No one likes to do them, no one likes to read them, yet everyone makes one. I almost feel it's similar to the dude in the beginning Half-Life 2 who keeps pacing back and forth trying to plot out the train schedule, but he can't think that well when I'm dropping soda bottles and bags of luggage on his head.
That being said, let's start this off, eh?
(Going from 1-10, 10 being the best for some reason)
So, I've never played Resident Evil. But I have seen it played for about, oh, I don't know, 40-some hours? I watched my brother play it at my cousins house. Also, we didn't even own it. I'm maybe not the foremost expert on Resident Evil, at least the control scheme, but if I had an interest in playing it, I could run right through it. But that's just it, I can't play it. I don't know what it is, whenever I pick up a controller with the intent to play a Resident Evil or Resident Evil-type game (your Silent Hills, what have you) I immediately get the shakes, as if my hands know what I'm about to do. Maybe it's just something from my childhood, watching it as a kid.
People tell me Amnesia is scary, and I've played it, and, yeah, man, it's butt-puckering, but I would say it's stressful and paranoia-inducing, which is a different kind of horror. Amnesia scares you with what you don't know is there. Resident Evil scares you with what you know you can't take on your own. It gives you a gun, but barely any bullets. The main thrust of the game is, at some point, you know you'll be in a safe room somewhere with a Recess-Filling Crest and you know where to put it, but you have to cross half the mansion to get there.
Later Resident Evils would be made more linear, have stream-lined puzzles, and (marginally) better voice-acting, all of which is precisely the against the point of the game, but, still, Resident Evil 4 was a great action game.
I probably don't like it enough to put on a Top 10 list, but the fact someone created a fun and interesting game about LAWYERS and COURTROOMS and LEGAL SYSTEMS and JAPANESE TELEVISION SHOWS gives it enough credence to throw it on here. Though I'm sure some may...OBJEC-, no, nevermind.
Like Phoenix Wright (and Resident Evil), I don't know if this belongs, but this game didn't get enough love be it critical or sales. Blah, blah, blah, the building is fun, the dialogue is witty, and the graphics are wonderfully and classically Rare. All that aside, my favorite part of this game is the Lord Woo Fak Fak cameo. I love me some Lord Woo Fak Fak.
Lemme get this out of the way right now, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year is ALSO included, Super Paper Mario is NOT included. Other than that, I don't know what else to say. Everyone knows what great games these are. The dialogue is funny without having to be mature, the RPG elements are just the right amount of simple, and the whole paper thing is awesome still.
I had the fortune of finding an article about this game some months ago, when it was still in very early development, as opposed to now where it's in early development (or Alpha). If you want to know about it just look at the article here on Giant Bomb or better yet go to minecraft.net and check it out for free. I sound like a stupid commercial...look, it's a good game that lets you creat...nevermind, just check it out.
I'm not a proponent of RPG's, really. I like to see myself get better at games and not my virtua puppet. But Dragon Quest has always been about a bit more than numbers going up. The context it drops on you makes the numbers something meaningful. Also, I believe it was one of the first games to have a playable pregnancy (thanks, wikipedia), which later games would use to a less interesting extent (Fable 2, The Sims 2 (thanks, wikipedia).
Gravity Bone is a strange game, in that it's only 5 minutes long, yet it has had an impact on me far greater than any single game I have played. Those are big words for a small game, but Gravity Bone deserves every one of them and more. Don't read any descriptions or synopsis until you play it. It's free. That's a good price.
How did the universe align so that Erik Wolpaw and Tim Shafer both worked on the same game? Well, I'm still waiting for my Jessica Alba/Eva Mendez movie. Or do like that awful Parent Trap remake and cast Alba in two roles. I don't know, just brainstorming. Gotta think outside the box, you know whaddime sayin'?
What can I say? You spelunk. There are whips. He hates snakes. I believe at some point a Yeti threw me up against a wall for a half an hour.
The only game that actually makes you feel like a detective and not just think that it makes you...feel like a...detective (I'm lookin' at you, L.A. Noire). Also, the greatest (and possibly only? Well, maybe Earthbound) denouement in games. The last 5 minutes is absolutely atrocious, though, and makes me glad there was no Shenmue 3 (III).
