Scrollin' down, nodding hard in approval. "Yep, uh huh, yup, yes, oh yeah that one, yessir... wuuuuuuh?!" Then you hit me with some Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, TWIST ENDING!

gotta have one of those right?

Yeah that's basically on there because I've been waiting for a good G1 Transformers videogame basically my entire life and WFC is probably about as good as I'll ever get. Objectively it doesn't belong in a critical sense, but you know water in a desert for a long suffering Transformers fan after so so many low grade tie in games....

For the life of me I can never figure out why that creative property has never translated into video game gold, it seems perfect for it.

@slag: As a wannabe hardcore Transformers fan, I totally understand. I vaguely remember the Quick Look EX for Fall of Cybertron, and think that it seemed pretty interesting. Cool use of unique abilities for the different bots, at least.

But yeah, why aren't there tons of great Transformers games? Driving and Flying and Giant Robots should automatically be the best game ever made. It could be that a core tenant of the stories seem to be about team work, so when every mission is just a lone Transformer doing their thing, it looses something. Maybe there could be some kind of GTA V mechanic where you have like 5 Autobots that you can switch between on the fly in a mission. Switch to a more agile bot to climb stuff and snipe, a tougher guy to clear paths and take down big enemies, Optimus Prime to say some inspiring shit.

Oh man, now I'm disappointed that my imaginary game doesn't exist. Hypothetical developers, roll out!

yeah man you totally get it.

What I liked about WFC was I felt like they got the banter and personalities about as right as I've seen in ever seen in video games. Optimus Prime felt like Prime, Jazz felt like Jazz, etc etc. I always really appreciated the degree of characterization the series goes to. And WFC at least tried to use that. FOC did too, but WFC did it better. While many are one note characters, they all are usually very distinct in appearance, personality, abilities and sound.

Transformers actually has a pretty rich set of source material most people don't know about it if you look at the comics, especially the UK ones (dunno if you have read any of those). I always felt that the people who have handled the franchise when re-adapting have criminally underused the existing source material. It's probably not oscar material, but there's plenty there for a great video game plot with a very deep cast. Or focused too much on the human characters.

While I'm sure you need the humans to make it palatable to a mass audience, the Michale Bay movies in particular I thought did a very poor job of characterization of the robots through design, dialog and plot. You ask the common fan who as was after a showing I doubt many could name anybody beyond Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron. While they were pretty and very detailed, in motion and on screen it was just blur of metal.

But yeah gameplay wise, nobody has found the right formula yet. Most just turn them into a pretty generic single player third person shooter, which WFC did although it tried much harder than most previous attempts. When I think what made Transformers combat fun it's as you alluded to it's the squad based combat, which ultimately result in several individual 1v1 hand to hand sequences. When you look at the cartoons most fights start out in vehicle mode they then transform and start shooting, but in the end they usually end up grappling. And who doesn't love watching two robots punch the crap outta each other? The melee is a big part of the attraction, excluding one really bad N64 Beast Wars fighting game virtually no Transformers game has ever really had that.

And heck Transformers has just about the largest cast of characters imaginable. You'd think it'd be perfect for something like the Skylanders treatment. A toy that transforms that you also play with in a game? That sounds like an easy hundreds of millions of dollars in sales to me. Or maybe even MOBA which is about the only genre I know of where 5 players really do have to co-operate to win.

oh well. Hypothetical developers right?

I agree with every game on this list that I have completed except perhaps Mirrors Edge. Good work!

thanks man!

Mirror's Edge definitely has its' flaws and some combat sequences that really dragged, but I liked what it was trying to do. And the parts where it worked, man did it work for me. There's something inherently fun to me about parkour.

I think so too. I'm looking forward to seeing if they improve the couple of problems I had with it in the sequel.

Cool list Slag! I've played and really liked the majority of these, and a lot of the ones I haven't played I'd like to get to someday. It's especially nice to see Valkyria Chronicles get some love, and also nice to see some Wii representation (even without Mario Galaxy :P). I don't think the Wii was nearly as bad as people make it out to be, it had quite a few strong games.

@karkarov: I think you already did. :)

Thanks duder.

Thanks Mitch!

VC is a really fun game, I love SRPGs so it was right up my alley. It was actually a system seller for me on the PS3.

I really debated which Mario game to put on there. I may have played Galaxy too late after release (actually started it this year finally) to really be wowed, I haven't finished it yet and I don't know if I'm going to. I probably will, but the fact I've taken a break in the midst of a Mario game is a novelty to me. That's never happened to me with a Mario game before. Objectively Galaxy is better than NSMBW which is more derivative of previous Marios, but I liked how it felt better. Responsiveness of control is the main thing I'm looking for in a platformer. I would have chosen the DS New Super Mario Bros. which I really really liked, but I didn't want to open that can of worms because then I would have had to add a lot of DS games.

The thing is I just really hate playing lengthy single player games with the Wii remote and those are the types of games I like. Super Smash Bros and Twilight Princess I ended using the gamecube controller for them and found I enjoyed them a whole heck of a lot more once I did.

I just don't find the Wii remote a responsive, fun or comfortable way to game in the way I like to game. I do need to buckle down and locate a Wiimotion Plus which I imagine will take care of the responsiveness issue, but I don't think that's going to solve my fundamental discomfort issue. I've generally been a pretty active guy during the day so when I get home I just want to relax and game. Holding my arm out, pointing and waving it for 2-3 hour bursts (which is how I play a game like Zelda or Mario) isn't that comfortable for me. It doesn't hurt, it's just annoying. That and the buttons on the wii remote I find to be oddly placed and cheap.

maybe I'm just a crotchety old gamer who is set in his ways, but I could just never get past the controller when it came to the Wii. The rest of the quibbles people have with the system doesn't bother me (online play etc).

There are definitely a lot of underrated great Wii games that I wish I could make myself play. I am playing through the Last Story atm and am really enjoying that. Pandora's Tower is next on the list to play.

but yeah Galaxy (or Galaxy 2 if I ever play that) probably should be on there.

It's fascinating how many people I've seen nominate Dragon's Dogma as one of their favorites. I appreciate that game's ambition but never got all that far into it. I'm going to have to remedy that one of these days.

I think for me Spark it's the about the perfect fusion of four mechanics I really like, Action Adventure combat, Exploration with light parkour, Epic boss fights using in game skills (mostly) with RPG fantasy setting and mission structure.

Dark Souls did most of this too, I just didn't care for Gothic/zombie look and it was a little lacking on the other stuff DD brought to the game despite the combat being mechanically superior with definite better level design. And that damn Capra Demon and his stupid dogs. I don't mind a hard boss fight, but that crap was tedioussssss.

Seeping Dogs is probably the only other game this gen that came close to Dragon's Dogma to me in how it felt like second nature to play it. Very versatile and fun combat games in great settings. I enjoyed Sleeping Dogs in a way I never enjoyed GTA games.

I remember your challenges with the game, and I think if you ever do come across a better monitor setup for it, it will literally transform how you feel about it. I can't imagine trying to play it or Dark Souls in the conditions you were trying to. I think that would take a good portion of the fun out of those games, I know it did for me when I tried to play shooters on my old CRT TV. I don't know if it will ever be your favorite given different tastes but I'd bet you'd at least like it.

btw that reminds me I really out to lay out my reasons for what is what on my list. I never imagined so many people would read what was essentially a notepad for myself!

I would add some of these to my list also, along with Uncharted 2.

The Uncharted series is still one my embarrassing gaming blindspots. I recently got the original trilogy but I still haven't played any. I'm sure I'll like them when I do hopefully this year, I liked Naughty Dog's previous franchise, Jak, a bunch.

I just hope I'm not coming to UC2 too late, I know it was very beloved in its day.