30. Pro Evolution Soccer 4
(Note: Sorry, I couldn't find a single image that didn't make this game look bad).
In my mind this has to be the single greatest football game of all time. Maybe it's just because I had some a memorable career made going, I'm not sure. What i do remember is the great editing system. You could change your kits to anything you wanted, add sponsors (good chance for jokes there) and even when going in to a match, you could decide which shirt/shorts/socks combo you wanted from your 2 kits (of course, this led to the difficult task of making 2 kits that were different enough to play against teams in similar kits, yet similar enough to be able to swap the shorts/socks around to make it look more interesting when you got bored of the kit you had (of course, you can't change the kit before then end of the season, that would be sacrilege)). Plus you could change players looks, appearance and stats which led to you being able to create teams of your friends or celebrities or a legends squad from your own team. You could also stick your master league (the career mode) team on to a memory stick (what an invention!) and take it round a friends to challenge theirs. I remember often having friends around to play a 4 team league with the teams from our own careers.
But what about the actual game? Well, it was the just a slight iteration on the previous one (as football games tend to be), but at the time the ball was in their court and Fifa was down the tubes, so they didn't really need to do much. It was however, the first time players aged on master league so you could no longer just buy a team of world stars, and stick with that team forever, which was good because that tended to get boring pretty quickly (although this meant what i finally got around to signing Ronaldo (the classic Brazilian one, not this Portuguese wannabe), he was already past his best, whereas in previous ones he'd be the 60-70 goal a season man (and he cost an arm an a leg too).
Of course also, as with all the Pro Evo's of the time, you had better empty out some memory card space before you start, because you're probably going to be filling them up with goals! Saving goals was great at the time, you could watch the old strikes, realise the ones that you had saved from when you first got the game really aren't that impressive by the standards you had when you re-watched them and then delete them, then regret it because you like being able to see all your old players that were involved it said match and then curse yourself for not keeping your own spreadsheet of stats for player records for your club, even though you had thought about it on the previous iteration of the game, and had this exact reaction then too! Or maybe that's just me.
So this game doesn't make it for being a superb game to play, even though it was, but I've been addicted to a lot of football games down the years, it makes makes it for all these great extra touches which come together to form one glorious whole.
29. New super Mario bros. (DS)
Okay, so we're about to run in to a heap of platformers, so strap yourselves in to a (mostly) 2d chair an get ready (although I will try and spread them out a bit).
As mentioned earlier, I was a Sega kid and so never really played any Mario games until I got to university where I lived with people who had grown up on Nintendo. They let me play some of the nes and snes classics, but I just couldn't get in to them, but when I got a DS I figured I might as well give it a go as it reviewed well, and even if it wasn't great, I'd still enjoy it to some degree. Much to my (pleasant) surprise though, it was great (hence why it's on the list)!
If a person who had grown up on Nintendo were to play this, thought I'm sure they would think it was great, definitely wouldn't be any of theirs favourite. For me it showed what I was missing as a child whilst seeming to have a slower learning curve than the old games (which, having been playing a NES game 20 years later first was proving really steep) which allowed you to pick it up in your own time and at your own pace (maybe a little to slow at times (in 2013's Super Mario 3D world, this was very noticeable (as mentioned in a previous blog))). It's got a nice variety of different style of levels too, with some in swamps, some in the clouds, some in the desert, and they all looked great on the small DS screen too. Plus, as an added bonus, there was no gimmicky touch screen stuff (well, there was, but you didn't have to do it). It had great bits of speedy platforming (my speciality, and you'll see why soon), slower bits, puzzle sections and of course, the weird stuff in the ghost houses. Easily one of the best handheld games I've ever played, well, in fact, the 2nd best, as you will also see later.
28. Command and Conquer: Red Alert
Most everyone of a similar age to me must have played this game, having been available on playstation and PC and the huge hype surrounding it at the time. It was still relatively early in the start of the RTS genre, and the fist C&C had released just the year earlier, also to much acclaim, but this game bought with it much more depth. There was a lot more variety, allowing you to unlock a plethora of new vehicles, troops and defences when you bought certain buildings and other upgrades. Obviously as a real time strategy, both (or more) teams all played at the same time, trying to gather resources and build up their base to not only prevent enemy attacks, but ultimately take down the enemy base.
There was a multiplayer element but as i had it on PC and was never very tech savvy, I was only able to play it once, and it was so long ago i can't really remember it now (i did play a lot of red alert 2 multiplayer though, although Uri's revenge ruined that eventually), but it was probably disappointing as i realised as i got older, all you needed to do was be the soviets and build a bunch of mammoth tanks. I was there for all that time, with Tanya, a team of engineers and those floating transport things trying to sneak in and take their base over from under them when i could have done that all along, what a fool! (if you were the allies, just get one of those big boats instead of said mammoth tank).
The campaign had an interesting plot behind it, if not fully developed, but that was done over the course of the whole Red alert/Tiberian series, but don't ask me to explain it, because I didn't play about half of the games (Including renegade, would you believe?). Stand alone though, the campaign missions were interesting as stages instead of just doing skirmishes over and over, and there was a map editor in there too. Of course, trying out a new strategy was always fun, but the question to ponder on the end of this is, what was the point of the walls?
27. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Back on the platforming pretty quick then, even if it is a 3D one. Crash had a great life on PS one, made as their mascot platform star to rival Sonic and Mario, a series of 3 great games, with carting and party spin off additions everything looked rosie for Crash. Ultimately though, Naughty Dog were only signed on until Crash 3, then they went off to make their own platforming mascots in Jak and Daxter (and god knows what they've been doing since, probably nothing of note). Sony gave up exclusive rights, with crash heading to the Xbox and Gamecube too and almost a replica of Crash 3 was released in the wrath of cortex (but with better graphics).
So, the first Crash game was great, but as it was set on a tropical island, a lot of the levels tended to look the same, with the only real variety coming from riding a pig and boss fights. Crash 2 then bought us in to what Crash would become with the warp rooms leading to different variety of levels, then Crash 3 Perfected it. A great variety of levels, all the dodgy ones got rid of (bye bye jetpack), new types added (future!) and some old classics refurbished (great wall of china).
It also added a multiplayer element (sort of) with the relics, used for time trial mode, where, you and a friend(s) could take it in turns to try and out-do each others time trial scores. So it wasn't technically multiplayer, but it could be used that way. There was plenty to go back fro too, with the relics being one, the box gems as well, where you had to get all the boxes, and a couple of bonus levels to find along the way as well. You could go back and access any of the previously completed worlds at your own leisure too. so when you had unlocked a new skill (eg. wompa launcher) you could go back and get the pesky box you just couldn't quite get to before.
26. Just Cause 2
If the Saints Row series was GTA over the top, then Just Cause 2 is GTA gone mental! For one, the map is way too bug, I'll just get that out of the way right now, most of it is jungle and ocean, and it's crazy big, and there is no need, it just means that it takes forever to get across the map. On the other hand, this does mean more military bases, government hideouts, fuel depots and airstrips to blow up (even though they could've put this same amount in a map half the size). The basis of the game is you are an US agency operative sent in to Panau to take down it's rogue leader, but ends up in some world superpowers struggle for oil where the mission ends with Rico (you) and Panay (the bad guy (no, not Razor Ramon)) fighting hand to hand on nuclear missiles high in the sky, because that makes sense, obviously.
The main aim of the game is to cause chaos around the island, this unlocks the next story mission so that you can progress. Chaos is basically caused by blowing stuff up. You get great tools for this too. Firstly is your trusty arms/vehicle black market dealer, who will deliver what you want by chopper, right at your feet, any time, any place. Obviously you have to pay, and level it up before you can get the really good stuff, like RPG's, attack choppers, tanks, fighter jets etc. But by this point, money is never an issue anyway. Second is your parachute, that you can use as much as you want, and a lot of this game takes place in the air, due to it Panau being full of mountains and high up buildings, easy access to aircraft and number 3, a grappling hook. This hook allows you to attach to anything. See a plane below your chopper you want? No problem, simply jump out, grapple it and climb aboard. Have you got to chase a guy down in his car? No problem, just attach your grappling hook, open the parachute and enjoy a parasail until he comes to a stop (is it still parasailing if it's on the land?).
So basically, you can fly around in your jet fighter, fire heavy missiles at a government base, set it on a collision course, jump out, parachute on to a ledge, shoot off some RPG's, call a tank in, parachute and grapple down to it, cause havoc, and when it's all done, there will probably be an enemy chopper waiting overhead to give you a 'lift'. It's simply one of the most plainly basic fun games I've ever played.
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