Violent By Design wrote:Some games on this list I've played before, but the familiarity wore off to where it was a relatively new or refreshing experience.
10) Sonic Pocket Adventure - It was either this or Shining Force II, but I'm making a last minute switch for the Neo Geo Pocket Color's premier game. This game was really fun, it captures the speed of Sonic 2 perfectly.
The first 2 stages are like the exact same thing as Sonic 2, but from what I remember it starts to change a bit after that. Fighting Knuckles was a pretty kick ass moment too. Anyway, just a very pure platforming experience, and the art design was a real joy to watch. Shame Neo Geo Pocket didn't pan out, because it had a lot of potential.
The game is really really short, difficulty is pretty easy because you can save, and it doesn't feel like that original of an experience since you'll recognize the stages.
I think this is probably one of the best Sonics, I'd only put Sonic 2 and Generations over it. I've played or dabbled with most of the Sonics except Sonic & K and The Lost World.
9) Snatcher - This was an awesomely crafted game. Kojima could have been hell of a movie director if he had ever broken into that business.
This game is really ahead of its time. Voice acting is really top notch. The graphics are wonderful, great use of colors and detail thanks to the Sega CD.
For a game that is so short, it does a great job at establishing connections with the other supporting cast. When something dramatic happens, you really feel it.
Gibson, the main character is one of the best video game characters ever. Really feels like a real person. He's so charismatic, he really represents what makes Snatcher special - Snatcher can be sad, campy, mysterious, scary and funny at any given moment, and it doesn't ruin the flow of the game.
The only bad thing about Snatcher is the actual decision tree is done very poorly. You are given a list of options, and you can/should just pick them all in order to advance. You do not really make a choice in anything, and you don't really feel like a detective either, which is isn't a good thing considering the protagonist is one.
8 ) Lunar: Silverstar Story Complete: The PSX remake of the Sega CD classic is everything you would want from an RPG of that era.
The PSX really shines here, the towns are huge, yet still all sprite based, given it a fairly unique feeling. Just the way your character moves feels good (your characters can even move diagonally, Pokemon only just started doing that). There's a ton of dialogue, and some good humor thrown in there too, though at times a bit too immature.
The writing isn't my cup of tea, but it's no weaker than most JRPGs from that era. The battle system is good at first, if your character is too far from the enemy, it will waste a turn trying to get to them - which causes you to be tactical at first. However, as the game progresses, all of your characters get so strong that they can move across the battlefield in one turn and still attack.
I actually think the anime cut scenes took away from the game. The game would have been better as a pure sprite based adventure. There are so many bloody anime cut scenes that are only like 5 seconds long, it really just ruins the rhythm of the game. Not to mention the voice acting is ridiculously corny, as was most dubbed voice acting in anime back then.
A great game none the less, anyone who likes SNES/PSX rpgs would like this game.
7) Pokemon Pinball - Ruby and Sapphire - This was the first Pinball video game I ever learned. It was pretty awesome actually learning the techniques behind controlling a pinball.
The table for Pokemon pinball is set up very well, and gives a player a lot of options in terms of what they want to focus on. As a noob to the genre, it was a great experience though I only played the Ruby table for the most part.
If you're good enough, you can capture pokemon at will, evolve your pokemon when ever you want, get your pokeball to a masterball or switch levels to find new pokemon. The boss battles are pretty nice too, though the big red lava dude (forgot his name, hes on the cover of Pokemon Red though) is cheesy as hell, but very rewarding to actually beat him.
6)Contra - During the summer I used to just turn this game on and see how far I can go on one life, wouldn't even bother using my continues. I went really far before I stopped playing, but I had a lot of fun and I likely could have beaten the game if I sat down for an hour or two.
The controls are pretty timeless, though the game is a lot slower paced than I remembered. You kinda have to map out your actions and think ahead of time, it's not really about reflex which I think a lot of people get caught up in. I think I like Contra 3 more, but this game was a real good challenge, and its very satisfying when ever you clear a level without getting hit.
5)Civilization V: A Brave New World - This is what vanilla Civ should have been. Civ V keeps some of the good changes from Gods and Kings like Religion, but adds a lot more. They really did a good job of adding mechanics that gives civs major reasons to explore.
Culture+Tourism is interesting since now you can attack countries by making people want to come to your country.
Countries are now influenced by other nations political ideologies such as communism and what not, giving global pressures to convert.
At a certain point in the world, you can go on a hunt for artifacts all over the world to put in your museum, artifact hunts can get so tight it can even start wars.
The new Civs are all kick ass, great abilities that add unique gameplay, albeit they are quite a bit stronger than the vanilla civs.
Only bad part is it is easy to win via Diplomacy. You can buy out all the City States so they vote for you in the UN for an easy win. Though the UN itself is awesome outside of that. You can vote to host the Olympics, universally raise science and what not, embargo trades to hurt other opponents. Outside of an easy Diplomatic win, the UN is a true joy, and probably really fun to play in multiplayer.
4) Super Mario Galaxy 2 - This was the last game I played when I started catching up on my Wii games (then the summer challenge derailed that journey).
This was a lot like Galaxy 1, except the levels are a lot better designed. Galaxy 1 was a decent game, but Galaxy 2 really is a far superior version of it. Galaxy 2 is short and sweet, and you never feel like you're doing the same type of stage too often like you did in Galaxy 1. Also, Galaxy 1 I thought the small planets were very frustrating to navigate through where Galaxy 2 had less of that. There was also less crappy Rosaline story stuff in galaxy 2.
Probably the biggest short coming in Galaxy 2 was the Bowser boss battles were all the same.
3) Dota 2 - I got my internet working properly in the fall, which meant I could finally dive a bit into this game. Truth be told, I still haven't gotten enough of this game where I feel really comfortable playing it. But I still like everything I've learned about it.
It's a lot like League of Legends, but a lot more aggressive. Less emphasis on farming, and more on playmaking. The heroes have some really cool abilities as well, it's easy to see what hero is good at what, but the depth for some of them is pretty high compared to LoL. Might see this game on my 2014 list, since I'm still not satisfied with my knowledge of it.
2) Super Mario Bros 3 - I've played this a bit before, but never got very far. I decided to play this on super Mario All-Stars, and I totally got engrossed in this game.
The stage design is really jaw dropping. Going to stages like the big world was just such a pleasure. I don't really like SMW that much because I felt like it tried to focus too much on style over substance - where SMB3 feels like a much more natural successor to SMB (which I absolutely love).
The difficulty in SMB3 is really nice too, I still haven't beaten it.
The items are probably the biggest thing that separates this from the other Mario games. I actually did have to think about what items I wanted to use when going into certain worlds. It was a nice element, and the variety in powers was very refreshing.
1)Portal - I replayed this game on Jan 1st of last year. The puzzles was just as good as I remembered, but the dialogue really hit me this time. I never finished the Glados fight when I first played, so I finally got to hear the credits, and it was the best ending ever.
Portal is shot and sweet. The puzzles are intuitive and unique. The plot isn't convoluted, very straight forward, but the drama properly escalates. Glados is a fantastic character, backed by a great script with plenty of memorable lines. Really just a masterpiece.
Fuck, I forgot about FTL: Faster Than Light
Quickly revised list
10) Snatcher
9) Lunar: Silverstar Story Complete
8 ) Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
7) Contra
6) FTL: Faster Than Light
5) Civilization V: A Brave New World
4) Super Mario Galaxy 2
3) Dota 2
2) Super Mario Bros 3
1) Portal
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