10. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Until the fourth Metal Gear Solid game, every game in the series got better and better, and though I didn’t rate them that way, you can see in this very list that I liked each and every new game more and more. This same thing can be said with Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, because it is the best Metal Gear Solid game thus far, and it’s only been 4 months since its initial release. Guns of the Patriots is everything you’d want out of a next-generation Metal Gear Solid game, it had incredible graphics, production values through the roof, and just about every part of the game being top of the line. It was so good in fact, that’s it’s easily my 10th favorite game of all time.

Guns of the Patriots really evolved the series from Snake Eater. It took the better camera system from Subsistence, added a better aiming function, while also adding a bunch of great elements that you wouldn’t expect from a Metal Gear Solid game in the first place. To start, the game had a great over-the-shoulder view for aiming weapons for precision aim. This was way easier than zooming into first person, but you can even do that in Guns of the Patriots if you like. You could also earn Drebin points by collecting fallen enemies’ guns and use these Drebin points to buy weapons from Drebin’s shop.

The game also took a totally different direction in the way you play. Instead of trying to sneak past enemies that are simply walking around, Snake pretends to join the ally forces during a war in the Middle East, but doesn’t fight if you don’t want him to. You go along with your allies and kill as much enemies as you possibly can, but you could also run away from the action and sneak your way through the game. Snake has a new Octo-Camo suit that changes to the type of surface he’s up against, making the game much better flow instead of going through tons of menus.

Metal Gear Solid 4 also closed the Solid Snake story that has built up over the years. You’ll get your normal Metal Gear characters like Otacon, Meryl, Coronal Campbell, and others. The story unfolds normally with boss fights after every major area of the game, but also throws twists and turns at you that you never thought possible... Well, nothing in Metal Gear Solid would be possible, but who’s keeping score right? Anyways, Guns of the Patriots is the definitive Metal Gear Solid game, and if you have played the past games and want to know what happens, Metal Gear Solid 4 will clear everything up, but maybe not as smooth as it could’ve.

Visually the game looked amazing with great lighting effects, smooth character models, and gorgeous environments. The AI of your partners and foes was pretty good, and technically the game was awesome. The frame rate never skipped, the game ran smooth as a gravy sandwich, while also looking like a real generation game. The audio was also top notch with perfect voice acting, an incredible soundtrack, and sound effects that sounded nothing other than real. The game did have a great soundtrack, but sadly does not have the best soundtrack in Metal Gear Solid games. The boss fight music was intense, sure, but it nothing like the first Metal Gear Solid’s tune.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was overall a masterpiece of a title. It was everything anyone wanted out of a next-generation Metal Gear Solid game while also adding clever elements you didn’t know you wanted. The game has some tiring long cut scenes that maybe seemed unnecessary, but everything else like the evolved gameplay, incredible audio including the voice acting and soundtrack while also having superb visuals definitely made up for it. Metal Gear Solid easily made my top 30 list, and is just the beginning of the top 10.
 

9. GoldenEye 007 (N64)

Rare and Nintendo had magic in the Nintendo 64 era. The games that were created by these behemoths were absolutely amazing like Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and this game, GoldenEye 007. Usually games based on movies, or movies based on games are usually, well, terrible, but GoldenEye is anything but. It was the pinnacle of First Person Shooter at the time with a quite lengthy single player campaign, and superb multiplayer. The Nintendo 64 controller gave the controls what games desperately needed, and it ended up being my 9th favorite game ever.

I remember showing my friends the controls for the first time with the Z-Trigger on the back of the controller being the shoot button, and they thought it was awesome. It actually felt like you were shooting a gun, and the rumble pack you could insert into the controller made it even more immersive than before. Controlling Bond with the analog stick was a necessity, and aiming with the right shoulder button was done in way that it was enough for the time. GoldenEye was definitely the best first person shooter that ever hit the market at the time, but definitely is still up there with others to this very day.

The multiplayer was absolute chaos in GoldenEye. Having 4 friends together was a blast, shooting each other in the face felt too good (not in a sexual way). I really applaud Nintendo for including four controller ports on the Nintendo 64, because games like GoldenEye would have been nothing without it. The game has tons of different weapon types to choose from, while also featuring modes that completed the insane multiplayer. There were explosives, pistols, your ordinary assault rifles, and things like proximity mines that caused friendships to end.

The single player part of GoldenEye was really one of its strongest points. There were tons and tons of mission to take part in, and most of them followed the movie’s story. Some extra mission were thrown in to make it a longer game, and ended up being fun as hell. Some of the mission had you go through a factory killing absolutely every enemy in your way, while some had you go through a ton on a tank. Bond also had his trusty watch to keep things interesting.

Visually, the game was pure polish. It had great character models that had facial detail while the environments had great detail like the Jungle that had trees all over the place making it seem real. The effects like fire and bullet fire was also included and seamlessly fit into the game. The game also had great sound like the sound effects and the awesome and memorable soundtrack. GoldenEye 007 still stands as one of my favorite gaming soundtracks of all time (up there with Brawl and Ocarina), and the presentation of GoldenEye was AAA all the way.

GoldenEye really stands out as one of the very best examples of a genre, and how it can work with limited resources. The Nintendo 64 was on carts, so it couldn’t hold things like real video or music, but the game that GoldenEye 007 ended up being was nothing short of absolutely phenomenal. The action was incredibly intense throughout the lengthy single player while also having an extremely fun multiplayer that is still not boring to this very day. It had everything going, and going at top speed. GoldenEye 007 stands out as one of the most timeless games ever to hit the market, and is easily my 9th favorite game of all time.
 

8. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN)

 A lot of people were disappointed in the direction that the Wind Waker was headed. After a cool video showing Link facing Ganondorf in a one-on-one duel, lots of fans thought we were going to get the true sequel to Ocarina of Time, but Nintendo scrapped that idea, and went for something totally new, and result is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The Wind Waker has a very kiddish look to it, the games visuals are cel-shaded to look like a cartoon, and the story is a little less dark than previously seen in past Zelda games. But even with all of this, The Wind Waker still has a spot in my heart as one of the greatest games ever made.

The Wind Waker looks like a totally different game than the previous Zelda games, but it plays exactly the same, in a good way. You go from dungeon to dungeon fighting bosses at the end, getting an important item, and eventually facing Ganondorf in the final battle. But the way Nintendo put The Wind Waker is awesome, and it ended up being something totally unique that the Zelda franchise so desperately needed.

The story behind The Wind Waker is the tale of Ocarina of Time, but shortly thereafter, Ganondorf returns, and since Link was sent back to the past at the end of Ocarina of Time, no hero was there to save Hyrule once again. Because of this evil, the Gods of Hyrule had to flood Hyrule, and thus the Great Sea in the Wind Waker was born. Link has to travel around Hyrule on a boat named the King of Red Lions to islands scattered throughout the massive sea. Link starts off on a small island called Outset Island on his Birthday, but his little sister Aryll is captured by a giant bird, and Link must travel to the Forsaken Fortress to save her.

The most amazing thing about the Wind Waker is the scope of the Ocean. You can see tall islands miles away, and it will take you 15 minutes at least to travel one end to the other. Link eventually has to use a wand called the Wind Waker to change the direction of the wind so the King of Red Lions can travel faster. It is a major change of pace from previous Zelda game, and is a total refresher, and a new breathe in the franchise. Sometimes the boat rides end up taking too long and become a snooze-fest, but it’s still pretty cool.

Visually, the Wind Waker was stunning for 2003. The cel-shaded graphics not only looked real nice with awesome lighting and fantastic facial animations, but the game also had a ton of great variety of environments from islands to underground caves, to the great variety of dungeons the game has. The bosses, the character you find throughout the game, the dungeon designs, and pretty much everything about the Wind Waker’s visuals were absolutely top-notch. No slow-down, no hitches, nothing. The game ran smooth, and ends up being one of the most beautiful games on the Gamecube, easily.

But even with the amazing visuals, comes an even better soundtrack. The Wind Waker has memorable tune in every area of the game, has some amazing sound effects, and just an awesome array of great audio. Forest Haven and Dragon Roost Island are examples of absolutely superb soundtracks, and after you listen to those tunes for the first time, you want to just start playing the Wind Waker from the very beginning. It’s a little disappointing that there was no voice acting, but Zelda games are usually able to be amazing without it.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker will always stand out as one of greatest games I have ever played. The gameplay is nearly identical to that of previous 3D Zelda games, but it also had a breathe of fresh air with the sailing over the Great Sea to get to different areas of Hyrule. The cel-shaded visuals mixed in with the fantastic animations, and the superb soundtrack really brought the Zelda franchise to the new generation, and ended up being some of the best in Zelda history. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is easily one of the greatest games I have ever played, and should go down as one of the best Zelda, Gamecube games, and one of the best games of the generation, it’s that damn good.
 

7. BioShock (X360, PC, PS3)

BioShock was one of the smash hits of 2007. The game was the first one to knock your socks off starting in August, and though the games afterwards were awesome (Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4), I never thought any of them even came close to the greatness that BioShock was, and still is. BioShock was made by Irrational Games, the studio responsible for System Shock 2 on the PC, so everyone knew that BioShock was going to be something special, and as it turns out, it very well is.

The game is one of the most atmospheric games I have ever played, because the game takes place under the sea in a utopia called Rapture. Rapture was supposed to be this amazing creation that everyone will be able to go to escape from reality, but as you find out after a very scary plane crash at the start of the game, Rapture is anything but. The halls are filled with mutated people trying to slice you up, or shoot you down. Rapture also is full of Big Daddy’s that protect the Little Sisters, who wander around collecting ADAM from the dead. If you want to take this ADAM from a Little Sister, you first have to fight the Big Daddy, and they’re no walk in the part, let me tell you.

The story line is one of BioShock that makes it stand out from other games of the genre. There are tons of twists and turn throughout the entire game, and though the conclusion is somewhat out of place, the rest of the story is near-perfect. What makes the story come together so well isn’t the cutscenes. There are very few, and sometimes they take place while you’re still playing the game. The audio diaries you find throughout the game tell you what mostly happened in the downfall of the city, and what secrets were untold.

The game is also very fun, while being scary as well. BioShock is a first person shooter, you hold guns, and you shoot your enemies with them. Obviously, but makes the game so unique is the variety of old-school weapons like a 1960’s pistol, and a Thompson-like machine gun, and the mixture of Plasmids that shoot fire, or lift things with telekinesis. You find Plasmids in glass bottles throughout Rapture, and most of the them are useful, but some are a little stupid. The variety of things you can use to kill enemies is pretty special, you can set a trip mine, then lift an enemies up and toss them into it, stuff like that.

Visually the game is outstanding. Like I said in my review, it’s not going to blow you away like Gears of War, but BioShock’s visuals are pretty damn impressive with absolutely no slowdown what-so-ever. Locked at 60 frames per second, Rapture comes to life with enemies that look disturbing, but awesome at the same time, while the water from the ocean gives off a cool lighting effect that is just crazy-effective. The water effects are top-notch, it looks like the real thing. Some of the animations when the Splicers die are kind of weird.

The voice acting made the game seem like a movie because it was so well done. Every voice in the game from Andrew Ryan, to Atlas, everyone sounds like they would at that time, mixed with the quality of sound walky-talkies would have in that time period. The sound effects are also pretty good, but what makes everything mix so well is the very atmospheric music that will sometimes haunt your dreams. You be walking around a dark corner, then the lights will go out, and Splicers will attack you out of nowhere with the intense music blasting. It really adds to the mood, and ends up being one of the most atmospheric soundtracks of all time.

BioShock is simply an amazing game, from start to finish. It’s easily one of the most atmospheric games of all time, and also one of the most fun. The story will keep you guessing until the end, while the audio diaries keep things interesting throughout. BioShock is my favorite game of 2007, and if 2007 is the greatest year of video gaming, and BioShock is my favorite, then it has to be one of the best ever. It is. It’s my 7th favorite game of all time.
 

6. Sonic 3 and Knuckles (GEN)

Sonic 3 and Knuckles is an arguable game. Sure, it can be considered one game on its own, but it is two game combined into one. Should it be considered one game? Sonic 3 and Knuckles is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles put together to be one game with a new story, and a new final boss. The levels are put together from Sonic 3, then continues with Sonic & Knuckles. Its up to you to decide if it should be considered one game or not, but for me, I think it’s not only one game, but it’s one of the best games ever created.

Sonic 3 was a little disappointing considering that Sonic 2 was the best SEGA Genesis game up until the release of Sonic 3, but Sonic and Knuckles that came out the same year corrected all of the things wrong with Sonic 3, and the cartridge was able to hold Sonic 3 to become an entirely new game. Sonic & Knuckles added 2 more save slots that Sonic 3 made a new constant, and you were now able to play as Knuckles through Sonic 3 levels, and play as Tails through the Sonic & Knuckles levels.

But the thing that makes it so amazing is that it seamlessly adds to two games together like they were supposed to one game in the first place (which they probably should have been). Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were amazing on their own, but adding them together with some added content only made the games better together. The story finally makes a little more sense, but no speech bubbles or any dialog what-so-ever really deflates the story and sometimes doesn’t make sense, but this is the Sonic game where the Sonic Team actually tried to make a decent enough story to fit a blue Hedgehog and a red Echidna.

Other than saying that Sonic 3 and Knuckles is two amazing game put into one, there’s not much else to say about Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It has all of the great levels from the two games, plus a last, amazing boss battle that is the most satisfying bosses I have ever fought. It also had the amazing soundtracks from both game, put into one, plus the gorgeous visuals that were beautiful in both games. Sonic 3 and Knuckles is arguable, no doubt, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s my sixth favorite game(s) ever made.