Thursday, 6 February 2014

50 Greatest games of all time (part 10)

10. Bioshock


   For all the praise I already gave to Infinite, the first was better. Talking about how Infinite had one of the best endings in a videogame, the first Bioshock probably had the best twist (it's okay, it came half way in (also, I won't spoil it here)).
   The gameplay was fantastic as well, it had a kind of loose feeling that at first doesn't feel right by comparison to other FPS', but over time you realise that it's done like that on purpose. It's also not the first time that special powers in addition to guns have been in an FPS, but it is one of the best ways that it has been done, with the added moral choice in how you obtain the ADAM to be able to afford the plasmids in the first place. What is ADAM, well, a plot summary should answer that.
   The basics is that an underwater utopia was created for all the elite of society to live in a dreamland, and while they were there, scientists found sea slugs that created ADAM, a drug which helps humans heal, and gives them the abilities to use powers (such as plasmids), however, it also drives the user nuts. There was not enough ADAM created by sea slugs though, so they had to be put in the stomach of orphaned girls (who became little sisters) to create much more usable ADAM than from just a slug by itself. Due to Rapture creator Andrew Ryan's belief for a free market, there was no restriction placed on the ADAM, allowing for former gangster Frank Fontaine to create cheap plasmids to spread to everyone, which Ryan wasn't keen on. Anyway, one thing leads to another, and by the time you get there, there has been a civil war, with barely any sane people left alive, and splicers (who are humans hyped up on ADAM, and have lost their minds), running rampant, while the little sisters try to stop them to try and harvest their ADAM (of course they're aided by big daddies, the diving suit wearing brute-like enemy that can kill you in seconds). You end up joining with Atlas in order to stop Ryan and create order back in Rapture.
   The main issue that i have with the game is with one plasmid, that you get towards the end of the game, allowing you to take control of Big Daddies (well, they protect you as if you were a little sister), which means you end up actively seeking them out so they can mow down the splicers and security droids for you, as opposed to sneaking past them.
   The moral issue explained earlier, comes upon the defeat of a Big Daddy, when it's time to harvest the little sister for their ADAM (this essentially is the currency to afford more plasmids), you can either rescue them from their fate, for a smaller amount of ADAM, or kill them to get the full amount. Depending on what you do, it can give you totally different endings, and for once I played it nice and saved them all (which is rare for me, as I'd usually just take the easy way out). So all I can say is, if you haven't played it, then would you kindly? (how cheesy was that?).


9. Toejam and Earl


   So, what genre was this game? This game was unlike anything else before, and (mostly) since. What more can you need other than 2 outer-space rappers who crash on earth that have to find the pieces of their spaceship to get home using presents they find for aid, and with earthlings to try and stop you (though there are a few that help, like the wizard, carrot man and viking).
   The brilliance then, was how it was done, you could either play one of two player, where the screen would split apart or some together as you got nearer or further to each other, not to mention the fact that you could high-five one another to share your life bar evenly between you. Another great idea, is falling off levels, and going down to the previous one, where you still have as much of the map uncovered as before, n=hence you should be able to get back up quickly, as you know where the lift is up to the next level, but of course, it doesn't always work like that. You could be spawned on the opposite side of a map full of enemies, or a floating bit of land in the middle of nowhere, with no Icarus wings to get you back on to land, so you can only go back down yet another level in order to get back up. The added beauty here is on 2 player, you could be 5 or 6 levels apart in the end, but in order to get to the next level that neither of you had been to yet, you both have to be in the lift together, so you could be waiting for you buddy for ages.
   There was plenty of humour in it too, with food like ice-cream and cake filling up your life meter, but things like cabbage taking it down. The enemies (or 'earthlings') were strange as well, going from the simple enemies like devils, dancing hula girls (who made you dance along) and giant hamsters in balls, to the harder enemies, like the vanishing ice-cream man, the chickens with a tomato cannon, and the bogeyman. Plus, levelling up is done by clearing squares on the map (which gives you extra lives, and builds your life bar, as usual), but they are done in rappin' themed names.
   If you can complete the game (which took me about 15 years to do), you get to go back to your home planet, have a look around and meet Toejam and Earl's families, which is a fun ending.


8. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion



   Ignore what others may say, this game was better than Skyrim. For console gamers especially, as it was one of the first major games on the Xbox 360 that showed what the consoles could do, and it was fantastic. It seemed (to me, at least) that Skyrim (the sequel) wasn't that much of a step forward after Oblivion, even though it was great. Both had great stories and plenty to do on the side, but Oblivion had the arena, and the Oblivion gates.
   The main plot is that the emperor (Patrick Stewart! (well, voiced by Patrick Stewart, not a character actually based on him)) is killed, and with no direct heir to replace him, due to an old covenant, Oblivion gates opened across Cyrodill (the location of the game). Oblivion gates were gates to another realm full of evil Deadra (basically hell). Your job then, was to find the rightful heir, get the amulet of kings back from the dastardly Mythic dawn (a daedric cult, who are responsible for all this mess anyway, as they killed Patrick Stewart at the start of the game) and relight the dragonfires to banish Oblvion from the lands of Tamriel (the larger location of which Cyrodill is a part and all of the Elder Scrolls games take place).
   There is much, much more to it that this of course, especially when you add on all the guilds, like the dark Brotherhood, thieves guild, mages guild, fighters guild and the arena. On top of all these full on extra story like quest chains, there are plenty of single quests you can find exploring the land, artifacts to be discovered, Oblivion gates to be closed, weapons to be forged and much, much more. It is this freedom that really makes this game so great, and it also includes a fantastic piece of DLC in the horse armour pack Shivering Isles, which is another world which a gate opens too, and is such a different location to Cyrodill, that it makes it seem like almost a sequel in itself.
   It may not be the first sprawling, open world fantasy RPG, but it's by far the Best one that I've played, and it leads straight on to...


7. Fallout 3



   The spiritual successor to Oblivion was Fallout 3, both created by the same studio on Bethesda, based on the same engine, with similar areas of gameplay, and very similar in the fact that they were both incredibly good.
   The Fallout game series was created in the 90's by Interplay (remember them? they made Starfleet Academy) as a PC only top down RPG, but there was a 10 year gap between Fallout 2 and 3 (though there were some spinoff games in between) and when Bethesda had acquired the rights, there was only one way Fallout was going to come back.
   The basic idea is that the lore of the series goes seperate from the world as we know it during WW2 where different technologies were created, which led to robots being seen around 1950's decorations, which eventually lead to a war due to lack of resources that wiped out the USA after a nuclear war. The specific story of this game however, is the tale of your character truing to purify the water in the Capital Wasteland (where the game is set). It is a long route to get there, and again, like with Oblivion, there is tonnes to do outside of the main story, with dozens of side quests, hidden weapons, armour and other items, and some places just to go and explore, like finding Oasis, or the town of Cannibals, or the vault full of clones.
   There is so much in this game to wrap your head around too, from the different types of enemies, like the US military forces of 'the enclave' through to Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls, Centaurs, Radroaches and right the way through to Deathclaws, whilst also having help from the likes of Humans, Ghouls (un-feral type), your pet Dog, Fawkes, and more. Not forgetting the characters in between like the hotel full of the richer folk that still exist in the wasteland.
   This is another game that came with great DLC as well, 5 pieces in fact, and, although not all of them were winners (operation anchorage, Mothership Zeta), there was certainly enough there give you many more hours of gameplay, and much more to see and do, and much like with Oblivion, very different environments to explore.
   As an extra bonus, it probably has the most useful weapon i can think of in any game, The Rock-It launcher, that let you fire off all the useless junk you pick up around the game (cups kept on piling up for me), so you couldn't run out of ammo, because you could just keep firing the same cup over and over if necessary, as long as you could reach it first to pick it up, handy ain't the word.



6. Pokemon Red/Blue


This idiot made the wrong choice, who would pick any of the 3 other than Charmander?

   I'm not one for grinding, which is why I've never really got in to JRPG's, despite how great people always say they are (shut up about FF VII already), but for some reason Pokemon just grabbed me. It's the reason i bought a Gameboy and perhaps it was because of this easy pick up and play access, where you could just have a little play in the car, or at lunch at school, or while visiting your grandparents or whatever boring occasion you wished to fill, you could drop half an hour in to it, and advance. Then again, maybe it was simply the 'gotta catch 'em all' basis, because kids love collecting things (I remember the full Premier League sticker albums I had and backpack full of Pogs). For whatever reason, Pokemon became an obsession for me at the time, and even though i carried on playing right through to Diamond and Pearl, my interest couldn't be recaptured (probably because there were way too many Pokemon by that stage, and no age appropriate TV series to do a rap to tell me what they all were). Granted however, the GBA games of Fire red and Leaf green (which were new stories based on the original 151 Pokemon) was an inspired move, for me at least.
   The trick in these games was learning what type every pokemon was, what was strong against what other, which moves did the most damage and what was the best variety of team you could put together. It was far more tactical than it may seem to outsiders, and when you're first playing it and having to fight off Rattata's all the time (though you should catch a Pidgey early doors). There's a loose story running through the game as the player has to fight off Team Rocket (blast off at the speed of light) from capturing rare Pokemon, whilst also catching 'em all for yourself (not that you actually can), defeating the gym leaders, defeating the Pokemon league and finally getting Mewto when you no longer need it.
   There was some additional parts to the game too, like the bonus fighting gym, where you could get a free fighting type, one where you could get a Vulpix, and a hunting ranch to be able to corner and catch helpless pokemon by relentlessly throwing Pokeballs at them and chucking food in their faces as a way to teach young children playing the game the proper way to hunt for animals (or so it seems to me).
   There was plenty to do, and go back for, including fighting your friends in a battle to the faint over the wired up connection you could get on an original gameboy, including trading Pokemon too (which is how you 'catch 'em all' (but, if you're being given them in a swap with your friends, how is that catching them?)). One thing to remember though is not to get Pokemon yellow, screw Pikachu.
     

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