IF Command Online
IF Command Online Bulletin Board Forum (total 54 members)
home
|
login
|
register
|
search
|
today's posts
|
help
Index
/
Old Guard
/
Out of Character
/
A New World Order
Reply the topic
Please fill out all required (
*
) fields.
Nickname
*
enter your nickname.
Email
*
enter your email address.
To
Old Guard / Out of Character / A New World Order / Best 25 Games Ever (The Revised List)
Symbol
Subject
*
write the subject of your new topic.
Message
*
UltraBoard Codes
: on
HTML Tags
: on
Emotions Legend
[quote][b]Remus (Jan 06, 2004 10:10 a.m.):[/b] [b]15. Thief II: The Metal Age[/b] - [i]PC, Looking Glass Studios, 2000[/i] Thief: The Dark Project was something of a mixed bag. The first level made me giddy. The intro's cool voice-over from Garret, the game's protagonist, describing the plan to sneak into a rich nobleman's home and alleviate him of the burder of a good portion of his wealth had me excited as hell about the game, and the level delivered on all promises. The game is balanced so that combat is almost never a viable option -- you play by sticking to the shadows, making as little sound as possible, and leaving no evidence you were ever there. Except, of course, for the missing loot. However, after the first level, things go downhill. The sequel makes up for the mistakes of the original by sticking more to the spirit of what makes the game unique. Garret is a great protagonist character, but add to that an unlikely alliance with an enemy from the first game, and the story shapes up pretty well. Alas, Looking Glass Studios is no more, but a third Thief game is in the works with Ion Storm. This game isn't for everyone; the first-person perspective can be odd for a stealth game, and the trial-and-error gameplay will repel the easily-frustrated. If you're a fan of the stealth genre, however, Thief invented it. Sit a while with the heir to the throne, and you'll learn a thing or two. [b]14. Sly Cooper and the Thievious Raccoonus[/b] - [i]PS2, Sucker Punch, 2002[/i] The premise is simple and silly, and sets the tone of the game pretty accurately: you are Sly Cooper, last son of a long line of master thieves, but your family's secrets, carefully recorded over the ages in a tome called the Thievious Raccoonus, were taken when you were a child by a group of criminals called the Fiendish Five, after they murdered your father. Without that book, you've had to learn the family trade on your own -- but now you're ready, and you're going to steal the heirloom back from the Five, and get revenge while you're at it. This game is good old-fashioned platforming fun, and what it does, it does very well. The story, though not especially long or complex, is endearing and entertaining. The characters, including Sly and his two companions, a nerdy hacker turtle named Bently and a bumbling getaway driver hippopotamus Murray, a police inspector on Sly's trail, and each of the Five, are all unique and entertaining characters with charm to spare. It's a short game, and so those with lukewarm feelings toward platformers may prefer to simply rent it. But hey, this snappy, stylish romp made me want to be a thief, and not even Thief did that. [b]13. The Lost Vikings[/b] - [i]SNES, Silicon & Synapse, 1992[/i] The last truly old-school game on this list, The Lost Vikings is one very fun game. It can be played as a single-player adventure, but it truly shines when two players cooperate. The game gives you three characters (who are, in fact, Vikings who have gotten lost in time), each of whom have very specific abilities which only occasionally overlap. Baleog is the warrior, strong and fierce, with a crushing sword strike and a weaker but long-range arrow-shot. Erik is a scout, swift and nimble, able to outrun any enemy and leap over obstacles. Olaf is the defender, solid and stout behind his near-indestructible shield. All three character need to be coordinated carefully to defeat the game's enemies and bypass its traps, and with two players this can be riotously great fun. The game shows itself to be particularly clever, however, in the later levels, where the vikings' secondary abilities must be used to substitute for those who are needed elsewhere. For instance, Erik's sprint, which can send him plowing into and breaking down walls (leaving him with a nasty headache) can also be used to harm enemies if Baleog cannot be with the party. Baleog's sword attack knocks an enemy back a step, allowing him to fend off attackers who might otherwise harm the party if Olaf is away. And Olaf's shielf can be held aloft to allow Olaf to glide (you have to see it to appreciate the humor), allowing him to pass over some obstacles and navigate some traps if Erik is elsewhere. The game is carefully designed and balanced so that each character is valuable and essential, with each as important as the others. Though there are action and platforming elements (usually where Baleog and Erik are involved, respectively), the game is at its heart a puzzle game, and is requires thinking above coordination. [b]12. Beyond Good & Evil[/b] - [i]PS2, Ubisoft, 2003[/i] This game is often compared to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Below), as well as to a later edition, The Wind Waker. These comparisons are fair, in that you can play either of those games and have a fair idea of whether or not you'll like BG&E. This is one of the three most recent additions to my list, all of which are from Ubisoft, which is quite remarkable (see Splinter Cell above and Prince of Persia: The Sandes of Time below). This is also the last of the three that I've played. The game follows the adventure game formula, to an extent, providing you with steadily-upgrading vehicles with which you can explore the game world, each allowing you access to an expanded portion of that world. From time to time you descend into monster-filled dungeons which you must explore, at the end of which you will usually find some sort of boss creature. These aspects aren't particularly original, but they're as well-crafted as any Zelda game, so don't let critics sway you. And yet, the game truly comes into its own with the smaller details. You play as Jade, a freelance action reporter enlisted by the rebel Iris network to document proof that the planet Hyllis' defenders, the Alpha Section, are actually working for the DomZ aliens. Therefore, boss battles notwithstanding, the dungeons center mostly around stealthily creeping through AS compounds and photographing evidence against them. This is a refreshing change of pace from the usual hack-and-slash gameplay which takes over when you leave the overworld, and gives the game a more believable, mature feel than one gets from weilding the Master Sword. However, though the game is so all-around polished you can use it as a mirror, it paradoxically has a strangely unfinished feel to it. There are mysteries hinted at throughout the game which are only passingly explained at the end, and the game universe is left largely unexplained. Add to that that the game has only three major dungeons (plus a handful of shorter optional ones) and can be completed (and I mean [i]completed[/i]) by a first-time player in under ten hours, and you get a sense that something larger was originally intended, but was scaled back at some point. Stick around after the credits and you'll see a short cutscene which hints at a sequel, but takes away from the satisfaction of the ending. Sorry if that was something of a spoiler. [b]11. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time[/b] - [i]PS2, Ubisoft, 2003[/i] The last of the three Ubisoft games on this list, and my favorite (though as you can see from the ordering, it was a hard choice between this and Beyond Good & Evil, above). The original Prince of Persia, a game by Jordan Mechner (this was back in the late 80s, when a game could be made by a single person), was an inspired platformer which I was planning to include on this list, until Sands of Time came along and outdid it by leaps, bounds, flips, and probably a few wall jumps too. Sands is also a platformer, but has more to in common with Mario than with the Prince's first incarnation. Whereas the original stressed a realistic protagonist with only a believable set of well-animated abilities at his disposal, similar to Ico (see below), Sands of Time introduces a Prince who can perform superhuman feats of acrobatic action which make even the portly plumber look ordinary. In fact, comparisons between Sands of Time and Ico are rather inevitable, as the two share many common features, though they approach them in different ways. As with Ico, a good deal of the game's challenge comes from trying to find a path around, over, and through the debris of a ruined castle for yourself and your companion. In this case, your companion is a maharaja's daughter -- the very same maharaja whose kingdom your army just sacked, actually. Unlike Yorda, she can talk, and in fact the witty banter between the two main characters is a high point of the game. The princess is much more independent than Yorda, and is armed against enemies and can often find her own way around a given obstacle, thank you very much. However, here comparisons are distracting, as the two games aim to achieve different ends. Ico encourages a feeling of protective concern for your companion, where as Sands sets her up as an equal (in theory). While the levels aren't so cohesive and believable as Ico's, the fun you'll have traversing them more than makes up for it. The running, jumping, climbing, and swinging are wickedly fun. Combat isn't particularly deep (you'll only need to decide which of your three useful acrobatic tricks you need for any given enemy type, and then use it until they're all dead), but the onslaught of enemies can often make things feel pretty tense. And while the story only appears in small bits throughout the course of the game, the ending is, and I say this with solemn sobriety, perfect. It is without a doubt one of the best endings in a video game, movie, book, whatever you want, ever. If you enjoy platformers, this is the second best. From this description, can you guess which the best is?[/quote]
write your message here.
Preview your post and/or attach a file?
Powered by
UltraBoard
2000 Standard Edition,
Copyright ©
UltraScripts.com, Inc.
1999-2000.
Sign our Visitor's Log!