12.31
In time for New Years we have officially wrapped up the first half of the list! Find out what made it after the jump…
#60
Portal 2
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve (PC), Electronic Arts (Console)
Genre: Puzzle Platformer
Release Date: 2011
Platforms: Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Mac OS X
Portal 2 probably has the most genuinely funny script of any video game. Of course, the gameplay is a lot of fun, too, but the hilarious dialogue and brilliant voice acting are likely what you’ll remember most fondly about it. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry (from laughter), and you’ll laugh while cheering… I really can’t stress enough how much I enjoy the comedy in this game. As far as the actual gameplay goes, Portal 2 is much deeper and more creative than the original. The pacing is absolutely perfect and nearly every puzzle after the first third feels rewarding to solve. Truth be told, it’s an exhilarating experience; Valve truly captured the thrill of forward momentum with this game. The package is rounded out well by an entirely separate co-op campaign (how often do you see that!?) and an easy to use level editor (for the PC version). Portal 2 is definitely a worthy addition to anyone’s collection. ~ Foggle
#59
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
Developer: Neversoft, Gearbox Software (PC port)
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Sports
Release Date: 2001
Platforms: Playstation 2, Gamecube, XBOX, PC
While the first 2 Tony Hawk games established it as the premiere top of the line skate-boarding series, Tony Hawk 3 is the game that brought the formula to its perfection. The mechanics were refined to allow for the smoothest skating experience with a plentiful amount of tricks to be pulled off and the ability to keep combos going for longer than ever before, thanks to the addition of the revert ability which allowed you to tie combos together between quarterpipe landings. In addition to this, the levels were grander in scope and more interactive than ever before, and the numerous unlockable characters, skateboards, and stages ensured that you would be playing the game for hours at at time. Additionally, the game’s career mode had plenty of fun and challenging objectives for you to perform, and the trick attack mode was refined to the point of perfection, making for the series’ most addicting multiplayer experience ever. As if that wasn’t enough, the game even provided players with their own level editor (and this was not just limited to the PC version), making it one of those few games that only limited your possibilities by your imagination. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was, and still is, the best skating game to have ever been released, and that nets it the #59 spot on our list of the 100 best video games of all time. ~ Ensatsu-ken
#58
BioShock
Developer: 2K Boston, Digital Extremes (Playstation 3 port), Feral Interactive (Mac OS X port)
Publisher: 2K Games, Feral Interactive (Mac OS X port)
Genre: First Person Shooter, Survival Horror
Release Date: 2007
Platforms: XBOX360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC, Mac OS X
There’s something to be said about just how far an expertly crafted atmosphere can go towards making a game so captivating and memorable. And captivated audiences were when this gem was released back in 2007, to well-deserved critical acclaim. BioShock puts you as the player in the role of plane crash survivor, simply named Jack, as you accidentally find refuge in a hidden underwater city known as Rapture, with an objectivist leader named Andrew Ryan and a big dark back-story to the now wrecked city that is left for you to uncover. You’re journey through the dimly lit attractions and corridors of Rapture is well complemented by appropriately grotesque enemies known as splicers, as well as brutish beings known as Big Daddy’s and the harvest they protect in the form of eerie little girls called Little Sisters. As a survival horror game, like many in its genre it is admittedly not very scary, but it succeeds at having a creepy and foreboding atmosphere, and it keeps you interested with creative and varied gameplay mechanics combined with light but welcome RPG elements. Throughout rapture you can hack security cameras and turrets to use against you’re enemies, loot corpses for cash, ammunition, and supplies, and most excitingly you can gain and use supernatural abilities through tonics and plasmids. These abilities range from having lightning coming out of your fingertips to summoning a swarm of bees to distract your enemies, and they are primarily what make up BioShock’s gameplay hook as they allow you to be as imaginative as you want in how you dispatch your foes, from setting up traps to dealing out massive damage to tougher enemies. The result is a game that has an engaging atmosphere and completely satisfying gameplay to carry you through it. Layer on an intriguing story and you have yourself one of the finest FPS experiences ever crafted. ~ Ensatsu-ken
#57
Garou: Mark Of The Wolves / Fatal Fury: Mark Of The Wolves
Developer: SNK
Publisher: SNK
Genre: Fighter
Release Date: 1999
Platforms: Arcade [Neo Geo], Sega Dreamcast, XBOX 360
SNK and Capcom were the premiere fighting game makers at one time. Ever since Capcom came flying out with Street Fighter II, and SNK with Fatal Fury, the two enjoyed a fierce rivalry that went on for near a decade that ended with this game. Now that isn’t to say Mark Of The Wolves was the be all end all of fighters and that no one could ever do better. No, around this time SNK was going bankrupt and Capcom had begun to drift away from their bread and butter of the arcade scene, leaving this to be the last shot fired in that ongoing war. The result? A KO. To be completely honest, not only did Mark Of The Wolves outdo every previous traditional fighter SNK had made since Samurai Shodown 2 shocked arcade-goers, it was even better than every Capcom fighter since the days of Street Fighter II.
MOTW is smooth, easy to play, fast, and has a lot of refinement to its system. Where Street Fighter III went overboard in trying to usurp it’s blockbuster predecessor by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink, it was not always the most enjoyable to play. MOTW in many ways, feels like a sequel to Street Fighter II in its accessibility and surprising breadth in style, as well as not being daunting to beginners who want to join the fray. While this was the original SNK’s swansong, it was pretty much their greatest entry in the genre they competed in with Capcom. And it says a lot that well over a decade later, it’s still regularly considered the greatest fighting game of all time when many other strong contenders have since appeared. If you want some explosive fighting action, you can’t do much better than this one. ~ Spark Of Spirit
#56
Valkyria Chronicles
Developer: Sega WOW
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Real-Time Tactical Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter
Release Date: 2008
Platforms: PlayStation 3
It’s not often that an RPG with a lackluster story will merit high praise. And yet, that’s definitely the case for Valkyria Chronicles; the gameplay is just so damn good that it could have had no plot whatsoever and still made this list. VC is the perfect marriage of two genres – the strategy game and the shooter – creating gameplay that is as addicting as it is novel. The level of challenge is just right; you’ll rarely want to pull your hair out, but don’t expect to just blast through the entire campaign without giving the ol’ noggin a good flexing. Careful analysis and quick wits are equally rewarded here, thus ensuring that the experience is always satisfying and never bland. Something I, personally, appreciate is that your squadmates can and will die permanently if you don’t save them in time during battle, which is always a nice touch. The graphics are absolutely breathtaking, too. It’s a shame that no other game (not even its sequels!) has used the same engine. ~ Foggle
#55
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Action-Adventure
Release Date: 2000
Platforms: Nintendo 64, Nintendo Wii
There’s an unwritten rule that every home Nintendo console needs at least 1 “traditional” Zelda game, ala the original for the NES, the Wind Waker for the Gamecube, Twilight Princess for the Wii, and so on. Which isn’t to say that these games don’t tinker with the formula or make for wholly different and engaging Zelda adventures, not at all, but they’re fairly atypical of what you’d expect in a Zelda game when you get down to it, while the handheld titles experiment more. If the big N has the revenue and time to produce a second Zelda title for their console, that’s when you get more daring games, like Zelda II, Four Swords Adventure, the recent Skyward Sword… and Majora’s Mask, which came out two years after the N64’s first classic Zelda title, Ocarina of Time, came out.
Majora’s Mask is a prequel to OOT, as it features this incarnation of Link riding on his horse Epona on a hunt, when a masked creature, referred to as the Skull Kid steals his horse and the titular Ocarina of Time. he has been holding. As Link chases the Skull Kid, he turns our hero into a Deku Scrub, a tree-like creature, which causes him to panic and run into Termina. He meets Majora, a master of masks, who tells Link about the Skull Kid and how its maks happens to be his, and if Link doesn’t help Majora get his mask back, the moon will collide with the planet in only 3 days and end life as we know it for everyone. You can eventually turn link back into his Hylian self, and find maks that can turn back into not only a Deku, but also a sea-surfing Zora and giant boulder-rustling Goron, each with their own set of combat and controls that vary from Link’s. You can still play as our typical hero, and there’s plenty of exploration to take place around new parts of Hyrule.
There’s a lot of makes to find and help you along the way, but what really makes the experience different from other Zeldas is its structure. You get 3 days to find all of the masks, and the ability to rewrite time while still keeping as much of what you can. It involves some serious thinking to do this right though, making for an almost puzzle-like experience. The game can get frustrating at times due to its structure, but if there’s one thing that it isn’t, it’s boring. There’s enough sidequests, cute storylines, and gripping Zelda action to make up for everything, alongside all the innovation. Majora’s Mask is not a perfect game, and isn’t one of the most popular Zelda titles, but it has a strong cult following, and more than enough innovation to make it stand out and be worthy of the list. ~ Avaitor
#54
Perfect Dark
Developer: Rare / 4J Studios (XBLA)
Publisher: Rare (North America & PAL), Nintendo (Japan), Microsoft (XBLA)
Genre: First Person Shooter, Action
Release Date: 2000
Platforms: Nintendo 64, Xbox 360 (XBLA)
If there was one game that smashed the edges of the limits of the 32-bit generation, it was Perfect Dark. Yes, PC shooters had online play and a superior control scheme, but none had a campaign like Rare’s shooters, nor did they have the sheer amount of customization and unlockables available to the player (sure there were mods, but that’s a different kind of customization) in how they could play.
To address the elephant in the room, Perfect Dark is the spiritual-sequel to spy-shooter GoldenEye but it is not as well known as the licensed shooter. The game follows up on the espionage and stealth elements that GoldenEye brought to the table, letting anyone who enjoyed that game jump right into this one. But for anyone who has played both the original ideas of Perfect Dark are some of the best in the genre and have yet to be duplicated or topped. The multiple objectives from GoldenEye have returned with each difficulty offering different ways to play through every level in the game, only in Perfect Dark the objectives are more varied involving such things as trailing suspects or distracting guards. The weapons all have multiple uses (even fists have a “disarm” alternate mode that few games have bothered with since) basically doubling the already robust weapon count, all of which have a sci-fi bent and are incredibly creative with how they feel and are used in combat situations. Special attention must also be made to the various other modes including co-op (which changes some mission layouts), counter-op (something that really should be revisited), as well as challenge modes and target practice which unlock weapons from GoldenEye. Just on single player play alone, the amount of content is extraordinary.
Multiplayer is a whole other ballgame in that it takes the simplistic (though limiting) multiplayer mode from GoldenEye and blows it out. The amount of options for rules, weapons, characters, playstyles, bots (which all have different settings and difficulties), and game types, absolutely trounced GoldenEye in content. Next to the Timesplitters series, it is still unmatched in pure options for the player. While the game would have framerate problems for four players and tons of bots as well as some general performance hiccups (it did push the N64 to the limit), most of these issues were fixed in the Xbox 360 version that was released on Xbox Live Arcade (which also added online play and modern dual analog controls to the mix) making it the definitive version of this game.
The original Perfect Dark was a revelation for the genre when it came out to those paying attention. Other than something like Half-Life for the PC, FPS campaigns tended to not be as involved for the player, nor give them so many options to play around with, making this not only one of the best games in the genre and on the N64, but one great FPS that still retains its charm today. While the original N64 version might seem archaic control-wise and suffer from some framerate hitches to varying degrees, these were addressed in the XBLA port and is probably the version worth pursuing these days for those interested in older shooters. That said, FPS games could learn a lot from Perfect Dark nowadays, and in the genre much of what it accomplished is still unmatched today. ~ Spark Of Spirit
#53
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons
Developer: Flagship (a subsidiary of Capcom)
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Action-Adventure, Puzzle
Release Date: 2001
Platforms: Game Boy Color
Its not typical that we would rank 2 games in one spot on a list like this, though as you can see we have made an exception with the Mega Man games. In this case, however, I really do feel that both of these Zelda games really just make up one bigger game, and indeed they were both developed together by the same developer and designed to be linked together to complete the experience and get the true ending, so as far as I’m concerned, they are 2 parts of 1 big game, and together they make one of the best Zelda experiences to have ever been created. Of course this is one of those fine products formed from Nintendo taking a risk at outsourcing a beloved IP of theirs to other talent, and obviously it is a risk that paid off. Both Oracle of Ages and Seasons carry the typical Zelda formula that fans had come to expect from the series, but they are expertly executed with many of their own unique elements which truly help make them stand out from the rest of the series as a great Zelda experience of their own. Oracle of Ages in particular takes a more puzzle-heavy approach, with its main gimmick being the ability to travel back and forward through time, which is used in more creative ways than anyone would typically imagine to traverse through the various lands and dungeons of the game, though this element itself clearly draws heavy inspiration from the Light and Dark World concept of its older brother game in the series, A Link to the Past. Oracle of Seasons, on the other hand, changes things up a bit with a rod that, as the title suggests, gives you control over the 4 seasons which as you would expect is used for all manner of puzzle solving. Although, while the game does not forget Zelda’s roots with the puzzle solving, it differs from Ages in that it takes a more action and adventure style approach to its gameplay with plenty of straightforward combat and platforming scenarios thrown into the mix.
These games are especially creative in how they venture out of just doing what’s typical for a Zelda game and have many quirks of their own, such as having 2D segments reminiscent of Zelda 2 except executed with much more refined gameplay than that title, and they additionally have some truly creative items to use aside from the standard fair in any Zelda game, ranging from a switch hook in Ages to a pair of magnetic gloves in Seasons. Also, if you happen to be thinking that splitting up this adventure into 2 games was just a ploy at more money, you’d be wrong, as each game is full-length and packed with as many dungeons and side-quests that you would expect from a classic 2D style Zelda game. It just so happens that together they make an even bigger adventure that was simply just too big for one GBC cartridge to handle, and don’t be fooled by this game being a handheld title, as it packs in such as much quality and expert design as any of the best console Zelda experiences. The bottom line is that Flaship crafted 2 of the best Zelda adventures with these titles, and to quite a few fans they represent the pinnacle of 2D Zelda games, which is no easy feat to accomplish considering how revered the rest of the series is. ~ Ensatsu-ken
#52
Persona 2: Innocent Sin
Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Genre: Role-Playing
Release Date: 1999 (JP), 2011 (NA/EU)
Platforms: PlayStation (Original; Import Only), PlayStation Portable (Remake)
I’m something of a bitter old man (and I’m only 19!); the kind of guy who laughs in the face of many JRPG cliches. So when a game about magic high schoolers (to completely oversimplify things) can affect my emotions and cause me to genuinely feel something for its characters, well, you know it’s gotta’ be good! Persona 2: Innocent Sin (or part 1, if you’d rather) has an incredibly endearing cast and an enticing storyline that other games can only dream of attaining – it truly is a masterwork. The excellent atmosphere further compounds this, and the sheer creativity behind its design and progression clinches it. YOU THINK THIS IS JUST ANOTHER GAME ABOUT HAUNTED HIGH SCHOOLS? THINK AGAIN DAMN IT. You can talk to demons and make contracts with them (as in past Megami Tensei titles)! You can turn rumors into reality! You can fight an evil dresser! Does that not sound awesome? ~ Foggle is off his medication
Gameplay Video ((Trust me, this game is a LOT more fun to play than it is to watch! TRUST ME!))
#51
Duke Nukem 3D
Developer: 3D Realms
Publisher: GT Interactive
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Release Date: 1996
Platforms: PC (MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS), Xbox 360
Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Mobile
When Duke Nukem 3D exploded on the scene in 1996, it changed gamers’ perceptions of what a shooter could be. The interactive environments were mind-blowing; you could blow up walls to find secret areas, play a rudimentary form of pool, and even use the toilet! As a whole, this game was a revolution for the FPS genre and included many firsts – much of its levels sported modern-day architecture, off-hand melee was made possible with the “quick kick”, puzzles beyond the standard “find the red key” were featured, scripted events were occasionally implemented, the jetpack enabled you to get vertical, and the main character actually had a personality and voice; ones which still make people laugh today… even if half of his dialogue was plagiarized from popular action movies! The game is still incredibly fun to play due to its timeless level design and mechanics, so it’s not hard to see why Duke used to be the king. ~ Foggle
And that’s the first half, folks! Hope you’re having fun because we had fun putting it together. Keep an eye out for our top 50 which is coming sooner than you may think!