imagine you've just washed up on the shore of a desert island, along with a waterproof case containing a solar power supply, a satellite uplink so you can go online, a games machine of your choice, and... just one, single, solitary game. It looks like you're going to be stuck on the island for months, since you have no idea where you are and, for the purposes of this exercise, the uplink is untraceable.

The big question is: Which games machine is in the case - and more importantly what game will you be playing when you’re not punching a string of numbers into a mysterious computer every 108 minutes, or talking to a volleyball called Wilson?

While you ponder your fate, here's what Team USG had to say about their strategic long-term amusement.

Jeremy Parish, Editor-in-Chief

Wow, that’s a tough one. My first thought was that maybe being stranded on a desert island would finally afford me the opportunity to finish Skyrim -- I sank more than 150 hours into that game and saw maybe a quarter of the actual plot -- but unless I brought along an Internet connection to give me access to infinite mods for the game, I would eventually get bored.

No, I think my desert island game would be something from the Yasumi Matsuno catalog. Either Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, or Tactics Ogre. I love the mechanical flexibility of FF Tactics and the expansive world of FFXII, but I think for sheer depth and time-absorption, Tactics Ogre would be the way to go. And specifically, I mean the PSP remake, 2011’s Let Us Cling Together. That game was amazingly deep, with branching plotlines and the ability to rewind both combat and story branches to explore all sorts of interesting outcomes.

I know some hardcore strategy fans complained about the rewind features, but they’re totally optional and make for a fascinating alternate approach to combat. Tactics Ogre, narratively, has always been about consequences; the TAROT feature integrates the theme into the actual mechanics and progression of the game itself. You can play Tactics Ogre the old-school way and never rewind, and I probably would do precisely that just to mix things up if it were the only game I could play on a desert island. But I’d also make use of its unique features to explore every possible outcome. It’s the kind of game I could play for years without getting bored.

Mike Williams, Staff Writer

My first thought for a desert island game would be some title that I could make other games out of. That would lead my thoughts towards something like Little Big Planet 2 or Minecraft, both games allowing for a wide degree of freedom to build whatever your mind can come up with.

But assuming that I have an internet connection, my go-to game would probably be World of Warcraft. The nine-year old monster isn't a game I play every day or every week, but I have fun jumping into it from time-to-time. Over the course of its lifespan Blizzard has continued to add to the game: Raids, five-man dungeons, solo dungeons, pet battles, collecting, transmutation, crafting, dueling, and more. There’s just so much to do in World of Warcraft.

The game’s upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor, is adding a host of changes and player housing to the mix. The brand-new story will probably be weird and convoluted, but at least I still have many of the old dungeons I haven't finished to explore. My current problem with WoW is I don’t have enough time, but if I’m stuck on a desert island, that’s not an issue is it?

Everquest Next looks like it could be a solid contender for this slot in the future, but as it stands World of Warcraft is it.

Kat Bailey, Senior Editor

One of the pitfalls of working from home is that it puts me in close proximity with FIFA 15. I don't have many real gaming vices anymore (at least not since WarCraft III and the lost summer of 2002), but FIFA is an exception. If I start playing, I can forget about any notions of productivity for the rest of the day.

I'm not alone either. FIFA has become the most popular sports game in the world in large part because it's easy to learn and a lot of fun to play, while also feeling enough like the real sport to avoid coming off as an arcade game. Its matches last about 15 minutes, putting them in that sweet spot where it's easy for players to say, "I guess I can fit in one more game." In short, it's a black hole that has subsumed most of my other gaming interests and made me feel incredibly guilty about my growing backlog.

With that, I think it's pretty obvious which game I would take with me if I were marooned on a desert island with a TV, an internet connection, and a PlayStation 4. Trying to reach Level 7 in Online Seasons could keep me busy for a very, very long time... or at least until EA shut down the online servers.

Jaz Rignall, Editor-at-Large

My immediate gut instinct is Gran Turismo 6. It’s fairly open-ended, has enormous amounts of things to tinker with, offers a near-limitless challenge, and essentially turns the player into the ultimate boss. Yep. A game based around shaving fractions of a second off a lap time would probably keep me happy for years.

Other contenders? Skyrim and GTA V sound good, but I don’t think it’d take long before I’d be as familiar with their moderately sized worlds as I would be with the desert island I’m stuck on. Minecraft and Sim City would offer a terrific canvas for creativity and self-made entertainment, as would LittleBigPlanet, whose design-your-own-game aspect would provide much scope for amusement. However, none would ever deliver any surprises.

I thought about board games, especially the two brilliant German classics, Cataan and Carcassone. But while they’re great multiplayer games, I don’t think it’d take long to suss out their AI and then they’d be worthless.

Then there’s chess. A program like Deep Rybka would provide an unbeatable intellectual challenge and keep one’s mind razor sharp. It wouldn’t exactly be fun in the classic video gaming sense, but it would provide the kind of mental stimulation you’d need to stop yourself from going completely nuts. It’d also give you something to think about while doing boring things like fishing, or trying to start a fire.

That sounds like a good idea to me, and while much as I think Gran Turismo 6 would entertain me, Deep Rybka would be a gaming nemesis that would make me think and learn. Plus there’s a reason why chess has been around for over a thousand years. So chess it is.