Posts
I have not been posting nearly enough this year and I want to steer
back from that. To that end
I have found a 30-day blog challenge and will be writing out entries, hopefully
I can get all thirty days without any breaks, and if I manage to do that (since
August has 31 days) I will think of an additional entry to write about. I have done a 30-day
challenge before, it for movies, but that was a
while back, feel free to read those too if you like.
Today is
day 31 and the topic is “Top 10 Video Games”.
This and yesterday’s entry (which were my favorite games "20-11") were not a part of the
original 30-day challenge, I added them to replace categories that I decided to
excise for being lame. Some of these
games I have talked about before in this series, and some I have talked about
before that, so I will link to those when apropos. Cause I have written more than 25,000 words
on freaking video games this month and I am pretty tired so I am not going to
bust my ass on a rehashing of what I have already done.
SO
LET US BEGIN!
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| I sincerely doubt this game is in many top 10's. |
10)
Fable
I
have already talked about this one. But
to give a quick rundown of that: a game that emphasizes humor and a whimsical
tone with basic gameplay and basic fantasy story.
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| This is probably on more lists. |
Haven’t talked about this one yet. This is the only good “Resident Evil”
game. It drops most of the BS science
fiction to instead focus on a Lovecraft type horror, with giant monsters,
twisted monstrosities, cults, zombies caused by parasites rather than a virus, and
a plot to insert mind control parasites into the white house. It is often playing things with a tongue
firmly in its cheek, goofy elements, and random puzzles. While most RE games take themselves too
seriously RE4 lets you throw eggs at people.
As
for mechanics it has the best quick time events I have seen in a game, though
it is also probably responsible for that mechanic being added to every other
action title that came out around that time.
The controls do not allow you to move while aiming, instead requiring
you to be still while lining up shots in an over the shoulder camera model that
works shockingly well. There are also
siege-defense, which allows you to push furniture in from of doors, or shove
ladders away from windows, a small but really cool way to interact with the
environment that adds to the survival horror element.
Lastly,
the game is all about escort quests, as you attempt to save a damsel (the
president’s daughter, Ashley) from the monsters, and it is the gold standard in
this type of gameplay; Ashley anticipates your movements and gets out of the
way, she takes cover behind you, she ducks when she doesn’t have time to get
behind you, she can be sent thru some windows to unlock doors or throw switches
while you keep the cultists off her, and in one of the cutest aspects of the
story she gives a “yeah” mini fist pump when you kill a bad guy.
Resident
Evil 4 is a fun and adventurous game that has a good sense of humor and solid
gameplay. I love it.
 |
| This is definitely on top 10 lists. Everybody loves this thing. I kind of feel mainstream by picking it. |
I have talked about this one too. And mentioned it positively a couple
times. To some up, it is a tightly
designed puzzle game with one of the best mechanics, best bad guy, and best
senses of humor in all of gaming.
 |
| I imagine people's negative reception to the ending of 3 might make this game unfairly neglected during award season. |
I have talked about the characters of the Mass Effect series, but this is my favorite entry in the series specifically because of how
good those characters are. While I do
find the action gameplay fun what I am really here for is the space politics
and the space drama. I like seeing the
bigger issues of the galaxy explored thru the microcosm of diverse crew members
you interact with. It is funny, sad, and
awesome in numerous measures. One of the
truly great games of its time and one of my personal favorites.
 |
| I am so out of juice these captions are giving me trouble. |
I talked about how Nintendo is my favorite developer and
this is a good example of why. The only
fighting game I like because it is so easy to play, and much like the rest of
Nintendo, it is about having fun not really about giving everyone a competitive
system to waste one’s life mastering. (Note:
I think E-Sports are stupid, they are as inane as any game and give you none of
the exercise of sports and none of the creative or educational benefits of
non-competitive games like Dungeons and Dragons).
“Smash Bros” just takes bright characters and goofy
environments and tells you to have fun with them. The meta-narrative is that of all the
characters all being toys and acting out the play battles of the “Master Hand”. This even ties back to my discussion of “Alan
Wake” yesterday, that I like the idea of characters taking on a life of their
own and fighting to break free of their creators as the characters in this game
square off against the Master Hand at the game’s ultimate conflict.
I am sure if I had a WiiU that would be the iteration of
the series that I like the most, but I don’t, so it’s not.
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| I've got to find a way out of here... |
5) Spec Ops: The Line
Already talked about this one. It is a dark exploration of the impulses that make people want to be a hero and the destruction such a self-serving drive has on the world.
 |
| Said the Joker to the Theif. |
4) Age
of Empires III
Already talked about this one. It is a Real Time
Strategy game set in the colonial era of history. It has lots of different units and a fun
system for gathering and managing resources. |
| Breath that glorious desert air. |
I beat this thing into the ground with my praise and the amount of time I have spent discussing it. A mailman is left for
dead, and now he is back and out for revenge in the post-apocalyptic desert of
Vegas.
 |
| My brain is tired. Maybe I wouldn't be cut out for it. |
I already talked about this thing with a glowing review of how I wish I could live in
this world.
 |
| This is from the opening cinematic of the game, but I have my doubts as to whether this would be the best place to settle down. The river has advantages, but the mountains might make it too difficult to get enough workable tiles. |
1) Civilization V
This is my
favorite game. At time of writing I have
4100+ hours logged on this game via Steam.
This game introduced me to Steam and I have spent many a long night up
playing it. I love it, and I still to
this day suck at it because I have no interest in ever playing it against
anyone else. “Civ” is what I do so as to
busy my hands and mind while watching Netflix, Channel Awesome, or whatever
else might be on the internet.
I have innumerable complaints and
compliments for this thing (I still have no idea how the religion mechanic
works), but I don’t want to list them all.
It would be pointless to as that 4100+ hours count would just underline
how I have not let anything stop me from playing. I have learned a lot about historical figures
and great wonders of the world because of this game, and I look forward to
“Civilization VI” later this year.
What are
your top 10? What do you think of “get
gud”? How much time have you spent on
your favorite game?
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