Fighting, Platformers, Side-scrolling, Action Adventure/RPG, FPS, Beat em ups etc.
Times have changes and so does my tastes, so here's my revised list (This time, only one game per franchise.) :
10 -
Castlevania : Symphony of the Night - Make no mistake about it, I love the Castlevania games, it's one of the few platforming game franchises I can really enjoy. This game exemplifies almost everything that has been done right with the franchise, with a new twist this time. Rondo of Blood almost makes this list, but the sheer fact that a) The SNES got shafted with a shitty port b) You don't get to play as Alucard makes it lose out ever so slightly.
9 -
Terranigma - The Soul Blazer trilogy is pretty impressive, but this last instalment is the cream of the crop due to the fact that the combat is very very streamlined, the controls are very responsive. There's also the great mental kick out of being able to resurrect animals and humans and watch them grow and prosper.
8 -
Final Fantasy 6 - Final Fantasy has always been an impressive game franchise before it hits mainstream with the comparatively mediocre Final Fantasy 7, metrosexual protagonists & antagonists, with either or both being emo gits. Quite fittingly, the series reached its crescendo right before that point with Final Fantasy 6, which had quite an impressive storytelling element for a videogame, a memorable villain which only further cemented my fear of clowns. Why this game is so far down the list is simply due to the fact that almost every single combat command is entered via menus, which is bloody tedious especially Cyan's sword skill bar. (This is probably why my favourite character of that game is Sabin.)
7 -
聖剣伝説 3 - You know, it is a very tough decision to decide between this game and Secret of Mana. Secret of Mana had better storytelling, better music and cooler characters. However, when you think about it, Secret of Mana has the difficulty curve all wrong ; The beginning of the game was punishingly difficult, but as soon as you pick up a library of spells (Which are ridiculously overpowered, by the way.) the game suddenly becomes a lot easier. The tech system of charged attacks is stupid and takes way too long for it to be useful. Levelling up your weapons are only good for getting stat bonuses. 聖剣伝説 3, on the other hand, starts off easy and pretty forgiving, and then becomes progressively more challenging as the game progresses, which is good. It also gives a lot of customization options like party members, which affect which main antagonist you have to face, class changes and stat upgrades. All of them contribute to a more enjoyable gameplay experience, and this is why 聖剣伝説 3 makes the list.
6 -
The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past - The story of a boy in a green tunic named Link going around collecting items, exploring dungeons and open areas and vanquishing evil has always had a certain charm. The gameplay is solid and the experience enjoyable. While many would cite the Ocarina of Time as the best Zelda game, I would say this wins out for one simple reason : It did the whole duality of worlds thing better, it has an intrinsic connection to the gameplay as opposed to just being there as a consequence of the game's plot development.
5 -
Tales of Destiny : Director's Cut - The Tales of series, like most franchises and series, has a history of starting out great, getting better, then decaying and festering into blandness. Tales of Vesperia and Tales of the World : Radiant Mythology are recent guilty examples of this. They might as well just have been released as mods to Tales of the Abyss, because the combat aspect uses the
exact same formula. It nearly killed my interest in the Tales of series altogether, then Tales of Hearts for the DS came along. Tales of Hearts owes its combat formula a lot to a previous game released for the PS2, which is a remake to an even older PS1 game. I am talking, of course, about Tales of Destiny. The PS2 remake is the best in the series, not because of its storytelling, music or even plot, but because its battle system is everything that it should be in a game like this. It is fast-paced, chaotic and free of any bullshit constraints like tech points arbitrarily holding the pacing of the combat back. The Director's Cut version of this games wins even more points because it gives the players the option to play the game from the point of view of the the antihero, Leon.
4 -
Half Life 2 - Out of everything Half Life ever released, this game wins out easily because the gameplay covers almost everything that makes FPS games fun. It is long, enjoyable from start to end with an immersive narrative. While I really want to nominate the original HL1 for this spot, the whole Xen thing ruins it for me. Stupid fucking giant spider with testicles. This game might just win top spot in my heart, but there are two things that it lacks : Large scale epic fights racking 3-4 digit kill counts and out of the box multiplayer experience. (I know there are mods that fix this, but still, I am talking about right out of the box experiences.)
3 -
Team Fortress 2 - This latest installment/update to the Team Fortress franchise is a bit of a controversy. Many people loved it, and some hated it, preferring to stick to TFC and Fortress Forever and keeping the status quo of the gameplay formula they are used to. One thing is indisputable though, while TFC and FF are very popular amongst fans of the HL and Quake anthology games, Team Fortress 2 brings people from almost all walks of life together, even those who have never touched a video game before in their lives. The constant updates, the free TF2 weeks, the achievements and the guest passes all adds up to a superior gaming experience that everyone (Who isn't seeking compensation for their tiny dick by bragging about their scores.) can enjoy.
2 -
Portal - I would say something here but Yahtzee in his
Orange Box review said it all. This game is fu
cking awesome.
1 -
Serious Sam : The Second Encounter - Do I even need to explain this? You + a shitload of guns and ammo + a shitload of monsters to kill + fluid movement and controls + co-op mode = Tons of endless fun. There's also an editing tool for mapping that gave birth to tons of mods and maps that makes the experience even better.
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.
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I made it the Subsistence package that way I get the two bonus original games, Snake Vs. Monkey, Demo Theatre and other cool bonuses.
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xD)
