Hey guys. Instead of revealing the final five games in my Top 30 countdown today, I decided to pay tribute to some of the games that were initially on my list of 50-something titles, but were dropped in order to bring the number down to a more manageable 30. I love all these games, though, and figured it wouldn't be appropriate to complete this list without giving them some kind of mention. So, here a few of the games that didn't quite make it onto the final list...
- Alex Kidd in Miracle World - A simple, colourful platformer that I remember playing a lot with my dad back when we owned a Master System. It was most likely the first game I ever played, too. We owned the sequel, Alex Kidd and the Enchanted Castle, for the Mega Drive, but the original was by far the superior game.
- God of War - A modern classic that will go down in history as one of the greatest PS2 games. The gameplay was tight and well-constructed, the visuals and music were appropriately epic, and the action was gory.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - I maintain that this is the best of the PS2 Grand Theft Auto games. The stylish 80s setting, the memorable characters, the quality of the writing, the refinements made to the gameplay established in Grand Theft Auto III - everything just came together to create one of the last generation's must-play games.
- Half-Life - I only played this for the first time last year and it completely blew me away. The presentation and storytelling were really cinematic. The combat was entertaining and well-paced, and the game really knew how to make you jump when you were least expecting it.
- Halo: Combat Evolved - While I don't consider myself to be a fan of the Halo series, the original game was definitely the game that got me into first-person shooters. Much like Half-Life, I couldn't fault the pacing or the shooting mechanics. The vehicular segments made for a nice change of pace and the game looked gorgeous to boot.
- Jak 3 - While I loved the whole Jak saga, the third game in particular stands head and shoulders above the others for me. The game took the format set by Jak II and improved upon it, offering more interesting and varied missions, more combat options, a lot of side-missions and some of the most impressive bonus content included with any game ever. It looked phenomenal and it played even better, proving to be Naughty Dog's definitive hour on the PS2 in my eyes.
- Mega Bomberman - I dread to think how much time I spent playing the Mega Drive version of this game. It looked pretty good back in the day with its colourful sprites and environments, and the gameplay was both easy to pick up and infuriatingly addictive. When I wasn't playing this, my mum and sisters probably were. It was a firm favourite in our household for a long time.
- Portal - This is probably the funniest and most innovative game I've ever played. The portal mechanics were really well implemented, making for some very interesting puzzles and some genuine scratch-your-head moments at times. The dialogue was genuinely hilarious, but very dark at the same time, creating a really unique atmosphere when paired with the sterile visuals.
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - The first game in last generation's Prince of Persia trilogy gripped me with its fairytale storytelling, gorgeous art style and enthralling, acrobatic platforming. It was like an ancient Arabian storybook come to life and made interactive.
- Rayman - This old-school 2D platformer for the PlayStation has stuck with me all these years, probably due to its distinctive art style and simple retro gameplay. I also remember it being notoriously difficult, but then, perhaps that was just my age. I never played any of the sequels, so the original remains the definitive depiction of Rayman in my eyes.
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 - While the series has started to decline in recent iterations, the fourth instalment remains highly playable even today. With a lengthy, goal-based single player career mode and a series of competitive multiplayer modes that could be played both on- and offline, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is, and probably always will be, my favourite game in the series.
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Thanks for reading, as always. My Top 5 will be posted tomorrow, so be sure to check back for that. If you've missed any instalments of the countdown thusfar, you can find them by clicking on the following links to numbers 30-26, 25-21, 20-16, 15 to 11 and 10 to 6. In the meantime, feel free to comment on any of the choices I've made so far. Please don't assume that me not putting these games on the list means I hate them, nor indeed that I consider the games on the list to be better. I love all of these games and it was very difficult to narrow this list down to just 30 games. Above all, please remember that this list is based on my favourite games, i.e. the games that I've enjoyed playing most and have the most fond memories of, rather than what I consider to be the best games of all time. In a very brief gaming update that I wish I had enough energy to devote a full blog to (maybe another day), I've decided to hold off on playing Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost & Damned for a little while. After playing through the main game again and becoming very wrapped up in the events of the story, I felt pretty crushed at the ending. I think what I need now is something a little more uplifting, and so I've decided to postpone The Lost & Damned in favour of the more lighthearted Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. With that said, once again, thanks for reading. I'll see you around.
DanK
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Currently playing - Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (X360)
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