Hey guys. It's time for part four of my Top 30 Games list, covering numbers 15 through 11.
15. Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 is filled with incredible boss battlesPlayStation 2 (2005)
I was very apprehensive going into Resident Evil 4. I didn't enjoy any of the original games, despite having given them all a chance, and was worrried that the fourth iteration was going to be exactly the same. Still, I decided to pick it up on the recommendations of others and give it a chance. Boy, was I wrong. Resident Evil 4 was slow to get started but within a few hours it had me completely hooked. While the story and characters were largely forgettable, maybe because I never played through any of the other RE games, it was the quality of the combat and the game's atmosphere that sucked me in and refused to let me go. Every gun in the game felt powerful, and the Ganados seemed practically unstoppable as they resisted the firepower pumped into them, making for some real heart-in-throat moments in combat. The inventory management and weapon customisation aspects were also well-executed, adding extra depth to what was already a very satisfying shooter. Although the story is forgettable, the game looks amazing with some truly scary monsters gracing the screen. More than anything, though, it was the boss battles in Resident Evil 4 that made it so memorable for me. Every one looks more hideous than the last and requires careful thought and strategy to overcome, making for some of the most tactical and intense boss battles of any video game. This unexpected experience caught me completely off-guard, which is probably why I remember it so fondly.
14. Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts is enchanting, beautiful, and a lot of funPlayStation 2 (2002)
Every now and again, a game will come along that will surprise you. Resident Evil 4 surprised me because it was better than I thought it was going to be. Kingdom Hearts, on the other hand, surprised me simply because it actually worked. Being a Disney fan in my youth and a Square fan in my adolescence, I was worried that this amalgamaton of the two worlds would have catastrophic results. Again, I was very wrong. Kingdom Hearts works because it remains faithful to both sides of its inspiration, while at the same time succeeding in delivering something original. The characters and worlds of the Disney universe have never been better realised in 3D, and both art styles seems to merge effortlessly into one another. Gameplay-wise, the game offers an interesting take on the action RPG with some excellent combat (particularly the boss battles) and an endearing story. I picked the original over Kingdom Hearts II because, while the sequel is a better game, it loses a lot of the focus on remaining faithful to the Disney source material and in doing so ends up feeling more like a Final Fantasy game with Disney cameos, rather than a legitimate mixture of the two. It also lacks a lot of the charm that made the original game so likeable. I mean, who could ever forget the time spent with Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood? With charm like that, I can even overlook the dreadful Gummi ship stuff. I've played through Kingdom Hearts countless times, and every time I find more new things to like about it. Anybody who spent their childhood watching Disney movies owes it to themselves to check this out. Whether they like JRPGs or not, they're bound to get something out of this.
13. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
This is the game that made me love video gamesMega Drive (1992)
Every gamer has a starting point. That firsf game that made them fall in love with the interactive medium we're all so crazy about. For many, it's Mario. For others, maybe Pong, or Pac-Man. For me, it was this: Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I remember owning the game and playing the hell out of it almost every day, but what I remember even more vividly is the time I spent playing it at my cousin's house. This was back before we owned a Mega Drive, when we were still playing 8-bit games on the Master System, and Sonic 2 was such a leap forward from this that I just couldn't get enough of it. I used to make excuses to my parents in order to stay at my cousin's house and play more of it. It was the first time I ever became truly obsessed with a game, something that hasn't happened very often since (I won't specify which games, as most of them will be appearing later in this list). Everything about this game was perfect in my eyes. It looked incredible, much better than the Master System games I was used to playing, and conveyed an incredible sense of speed. The gameplay was simple but addictive, complemented by some excellent level design, truly memorable themed zones and well-crafted boss battles. I also loved Tails (yeah, I'm in that camp on this issue. Tails rocks!). Like Streets of Rage, I never actually completed Sonic 2. I remember reaching what I imagined to be the final boss several times, always armed with a bevy of lives and continues, only to fall foul of it yet again. What made it even worse was the lack of a save feature or password system, meaning every time I played, I had to start from scratch. That may well be one of the reasons why I remember it so well, though. I'll have to go back to it and see if I can finish it all these years later.
12. Canis Canem Edit
Canis Canem Edit does so much right in such a small spacePlayStation 2 (2006)
Up until a couple of months ago, I would never have considered Canis Canem Edit for inclusion on a list like this. It's always played second fiddle to Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto games, notably Vice City and San Andreas. I'm not going to lie. I too shunned it for a long period of time, refusing to give it the chance it deserved. That changed a couple of months ago, when I finally decided to play through the game. I was rewarded with a game that not only turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun, but also ended up being better than San Andreas (more on that here, if you're interested). The characters and story were of a higher standard than any other action game by Rockstar at the time of its release. The GTA-style gameplay translated almost effortlessly into the school setting, offering some memorable missions and some interesting ways of completing those missions, too. Most of all, the game was tight, focused and full of little details, something severely lacking in the wide scope of San Andreas. Exploring in Canis Canem Edit was rewarding because you never knew what you were going to discover, and the countless ways of interacting with the other inhabitants of Bullworth made every encounter an interesting and hilarious one. No other open-world action game on PS2 has quite as much attitude and personality as Canis Canem Edit. It left me breathless after the ride, longing for more. Here's hoping Rockstar will continue experimenting with new settings and concepts for its action games. If they all turn out to be as good as this, then we're all in for a real treat.
To be honest, I could just as easily have put The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in this spot. Both games offer a huge open world to explore, free-from questing that rewards exploration and encourages different play styles, and an incredible amount of attention to detail. I sided with Fallout 3 for two reasons. The first of these is, more obviously, because I've spent more time with it overall. The second is because I enjoyed the post-apocalytpic setting a little more than the fantasy one of Oblivion. Fallout 3 was my introduction to the genre of open-world western RPGs, and it did an excellent job of getting me hooked. The quests were well-constructed and, for the most part, really interesting. While a lot of people didn't take to it, I really liked the combat and wasn't too put off by VATS. Similarly, I didn't mind the game's aesthetic, and I actually found the game world eerily beautiful to look at and explore. As soon as I emerged from Vault 101 I found myself getting slowly absorbed in the game, listening to the c.1950 soundtrack as I trekked across the desolate wastes. In fact, I got most of my fun with Fallout 3 from simply wandering across the Capital Wasteland, seeing what I could find. I still have yet to complete the game's main quest, actually, and with the sheer amount of things to do in the wastes, I doubt I will any time soon. Fallout 3 is far from perfect, but it does a hell of a lot of things right and I commend it for that. It's also far and away the most fun I've had with a game so far this year, and a deserving entry onto this list.
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As always, thanks for reading guys. Be sure to check back tomorrow when I'll be moving into my top ten favourite games. Please feel free to comment, I'd love to hear your opinions. If you missed them, you kind find parts one to three by clicking on the links to numbers 30 to 26, 25 to 21 and 20 to 16. As a minor gaming update, I've been working my way through Grand Theft Auto IV again in my second playthrough. The story and characters are just as strong as I remember them to be from my initial playthrough back in May last year. When I finish the main story missions, I'm going to get stuck into The Lost & Damned. After that, who knows? Maybe Dead Space. Maybe Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. Maybe BioShock. I have so many games to play through it's unreal. Perhaps playing some of those games will result in alterations to this list in future. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, I have a bank to rob. See you around.
DanK
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Currently playing - Grand Theft Auto IV (X360) 6 Comments
