Survivor Charlie
CAGiversary!
- Feedback
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Let me preface this by saying, yes, I snubbed a lot of games. So let me issue a mass apology to the following people. *clears throat* Metal Gear/Splinter Cell/Insert name of Stealth Game here boredom enthusiests, X-Box fanboys, Sports game losers, RPG nerds, and Nintendo haters at large. I'm deeply sorry.
But not really.
I also didn't include the GBA because it's a handheld and the Sega Dreamcast because I don't consider it a sixth-generation console, but rather a system that bridged the fifth generation to the sixth generation yet doesn't really belong to either.
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The Top 20 Games of the Sixth Generation
by Charlie Reneke (Stablewars.com)
Completed May 22, 2008
#20: Pikmin 2
Gamecube
August 30, 2004
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.3
Low sales numbers seem to have killed the series, which really sucks. The first Pikmin was a well intentioned game but a bit of a disaster in execution. The fact that you were stuck with a time limit to complete the game destroyed chances for exploration. Pikmin 2 righted those wrongs, but the damage was already done. The concept is you play as a pair of spacemen who grow and multiply tiny, multi-colored creatures called "Pikmin", who you then use to fight enemies and carry items back to your ship. Pikmin 2 works much better then the original because, although you're still required to exit a stage before nightfall hits, you're not limited by any amount of virtual days. Combine this with randomized dungeons to explore and you have the makings of one fantastic experience, a real time strategy game and a collect-a-thon. And another unsung aspect of Pikmin 2 is it's fantastic two player battle mode. Sure, you can play a special co-op mode, but where's the fun in that? In battle, you are placed in randomized dungeons and made to race to be the first player to either capture your opponent's marble or the majority of gold marbles scattered throughout the level. If you haven't played Pikmin 2, it's worth a whirl just for the battle mode. Big fun and lots of laughs, especially when you end up facing off with your opponent on the battle field.
#19: Pac-Man Vs.
Gamecube (Ported to the Nintendo DS in the compilation "Namco Museum DS")
December 12, 2002
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 8.0
Here's a game you almost certainly did not play, and who can blame you? The game requires a Gamecube, three controls, a Gameboy Advance/SP (sorry Micro users), and a Gamecube to Gameboy cord. That said, if you owned all this hardware you could get the game for free if you went to a game store and asked nicely. You could also get a free copy by calling Nintendo, or by buying Namco's GCN games released around the winter of 2002. Still, the Gamecube wasn't exactly popular and GBA 'connectivity' even less so. Even if the game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, which Pac-Man Vs. was, it was sure to be skipped. And that's a shame. The concept is exactly what the title implies: it's Pac-Man done in battle mode. One player is randomly chosen to be Pac-Man and plays on the Gameboy Advance. They get a full view of the playfield and must eat up the dots. The other three players are the ghosts, and they use the Gamecube controllers and play on the television screen. Their view of the playfield is limited to a small section surrounding where they are currently located. If they catch Pac-Man, the round ends and the catcher becomes Pac-Man. This goes on until one player has scored the amount of points stated in the goal. As simple a concept as it is, this is one of the best times you can have playing a video game with your friends. And if all the players are skilled, it's downright amazing. It was recently re-released, sort of, on the Nintendo DS as part of that system's Namco Collection, so you have another chance to check it out. If you have friends with Nintendo DSs, please do so.
#18: Beyond Good & Evil
Playstation 2, X-Box, & Gamecube
November 11, 2003
Developed by Ubisoft
IGN Rating: 9
Another game that deserved better, BG&E did find some word-of-mouth success, but only after it hit the bargain bins. It's part action, part adventure, part stealth, and part puzzler. You play the role of Jade, a nature photographer who doubles as a spy trying to uncover the truth about an alien race that has taken over your planet. The game changes from Zelda-style combat to Splinter Cell type sneakery, tasking you to take out bad guys or take photos that will expose the true nature of the aliens and government. The plot is very deep and full of lots of twists. If any fault can be found, it's in the generic character design. That said, this is a pretty epic experience. Sadly, Ubisoft pretty much killed it on accident, positioning it's release date too close to titles that had more hype, including it's own games like Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell, both of which have not aged as gracefully as BG&E has. Thankfully, on May 15th it was confirmed that a sequel is in the works.
#17: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Gamecube
March 14, 2004
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 8.8
The first four games on this list were flops at the checkout line (well, Pac-Man doesn't count), with Jungle Beat easily doing the worst. And that's a shame because it really is the last good 2-D platformer to hit a console. Sadly, the game was labeled as 'gimmicky' because of the fact that you control the game using the bongo controllers that were included with music-game Donkey Konga. Now I myself had doubts about a game where you move Donkey Kong by slapping on the bongos, hitting both to jump, and clapping to grab objects. Foolish me, it totally works. In fact, after a little practice it becomes totally natural feeling. Hell, you'll end playing entire levels stringing together endless combos, shooting yourself from object to object and maybe not even hitting the ground. It's simply amazing. On top of that, you get some really neat boss fights that play in a variety of ways, such as bongo-ish version of Punch-Out!! You can still find it dirt cheap ($10 with bongos) at Gamestop. If you have a Wii, snag it. And here's a tip... since clapping sucks, just smack the side the bongo. It works.
#16: Okami
Playstation 2 (Wii version ported for 7th Generation)
September 19, 2006
Developed by Clover Studios
IGN Rating: 9.1 (2006 Game of the Year)
The first time I laid eyes on a preview of Okami, I knew it would be my type of game. Most people wrote it off as a Wind Waker wannabe, but that was really unfair. Granted, both games unfold like living fairytales, but Okami's graphic style easily blew Wind Waker out of the water. The beautiful cel-shaded environments of Okami are so good looking that they still look better then anything released on any of the 7th generation platforms. The fact that this was pulled off on the Playstation 2, the oldest and most underpowered sixth generation machine, is nothing short of incredible. No screenshot does Okami justice. It *is* a moving painting. But the game doesn't rest on graphical achievement. Like any masterpiece, the graphics only set the mood for what is one of the written stories of any adventure game. You play as Amaterasu, a sun god who takes the form of a legendary white wolf, and are charged with removing the curse on the land that was done by the demon Orochi. Many elements of the story are lifted from actual Japanese mythology, much like the God of War series uses elements of Greek and Roman fables. The game does unfold like a more puzzle heavy version of Zelda, but the gimmick is that puzzles are in part solved by the use of a magical paintbrush. You actually freeze the game to pull out this brush and 'paint' actions on the screen. When you unpause, your brush strokes will destroy objects blocking your path, create new paths, and kill your enemies. If this sounds like something you would see on the Wii, fear not, the brush controls work great on the PS2. Like many games on this list, Okami underperformed, but with it's recent re-release on the Wii (which apparently works as good or better on the new system), you have no excuse not to check it out.
#15: Mario Kart: Double Dash
Gamecube
November 17, 2003
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 7.9
Of all the games on my list, this one scored the lowest from IGN, mostly because it's a rehash of a game that's been done many times ago. It's true, but Mario Kart Double Dash works on different levels then other games in the series. The double team aspect of the game with character-specific weapons works very well. Plus, this is the last Mario Kart game to have good track design. The DS and Wii entrees in the series, in my opinion, skimped on good track design and then Nintendo attempted to cover their asses by adding 16 'classic' courses, most of which are so forgettable and insignificant that I have to assume they were selected randomly. Despite the DS and Wii versions being online, this was the last Mario Kart game where battle mode was actually fun. Granted, the battle courses were a lot weaker then Mario Kart 64, but they were at least enjoyable and the mechanics weren't toned down so that casual newbs could PWN seasoned vets in online matches. Stuff that people complained about in Mario Kart DD were not fixed in the Wii or DS versions. Rubber-banding still exists and is actually worse then ever, the battle tracks aren't inspired, and the whole 'Mario characters in a racing game' gimmick is still as stale now as it was in 2003. And heck, this was the first Mario Kart that I actually liked to race multiplayer on the actual tracks instead of spending parties playing battle mode. Critics be damned, this was the last great Mario Kart game and one of the 20 most entertaining games of the last generation. And if you have the hardware to pull it off, 8-player LAN mode will make you the toast of the town.
#14: Final Fantasy X-2
Playstation 2
November 18, 2003
Developed by Square
IGN Rating: 9.5
The only true RPG to make this list (sorry KOTOR fans, I would rather gargle acid then play those self-congratulatory piles of shit again), Final Fantasy X-2 was the best of it's breed to be released since Final Fantasy 7 and the last good Final Fantasy game. Dumping the crappy battle system of FFX in favor of a faster-paced throwback to the classics in the series and improving on leveling aspects made me actually take interest in it, which is remarkable because I hate RPGs. The story, a fantasy political thriller, is well told but not at all heavy-handed. This isn't the type of social commentary that beats you over the head to make a point. It's almost done in 'wink wink' style, and so you can feel free to progress through the story without having to sit in quiet reflection of your own life. Video games are escape from reality, so why do RPG's have to act like they were written by Michael Moore? The graphics are pretty good, not spectacular, but the score thankfully was altered to actually fit the setting of the game, shunning epic symphony in favor of technoish J-Pop beats, something that many critics bitched very loudly about. And the two main songs are really good and very catchy. Yep, I said it. And centering the game around three girls was also a pretty bold move. A move that likely cost the game some sales because most RPG players are in fact as big of sexless nerds as the media makes them out to be. The guys who bitched about Final Fantasy X-2 being a 'chick's game' will never in their entire lives get laid because they're either too ashamed to admit they're gay or they're so prudish they wouldn't know pussy if it sat on their face and wiggled. Sadly, Square pissed away any good will they had won with me from Final Fantasy X-2 by following it up with the sleeping pills that were Final Fantasy XI (which proved Square-Enix is WAY out of their league with MMORPGs) and the paint-drying warm up act that was Final Fantasy XII.
#13: God of War II
Playstation 2
March 13, 2007
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.7
If you're wondering where the original God of War is on this list, fear not. I actually liked it better and thus it ranked higher. Which is not to say God of War II is worse then the original or was even a letdown. It wasn't. But the sense of awe from the first didn't carry over as well to the sequel. Now that I've explained why GOW II doesn't rank as high, let me tell you why it ranks at all: It's one bad ass game. It's a brawler done right, proving that the genre still has legs. Combat is as fun (and blistering) as ever, but the game has more emphasis on puzzles, which is what I'm in to. The plot is a little weak in my opinion, as they could have done a lot better then "Kratos doesn't fit in" which doesn't exactly feel inspired but that's just me. Most people like it. There are more boss fights this time around, but I actually enjoyed them less then in the first GOW. I also didn't care for the rail-shooter aspects that felt like a tacked on version of Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox. One of the problems with sequels is companies think that they have to pile in as many genres as possible to keep the game fresh, instead of actually improving or evolving aspects of the core gameplay. Hopefully they don't fall into the trap too deep with GOW III, but I suspect they will.
#12: Super Mario Sunshine
Gamecube
August 26, 2002
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.4
Yeah, I know. It was a crappy attempt at capturing Mario 64's lightning in a bottle. It never bothered me. I think if they had used more settings for the game then endless tropical islands, the game would have been more well received. Gameplay wise, Mario Sunshine was just as solid as Mario 64, and is posed to age a lot more gracefully as well. The squirt-gun is gimmicky, sure, and the 'clean up' missions did suck. But they were the only aspects that held the game back. If the mission didn't require too much cleaning up, it was usually fun. I'm talking about missions where you climb to the highest point on the map or try to gather up red coins. Those were fun and at times induced an amazing sense of vertigo. The only other mission types I didn't care for were the squid racing sequences. Those weren't too fun either. Using the water pack actually wasn't as bad as some made it out to be, and it actually added a lot to the game. The hover function, for example, greatly added both to the ease of platforming and the tension of it at the same time. And you become so dependant on the hover that when it's taken away from you for the 'old school' platforming sections, you find yourself momentarily lost. It's brilliantly constructed. The sheer variety of Mario 64 is the only thing missing from Sunshine. Otherwise it would almost certainly be remembered as one of the best games ever made.
#11: We ♥ Katamari
Playstation 2
September 20, 2005
Developed by Namco
IGN Rating: 8.0
I would say this is the most random choice on the list, but then again I included Pac-Man Vs. You know what, it's my list, and I'm saying that We ♥ Katamari hooked me like few games of the last generation did. I was in love with the concept of Katamari Damacy and enjoyed it a lot, except the camera was occasionally bad and the controls weren't totally responsive. Those problems were fixed for this sequel, plus more levels were added, more secrets piled on, and the two player mode was improved. The original was infamous for it's sickly catchy music. It's even better (or worse, depending on your point of view) here. And the incredibly stupid yet charming story is really piled on here. Sadly, the series seems to have shot it's wad here. The PSP version was practically unplayable because of the machine's crappy button layout and the X-Box 360 version was unfinished, fully priced, had worse slowdown then any Sony version, and in order to unlock all the aspects of it you had to download extra levels which were already complete. Considering the game was WAY shorter then previous Katamaris, the only way Namco could have been more insulting was if they had gone door to door and spit in every buyer of Beautiful Katamari's face. At $5 a pop (some of which are just new versions of existing levels), that actually might have been nicer.
#10: Eternal Darkness
Gamecube
June 24, 2002
Developed by Silicon Knights
IGN Rating: 9.6
When Eternal Darkness was first shown for the Nintendo 64 as a preview, it was lambasted for it's poor graphics and the fact that it was clearly Nintendo (who financed the game for SK) trying to be hip and have a survival horror game of their own. After being stuck in developmental hell for several years, the game resurfaced on the Gamecube and shocked the hell out of everyone by being one of the most original and quality scary games to come along. And like many games on this list, chances are you never played it. With the exception of the graphics which are fairly average (and some shoddy voice acting), every aspect of this game receives the highest marks. Firstly, instead of having some lame clichéd story about zombies or some such nonsense, you get a very deep, very dark plot inspired by Cthulhu Mythos. You play as Alexandra Roivas who is locked in a mansion investigating the strange death of her uncle. She discovers a hidden room in the mansion and finds a book called the "Tome of Eternal Darkness." Through this, you relive the lives of all those who have possessed the book, most of whom Alexandra is a descendant of. The first chapter is set in Rome, circa 26 BC. You play as a centurion who travels into an underground cave and is given a choice between three cursed items. No matter which one you choose, you end up becoming an undead warlock, but your choice does effect how the remainder of the game players out, making subtle changes to the story and effecting how you can use magic later in the game. It doesn't significantly change anything, other then which main boss the centurion will be a bitch for. Following this chapter, you unlock new secrets in the mansion, find more pages to the Tome, and play throughout other stages in history. The story is brilliant and will keep you coming back for more. But the game is actually fun, so it's not a chore to finish it just to find out what happens. The combat is unique in that you lock-on to specific body parts to attack. The enemies can be fairly generic in appearance and at times lack a variety, but they really serve as window dressing to the amazing story and puzzle solving aspects. Granted, most of the puzzles are stuff along the lines of 'insert object into another object to open a door' type of things, which are clichéd but not really boring. That said, tension is very high and the game is legitimately scary. But one of the top aspects of the game is the fact that the more enemies you fight, the more insane your character grows. And when you go insane, the game starts to play YOU! Maniacal laughter is heard in the background, children laughing or crying, people moaning, chains clanking... total chaos. The camera starts to tilt to awkward angles. And that's just the surface type of stuff. Soon, the game starts to tell you that your control is unplugged, or pretends like it goes back to the Gamecube main menu and deletes all your save files. This is crazy shit! And no matter how smart you think you are, the game is bound to fool you at least once or twice during the course of it. If you have a Wii or a Gamecube and you missed Eternal Darkness, find a copy of it, wait until late at night, turn all the lights out and the volume way up, then try to act like a tough guy and not get scared. You'll fail.
#9: Kingdom Hearts
Playstation 2
September 17, 2002
Developed by Square
IGN Rating: 9
It's Final Fantasy mixed with Disney and it plays like a brawler. Hey, I'm in love. The game is the brainchild of Shinji Hashimoto, who came up with it after a chance meeting with some Disney executives inside an elevator. Playing as Sora and flanked by Donald & Goofy, you travel across various Disney themed worlds attempting to reunite the universe and get back together with your friends. Along the way, you're joined by various Disney heroes like Aladdin, Hercules, and Tarzan while your hack-and-slash your way through endless bad guys. The game feels more like a Final Fight type of brawler then a slasher to me, in part because the enemy design is fairly generic and repeats constantly throughout the game. That said, the control is pretty good, even if the camera has a tendency to swing wildly in the middle of action. It's fairly straight forward but has some advanced moves allowing you to string together combos. Your characters progress RPG style, leveling up and requiring you to equip them with new weapons and armor. And the story itself is really epic and doesn't feel gimmicked by the Disney stuff, and the voice acting is top notch, featuring most of the actual talent who contributed to the original movies and settings. The game is very large and loaded with secrets and plenty of stuff to find, and the story is good enough that you'll want to see it through to the anti-climatic end. The only thing I really didn't care for was the rail-shooter segments that bridge the gaps between the different worlds. These sections felt tacked on. Overall, Kingdom Hearts was one of the best epics of the last generation. Sadly, when it came time for the sequel a choice was made to take all the fun out of the original and basically re-release it like that. The story became extremely heavy-handed and cinemas interrupted the gameplay nearly every time you advanced to a new screen. Kingdom Hearts II was also extremely linear and had hardly any exploration or hidden stuff to find, and to let you know what a mistake you just made with your purchase, it featured one of the boring and drawn out opening segments EVER in a video game. It became such a chore to play through KH2 and the story had gotten so bad that I didn't even see it through to the end and have no regrets about doing so. Hopefully they'll right the wrongs in the future, but after KH2 (and the equally as bad Chain of Memories on the GBA), I'm not holding out much hope.
#8: Resident Evil 4
Gamecube, Playstation 2 (Wii version ported for 7th Generation)
January 11, 2005
Developed by Capcom
IGN Rating: 9.8
I'm actually not a fan of Resident Evil as a series. I think the three main games were very overrated and controlled like shit. Yes they did. They were 'jump scary' and important in their time, but none of them have aged particularly well. So I wasn't really looking forward to Resident Evil 4, but then I found out that the controls had been refined and that the fixed-angle zombie stuff was all done. So I gave it a try. Thank god. Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games ever. Cheap scares and artificial tension gimmicks like the Nemesis are replaced by an unnerving sense of dread as you navigate the European countryside looking for the President's kidnapped daughter. OK, the story is total dogshit, but the gameplay is nearly flawless. Forget everything you know about Resident Evil, because #4 is a brand new game with a brand new engine. Ammo conservation is replaced by heavy action and lots of shooting. Stealth elements are included and don't feel tacked on like they do in many other games. Gone is fixed camera angles, replaced by a vastly superior over-the-shoulder view when you aim your gun, something that you will spend most of the game doing. And you even get a laser sight on the gun so that you can actually aim now. And because the enemies are humans (who are controlled by parasites, but still...), they react realistically to being shot. Or as realistically as you can be in an action video game without taking the fun away. You can shoot a guy in the leg and he won't come at you as fast, something you might need to buy yourself time to deal with the rest of the enemies. Or it just makes it easier to walk up and blow his goddamn head off. Context-sensitive moments are also included, allowing Leon (the main character who still needs acting lessons) to interactive with his surroundings. Resident Evil 4 is really fun, and truth is it doesn't even feel like it's part of the series who's name it carries. It's something entirely original.
#7: Halo 2
X-Box
November 9, 2004
Developed by Bungie Studios
IGN Rating: 9.8
Let me start off by saying that I don't like first-person shooters. With the exception of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, I just can't get into them. But those games were multiplayer classics. Many weekends were lost to endless four player death-matches. I never even played the single-player modes on Perfect Dark. I used cheat methods to unlock all the guns. Call me weird, but I just can't find satisfaction in going around and shooting AI baddies. When the sixth generation hit, I didn't originally have an X-Box, only a Cube and PS2. I tried many times to find a replacement for Perfect Dark and kept failing. I actually didn't get an X-Box until Circuit City had blowout sale on many of it's games. After spending close to a thousand dollars to snag a couple hundred PS2, GBA, and GCN games, I felt weird leaving so many X-Box games behind. I'm a video game collector, you see. And I'm a completist too. So I decided to head back and grab the X-Box games just for the hell out of it. I snagged about 50 or so, and since I had so many games for it, I might as well buy the machine too. And I was really disappointed. A couple titles, like Voodoo Vince and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were just OK, but not spectacular. Then one day my friends rented Halo 2 and brought it over. To say we had a blast was an understatement. The next day, I went out and bought my own copy, deciding against waiting for the price to drop. But then I got sick of waiting for my friends to show up, so I signed up for Broadband internet and bought my first X-Box Live membership. That's how good Halo 2 is. Like Perfect Dark, I've never even touched the single player campaign. I don't care to. The online aspect of it is so fun that I easily spent more time playing Halo 2 then any other game of the last generation. And I'm not even good at it! I suck! But I can't stop playing! It's just plain fun, as long as you can avoid cheaters or quitters (a problem almost totally fixed with Halo 3). The object based games, with the exception of territories, are such a blast to play. And the maps are mostly all winners. The control is pretty flawless, and making a transition from driving a car to getting out and going straight into combat is seamless. Weapons are fairly balanced, even if the 'newb combo' plasma pistol/assault rifle two-hit-kill stuff was way overused. You can run and gun all day, but good teams will form strategies and stick with them, and the maps are so well constructed that you have incredible freedom to plan your route of attack. Halo 2 was my personal successor to Perfect Dark, and Halo 3 has pretty much replaced it on the grounds that there's a LOT less cheating (in fact, I've only been cheated out of one game out of 2,000 or so played online), a LOT less quitting (in Halo 2, turn-based games would practically end if your team didn't start offense because of all the quitters), and way more balance of weapons. That said, map design seems to have peaked with Halo 2, and none of the original Halo 3 maps nor any of the downloadable ones have been as good as, say, Headlong. So Halo 2 does stand the test of time, at least for now.
#6: God of War
Playstation 2
March 22, 2005
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.8
I've pretty much said everything I like about God of War in my section about it's sequel. It's a brawler that's done right within a great setting and tight controls. I liked the original better (and still do) because it feels more like a creation of love then marketing, like most original games that spawn a series do. Sure, after a while you lose that sense of 'awe' you get when fighting massive bosses and stringing together endless combos. But even upon repeat play-throughs you're going to have fun. That's because it's a great game. It's funny, the first time I saw God of War, without knowing the name of the game, I figured it was another entry in the lame 3-D Castlevania series. It looked a lot like Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Thankfully, it plays nothing like it. Nothing in the God of War series comes across as generic. There's not a whole lot of 'stock' characters and cardboard enemies. And fighting in God of War doesn't feel like a chore. I don't think there were too many spots when I said "Oh great, more guys to kill" in a sarcastic manner. You can mix things up and be creative because the combat system is very open-ended. I think the boss fights in the original were more meaningful because there were a lot less of them, and the ones that are here feel epic, while a few in the sequel do come across a bit like busywork. Other then one incredibly brutal level at the end of the game (you know which one I'm talking about), God of War is such a pleasure to play through that I would say it's about as perfect as a game can get. Had the GTA series not taken off, God of War games would likely be the one series people would point to and say "That's the best new franchise the sixth generation gave us!" Granted, GTA wasn't new in the sixth generation, but it was totally reinvented. I do worry about the future of God of War. With every new entry in the series comes a new director and set of programmers. Working for Sony is very demanding or so I've heard, and each God of War has had heavy turnover with it's staff. That sounds bad, but maybe it's a good thing! A fresh set of developers could mean a fresh set of ideas. Hopefully the Kratos doesn't jump the shark but rather grab it by it's fin and beat it to death.
#5: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Playstation 2, X-Box
October 26, 2004
Developed by Rockstar North
IGN Rating: 9.9
Grand Theft Auto III and it's offspring changed video games on a main-stream level. GTA San Andreas is so good that including Vice City or GTA III would be a waste of time. The first thing that took me back about San Andreas is how much stuff they crammed into one disc. The game is fricken huge. I mean really, really big. It's not just one city like III or Vice City. It's three cities, and each one is overflowing with stuff to do. Los Santos stands in for Los Angeles and is, for better or worse, the main setting of the game. San Fierro stands in for San Francisco, while Las Venturas stands in for Las Vegas. The main story follows a gang banger named CJ, returning from Liberty City after exile to attend his mom's funeral. You work to return your gang to top status by retaking territories, all while using RPG like upgrades to your main character. The main story, like most GTA games, is just window dressing. Being a sandbox, the game pretty much allows you to enjoy it's settings as you see fit. There are plenty of minigames to enjoy, and the crazy mayhem of just shooting a cop and seeing where it goes from there is always fun, though I wouldn't expect Mega 64 to parody particular gameplay aspect anytime soon. Again, one just tends to get overwhelmed by all the stuff in the game. Most guys I know love the game but admit they've never actually finished the story. And they don't care. They have fun killing time (and people) in Vegas or just causing random destruction. I have to say, the most remarkable aspect of the game, from my point of view, is all the myths that have sprung up around it. Is Bigfoot in the game? UFOs? CJ's mom's ghost? Following those developments has been fun, even if most of them have turned out to be bullshit. San Andreas isn't flawless. The RPG aspects that you use to build up CJ's body and skills are boring and take too much time, the graphics are fairly lackluster (although that's one of the reasons why they could fit so much content into the game) and the game's more serious tone is a step in the wrong direction, especially considering that most people play GTA just to create as much random chaos as possible.
#4: Metroid Prime
Gamecube
November 15, 2002
Developed by Retro Studios
IGN Rating: 9.8
Metroid Prime is proof that you should always give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt in their decision making process... at least when it comes to game development (using carts for the N64 and the company's online problems still deserve heavy bitching). Still, most people to this day talk about Metroid Prime with the kind of shock usually reserved for sports upsets. "Can you believe Metroid Prime didn't suck?" Here's a series that was extremely popular but had only three entrees in it between 1987 and 2002. Then Nintendo announces that the next game in the series will not even be developed by them, but rather a Texas based game studio that had a history of starting projects but never finishing them. In fact, Retro Studios had never even finished a commercial video game. But wait, it gets better! Retro chose to take the classic 2-D shooting and exploration and turn it into what looked a lot like a first person shooter. Oh no! Then, after two years of non-stop bitching and threats of boycotts, Metroid Prime was released... and cleaned house. Gamespot's Game of the Year. EGM's Game of the Year. Game Spy's Game of the Year. IGN's runner up for game of the year (Game of the Year from IGN being a PC game). And yes, it's that good. And yes, it's aged gracefully. Even six years later Metroid Prime is the best first-person game ever made. First off, despite being a first-person game that involves lots and lots of shooting, Metroid Prime is not a first-person shooter. It's an adventure game. In fact, it plays a lot like what I would think Legend of Zelda would if it was first person. And it also *is* a Metroid Game. Sometimes when a game makes a radical change like Prime did, it no longer feels connected to the original series. Zelda II for example, or Resident Evil 4. Metroid Prime *is* a Metroid game, and not just because it shares the same characters, items, and objectives. It retains the feel of the series, something I don’t think anyone would have predicted. You might even forget that you’re playing a fully 3D game, because the platforming is totally spot-on. I remember when I heard the first-person news for the first time, the first thing I thought of was Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64, where the jumping was very flawed and ruined the entire experience. In Prime, the jumping is perfect, so much so that at times I wondered if the game cheated to help you make them. It doesn't (at least I don't think so), it's just good programming. The graphics are stunning and were never really destroyed by anything on the X-Box, which is funny because it was supposed to be a vastly more powerful machine then the Gamecube. And the environment created for Prime is very much alive and makes the game feel like a real experience. The story isn't much to brag about, but the gameplay itself will suck you in and not release you until the game's conclusion roughly 15 to 25 hours later. Don't rush through Prime, sit back and enjoy it. A pair of sequels have been released and were pretty good, but couldn't hope to come close to the sense of wonder that Prime gave gamers. Do not miss it.
#3: Ico
Playstation 2
September 21, 2001
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.4
You don't play Ico as much as you experience it. It's a pretty minimalist game. You're given only a few scant details of a story. You play as a young boy who was born with a pair of horns on his head. It's feared that his presence is a curse on the land, so a group of Warriors locks him inside of a sarcophagus and abandon him inside of an ancient castle, leaving him for dead. But Ico escapes and meets with Yorda, a pale, almost ghostly girl who has shadowy demons trying to drag her into hell. You must lead Yorda out of the castle. That's pretty much it. It doesn't sound like much to go on, but what makes it work is how you'll try to connect the dots of the story inside your head. Is Yorda a ghost? Why else would these shadows (that look and move almost exactly like the shadowy creatures in the movie Ghost) want to get her? Why is Ico in the castle? Is he connected to this girl? Did they really leave him there to die? You won't get many answers to these questions, but somehow that feels ok. Gameplay wise, Ico plays out a lot like a 3D version of the Adventures of Lolo. There is very little combat (although the sections where you do fight baddies takes way too long because Ico is underpowered), so the majority of the game is spent trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. But getting there isn't always as simple as finding keys. You'll have to jump, climb, swim, and plan every move out. But getting there yourself isn't enough, because you have to lead Yorda there, and she's not as athletic as Ico. Yes, the game is a giant escort mission, which are normally boring aspects of action games. But Ico isn't an action game. It's not even much of a puzzle game either. You'll never be stumped for too solutions, as if you sit back and think things through the answer will come to you. But as an experience, Ico is a must. The graphics are still good, although a bit jerky at times thanks to frame rate drop offs. It doesn't look as good as it did seven years ago, but the scope and scale of your surroundings is still bound to make you feel very, very small. At times, you'll experience a true sense of vertigo as you make nail-biting leaps of faith, and then upon reaching your destination you'll lose your sense of accomplishment once you realize that Yorda is still where you left her and there's no way she'll be able to get to you the route you took. Back to the drawing board. Ico is pretty short at only 10 hours or so and offers little instant-replay value, but having recently come back to the game after five years I found myself having as good a time now as I did in 2003. And truthfully, the game feels just long enough to not wear out it's welcome. Ico was the game that truly spawned the 'video games are art' argument. I get a lot of heat from my game-loving friends by taking Roger Ebert's side of the argument, that art isn't interactive and thus games don't qualify. With Ico, I'll make an exception, as you never actually feel like you're playing a game with it. It's something you're connected to, but you feel insignificant while doing so. So yes, Ico is a work of art, and a masterpiece at that.
#2: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Gamecube
March 24, 2003
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.6
Of all the videogame fandom controversies, Wind Waker's graphics are easily the stupidest. I know many people that say they will never play it on the grounds that it has cel-shaded graphics. I guess they consider it an attack against their manhood or something. To those that say they want mature-looking Zelda games or they won't play them, I say this: grow up. Wind Waker is not a measure of the size of your privates. It might be on the size of your brain though. Let me get this straight: you want a realistic game about a magical elf in a magical land who's looking for a magical princess and magical triangles? Okie Dokie. Most of those crybabies shut up when Twilight Princess came along, never mind that it had cel-shaded graphics during many parts of the game. But Wind Waker was still too childish for them. Well, their loss. Wind Waker is the best 3D adventure game ever made. I'm basically in Nintendo's back pocket, so it might surprise some to learn that I didn't care for either of the Nintendo 64 Zelda games. Foggy, pointy graphics, bland character design, and Ocarina of Time has an empty overworld. For me, Wind Waker was a return to form. It felt like a classic Zelda game done in 3D, something that for me was missing in the N64 titles. The graphical style is perfect for Zelda, as it makes you feel like a child on an adventure, which is kind of the point of the series. If I want gritty realism, I'll find a series that caters to that. Zelda shouldn't. And the gameplay is perfect Zelda. The dungeons are massive and awe-inspiring. Combat is fun and never feels like a chore. In Ocarina of Time, I tried to avoid the limited combat in the overworld. It just wasn't worth the effort. In Wind Waker, I sat out to kill every single enemy in sight and had a blast doing it. The sailing, which was one of the chief complaints among critics, was actually a highlight for me. Digging up stuff off the ocean floor and fighting giant squids was very entertaining. Sometimes I avoid side quests in games, but in Wind Waker I found myself almost scared to finish the game, so I went around doing them. And it didn't feel like busywork or a chore. I had a good time. With Twilight Princess, I found myself often saying "I'm supposed to be having a good time playing this, but I'm really not", and switching from the Wii version to the Gamecube version did nothing to help. In Wind Waker, I was more likely to say that Nintendo would have a hard time topping this. It doesn't offer a whole lot of innovation, but instead feels like an evolution of all the classic Zelda concepts. I'm not complaining. The mechanics are almost identical to Ocarina of Time, but the control feels more accurate and natural, while I never quite got used to Ocarina's scheme. Wind Waker is a true classic, and although it's one of the most successful games of the last generation, it's quite sad that so many people ignored it because they miss the point. You're not meant to feel like a bad ass in Zelda. You should play Zelda to feel like a little kid again, and that's what Wind Waker's best accomplishment is.
#1: Shadow of the Colossus
Playstation 2
October 18, 2005
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.7
I guess I should turn in my Nintendo fanboy membership card. Because, in my opinion, the best game that the sixth generation of home consoles had to offer came from Sony. Shadow of the Colossus is pure gaming joy. Created by Fumito Ueda, the man also behind the #3 game on this list, Shadow offers you another minimalist story. This time, you play as an unnamed hero usually called Wander or the Wanderer. He brings with him the body of a woman (usually called Mono) who was sacrificed because she was thought to be cursed. Wander is attacked by shadow creatures (sound familiar?) but quickly defeats them, in a cinema that was clearly done to let you know that this is connected to the game Ico. It turns out that Wander is there to revive the girl and heard that the forbidden land holds the power to do that. A mysterious voice tells Wander that to do so, he must slay the giants scattered across the land. There's no minor enemies in Shadow, so the game consists of 16 boss fights. If that sounds weird to you then you're not alone. It's made even weirder by the fact that the world of Shadow is HUGE. You don't do much but ride through it on your horse so it seems unneeded, but without it you would basically just be teleported from one encounter to the other and where's the fun in that? To find where you're supposed to go, you hold your sword up to the sun, which makes light beam off of it and point towards the location you're supposed to go. And when you get to your location, it's on. 14 of the 16 Giants of this game are HUGE! Two of them are barely taller then the hero, making me question why they were used in the game, but the ones that are big are scary. Your palms will sweat and you'll stand at a distance looking up and trying to figure out where to even begin. Thankfully, your sword also points at the spot you need to attack, which is usually located on the head of the Colossus and it's WAY out of reach. So, you will begin to climb and jump around trying to make your way to the soft spot. Tension grows, vertigo sets in, and the Colossus will try to shake you off. As you get closer, the music starts to pump an epic score. You finally get to the weak spot, raise your sword up, and jam in deep into the flesh of the Colossus. It moans and bucks and blood spurts out like an oil well. You repeat this a couple more times, and the beast is slain. You become overtaken by it's energies and pass out. When you wake up, you're back to the place where you started the game. There's no time to rest, because it's time to slay another giant. It sounds almost too simple to be a great game. But if I made it sound like fighting these monsters is easy, I apologize. The Colossi behave realistically, but might not seem like it at first. Remember, you're the size of a flea to them. They're all shaped differently and have different patterns of attack. In a way, Shadow of the Colossus plays exactly like what Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! would be if it was a sword fighting epic instead of a boxing game. Instead of Little Mac, you're a warrior, and instead of Bald Bull or Mr. Sandman, you're fighting a living mountain that's the size of the Empire State Building. You didn't need normal bad guys and treasure hunting to make Punch Out!! a great game, and Ueda seems to have figured that out. Other then a camera which at times seems to suffer a seizure, and a horse that you'll want to kill at certain points, I've got no complaints about Shadow. It's a beautiful game, beating the giants feels like an accomplishment, and at 10 to 20 hours, it's the perfect length. It's one of the best games ever made.
But not really.
I also didn't include the GBA because it's a handheld and the Sega Dreamcast because I don't consider it a sixth-generation console, but rather a system that bridged the fifth generation to the sixth generation yet doesn't really belong to either.
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The Top 20 Games of the Sixth Generation
by Charlie Reneke (Stablewars.com)
Completed May 22, 2008
#20: Pikmin 2
Gamecube
August 30, 2004
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.3
Low sales numbers seem to have killed the series, which really sucks. The first Pikmin was a well intentioned game but a bit of a disaster in execution. The fact that you were stuck with a time limit to complete the game destroyed chances for exploration. Pikmin 2 righted those wrongs, but the damage was already done. The concept is you play as a pair of spacemen who grow and multiply tiny, multi-colored creatures called "Pikmin", who you then use to fight enemies and carry items back to your ship. Pikmin 2 works much better then the original because, although you're still required to exit a stage before nightfall hits, you're not limited by any amount of virtual days. Combine this with randomized dungeons to explore and you have the makings of one fantastic experience, a real time strategy game and a collect-a-thon. And another unsung aspect of Pikmin 2 is it's fantastic two player battle mode. Sure, you can play a special co-op mode, but where's the fun in that? In battle, you are placed in randomized dungeons and made to race to be the first player to either capture your opponent's marble or the majority of gold marbles scattered throughout the level. If you haven't played Pikmin 2, it's worth a whirl just for the battle mode. Big fun and lots of laughs, especially when you end up facing off with your opponent on the battle field.
#19: Pac-Man Vs.
Gamecube (Ported to the Nintendo DS in the compilation "Namco Museum DS")
December 12, 2002
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 8.0
Here's a game you almost certainly did not play, and who can blame you? The game requires a Gamecube, three controls, a Gameboy Advance/SP (sorry Micro users), and a Gamecube to Gameboy cord. That said, if you owned all this hardware you could get the game for free if you went to a game store and asked nicely. You could also get a free copy by calling Nintendo, or by buying Namco's GCN games released around the winter of 2002. Still, the Gamecube wasn't exactly popular and GBA 'connectivity' even less so. Even if the game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, which Pac-Man Vs. was, it was sure to be skipped. And that's a shame. The concept is exactly what the title implies: it's Pac-Man done in battle mode. One player is randomly chosen to be Pac-Man and plays on the Gameboy Advance. They get a full view of the playfield and must eat up the dots. The other three players are the ghosts, and they use the Gamecube controllers and play on the television screen. Their view of the playfield is limited to a small section surrounding where they are currently located. If they catch Pac-Man, the round ends and the catcher becomes Pac-Man. This goes on until one player has scored the amount of points stated in the goal. As simple a concept as it is, this is one of the best times you can have playing a video game with your friends. And if all the players are skilled, it's downright amazing. It was recently re-released, sort of, on the Nintendo DS as part of that system's Namco Collection, so you have another chance to check it out. If you have friends with Nintendo DSs, please do so.
#18: Beyond Good & Evil
Playstation 2, X-Box, & Gamecube
November 11, 2003
Developed by Ubisoft
IGN Rating: 9
Another game that deserved better, BG&E did find some word-of-mouth success, but only after it hit the bargain bins. It's part action, part adventure, part stealth, and part puzzler. You play the role of Jade, a nature photographer who doubles as a spy trying to uncover the truth about an alien race that has taken over your planet. The game changes from Zelda-style combat to Splinter Cell type sneakery, tasking you to take out bad guys or take photos that will expose the true nature of the aliens and government. The plot is very deep and full of lots of twists. If any fault can be found, it's in the generic character design. That said, this is a pretty epic experience. Sadly, Ubisoft pretty much killed it on accident, positioning it's release date too close to titles that had more hype, including it's own games like Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell, both of which have not aged as gracefully as BG&E has. Thankfully, on May 15th it was confirmed that a sequel is in the works.
#17: Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Gamecube
March 14, 2004
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 8.8
The first four games on this list were flops at the checkout line (well, Pac-Man doesn't count), with Jungle Beat easily doing the worst. And that's a shame because it really is the last good 2-D platformer to hit a console. Sadly, the game was labeled as 'gimmicky' because of the fact that you control the game using the bongo controllers that were included with music-game Donkey Konga. Now I myself had doubts about a game where you move Donkey Kong by slapping on the bongos, hitting both to jump, and clapping to grab objects. Foolish me, it totally works. In fact, after a little practice it becomes totally natural feeling. Hell, you'll end playing entire levels stringing together endless combos, shooting yourself from object to object and maybe not even hitting the ground. It's simply amazing. On top of that, you get some really neat boss fights that play in a variety of ways, such as bongo-ish version of Punch-Out!! You can still find it dirt cheap ($10 with bongos) at Gamestop. If you have a Wii, snag it. And here's a tip... since clapping sucks, just smack the side the bongo. It works.
#16: Okami
Playstation 2 (Wii version ported for 7th Generation)
September 19, 2006
Developed by Clover Studios
IGN Rating: 9.1 (2006 Game of the Year)
The first time I laid eyes on a preview of Okami, I knew it would be my type of game. Most people wrote it off as a Wind Waker wannabe, but that was really unfair. Granted, both games unfold like living fairytales, but Okami's graphic style easily blew Wind Waker out of the water. The beautiful cel-shaded environments of Okami are so good looking that they still look better then anything released on any of the 7th generation platforms. The fact that this was pulled off on the Playstation 2, the oldest and most underpowered sixth generation machine, is nothing short of incredible. No screenshot does Okami justice. It *is* a moving painting. But the game doesn't rest on graphical achievement. Like any masterpiece, the graphics only set the mood for what is one of the written stories of any adventure game. You play as Amaterasu, a sun god who takes the form of a legendary white wolf, and are charged with removing the curse on the land that was done by the demon Orochi. Many elements of the story are lifted from actual Japanese mythology, much like the God of War series uses elements of Greek and Roman fables. The game does unfold like a more puzzle heavy version of Zelda, but the gimmick is that puzzles are in part solved by the use of a magical paintbrush. You actually freeze the game to pull out this brush and 'paint' actions on the screen. When you unpause, your brush strokes will destroy objects blocking your path, create new paths, and kill your enemies. If this sounds like something you would see on the Wii, fear not, the brush controls work great on the PS2. Like many games on this list, Okami underperformed, but with it's recent re-release on the Wii (which apparently works as good or better on the new system), you have no excuse not to check it out.
#15: Mario Kart: Double Dash
Gamecube
November 17, 2003
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 7.9
Of all the games on my list, this one scored the lowest from IGN, mostly because it's a rehash of a game that's been done many times ago. It's true, but Mario Kart Double Dash works on different levels then other games in the series. The double team aspect of the game with character-specific weapons works very well. Plus, this is the last Mario Kart game to have good track design. The DS and Wii entrees in the series, in my opinion, skimped on good track design and then Nintendo attempted to cover their asses by adding 16 'classic' courses, most of which are so forgettable and insignificant that I have to assume they were selected randomly. Despite the DS and Wii versions being online, this was the last Mario Kart game where battle mode was actually fun. Granted, the battle courses were a lot weaker then Mario Kart 64, but they were at least enjoyable and the mechanics weren't toned down so that casual newbs could PWN seasoned vets in online matches. Stuff that people complained about in Mario Kart DD were not fixed in the Wii or DS versions. Rubber-banding still exists and is actually worse then ever, the battle tracks aren't inspired, and the whole 'Mario characters in a racing game' gimmick is still as stale now as it was in 2003. And heck, this was the first Mario Kart that I actually liked to race multiplayer on the actual tracks instead of spending parties playing battle mode. Critics be damned, this was the last great Mario Kart game and one of the 20 most entertaining games of the last generation. And if you have the hardware to pull it off, 8-player LAN mode will make you the toast of the town.
#14: Final Fantasy X-2
Playstation 2
November 18, 2003
Developed by Square
IGN Rating: 9.5
The only true RPG to make this list (sorry KOTOR fans, I would rather gargle acid then play those self-congratulatory piles of shit again), Final Fantasy X-2 was the best of it's breed to be released since Final Fantasy 7 and the last good Final Fantasy game. Dumping the crappy battle system of FFX in favor of a faster-paced throwback to the classics in the series and improving on leveling aspects made me actually take interest in it, which is remarkable because I hate RPGs. The story, a fantasy political thriller, is well told but not at all heavy-handed. This isn't the type of social commentary that beats you over the head to make a point. It's almost done in 'wink wink' style, and so you can feel free to progress through the story without having to sit in quiet reflection of your own life. Video games are escape from reality, so why do RPG's have to act like they were written by Michael Moore? The graphics are pretty good, not spectacular, but the score thankfully was altered to actually fit the setting of the game, shunning epic symphony in favor of technoish J-Pop beats, something that many critics bitched very loudly about. And the two main songs are really good and very catchy. Yep, I said it. And centering the game around three girls was also a pretty bold move. A move that likely cost the game some sales because most RPG players are in fact as big of sexless nerds as the media makes them out to be. The guys who bitched about Final Fantasy X-2 being a 'chick's game' will never in their entire lives get laid because they're either too ashamed to admit they're gay or they're so prudish they wouldn't know pussy if it sat on their face and wiggled. Sadly, Square pissed away any good will they had won with me from Final Fantasy X-2 by following it up with the sleeping pills that were Final Fantasy XI (which proved Square-Enix is WAY out of their league with MMORPGs) and the paint-drying warm up act that was Final Fantasy XII.
#13: God of War II
Playstation 2
March 13, 2007
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.7
If you're wondering where the original God of War is on this list, fear not. I actually liked it better and thus it ranked higher. Which is not to say God of War II is worse then the original or was even a letdown. It wasn't. But the sense of awe from the first didn't carry over as well to the sequel. Now that I've explained why GOW II doesn't rank as high, let me tell you why it ranks at all: It's one bad ass game. It's a brawler done right, proving that the genre still has legs. Combat is as fun (and blistering) as ever, but the game has more emphasis on puzzles, which is what I'm in to. The plot is a little weak in my opinion, as they could have done a lot better then "Kratos doesn't fit in" which doesn't exactly feel inspired but that's just me. Most people like it. There are more boss fights this time around, but I actually enjoyed them less then in the first GOW. I also didn't care for the rail-shooter aspects that felt like a tacked on version of Panzer Dragoon or Star Fox. One of the problems with sequels is companies think that they have to pile in as many genres as possible to keep the game fresh, instead of actually improving or evolving aspects of the core gameplay. Hopefully they don't fall into the trap too deep with GOW III, but I suspect they will.
#12: Super Mario Sunshine
Gamecube
August 26, 2002
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.4
Yeah, I know. It was a crappy attempt at capturing Mario 64's lightning in a bottle. It never bothered me. I think if they had used more settings for the game then endless tropical islands, the game would have been more well received. Gameplay wise, Mario Sunshine was just as solid as Mario 64, and is posed to age a lot more gracefully as well. The squirt-gun is gimmicky, sure, and the 'clean up' missions did suck. But they were the only aspects that held the game back. If the mission didn't require too much cleaning up, it was usually fun. I'm talking about missions where you climb to the highest point on the map or try to gather up red coins. Those were fun and at times induced an amazing sense of vertigo. The only other mission types I didn't care for were the squid racing sequences. Those weren't too fun either. Using the water pack actually wasn't as bad as some made it out to be, and it actually added a lot to the game. The hover function, for example, greatly added both to the ease of platforming and the tension of it at the same time. And you become so dependant on the hover that when it's taken away from you for the 'old school' platforming sections, you find yourself momentarily lost. It's brilliantly constructed. The sheer variety of Mario 64 is the only thing missing from Sunshine. Otherwise it would almost certainly be remembered as one of the best games ever made.
#11: We ♥ Katamari
Playstation 2
September 20, 2005
Developed by Namco
IGN Rating: 8.0
I would say this is the most random choice on the list, but then again I included Pac-Man Vs. You know what, it's my list, and I'm saying that We ♥ Katamari hooked me like few games of the last generation did. I was in love with the concept of Katamari Damacy and enjoyed it a lot, except the camera was occasionally bad and the controls weren't totally responsive. Those problems were fixed for this sequel, plus more levels were added, more secrets piled on, and the two player mode was improved. The original was infamous for it's sickly catchy music. It's even better (or worse, depending on your point of view) here. And the incredibly stupid yet charming story is really piled on here. Sadly, the series seems to have shot it's wad here. The PSP version was practically unplayable because of the machine's crappy button layout and the X-Box 360 version was unfinished, fully priced, had worse slowdown then any Sony version, and in order to unlock all the aspects of it you had to download extra levels which were already complete. Considering the game was WAY shorter then previous Katamaris, the only way Namco could have been more insulting was if they had gone door to door and spit in every buyer of Beautiful Katamari's face. At $5 a pop (some of which are just new versions of existing levels), that actually might have been nicer.
#10: Eternal Darkness
Gamecube
June 24, 2002
Developed by Silicon Knights
IGN Rating: 9.6
When Eternal Darkness was first shown for the Nintendo 64 as a preview, it was lambasted for it's poor graphics and the fact that it was clearly Nintendo (who financed the game for SK) trying to be hip and have a survival horror game of their own. After being stuck in developmental hell for several years, the game resurfaced on the Gamecube and shocked the hell out of everyone by being one of the most original and quality scary games to come along. And like many games on this list, chances are you never played it. With the exception of the graphics which are fairly average (and some shoddy voice acting), every aspect of this game receives the highest marks. Firstly, instead of having some lame clichéd story about zombies or some such nonsense, you get a very deep, very dark plot inspired by Cthulhu Mythos. You play as Alexandra Roivas who is locked in a mansion investigating the strange death of her uncle. She discovers a hidden room in the mansion and finds a book called the "Tome of Eternal Darkness." Through this, you relive the lives of all those who have possessed the book, most of whom Alexandra is a descendant of. The first chapter is set in Rome, circa 26 BC. You play as a centurion who travels into an underground cave and is given a choice between three cursed items. No matter which one you choose, you end up becoming an undead warlock, but your choice does effect how the remainder of the game players out, making subtle changes to the story and effecting how you can use magic later in the game. It doesn't significantly change anything, other then which main boss the centurion will be a bitch for. Following this chapter, you unlock new secrets in the mansion, find more pages to the Tome, and play throughout other stages in history. The story is brilliant and will keep you coming back for more. But the game is actually fun, so it's not a chore to finish it just to find out what happens. The combat is unique in that you lock-on to specific body parts to attack. The enemies can be fairly generic in appearance and at times lack a variety, but they really serve as window dressing to the amazing story and puzzle solving aspects. Granted, most of the puzzles are stuff along the lines of 'insert object into another object to open a door' type of things, which are clichéd but not really boring. That said, tension is very high and the game is legitimately scary. But one of the top aspects of the game is the fact that the more enemies you fight, the more insane your character grows. And when you go insane, the game starts to play YOU! Maniacal laughter is heard in the background, children laughing or crying, people moaning, chains clanking... total chaos. The camera starts to tilt to awkward angles. And that's just the surface type of stuff. Soon, the game starts to tell you that your control is unplugged, or pretends like it goes back to the Gamecube main menu and deletes all your save files. This is crazy shit! And no matter how smart you think you are, the game is bound to fool you at least once or twice during the course of it. If you have a Wii or a Gamecube and you missed Eternal Darkness, find a copy of it, wait until late at night, turn all the lights out and the volume way up, then try to act like a tough guy and not get scared. You'll fail.
#9: Kingdom Hearts
Playstation 2
September 17, 2002
Developed by Square
IGN Rating: 9
It's Final Fantasy mixed with Disney and it plays like a brawler. Hey, I'm in love. The game is the brainchild of Shinji Hashimoto, who came up with it after a chance meeting with some Disney executives inside an elevator. Playing as Sora and flanked by Donald & Goofy, you travel across various Disney themed worlds attempting to reunite the universe and get back together with your friends. Along the way, you're joined by various Disney heroes like Aladdin, Hercules, and Tarzan while your hack-and-slash your way through endless bad guys. The game feels more like a Final Fight type of brawler then a slasher to me, in part because the enemy design is fairly generic and repeats constantly throughout the game. That said, the control is pretty good, even if the camera has a tendency to swing wildly in the middle of action. It's fairly straight forward but has some advanced moves allowing you to string together combos. Your characters progress RPG style, leveling up and requiring you to equip them with new weapons and armor. And the story itself is really epic and doesn't feel gimmicked by the Disney stuff, and the voice acting is top notch, featuring most of the actual talent who contributed to the original movies and settings. The game is very large and loaded with secrets and plenty of stuff to find, and the story is good enough that you'll want to see it through to the anti-climatic end. The only thing I really didn't care for was the rail-shooter segments that bridge the gaps between the different worlds. These sections felt tacked on. Overall, Kingdom Hearts was one of the best epics of the last generation. Sadly, when it came time for the sequel a choice was made to take all the fun out of the original and basically re-release it like that. The story became extremely heavy-handed and cinemas interrupted the gameplay nearly every time you advanced to a new screen. Kingdom Hearts II was also extremely linear and had hardly any exploration or hidden stuff to find, and to let you know what a mistake you just made with your purchase, it featured one of the boring and drawn out opening segments EVER in a video game. It became such a chore to play through KH2 and the story had gotten so bad that I didn't even see it through to the end and have no regrets about doing so. Hopefully they'll right the wrongs in the future, but after KH2 (and the equally as bad Chain of Memories on the GBA), I'm not holding out much hope.
#8: Resident Evil 4
Gamecube, Playstation 2 (Wii version ported for 7th Generation)
January 11, 2005
Developed by Capcom
IGN Rating: 9.8
I'm actually not a fan of Resident Evil as a series. I think the three main games were very overrated and controlled like shit. Yes they did. They were 'jump scary' and important in their time, but none of them have aged particularly well. So I wasn't really looking forward to Resident Evil 4, but then I found out that the controls had been refined and that the fixed-angle zombie stuff was all done. So I gave it a try. Thank god. Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games ever. Cheap scares and artificial tension gimmicks like the Nemesis are replaced by an unnerving sense of dread as you navigate the European countryside looking for the President's kidnapped daughter. OK, the story is total dogshit, but the gameplay is nearly flawless. Forget everything you know about Resident Evil, because #4 is a brand new game with a brand new engine. Ammo conservation is replaced by heavy action and lots of shooting. Stealth elements are included and don't feel tacked on like they do in many other games. Gone is fixed camera angles, replaced by a vastly superior over-the-shoulder view when you aim your gun, something that you will spend most of the game doing. And you even get a laser sight on the gun so that you can actually aim now. And because the enemies are humans (who are controlled by parasites, but still...), they react realistically to being shot. Or as realistically as you can be in an action video game without taking the fun away. You can shoot a guy in the leg and he won't come at you as fast, something you might need to buy yourself time to deal with the rest of the enemies. Or it just makes it easier to walk up and blow his goddamn head off. Context-sensitive moments are also included, allowing Leon (the main character who still needs acting lessons) to interactive with his surroundings. Resident Evil 4 is really fun, and truth is it doesn't even feel like it's part of the series who's name it carries. It's something entirely original.
#7: Halo 2
X-Box
November 9, 2004
Developed by Bungie Studios
IGN Rating: 9.8
Let me start off by saying that I don't like first-person shooters. With the exception of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on the Nintendo 64, I just can't get into them. But those games were multiplayer classics. Many weekends were lost to endless four player death-matches. I never even played the single-player modes on Perfect Dark. I used cheat methods to unlock all the guns. Call me weird, but I just can't find satisfaction in going around and shooting AI baddies. When the sixth generation hit, I didn't originally have an X-Box, only a Cube and PS2. I tried many times to find a replacement for Perfect Dark and kept failing. I actually didn't get an X-Box until Circuit City had blowout sale on many of it's games. After spending close to a thousand dollars to snag a couple hundred PS2, GBA, and GCN games, I felt weird leaving so many X-Box games behind. I'm a video game collector, you see. And I'm a completist too. So I decided to head back and grab the X-Box games just for the hell out of it. I snagged about 50 or so, and since I had so many games for it, I might as well buy the machine too. And I was really disappointed. A couple titles, like Voodoo Vince and Buffy the Vampire Slayer were just OK, but not spectacular. Then one day my friends rented Halo 2 and brought it over. To say we had a blast was an understatement. The next day, I went out and bought my own copy, deciding against waiting for the price to drop. But then I got sick of waiting for my friends to show up, so I signed up for Broadband internet and bought my first X-Box Live membership. That's how good Halo 2 is. Like Perfect Dark, I've never even touched the single player campaign. I don't care to. The online aspect of it is so fun that I easily spent more time playing Halo 2 then any other game of the last generation. And I'm not even good at it! I suck! But I can't stop playing! It's just plain fun, as long as you can avoid cheaters or quitters (a problem almost totally fixed with Halo 3). The object based games, with the exception of territories, are such a blast to play. And the maps are mostly all winners. The control is pretty flawless, and making a transition from driving a car to getting out and going straight into combat is seamless. Weapons are fairly balanced, even if the 'newb combo' plasma pistol/assault rifle two-hit-kill stuff was way overused. You can run and gun all day, but good teams will form strategies and stick with them, and the maps are so well constructed that you have incredible freedom to plan your route of attack. Halo 2 was my personal successor to Perfect Dark, and Halo 3 has pretty much replaced it on the grounds that there's a LOT less cheating (in fact, I've only been cheated out of one game out of 2,000 or so played online), a LOT less quitting (in Halo 2, turn-based games would practically end if your team didn't start offense because of all the quitters), and way more balance of weapons. That said, map design seems to have peaked with Halo 2, and none of the original Halo 3 maps nor any of the downloadable ones have been as good as, say, Headlong. So Halo 2 does stand the test of time, at least for now.
#6: God of War
Playstation 2
March 22, 2005
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.8
I've pretty much said everything I like about God of War in my section about it's sequel. It's a brawler that's done right within a great setting and tight controls. I liked the original better (and still do) because it feels more like a creation of love then marketing, like most original games that spawn a series do. Sure, after a while you lose that sense of 'awe' you get when fighting massive bosses and stringing together endless combos. But even upon repeat play-throughs you're going to have fun. That's because it's a great game. It's funny, the first time I saw God of War, without knowing the name of the game, I figured it was another entry in the lame 3-D Castlevania series. It looked a lot like Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Thankfully, it plays nothing like it. Nothing in the God of War series comes across as generic. There's not a whole lot of 'stock' characters and cardboard enemies. And fighting in God of War doesn't feel like a chore. I don't think there were too many spots when I said "Oh great, more guys to kill" in a sarcastic manner. You can mix things up and be creative because the combat system is very open-ended. I think the boss fights in the original were more meaningful because there were a lot less of them, and the ones that are here feel epic, while a few in the sequel do come across a bit like busywork. Other then one incredibly brutal level at the end of the game (you know which one I'm talking about), God of War is such a pleasure to play through that I would say it's about as perfect as a game can get. Had the GTA series not taken off, God of War games would likely be the one series people would point to and say "That's the best new franchise the sixth generation gave us!" Granted, GTA wasn't new in the sixth generation, but it was totally reinvented. I do worry about the future of God of War. With every new entry in the series comes a new director and set of programmers. Working for Sony is very demanding or so I've heard, and each God of War has had heavy turnover with it's staff. That sounds bad, but maybe it's a good thing! A fresh set of developers could mean a fresh set of ideas. Hopefully the Kratos doesn't jump the shark but rather grab it by it's fin and beat it to death.
#5: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Playstation 2, X-Box
October 26, 2004
Developed by Rockstar North
IGN Rating: 9.9
Grand Theft Auto III and it's offspring changed video games on a main-stream level. GTA San Andreas is so good that including Vice City or GTA III would be a waste of time. The first thing that took me back about San Andreas is how much stuff they crammed into one disc. The game is fricken huge. I mean really, really big. It's not just one city like III or Vice City. It's three cities, and each one is overflowing with stuff to do. Los Santos stands in for Los Angeles and is, for better or worse, the main setting of the game. San Fierro stands in for San Francisco, while Las Venturas stands in for Las Vegas. The main story follows a gang banger named CJ, returning from Liberty City after exile to attend his mom's funeral. You work to return your gang to top status by retaking territories, all while using RPG like upgrades to your main character. The main story, like most GTA games, is just window dressing. Being a sandbox, the game pretty much allows you to enjoy it's settings as you see fit. There are plenty of minigames to enjoy, and the crazy mayhem of just shooting a cop and seeing where it goes from there is always fun, though I wouldn't expect Mega 64 to parody particular gameplay aspect anytime soon. Again, one just tends to get overwhelmed by all the stuff in the game. Most guys I know love the game but admit they've never actually finished the story. And they don't care. They have fun killing time (and people) in Vegas or just causing random destruction. I have to say, the most remarkable aspect of the game, from my point of view, is all the myths that have sprung up around it. Is Bigfoot in the game? UFOs? CJ's mom's ghost? Following those developments has been fun, even if most of them have turned out to be bullshit. San Andreas isn't flawless. The RPG aspects that you use to build up CJ's body and skills are boring and take too much time, the graphics are fairly lackluster (although that's one of the reasons why they could fit so much content into the game) and the game's more serious tone is a step in the wrong direction, especially considering that most people play GTA just to create as much random chaos as possible.
#4: Metroid Prime
Gamecube
November 15, 2002
Developed by Retro Studios
IGN Rating: 9.8
Metroid Prime is proof that you should always give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt in their decision making process... at least when it comes to game development (using carts for the N64 and the company's online problems still deserve heavy bitching). Still, most people to this day talk about Metroid Prime with the kind of shock usually reserved for sports upsets. "Can you believe Metroid Prime didn't suck?" Here's a series that was extremely popular but had only three entrees in it between 1987 and 2002. Then Nintendo announces that the next game in the series will not even be developed by them, but rather a Texas based game studio that had a history of starting projects but never finishing them. In fact, Retro Studios had never even finished a commercial video game. But wait, it gets better! Retro chose to take the classic 2-D shooting and exploration and turn it into what looked a lot like a first person shooter. Oh no! Then, after two years of non-stop bitching and threats of boycotts, Metroid Prime was released... and cleaned house. Gamespot's Game of the Year. EGM's Game of the Year. Game Spy's Game of the Year. IGN's runner up for game of the year (Game of the Year from IGN being a PC game). And yes, it's that good. And yes, it's aged gracefully. Even six years later Metroid Prime is the best first-person game ever made. First off, despite being a first-person game that involves lots and lots of shooting, Metroid Prime is not a first-person shooter. It's an adventure game. In fact, it plays a lot like what I would think Legend of Zelda would if it was first person. And it also *is* a Metroid Game. Sometimes when a game makes a radical change like Prime did, it no longer feels connected to the original series. Zelda II for example, or Resident Evil 4. Metroid Prime *is* a Metroid game, and not just because it shares the same characters, items, and objectives. It retains the feel of the series, something I don’t think anyone would have predicted. You might even forget that you’re playing a fully 3D game, because the platforming is totally spot-on. I remember when I heard the first-person news for the first time, the first thing I thought of was Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64, where the jumping was very flawed and ruined the entire experience. In Prime, the jumping is perfect, so much so that at times I wondered if the game cheated to help you make them. It doesn't (at least I don't think so), it's just good programming. The graphics are stunning and were never really destroyed by anything on the X-Box, which is funny because it was supposed to be a vastly more powerful machine then the Gamecube. And the environment created for Prime is very much alive and makes the game feel like a real experience. The story isn't much to brag about, but the gameplay itself will suck you in and not release you until the game's conclusion roughly 15 to 25 hours later. Don't rush through Prime, sit back and enjoy it. A pair of sequels have been released and were pretty good, but couldn't hope to come close to the sense of wonder that Prime gave gamers. Do not miss it.
#3: Ico
Playstation 2
September 21, 2001
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.4
You don't play Ico as much as you experience it. It's a pretty minimalist game. You're given only a few scant details of a story. You play as a young boy who was born with a pair of horns on his head. It's feared that his presence is a curse on the land, so a group of Warriors locks him inside of a sarcophagus and abandon him inside of an ancient castle, leaving him for dead. But Ico escapes and meets with Yorda, a pale, almost ghostly girl who has shadowy demons trying to drag her into hell. You must lead Yorda out of the castle. That's pretty much it. It doesn't sound like much to go on, but what makes it work is how you'll try to connect the dots of the story inside your head. Is Yorda a ghost? Why else would these shadows (that look and move almost exactly like the shadowy creatures in the movie Ghost) want to get her? Why is Ico in the castle? Is he connected to this girl? Did they really leave him there to die? You won't get many answers to these questions, but somehow that feels ok. Gameplay wise, Ico plays out a lot like a 3D version of the Adventures of Lolo. There is very little combat (although the sections where you do fight baddies takes way too long because Ico is underpowered), so the majority of the game is spent trying to figure out how to get from point A to point B. But getting there isn't always as simple as finding keys. You'll have to jump, climb, swim, and plan every move out. But getting there yourself isn't enough, because you have to lead Yorda there, and she's not as athletic as Ico. Yes, the game is a giant escort mission, which are normally boring aspects of action games. But Ico isn't an action game. It's not even much of a puzzle game either. You'll never be stumped for too solutions, as if you sit back and think things through the answer will come to you. But as an experience, Ico is a must. The graphics are still good, although a bit jerky at times thanks to frame rate drop offs. It doesn't look as good as it did seven years ago, but the scope and scale of your surroundings is still bound to make you feel very, very small. At times, you'll experience a true sense of vertigo as you make nail-biting leaps of faith, and then upon reaching your destination you'll lose your sense of accomplishment once you realize that Yorda is still where you left her and there's no way she'll be able to get to you the route you took. Back to the drawing board. Ico is pretty short at only 10 hours or so and offers little instant-replay value, but having recently come back to the game after five years I found myself having as good a time now as I did in 2003. And truthfully, the game feels just long enough to not wear out it's welcome. Ico was the game that truly spawned the 'video games are art' argument. I get a lot of heat from my game-loving friends by taking Roger Ebert's side of the argument, that art isn't interactive and thus games don't qualify. With Ico, I'll make an exception, as you never actually feel like you're playing a game with it. It's something you're connected to, but you feel insignificant while doing so. So yes, Ico is a work of art, and a masterpiece at that.
#2: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Gamecube
March 24, 2003
Developed by Nintendo
IGN Rating: 9.6
Of all the videogame fandom controversies, Wind Waker's graphics are easily the stupidest. I know many people that say they will never play it on the grounds that it has cel-shaded graphics. I guess they consider it an attack against their manhood or something. To those that say they want mature-looking Zelda games or they won't play them, I say this: grow up. Wind Waker is not a measure of the size of your privates. It might be on the size of your brain though. Let me get this straight: you want a realistic game about a magical elf in a magical land who's looking for a magical princess and magical triangles? Okie Dokie. Most of those crybabies shut up when Twilight Princess came along, never mind that it had cel-shaded graphics during many parts of the game. But Wind Waker was still too childish for them. Well, their loss. Wind Waker is the best 3D adventure game ever made. I'm basically in Nintendo's back pocket, so it might surprise some to learn that I didn't care for either of the Nintendo 64 Zelda games. Foggy, pointy graphics, bland character design, and Ocarina of Time has an empty overworld. For me, Wind Waker was a return to form. It felt like a classic Zelda game done in 3D, something that for me was missing in the N64 titles. The graphical style is perfect for Zelda, as it makes you feel like a child on an adventure, which is kind of the point of the series. If I want gritty realism, I'll find a series that caters to that. Zelda shouldn't. And the gameplay is perfect Zelda. The dungeons are massive and awe-inspiring. Combat is fun and never feels like a chore. In Ocarina of Time, I tried to avoid the limited combat in the overworld. It just wasn't worth the effort. In Wind Waker, I sat out to kill every single enemy in sight and had a blast doing it. The sailing, which was one of the chief complaints among critics, was actually a highlight for me. Digging up stuff off the ocean floor and fighting giant squids was very entertaining. Sometimes I avoid side quests in games, but in Wind Waker I found myself almost scared to finish the game, so I went around doing them. And it didn't feel like busywork or a chore. I had a good time. With Twilight Princess, I found myself often saying "I'm supposed to be having a good time playing this, but I'm really not", and switching from the Wii version to the Gamecube version did nothing to help. In Wind Waker, I was more likely to say that Nintendo would have a hard time topping this. It doesn't offer a whole lot of innovation, but instead feels like an evolution of all the classic Zelda concepts. I'm not complaining. The mechanics are almost identical to Ocarina of Time, but the control feels more accurate and natural, while I never quite got used to Ocarina's scheme. Wind Waker is a true classic, and although it's one of the most successful games of the last generation, it's quite sad that so many people ignored it because they miss the point. You're not meant to feel like a bad ass in Zelda. You should play Zelda to feel like a little kid again, and that's what Wind Waker's best accomplishment is.
#1: Shadow of the Colossus
Playstation 2
October 18, 2005
Developed by Sony
IGN Rating: 9.7
I guess I should turn in my Nintendo fanboy membership card. Because, in my opinion, the best game that the sixth generation of home consoles had to offer came from Sony. Shadow of the Colossus is pure gaming joy. Created by Fumito Ueda, the man also behind the #3 game on this list, Shadow offers you another minimalist story. This time, you play as an unnamed hero usually called Wander or the Wanderer. He brings with him the body of a woman (usually called Mono) who was sacrificed because she was thought to be cursed. Wander is attacked by shadow creatures (sound familiar?) but quickly defeats them, in a cinema that was clearly done to let you know that this is connected to the game Ico. It turns out that Wander is there to revive the girl and heard that the forbidden land holds the power to do that. A mysterious voice tells Wander that to do so, he must slay the giants scattered across the land. There's no minor enemies in Shadow, so the game consists of 16 boss fights. If that sounds weird to you then you're not alone. It's made even weirder by the fact that the world of Shadow is HUGE. You don't do much but ride through it on your horse so it seems unneeded, but without it you would basically just be teleported from one encounter to the other and where's the fun in that? To find where you're supposed to go, you hold your sword up to the sun, which makes light beam off of it and point towards the location you're supposed to go. And when you get to your location, it's on. 14 of the 16 Giants of this game are HUGE! Two of them are barely taller then the hero, making me question why they were used in the game, but the ones that are big are scary. Your palms will sweat and you'll stand at a distance looking up and trying to figure out where to even begin. Thankfully, your sword also points at the spot you need to attack, which is usually located on the head of the Colossus and it's WAY out of reach. So, you will begin to climb and jump around trying to make your way to the soft spot. Tension grows, vertigo sets in, and the Colossus will try to shake you off. As you get closer, the music starts to pump an epic score. You finally get to the weak spot, raise your sword up, and jam in deep into the flesh of the Colossus. It moans and bucks and blood spurts out like an oil well. You repeat this a couple more times, and the beast is slain. You become overtaken by it's energies and pass out. When you wake up, you're back to the place where you started the game. There's no time to rest, because it's time to slay another giant. It sounds almost too simple to be a great game. But if I made it sound like fighting these monsters is easy, I apologize. The Colossi behave realistically, but might not seem like it at first. Remember, you're the size of a flea to them. They're all shaped differently and have different patterns of attack. In a way, Shadow of the Colossus plays exactly like what Mike Tyson's Punch Out!! would be if it was a sword fighting epic instead of a boxing game. Instead of Little Mac, you're a warrior, and instead of Bald Bull or Mr. Sandman, you're fighting a living mountain that's the size of the Empire State Building. You didn't need normal bad guys and treasure hunting to make Punch Out!! a great game, and Ueda seems to have figured that out. Other then a camera which at times seems to suffer a seizure, and a horse that you'll want to kill at certain points, I've got no complaints about Shadow. It's a beautiful game, beating the giants feels like an accomplishment, and at 10 to 20 hours, it's the perfect length. It's one of the best games ever made.
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