Wednesday 12 February 2014

50 Greatest Games of all time (part 11)

   This is it then, the end of the road, what will be top? what will only reach the lowly depths of 5th place? Well, first, here's a summary of what has come before.

50. Disney's Aladdin (Megadrive)
49. Lego Star Wars 2
48. Peggle
47. Dead Rising
46. Star Wars Battlefront
45. Assasin's Creed 2
44. Sonic R
43. Street Fighter 2
42. WWE Smackdown! Here comes the pain
41. Saints Row
40. Earthworm Jim 2
39. Red dead redemption
38. Batman Arkham city
37. Worms 2 (1997)
36. Championship manager 01/02
35. The Darkness
34. Fable 2
33. Minecraft
32. Dishonoured
31. Wii Sports
30. Pro Evolution Soccer 4
29. New super Mario bros. (DS)
28. Command and conquer: Red alert
27. Crash bandiccot 3: Warped
26. Just cause 2
25. Gran Turismo 2
24. Halo 4
23. Tomb Raider (2013)
22. Metal gear solid 2
21. Super Mario galaxy.
20. Sonic Generations
19. Timeslpitters
18. Xcom: Enemy unknown
17. Sonic the hedgehog 3 and Knuckles
16. Bioshock infinite
15. Mashed: Drive to survive
14. Grand theft auto 5
13. Call of duty 4 modern warfare
12. Sonic the hedgehog 2
11. The walking dead, a Telltale game series, season 1
10. Bioshock
9. Toejam and Earl
8. The Elder Scrolls 4. Oblivion
7. Fallout 3
6. Pokemon Red/Blue

   Please scroll down the older posts to see more insightful ramblings on the games, and a few gags too. Anyway, here goes the top 5:


5. The Last of us.


   So, I said in a previous blog that I couldn't decide on the 2013 game of the year between this game, GTA V and Bioshock infinite, well, I guess that I've chose now. 
   Just like Bioshock Infinite before it, the game focuses on the relationship between an older man, and a young girl (unrelated), who he is forced in to being taken care of. So, the basic synopsis is that it's some time in the not too distant future, and a fungal spore has taken control of most of the human population, with most either dead of turned in to plant like predators, whilst the surviving humans have to struggle to survive in Judge Dredd style locked away cities (though not as fancy).
   So, the game starts by introducing you to Joel (the main protagonist (and again, like Booker DeWitt in in Bioshock Infinite, is voiced by Troy Baker, good year for him)) and the horrible circumstances that make him such a hard ass in the future. So, fast forward 20 something years, and Joel is working with a woman (Tess) as smugglers in one of the police state style towns, and after things go wrong, you end up being offered double what you were after if you escort a girl (Ellie, the other protagonist) out of the zone and in to down town Boston (you're already somewhere in Boston). After a short while, you find out that Ellie is so important because she has an immunity to the virus, and hence the key to finding the cure, and, after finding the group you were looking for had been wiped out, Tess decides to sacrifice her self to the military in order to let Joel and Ellie escape (she had been bitten though, so it's not as noble as it sounds). The game then ends up being a journey around the country, trying to get to where you need to go, on what for a while seems like a wild goose chase (it turns out not to be, though you are messed around a lot), while the game tears at you heart strings constantly, with the collective amount of saddest moments in games ever made (I assume, there was a bucket load).
   The way the game makes you feel is a testament to how great the game is, and how well written it truly is. The gameplay is good and varied too, with more classic 3rd person action when fighting bandits, but more of a survival horror feel when taking on the infected, but what makes it so atmospheric is that for long sections in the game, no gameplay happens, and you are exploring the areas, but expecting something to happen at every turn of a corner. When the appearance of a giraffe walking by is one of the most memorable, and talked about moments in a game, you've got to know it's either terrible, or amazing (or Zoo Tycoon).


4. Mass effect 2



   After much talk about sequels and game series, we're back to another where the case of one standing above the others is accurate. Mass effect 2 however, from a story perspective, seemed list the least epic of the series, with the first setting the stage for all the events and Shepard (protagonist) learning of the 50,000 year cycle of the Reapers (a race of non organic sentient giant space ships) of wiping out all organic life in the galaxy has come again (not that they knew it had come before... until now!). This is whilst trying to fight off the Geth (a race of non organic foot soldiers, helping the Reapers to fight on land) from laying down destruction and the Spectre gone wrong, Saren. The third one comes around to having the Reaper Invasion of the Milky Way, and starts off with the attack on Earth, and it's your job to end the 50,000 year repeating cycle. Much has been made of the eventual ending to Mass effect 3, and the series as a whole, but i thought it was fine really, yeah, your decisions didn't factor in to the ending, but they factored in to the entire rest of the game, hell, you went around and spoke to everyone you knew from the game series before the final assault on Earth at the end, what more do people want? What's more, Bioware (developers of the game) gave in and released a new ending! it's your story, not the small group of moaners, most people were fine with it, just end it how you wanted to! Rant over
   Mass effect 2 then, seemed more like it stood alone, mostly battling the collectors, a race never mentioned before in the first Mass effect, and only in passing come 3. You had also been forced in to leaving the spectres and joining Cerberus, a group that tried to protect humans above all other races (but of course, your trying to protect all organic life, so there's a bit of a clash of interests (they did bring you back from death though, so you can't complain too much)). So, you build your team again and go to war against the Collectors, and the Geth, eventually finding out a big reveal on the Collectors (I wont spoil it here), an defeating a new type of Reaper.
   There is plenty great about this game, the combat is certainly far better than the first Mass effect, that was barely passable when it first came out, when I eventually played it some years later (I couldn't get in to it at release, when Mass effect 3 was announced and people were all excited, I played Mass effect 1 and 2 back to back in a month or so). Mass effect 2 took the kind of 3rd person action cover shooting that was so heavily used during the last generation of gaming and made a great game out of it, an, even though the first Mass effect had a great story, this improvement certainly made the 2nd one far more playable. There was also a change to some of the RPG elements, with the loot collecting style gone from the first Mass effect and more of an XP building improvement system in place. They also removed the random exploration of planets (which to be fair, wasn't very good in the first one).
   They did, however, add far more investment in to your team mates. You see, on every mission you could take 2 of them with you, each of them with certain abilities, so it was about picking which was best for which task (of course, Miranda and Jack were the dream team, because they just picked people up in the air with their minds while I shot them). You got to learn more about these characters than you did in the first (many returned from the original) in the form of loyalty building side quests, which also affected the ending of the game, where none to all of your squad could die depending on many variables (including on if you had completed the loyalty missions). These mission gave you more insight in to these characters and fleshed out the universe, making it seem like more was still happening beyond the building war (although you are often thinking 'do I have time for this? isn't there a war going on'?).
   Of course, I wouldn't recommend just playing Mass effect 2, you've got to play them all, and 3 is still a great game, but this one seemed to me like the best, and even though much of it seems inconsequential come the end of Mass effect 3, you'll have enjoyed the ride.


Okay, top 3, in to the business end, do you know what it is yet?


3. Portal 2



   Portal 2 was a masterful sequel to an already masterful game. It had a puzzle solving mode that seemed so simple, and yet could create such complex puzzles that you would get stumped over and over again, whilst feeling like an idiot, because there's not really that much to do, yet it could be so hard. Then there's the 2 antagonists, Wheatley (voiced by Steven Merchant) and of course, GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System).
   Wheatley then, is a computer core who helps Chell (protagonist) to escape the test chambers and eventually the facility, but comes across GLaDOS, who gets replaced as the controller of the facility by Wheatley thanks to help from Chell, only for Wheatley to turn on you, become power-mad and take charge of the facility and dump you, and the remains of GLados into the bottom of the facility, miles underground.
   GLaDOS plays not such an evil role as in the first, because, after these events, when she gets put in to a potato battery, you form a reluctant agreement to work together to stop Wheatley (as his idiocy will destroy the facility), return GLaDOS to power and escape.
   This sequel has a far more in depth story than the original (though to be fair, this is a full game, the first one wasn't) which delves in to the origins of Aperture Science and allows you to see where it came from and why it exists (I wont spoil it here though). It also allows you to see the facility in a different light, as it is set many years after the first, the facility is now in disrepair an parts of it are falling apart and it is overgrown with plants. As you are sent down in to the depths, you get to see the beginnings of the facility, that has more of a mid 90's feel to it, and as you work your way up, and come back towards the top, the decor of the environment follows suit, in a very well thought out way. This really shows how much care and attention Valve put in to this game.
   Of course, there was a multiplayer mode put in as well, and it was also very good. Even though the story is much lighter, there is one there as a (once again) sinister GLaDOS is looking for new test subjects, but needs robots (Atlas and P-Body) to learn the techniques to be able to find them. Granted, this just seems like an excuse for gameplay, but that's fine. Each area focuses specifically on one type of puzzle solving (there are 5 areas) and nearly all the puzzles require you to work together, and many are very well constructed, including parts where you and your friend (or whoever your playing with) need to be able to be in total sync in order to time a specific action. It is very testing but also very rewarding when you get through one of these difficult test levels together.
   On  a whole then, Portal 2 is a fantastic sequel to an already amazing game (I wonder why it's not been on this list yet? hmm...), that gives you a lot of back story that wasn't there in the first game, there is still plenty of humour in it, and if you stand around in areas where Wheatley or GLaDOS are talking to you for a while, they will continue talking and you'll be glad you stayed and listened. There is a fantastic art style throughout and a lot of challenge. What more could you want?
   


2. GTA San Andreas



   Forget GTA V (well, don't really, but it's about to make sense in the context of the sentence), San Andreas is the ultimate Grand Theft Auto (see). GTA 3 set the stage for what we have to day, and created a new genre of games that we've seen over and over again, from the getaway and Driv3r through to Saint's Row, Sleeping Dogs and Just Cause. Again and again we have the criminal element, car thieving, police shooting, pedestrian killing (wheeler dealing, WOOOO! Son of a gun!) action that has made people so happy over and over again, that's why people have copied this format, and why they are so popular.
   So, GTA 3 might have been the trend setter, but San Andreas set the formula in stone, with a sprawling open world and crazy storyline. Most importantly of all though, is the control system, they fixed them. Try to go back and play GTA 3 or Vice City now and you'll find it insanely difficult to control, and makes no sense from modern gaming control set ups, but San Andreas finally caught on, fixing camera, driving, targeting and other controls.
   By modern standards, Liberty city (in 3) and Vice City are quite small for open worlds, but San Andreas finally opened up, with 3 different cities, and greenlands, deserts, mountains and small towns (and more) in between. There truly was a big world to explore, an lots of secrets to find, and to drive around the ring of the map would take you a long time. The game also finally gave you easy access to planes and helicopters, including the Hydra, a Harrier copy that I'd constantly fly around the map with, thinking it was easy to land due to the turnable engines, but of course, I'd always end up crashing. Also, there was a jet pack.
   So, the story was basically about CJ (Carl Johnson) coming up from the street and gangs of Los Santos to end up running the city, whilst in between burining down Cannabis farms, buying businesses, becoming the body guard of a famous rapper and getting in to a 'scuffle' with Samuel L Jackson. It was far more insane than I'm making it sound here though. I never really play games through more than once (have i mentioned that before? (I genuinely can't remember)) but this appears on a very short list of those games, and is easily the longest on that list.
   Yet, it really is just the fun you can have messing around in the world that makes it, sure, you can do the same, if not more in GTA V, but back in 2004 this truly was incredible, and a true stand out game (hence it's high position). Also, it was set in the early 90's, so the music was awesome.


1. The Orange Box



   What a jip, this is a collection of games, not a single game, I hear you say. Well, I got it in one box (it was orange) so it's being counted as one. This also makes the top 3 a valve sandwich (with Rockstar being the meat I guess). There are plenty of acclaimed games collections down the years, hell, Metal Gear HD collection came out recently, and i remember there being loads of them back on the Megadrive, because when i rented them from Oscars (my local video and game rental store) you would get way more worth from your money because there was 3 or 4 games on them. Anyway, this is one incredible collection
   So, let's start with Half Life 2 (and it's episodes). Truth is, i never really played the first Half Life. My computer wasn't up to scratch as the time it was out, i ended up picking it up on PS2, but it was a terrible port (at least, so I've been told, and I hope that's true because it was awful) and i couldn't really get more than an hour in. This may seem to make my views on the sequel to be a bit strange (especially as i didn't play Half Life 2 or episode 1 until the Orange Box came out) but bare with me.
   Even though the game was the best part of 3 years old when i played it, the gameplay was solid. The shooting was very satisfying and it looked fantastic (i suppose that's the benefit of PC gaming over consoles, but i don't have £1000 to spend on a gaming PC so never mind (also, there's loads of great console exclusives, wheras most great computer exclusives tend to be smaller indipendent games, which i can play on this laptop anyway)). The story of course was great too, and had a nice road trip feel to it, which meant as you were travelling you were passing through all different kinds of environments so it didn't turn in to a boring setting like Killzone did (which has a sort of similar enemy).
   To cover the Killzone comment then, the story is that you are awoken by the G-Man to save the day again (yes, i know what the plot of the first half life is, i can read), and due to the resonance cascade that Gordon Freeman (you) caused in the first half life, the alien species known as the Combine invaded Earth an quickly took control, turning Earth in to a police state, even having humans join the Combine as members as the army). Gordon Freeman has to help restore the Earth to human control. By the time you get to the end of Episode 2 you haven't really gotten very far with that, spending most of the time cleaning up the constant messes you cause. You do make many friends along the way, and there's plenty of twists, and as mentioned, varying environments, from City 17 to Ravenholm, and from a canal to an ants nest (lots more too). You still get to face more enemies than just the combine though, with the likes of Headcrabs and their zombie like infestations of humans, antlions, hunters, striders and many more. The main problem with Half life 2 is, of course, the cliff hanger ending and that since then we've been waiting 7 years for episode 3, come on valve, forget your Steam machines and get to it!
   I'll do a bit of a bad news sandwich now and cover Team Fortress 2. I say bad, that's not at all fair, I barely played it. It was around the time I was playing a lot of COD online with friends, and none of them owned the Orange Box, so I couldn't convince them to join me on it, so subsequently, I'd only played it a few times, as I wasn't overly keen on playing an online FPS alone when I could do it with a group of friends on another. Sorry Team Fortress 2, my comment is no comment.
    On to Portal. There isn't much more to say that i didn't in the coverage of Portal 2, but I'll try. Portal definitely started something special, and even though the same team had made Narbacular Drop before (which had a similar puzzle solving idea) Portal was where it took off. Maybe it was because it came in the Orange Box with the highly anticipated Half Life 2 episode 2, and also bought Half Life 2 to console gamers, that it had a wide spread catch of players, that gave it a go and found it great, It's hard to say if the game would have ever have taken off if it hadn't been in the Orange Box, but you have to suspect probably not. (it's a good job it did though, because we probably wouldn't have gotten Portal 2 without that having happened).
   Anyway, on to the actual game. Talk about a meme factory. GLaDOS was introduced to us, with her insane desire for you to complete puzzles to learn about you, and yet hoping for your death, with fantastic writing for GLaDOS and the promise of cake a friendly cube. You can also follow along Rattman's guide to the maze of test chambers, how to escape, his truths about the cake and love for the companion cube. GLaDOS quickly became one of the most beloved villains in video game history, and to top it all off, she sang 'still alive' at the end (I say her, Ellen McClain would be more accurate, as she was the voice of GLaDOS). 


   So, what do you think of the list, do you agree or think I've missed yours, or some obvious games (Final Fantasy VII, Mega Man 3, MGS, Counter-Strike, Theme Hospital etc.). If you're on google plus you can leave a comment, and you may be honoured with a response... thanks for reading and again, scroll down to older posts for more depth on numbers 50-6

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