53 replies to this topic

[Brother Agatone]

Just though I'd post my top five games, and the one game that I WISH I had never bought.

1. Dishonored
There are no words to describe this.

2. Assassin's Creed III
Got it right off the bat without knowing much about Assassin's Creed, but after playing for ten straight hours, it was sad to stop to sleep.

3. Fable III
I liked how it was open world and let me do things that other games do, but I hated having to switch regions constantly with massive amounts of loading screens, but it still had a good storyline, and was pretty awesome.

4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
I generally don't like call of duty, but black ops two was good. I liked zombies and the campaign was better then previous call of duties with the ability to customize and I like how it had some parts where you could choose for yourself, but I still despise the multiplayer like all call of duties.

5. Halo 4
I hoped this could take fourth, but I didn't see anything special about it. the campaign had a good storyline and pristine graphics, but I felt like I was confined to these places, rather when Bungie did it, it seemed more open and you had little bit more freedom. I hold the multiplayer in high esteem due to it's various modes and style. Also I miss killing brutes and scarabs, so that was a downer, but overall great game.



Now the game I absolutely wish I had never ever ever ever EVER bought is Modern Warfare 3. Waste of forty bucks, for a shit game. Two was better, but if you put the two campaigns side by side the only difference is the setting and some weapons. I hate this game. Multiplayer sucks, survival sucks, and spec ops was a little better, but overall this game is a COMPLETELY UTTER PIECE OF SHIT.

Please post your top five, maybe I might find my next number 1-5.

[An_A10_Pilot]

Hmm.... Top games? Oh my.

1) My favorite game of all time? Oh man this is a toughie. I'd have to say though, it would be my first game on my n64. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The exploration, combat, and secrets in that game are a blast and I recommend it to any one who has never played it. It's an awesome game and a classic. The feeling of joy and fun as a kid link to the growth to adult link and the scaryness of the shadow temple make it an extremely varied game. Also, just to put it out there, FUCK the Water temple. The Spirit temple in this game is on of my favorite dungeons of all time, using parts of kid and adult link, along with the fun from gerudo valley, just exemplifies the fun of just one part of the game. Lastly, the MUSIC to this game. The songs in the game are excellent, unique, and catchy. The tone perfectly fits with the events, pacing, and character of the different parts of the game. To this day, I can sit down, write down a music staff on a piece of a napkin and write out almost all the songs note for note. Even with all the jokes about Link's feminity, he is still one of my favorite protaganists. Lets see you lift 1000 tons of granite. XD

2) Next on my list of favorites is Rome: Total war. It is an outstanding mix of real time and turn based strategy, based in one of my favorite time periods to study. The battles take into account weather, unit morale, flanking and a lot of tactics that you can think of. The only downside is the Diplomacy, but who needs diplomacy when unleashing a barbarian hoarde? This game I enjoy for the challenge as well as the battlefield thinking. The only thing that takes away from the game is that you can pause it mid battle, so you can just pause and constantly re-evaluate your orders instead of reacting is a manner similar to real life command. Overall, an excllent game that I still play to this day.

3) Command and Conquer Red alert 2. This real time strategy game is what got me into pc gaming. It's speed, sillyness, and just plain fun are all awesome. I have installed it in all my computers and still occasionally play it. From there I have gotten all the C&C games. This is closely followed by C&C generals. Im including bother for this pick.

4) Portal/Orange box package. Portal is the most fun puzzle game I've ever played. It is decently challenging due to its use of all 3 dimensions as well as physics. But what makes the game is the storyline and most central to that, GlaDoS. Her extremely dark humor and perfectly timed lines made me die from laughing several times. Add on to portal, the half life 2 games. Another excellent series, but I see it as tied to portal thru the orange box and am including them together. Another excellent story line and a fun shooter, it was pretty open and could be solved with a multitude of weapons and vehicles.

5) I love Halo 3. It was my first dive into console shooters. (Begin the heretic hunt, I own a N64, but no Golden Eye) After playing it I immediately went and bought both halo and halo 2 playing thru all 3. The campaign for 3 was a nice way to end that particular trilogy. The thing that stands out the most to me about Halo 3 was the multiplayer. It was among the most balanced multiplayer games ive ever played. It was shenanigan tastic and in general a lot of fun. I made a lot of good friends thru that game simply thru team shenanigans. I'd recommend it to anybody.


Honorable Mentions : Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls, and CoD: MW.

Now for the one game I find the biggest waste of money to date. Something I wish I had never bought. This is easy.

HALO 4.
In my opinion, it fell flat on its face. The campaign was confused about its identity. It couldn't decide if it was story of the loss of Cortana or the fight with the Didact. I felt that they tried to cram too much stuff into too short of a campaign and lessened both arcs of the the story. It just switched so suddenly and rapidly that there was little to no pacing. Now, onto the part where my little rant really starts to kick in.

The multiplayer is not Halo. It does not feel like halo. Halo - halo 3 multiplayer I could pick up and play for hours. Halo 4 multiplayer i can play no longer than 40 minutes and I only pick it up now if somebody else asks me to. The whole class system and spawning with weapons felt like a fundamental shift towards Call of Halo. You get to spawn with several weapons and all kinds of grenades and other stuff. This is completely different from the first 3 halo games. Reach was tolerable and I was glad to see growth. No change causes stagnation and that is the last thing I want to see in bungie.

One of my biggest gripes about the spawing with w/e weapons you want was plasma pistols and plasma nades. This complete shuts down all vehicles on all maps. You can be the best hog driver in the world, doesn't matter because the enemy team has 8 plasma pistols at all times. Oh and grinding for that stupid operator perk? hah. So, I sold my copy of Halo 4 and I gladly recommend that option to others. I wish that 343 would re-evaluate and hopefully improve halo 5 so that it (while growing and changing) re captures that halo spirit.

/end rant.

[Brother Agatone]

Bungie did halo right, before I got my xbox I would go to my friends house and play hours of halo 3 or reach. halo 3 campaign was one of the best, I'm looking forward to when it's free.

[CruciasNZ]

• Command and Conquer (N64)
• Age of Empires II: Age of Kings & Conquerors Expansion
• Star Trek Armada 1
• Sins of A Solar Empire Trinity + Distant Stars Mod
• Halo: Combat Evolved (XB1)

Subsequent Halo games were good (until 4) but none of them soaked as much time for me as Halo 1 did. I was still playing it 16v16 lan when Halo 2 was out

[Da Dealer]

1.dead space is just awesome just a fact 2. Dark souls. You can spent hours upon hours exploreing , PvPing, trying different builds. 3 the walking dead, story is awesome. 4. Far cry 3, good story and gameplay multiplayer is a fun little extra, 5. Cod world at war ,multiplayer was fun playing , and anything world war 2 is just awesome. Most disappointkent. Aliens colonial marines. Grapices sucked, story was shit, multiplayer was ok but could of. Been better

[Authrix]

1: Timesplitters: Future Perfect. Hilarious game, a map creator that's actually fun to use (Yes, I'm calling out Halo's Forge mode. Come at me bro.) and a good storyline. It's got zombies, time travel, hippies, robots, evil Russians and an Imperial shit ton of weapons.
Oh, did I mention you can make your own missions?
As well as Arcade mode, more options than most other games (Sure, everyone has Capture the Bag and Team Deathmatch, but Flood ain't got nothin' on Virus.), cat racing, monkey curling and zombie boxing. Inside all this is a balanced shooter that works as a competitive, or better, as a great game for four mates to destroy each other in. The AI is actually challenging to fight, but has a decent learning curve.
Oh, and you have health and armour bars a'la Goldeneye. Never mind this regenerating health rubbish (Thanks CoD )
TL;DR: Best FPS ever devised.

2: Half life and sequels. The game almost every FPS today owes its current state of existence to. Genre defining, the story becomes incredibly involving during HL2, though Blue Shift is also a worthy mention. When the almighty Gaben releases Episode 3, this series and TSFP could be having words.

3: Team Fortress 2. The Steam community is great. This game is free. It is very fun, well balanced, and all official maps are kept clear of hackers and the like. Play vanilla, then find Saxton Hale, Deathrun and Zombie Fortress games. (Note this is the PC version. The X360 version is just... no.)

4: Dawn of War. Ok, so I'm no RTS nut, my macro isn't great and I don't know my timings well. But that's fine, because Dawn of War understands that I'm here for the 40K: I want to watch heretics burn, not constantly worry about if I have enough wood to research flint axes. While it doesn't catch the 40K universe perfectly, it still does a commendable job, and with supporting mods really comes close to a true representation - The well known No limit, Firestorm over Kronus and Project Dumbass mods manage to get this to number Four.

5: Borderlands 2. This game. It's hilarious. It has a bazillionty guns. It also has a load of DLCs.
"But Authrix, added content isn't a reason to put a game down!" No, I suppose you're right assumed voice of the reader. But the problem is, I'm not made of money. I can't afford to buy the game, then all the DLCs for it. Would I like to? Yes, of course. But I can't. So it is with envious eyes that this falls to number five. To do this game justice though, I should probably mention the size of it, the great sense of humour running throughout, the accessible storyline, diversity in the classes and the vast number of playstyles you can adopt, that multiplies dramatically playing as part of a team.
But nah, I'll end saying that I have looking at these DLCs, and then my empty wallet.

Honourable mentions: Minecraft, League of Legends, Guitar Hero, Pokemon.

Game I wish I'd never bothered with: Halo 4.
Oh. Dear. God.
I'll start with the good point. The campaign was ok. Multiplayer with friends is alright. The rest needs a serious overhaul. The power balance between weapons, vehicles, and even certain maps is just ridiculous. Only two maps are played in Big Teamfights, Valhalla and Exile (or whatever it's called. You know, the one where only ONE TEAM can have a scorpion, and the other team have practically 0 chance of taking it, unless the team taking it are utterly incompetent.)
Difficulty spikes in the utterly typical and mediocre campaign make each section frustrating, rather than entertaining, a constant struggle to bother to get past the endless amount of Binary rifle toting opponents simply to kill the Didact in a crappy Quicktime event. Jesus, even killing Nemeroth in Spess Mahreen has some challenge to it, but instead the closing cinematic (let's not pretend here) allows you to press one button to end it. Or was it two? Who cares, actually. Only die hard Halo fans and myself bothered to get through the generic and shallow campaign to find it. Telling the player to go through the campaign again with skulls on doesn't count as extending the life of a shoddy, at best, game.
And they didn't even give us the courtesy of a Firefight mode.

And the worst part? It's still better than Reach.

Rant over.

[Doomdrinker1]

1) The command and conquer series. All the way from the first to the current one I have grown up playing this game hell even when I had a PS2 I would go back and play Red alert and retaliation (Also Kane has not aged at all through any of the games go back and look at the cut scenes from the first one with nod in to the most recent one they are identical HE IS THE TRUE PROFIT. FOR THE BROTHERHOOD.)

2) Star trek armada II. It was a great RTS in space and had a lot of really good lore in it as well as a great campaign. K'apla!

3) Minecraft. This game is not given enough credit in my eyes people say that it has no set goal or consistent things but that's the beauty of this game I have spent many day practically building the exact same thing in other peoples worlds just cause. Its a great sandbox game to just lose yourself in.

4) AirMech. It is a great unique Action/RTS game were you have you whole RTS elements of building units to destroy the opponents main base but it also mixes in the fact that your curser is a mobile Mech that can transform into an aircraft which can then carry units over obstacles and is extremely mobile. Is a great game that is a free to play that can be picked up on steam if you are a fan of Mechs or RTS then go check it out.

5) Halo 4

Spoiler

Forge fooled ya

you can say what you want about everything else in halo 4 but the forge mod was amazing building your own custom maps then being able to paly then with friends and say hey I made this is great.

[TechGerhard]

1.Section 8 Prejudice- This game is everything I love about an FPS and more. You can't customize how you would look per-say but you can customize how effective everything else is, from armor/shield strength to how fast you can run. Awesome multiplayer that is always full and eventful. There is too much positive in this game for me to say here. I love this game more than my entire Halo collection...oh and it's less than $15 from the get-go.

2.Star Wars Battlefront II-My first FPS, always fun to play it, whether it's campaign, conquest, splitscreen, or iconic character fights.

3.Halo CE (original)-Do I even need to explain this one? Great campaign, music, graphics for it's time, enemies, weapons and the wholesome Halo 1 Magnum pistol.

4.Godzilla Unleashed-I don't always play fighting games, but when I do, I play a giant monster fighting another giant monster.

5.Mario Party 2- Gotta love the N64, with loads of fun mini-games and board game-esque gameplay, this was the only video game that brought my family together on game nights.

[Opeth Of Epica]

I'm writting my as of how, but it's a long read.

[DAN8808]

1. Mass Effect 3; most engaging storyline I have ever experienced.
2. Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms; Local 4 player, beat em up style rpg on PS2
3. Assassin's Creed series until AC3; Connor sucks compared to Ezio.
4. Red Dead Redemption; Best open world game thus far.
5. Dawn of War; I mean 40k strategy game, can't go wrong there.

Honorable mentions: Space Marine and the original Front Mission for SNES

[JC 042]

• Kingdom Hearts 1&2: My favourite games from childhood, never had so much in games before this before. Had me hooked with the story and feel of the game.
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion: Do I need a reason? Only that it's not first?
• Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness: I know this was possibly one of the worst Tomb Raider games (due to how tremendously broken it was on release) but I seriously enjoyed it compared to the more modern ones, although Tomb Raider (the new one) was still pretty good.
• Star Wars Battlefront 2: My most favourite multiplayer game of all time. Campaign wasn't half bad either.
• Dawn of War: Winter Assault: Loved the campaign of it. No other reason.

Most disappointing game?: the Nintendo Wii. It's not a game, but I hated it so much I hated every single game I had on it, except Guitar Hero.

[ajar1189]

Top 5 games played:

1) EvE Online - The biggest Sandbox game you will ever play. Also one of the only games where you have hundreds to thousands of players fighting each other in a single spot.

2) World of Warcraft - Great game until Pandas. Lots of great content and quite fun to play. However, it does get stale after a while.

3) Halo 1 through 3 - Amazing FPS.

4) Final Fantasy Series - I've played FF6 - FF13 (excluding 11), and they have all been phenomenal games. Excellent storytelling, combat system, RPG and easily my favorite games.

5) Mass Effect Series - Pretty much same as Final Fantasy Series. Amazing storytelling, combat and length. People hate on the ME3 ending, but really you shouldn't be playing for the ending. It's all about the journey, and the Mass Effect series is one hell of a journey.

Honorable mentions: Super Smash Brothers series, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, League of Legends, Dark Souls

Top 3 games I wish I never bought:

1) Defiance - boring

2) Space Marine - worst programming ever

3) Guardians of Middle Earth - worst programming ever

[DTdante2787]

Yep, my turn...gonna mix in some classic and some very recent stuff

1) Devil May Cry 3:Special Edition - Where to start with this one? This game goes right to the top for many reasons, one of which is the shear number of times I've played it...on 3, count 'em, 3 different ports (PC, PS2, and XBox360).
Even now, this game holds up as the best of the series, distilling all the best aspects from it's groundbreaking predecessors into a blockbuster game. The controls are tight, the combat insane, the characters & story, awesome. There's a level of customization to fit your play style as well as well as a ton of unlockables...so all around, definitely deserves #1

2) Borderlands 2 - I got this game not knowing it was a FPS. For those who don't know, I don't really like FPS games...I'm almost exclusively a 3rd person gamer. However, this game is phenomenal. It's the kind of addiction that should have a surgeon general's warning attached to it. Doing quests, adjusting your character, finding guns, selling guns, shooting guns...my god...there really is nothing bad you can say about this game. (I'll cut it short since BL2 has already been mentioned a few times)

3) Metal Gear Rising:Revengeance - This game I had been looking forward to for a while since I heard about it. While it did come under fire for being a little short and diverged from the stealth roots of it's predecessors, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. Again, the controls are good and tight, and the unique blade mode completely redefines the hack and slash genre. Being able to literally cut at will (as they advertised) is what makes this game so great. In a world where gaming companies say one thing then do another, it was refreshing to see them make good on their promises. The story had interesting points, however, honestly you're gonna be more focused on slaughtering enemy cyborgs than anything else the first go round. There ARE unlockables that aren't DLC. The DLC is hit and miss...some of it is awesome (the MGS4 suit and Bladewolf story...which brings the stealth back into the game because wolf isn't as tough as Raiden)....while others are downright awful (yes, Jetstream, we are looking at you). Still, a ground breaking game...definitely hope for a sequel

4) Bloodrayne - Speaking of ground breaking, here's an almost forgotten gem. The first Bloodrayne game was ridiculed by many gaming snobs for being a forgettable, by the numbers vampire game with eye candy. However, what most people fail to notice is just how much they packed into this thing. Think God of War was the first game you could grab an enemy from across the screen and bring 'em in for the kill? Nope, Bloodrayne did it first...3 years early I might add. The hack and slash was fun, as well as the feeding mechanic ('nuff said). You could pick up and use just about any pair of guns you wanted...just all around, a violent, sexy romp of mayhem. The final boss is still one of the trickiest to take down. Oh, and did I mention there's a level where you get to pilot a mech? Yes, that happened. Also, it happens during WWII, and who doesn't enjoy dismembering Nazis? I've spent many hours both on PC and PS2 thoroughly enjoying this game (yes, this is a theme, if I've spent a LOT of time playing something barring Space Marine, I probably really enjoy it)

5) Painkiller:Overdose - And last and most likely completely unheard of, Painkiller:Overdose. This is a PC FPS game I discovered a demo of completely randomly one day, and fell in love. Why? Let's see here...the main character is a half angel half demon with a vicious sense of humor...one of his first weapons is a head he ripped off his demon jailer (that kills things with lasers from its eyes or a scream...I am not making this up). All the weapons are over the top, with 2 separate firing functions. Each level is unique, ranging from Asian locales to WWI to even the US Civil War. It has a steam punk look to it, and certain levels remind me of Suckerpunch (the movie)...with more gore. It's one of the funnest games you've never heard of (and if you have a dark sense of humor, you'll enjoy it even more)

Honorable Mention (because I can): The Gears of War series, Halo CE, Bayonetta

Alright, we covered the good ones. Now, a game I have complete hatred for, a game I was ready to pitch out the window 3 blocks in whatever direction. Yes, that kind of rage

I am talking about Resident Evil 6. Oh. My. GOD. Worst game I have ever played. The map, useless. I'm all about challenging, but when EVERYTHING in the game is trying to kill you while you are just trying to figure out where the hell you're supposed to go next, FUCK THAT.

Oh yes, and lest you should say, "maybe survival horror isn't your cup of tea Dante, you're just overreacting" yeah, let me address that. This game doesn't know what it wants to be. The opening scene is so over the top, you are left with the real possibility that a bunch of 10 year olds wrote the story. "Oh, you know what would be awesome?" (insert ENTIRE game story here). Then there's the fucking car chase. WHY THE HELL is a car chase in this game?! I want to kill zombies, not chase some clone of another impossible to kill chick through china or where ever the fuck it is.

All around, this game is horrible. The controls were the only thing that DIDN'T suck (and Leon's character design)....but it takes more than that to save a game that was probably written by Michael Bay

[Brother Agatone]

I thought is surprising to see space marine as one of the worst buys considering we all play space marine, but technically I'd feel the same way if I hand;t got it so cheaply off of amazon.

[JC 042]

It's worst buy for me as well because I should of waited and payed £10 max for it instead of preordering it.

[ajar1189]

Despite playing it alot it is complete shit technically. It is also completely unbalanced and just not polished at all.

And don't get me started on all the "adults" that are actually children that play it.

[Opeth Of Epica]

Here's my top 5 games i've ever played (I put a lot of effort into this so please read in full, or at least number 1 ):

5. Soul Calibur 2 (PS2/GC/Xbox)

Spoiler

http://images.eurogamer.net/articles/a/5/3/3/3/6/TST38B15.jpg/EG11/resize/300x-1/quality/91

Pretty much the perfect fighting game and I played this constantly as a kid. This game had fighting games down perfectly with it's easy to learn, hard to master mechanics appealing to all gamers and with the concept of having a weapon based fighting allow no projectiles with brilliant balancing within each character being a welcome change. The amount of options this game are downright monstrous with having a campaign for all 20 characters, having 7 weapons for each character with having to unlock 6 and a Weapon Master mode with had different paths and challenges to unlock the weapons you desire. To be honest this is the best replay value you’ll get out of a fighting game outside it’s sequels although they are not as good as Soul Calibur 2 (3 would match it if it wasn’t for the save glitch of doom)

It doesn't even stop there, with graphics that still hold up to this day, brilliant stage designs and my personal favourite fighting cast in fighting game history with excellent variety in play styles, different interconnecting motives and there is something to like about each character (e.g. Voldo's Avant-Garde style and Maxi's cocky yet charming brashness). With the HD re-release coming soon, I implore everyone to spend your hard worked funds to play this masterpiece 'cause if you’re a fighting game fan or looking for something different (I am in the latter since I suck at Fighting games), this game is a must buy. This game would be higher and talk more about it if I wasn't so bad at fighting games.

4. Bioshock (X360/PS3)

Spoiler

Before anyone say's anything, no I haven't played Bioshock Infinite although I really wish I have. Despite this however, I can always look at this game as brilliance. This game is achieves something which a astounding acheivement for a game, which is the fact that story and gameplay go hand in hand with them both being the focus of the game and one doesn't hinder the other. This is amazing by itself however the fact that the story and atmosphere is as good as it is, is the main reason this game has become legendary in my eyes. The story is exceptional, dealing with betrayal tastefully along with politics, civil war, moral choice (the concept of devouring little sisters for your own personal gain) and how addiction can ruin the even seemly perfect society. Along with this is the two main antagonists that carry the narrative forward with them being *** (Spoilers) and Andrew Ryan who in my eyes is still the greatest gaming antagonist of all time. What's makes the story almost perfect though is the atmosphere and pacing that carries it along.

From the compelling and flawless start all the way to the last fight of the game, Bioshock's atmosphere is realised to gaming's fullest with gritty and dark remains of Rapture truly portraying the fall of a great man's dream due to corruption and civil war. Many ways this is done is by it's simply gorgeous character designs showing the pain and effects of Adam addiction, vandalism of area's around Rapture due to how the city is naturally being destroyed by its underwater environment or graffiti by blood on the walls, portraying political ideas and having development and insight how Rapture came to its downfall by audio logs which is the point about pacing.

This game does right what lots of games in my mind wrong (e.g. Mass Effect) or terribly wrong (e.g. Dishonored, fuck me the story in that was dreadful in every way) which is nothing drags and everything in the game which is important is either revealed at the right time, or at your own leisure. Despite this when I mean your own leisure, the games doesn't rely on its audio logs (or other medium in other games such as books) however they actually matter (unlike Dishonored which had awful characters and tried to compisate with lots of books littered throughout the world to expand upon it which ultimately almost meant mean fuck all). All of this depth and more which continues to unfold in Bioshock 2, the characters and everything else make this games story and atmosphere an achievement that all game developers should aspire to reach.

Futhermore along with such an amazing atmosphere comes a brilliant sound track. The soundtrack is fully composed of ambient sounds and 50's music, fully as haunting as you would expect. One example would include in Fort Frolic (my personal favourite part of the game) where you enter a shop with a radio in the back ground turned on. The words come out saying "How much as that Dog, in the Window?" as you walk down a cellar full of headless mannequins, making you wonder "The fuck is going on?". Moments like this are truly genius as you are trying to survive in Rapture.

Despite the fact that the story and atmosphere is what ultimately made the game ascend to legendary status, it's still backed up by great gameplay. The game mixes FPS mechanics with RPG elements and super powers known as Plasmids. This gives you many options how you want to murder your foes by either blasting the shit out of them, set them on fire and laugh as they try to get away or do an assortment of both by unleashing a swarm of bees out your fingertips and follow up with a shotgun round to the face while he's staggered by bee stings. The battles with Big Daddies are the true highlight of gameplay since provide some great strategy and are truely memberable fights. Add in some hacking, taking pictures to analyse your enemies, different ammo type, there truely is fun to be had here so there's strong gameplay to support it monsterous narriative.

Despite all these incredible achievements, there's are 4 flaws within this game which hold it back. Firstly is that the game is too easy and in my eyes, provides no challenge after the first 4 hours and add the fact that the endings are disappointing (not awful, they both make sense and ties things up but they are still disappointing compared to what they could have been), makes the experience even though stunning, not a hard fought one with a disappointing outcome. Along with this is the fact that replay value is low, since it's a linear experience with not much reason to replay it outside the achievements and the story’s depth. Lastly is the texture pop-in that occurs in the game since even though the game was jaw-dropping for its time (and still holds up), it was ran with Modified Unreal Engine 2.5 which sometimes couldn't handle the game at its full frame rate.

Although the game is flawed, it's once in a generation positives outweigh the negatives and is ultimately a game that has to be experienced due to its fun and quite varied gameplay, stunning story with flawless pacing, depth and atmosphere. If you want a single player with high emphasis on story instead of a typical FPS or a RPG to sink into, this is a must buy.

3. Bayonetta (Xbox 360 Version)

Spoiler

The modern day king of hack and slash gaming with it only being second in the hack and slash genre to Devil May Cry 3 by a hair. If where's one word to describe Bayonetta, it's fun. Non-stop, don't give a shit, over the top fun with this game bombarding you with epic, epic, and more epic until you punch God's soul into the sun (yes, you literally do that). Some (who have clearly hasn't played this game) would say the game is all style, no substance with no intelligence story or gameplay wise to back it up although they are clearly wrong and there's many reasons why. One of them is Bayonetta herself who is by far the best female video gaming character in history in my opinion and definitely top 10 protagonists in gaming history.

She firstly takes all female game characters stereotypes and Wicked Weaves them to oblivion. Until her almost female characters were either damsel in distress (e.g. Princess Peach and Ashley from Resident Evil 4 *urrrrrrrr >:3*), healer characters in RPG's, Sex Symbols (e.g. Lara Croft and Morrigan from Darkstalkers) and 'badasses' with the character of a fucking brick wall (e.g. Farah in The Two Thrones and Lara Croft). There has been other great female game characters such Farah in Sands of Time, Princess Ming from Lost Odyssey, Samus Aran in Metroid (until Metroid: Other M killed her) although there hasn't been to my mind where I not only adore the character, but one of the main draws of the game is her. Then Bayonetta came along and said "Let's Dance!"

She does everything she does because she wants to. She licks lollypops during fighting 'cause she wants to, she poses in sexually suggestive positions during combat because she wants and she dances to sexy jazz while walking on dead bodies because she wants to. It's all feels in character, creates 'fan service' and parodies 'fan service' and over sexualising female characters in games all in the course of a 10 min cut scene. I'm a guy, I like boobs, but don’t want nothing but boobs and no substance in my gaming characters therefore to see this in my mind is brilliant. Along with this nothing that Bayonetta does feels unlikeable. She’s extremely unique by her voice, mannerisms and her combat style and when her character is being developed, it does it in a minimal way to not get in the way of the over the top, extremely fun combat (although at one point of the game this is a flaw, which will be referred to later). This game (unlike a lot of games) doesn't need that much development story wise at all, and carries it out with the care free, over the top charming swagger with little charming touches (e.g. Bayonetta's relationship with Luka and the flawless ending credits) which makes this game a gem. It know what it needs to do, which is doesn't over complete things and performs it's over the top Hack and Slash glory spectacularly to the sheer glee for the player.

This brings me to another amazing feat to the game, its aesthetics. Everything looks great graphically with some astonishing detail on Bayonetta and the rest of the Character models although it's the designs that truly steal the show. All the designs oozes creativity and are stunning from the default Angels, to the razor like speed Gracious & Glorious to the larger than life bosses. It feel like they truly above and beyond the art design of Bayonetta and the backgrounds portray this even better with Paradiso looks simply Angelic as it reforms the entire game to a Ethereal like world and Isla Del Sol is a visual masterpiece (i'll let you see it yourself ). Along with the aesthetics is the simply wonderful soundtrack. The soundtrack (and the game to an extent) is mainly centred on the song 'Fly Me to The Moon', originally written by Bart Howard. You'll here this song multiple times around the game in many different ways, finally climaxing with the final rendition of Fly Me to The Moon in the credits in my personal top 3 moments in gaming. That along with its brilliant main theme you have a killer sound track.

But what's the most important part of Bayonetta like, the gameplay? Your answer as awesome, as it should be. The best thing about Bayonetta's gameplay is that it appeals to all crowds of play despite in being a hack and slash. It's easy to complete and witch time will be a joy for casual games although you have to work for its higher grades and the Lost Chapter/getting Pure Platimum on everything is a fucking nightmare. Along with this you have weapons that mostly have different uses (although not as in depth and balanced as DMC3) and accessories to assist you in battle in interesting ways with you able to switch weapons in battle to create some nasty combos. Nothing feels cheap; everything is very responsive and has brilliant enemy variety to always keep you interested. With these options of weapons, large weapon variety, very fluid feel, sharp controls on top of Bayonetta's trademark style, you'll have nonstop fun from being, to end, and then after.

Which brings to another strong point to Bayonetta, its replay value. With its grades, the store, many difficulties, the Lost Chapter, you'll want to get better to overcome the games challenges with Bayonetta's style never ceases to make it a riot throughout. Despite this it's lower then DMC 3 for a reason. In my opinion both games are amazing and they both have their advantages over the other although DMC:3 wins if you compare the two slightly (although that's for another day). Firstly the main thing that people may not like about Bayonetta is the story. The story itself is really good and the extra info about the world is rather interesting, although it's told badly unfortunately. Examples of this would include the flash backs feel like they don't mean that much, Bayanetta's relationship with Jeanne isn't fully fleshed out, and the worst example the beginning and ending cut scenes in mission 16. The beginning of it drags on badly and results in the only boring part of the game due to the idea of the creator thinking that having a newly introduced character to talk for 5 mins, very slowly and expect you to give a shit. As for the ending cutscene, it has a clever plot twist although the way the game has told it is very confusing and you won't probably get it the first time round.

The second thing is DMC3's gameplay is simply better then Bayonetta's with details why in my write up for DMC3 and unfortunately as with Bioshock, it's can't handle everything on screen sometimes which results a drop of frame rate which rarely happens, but it's noticeable when it happens (despite that being a minor nick pick). Despite these flaws however, at the end of the day, the only people who I can see not enjoying this game is very boring people, or people who just don't like hack and slash games. This is worth your money and more and I guarantee this, you will adore Bayonetta herself from the first moment you'll see her in the first cut scene.

2. Devil May Cry 3 (PS2 with HD collection released on PS3 and X360)

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There will never be a game ever again that will match the gameplay of this game in my opinion........ever. It's the most fun, most technical and one that will consume your life the moment you slide or spray down your first Pride. Unlike the others on my list, the main appeal to this game is just how fucking amazing it is to play, and I’ll indulge you why. Firstly the main reason why it's the best of the best is its class system. In DMC 1 and 2 you could already see what Dante could do, so this game you can play to your strengths and how you want to play. You have 4 classes in the game, with two to unlock which the first 4 have 3 levels of mastery (which you unlock though playing with them). Each one completely changes not only your playstyle; but how you also how approach different segments of the game itself. It nearly becomes 6 different run throughs of the game it's that diverse since those advantages you'll depend on and makes certain parts of the easier, but also other parts harder.

But having a certain playstyle doesn't limit your other areas, it just adds far more options to one certain area of your character or give you a class exclusive power so your still able to do other things. An example is using a class that adds to your current powers is the class Swordmaster. Basically your character (Dante) can either Shoot, Attack with your sword in a few combos or dodge. Swordmaster gives you far more different types of attack for each sword you have with example being able to do a combo in mid air or throw your sword at the enemy. So even though you are now way more powerful with your sword, you still can shoot and dodge as well. An example of a class adding a power to you is Royal Guard which allows you to block and use your enemies’ power against them. This system adds a insane amount of replay value, experimenting with different classes to see what works for you at different spots to overcome the games very hard challenges (seriously Dante Must Die can go fuck itself).

Adding to this is the weapons you have on offer. Unlike Bayonetta and especially Ninja Gaiden, every weapon is equally as useful and different as the other with you having 5 swords and 5 guns which range from a 5 foot sword, Rocket Launchers and an electric guitar with a blade that summons bats. Each one as with the classes, give even more ways to approach a mission with each one having different benefits. With all these options on offer it's useless if the actual controls aren’t good. Thankfully even though they’re not as fluid or as easy to get used to as Bayonetta's, they still are great (and are definitely better then Ninja Gaiden's stiffness). They are razor sharp, and are very well done when you get used to them. The only real complaint I have is that the controls are from Dante's perspective, not your so some of your dodges can botch (although that's strangely balanced since it makes it even harder to dodge so it encourages you to use Trickster although it's frustrating when you react correctly but still get hit).

What also needs to be mentioned are the enemies and bosses. The enemies AI in this is great and the variety on offer in insane. There are many different types of enemy for every encounter so you find to think on the fly constantly with enemies ranging from ranged magic statues to the 7 sins, which are the 7 main sand based enemies in the game all completely different to giant chess pieces. What makes the AI so great is that they react to your playstyle. If you’re staying at range, the enemy will try and be more aggressive and if you heavy on your sword, the enemy will flank and pincer you constantly (especially if they're Lusts ). The bosses are all very different and have a lot to offer. Each will take something different to take them and will test you to the limit and they are not only looking great, but each one are stunning gameplay wise.

Despite all the praise I give this game's gameplay, all the other factors of the game are still top notch as well. The art style is simply gorgeous with the Gothic art style standing out and the story is well done as well which is very surprising since the story for the 1 and 2 sucked. The voice acting is great, great flow with good characters to drag the game along very well along with some amazing cut scenes. Add this with a rocking, memorable sound track and you're good to go. Despite this however, there are flaws still with the dodge mechanic mention above and the fact that Bayonetta is simply a better experience then Devil May Cry in my opinion. Bayonetta's music, especially main character, aesthetics and pure scale are better than Devil May Cry. Bayonetta may be the more enjoyable experience; however Devil May Cry is a better game so that's why it comes out on top by a very thin margin. With the best gameplay ever in a game, great Gothic aesthetics and story with some rocking tunes to go with it you have a game worthy of your attention in every way.

1. Deadly Premonition (X360 Version)

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This is it, my favorite game of all time and by far the most infamous on the list. For those who don't know this game, it's regarded as a cult classic with describtions of the game include "2010's Greatest Game to Ever Be Made in History of the World" (Somethingawful.com) to "awful in nearly every way" (IGN US) to even a "beautiful trainwreck" (Destructoid). This game is so polarising it's even in the 2012 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition as the "Most Critically Polarizing Survival Horror Game". You will either hate this game or you will adore it. As for me, i'll go with the opinion this game is perfection and something that everyone who is 16 and above needs to play once in their lifetime.

Before I go on to say how fucking awful everyone on this site is for not playing this masterpiece to best calmly inform you on why this needs to be in your gaming collection, I must say a few things first which is quoted from Somethingawful.com:

• The graphics are terrible
• The character models are terrible.
• The animations are terrible.
• The weapons are terrible.
• The combat and controls are terrible.
• The sound effects are terrible.
• The map and guidance system is terrible.
• The music is terrible.

Got it? Now try to comprehend this: All the flaws listed above which are in the game make the game better. If you face is currently like this: , then you're on the right track because you're now intrigued therefore you going to read the rest of this post .

You play as Special Agent Francis York Morgan who is in my mind the greatest protagonist in gaming history. Why? Well in the first cut scene in the game he drives a sport car....while on the phone.....while on the laptop.........while talking to his imaginary friend Zack who he talks to constantly above old horror B-movies that no one knows while driving. As you see, within 5 mins of the game, he already made a greater impression then all gaming propagandists have done in 4 hours. And it's only doing to get better because you've enter another world where logic doesn't exist which is only going to get weird, better and more rooted into your heart (I’ll get to that later). You've been sent to investigate a murder of a woman who has been crucified on a tree with her stomach torn open with red seeds being left on the scene. Upon crashing you car and making your way to the nearest settlement and eventually you manage to make it to Greendale and you meet the town's Sheriff, George, and his partner Emily, two people equally determined to apprehend Anna's killer. These two people you'll treat like brothers for the rest of you game because you'll actually care about them (something many games manage to fuck up) while you're scared shitless from the Raincoat Killer

Throughout your time in Greenvale, you'll realise something that is an extremely odd concept in gaming (especially to non gamers), you're starting to love this place. I'm being serious, you'll treat Greenvale as your second home and you'll love every flawed yet loveable character in Greenvale who each one is more unique the last. You become a citizen in their weird little town. You'll do chores for them, you clean your shirt to not disappoint your peers (and if you don't do that you get fined for being a 'Stinky Agent', I’m not kidding) and you'll find out more about each person's life and back-story (especially Emily's and George's) along it's flawlessly done narrative. This leads me to why this game is perfection. The pure affection you'll have for this little town will be more then almost anything in any art form you'll come across. The level of emission this game has, how flawless the story is and how strong the characters are puts not only all of gaming to shame, but most literture to shame.

Along with this is all the neat, weird little pointless things in the game that you can do because you just can. You can go fishing if you want, you can talk to Zach in the car about old movies while you’re driving to your next destination (yes, driving. These is no quick travel in this open world), you get hungry and tired so you need to sleep and eat regularly, you can shave in your hotel room, you can look though people's windows, the list just goes on. All of these pointless somehow, as with everything little thing in the game, just seems right. This game just feels like an insane B-horror movie with bad production and all. All these characters, pointless add-ons, humorous dialogue and a dose of 'something isn't right about this place' makes this story and area the greatest video game experience you'll ever have.

"But Callum", some moron will say over their computer (probably JC) will ask "How can this be perfect when only the Story and atmosphere are godly", well good sir, I’ll remind you of this games 'feel'. As I said before, this game just feels like an insane B-horror movie with bad production and all (the fact that this is influenced by 'Twin Peaks' is definitely a contributing factor to this), so this game's only good (being understatement of the year) attributes are its story, B-Movie atmosphere and world which resulting in world class immersion. Well I argue that all its flaws adds to what makes this game brilliant. For example "The map and guidance system is terrible.” This is a positive thing in this game because a massive appeal to this game is feeling like a citizen in Greenvale and being fully immersed. Because of this flaw, it's like real life where you actually have to learn where every stop is in Greenvale except for places which you have to go to trigger a mission to start. This in term makes you feel like oddly more a regular since your practically living in Greenvale and learning to drive from and back, just like real life.

Still not convinced? Here's another example: "The music and Sound Effects are terrible." This is a good thing in this game because it add to the atmosphere of feeling you’re playing a B-movie horror flick since it has the same low value production values and terrible mixing associated with those type of movies so the flaw is making its positives better. As you can see from my examples, every flaw makes this game’s positives better so it's a wrong being a right situation. As I said before, this game doesn't obey logic and it is awesome because if it. This game is literally a beautiful train wreck, and I adore it to death. When I finished Deadly Premonition, I literally didn't want it to end. I want to stay in Greenvale and experience more of the world I grew so found of. I've never had this feeling from a game and I’ll never will again.

Deadly Premonition is on the internet in abundance and there is literally no reason for you not to try this odd masterpiece.

Deadly Premonition: Flawed and Weird....... but Pefect. Welcome to Greenvale

Thanks to anyone who actually read any of this post (since it took all day and number 1 is a hearthelt post). I would include honorable mentions but it will take more work then i'm willing to do.

Thanks, Opey.

[JC 042]

Hoooollllyyyyy shiiiiitttt!!!!!!

You weren't kidding. I'll try read it all, but I'm goin bed now.

Emphasis on the "try", I could probably read the Da Vinci Code faster!... Well the summary on the back cover at least...

[Opeth Of Epica]

Hoooollllyyyyy shiiiiitttt!!!!!!

You weren't kidding. I'll try read it all, but I'm goin bed now.

Emphasis on the "try", I could probably read the Da Vinci Code faster!... Well the summary on the back cover at least...

4,619 words, I really need a life.

I hope some will read at least some of it though, but at least i've done my best .

[Brother Agatone]

I'm sorry, but I couldn't get through one word of that, I have more patience for reading my mythology book for honors lit.