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10/10 games
- Thread starter Fishin
- Start date
I'm like, twenting Donkey Kong Country 2. I haven't played that game in years and I still remember how awesome it is. The gameplay, the music, the levels.. it's all so riveting. Hell even the graphics were amazing. I still have my SNES, but I lost the game.
I'm not sure if anyone's played as extensively as I have, but the .hack// games are amazing. After I learned to really play and not get annihilated by Skeith all the time, that is.
I'm not sure if anyone's played as extensively as I have, but the .hack// games are amazing. After I learned to really play and not get annihilated by Skeith all the time, that is.
wait what
I've played worse games than Jak II. Some were more fun. Some were so amateur I had the good sense to stop playing. But I hated Jak II so much that I couldn't let it beat me. And I should have.
I really, really hate that game. Bane of my existence.
I didn't like Jak & Daxter either, but at least I can easily explain why. The double jump adds almost nothing, the roll jump is a terrible idea and never launches straight, and there's a really perplexing problem where the depth perception the game gives off is always way off. There are rooms in Jak & Daxter that I could clear in two seconds if it were ANY other 3D platformer. It's kind of like playing Whomp's Fortress from Super Mario Galaxy 2 and realizing that it's really easy to get around with better controls; but times a hundred.
And all that is true about Jak II, plus getting around is a nightmare. But it's so much more than that. I'd need to break down every level individually to explain all that was just wrong about that game. Jak II is a rom hack. It's not challenging, you're just gonna replay every level until you squeeze all the shit it throws at you. Give me a nightmare difficulty on well designed game and that's a challenge that's also really fun.
I really, really hate that game. Bane of my existence.
I didn't like Jak & Daxter either, but at least I can easily explain why. The double jump adds almost nothing, the roll jump is a terrible idea and never launches straight, and there's a really perplexing problem where the depth perception the game gives off is always way off. There are rooms in Jak & Daxter that I could clear in two seconds if it were ANY other 3D platformer. It's kind of like playing Whomp's Fortress from Super Mario Galaxy 2 and realizing that it's really easy to get around with better controls; but times a hundred.
And all that is true about Jak II, plus getting around is a nightmare. But it's so much more than that. I'd need to break down every level individually to explain all that was just wrong about that game. Jak II is a rom hack. It's not challenging, you're just gonna replay every level until you squeeze all the shit it throws at you. Give me a nightmare difficulty on well designed game and that's a challenge that's also really fun.
what exactly was it about the game that made you hate it so much
I can't walk across a room in Jak II without being nervous that I'm going to glitch through the floor.
I didn't want to hate it. I bought all three games at once. Jak III was alot better. I don't know if it was good, but I didn't hate it, and I needed to play a game I didn't hate after Jak II.
I didn't want to hate it. I bought all three games at once. Jak III was alot better. I don't know if it was good, but I didn't hate it, and I needed to play a game I didn't hate after Jak II.
you must have had a bad copy of the game or something because I've beaten Jak II at least 4 times and not once has the game glitched on me. Also it really sounds like you're just bad at the games rather than the games being bad themselves, fwiw.
oh of course I forgot that he was the connoisseur of video games
breh
強いだね
Many of my choices have been mentioned, but:
Mother 3 (fan translation, but still) was really good and the battles were fun and the music is idiotically catchy.
A Link to the Past is still my favorite Zelda game; the game takes strategy to beat; the bosses in particular are fun.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA version esp.), while unfortunately short, was a very fun game. Bar that one level where you have to fly up with a koopa shell (which was suuuuch a huge troll when I first played the game), all of the levels are fun, sometimes even challenging. I'm surprised at how few people have mentioned this game. As a small note, the GBA version being portable makes it awesome.
Maybe NSMB DS - I loved the level design and absolutely loved the multiplayer. There's nothing better than playing that little minigame with a friend and watching the rage unfold. Except not that freaking pipe stage. Never understood why the multiplayer was changed to the bullshit that it is in NSMB Wii.
Paper Mario TTYD: In this game, the badges feel like a far more developed and immersive system. The battles are genuinely fun to play. Also, the music is awesome.
SMG1: The game has fantastic music, fantastic graphics, and fantastic gameplay. Need I say more?
Mario Kart DS: Ah, learning how to snake without knowing what snaking was. Good times. A really fun game that also had good online and really fun missions (don't know why they never returned..). Multiplayer, while a little akward without multiple MKDS carts, was also fun.
Brawl/Melee: I'm not a competitive player, so this game is pretty fun for me. I prefer Brawl for no particular reason; mostly just that I'm better at it lol. Pity that Brawl's lag is godawful; otherwise, it would have been amazing for me.
Donkey Kong Country Returns: I'm not a guy who buys much other than Mario. However, this game has thoroughly impressed me with its music, challenging gameplay, and general effort put into the game. Also, the acid trip fruit world was cool too.
Honorable mentions:
Donkey Kong Country 2: This game was the first DK game I ever played. It's also idiotically hard to the point of extreme irritation. If this game wasn't so fucking evil, I'd be kinder towards it.
Pokemon Pearl: The veeeery first pokemon game I ever played, it was amazing. Until I got Platinum. Which was pretty cool until SS... which was pretty cool until White... you get the point
Kirby Canvas Curse: It's really, really good, but you feel like the game is missing something all throughout. Still, the game is easily my favorite kirby game.
Drill Dozer: Am I the only one who played this game? Wierdest game ever, yet still really fun. Tragically short, but had interesting gameplay.
Yoshi's Island: Fun, but I always feel like it's cheating me when I die. The levels' huuuuge length makes death painfully irritating.
Zack and Wiki: It's unclear at times what you're supposed to do, but the game is colorful, to say the least.
Mother 3 (fan translation, but still) was really good and the battles were fun and the music is idiotically catchy.
A Link to the Past is still my favorite Zelda game; the game takes strategy to beat; the bosses in particular are fun.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (GBA version esp.), while unfortunately short, was a very fun game. Bar that one level where you have to fly up with a koopa shell (which was suuuuch a huge troll when I first played the game), all of the levels are fun, sometimes even challenging. I'm surprised at how few people have mentioned this game. As a small note, the GBA version being portable makes it awesome.
Maybe NSMB DS - I loved the level design and absolutely loved the multiplayer. There's nothing better than playing that little minigame with a friend and watching the rage unfold. Except not that freaking pipe stage. Never understood why the multiplayer was changed to the bullshit that it is in NSMB Wii.
Paper Mario TTYD: In this game, the badges feel like a far more developed and immersive system. The battles are genuinely fun to play. Also, the music is awesome.
SMG1: The game has fantastic music, fantastic graphics, and fantastic gameplay. Need I say more?
Mario Kart DS: Ah, learning how to snake without knowing what snaking was. Good times. A really fun game that also had good online and really fun missions (don't know why they never returned..). Multiplayer, while a little akward without multiple MKDS carts, was also fun.
Brawl/Melee: I'm not a competitive player, so this game is pretty fun for me. I prefer Brawl for no particular reason; mostly just that I'm better at it lol. Pity that Brawl's lag is godawful; otherwise, it would have been amazing for me.
Donkey Kong Country Returns: I'm not a guy who buys much other than Mario. However, this game has thoroughly impressed me with its music, challenging gameplay, and general effort put into the game. Also, the acid trip fruit world was cool too.
Honorable mentions:
Donkey Kong Country 2: This game was the first DK game I ever played. It's also idiotically hard to the point of extreme irritation. If this game wasn't so fucking evil, I'd be kinder towards it.
Pokemon Pearl: The veeeery first pokemon game I ever played, it was amazing. Until I got Platinum. Which was pretty cool until SS... which was pretty cool until White... you get the point
Kirby Canvas Curse: It's really, really good, but you feel like the game is missing something all throughout. Still, the game is easily my favorite kirby game.
Drill Dozer: Am I the only one who played this game? Wierdest game ever, yet still really fun. Tragically short, but had interesting gameplay.
Yoshi's Island: Fun, but I always feel like it's cheating me when I die. The levels' huuuuge length makes death painfully irritating.
Zack and Wiki: It's unclear at times what you're supposed to do, but the game is colorful, to say the least.
Seriously, play Crash Bandicoot. Play Uncharted. Play Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank. The controls and camera are really poor in the Jak series.
The city travel is just indefensible. That's a good chunk of the game too. I don't know how that doesn't take a few points off anyone's score. How did they not catch that in playtesting? They at least acknowledged it in Jak III.
The city travel is just indefensible. That's a good chunk of the game too. I don't know how that doesn't take a few points off anyone's score. How did they not catch that in playtesting? They at least acknowledged it in Jak III.
The controls are fine in the Jak series and you're just bad at them, which doesn't mean the game is bad. It just means you suck at the series. Sorry you had to find out this way.
See here's where the connoisseur thing comes in; I've pointed out what doesn't work about the controls and the camera (it also zooms in too much at times). I compare it to a wide variety of similar series (two of which made by the same developers). Even though I played the game maybe three years ago, I remember in detail it's technical issues. You return with a logical fallacy. You are not representing your game very well. Nor do you need to. I am so very glad that not every one fucking suffered through that game. It is not a fate I would wish on others.
Movement in a platformer should be as natural as riding a bike. Challenge comes when levels are so extraordinary and demanding of your character's abilities that it requires that natural control at its utmost. I remember one room vividly in the last level of Jak 1. It was two big spinning platforms, a normal platform in the middle, and some disappearing platforms. They were red gear looking things I believe. This is level 1 stuff in Crash Bandicoot. If I just sucked at the game, then I move that the Jak series is, with exception to myself, childishly easy by merit of level design comparison with other genre games. Of course we both know that's not the case as the games are famed for their difficulty.
Sometimes you aren't fighting a game, sometimes you are just fighting design. Control design, level design, doesn't matter. I could imagine everything working perfectly in Jak II, but then the game would be so easy they'd have to throw waves of enemies at you just to make it interesting. But if I recall correctly, they did play that card (and it's not a good card to play). So... at the end of the day what you really want out of Jak II is Jak III. Or better yet Uncharted 2.
Movement in a platformer should be as natural as riding a bike. Challenge comes when levels are so extraordinary and demanding of your character's abilities that it requires that natural control at its utmost. I remember one room vividly in the last level of Jak 1. It was two big spinning platforms, a normal platform in the middle, and some disappearing platforms. They were red gear looking things I believe. This is level 1 stuff in Crash Bandicoot. If I just sucked at the game, then I move that the Jak series is, with exception to myself, childishly easy by merit of level design comparison with other genre games. Of course we both know that's not the case as the games are famed for their difficulty.
Sometimes you aren't fighting a game, sometimes you are just fighting design. Control design, level design, doesn't matter. I could imagine everything working perfectly in Jak II, but then the game would be so easy they'd have to throw waves of enemies at you just to make it interesting. But if I recall correctly, they did play that card (and it's not a good card to play). So... at the end of the day what you really want out of Jak II is Jak III. Or better yet Uncharted 2.
The controls are fine. If I played the game right now, after not having played it for a couple of years, I could likely beat it without dying more than ~20 times. It's not hard if you understand the game mechanics, which apparently you don't since you're complaining about the most basic moves of the game like the double jump and roll jump.
By your same logic, Resident Evil 4 is one of the worst games of all time because you can't move and shoot at the same time. Beating that game with Call of Duty controls would be simple, and complaining about it because you think it's too hard compared to other games, and that the controls don't fit the style of the game when most people agree that they do, is laughable.
And I've played all the series you've mentioned in your argument. I've already mentioned that every one of those series are among my favorite games ever. The controls in the Jak series are no worse than any of the rest. Sure it takes a bit more practice to get down, but it's nothing too challenging as evidenced by the fact that you're literally the only person in this thread who isn't able to do so.
By your same logic, Resident Evil 4 is one of the worst games of all time because you can't move and shoot at the same time. Beating that game with Call of Duty controls would be simple, and complaining about it because you think it's too hard compared to other games, and that the controls don't fit the style of the game when most people agree that they do, is laughable.
And I've played all the series you've mentioned in your argument. I've already mentioned that every one of those series are among my favorite games ever. The controls in the Jak series are no worse than any of the rest. Sure it takes a bit more practice to get down, but it's nothing too challenging as evidenced by the fact that you're literally the only person in this thread who isn't able to do so.
But you shouldn't have to "get down" the controls in a platformer. This isn't King of Fighters or a Flight Simulator. This is a mascot platformer. Again, you are fighting "design". Ratchet, Sly, Crash, Uncharted, these games all control differently but they all control. Why even have a double jump if it only takes your over the smallest of gaps? Why not just have one jump? Why have a long jump that propels you five feet forward before lift off? How were these things an improvement over the way they worked in Crash Bandicoot? It's one thing to esoteric nuances to master, it's another thing to get used to controls that make me feel like I've drunk a bottle of bourbon.
Resident Evil 4 is the absolute last game in the world I would accuse of simplistic level design. The controls are also incredibly easy to use. That being one of the games selling points over its predecessors, after all. It's what the game forces you to do with good controls that makes it a good game. Jak II forces you to control. Even the enemies are really uninteresting and easy, the poor designer's solution being to fill levels to burst with copy paste enemies.
Let's explore more comparisons. In even the first Sly Cooper, the series advanced what platformers were capable of dramatically by allowing you to jump on pretty much anything. The game is even structured around learning new platforming abilities. Why does Jak and Daxter take more practice to get down when it has a fraction of the skills you need to learn in Sly Cooper? Uncharted 2 uses a more realistic platforming system designed to be more technical than your average Mascot Platformer. Still doesn't require "getting used to". The original Spyro the Dragon. There's a more technical platformer than has ever existed. There are many abilities necessary to reach 100% that the game flat-out doesn't even teach you. So thank God the controls were good.
tl;dr Nothing beyond fighting games and simulators should "take getting used to". When you fight controls, you fight design, not gameplay.
I'm not trying to be a douche. I have one game I hate, just one, and it's Jak II. I can even say that for about half the first game, I could look past the controls because the world seemed alive and I thought for early game levels, they were well designed. And Jak III is everything Jak II should have been, a mission platformer with alot of variety. I just can't think of a nice thing to say about Jak II. I didn't even like the story.
Resident Evil 4 is the absolute last game in the world I would accuse of simplistic level design. The controls are also incredibly easy to use. That being one of the games selling points over its predecessors, after all. It's what the game forces you to do with good controls that makes it a good game. Jak II forces you to control. Even the enemies are really uninteresting and easy, the poor designer's solution being to fill levels to burst with copy paste enemies.
Let's explore more comparisons. In even the first Sly Cooper, the series advanced what platformers were capable of dramatically by allowing you to jump on pretty much anything. The game is even structured around learning new platforming abilities. Why does Jak and Daxter take more practice to get down when it has a fraction of the skills you need to learn in Sly Cooper? Uncharted 2 uses a more realistic platforming system designed to be more technical than your average Mascot Platformer. Still doesn't require "getting used to". The original Spyro the Dragon. There's a more technical platformer than has ever existed. There are many abilities necessary to reach 100% that the game flat-out doesn't even teach you. So thank God the controls were good.
tl;dr Nothing beyond fighting games and simulators should "take getting used to". When you fight controls, you fight design, not gameplay.
I'm not trying to be a douche. I have one game I hate, just one, and it's Jak II. I can even say that for about half the first game, I could look past the controls because the world seemed alive and I thought for early game levels, they were well designed. And Jak III is everything Jak II should have been, a mission platformer with alot of variety. I just can't think of a nice thing to say about Jak II. I didn't even like the story.
Final fucking Fantasy VII
I don't care what anyone says, the story, the world, the sidequests, hell even the materia system, I fucking love it all. A game that you could spend 60+ hours on and not even realize it. Fantastic.
I'll also throw in Spyro I & II, both of which I've played through several times and are incredibly fun. Year of the Dragon would probably make this list but it had the modchip block on PSX so I haven't gotten around to it yet (copied version I had was bugged).
I don't care what anyone says, the story, the world, the sidequests, hell even the materia system, I fucking love it all. A game that you could spend 60+ hours on and not even realize it. Fantastic.
I'll also throw in Spyro I & II, both of which I've played through several times and are incredibly fun. Year of the Dragon would probably make this list but it had the modchip block on PSX so I haven't gotten around to it yet (copied version I had was bugged).
Definitely gotta back up the Spyro series, as alluded before. I used to debate with myself whether Spyro 2 or 3 were the best game in the series, but having recently replayed them I actually found Year of the Dragon to be relatively hollow and formulaic. I still loved it as a kid, played it a few times. But surprisingly, I think the best game is the first one. Sure, the second added a lot, but hear me out here. I think Spyro is more than any other platformer, a relaxation game. It's damn soothing to collect treasure to the music of one of the members of the Police. The mini-games in the later games just take away from that relaxation. Plus, it takes alot of nuance to totally complete the game. Between blind-flights and super jumps, and the tree tops level in Beast Masters is one of the best designed platform levels ever. Spyro 2 is also great for its own reasons of course, but Spyro 1 is a very underrated game.
What the fuck the original Crash Game has some of the absolute worst controls and depth perception i've ever encountered. Some of those Temple levels nearly had me kicking holes through the wall and biting fleshy chunks out of my own arm. How can you say Jak II is inferior to that in this particular way? Hell, growing up on the PS2 I find most 3D platformers from before that era almost unplayable, though admittedly beyond Crash and a short encounter with Super Mario 64 (annoyed me also) my experience here is limited.
I don't know what all this getting used to the controls is all about either, I found the Jak games to be easy to pick up. Crash? Ratchet and Clank? Fuck yeah, I'm a long time fan, and Jak II feels right at home among them in my hands in terms of control.
And if you're having trouble getting across the room without glitching through the floor, well I suggest you buy a new copy. I've played through Jak II more times than any other game I own except Pokemon Silver and never had such a problem.
What I found hard in Jak II was the enemies. The Baron's palace, Krimson Guards shooting from fucking everywhere, laser pointer turrets aaaargh. The Metal Heads in the sewers shooting lasers everywhere and then they all start falling from the ceiling and gang rape you...
I'm inclined to agree with Popemobile on this one. You may be a "connoisseur" but Jak II is not a bad game, you are bad at it.
edit: Worth noting, I still love Crash Bandicoot.
I'd just like to note that not once in this argument have I appealed to authority; you guys keeping bringing an unrelated statement up when I am arguing about the game and only the game. The Jak games are the only games I can think of with depth perception problems to the extent they have; which is to say the size and shape of distant platforms against the backgrounds are very misleading to the eye. You don't have this problem in Crash Bandicoot if only because the levels are very straight lines. The Temple levels specifically are horizontally set, so I don't think depth perception is the term you were looking for. Frankly the game controlled as smoothly a classic Mario game, and when the double jump was later introduced it was exactly that; twice the jump. I don't know what's so bad about that that Naughty Dog changed it. The long jump also worked perfectly without doubling as a somersault. How does that even make sense? A roll somehow propels you forward? What was wrong with using the crouch button? You naturally bend your legs when you try to jump far.
I don't think many of the enemies were really hard, but gang-rape is right. As I said before, copy-pasting the same enemy fifty times is not a substitute for having good enemies.
I've been bad at good games and good at bad games, and even mediocre at mediocre ones. This is nothing more than a straw man argument which wouldn't affect the quality of a game either way. I died way more times playing through Dante Must Die Mode in the original Devil May Cry than I ever did in all 3 Jak games. Difference is I'm fucking proud of that. You can have Jak II. It seriously distresses me.
I don't think many of the enemies were really hard, but gang-rape is right. As I said before, copy-pasting the same enemy fifty times is not a substitute for having good enemies.
I've been bad at good games and good at bad games, and even mediocre at mediocre ones. This is nothing more than a straw man argument which wouldn't affect the quality of a game either way. I died way more times playing through Dante Must Die Mode in the original Devil May Cry than I ever did in all 3 Jak games. Difference is I'm fucking proud of that. You can have Jak II. It seriously distresses me.
I have no idea what 4/6 or 5/6 casting are lol. I think I quit just a little bit before any of that. :P
I played from September of '98 until the day I got pissed off and deactivated the account. The main change was the item based nature of combat and item insurance, which effectively destroyed thieving and looting. I ended up giving my accounts to my brother in law who started in early '99 and probably played them until a few years ago.
Anyhow, this picture sums up why UO was probably one of the best games ever made:
I'm the shirtless one in the sexy purple skirt.
I'd just very creatively fucked over the complaining player ;)
Exploration:
Wind Waker I love just exploring an ambient environment. Wind Waker had it's flaws (islands that are clones of each other), but that feeling of exploring this massive sea, never knowing what might come up, is amazing. The graphics really seal the deal, making it feel like a fairy tale. Never have I felt more like I was on an epic adventure.
Metroid Prime I played all of Prime with the scanning helmet on, just reading the lore. The music, the attention to detail, everything made you really feel like someone exploring an alien planet, so very alone.
I know I should probably play morrowind and oblivion if I like exploration, just haven't done it yet
Strategy:
Advance Wars (1+2) The simple gameplay belies the much deeper underlying strategy. This is turn based tactics distilled to its most vital and rewarding core
Civilization 4 The Sid Meier formula works. You can play them for fun, creating an nation after your own choosing (want to play a slave whipping military empire or a peaceful, technology based republic? Okay on both accounts). Or you can play it as a strategy game, trying to go for different strategies or military pushes at different eras.
Alpha Centauri Another Sid Meier game. It does a couple of things better than Civilization. First, the factions are all individualized. Playing the Believers or the University of Planet or the Gaians are all radically different experiences. From this comes a much better story as well. The other leaders you fight really have personalities, both from ingame interactions and the quotes from the datalinks. Also, there is the unit workshop, where you can design any unit you want for your purposes.
Fall From Heaven A mod of Civ 4, but it is so different that it is really its own game. It trades a historical for a dark fantasy feel. The apocalypse is imminent, and depending on how far it has advanced, blights and dread creatures from hell will sweep the land. There are magic users, powerful barbarians, epic weapons, hero units and devastating world spells that can be cast once a game. Every civilization and religion plays extremely differently. A great overall experience
Europa Universalis 3 This is soooo much better than Civilization at historical feel. The mechanics are very in-depth, but once you learn them, man is this game rewarding. You can select any country from 1399 to 1850 (and I mean ANY country), and pilot them however you want, setting your own goals and personal "victory conditions". You can try to be the Iroquois and survive against European colonization, westernizing as quickly as possible. You can be the Byzantines, trying to found a new and glorious Roman Empire. You can be Ireland, trying to assassinate every Bishop in England. In my current game, I finally united Japan after 50 years of war, and have now made a proclamation that I shall rule every island in the world (Great Britain will be the hardest one...). This game has incredible replay value, further enhanced by the active modding community.
Competitive:
Starcraft Brood War This game has probably the most developed metagame of any video game out there. It is the game that made the term "Esports" perhaps not a joke. It's really not the game itself that is so good (though it does provide a good game with a balance between all the races and a balance between the strategies), but the competitive scene. I have hopes for SC2, but it has a lot of catching up to do.
Super Smash Brothers 64 Yeah, I like this better than Melee. It is slower, and so allows more thinking versus twitch reflexes (which makes me much better at it). Simplicity and fun distilled. I will grant that for casual games, Brawl is probably the best in the series, but Original is the best for competition in my mind.
Adventure:
Shadow of the Colussus This could have probably gone into exploration too. I'm sure you've heard it all before: the beautifully crafted environments, the feeling of awe and insignificance as you stare up at the beasts, the sadness as you slay something innocent and primal. There is nothing here other than what was absolutely necessary, resulting in a game of minimalist perfection.
Portal Like any good puzzle game, Portal gives you a simple tool and then builds more and more complex situations based around it. What makes Portal stand out is the uniqueness of the tool. Using the portal gun is just fun, and forces you to think in a very different way. Additionally, the story was perfect. Just like SOTC, there was nothing here that wasn't absolutely necessary.
Wind Waker I love just exploring an ambient environment. Wind Waker had it's flaws (islands that are clones of each other), but that feeling of exploring this massive sea, never knowing what might come up, is amazing. The graphics really seal the deal, making it feel like a fairy tale. Never have I felt more like I was on an epic adventure.
Metroid Prime I played all of Prime with the scanning helmet on, just reading the lore. The music, the attention to detail, everything made you really feel like someone exploring an alien planet, so very alone.
I know I should probably play morrowind and oblivion if I like exploration, just haven't done it yet
Strategy:
Advance Wars (1+2) The simple gameplay belies the much deeper underlying strategy. This is turn based tactics distilled to its most vital and rewarding core
Civilization 4 The Sid Meier formula works. You can play them for fun, creating an nation after your own choosing (want to play a slave whipping military empire or a peaceful, technology based republic? Okay on both accounts). Or you can play it as a strategy game, trying to go for different strategies or military pushes at different eras.
Alpha Centauri Another Sid Meier game. It does a couple of things better than Civilization. First, the factions are all individualized. Playing the Believers or the University of Planet or the Gaians are all radically different experiences. From this comes a much better story as well. The other leaders you fight really have personalities, both from ingame interactions and the quotes from the datalinks. Also, there is the unit workshop, where you can design any unit you want for your purposes.
Fall From Heaven A mod of Civ 4, but it is so different that it is really its own game. It trades a historical for a dark fantasy feel. The apocalypse is imminent, and depending on how far it has advanced, blights and dread creatures from hell will sweep the land. There are magic users, powerful barbarians, epic weapons, hero units and devastating world spells that can be cast once a game. Every civilization and religion plays extremely differently. A great overall experience
Europa Universalis 3 This is soooo much better than Civilization at historical feel. The mechanics are very in-depth, but once you learn them, man is this game rewarding. You can select any country from 1399 to 1850 (and I mean ANY country), and pilot them however you want, setting your own goals and personal "victory conditions". You can try to be the Iroquois and survive against European colonization, westernizing as quickly as possible. You can be the Byzantines, trying to found a new and glorious Roman Empire. You can be Ireland, trying to assassinate every Bishop in England. In my current game, I finally united Japan after 50 years of war, and have now made a proclamation that I shall rule every island in the world (Great Britain will be the hardest one...). This game has incredible replay value, further enhanced by the active modding community.
Competitive:
Starcraft Brood War This game has probably the most developed metagame of any video game out there. It is the game that made the term "Esports" perhaps not a joke. It's really not the game itself that is so good (though it does provide a good game with a balance between all the races and a balance between the strategies), but the competitive scene. I have hopes for SC2, but it has a lot of catching up to do.
Super Smash Brothers 64 Yeah, I like this better than Melee. It is slower, and so allows more thinking versus twitch reflexes (which makes me much better at it). Simplicity and fun distilled. I will grant that for casual games, Brawl is probably the best in the series, but Original is the best for competition in my mind.
Adventure:
Shadow of the Colussus This could have probably gone into exploration too. I'm sure you've heard it all before: the beautifully crafted environments, the feeling of awe and insignificance as you stare up at the beasts, the sadness as you slay something innocent and primal. There is nothing here other than what was absolutely necessary, resulting in a game of minimalist perfection.
Portal Like any good puzzle game, Portal gives you a simple tool and then builds more and more complex situations based around it. What makes Portal stand out is the uniqueness of the tool. Using the portal gun is just fun, and forces you to think in a very different way. Additionally, the story was perfect. Just like SOTC, there was nothing here that wasn't absolutely necessary.
Eh, I have a couple, probably most of these were mentioned before at some point:
Super Mario Bros. 3 Played On An NES Emulator On A Nintendo DS - I know probably I shouldn't even mention the existence of this game, also known informally as Super Mario Braid since Nintendo doesn't want you to know there exists a way to play Mario that makes all other post-Sunshine Mario games exteremely hateful, but this is it.
Yar's Revenge - Every time I sit someone down with the classic Atari joystick and button they get incredibly confused by this little space battling game, but nothing before it and for a long time after it even came close to its depth of combat.
Pokemon Crystal - I guess I feel weird saying a Pokemon game is perfect on a forum like this, and a lot of what's going for Crystal is that it's the last hurrah of Pokemon the little game that could before Ruby and Sapphire redesigned everything from the ground up to lead to unchecked eternal expansion. Yet, every carelessly thrown together element (Gen II only had Kanto in the first place to fill extra memory space) coalesces into a perfect whole that is now a hole no (Super) Contest or Musical could fill.
Beat Hazard - "Music" games boggle my mind more than anything in how they limit their gameplay to certain tastes. DDR forces me to listen to crappy techno, Guitar Hero forces me to listen to shitty rock. Audiosurf came along like 5 years ago and kinda changed that by making a visualizer into basically the same game with any recorded sound. Beat Hazard one-upped that last year by making it into an actual game, which basically means that I've got a bitching 200 gig level pack on my external harddrive.
Mother 3 - Itoi's tagline which if I remember right was something like "Heartrending and Funny" is absolutely on-point. I wish Nintendo would realize that receipt I sent them of all the different flash carts I've bought to play the translation would make them realize how much money they could be getting from me if they released a 3DS version which I would seriously buy.
From Dust - this game isn't even out yet but it's the first new game in a while that I've actually been excited for, and I have faith that Eric Chahi can make an awesome HD god game in the age of minecraft.
Portal (2) probably would have made this list if I had grown up playing shooters and didn't dual stick like a retarded monkey, same goes for a lot of similarly controlled games which I don't feel right judging one way or another. I think fighting games are awesome conceptually, but I've yet to find one I like more than it likes itself (same problem, unrelatedly with women). Yume Nikki gets a very very honorable mention since the only reason I'm not including it is I've probably only played like 15% of it after millions of mindless wandering hours. I still have yet to find a Final Fantasy Game that I can play without a feeding tube and a catheter permanently attached to my body, and the pain of installing those has kept me from even wanting to try and even if I did I'd probably fall asleep and eventually die before I finished one. There's probably still some classic I forgot, you can sue me for libel if you own one of those unmentioned properties.
Oh yeah, Godhand is the tits.
Super Mario Bros. 3 Played On An NES Emulator On A Nintendo DS - I know probably I shouldn't even mention the existence of this game, also known informally as Super Mario Braid since Nintendo doesn't want you to know there exists a way to play Mario that makes all other post-Sunshine Mario games exteremely hateful, but this is it.
Yar's Revenge - Every time I sit someone down with the classic Atari joystick and button they get incredibly confused by this little space battling game, but nothing before it and for a long time after it even came close to its depth of combat.
Pokemon Crystal - I guess I feel weird saying a Pokemon game is perfect on a forum like this, and a lot of what's going for Crystal is that it's the last hurrah of Pokemon the little game that could before Ruby and Sapphire redesigned everything from the ground up to lead to unchecked eternal expansion. Yet, every carelessly thrown together element (Gen II only had Kanto in the first place to fill extra memory space) coalesces into a perfect whole that is now a hole no (Super) Contest or Musical could fill.
Beat Hazard - "Music" games boggle my mind more than anything in how they limit their gameplay to certain tastes. DDR forces me to listen to crappy techno, Guitar Hero forces me to listen to shitty rock. Audiosurf came along like 5 years ago and kinda changed that by making a visualizer into basically the same game with any recorded sound. Beat Hazard one-upped that last year by making it into an actual game, which basically means that I've got a bitching 200 gig level pack on my external harddrive.
Mother 3 - Itoi's tagline which if I remember right was something like "Heartrending and Funny" is absolutely on-point. I wish Nintendo would realize that receipt I sent them of all the different flash carts I've bought to play the translation would make them realize how much money they could be getting from me if they released a 3DS version which I would seriously buy.
From Dust - this game isn't even out yet but it's the first new game in a while that I've actually been excited for, and I have faith that Eric Chahi can make an awesome HD god game in the age of minecraft.
Portal (2) probably would have made this list if I had grown up playing shooters and didn't dual stick like a retarded monkey, same goes for a lot of similarly controlled games which I don't feel right judging one way or another. I think fighting games are awesome conceptually, but I've yet to find one I like more than it likes itself (same problem, unrelatedly with women). Yume Nikki gets a very very honorable mention since the only reason I'm not including it is I've probably only played like 15% of it after millions of mindless wandering hours. I still have yet to find a Final Fantasy Game that I can play without a feeding tube and a catheter permanently attached to my body, and the pain of installing those has kept me from even wanting to try and even if I did I'd probably fall asleep and eventually die before I finished one. There's probably still some classic I forgot, you can sue me for libel if you own one of those unmentioned properties.
Oh yeah, Godhand is the tits.
I enjoyed Beat Hazard but I wouldn't have called it a 10/10 game. The main problem is the fact that it's extremely difficult to play slower, quieter songs on it since your weapons are pissweak. An update did just come out so I might try to it again to see if the situation has improved.