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Old Guard / IF Central Command Post / Out of Character / TOP 10 BEST GAMES EVER
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[quote][b]Remus (Sep 02, 2002 05:24 p.m.):[/b] Great games deserve recognition. And damnit, I just played a great game last night. So without further ado... [b]10. Deus Ex -- [/b][i]Ion Storm[/i] If there's one common element you're going to see in this list, it's blending. When a game takes multiple genres and mixes them into one cohesive experience, they have my respect. Deus Ex took the tired first-person shooter premise to a whole new level, and used it as a platform for, of all things, an [i]RPG[/i]. Deus Ex has roughly 10,000 pages (no exaggeration) of dialogue written by a professional novelist, and a plotline so twisted and paranoid that it puts X-Files to shame. And on top of that, the game was designed from the start to accommodate several different styles of play. Don't like violent video games? You can play the whole game without killing one man. In fact, your lethality is something the other characters [i]react[/i] to: kill lots of people, even bad guys, and some characters will cheer you on while others will frown at you. And here's the kicker -- there were points where I actually found myself [i]wanting[/i] some of these fictional characters' approval. Like any game, it had its problems -- the graphics were dated, and the FPS interface seems more conductive to an action game than an RPG (though props to Ion Storm for trying something new!). None of these, however, were enough to detract from the luster of this instant classic. [b]9. Blade Runner -- [/b][i]Westwood Studios[/i] Here's a funny thing: I played this game when it came out in 1997, and loved it. Fascinated by the premise, I went and saw the movie. It was okay, but compared to the video game, I was a little disappointed. But from that I learned it was based upon a book, [i]Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep[i] (don't ask me, I still don't know what the title means to this day). So I read this book. It sucked. I mean really, it was awful. So anyways, Blade Runner the game was the best of the three, which in some ways makes it more impressive in my eyes. But here was what was cool from the start. A) The graphics. For 1997, they were [i]bitchin'[/i]. B) The plot. This game used an engine which keeps track of everything you do and say to everyone, and the other characters in the game respond to this. I've played about four times and gotten 3 different endings and had a different play-through path every time. From minute one the story branches out, and two conversations with the same person during two different play-throughs can be completely different. How cool is that? [b]8. Metal Gear Solid -- [/b][i]Konami Computer Entertainment Japan[/i] This game pretty much speaks for itself. Great plot, great voice acting, lots of action but plenty of story too, but the best part was the attention to [i]detail[/i]. Want to grab an enemy's attention? Back up against a wall and press the O button, and you can knock on it. Walking through the snow? Be careful; not only do you leave footprints, but the enemies [i]notice[/i] them and follow them as far as they go. Caught in the cold without your shirt (long story)? Better get inside quickly -- you can catch a cold, and after that you periodically sneeze, making sneaking up on people damn near impossible! And on top of all that: Vulcan Raven. Can you beat a six-and-a-half-foot tattooed shaman with a gatling gun taller than he is who can deliver the line "The raven on my head -- it thirsts for his [i]blood[/i]!"? I think not. Oh, and the Ninja kicks ass^[(infinity)/0]. That is all. [b]7. The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time -- [/b][i]Presto Studios[/i] Time travel rocks. Wanted to get that out of the way right off. And this game, though it does have paradoxes and inconsistencies, carries it off well. You're Gage Blackwood, Agent 5 from the first Journeyman Project, and in the year since the last game, you've become known as a hero. Except one morning, a man in a metal suit appears in your living room. The faceplate opens, and guess who it is? You! He tells you that he's from the future (about 9 years, to be exact) and that he's been framed. He needs someone to prove his innocence, and since nobody but he can use his DNA-encoded jumpsuit, he needs your help. You have to travel to four different time zones (Chateau Gillard, Chichen Itza, Leonardo da Vinci's studio, and the Farnstein lab space station) to gather clues and piece together the mystery of your future self's framing. The detail is just bloody amazing. Presto Studios researched this stuff out the wazoo. Chateau Gillard is recreated brick for brick from the original blueprints, Chichen Itza's High Priests' Temple is covered in Mayan murals (which aren't there anymore in our time), and da Vinci's studio is populated with [i]tons[/i] of machines and inventions from the master's sketch books. And! And! [i]Arthur[/i]! You can't really understand unless you've played it, but just trust me: Arthur rocks my time travel socks. [b]6. Final Fantasy VII -- [/b][i]Squaresoft[/i] Everybody's played this one, and everybody loves it, so no need to explain too deeply. This is traditional RPG gamemaking at its best, plain and simple. But don't try to understand the Cloud/Zack subplot. Honestly, you'll just give yourself a headache. [b]5. Toonstruck -- [/b][i]Burst Productions[/i] Okay, think Who Framed Roger Rabbit inverted. Christopher Lloyd plays Drew Blanc, a jaded cartoonist disappointed with his career. He started off with big dreams, but ended up as an animator for the Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show. So while working late one night (on orders from his boss, Ben Stein), he gets sucked into the tv. Don't ask -- the game doesn't explain, and the manual tells you not to think too hard about it. Upon arrival in cartoon land, Lloyd witnesses a flying saucer zap the cutesy landscape, making it barren and evil-looking. He soon learns that Count Nefarious (Tim Curry) has built a Malevolator, and is transforming Cutopia. Horrors. Whatever you may think of its makeover, your job is to find the elements that make up a Cutifier, so the damage can be reversed. With the help of your sidekick, Flux Wildly (Dan Castellenetta), you restore the natural balance of the world. The grab? Well, if you didn't guess from the voice actors, this game is [i]hilarious[/i]. Play. You can't possibly understand otherwise. [b]4. The Dig -- [/b][i]Lucasarts[/i] An asteroid's heading for Earth. Yeah, I know, original, but that's just the starting point. You're Boston Low, commander of the shuttle expedition to place nuclear charges on the asteroid, Attila, to blow it into steady orbit. Don't worry, this is about the first 10 minutes of the game. You do, it does, yada yada. You and your team go exploring Earth's new moon. Except inside you find artifacts, and once activated, the asteroid transforms -- into an FTL starship. A blink, and you find yourself stranded on an alien world, apparently abandoned for centuries. Good animation, great voice acting (Robert Patrick, the T-1000, is the voice of Low), superb music by Michael Land, and a really cool plot dealing with the obsession with immortality and the dangers of technology all contribute to making this one of the finest games ever made. Originally a movie concept conceived by Steven Spielberg, it was given to Lucas and made by his company, with [i]Orson Scott Card[/i] writing the dialogue. Highly recommended. [b]3. Anachronox -- [/b][i]Ion Storm[/i] This is the game I finally beat last night (BECCA IS GOD!), so I'm going to rave for a bit. Please bear with. The game, like all great RPGs, starts off humbly enough. You're Sylvester Buchelli (aka Sly Boots), an out of work, down on his luck detective with a drinking problem (or lack of one) and some pretty heavy debts. After a run-in with one of Detta's goons, Boots decides it's time to get a job -- and gets caught up (kicking and screaming) in a quest to save the universe. When you start the game, you're playing for the immediate satisfaction. The game is just hilarious, almost to the point of being a satire of RPGs (as well as sci-fi and video games in general). But then, by degrees, the game surprises you by sneaking in real [i]plot[/i] while you aren't looking, and suddenly, they smack you with a huge fish labeled "REVELATION", and we the gamers gape. Simply fantastic plots (primary and sub-), great voice acting, hilarious writing, and just [i]general overall coolness[/i] make this game an instant classic. It was cut in half for time purposes (the developers knew they were never going to finish it if they didn't release it toot sweet), and now that most of the dev team has been laid off (ironically, because it didn't sell very well at all), I don't know if it will ever be finished. But this game is Great, and I'll play it over and over until I get my Anox2, even if I have to make it myself. [b]2. Soul Reaver 2 -- [/b][i]Crystal Dynamics[/i] If you've played any of the Legacy of Kain games, you know what I'm talking about when I say these games have [i]atmosphere[/i]. This series is so steeped in fictional mythology and lore that there are whole sites devoted to Nosgoth's history. I choose Soul Reaver 2 as my 2nd favorite game of all time because it easily has the most complicated plot I've yet seen in a video game. Twisting in on itself and knotting as only time travel stories can, you had better have the time to play this one twice, and you have to know your Nosgoth lore before you start, because this one's a [i]doosey[/i]. It's a testament to the quality of storytelling that half an hour into the game, a scene between Raziel and Kain, the villain of the previous game, forces you to [i]completely rethink[/i] the drive of Soul Reaver. As always, fantastic voice overs (not just great acting, but [i]cool[/i] voices from Michael Bell, Simon Templeman, and Tony Jay) and great dialogue all make for an immersive experience, and Amy Hennig's storytelling is simply superb. Be warned: the cliffhanger ending makes the previous game's look practically like [i]closure[/i]. Prepare to have your brain tied in knots. [b]1. Riven -- [/b][i]Cyan[/i] Like the previous entry, I'm choosing one game to represent the larger series, because both Soul Reaver 2 and Riven are part of a larger whole. Each, however, is the finest example from its series, which is high praise indeed. The Myst series is simply groundbreaking. Each installment has been fantastic in its own right, and the collective is just so damn cool that you have to squee. For those of you that don't know the premise, the civilization of D'ni invented the Art, a process by which one writes a book which links to (or, depending upon your school of thought, [i]creates[/i]) another world. Now, as a writer, I'm probably a little biased -- I mean, how freaking cool would it be to be able to write something that becomes [i]real[/i]? The games are mostly puzzle-based, and frankly, they're bloody hard. However, the plotlines make them [i]well[/i] worth the trouble. What's the coolest thing about the games (and books)? I can't possibly say. But they're cool. Cool cool cool. Indescribably cool. So there. Play them for yourself and see. Cheat if you have to; the stories are worth the damage to one's pride.[/quote]
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