5 replies to this topic

[chief]

That is right! This is a Game list, so from the best to the worst in your opinion.

This isn't just for this generation systems either, hell add games from ANY system. Also include computer games.
As well put a brief note with each game about story, game play, whatever.


I know we have a lot of gamers out there, so I expect to see some good lists and recommendations.

[Valerie Valens]

Serious Sam : The First & Second Encounter (PC/XBox)

I've rambled endlessly about this duo of game titles on IRC, so I'll keep it short. It is a no-nonsense arcade action shooter that can be played on a first and third person perspective. The huge draw distances and the massive scale of battles were unprecedented at the time. There is not much to say about the story. You are Sam, sent back in time to ancient Egypt to stop Mental and save humanity from annihilation. The game is very unsubtle and it revels in it, throwing audacious things at you like a swarm of screaming headless kamikazi bombers, bouncy rooms and weird gravity.


The Pit from The Second Encounter in co-op mode.

However, the best part about this game is the sheer quantity of custom content available online to download whose production value is near professional and they really make creative use of the game's unique feature.


A screenshot of The City of the Gods in Single Player mode using --Fragman--'s XBox mod

A video showing the game running a custom map in co-op mode. Part 2

My de-facto favourite game of all time.

The entire Half-Life Anthology (PC/XBox/PS2/Dreamcast/360)

Yes, I am putting the entire valve-developed half life anthology because they have to be the most polished and innovative series of FPS games ever. The Half-Life line of games focuses on the story of Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist who unwittingly triggered an invasion of aliens from another world. The game uses a lot of puzzles, physics and platforming elements to the game on top of combat and it features scripted sequences which is quite innovative. The second installment, HL2 adds a new level of gameplay by introducing a weapon that can turn any object it picks up into a deadly projectile. The spinoffs and expansion packs for the HL anthology are quite exceptional as well.


Gotta love what one can do with the crossbow in Half-Life : Source.

The Orange Box

When I think of great deals, this is the first thing that comes to mind. For the price of one AAA title, you get three critically acclaimed games and two expansion packs for one of the games. Since I already talked about the HL anthology, I am going to focus on the other 2 games included here ; Portals and Team Fortress 2.

Portals is by far one of the more creative games released in a while and it is a very polished title too. The gameplay and puzzles are set up very nicely, they make good use of the engine features. On top of that, there are also special achievements for certain challenges. The polish is also quite evident in the setting, immersion and the twisted sense of humour the game has. I don't know about you, but I was quite sad when I realized that I have to incinerate the Companion Cube. The only complaint about this game is that it is too short, at least the ending tune is kickass.

Team Fortress 2, in contrast is a comical class-based team shooter that is quite accessible and newbie-friendly. This game is geared towards community experience and it does it quite well, it has brought loads of people together. Each class has a very distinct playing style and one could easily find a class that fits their tastes. There is also the fact that Valve is constantly throwing unlockables and achievements into the game which keeps the experience going fresh and changing subtlety, but noticeably the landscape of the game.

Insamnity! 2 (Serious Sam 2 mod - PC)

Now this is a game that, by itself, is a pale successor to its predecessor and thus shouldn't make the list. However, thanks to the mod that was created for it by Nathan "DwK" Brown, the game is a lot more fun. What it does is that it pretty much adds a zero across the board on the numerical aspects of the gameplay mechanics like the total number of enemies, the number of enemies on screen at any given moment, while at the same time, giving players a beefed-up arsenal of weapons as well as faster running speed to help deal with the nasties. Most of the classic Serious Sam favourites are back, including the Headless Kamikazis, the Beheaded Soldiers, the Gnaars and the Chainsaw Freaks as well as unique new types of enemies like enemy flying saucers.

The fact that the mod came with the mod author's fan-remake of 4 levels from the First Encounter makes the deal a whole lot sweeter.


From Alley of the Sphinxes. (IS2 version) This is the mod at its lowest settings. Seriously.


Showcasing the ability to use enemy models, a free-range camera mode and the implemented map hacks that add in extra secret areas to the game. Taken from Greendale.


Rocket-jumping, which was absent in the vanilla Serious Sam 2 game, was reimplemented in the mod, allowing for seemingly-impossible places to be reached. Taken from Sky Islands.


Each one of those falling meteorite-like things are enemy spawns. Taken from Bone Yard.

More to come, I took waaay too long to type this.

[salamander]

Dark Cloud 2-This is probably my favorite game. It's like a combination RPG and Simcity, you rebuild each city you visit and place things however you like (within some restrictions). I love the steampunk setting, the music, the massive variety of things to do.
It's a big improvement over the first game, which had more than its fair share of problems (permanent weapon breaking, the thirst meter, etc). The only thing I miss about the first was the distribution of georama parts-I liked it better in the first where you got each piece at a time, and people were parts you could pick up. I thought it was cool to pick up a sphere containing someone's house, or a person, or their stuff, etc.

Disgaea-An addictive game, and now that it's on DS I've taken to playing it everywhere. I usually hate level grinding in RPGS, but Disgaea has enough variety and customization to keep it interesting. There's a lot of freedom as well, the game allows you to overpower yourself as much as you want, and yet there's always a tougher enemy just around the corner. Plus the story is funny and moving as well.

Harvest Moon Series-Another addictive game, there's about a million different versions and I've played nearly all. N64 and Island of Happiness are my faves. It's not for everyone, some people find it too cutesy or boring, but I like building up my farm and growing crops, what can I say. The only downsides are the bugs and spelling errors from localization.

Banjo Kazooie-A great platformer, with lovely environments and just plain fun gameplay. The sequel was good too, though it ran a little too slow for me. I'm hoping a release on virtual console or something will let it play more smoothly. I'd play the newest one but I'm not about to buy a 360. I didn't like the GBA game, it wasn't much fun and the controls really grind on your fingers.

Paper Mario-I love this series, it's so colourful and fun, with lots of neat surprises. My favorite bits were the Peach and Bowser parts, they're always fun.

The 3d Zeldas were great, of course. Majora's mask had my favorite style, I liked the darker setting and the emphasis on characters. It had some annoying parts though, like the timed sequences that were easy to screw up and have to redo (the UFO fighting and the bit with Kafei especially) and the water temple.
I liked Wind Waker no matter what anyone says, exploring the vast seas was cool, though it needed to be sped up. Phantom Hourglass can take a hike, I'm not going through that temple again. Twilight Princess was OK, but it was short and the characters weren't as likeable as the ones in OOT or WW. Midna was cool but I couldn't care less about Colin or Ilia.

One I'm surprised I keep going back to is the Pokemon TCG game for Gameboy. It's not even that good, but I keep going back to play a match every so often. It's really random whether you win or not and matches take forever to play, you always end up with lousy cards etc. I keep playing it though, it's addictive.

and.. that's all I can think of now.

[The Man]

Old school but still good/great depending.

Favorites in probably best to worst and chances are many of them make the top 50 games of all time and/or were 1 the years they came out.

Chess

A classic board game of war. Moving pieces along 64 squares to checkmate your king. My rating is low but I have a great deal of knowledge and experience with this game that gives many people a run for their money. More involved in other games to truly master this but fun when I beging playing. I was Captain of my Chess team in HS and nearly went undefeated.

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Magic the Gathering

A fun game based on much luck as well as skill to win. Drawing cards from a deck, playing land to tap for mana and cast spells. I've had fun doing many things with this game like building unorthodox mono-red defense decks to counterspell-less blue. Ideas are running out but some situations have fun irony's.

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Final Fantasy 3.

I basically had another life in this game. I've read many faq's and been through the whole game at under level 19 myself, the simple ablity to love this story line and all the equipment had me playing it again and again.

Each year I'd find something new and fall in love with the characters in a new way. I'm pretty sure that almost every gamer knows about it and refers to it often as a true classic and great game.

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Goldeneye 64.

An amazing yet simple game for its time only a system up from FF3. A few missions objectives and weapons and toys to make it possible. I've enjoyed this game in my own way. I've beaten every normal difficulty as well as gotten all the cheats. I'm the current American Champion and Runner up in an extremely hard version of the game few people dare compete.

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Civilization 2

The first great civilization game that set the standard for others to come. I've also maxed out this game getting a large civilazation at Emperor level the game itself could no longer keep track of my score until I landed in Alpha Centuri with nearly a 1000% game completion. The trick is to expand scientifically in this game to switch to Republic and Democracy ASAP.

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Final Fantasy Tactics

Another final fantasy game based along a grid map. It's more turned-based role playing than other final fantasy's but its challenging spots and job system left room for fun. Maxed out this game too getting all weapons, spells, and ablities.

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Super Smash Bros. Melee.

This solid game deserves a brief mention as being another '2 sequel' done correctly. This simple smash-em up game always comes back for quick fun.

There are other games like Halo, WoW, and other newer versions that are worth playing but I'm being a little bias towards the past because it feels more was really put into it at that time. Not saying any game is bad as long as you can find a way to enjoy it.

[Lord Exor]

Bah, Melee. Play a man's game, like Super Smash Meta Knight Brawl.

[acstrife]

I would take you up on that challenge.

Swords! not words!