L.A. Noire

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/16/2020
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox360. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Team Bondi/Rockstar Games

Release Date: 11/14/2017 (XONE/PS4/Switch) 05/17/2011 (X360/PS3) 11/08/2011 (PC)

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $59.99, $49.99 (Switch/PS4/XONE)

Also Available On

 America loves to romanticize the police. Despite the political environment, we are in, the only way we can really satisfy our lust for crime and murder mysteries is to put ourselves in the shoes of the police. L.A. Noire is set in an almost historically accurate 1940’s Los Angeles right after WWII ended. You play as war veteran/detective Cole Phelps in solving a drug mystery and many murder mysteries within.

The game starts out like any typical open-world game by slowly introducing gameplay elements to you before opening the world up. You are Cole as a beat cop who is called to a murder scene. You chase down a suspect, investigate some clues in an alley, and you’re so good at what you do you magically get promoted to a traffic detective. L.A. Noire has a few core elements and it mostly sticks to these throughout the game ad nauseum. The first element is the crime-solving. This is done by picking up various objects in an area, examining them, and moving on. This sounds interesting in theory but 90% of all objects in this game are completely useless and really don’t need to be picked up and examined. There are maybe one or two objects that are puzzle boxes and a couple of documents that require you to tap on certain information. It’s cool the first time you do all of this, but after that, it’s boring and feels pointless. Make the objects I’m holding more interesting or allow Cole to do more than twirl it around.

The next core element is interrogations and this implements Team Bondi’s groundbreaking motion capture technology that actually makes facial animations life like, but in a creepy uncanny valley type of way. Sure, you see neck muscles move, eyebrows twitch, and it all looks nice, but on hardware that couldn’t run the engine very well, these realistic life like faces look odd on low textured and poly counted characters. The whole point of an investigation is to use these facial expressions to determine whether someone is lying or telling the truth and it never works as intended. There is no set to tell that the game gives you to look for, and it always becomes a guessing game or a crap shoot. Most of the time the logic never makes sense based on what the game wants or its hyper-specific. A certain question may seem like selecting Good Cop would be a good idea because that’s what your guts tell you, but instead, you were to accuse the suspect and pick a piece of evidence that you never would have guessed. The interrogations are an awful guessing game and I never felt engaged like the developers wanted.

The next part of L.A. Noire is exploring and gunplay. Fire fights are mundane and feel pretty lifeless. There are a cover system and the weapons shoot, but they all feel the same and there’s no feedback or satisfaction from firing these WWII era weapons. Each fire fight is a whack-a-mole style shooting gallery of enemies popping their heads above cover. When you’re not shooting you’re chasing people or driving around. Driving is one of the worst parts of the game as compared to Rockstar’s other offerings, it feels stiff, slow, and lifeless, and I had no fun driving around the city. Sure, Los Angeles looks pretty good with some great landmarks, but having a piece of a fence bring my car to a complete stop is nonsense. I can ram through a fire hydrant, but a wooden fence will stop my car dead in its tracks. The driving is inconsistent and even car chases are no fun.

There are 40 side missions called “Streets of LA” but these are just various car chases, shooting galleries, or on foot chases and repeat and become stale and annoying. Thankfully there’s a fast travel system that allows your partner to drive to the next destination to skip all the boring driving. I understand this is a realistic game, but Mafia did it much better. There are 95 different cars in the game, but they honestly all drive the same and it just becomes no fun after the first hour of the game is over. There are other side objectives like finding hidden badges, all the landmarks, and trophies but why bother? Anything outside of the story cases is just completely boring and stiff, there’s a layer of polish that’s seriously missing.

Lastly, we come to the story and characters. Nearly every character is completely unlikeable in the sense that they are just plain boring. Cole Phelps is a goodie-two-shoes who can do no wrong and has zero character flaws which make him very unlikable. His partners on the four desks you work are also just as poorly written. I hated them, but not because they were written so well that I wanted to hate them. They were just so average and too Mary Sue. One partner was just a lazy asshole cop and never budged from that stereotype, another was just corrupt, and the issue is that there was no development. No back story into any of these characters and Phelps’ flashbacks to WWII did nothing to make you care for him as he acted just as stubborn and perfect as he did as a cop. For the game being a noire there is zero character build-up or any reason to care. The overarching story doesn’t actually pick up speed until the last few cases, as each and every case drones on and on and is exactly the same as the last just in different orders. I never once felt interested or attached to any one case. Give me fewer cases and build-up the victims within so I can feel like the boring twists are worthwhile.

And that’s where I conclude with L.A. Noire. It’s just “okay”. Each of the many cases feels rudimentary in the end and mundane and I felt like I was just checking off boxes (literally) and had no reason to care for the first or last murder case. The driving is painfully stiff and slow and despite 1940’s Los Angeles looking nice it’s stale and boring with nothing going on inside. You can’t even shop for clothes or go buy weapons. It’s just a giant hub world to get from point A to B. Streets of L.A. side missions are just randomized gameplay loops of chasing, shooting, and driving with neither of the three being particularly interesting in their own right. So, is L.A. Noire worth playing? Sure, it’s a fun game and some of the cases are decent and I did want to see what happened to Phelps in the end, but just barely. After getting so far in the game I felt like I had to finish it hoping it would pick up in the next case. The game plays and looks great on Switch, but has performance issues and bugs that required game restarts. The framerate can dip into single digits in certain spots, but it’s still very playable.

Handhelds: What Nintendo Did Right that Sony Didn’t

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/11/2020
Posted in: Blogs. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Everyone knows what the GameBoy is. I had one as a kid, while late in its life cycle, I received one for my 7th birthday in 1996. I was introduced to Tetris and Galaga and was hooked. I sadly couldn’t play it much because my parents couldn’t afford the batteries for it often and rechargeable AA batteries were very expensive back then. It was one of the first generations of handhelds along with the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear. I never owned those two systems, but it was the start of something I will always love and cherish: Handhelds.

In 2003 I remember Sony announcing the PSP at a press event and went insane for it. I actually pre-ordered the system and put all of my allowance down on it for 6 months, I even did some extra stuff for my parents for more cash so I could pick up Ridge Racer with it. I owned a DS at the time, but I wasn’t too impressed with it. The PSP looked futuristic and there is still yet to be a handheld that looks as sleek as it. It had powerful hardware, a sleek screen, and multimedia features that no other handheld had at the time. This was also the pre-smartphone era so it was out of this world at the time. I loved my PSP and still play it to this day. I owned nearly every model available and modded the crap out of it. When the Vita was announced in 2011 I nearly lost it then too, but that’s when Sony started to lose me and I still feel disappointed with the Vita to this day.

They got the hardware down pat outside of the useless touch features, dual analog sticks, more power, I couldn’t be happier, but something else happened. The marketing was poorly done and the Vita only saw a great run for maybe three years. Around 2015 the system started dying and lost all first party support. The system turned into an “indie machine” and outside of larger Japanese releases and ports the system stopped seeing most regular releases in 2017. What happened? The first two years were strong and steady and it just died. Was it the ever growing market of smartphones? I personally don’t think that is what caused the demise of the Vita. The 3DS was still running strong at the time with huge blockbuster releases and strong sales. What I think happened was the loss of first party support.

We saw a couple of first party titles on the system like Uncharted, Killzone, and LittleBigPlanet, and Tearaway, but where was the rest? Where were the unique IPs that kept Sony systems rolling? I feel if they had kept going the Vita would still be strong to this day. While the slow death of the 3DS is clearly obvious and has anything but an official discontinuation announcement from Nintendo, the Switch is our last bastion of handheld greatness. The Switch Lite is exactly what this world needed. Sure, the regular Switch is portable, but it’s heavy, sometimes too big, and just doesn’t feel like the best portable system.

Now hear me out, let’s think about what a handheld system consisted of. A small unit packed with the best features of consoles. Great controls, some multimedia features, internet access, and best of all, fantastic games that made that system unique and stand out. The Switch has all of this. The Switch has some of the best video games ever created both first party and third. Think about that. The Switch could literally be the best handheld system ever created and it’s because Nintendo wasn’t afraid to do what Sony kept boasting about.

Sony touted the PSP and Vita as portable consoles, but never actually treated them as such. Constantly pushing and implying that portable games should be in bite sized chunks, much shorter simpler games when most gamers would spend hours on their systems. Not everyone only has 30 minutes on a bus or short car ride, some of us just like sitting on the couch or laying in our bed comfortable, away from the TV and family, playing our handhelds for hours. I did this with my GameBoy Advance SP, PSP, Vita, and so on. Some of my fondest gaming memories are on handhelds. So why was Sony so afraid to commit outside of paper?

Nintendo went all out and gave us both. A console and a handheld, and at the time of release it seemed like a silly concept. If I wanted a console I’d buy one and If I wanted a handheld I’d buy that, but why not have a choice? More people who own Switch’s now play more in handheld format than TV mode. It’s simple, convenient, and you can pull the system out whenever you have some spare time. Nintendo also treats all games like console games, we have a sleep mode on these systems for a reason. Even the PSP 15 years ago had a sleep mode so the bite sized gaming never made sense to me. I feel this was Sony’s biggest mistake going in. If you have this powerful new hardware with features no other handheld had at the time, like a sleep mode, insist that games are made like consoles. We got some games that seemed similar to a console version, but that didn’t exactly exist on PSP. Most of those games were all bite sized smaller versions of their console counterparts. It changed a little on the Vita thanks to indie developers, but it never fully took off. I feel Sony focused too much on hardware (did we really need a 3G Vita?) and not enough on the longevity of the system.

The Switch Lite feels like a true handheld system that isn’t ashamed of being a console. It’s truly the next generation of handheld gaming, and it hasn’t been crushed by the smartphone industry. So that theory is clearly not the reason the 3DS and Vita are dead. We can get handheld experiences on our cell phones in bite sized chunks, we now truly want our home consoles on the go more than ever. The Switch Lite isn’t as clunky as the original model, but feels bigger than a handheld and isn’t ashamed of it. The system feels light, sleek, has fantastic buttons, and feels like a true next generation handheld. We get full blown console experiences on this thing. While it’s taken a step back on online features such as no media streaming or internet browsing, we get a total focus on games. Another thing Nintendo did right was not using proprietary expansion cards like Sony did. This was a huge blow to Sony especially on the Vita. Many people refused to buy their systems because of this reason and it didn’t stave off pirating at all.

To conclude, the Switch is the true next generation of portable gaming, not the Vita. Sony bragged about having a portable console but never once treated it as such. Nintendo took a huge risk and received an insane amount of criticism when they announced the Switch like they do with every system they put out. In the end, it’s paid off and has proven that handheld systems are not dead and the smartphone industry hasn’t killed it. It’s the strongest it’s been since the heydays of the original DS selling out everywhere and nearly every gamer these days owning one. It’s surpassed the lifetime sales of the Xbox One even showing this is clearly what people want. So, if Sony does decide to jump back in the market they need to make a console hybrid and I feel they could knock it out of the park and even do a better job than Nintendo. Their systems are insanely unique and feature rich, but they need to back the system like a console and go all in.

Nintendo Switch Lite

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/10/2020
Posted in: Editor's Choice, Hardware, Nintendo Consoles, Switch. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Release Date: 09/20/2019

MSRP: $199.99

Colors: Gray/Yellow/Turquoise

A Switch console that can’t be switched. Preposterous right? Well, not exactly. When the controversy stirred up about the Lite not being able to be docked came about I wasn’t on board with that. The Switch is a portable system as well and that’s its main appeal. Nintendo’s data also shows that a good majority of Switch owners use it exclusively in handheld mode. The Switch itself isn’t the best handheld device. It’s very large, a little heavier than a large iPad and the Joy-Cons aren’t that great (sorry they aren’t). When I can I always use the Switch in tabletop mode with a Pro Controller, or I just keep it docked. When I saw that there was a slightly more powerful smaller version I was excited actually.

When holding the Switch you notice everything right away. The console is about a third of the weight of the original console thanks to attached Joy Cons. Yes, people complained about the Joy-Cons not being detachable, but at that point just buy the regular Switch, yeah? The buttons actually feel better than the Joy Cons themselves. We get an actual D-pad and not chiclet buttons, tighter joysticks, and better feeling shoulder buttons. The screen is slightly smaller, but in the format, you won’t notice. It just looks slick and like it was always meant to be played this way.

Outside of the slick form factor (it’s just a joy to hold and use), the system boasts better battery life than the original Switch, but an hour or two less than the revised model. The original Switch’s battery life was pretty bad with most games only lasting 3-4 hours. The system still has 5Ghz internet speed, an SD card slot, and a game card slot. This isn’t a digital-only Switch which they could have easily done and didn’t. Outside of all of this, physically the system is rock solid and is only missing the ability to dock. If you can only afford, or only wish to have one Switch, think about how much you will use the system in handheld mode. If the answer is most of the time I would pick this guy up instead honestly. The system isn’t more powerful than the original model, but has a more efficient processor allowing for better battery life. My only main complaint is the system doesn’t have HD rumble, so you would need to connect Joy Cons or a Pro Controller to have that feature. It really sucks, and I miss it, but with all the other pros it outweighs this major con.

I do have to mention that the system only comes with 32GB of onboard memory which is a shame, but large micro SD cards are under $30 these days so it’s not an issue. The $100 price tag difference is great, so with a 128GB SD card, the system still costs less than the original model. I don’t have much else to say about the system except that the new colors and overall sleekness of the system just looks better than the original. That flat black tablet against brighter colors didn’t look too hot, but this new portable system with a universal color scheme just looks sharp. I haven’t seen a better-looking handheld since the PSP was released 14 years ago. While the 2DS XL looks super sharp as well, this is clearly Nintendo’s replacement for the 3DS, they just haven’t officially announced it yet.

If you do own two Switch systems I highly recommend having a Nintendo Online account as cloud saves can be transferred between the two systems easily so you don’t have to manually transfer the saves every time. As far as I know, the only game as of this writing that can’t do that is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Sadly, the game data can’t be transferred so you’re stuck downloading all the software again. Overall, the system has a slightly smaller screen, but it doesn’t feel smaller due to the overall lighter form factor, and the speakers are surprisingly really good as well.

Bayonetta 2

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/06/2020
Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, Switch, Wii U. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Platinum Games, Inc.

Release Date: 02/16/2018

MSRP: $59.99

Rating: Mature

Also Available On

It was strange that Nintendo would pick up an M rated property, especially one that is as sexualized and gory as Bayonetta. The original game put Platinum Games on the map as a great hack and slash developers. The game was bombastic, fun, hard, fast-paced, and very memorable. The flashy combat and memorable personality and style of Bayonetta herself made her one of the most popular and well-known characters of the last generation.

Bayonetta 2 tries to capitalize on that, but on Nintendo’s home consoles. Thankfully, none of the sex appeal or gore has been toned down which is a huge shock and was what most people were expecting — more of a teen rated experience or heavily censored. What we get is the same sexiness, blood, and guts from the original. Now, I was never a huge fan of Bayonetta’s story is its a bit convoluted. I didn’t quite understand the story until towards the end, but Bayonetta is an Umbran Witch who is the Left Eye of God and the Right Eyes (Lunar Witches) are part of some sort of prophecy. The Aesir God is trying to destroy humans (it’s heavily Norse based) and Bayonetta is trying to stop said God from doing so. There are a couple of new characters thrown in, but I didn’t care much for the story. It’s a confusing mess honestly.

What is great though is the combat and there’s plenty of it. Light and heavy attacks combined together with a ranged attack make for some of the best combat this side of Devil May Cry. Bayonetta is so agile and looks so good bouncing around on the screen and the controls are incredibly responsive. The key to the battles is the Witch Time dodge mechanic that’s used right before enemies strike. It’s so satisfying to get into a rhythm of slowing downtime for a couple of seconds and attacking. Each enemy has its own attack pattern and you quickly learn when to dodge and slow downtime to build up your Witch Time which is then triggered to unleash heavy attacks. This tight combat system isn’t very deep, but hard to master especially with new moves to purchase. I found myself noticing that you must master this dodge technique or you won’t get very far. It’s the only way to really dodge attacks., but because you have to heavily rely on it that forces you to master it which can make it a core part of the combat system.

The combat goes a little further with Torture Attacks that are optional instead of unleashing your Umbran Attack. These are small quick-time events and awesomely brutal death scenes for the demons and angels. Bosses have their own unique Torture Attack that triggers at the end of battles. Speaking of bosses, I have to say I think there are too many here. Almost every level is either a boss only or consists of multiple bosses from main to mini-bosses. I also think for the short length of the game there are too many enemies here. A new enemy is introduced at nearly every level and they don’t really mix them up much. With so many new enemies you just start to learn their attack pattern and you may never see them again outside of the mini-bosses.

Outside of combat, Bayonetta doesn’t do much. The levels are highly linear with only one way to really go. You can explore a couple of side paths for hidden items that unlock costumes, weapons, and more. There are Muspelheim missions which are challenges spread throughout the game that grant Moon Pearls (Witch Time upgrades) and hearts (life upgrades). There are Remembrance challenges that require you to gather pieces of a chest before time runs out, and these are nice little distractions. There are a couple of levels that have you power a mech and fly a plane, but they are short and not sprinkled in enough. The game doesn’t feel as varied as the first one and I quickly found myself just mowing down boss after boss waiting for something new to happen.

I loved unlocking Nintendo themed costumes, mixing up my weapons to create a unique playstyle, and watching Bayonetta never gets dull, but it just didn’t feel as memorable as the first game, something felt off. It somehow felt too repetitive towards the end and I became exhausted with the onslaught of bosses, with some repeating multiple times throughout the game. There are co-op Witch Trials which are nice and all, but the core game just doesn’t feel as memorable despite how great it is.

The game looks amazing though and is still one of the best looking Switch games to date. The framerate is up there at 60 or close to it with no slowdowns. Textures and models look fantastic and the art style is just beautiful and really makes Bayonetta stand out on its own artistically. I did feel some environments kind of blurred together, but overall it’s a treat to look at. Bayonetta 2 remains one of the best games on Switch, and hack and slash games of this caliber are far and few between.

My Top Games of the 90’s

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/01/2020
Posted in: Blogs. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

This is the decade I started playing games and grew up in. Sadly, my parents couldn’t afford to buy games. Most games were rentals and very few were owned. I also only owned a Genesis, SNES, N64 and PS1 during this time. I didn’t get the systems until late in their cycle. I also had no access to gaming information as my parents couldn’t afford magazine subscriptions so it was all word of mouth at school or what I saw at Blockbuster. We didn’t get internet access or our first PC until 1998. This list is also of what I just remember or have played much later that was released at the time.

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse – 1990

Genesis – SNES – Master System – Sega Game Gear – Sega Saturn – iOS – Android
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: SNES

While this wasn’t the first game I ever played I did have fond memories of it. I remember this being one of the darkest forms of Mickey Mouse and it kind of creeped me out. It was a hard platformer, but the art style was amazing and was just so memorable.

Dr. Mario – 1990

NES – GameBoy – GameCube – Wii – GameBoy Advance – SNES – 3DS – Wii U
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii/3DS/Wii U

I played this on the SNES and had a blast with it. I didn’t quite understand it as a young child, but as I got older it was addictive and even my mother got into it. It was different from Tetris and Bust-a-Move.

Sonic the Hedgehog – 1991

Genesis – GameBoy Advance – PC – 3DS – iOS – Android – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/iOS/Android

The funny thing is, I played this after Sonic 2. I didn’t quite care for Sonic 1 as much since you didn’t get the spin move, and the game was just more difficult and less memorable, but it was still a fun ride.

Road Rash – 1991

Genesis – Amiga – Master System – Game Gear – GameBoy – 3DO – Sega CD – PlayStation – Sega Saturn – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DO/Saturn

I remember my dad and I played the hell out of this game. Smacking riders with weapons was tons of fun and we couldn’t get enough. I beat the game multiple times, but I can’t remember if I ever owned it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – 1992

Genesis – iOS – Android – 3DS – Switch – Wii – Xbox 360 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: iOS/Android

One of the first video game I ever played. This came with my Genesis that I got for Xmas of ’93 and I fondly remember the system was faulty and my mom returned it to Circuit City the next day. It’s still my favorite Sonic game to this date. I’ve beaten so many times on different systems and emulators. I know all the music and levels by heart. While I have spent less time in the last couple of levels just due to sheer difficulty, this game will always have a special place in my heart.

Super Mario Kart – 1992

SNES – Wii – Switch – Wii U – 3DS
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii/Switch/3DS/Wii U

This was something I played years after release, but it was my first Mario Kart experience. I played it at a friend’s house a lot and remember being super competitive with it. I’ve played it a bit as an adult, while not my favorite in the series, it was a great memory.

Mortal Kombat – 1993

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – GameBoy – Sega CD – Amiga – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Genesis/Sega CD

Here we are, the entire reason I’m a gamer. This was the first video game I ever laid eyes on as a toddler. I watched my older cousin do the Fatalities in the game and was blown away. I played this game more on SNES, sadly, than Genesis, but I just love the music, the sound effects, and the overall game has made Mortal Kombat my favorite gaming franchise of all time.

Disney’s Aladdin – 1993

Genesis – PC – GameBoy – GameBoy Color – Switch – PS4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Switch/PS4/Xbox One

I remember this game being incredibly difficult. I played it so much though and my sister and I would try to take turns and take breaks to beat the game and it never happened. The game was fantastic and remains one of the best platformers on the system.

Sonic CD – 1993

Sega CD – PC – Xbox 360 – PlayStation 3 – iOS – Android
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: iOS/Sega CD

I played this as a teenager and didn’t understand the hype. It was cool, felt like Sonic, had a couple of neat camera tricks, but overall it didn’t blow me away. It was the definitive Sonic game for the time, but not nearly as memorable as Sonic 2.

Clay Fighter – 1993

SNES – Genesis – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

I remember this game being so funny and my entire family got a kick out of the characters. While it was a bit sluggish and clunky, it had a lot of heart and soul and that’s what made this game stand out for me.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors – 1993

Genesis – SNES – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

This was probably one of the most difficult game I had ever played growing up. I couldn’t get past more than 20 levels by myself and I remember getting so frustrated I’d scream at the TV. I actually played this thanks to the Sega Channel along with Earthworm Jim, Toe Jam & Earl, Aladdin, and many other games.


Doom – 1993

PC – Sega 32x – Atari Jaguar – SNES – PlayStation – 3DO – Sega Saturn – GameBoy Advance – Xbox 360 – iOS – Android – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch/PC

Doom remains of my favorite shooters of all time, but I didn’t grow to care for it until much later in life. I dabbled in the game on PC and various other consoles but my true love came as an early adult. The art style, speed, enemies, and everything is just so perfect and iconic. There’s nothing out there like it.

Mortal Kombat II – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – GameBoy – Sega Saturn – Sega 32x – PC – PlayStation – PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Saturn/SNES

MKII was something I was super excited about, but had a harder time playing than the first game. I did have the superior SNES version and spent dozens of hours figuring out Fatalities and learning the characters. It was darker and grittier than the first game, but at the same time had it’s own style that was seperate.

Earthworm Jim – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Sega CD – GameBoy – Game Gear – PC – GameBoy Advance
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Sega CD

Earthworm Jim was probably one of my all time favorites as a kid. It was hilarious, my sister and I mocked the sound effects, but man was it so damn hard. I don’t think I ever got past the third level and I played this on various systems throughout the years. It’s art style and characters remain incredibly iconic.


Doom II – 1994

PC – Mac – GameBoy Advance – Xbox 360 – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Android – iOS
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

I believe I played Doom II more than the first game, and like the first game, grew to appreciate it the most as an early adult. It’s still my favorite over the original and has insane levels, improved gameplay and visuals, and just clicks more with me.

The Lion King – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – PC – GameBoy – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

Just like Aladdin, these two games were some of the hardest platformers at the time. I could never get past the second level, but I spent hours trying and hopefully one day will actually beat the game for good. It looks and sounds good and remains one of the best platformers on the system.

Sonic & Knuckles – 1994

Genesis – Wii – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii/Xbox 360/PC

Sonic & Knuckles is a game I never knew was even out until I saw it at a local rental store. The cover caught my eye and it seemed more mature and mysterious. This is actually a lot of people’s favorite Sonic game and for good reason. The visuals are very different from other games in the series and Knuckles is a great character in the game. I want to spend more time in this game, but it’s the least ported of them all.


Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – 1994

Genesis – PC – Wii – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC/Wii/Xbox 360

Sonic 3 was never really my favorite and I probably spent less time with this game than any other in the series. It was fun, and it was Sonic and I had to play it, but it felt like it was trying to be Sonic 2 way too hard and didn’t have its own feel or vibe.

Killer Instinct – 1995

SNES – GameBoy – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One

The only real Mortal Kombat rip-off that took off and became successful. It had soul, character, and its own identity without being gory and bloody. It was a darker more mature fighting game and it worked so well. I spent hours on this game at friends’ houses and with a rental copy trying to practice and get the biggest combos. I remember Cinder being my favorite and most used character as a kid.

Earthbound – 1995

SNES – 3DS – Wii U – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/Wii U/Wii

I spent more time on this game as a teenager and young adult and I love the charm and feeling of this game, but could never really finish it. It’s quite a long game and gets hard fairly early on, but one day I plan to pay the $800 for a physical copy and beat the game.


Chrono Trigger – 1995

SNES – PlayStation – DS – iOS – Android – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: DS

Another game I didn’t discover until I was a teenager. Many people regard this game as Square’s best work even to this date and for good reason. The art style, storytelling, writing, and characters are unique and so memorable, but I just can’t bring myself to finish this or any other JRPG for that matter.

Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

Genesis – SNES – PlayStation – GameBoy – PC – Sega Saturn
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Saturn/PlayStation

This was one of the few games as a kid I got hyped about before release. I remember seeing ads in the store and on TV and hearing friends talk about it. The game was darker, grittier, and somewhat more frustrating than previous games. Combos were hard to pull off and it wasn’t as well received. I loved the new characters and had a blast with it, but I spent more time on Ultimate UMK3 to be honest.

Earthworm Jim II – 1995

Genesis – SNES – Saturn – PC – GameBoy Advance – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii

I didn’t play this as much as the first, but had a blast nonetheless. The same whit, charm, and humor were present with new levels and things to do. One day I would love to finish this game completely.


Comix Zone – 1995

Genesis – PC – GameBoy Advance – Android – iOS – PlayStation 3 – Mac – Wii – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii/Xbox 360

Something I discovered more as a teenager and loved it. The game feels like you’re playing an actual comic with each panel looking like a panel from a comic and jumping pages is awesome. The game is incredibly hard, and I have never finished it, but the style and controls are just smooth and it’s one of the best Genesis games.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island – 1995

SNES – Switch
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Switch

My sister and I played this game to death and rented it numerous times. It was the first real Mario game I got into and couldn’t ever put it down. I don’t know if I’ve ever finished it, but I did try to 100% each level and couldn’t ever tear myself away from it. It was incredibly addicting and it’s what got me into Mario games.

Bust-a-Move – 1995

SNES – 3DO – Game Gear – PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: SNES

This was a random game my parents picked up at a local game store and we had a blast. I did manage to finish all 100 levels and I spent dozens of hours perfecting my play and writing down pass codes. It was incredibly addictive and the level design was superb. It’s one of my favorite puzzle games to this day.


Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – 1996

Genesis – SNES – Sega Saturn – Xbox 360 – DS – PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: DS/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

This was a game that was hard to get a hold of, but I had a blast with it. I preferred this over MK3 thanks to the Aggressor meter and the new run button. The new characters and cheats were awesome and it just felt more refined over MK3.

Crash Bandicoot – 1996

PlayStation – PlayStation 4 – PC – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Switch/PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

One of the first PS1 games I ever played along with MK3. I got this and MK3 for Xmas of ’97. It was a blast and I couldn’t stop trying to get 100% in each level. I didn’t play this as much as the second game, but I also remember it being very unforgiving.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy – 1996

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation
Score: 9.5/10

I probably spent more time with this game than any other 2D MK game. I had this on both N64 and PS1 and tried to perfect every move and character. It was lame that the bosses weren’t on the N64 version, but I still had a lot of fun. It was one of the few N64 games I actually owned.

Die Hard Trilogy – 1996

PlayStation – PC – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation

A random game that I picked up in the bargain bin in the early 2000’s and had a blast with Die Hard 2. The light gun game was so much fun yet so hard. I spent so many hours playing this, but not the other 2 games. I still have it to this day and highly recommend it to everyone.

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei – 1996

Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Not something I played until I was an adult, but it’s a fantastic Saturn experience, and a must have for Saturn owners. It mostly defines the system and shows what it can do. I plan to finish it someday as it’s not too hard, but it looks amazing on the system regardless of age.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter – 1997

Nintendo 64 – Switch – PC – Mac – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC/Xbox One/Switch

This was one of the few N64 games I spent a lot of time in. My dad and I perfected every level, found every secret, and every weapon and enemy placement. It was one of the first FPS games I ever played and have very fond memories of.

Star Fox 64 – 1997

Nintendo 64 – 3DS – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/Wii

I never owned this game, but I played it a lot at a neighbor’s house and later rented it. It was very difficult, but so addictive and fun and fast paced. I hadn’t played anything like it as I didn’t have a gaming PC, but it was just so much fun. Sadly, I never surpassed the third level.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 1997

PlayStation – Switch – PC – Xbox One – PlayStation 4
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Xbox One/PlayStation 4/Switch

Crash 2 was the Bandicoot game I spent the most time in. It was better than the first with amazing level design and I loved the bonus stages, I never finished a single Crash game, but thanks to the remake I probably can now.

Quake II – 1997

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Mac – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC

Sadly, I discovered this game on the N64 buy picking it up in a bargain bin. I didn’t care about multiplayer at the time and stuck with the campaign. It was a bridge into PC shooters for me and later I played this on PC and even PS1 where it is a much better experience.

Frogger – 1997

PlayStation – PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation

Frogger was a game my sister was obsessed with and I found fun but frustrating. One wrong move and you were dead. It had the arcade classic gameplay, but updated with 3D visuals and more levels. It’s worth a play if you want some fun arcade action, but just be warned of the insane difficulty.


Mortal Kombat 4 – 1997

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation/PC
Score: 9/10

I remember seeing this game at a Wal-Mart as a kid wrapped in its smooth plastic. I freaked out because I saw this game on arcade machines and didn’t know when it was going to release. Remember, I didn’t get a PC in the home or internet until the following year. I remember not liking the game as much as the older ones and felt the 3D perspective was confusing. MK’s first outting into 3D was a rough one.

Gran Turismo – 1997

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

My dad actually got this game and I quickly fell in love with it. The tweaking of cars, the visuals, the tracks, it was all a wonderful dance. It’s weird for a 7 year old to get into a racing simulator but I was serious about this game. I nearly completed the game 100% before GT2 came out. It was one of the few PS1 games I spent dozens of hours in.

Disney’s Hercules – 1997

PlayStation – PC – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation

I vaguely remember this game as a kid, but played it more as a teen. It’s super colorful, feels like the movie, and plays really well. Disney made some solid games throughout the 90’s and this was one of their last greats.

Vandal Hearts – 1997

PlayStation – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation

I picked this up in a bargain bin at a local game store as a teen because I didn’t have the money for anything else. It was gory, and at the time, I really loved TBS games thanks to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I actually remember the story being decent, but half-way through the game got brutally difficult.

Half-Life – 1998

PC – PlayStation 2 – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

Surprisingly my first encounter with this game was on PS2 and I remember not getting the game at all. Everything being in real-time confused me and I quickly returned it. A few years later I played it again on PC and loved it. I prefer HL2 more, but HL1 holds a special place in my heart. I remember spending hours modding the game and even going over to relatives’ houses and seeing their modded version.

StarCraft – 1998

PC – Mac – Nintendo 64
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC

StarCraft was a game I got into a few years after release as my first calling to RTS games was Age of Empires II. I beat the campaign and quickly forgot about it, but I remember enjoying the game and having it further confound my love for RTS games. I was the only kid in my whole school who actually liked RTS games so I literally kept these games to myself.

Grim Fandango – 1998

PC – Mac – Vita – PlayStation 4 – iOS – Android – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Switch

This was something I played in the early 2000’s and loved it. The writing, story, and characters were so much fun and it was so memorable. I was actually sad when the game ended. I plan to play the remaster, but it did suffer from typical adventure game tropes of its time.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped – 1998

PlayStation – PC – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

The last Crash game I ever played on console. I remember renting this game the year it came out and loving all the vehicle sections and how diverse the levels were, but it was very difficult. As an 8 year old I had a hard time completing levels and have actually played this less than the other two.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six – 1998

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Dreamcast – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PC

The PlayStation version was my first experience with this game and it was really bad. Later I played this on PC as I found it in a bargain bin for $5 and while I didn’t quite understand the strategy part of the game I loved the slow pace of everything and taking my time to take out enemies. I’m not a huge R6 fan, as I have only played Vegas since this game, but it’s a classic for sure.

Spyro the Dragon – 1998

PlayStation – PC – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

Ah yes, the game that made me afraid of underwater 3D levels. I had to have my sister complete these sections, but overall this was a hit in our house. We rented this game multiple times and I even got 100% in the remaster almost by memory.

1080 Snowboarding – 1998

Nintendo 64 – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

This was something I picked up a couple years after release in a bargain bin at Funcoland. I didn’t have a PS2 yet so this had to do before I could get my hands on Tony Hawk 3. It was a blast and I spent so many hours actually trying to do a 1080 and I can’t remember if I ever did.

Pokemon Stadium – 1998

Nintendo 64
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

This was a massive hit in our house and in school. I rented this game multiple times and loved watching the battles. I grew up with Gens 1-3 during their craze and was wowed by these characters on screen. Of course it doesn’t hold up today, but it was a lot of fun for an 8 year old.

MediEvil – 1998

PlayStation – PlayStation 4
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4

This game was really hard, and after playing the remake I can see why. The controls were clunky, but I loved the art style and horror theme and I remember the game being funny somehow. Regardless, it was a one time rental and I don’t think I ever got past the first level, but liked it nonetheless.

Final Fantasy VIII – 1999

PlayStation – PC – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

This was my first Final Fantasy game. I never really cared about JRPGs up until this point. I to this day have not been able to get past disc 2. It’s a tough game, but my sister had beaten it and I just remember being blown away by the graphics and experiencing a story rich adventure for the first time.

Unreal Tournament – 1999

PC – Mac – PlayStation 2 – Dreamcast
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PC

I honestly had a PC that couldn’t run this at all. I played it on lowest settings on 320×240 resolution window just to play this online with people. It was so much fun and I had a blast modding the game, but that tiny window will always be burned into my brain.


Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings – 1999

PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: N/A

The game that got me into RTS game to begin with. My 7th grade history teacher in 2002 would give us extra credit for playing online with him. I, of course, pirated the game as my parents couldn’t afford to buy it. I played this game all throughout 7th grade and loved it so much. I don’t think I’ve spent more time in an RTS since.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater – 1999

PlayStation – Nintendo 64 – GameBoy Color – Dreamcast
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Dreamcast

This game was one of the biggest moments in my childhood. It made me go out and skateboard, it made me watch skateboarding videos and movies, it made me want to be a pro skater. Of course that never happened, but one can dream. This series was something I stayed on top of and played every single game in the series up to THUG2 and nearly mastered.

Silent Hill – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

Funny story with this. I couldn’t remember the name of Syphon Filter and picked this game up on accident at a rental store. When we got to the scene of the skinless dogs in the alley with gurneys my sister and I screamed and turned the game off and my mom returned it. It will remain one of the scariest moments in gaming for me.


Resident Evil 3: Nemesis – 1999

PlayStation – PC – Dreamcast – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – GameCube
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 8/10

I actually played this game just recently, and sadly missed it when it was release. I had an N64 in ’99 and not a PS1 so I couldn’t even play it if I wanted. The game is great and one of my favorite RE games, but it’s still hard and confusing and the controls are awkward.

Syphon Filter – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 9.5/10

This is literally the single game I played the most on PS1. My dad and I were obsessed with this game. We remember every enemy, item, and weapon placement. Every single level was memorized by heart, I even memorized all the dialogue and names of the characters. It’s a wonderful game and the quality was unheard of back then and holds up well to this day.

The Longest Journey – 1999

PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

I played this years after release in 2005, but it was one of the first Steam games I ever bought. The game was fantastic and even my own mom liked it. I remember being sucked into the story, characters, and settings and playing through to the end in one sitting. Sadly, I don’t remember much of it, but I want to go back and play it again. It needs a remaster.

Medal of Honor – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

I remember playing the demo of this game in a local game store. I rented the game and didn’t quite understand it. The fog of war really held the game back and belonged on PC where it could have been better. It’s still fun to go back and see where the series started.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! – 1999

PlayStation – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

Spyro 2 is absolutely fantastic and when my sister and I saw this on the new arrivals shelf we snatched it up at our local rental store. We played through it multiple times, and while she was the one who remembered most of the game, I still had a blast.

Gran Turismo 2 – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

I spent less time in this than GT1, but my dad loved it and we would spend evenings tweaking car settings and taking turns racing in the endurance events. It was a lot of fun, but remains one of the best racing games on PS1. It was seriously ahead of it’s time.

Pokemon Sword/Shield

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 03/31/2020
Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, Switch. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Game Freak

Release Date: 11/15/2019

MSRP: $59.99

Rating: Everyone 10+

Available Exclusively On

 

I just want to start with a simple fact, I’m not the biggest Pokemon fan. I grew up with Pokemon in the late 90’s-early 2000s and stopped caring around Gen 3 when I was about 12-13 years old. I followed Pokemon afterward, but the card collecting and anime watching had pretty much stopped. My wife, on the other hand, continues to be a huge Pokemon fan to this day. This is actually the first Pokemon game I have ever finished including getting the legendary Pokemon. It was a chore I will admit. It was enjoyable some times and other times I put the game away for a couple of months. It was kind of exciting, then some times just plain boring. So, this review isn’t coming from a raging fanboy or a complete hater, so hopefully, this review will help people on the fence.

I’ve played nearly every other game in the series, but not for long. I love the idea of running around a world catching monsters, the problem is the series falls under 30-year-old JRPG tropes that still haven’t really gone away. My biggest hate with JRPGs, in general, are random battles. I feel they are time fillers, something to pad an extra 50 hours onto a 30-hour adventure. I want to explore more and these random battles prevent that when they’re happening every 5-10 seconds. It makes me want to give up, and I usually won’t play JRPGs with random battles. Sword/Shield has gotten rid of that with Pokemon that can be seen in the grass and random encounters that show up like exclamation marks and something following you in the grass. Yes, Pokemon are still confined to water and grass. That solves that major issue which made exploring more enjoyable.

When you explore the Routes, Wild Areas, and Towns, there are random items scattered throughout such as berries, candies, DMs (moves), and various items. You can ride a bike to get around faster and you can also fast travel to discovered areas which is a Godsend. This makes trying to go to certain regions that much faster and simpler to get to. Wild Areas consist of level ranges and now that a weather system is in place you get certain Pokemon in certain weather systems for each area. Now, I had to run the system clock around to get to the month when I started wanting specific Pokemon. It’s actually quite fun to go around widdling down health and catching these guys and building up your Pokedex, that’s the entire point of the game.

Now the game had a lot of controversy by not having the full Pokedex of every game prior plus the new ones. It just has a grab bag of some from each generation. For someone like me, it doesn’t matter outside of the first three generations of Pokemon. I also found that older Pokemon were messed with and their looks and types were changed like Rapidash, Mr. Mime, and Ponyta. I’m not really a fan of all this switching around, but it’s not hard to get used to.

Battles are one of the main components of the game and they look nice. I’ll give the game that, seeing these guys in crisp 3D models is great, but the Pokemon battle system is something I’ve grown tired of. I’m sick of all the long animations to get into the battle and all the dialogue boxes that pop-up. I know most JRPGs are like this but this is a 30-year-old trope that needs to change already. Some battles feel like they take longer only because of how little input I’m actually giving. When you introduce something like Dyna and Gigamax Pokemon that can grow to the size of buildings and do massive damage, I start to feel this is just filler and nothing that adds anything. These are literally just giant Pokemon that have powerful moves. It never turned the tide of a battle because either I knocked a Dyna-mon out in one hit or I could change too.

The strategy behind Pokemon battling is weaknesses. It’s grown more complicated over the years with additions like fighting, fairy, ghost, steel, etc. I had to some times look up weaknesses online to make sure I didn’t waste a move on some boss battles. These were the most challenging in the game but I never died once in my entire playthrough. Sure there were some cheap shots, but I always managed to pull through with most of my Pokemon knocking out opponents in one hit. I could chew through an entire gym leader’s stack with just one Pokemon. The balancing is really off compared to other JRPGs with it being overly easy or unfair. I wound up some times with Pokemon that my enemy was not weak against. You always want super-effective moves, and thankfully once you’ve battled that Pokemon once you can see which moves will work against it and which won’t which is super handy.

The visuals are another disappointing feature. They don’t really wow me in any way. They look like HD 3DS graphics and have the same bland anime RPG style that most other games have. It looks decent enough, but I just wanted this game to be the big game-changer that it wasn’t. The Dynamaxing, Wild Areas, and overall small additions didn’t add anything new but gave us the same experience in a slightly tweaked way. At least the menus are more simplified, but things like a cooking mini-game and being able to play with the Pokemon by petting them just doesn’t add to the experience. I felt bored most of the time because of how little player input there is, and I haven’t even gotten to the story.

Pokemon has never had an interesting story, Sword and Shield are no exception. It’s just something to make an excuse for dialog, which by the way, is another 30-year-old JRPG trope, you can’t skip the cut scenes. The first 2 hours of the game drag because it treats you like you’re stupid. So many tutorials and drawn-out animations, cut-scenes, dialogue, each Pokemon game is a chore just to start. It should ask you if you have played a Pokemon game before and just want to learn the new features, but they always have to integrate it into a story with dialogue and cut scenes. I honestly can’t really explain the story that much because I didn’t care. You’re trying to become the Pokemon Champion and some bad people get in the way to steal the legendaries away like every other game. Characters have no substance or appeal and there’s no reason to care for them.

Overall, Pokemon is a game that you either love or hate, and somehow I got lucky enough to be stuck in the middle. It suffers from issues in the series that have never been addressed such as the lack of player input, boring battles, story, and characters. I want to care about the world I’m in not just my favorite Pokemon, it has to be more than that for the investment. I want to see a visual change, stop making battles more complicated and make them more interesting, can we go after something besides badges? It’s a fine game and is done very well, but from a jaded Pokemon veteran, the series has just stretched itself too thin.

Batman: The Enemy Within – The Telltale Series – Shadows Edition

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 03/14/2020
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Athlon Games, Inc.

Developer: LCG Entertainment, Inc.

Release Date: 12/17/2019

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $19.99

Also Available On

The superhero video game renaissance all started with Batman. After the Hollywood superhero films grew up and became an epic universe taking over the entire industry, the video game versions feel a little more nuanced and personable. Rocksteady really hit it off with the Batman: Arkham series and the game just got better from there. Telltale took the storytelling of the superhero comics and turned it into an epic original story.

The Enemy Within follows right after the end of the first game with Bruce having defeated Lady Arkham, The Penguin, and Catwoman. The Enemy Within feels more epic has a larger overarching story and has more villains in place. We get Bane, Riddler, Harley Quinn, The Joker, and Mr. Freeze all wrapped up into one big Batman package. The story from Telltale is one of the most unique and interesting I have seen in the Batman universe to date. It feels tightly knit and has resolution at the end instead of spiraling out of control into a million different spin-offs. Main characters can die, and Batman can even break his own code if you choose.

This game is probably one of the only Telltale adventure games that cut out all the fat from the choices part of the game. Even dialogue option has meaning and makes a difference towards the end goal. There are larger moments that can turn the story around, less twists and surprises in this game, but the overall story is a slow burn rather than starts and stops like the first game. Some episodes are slower paced, sometimes too slow, and this game really has too few action sequences and mini-games for my taste. I like the story, but some of the cut scenes can be nearly 20 minutes long with very little input. Again, this is another “interactive movie” with very little gameplay outside of some quick-time events and even less puzzle solving.

What we get is an origin story that doesn’t go too far back. We get to see how The Joker became insane and hated Batman, how Harley became a psycho herself and the relationship between Batman and Catwoman grow or fall apart depending on how you play. We also get to see how Riddler became the way he did, and one thing I need to point out is this game feels more like it can happen in today’s world. Less magic and fantasy stuff from the villains. Everything looks and feels like it can be explained somehow in today’s world which I love. All the villains are just normal humans with a slight scientific twist to them.

I will say we don’t get a backstory on Bane or Mr. Freeze really. Mr. Freeze isn’t used all that much and Bane is just an annoying bully through the whole thing. We do get a new entity called The Agency which is an original faction used in the game to counter-balance The Pact (all the villains) and it’s up to you to decide how The Agency is towards Batman. Amanda Waller is a love or hate kind of character, and mostly one-dimensional, but we get to see Lucious Fox’s daughter Tiffany, and the game eventually plays into the psychological aspect of Joker and Batman’s relationship like the comics do.

At the end of the day, we really feel like we know Batman, Alfred, Joker, and Harley all too well. Telltale did an amazing job of getting you inside their heads and making you really feel like you’re controlling Bruce’s fate and story. While the game is too light on gameplay, and a little slow-paced, I couldn’t stop playing as I wanted to see what happened next. I really weighed my choices and felt at the end everything from the first game to the end of this one was satisfying and meaningful. This is clearly the best Batman game to play if you want an amazing story.

The Shadows Edition adds some enhanced visuals, better textures, lighting, and a noir style that I played the game in that makes everything black and white except certain colors like red, green, and various accents of character’s iconic colors. The game’s upgrades look great and I didn’t run into any bugs like I usually do with Telltale games.

Halo: Reach

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/23/2020
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, PC Reviews, Xbox One, Xbox360. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Publisher: Xbox Game Studios

Developer: 343 Industries

Release Date: 12/03/2019, 09/14/2010 (X360)

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $19.99

Also Available On

It was a brave move to move the Halo franchise away from Master Chief’s point of view. After the success of ODST, Bungie continued this move with a prequel to the original game and how Cortana was discovered. You play as a ragtag team of elite soldiers and you play as Noble Six. The funny thing about Noble Six is that he is basically a nobody, and you witness the deaths and heroisms of your fellow squad mates and search for the last hope of humanity.

The game plays and feels exactly like Halo 3 which is a good thing. The game has many of the same weapons and power-ups as Halo 3 as well. The game has a decent length of 9 levels and the progression is well done. Each level takes place in a new area so I never felt bored like I did in ODST. From outdoor areas with sweeping vistas to tight and controller corridors. The game is fast paced, hectic, and a lot of fun. I felt it was less difficult than previous games and much more balanced. I was able to quickly get a feel for my favorite weapons and the ebb and flow of the gunplay and enemies.

Again, the same enemies in Halo 3 exist here with the introduction of the Brutes from Halo 3, they make for a formidable foe and some of the toughest in the game. There are a few flying creatures, and I found there was less vehicle combat in this game than any others in the series. Most of the game is on foot and there’s nothing wrong with that. Most objectives will require you to activate or defend something and this is typical for FPS games back in the day, but it never felt old. Halo has this magical formula of great AI, enemy balance, and knowing when and where to use each weapon. You know what situations calls for which weapons and when you see the weapon you go for it, and when the situation flips you know when to drop it and go for another. I know in tight corridors I want a shotgun so I drop the pistol and pick up an energy rifle as a scoped weapon is useless. When I run out of ammo I know there is an alien equivalent lying around which is great.

Reach just really isn’t much different than Halo 3 or any game before or after it. It’s a solid game with one of the better campaigns in the series, and the multiplayer is rock solid. With this being a spin-off you’re expected to see asset flips and familiar gameplay, but shift from Master Chief is what makes it feel a little fresh. With the update for The Master Chief Collection, the game has better visuals, runs at 60+ FPS, and supports ultrawide screens, mice, keyboards, and current generation hardware. It looks dated, but clean and feels like a modern shooter does on PC. I didn’t run into any crashes or major glitches so its a solid port.

I don’t have much else to say other than it’s a good Halo game. The ending is solid, albeit sad, and sets you up for the main trilogy. I loved Halo 3 so being able to get back into that era of Halo was great, and the upgrades make this a no-brainer for any Halo or FPS fan. If you don’t like Halo this game will not change your mind at all as it’s about a rudimentary for the series as it gets, and the story is a little on the light side compared to other games in the series. I didn’t care for any of the characters, and if you aren’t familiar with the future timeline it won’t make much sense to you.

My Top Games of the 2000’s

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/14/2020
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I did my top games of the 2010’s and it got me all nostalgic for games I actually grew up with. I might later do my top games of the 90’s, but the 2000’s were very memorable to me thanks to the PS2 dominating the first half of that decade. I wasn’t so much a PC gamer until around 2005, and even then, I was playing older games as I didn’t have a gaming PC until 2010. This topic will mostly focus on console and handhelds games. So, if you don’t see a Zelda game on here you know was amazing it’s not because I didn’t like it, I probably never was able to play it even to this day. Games like Citizens: Kabuto or Hitman 2 were great games, but I just never played them. So, in light of all this, this isn’t a “Overall Best Games of the 2000’s” as you will see.

I will also not be putting any mobile games in here, while I had the first Droid phone in 2009, it was too late in the decade and too early for Android to make anything all that great. I did have an iPod Touch, but mobile gaming hadn’t quite evolved into anything special, even on Apple’s devices. Sure, there were fun and interesting games, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. Resident Evil 4 and Rock Band were a blast, but the console versions were much better.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 – 2000

GameBoy Color – PlayStation – Nintendo 64 – PC – Dreamcast
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

While Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was revolutionary, the second game pushed it over the edge. More of everything, better graphics, and it just overall felt more polished and better than the first game. I played this more than the first, and was a frequent rental on both PS1 and N64.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis – 2000

Dreamcast – PlayStation – PC – GameCube
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: GameCube
Score: 8/10

While I didn’t play this game until years after it was released, the Dreamcast version is by far the best (outside of the GameCube release) for the earlier versions. Cleaner graphics, better framerate, and it’s for the Dreamcast! It was a well polished end to a great trilogy, and while not very scary, it was tense and kept you on your toes.

Paper Mario – 2000

Nintendo 64
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii U

Paper Mario caught everyone’s eye because it was an RPG and it wasn’t your standard platformer. My sister actually rented this and I got sucked in watching. When I finally finished the game I didn’t want it to end. While it was a very simple and rather easy game it was fun and enjoyable and had JRPG elements everyone could enjoy.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 – 2001

PlayStation – PlayStation 2 – Nintendo 64 – PC – GameCube – Xbox – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

This is by far my favorite game in the series. It was the first PS2 game I ever touched and I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up playing this all night at friends’ sleepovers and mastered this game. Ever level, used every cheat, and got 100% in the game. It’s a masterpiece and remains one of the best sports game ever made, period.

Grand Theft Auto III – 2001

PlayStation 2 – PC – Xbox
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox

This game made me jealous I didn’t have a PS2. I had a neighbor who had a PS2 and he always left his door open and I would walk by and see him playing this Silent Hill 2 and SSX. When I finally got a hold of it I realized I was holding one of the most controversial games ever made. It had fantastic writing, fun gameplay, and one of the first large open worlds on a console.

Halo: Combat Evolved – 2001

Xbox – PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

What can you say about Halo? It’s Microsoft’s Zelda or Mario. It was the beginning of an era and online shooters would never be the same. It’s not just one of the most iconic games ever made, but one of Microsoft’s only standing exclusives they have left. I actually played this on PC first, but I saw this game on gaming sites and magazines on a daily basis for years.

Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec – 2001

PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

GT3 is by far one of the best racing simulators ever made, even to this day. The physics and graphics hold up so well and it was well beyond its time. I got gold in nearly ever race and almost bought every single car. I spent dozens of hours in this game with my dad and couldn’t put it down. It still remains the best in the series and one of the best PS2 games of all time.

Civilization III – 2001

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

This was a small game I bought from a school book fair a few years after it had released. It was only $20 so I grabbed it as I loved Age of Empire II. I got sucked in right away and played this on a 5 year old computer that couldn’t run anything else. I became a Civilization fan after that.

Max Payne – 2001

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC – Mac – GameBoy Advance
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

While I played the inferior PS2 version when it was released I still had a blast with this game. The crying baby scene where you are running on the line of blood was a serious pain in the ass and I remember my mom yelling at me to mute the TV. The bullet time gameplay was otherworldly and the gritty comics and voice acting was top notch. Years later I played a better port on PC.

Silent Hill 2 – 2001

PlayStation 2 – PC – Xbox
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

I never played this on PS2, but the PC version was fantastic and also scary as sin. The puzzles were a little vague, but the game was grotesque and strange, just how I remembered the first game being. While the story is convoluted, and the gameplay is stiff, you can’t knock the game for the sheer amount of weirdness it throws at you.

Alien vs Predator 2 – 2001

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

Played years after release, the game was one of the best PC shooters I had ever played and was actually scary! The Alien and Marine campaign stood out the most for me, and it looked pretty good to. I never had a chance to play online, but the campaigns have great replay value and are worth checking out to this day.

Final Fantasy X – 2002

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 9/10

Funny story about this game. I rented this from Blockbuster and the disc had a scratch that prevented me from getting past the cut-scene that showed Sin just before attacking the boat. I returned it and didn’t finish it until years later. It was the first FF game I ever was able to beat and had an engaging story that was quite memorable, great locales, and gorgeous visuals.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – 2002

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC – Mac – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

While I played the inferior PS2 version, Splinter Cell got me into stealth games as Metal Gear Solid just couldn’t quite do it for me. The lighting was amazing, and the the controls and animations were awesome. I loved how you could actually see how dark everything is around you and that would determine how hidden you are. The level design was great, but it could also be a tad difficult.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem – 2002

GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

While not the best GameCube game it was so oddball I couldn’t stop playing. I remember something about an Indiana Jones artifact recovery thing, strange puzzles, and just a bizarre story in general. It’s a hidden gem, and I played it years after release, but there’s nothing else like it on a Nintendo system. It’s a must play.

WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos – 2002

PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

I played this longer after release, it was one of the best real time strategy games I had ever played. It was fun, simple, had great visuals, and a story and characters were fun to watch. The campaign was well done with great scenarios, and it has replay value for sure. The collector’s edition is currently sitting on my shelf.

Medal of Honor: Allied Assault – 2002

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I was late to the Medal of Honor game as I skipped the first outings on PlayStation. Allied Assault took the PC community by storm with fantastic visuals and great gameplay. I played this after Finest Hour for PS2 came out and realized what I was missing out on. The best Medal of Honor games are on PC.

No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.’s Way – 2002

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

This is by far one of the most original shooters ever made. It’s a spoof on 60’s spy movies like James Bond. The clever writing, great humor, interesting characters, and funny gadgets used in the game just keep you hooked. This was one of my first FPS games on PC and it made me realize that PC has some of the best shooters on the planet.

Ratchet & Clank – 2002

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PlayStation 3

Ratchet & Clank aren’t just some low budget mascots like Bubsy. These are Sony’s, and PlayStation’s, icons and also some of the best platforming you will ever find even to this day. While the sequels were equally as charming, the first game made the largest impact on me, and it’s the only one I played, thanks to its witty humor, great characters, and memorable levels. This game also put Insomniac on the map for being fantastic weapons designers and their famous unique alt fire modes.

Medal of Honor: Frontline – 2002

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox
Score: 7/10

This was the first ever Medal of Honor experience I had. I had played a demo of the original back when it came out, but it was boring to me as a kid. Frontline blew my mind away when the opening scene of the Normandy beach on D-Day rattled my TV speakers. While today, it’s rather dull and not very interesting, Frontline was back-to-consoles basics, and looked good doing it.

Kingdom Hearts – 2002

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4

Disney plus Final Fantasy was something no one saw coming and I was so exciting reading about this game in magazines and online articles up until release. I didn’t pick this up until nearly 2 years after release, but when I did I had a blast. Revisiting old Disney favorites with my siblings was so much fun, and the the characters were great despite not being able to follow any of the story. Admit it, we played it so we could Final Fantasy inside Christmas Town.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs – 2002

PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

My first ever online console experience. I was late to the game on this one, but I picked up a network adapter just for this game and spent dozens of hours online. It made me love online shooters on consoles, I never finished the campaign and solely focused on fragging online which is fine right?

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – 2002

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – GameBoy Advance
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

As a kid, The Lord of the Rings movies were part of my universe. I watched them in the theaters and rewatched on DVD. I couldn’t get enough. The games were nearly perfect recreating the scenes of the movies with tight controls, a fun upgrade system, and great visuals. They have great replay value to this day.

Freekstyle – 2002

PlayStation 2 – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: GameCube

Out of all the motorcycle games that were a huge deal in the early 2000’s, Freekstyle won me over, mainly as I picked it up on a budget and loved the high octane tricks and crazy arenas. I got obsessed trying to get the highest scores on all the races and played this for dozens of hours.

Spyro 2: Season of Flame/Ice – 2002

GameBoy Advance
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Some of the finest mobile platforming is right here, and it’s all thanks to the isometric view rather than cramming terrible 3D visuals onto the system. The clever level design, tight controls, and classic Spyro gameplay we have grown to love was in handheld form. This was one of the few GBA games I owned growing up and I couldn’t get enough.

Metroid Prime – 2002

GameCube
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii
Score: 8/10

I played this many years after release, and I didn’t like it then, but now I’ve grown to appreciate the game and series overall. Metroid took awhile to grow on me and sadly this is the only game in the series I ever touched. I finished it, shrugged, and tossed it aside, but after loving the series like I do know, I will someday go back and play all three.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – 2003

Xbox – PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

Another game played many years after release, KOTOR is considered by many to be the best Star Wars game ever made. With an original story not following the movies, great RPG battles, lightsaber customization, good writing, voice acting, and more Star Wars lore than you can shake a stick at. It looked fantastic and remains one of the best Xbox games as well.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time – 2003

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – PC – GameBoy Advance
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

Most people had never heard of the Prince before The Sands of Time. Ubisoft’s reboot was an instant hit and classic. Using time rewind skills, great combat, and platforming, this was almost a perfect game. While I didn’t get a chance to play it upon release, I got to play the PC version a couple years later.

Call of Duty – 2003

PC – Mac – N-Gage
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

Considered by many to be the best WWII franchise, Call of Duty set higher standards than even Medal of Honor. Less arcade feel gameplay, more bombastic scripted events, and addictive online play. Call of Duty went on to be a fan favorite and is far different from what the series is today.

Tony Hawk’s Underground – 2003

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

While THPS4 felt a little mediocre and samey, THUG mixed things up again with an actual story, off board exploration, and a return to amazing level design and overall fun that the series was known for. This was the end of an era as later games in the series flopped and never felt the same.

SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs – 2003

PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

The last SOCOM game I would ever play, the campaign was a lot better, visuals improved, and the online gameplay was even more fun, but for some reason a lot harder. The first game felt a little more arcade like and SOCOM II took a very realistic approach to shooting. I was too young to really care, but I appreciated it nonetheless.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – 2003

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – GameBoy Advance – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

The last of the two great Lord of the Rings games, and the last of any good game in the series for at least a decade. Return of the King bumped up the visuals and gave us all the great scenes in the movies to play with unlockable clips, behind the scenes, and more. It was nearly a perfect action game and has great replayability to this day.

Tron 2.0 – 2003

Xbox – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I loved Tron growing up as a kid, and when I found out this game released on PC I was excited. While it didn’t run well, Tron 2.0 was a mind trip. It felt like you were in the movie, and despite being difficult, it had a lot of great gameplay and some nice RPG elements thrown in. It felt like a true adventure and like I was slowly getting towards my goals and growing as a whole.

Beyond Good & Evil – 2003

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
Score: 8/10

I played this years after release on PC at about 20FPS, but I played it and it was a blast. It was one of the first games I ever bought on Steam back when the store had only a couple hundred games. It felt like a true adventure with great characters, voice acting, and memorable environments.

Half-Life 2 – 2004

PC – Xbox
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

The beginning of an era and FPS games would never be the same. I was barely able to run this game on PC, but it was the first game I ever bought on Steam, back when Valve games were all that were available. I played through the game numerous times and I never experienced anything like this — it was a PC only experience and it showed. While it was bug city, and didn’t run well on older hardware, it was a blast to play and the style of storytelling is something I will never foget.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox/PC

One of the most contraversial games ever created, San Andreas took the industry and world by storm. Making it to the 6 o’clock news and then some. I had never had more fun in a game until San Andreas. The story and characters were fun and entertaining, the RPG elements were interesting, and was just good ‘ol GTA that you would screw around in and always find something to do. It rang through the industry long after release too.

Halo 2 – 2004

Xbox – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One
Score: 9/10

I didn’t get a chance to play this until I had an Xbox 360, but when I did I understood why it was such a big deal. Halo 2 was probably the biggest game in 2004 just due to the fact that it was the best online shooter you could play on a console. The story and visuals were top-notch, the campaign was amazing, and who doesn’t love online fragging? I missed out not owning an Xbox, and hated on the game for years, but it remains one of the best games in the series.

Burnout 3: Takedown – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

Burnout 3 remains one of my favorite racers of all time. The crash mode is all I need to say. Slow down time and rack up points by causing crashes? Who didn’t like that. It was fun, the physics and sense of speed were perfect, and there were a ton of events and it never got old. It remains one of the few perfect racers out there.

Unreal Tournament 2004 – 2004

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I was late to the game, but Unreal 2004 was a blast, and actually ran well on my old school PC I used at home. While the campaign was entertaining for practice, I spent hours modding the game with skins, models, and maps, and playing online was never more fun. It still plays well to this day, but I finally had an online shooter I could play daily that had a large community.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – 2004

PC – Xbox
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3/PC
Score: 8/10

Another reason to own an Xbox or high-end gaming PC. Riddick was a surprise hit that no one expected. It was dark, gritty, had good controls and gameplay, and a decent story with Vin Diesel himself starring in it. I remember my family rented Pitch Black from Blockbuster and the movie included a demo of this game, but alas, no Xbox. I finally played it years later on PC.

Doom 3 – 2004

PC – Xbox – Mac
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 7/10

How many more reasons did I need to finally cave and get an Xbox? It wouldn’t even launch on my then 6 year old PC, so I was stuck watching videos online. The game was so awesome, but fans were divided. I eventually played it on Xbox a few years later, but I could understand the hype. It looked so real when I saw it at launch with fantastic lighting effects, and the gore!

Katamari Damacy – 2004

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: Switch

Not only was it appealing because it was $20, but it was weird and every PS2 owner was talking about it. The low budget Japanese adventure game had you playing as the Prince of Cosmos rolling up random crap into bigger and bigger balls. It was satisfying, fun, had decent controls, and great personality and charm. It shook-up the game industry and was one of the first examples of an indie game that can become really popular.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – 2004

PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8.5/10

One of the best RTS games I have ever played. Period. My parents couldn’t afford to get me the stuff for the board games so the video games was all I had. Dawn of War was the first game set in the Warhammer universe I ever played and I got hooked. The interesting lore, factions, and base building and unit management were top notch with some great expansions as well.

Def Jam: Fight for NY – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

Love or hate rap music, it is the single most influential music genre on the planet spanning nearly every culture and country. Def Jam turned into an okay fighter into something awesome with Fight for NY. Plenty of East Coast rappers brawling it out with a fantastic fight system.

Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

Psi-Ops was a weird game, but somehow a sleeper hit. It featured an interesting story with great voice acting, and one of the most questionable cliffhangers ever. Everyone wants a sequel, but it sadly died and went down with Midway. I discovered the band Cold from the music video on the disc at least.

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within – 2004

PlayStation 2 – GameCube – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

This is actually my favorite game in the series. People hated on the darker and grittier game, but I loved it. The awesome metal music, the blood and gore, and darker tones were just awesome to me. Ubisoft took risks that most other developers wouldn’t with a AAA franchise. It had improved combat and some fantastic level design.

Spider-Man 2 – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

By far one of the few great movie-game tie-ins that worked. This game had a huge sprawling Manhattan you could explore and the combat system was excellent. Climbing the Empire State Building and diving off was a blast. It made a huge splash back in the day and influenced the new Spider-Man for PS4.

RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 – 2004

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

A lot of people like roller coasters, but how about taking an already popular simulation game and making it 3D with POV roller coaster rides? It was an absolute blast and I spent countless hours building coasters and riding them in real-time. The park management aspect was something I didn’t care for until I was older, but with an easy to use coaster builder you’re going to set off the imagination of many.

Mortal Kombat: Deception – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox
Score: 8.5/10

This was the first video game I ever pre-ordered and was the first video game I truly got amped up and excited for leading to release. I watched every trailer, clip, screenshot, and article multiple times over. It was also the first ever online fighting game for consoles and had great net code and worked. I spent so many hours fighting online to keep my win ratio up, and was the best of the 3D Mortal Kombat games. It had a fantastic Puzzle Fighter and Chess Kombat mode, but the Konquest mode was complete filler and was awful with terrible controls and visuals, but you had to play through it to unlock stuff in the Krypt.

Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault – 2004

PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 7.5/10

EA took the series back to the PC and the Asia-Pacific theater. It was bombastic, looked amazing thanks to PC hardware, and sadly I didn’t get to play this until almost a decade after release, but I grew to appreciate the game for what it was and how well it was made.

The Suffering – 2004

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

The Suffering was another game in Midway’s peak just before they declared bankruptcy. Midway had some of the best franchises on the planet and The Suffering wasn’t amazing, but the dark atmosphere, and psychological stuff really got me hooked. It was a hard game and I never finished it, but it’s a great franchise that I wish was picked up again. The inspiration of real-life asylums and prisons is what got me hooked.

Ridge Racer – 2004

PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

When I got my PSP, which remains the only console I ever pre-ordered, it felt like I was holding the future. It remains the slickest portable console ever made, and it was ahead of its time. With PS2 level graphics in your hand, and a fantastic library, the PSP is a must have system. Ridge Racer remains the best game in the series and one of the best racers on PSP. I actually got 100% completion in the game and was so satisfied when I did.

Resident Evil 4 – 2005

PlayStation 2 – GameCube – PC – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One/PlayStation 4

RE4 is by far in my top ten games of all time. It has to be. While GameCube players got the game for a few months it was quickly released on PS2, and not only sold way more there, but a premium edition was released which I have to this day. It didn’t look as good on PS2, but it was still a memorable experience. The 20 hour story was nearly perfect with exciting enemies, great gameplay, and the RE reboot that took over the industry and inspired games like Gears of War after it.

God of War – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 3
Score: 8.5/10

Another game in my top ten, God of War shook me to my core. It made me rethink how games should be made and played. The revolutionary combat system, the great use of Greek lore, great voice acting and story, and the huge open vistas with no loading was out of this world. It was gory, exciting, and I replayed it many times over on various other platforms as well.

Guitar Hero – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Guitar Hero was the beginning of an era and a short lived push for rhythm games on consoles. It literally took over the entire world with so many knock-offs and sequels, parties, competitions, and world records. Guitar Hero got me to buy a real guitar and learn to play and it just somehow worked. Sure, the game didn’t have any original tracks, they all had to be cover songs, but they were well done and the game was so addictive. I spent dozens of hours in this game and many of the songs are well known to younger generations because of this game.

Shadow of the Colossus – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4
Score: 8.5/10

Another game that made me see them differently, Shadow of the Colossus didn’t just look like one of the best games ever made at the time, it ran poorly, sure, but it was memorable. Running around and empty wasteland taking down larger than life beasts was unheard of back in the day. The fact that it could be done on the PS2 was astonishing, and with the next-generation of console just around the corner it seemed silly not to wait. What we got was one of the best PlayStation games ever made that has only improved with the recent remaster.

Guild Wars – 2005

PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

My first ever MMO and only because it wasn’t subscription based. With World of Warcraft still dominating the charts and being talked about daily, Guild Wars used it’s free-to-play concept to lure players in. I didn’t understand the concept of an MMO back then, it was complicated, but I got a good way into the story before finally moving on to other things as I didn’t get into the game until much later after release.

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 – 2005

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

I played this years after release on PC, but what we had was a WWII shooter that left the arcade gameplay behind and gave us a gritty and gripping story with great voice acting and realistic tactical combat. Not to mention the first WWII game to finally have gore and blood. It was a very tough game, but was so good, just avoid the PS2 version as it runs like garbage.

F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon – 2005

PC – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

FEAR was probably the first game where I was jealous I didn’t have a gaming PC. You needed a monster rig to run this back in the day, and when I walked into Sam’s Club and glanced over at the video games one day, I finally decided I wanted to be a PC gamer. It is still considered one of the best shooters ever made. I didn’t get to play this until it was released for Xbox 360, but it’s hard, fun, and one of a kind.

Psychonauts – 2005

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox
Score: 9/10

I played this years after release because the PS2 version is awful, but we got was a charming lovable platformer that is thankfully finally getting a sequel 15 years later. It had great voice acting, fun levels, and a trippy atmosphere.

SWAT 4 – 2005

PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Being able to slowly walk through a level and yell, “Police! Hands in the air!” and have a button for that is just awesome. The game has so much replay value and being put into small areas with multiple outcomes is addictive. I loved playing through each level and going in with non-lethal approach and then lethal. I tried to get a perfect score in every level. It didn’t run very well on my PC at the time, but it didn’t stop the fun.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction – 2005

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

I played this long after release, but it is one of the best comic book video games ever made, and for sure the best Hulk game in existence. With a large open world you can smash everything in sight. It had fun missions, lots of Hulk lore, and you felt like a real comic book hero. This was back when comic book games were mostly bad and when a good one came along everyone clung to it.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One/PlayStation 4

While most people skipped DMC2, DMC3 came back with a vengeance. It was one of the most talked about games and not only was it hard as nails it was fun, stylish, and looked amazing. I remember beating this game and being incredibly satisfied.

Star Wars Battlefront II – 2005

PlayStation 2 – PSP – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

I prefer this game over the first one as it was louder, bigger, looked better, and just had more content overall. It was a smash hit and one of the best online shooters of the time. It was sadly one of Pandemic’s last games as well.

Fable: The Lost Chapters – 2005

Xbox – PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox 360

I finally got a chance to play Fable long after release, and when I did I loved it. It has a wonderful British charm, great medieval fantasy atmosphere, and the choice system, combat, and dialog were great. I didn’t have many complaints about this game and it remains an Xbox game that needs to make a return.

Condemned: Criminal Origins – 2005

Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

Man this game really takes me back. I remember watching the reveal of the PS3 at E3 2005 live on GameSpot. I remember watching the Condemned tech demo by Sega and being absolutely stunned. This was one of three games I first bought for my Xbox 360. I replayed this game a few times and couldn’t put it down. It’s actually quite scary, tense, and has great combat.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks – 2005

PlayStation 2 – Xbox
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

The last Mortal Kombat spin-off we would ever see, Shaolin Monks had a fantastic fight system, and despite being really short, helped bring MKII to life which is a lot of fan’s favorite game in the series. The voice acting and story were dreadful, but it had great co-op gameplay as well. I still have my action figures that came with the pre-order.

Star Wars: Republic Commando – 2005

Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I played this on PC long after release, but it’s something in the Star Wars universe that feels unique and rare. It has a great atmosphere, and FPS games in the Star Wars universe are quite rare. It was a solid tactical shooter that sadly didn’t get the attention it deserved.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth – 2005

Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I played this game on a PC that could barely run it, but it got me into HP Lovecraft’s writing. The game wasn’t perfect, but the atmosphere was tense and scary, and it just felt like a great adventure. It was horror at its finest, and there really isn’t anything out there like it. It’s the best Cthulhu game out there, and sadly didn’t get much attention.

Area 51 – 2005

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

I remember getting really excited for this game up to release. I got it on day one and had a blast. I played through the campaign a few times to get all the collectibles and played online quite a bit. It had a great atmosphere, and featured some AAA voice talent like Marilyn Manson and David Dechovny.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted – 2005

PlayStation 2 – GameCube – Xbox – Xbox 360 – PC – Nintendo DS – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360

I played this game for hours and hours trying to get 100% completion. It wouldn’t run on my PC so later the following year I picked it up cheap and went to town on my 360. I remember playing this for hours listening to my custom soundtracks in the background.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

This was the fist MGS game I actually beat and could really get into. Snake Eater was fine and all, but I was still too young and impatient to care for it. I loved the story, characters, and gameplay and it looked fantastic as well. In fact, this was the first game I played using component cables for my PS2 and it looked sharp and detailed. I’m still not the biggest MGS fan, but I appreciate the series for what it is.

Kingdom Hearts II – 2005

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4

This was the only video game ending that made me cry. I rented this right when it came out and actually finished it. The first game was too hard for me to beat, but Kingdom Hearts II had more Disney locations and more Final Fantasy characters that I liked. It remains one of the best PS2 games, but the story was so convoluted and confusing.

Gears of War – 2006

Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One
Score: 9.5/10

Gears of War is in my top ten favorite franchises of all time. This game changed the way I see and play games and was a real stepping stone for true next-generation games. It was one of three games I first played on my 360 and I have beaten it numerous times on every system it has been out for. I’ve read the novels as well and just love the world and characters that this game has. It’s a surprisingly deep rabbit hole of lore and story if you look in other media.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 2006

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9.5/10

Oblivion holds a special place in my heart. It was the first Elder Scrolls game I ever played and it was the only time from before or after that I sat and did 12 hour gaming marathons. I explored every nook and cranny of this game, read all the in game books, and even tried it on PC. The game is so deep and has so much going for it that it pushed gaming into another generation. Sure, it has flaws like numerous bugs, dated visuals, mediocre combat, and menus aren’t the best, but it was magical nonetheless.

Okami – 2006

PlayStation 2 – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One/PlayStation 4/PC
Score: 9/10

Okami was a game I greatly anticipated. When I saw preview for it at E3 2006 I freaked out. The Celestial Brush really caught my eye and the art style is still to this day one of a kind. We got an open world adventure with gorgeous visuals and music, and some great combat. It remains one of the best reasons to own a PS2, and was a great way to help end that generation of games. While the HD version is the way to go today, I will never forget the 30 hours I put into this game.

Guitar Hero II – 2006

PlayStation 2 – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360

I honestly couldn’t wait for more Guitar Hero. While the game still featured cover songs, it had so many great classics with better visuals, gameplay, and an improved controller. I owned this on PS2 and then later 360 because it had some DLC which was a blast. The rhythm genre was really still getting started and hadn’t tired out yet.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas – 2006

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I had played the original Rainbow Six on PS1 and PC and couldn’t get into it. The new third person camera and more arcade style action was a blast and it actually had a decent story from what I remember. The game was a ton of fun, looked great, and was a blast to play online.

Half-Life 2: Episode 1 – 2006

PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC

The long anticipated Episode 1 finally came out and I downloaded this sucker right at midnight. It was short, but sweet, and improved the visuals, there were less bugs, and I loved played as Alyx in the new locales. It was more Half-Life 2 and everyone ate it up. It was one of the most talked about games for some time.

Bully – 2006

PlayStation 2
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

I remember this being GTA for kids. While it was still crass and had adult humor it was smaller in scale than GTA, but had great characters and setting just like GTA. I was so excited when this game released and rented it immediately. I just remember it being short and wanting more, and I later played the Scholarship Edition on PC which is the way to go.

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix – 2006

PlayStation 2 – Xbox
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox

Midnight Club 3 was a fantastic arcade racer that featured real world cars. The customization was insane and even had some great licensed music. I remember having a blast with this game, but also remember it being really hard in later races. The Remix version added more content for $20 and this was the version I wound up playing.

Prey – 2006

Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

Prey was one of the first games I ever played on my 360 and man was it a blast. It’s weird, interesting, a game out of development hell, and a game we will likely never see again. It felt like a mix between Turok and Quake. The weird room flipping with portals, the interesting alien guns, and the environments were just crazy. It’s a one-of-a-kind game and I will always remember this game as one of my favorite 360 games.

Tomb Raider: Legend – 2006

PlayStation 2 – Xbox – GameCube – PSP – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360/PC
Score: 8/10

Legend was the reboot Tomb Raider needed. The series was seriously tanking, and Legend introduced revitalized gameplay and a new Lara Croft. Legend was also highly touted as one of the first true next-generation games on Xbox 360, and it looked damn good. It was one of the first next-gen games I was incredibly excited about, and the excitement paid off.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter – 2006

PlayStation 2 – PlayStation 3 – Xbox – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360

GRAW was one of the first of three games I played on 360 that showed me what the next-generation of games was going to be. GRAW was a different games on every system, and the only good one was 360. It was a dull FPS on PC, a crappy FPS on PS2 and Xbox, and was incredibly buggy on PS3. I played this game twice over even on the hardest difficulty and loved it. It was just the right mix of tactical gameplay and arcade gameplay.

Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror – 2006

PlayStation 2 – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PSP

Syphon Filter is one my top ten favorite games of all time. When I found out it was being rebooted on PSP I lost my mind. While it’s a far cry from the original games, it revolutionized the PSP system as a whole and showed you can make a shooter work on the handheld. It had great graphics, gameplay, and continued the story and featured characters that fans would really appreciate.

Star Wars: Empire at War – 2006

PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I’m not a huge RTS fan, but when a good one comes along I pick it up and Empire at War was an absolute blast. I played it on a PC that couldn’t run it very well, but I still had fun building bases and living the Star Wars dream. It felt like Starcraft meets Star Wars and was easy to pick up, but hard to master. This is by far the single best Star Wars RTS and I hope a remaster comes along at some point.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock – 2007

PlayStation 2 – PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – Wii – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Score: 8.5/10

The last great Guitar Hero game. This was the height of the rhythm genre, not the start of the decline, and Guitar Hero III had some of my favorite songs in the whole series. It had a new “sliding touch bar” feature for faster paced solo sections, and just had sharper gameplay, great visuals, and awesome DLC, I found some of my favorite bands of all time through this game as well.

Super Mario Galaxy – 2007

Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

My all time favorite 3D Mario game for sure. Galaxy opened my eyes to a whole new Nintendo after years of bagging on them. It made me happy to be a Wii owner, and it was something you couldn’t get on any other system. I played this game twice through and collected every star there was. It was so much fun and addictive and I just couldn’t put the game down. I was very skeptical at first, but it’s a game you must play to truly understand how special it is.

BioShock – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

BioShock was one of the most anticipated next-generation games of the time and I remember playing the demo several times over, and staying up until midnight for it. It looked fantastic, and had a wonderful atmosphere, great gameplay, and was so much fun to play through multiple times. It’s still a classic to this day, and has thankfully been remastered since. BioShock is by far one of the best games of the last generation.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac – Nintendo DS – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

I remember being blown away by the E3 2007 demo of this game. The clip from the Pripyat level with Captain Price is legendary, and the level more so. Call of Duty 4 pushed shooters out of the WWII genre and into modern combat. The game featured revolutionary multiplayer that changed online shooters forever. It’s sad to see where the series wound up, but the remastered version is the way to go these days.

Mass Effect – 2007

Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC

One of the most exciting next-generation games that really made you want to own a system at the time. It featured fantastic visuals and facial animations, a lore as expansive as Star Wars and great gameplay and choices you could make during dialog scenes. The game was epic and it’s one of my all time favorite games. The series got better as it went on and that’s kind of rare for franchises these days.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass – 2007

Nintendo DS
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Phantom Hourglass was the first handheld Zelda game I had played to the end, and it used every single feature of the DS cleverly, even the sleep mode. Copying a map required you to close the screen and open it. It’s such a simple and stupid thing but it made me smile so much. The gameplay was fantastic with a charming story and characters. It still remains one of my favorite Zelda games to this day.

Crysis – 2007

PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

Crysis was revolutionary back in the day for the sheer amount of graphical power the game delivered. Not a single GPU could run the game at full specs at 60FPS and you needed two GPUs to do so. It remained a benchmarking game for nearly a decade and for good measure. It used the new DirectX 10 graphics architecture and made you jealous of any PC gamer who could run it. It was the first game I played on my first gaming laptop back in 2010 and even that thing couldn’t play the game at highest settings. It still remains a great open world game and the best in the series.

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords – 2007

PlayStation 2 – PlayStation 3 – PSP – Xbox 360 – PC – Nintendo DS – Wii – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PSP/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

Puzzle Quest wasn’t a game I thought I would love. It was one of the first popular match 3 gem puzzle games with RPG elements and it worked so well. I spent 40 hours completing every puzzle on my PSP during grueling work hours where there was nothing to do. It has great replay value and remains one of my favorite puzzle games of all time.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

Shivering Isles somehow made Oblivion better. The introduction of Sheogorath and the Jabberwocky and his crazy dialog were just icing on the cake. The giant mushrooms, enemies, and awesome new quests made the $30 expansion worth while. It’s one of the best Elder Scrolls expansions to date as well.

Super Paper Mario – 2007

Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii U

I never thought Paper Mario would return, but the third game in the series is the best and a blast. I loved transitioning from 3D to 2D and the game was just so much fun, I couldn’t put it down. This is by far one of my top five favorite Mario games of all time and for good reason.

DiRT – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

I really didn’t care for racing simulators after Gran Turismo 3, but the Colin McRae series has always been the top rally simulator for years. With DiRT Codemasters restructured their IPs and made one of the most successful racing series of all time. I didn’t get gold in every race by one of my sisters did which is saying something. I didn’t have a PC to run this game back in the day, but the console versions were such a blast.

Tomb Raider: Anniversary – 2007

PlayStation 2 – Xbox 360 – Wii – PSP – Mac – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC/Xbox 360

Remaking the first Tomb Raider was a smart move, but being better than the original is another thing entirely. Anniversary was so much fun to play and felt fresh with the Legend style gameplay. Puzzles were fun, combat was improved, and Lara looked better than ever. It was on so many systems, but I chose to play it on PC where it could barely run for some reason.

The Darkness – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360

I didn’t even know this game was based on the comics until years after playing it. It remains a sleeper hit and one of my favorite Xbox 360 games to date. The use of the arms was so awesome, and the game had a dark and creepy atmosphere that also added to the replay value. The gunplay was fantastic as well and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Assassin’s Creed – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC
Score: 8.5/10

One of the most anticipated games of the last generation, and now of the most run-down franchises of all time. Assassin’s Creed went through some development hell before finally coming out, and not keeping up with promises. The crowd AI wasn’t exactly the best, and the game was very repetitive and limited in scope, but it still showed what the next-generation of games could do and there was nothing else like it at the time of release. While it’s not my favorite AC game it remains one of the most memorable.

Eternal Sonata – 2007

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation 3
Score: 9/10

I am not the biggest JRPG fan, but I usually love the art style, combat, and visuals and story that they can bring. Most JRPGs are generic and dime-a-dozen, but Eternal Sonata caught my eye when it used the life of composer of Chopin and infused the character’s names that related to music. I even named some of my animals after these characters. It was a short RPG, about 20 hours long, and wasn’t so grindy that you would get bored. It was beautiful, fun, and one of my favorite JRPGs to this date.

Heavenly Sword – 2007

PlayStation 3
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8.5/10

Heavenly Sword may not be an amazing game on its own, but it was showcased at E3 2005 and I remember seeing the demo of this game live. It looked like a next-generation game and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. It was a well made game, and looked fantastic, but was very linear in scope and short.

Silent Hill: Origins – 2007

PSP – PlayStation 2
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PSP

The last real Silent Hill game we ever got. Origins looked amazing on the PSP and was actually quite scary and felt like a Silent Hill game. I don’t think I ever finished it because I was too scared to, but staring into mirrors to get to the “Other World” with haunting music, and crazy enemy design. Yeah, it’s Silent Hill all right and one of the better ones too.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – 2007

PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8.5/10

Anything Final Fantasy VII related is going to get big, and when Square Enix did their FF7 reboot stuff Crisis Core and the movie proceeding it was a huge deal. While it helped muddy the story more than needed, we got a glimpse of Zack’s life during the events of the original game. Many hated on Crisis Core for the “roulette” style gameplay, but I loved that it was hack and slash battles over turned based stuff. It remains one of the best looking games on PSP and had gorgeous CGI cut scenes.

Grand Theft Auto IV – 2008

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9.5/10

Every GTA is a worldwide phenomenon and event. It’s not just a game release. It makes the global news channels, creates controversy, break records, etc. GTAIV was no different, and while I played it much later after release, it was a blast. It’s not my favorite GTA game, but the characters were great and it was an evolution that the series needed.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – 2008

PlayStation 3
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 9.5/10

MGS4 was a serious heavy hitter back in the day. It showed off the power of the PS3 during E3 and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. The game featured 45 minute long cut-scenes, great visuals, and classic MGS gameplay. It was the first MGS I fully enjoyed, but still didn’t convince me to be a huge fan. I love the series for what it does, but stealth games are hard to hold my attention.

Fallout 3 – 2008

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

One of my top favorite games of all time. Fallout 3 may have upset some fans, but it was the fist game in the series for me and I loved it. Even upon release it was dated visually, and had numerous bugs, but I played the game to death and explored every corner and all the DLCs. I have the collector’s edition sitting on my shelf to this day.

Gears of War 2 – 2008

Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 9.5/10

I remember going to the midnight launch for this. I was so excited for more Gears, and remains one of the best in the series. The fun new online modes, longer campaign, improved visuals, and expanded story were just mind-blowing back in the day. Gears of War was one of the games that made you want an Xbox 360.

Rock Band 2 – 2008

PlayStation 2 – PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
Score: 8.5/10

While Rock Band 1 was the next evolution in the rhythm genre, Rock Band 2 just did it better and you could import the original songs. The game had improved instruments, better visuals, more music, and an insane amount of DLC. EA was able to get more bands on board than Activision. Rock Band’s rival was Guitar Hero 4, but Activision just didn’t do the whole band thing as well.

Chrono Trigger – 2008

Nintendo DS
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Nintendo DS

Some say the DS version is the best port of the game before and after. It remasters the game so well and looks so good without making too many weird alterations like later ports down the road. Chrono Trigger is considered by many to be Square’s greatest RPG and one of the best games of all time. I still haven’t completed the game, but when I dabble in it here and there I appreciate the game for what it is.

God of War: Chains of Olympus – 2008

PSP – PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 3
Score: 9/10

This is probably the only PSP game I really got excited for and pre-ordered right away. The demo was replayed numerous times and the game blew me away. It was a full scale God of War game, just on a smaller screen. It was very short, four hours long, but looked as good as a PS2 game. It was memorable, and shook the industry for a good while.

Fable II – 2008

Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8.5/10

Fable II was much improved over the first game. It had better mechanics, visuals, combat, and was overall more charming than the first if that’s possible. It remains the best game in the series, and one of my favorite Xbox 360 games to this date. It really does need a remaster already.

Dead Space – 2008

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

I didn’t really know much about this game leading up to release and only heard a lot about it just before. I bought the game on launch day and was blown away by the visuals, dismemberment combat, and fantastic story and lore. It was incredibly scary and has so much replay value. I played the game to death and replayed it a few times before finally putting it to rest.

Pure – 2008

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

Pure is a sleeper hit by Disney which was a huge surprise. The game is one of the best arcade racers of the last generation, and was just an absolute blast. Huge jumps, high sense of speed, and decent customization and it looked pretty good to boot. I love when sleeper hits are just really entertaining and Pure desperately needs a sequel.

Mirror’s Edge – 2008

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

Mirror’s Edge wasn’t received amazingly well, but I loved the first person parkour action and the art style. The pure white and red and the dystopian future is right up my ally. Faith is a great character, and while the story was seriously lacking, it had potential, but the time trials is where the challenge was really at.

Tomb Raider: Underworld – 2008

PlayStation 2 – PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

The last of the second generation of Tomb Raider games, Underworld was a game I was really excited about, it had larger levels, better puzzles, and a decent story to boot. Lara Croft looked great in this game, and the visual improvement over Anniversary was astounding. Some people didn’t like Underworld, but it was polished and even has a lot of mods on PC.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – 2008

PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4
Score: 9/10

While Uncharted 1 looked great, it didn’t blow me away. Uncharted 2 did with its bombastic scripted events, and holiday style action. The story was great, Nathan Drake is an awesome character to watch on screen, and it was the best looking game to be released at the time. It remains my favorite game in the series to this day.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

I didn’t think Modern Warfare could be improved upon but it did. While this is sadly the peak of the series, it had a lot of controversy, and the best maps of any Call of Duty game. I spent the most time playing this online over any other Call of Duty game. It looked fantastic, had a great campaign, and just felt like a true sequel with a larger package to offer.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars – 2009

Nintendo DS – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PSP
Score: 9/10

The only GTA game that didn’t make a big splash, Rockstar gave the portable systems some attention with a top down GTA game that was just as good as the larger games. Great story, characters, gameplay that suited each system, and was just highly entertaining. Yes, it was shorter than the larger games, but it made you proud to be a handheld gamer. We got a GTA that the others didn’t.

Batman: Arkham Asylum – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

Considered by some to be the best super hero games ever made, Rocksteady raised the bar for super hero games and pushed them past crappy movie tie-ins. It had amazing visuals, great voice acting, and gameplay that made you feel like Batman. While later games were more open world, the Asylum was a great place to explore with lots of puzzles and hidden content, and the fight system is one of the best action adventure fight systems ever made. Many games copy it to this day.

Assassin’s Creed II – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 9.5/10

ACII remains my favorite game in the series, and it really improved upon the first game. So many things were added and built upon that it felt like a new series all together. New protagonist, story, location, and a larger open world was just a blast to play through. More puzzles, secrets, and much improved visuals helped as well. The series will never be able to capture the lightning in a bottle that was ACII again.

Killzone 2 – 2009

PlayStation 3
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 9/10

Killzone 2 was one of the most hyped up games leading up to the PS3 launch. It looked too good for even a next-generation game, and when released it delivered. It still remains my favorite game in the series with visuals that hold up to this day, great gunplay, and a fun online component.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

I played this game long after release, but when I did I was engrossed by the great characters and writing. It was written better than GTAIV and kept me playing all the way through to the end. The introduction of biker gangs, territory, and new motorcycles was awesome.

Left 4 Dead 2 – 2009

Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

One of Valve’s greatest games. Left 4 Dead 2 is still played a lot even 11 years later. While the Xbox 360 servers are down, the PC version has a ton of mods, and a large community. The variation of zombies, the sheer amount that come after you, and the unique characters make for endless amount of fun. Each experience is never the same.

Dragon Age: Origins – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC
Score: 9/10

Origins was one of the last truly epic Western RPGs that I fell in love with. While the Xbox 360 version was the worst, I still loved the lore, characters, writing, story, and gameplay that came with it. It was a true call back to PC RPGs of the 90’s and pulled it off so well. I played the game all the way through and finished every side quest even.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time – 2009

PlayStation 3
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8/10

The second generation of Ratchet and Clank games were a blast and helped show off the power of the PS3. Insomniac gave us more original weapons, great writing, dialog, laughs, and something to write home about. This was the last of the second trilogy and it went out with a bang.

Resident Evil 5 – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 8.5/10

I went to the midnight launch for this and RE5 had large shoes to fill after what was given with RE4. Another game that copied it but with Chris Redfield and a brand new character, Sheva, in the mix. While it wasn’t as memorable or as impactful as RE4, it was a solid game with a good run time and more story behind the events of RE4. It looked amazing as well with next-generation visuals.

‘Splosion Man – 2009

Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 8/10

A crazy 2D platformer that allowed you to explode when needed. This was a sleeper hit that no one knew would actually work but it spawned a successful sequel. Sadly, Splosion Man hasn’t been seen outside of the Xbox 360 and needs a remaster or port.

Skate 2 – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Xbox 360

While Skate 3 is the definitive ending to the series, Skate 2 greatly improved upon the first game and gave us some last hope of a real skateboarding simulator, and sadly nothing else has come out in the last decade that has topped it. The flick stick system is amazing, the physics are great, and the online components were fun while they were still online at the time.

Borderlands – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

Borderlands was the beginning of the looter shooter era. While the game was dull alone, it had some crazy characters and fantastic shooting which is what the game is all about. Sure, the locales are boring, and it gets repetitive, but the DLC is awesome and playing with a buddy makes this a game worth playing. While the sequels are much better, nothing compares to the impact the first game made.

Half-Minute Hero – 2009

PSP
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC

A small indie game that you would be surprised to see on this list. Half-Minute Hero is a blast by taking shots at JRPG tropes and making an entire game playable in 30 seconds. It’s hard to understand, but playing through multiple times to level up is so much fun. It’s funny, looks good, and is a rush to experience.

Torchlight – 2009

PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC

Torchlight was the answer to Diablo III by giving players with lower end PCs a looter game to play, and it was fun. The use of dungeon levels that go down and coming up to spend your cash was so much fun. I played this on a crappy netbook back in the day and the game actually had a netbook mode!

Dead Space: Extraction – 2009

Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 3
Score: 8/10

A surprise hit that no one saw coming. While the Wii couldn’t handle the visuals of the main game players got an on-rails shooter that was just as stunning as the first game. It was gory, scary, brutal, and very cinematic to play and experience. I was personally shocked at how good it was and it remains one of the best shooters on the system.

Brutal Legend – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

Tim Schafer couldn’t get Psychonauts 2 greenlit so he partnered with Jack Black and gave us an 80’s metal anthem in game form and it was awesome. The RTS elements were the weakest, but it had a ton of humor, great characters, and fantastic music. It’s a widely overlooked game that should be played by all.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game – 2009

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8/10

There aren’t many good Ghostbusters games, and most consider this the third official Ghostbuster movie. It has all the original voice actors, it lets you blast ghosts with a Proton Pack, and has nods for fans. While it was repetitive, slightly clunky, and short, it was great for fans of the movies to finally play a game that the developers put love into.

Motorstorm: Arctic Edge – 2009

PlayStation 2 – PSP
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PSP
Score: 8/10

The last of the Motorstorm games, this game stunned gamers when it was shown at E3 2005 using it’s terrain deformation physics. It looked like real-life TV. While the actual game didn’t live up to that, it was still a blast to play and one of the best arcade racers of the last generation. Motorstorm skipped the big consoles and showed off the power of the PSP. It was one of the last first party titles to hit the console and remains one of the best racers on the system.

My Top Games of the 10’s

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Red Dead Redemption – 2010

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360
Score: 9.5/10

Red Dead Redemption kicked off the new decade with a bang and shook the entire gaming industry for years to come. It’s considered by some to be one of the greatest games ever made, maybe even the best game of that entire generation. Rockstar gave gamers a new setting but with the incredible detail they are well known for. Tight controls, great characters, a story that sucks you in, and just a beautiful world to be lost in. It was my game of the year for 2010 and for good reason.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent – 2010

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Mac – Switch
Score: 8.5/10

Amnesia pretty much started video game streaming. It was a huge phenomenon seeing people get scared of this game and for good reason. It was a terrifying game as it didn’t let you fight back and the monsters were insane and the atmosphere was always eerie. Exploring the mansion and solving puzzles was an incredibly memorable experience as it’s one of the scariest game ever made.

Fallout: New Vegas – 2010

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Score: 9.5/10

New Vegas took the world by storm and pleased haters of Fallout 3 with a deeper story, better quests, and better gameplay such as weapon mods. New Vegas was a brilliant game despite the dated engine it ran on and the numerous bugs that shipped with it. I have fond memories of this game as it was the first Fallout game I played on my new gaming laptop and my now wife stood in line for me at the midnight launch and won both raffles for an extra set of playing cards and a NCR T-shirt. The collector’s edition sits on my shelf to this day.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 2010

Wii

Super Mario Galaxy is one of my all time favorite games and my favorite Mario game. It just felt magical and had a whimsy to it that I hadn’t felt in years when playing a game. It was fun, addictive, beautiful, and perfect. Mario Galaxy 2 was more of the same, but that was a good thing. I was sad when the first game ended, but when this game came out I couldn’t wait to play it. I still had the same whimsical feeling I did when I played the first game and held up my expectations.

God of War III – 2010

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4
Score: 9.5/10

I remember the excitement leading up to this release. God of War is one of my top 10 gaming franchises, and I remember playing the demo multiple times and standing in line at midnight for the launch to pick up the collector’s edition. The buttery smooth 60FPS combat and next-generation visuals were a sight to behold in 2010. This was a juggernaut of a game and didn’t disappoint one bit. It remains one of the best games on PS3 and the remastered version is the best way to go these days.

Bayonetta – 2010

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC – Switch – Wii U
Score: 9/10

Bayonetta was a game no one saw coming. Platinum Games hadn’t really made a name for themselves yet and the game felt like another Devil May Cry rip-off. Boy were we wrong. I remember picking this up on launch day and being blown away by the visuals and the insane combat system. The game played so well and was so much fun with so much flash yet a lot of substance. Bayonetta quickly became the next video game icon with a sassy personality and sexy looks.

Alan Wake – 2010

Xbox 360 – PC
Score: 8.5/10

Alan Wake is one of my favorite games of all time, and my favorite game by Remedy. The gameplay itself is fresh and new with the flashlight mechanic mixed with guns. The story is interesting with great characters, and the entire game is set in rural Washington and Oregon which is a personal connection with me as I live near the areas where Alan Wake was inspired by (Snoqualmie, Washington). The atmosphere is tense and the game just feels unique.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – 2010

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – DS – Wii – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

Black Ops was the start of a continued series of games that would soon become a pile of garbage, but the first game in the spin-off series was fantastic. Set in the Cold War, the story had some great scripted events, era specific weapons, and all new multiplayer suite with great maps and addictive gameplay we had grown to love. This remains in my top Call of Duty games list, and I wish it would be remastered already!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty – 2010

PC – Mac
Score: 9/10

StarCraft II was one of the most anticipated games of all time. Released almost 10 years after the original, it helped respark the RTS genre on PC, but also was met with backlash from hardcore fans. I personally loved it. It was what I wanted in an RTS game, simple gameplay, fun scenarios, great visuals, and a decent story. It was just a fun package all wrapped up into one, but also had a deeply competitive online community that I personally couldn’t get into. It remains one of my top RTS games of all time.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – 2010

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Score: 9/10

Lords of Shadow is probably the only good 3D Castlevania game in existence. Mercury Steam did a phenomenal job capturing the art and beauty of the series and gave us inspired gameplay from God of War. The combat was perfect, the visuals looked astounding, and the story and voice acting were amazing. Getting Patrick Stuart on board was great, and not to mention the heart wrenching twists and turns of the story. It’s a one of a kind game that just can’t, and hasn’t, been replicated.

Super Meat Boy – 2010

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac – Switch – Wii U – Vita
Score: 9.5/10

Super Meat Boy is a sadists best friend, and despite the insane gameplay, it had amazing tight controls, great visuals, and tons of humor and gore. It remains one of my favorite platformers of all time, and while I never actually finished the game, resetting the 100th time never felt too frustrating as I got a little further every time and completing the levels felt so good. The game also has a soundtrack that’s so good I listen to it to this day.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – 2011

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC – Switch
Score: 9.5/10

Skyrim is by far one of the greatest games of all time. Some people think it’s boring, some think it’s too clunky, I say it’s grand and epic. Sure the game shipped with more bugs than probably any other game that to this day still haven’t been patched out, but it was the adventure that made it so memorable. With a great story, characters, and lore deeper than a well, there was something here for everyone. I personally spent countless hours modding this game on PC and even own the collector’s edition.

Gears of War 3 – 2011

Xbox 360
Score: 9.5/10

Gears of War 3 was the end of an era. Gears of War dominated the Xbox 360 since the launch of the first game. It was a mega blockbuster that couldn’t be stopped. With some of the greatest video game characters ever created, and a world that’s deeper than most shooters, Gears of War 3 looked great, perfected the series’ gameplay, and added some great online multiplayer modes.

Mortal Kombat – 2011

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Vita
Score: 9.5/10

This was one of the few games I was excited about for months before release. I picked up the collector’s edition and watched every trailer and video I could. I played the demo to death and owned it on nearly every system it was released for. It was the return of a juggernaut as MK had slipped into mediocrity during the PS1/PS2 era of consoles and has been unstoppable since. The return to 2D is just what the fans wanted and MK9 delivered.

Portal 2 – 2011

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

Portal 2 was so exciting because Valve rarely releases games, and everyone loves Chel and GLADOS, but the introduction of new characters like Wheatley was fun and were added to some of the greatest video game characters ever made. The addition of various gels, expanded levels, and new gameplay ideas made this a perfect game. Portal is one of my favorite games of all time, and remains one of the most unique puzzle games ever created.

Batman: Arkham City – 2011

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC – Wii U – Mac
Score: 9/10

The Batman games from Rocksteady are some of the best ever created. Arkham City is the best of the trilogy thanks to it’s perfect gameplay, and bringing the series into Arkham City itself and making it open world. The insanely clever Riddler puzzles, to the uniquely created Batman characters are just some of the best video game pieces ever crafted. I spent a good 45 hours on this game trying to get 100% of everything it was that good. To this day many games copy this series’ fighting system too.

Battlefield 3 – 2011

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC
Score: 9/10

Battlefield 3 change the game for online first person shooters. After being dominated solely by Call of Duty, many players wanted something new. Battlefield brought a slower paced shooter that felt like arcade like and was a smash hit. With fantastic maps, excellent gameplay, and using EA’s brand new Frostbite engine, Battlefield 3 took the industry by storm and even provided a decent single player campaign.

DiRT 3 – 2011

PlayStation 3 – Xbox 360 – PC – Mac
Score: 9/10

Dirt remains one of my favorite racing simulators to this day. It was accessible for console players, but was also a powerhouse for PC gamers. I actually completed Dirt 3 100% by finishing first in every single race, and I’ve never done that with a racing game since Gran Turismo 3. It was fun, exciting, had excellent physics and handling, and introduced some fun gameplay modes like Gymkhana, and not to mention top-notch visuals.

The Walking Dead: Season 1 – 2012

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – Vita – PC – Mac – Switch – iOS – Android
Score: 8.5/10

The Walking Dead and Telltales take on adventure games literally brought the genre back from the grave. The Walking Dead is one of my favorite games of all time and it’s all due to great writing, memorable characters, and the choices you make actually making a difference in the game. Yes, the series suffered many bugs and dated visuals, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying every bit of story I could absorb.

Journey – 2012

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – PC – iOS
Score: 9.5/10

Journey is by far one of the greatest indie game ever created. Not only was it a technical marvel in which Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 3 team had to talk to thatgamecompany to figure out how they did sand displacement on the PS3, it was a magical adventure. Sure it was really short, but it was perfect. With a unique social aspect that allowed players to see each other but only communicate through calls, and not to mention a story that was told strictly through visuals, and a fantastic soundtrack that I listen to to this day. Journey is beautiful and a one of a kind ride.

Resident Evil: Revelations – 2012

3DS – PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – Switch – PC – Wii U
Score: 8.5/10

Revelations was the Resident Evil reboot everyone was asking for after Resident Evil 4. The over-the-shoulder third-person shooter action game is what sold fans over, and the fact that a new game debuted on the 3DS was a shock. The game had fantastic controls and put us back in the hands of Jill Valentine. The game took place on a boat, but had a useful map on the second screen, and had great 3D effects. It felt like a classic RE game and is one of the best in the series.

Far Cry 3 – 2012

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9/10

Far Cry may be a stale series these days, but it once was an open world masterpiece. Far Cry 3 mixed great open world gameplay with a fantastic story and one of the best video game villains ever created. It was fun, bombastic, and downright brutal and odd. It was made at the pinnacle of Ubisoft’s open world games, just before everyone got tired of them, and remains the best game in the series to date.

Metro: Last Light – 2013

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC – Mac – Switch
Score: 9/10

Last Light is by far the best game in the series due to the perfect balance of gameplay and story. The game still feels like a survival game with you scrounging for ammo and being scared of everything that moves. It was a nearly perfect shooters outside of a bunch of bugs, but it also was one of the most technically advanced games upon release. The Redux versions are superior these days, but Metro remains one of my favorite game series of all time.

Tearaway – 2013

Vita – PlayStation 4
Score: 9/10

Tearaway is one of Sony “artsy-fartsy” games that sets their systems apart from the rest. Media Molecule are masters of their craft, and Tearaway remains of the best Vita games on the system. Using every piece of the hardware in unique and interesting ways, Tearaway was an easy but very enjoyable adventure. It was short, but it left a smile on your face and a reason to be a Sony fan.

Papers, Please – 2013

Playstation 4 – PC – iOS – Mac – Vita
Score: 9.5/10

Papers, Please was a surprise to everyone. A game in which you stamp papers and compare facts across different notes and sheets of paper. How does this sound fun? It satisfied the OCD in all of us and it just so addictive. The story behind the game is interesting enough, and the various scripted events that play out on top of trying to balance out your income and not get fired is pure genius. The game has a unique art style and soundtrack and has become a cult favorite among many.

Grand Theft Auto V – 2013

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9.5/10

GTA V was not only the only GTA released this decade, but the best selling game of the entire decade as well. GTA V was an unstoppable juggernaut and still kind of is selling copies every single day. The game is just brilliant with perfected open world gameplay, great characters, a good story, and a huge online component. GTA V may have been rough when it first launched, but with better hardware and patches the game became a masterpiece. It’s one of the few games I can constantly play over and over again and always find something new.

The Last of Us – 2013

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4
Score: 9/10

The Last of Us was one of the last games to ring out the PS3. It looked fantastic, played well, and had a beautiful setting with memorable characters and a fantastic story. It’s one of Naughty Dog’s best games, and probably one of the top PlayStation games of all time. If you own a PlayStation console you must play this game as it’s one of the defining games for the platform.

Tomb Raider – 2013

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – Xbox One – PC – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

Tomb Raider is a game of a decade for sure as it rebooted a long running series that was sliding down hill fast. It’s also one of the most iconic game characters re envisioned into something more modern and respectable. Tomb Raider had familiar gameplay but it was all tied into an amazing package of amazing and groundbreaking visuals and character development. Tomb Raider was the first mainstream game to use hair physics among other graphical effects. I feel it has the strongest impact over the sequels as what it did helped remold open world games.

Bit.Trip Presents… Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien – 2013

PlayStation 3 – PlayStation 4 – Xbox 360 – PC – Vita – iOS – Wii U
Score: 9/10

Bit.Trip 2 is one of my favorite platformers of all time, and it’s all because of its addictive nature of timing. Rather than skill based off of how well you jump or how you control the character, Bit.Trip is an endless runner that require precise timing and memorizing the levels. This is a new form of excellent gameplay that I loved from the first game. The game features wacky visuals, fun characters, and smooth and tight controls. It’s a game I can play over and over and always have fun.

Monument Valley – 2014

iOS – Android
Score: 9/10

Monument Valley is one of the few mobile games that makes you want to play them. It’s a short puzzle game with great visuals and a beautiful soundtrack. The MC Escher style art and puzzles will make you think, and wish that the game never ended. The game is one of a kind and you can’t get anything else like it on other platforms. It left a big imprint on me and most other mobile games don’t hold a flame to this.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited – 2015

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Mac

TESO is by far my favorite MMO of all time. It’s not only an Elder Scrolls game, but after the abysmal launch the dev team did a 180 and crafted a beautiful and fun world to explore. The game constantly expands with nearly every province in Tamriel now available as of this writing with more to still come. The gameplay barrows from Skyrim a lot to make it feel familiar, but even playing by yourself, there’s so much to explore and the focus on dialogue and lore is just amazing. If you love stories and lore and characters, then this is a game to really pick up even if you have never played a TES game before.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – 2015

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch

The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece, and a game you only get maybe once every 5 years. While The Witcher 2 was fantastic for its time, The Witcher 3 expanded on the already amazing world with top notch voice acting, writing, and a giant world to explore with unique quests and endless fun and things to keep you sucked in. While it has a steep learning curve, the game rewards players with intricate combat, great lore and characters, and hours of masterclass gaming.

Mortal Kombat X – 2015

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9.5/10

MKX helped push what MK9 in the same direction. With next-generation visuals and additional gameplay tweaks, great new characters, and upping the notch on the gore. I hadn’t been this excited for a game in a long time as well. I bought the Coarse collector’s edition and even bought all the beers that were released for the game. It remains a favorite among fans, but also the start of a possible new cycle of MK games that may require a reboot soon.

Rocket League – 2015

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

Rocket League is by far one of the most fun games I’ve played this decade. It’s just pure and simple fun. I can play this game anytime, any day, for a few minutes or several hours. There’s something that just works here. Cars batting around a giant ball is something I never thought would work. As the game continues new items are added with customizing cars being a ton of fun and unlocking new items is exciting. This game will always remain one of my favorite online games of all time.

Soma – 2015

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Mac
Score: 9/10

Soma isn’t just another adventure game by the guys behind Amnesia. This game had a story that rocked my core and has to be one of the best video game stories I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience. While the gameplay is similar to other horror adventure games, the visuals and art style are just phenomenal, along with the voice acting and writing. I was glued to my seat and didn’t want to put the game down. The story was so intense and the twist at the end just blew my mind.

Until Dawn – 2015

PlayStation 4
Score: 9/10

Until Dawn helped push the PS4’s exclusive library and prove it was the system to win this generation. With amazing visuals, great voice acting, and an interesting enough to story to keep players going, Until Dawn was a fun adventure game with slasher horror elements, and with choices that mattered. It was so much fun to play that I didn’t want to put it down until it was over. It remains one of my favorite PS4 games.

Lifeline – 2015

iOS – Android – PC – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

Lifeline is one of the few mobile games that were unique and memorable to me. A text based adventure isn’t something you think you would see on this list, but the game did things so differently and had an incredibly amazing story. Being stranded in space has always been a fascinating thing to me and the psychological aspects of it. Lifeline digs exactly into that with a stranded astronaut sending you messages, and in real time you have to wait for him to reply. Your choices help guide him to safety and the things he goes through is awful, yet engaging. There’s nothing else like it out there.

Firewatch – 2016

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch – Mac
Score: 8.5/10

Another adventure game to add to the list. Firewatch is just told very well and each set piece and event is done in a way that grabs you and has become one of my favorite adventure games of all time. Being stranded out in the middle of nowhere is another concept that fascinates me on the psychological side of it. It makes human do incredibly strange things, and Firewatch is a game that slowly digs into your psyche. It’s well told, and while the ending isn’t all that great, the journey leading up to had me playing through the end in one sitting.

Overwatch – 2016

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch – Mac
Score: 9.5/10

This game is by far one of my favorite multiplayer games of all time. The characters are memorable, and oddly enough became some of the biggest video game sex icons in history, and just has some really simple yet fun multiplayer action, but what sets this game apart from the others is each characters unique abilities and backgrounds. The maps are well done, the graphics are beautiful, and it’s a game I spent dozens of hours in and can still just jump into. There are always new characters being added and tweaks being made, but the characters is what really sells the game. Some of the best video game characters ever created bar none.

Battlefield 1 – 2016

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9/10

Battlefield desperately had to change things up. Everyone was tired of the yearly modern shooters, and ironically missed the WWII shooters of yore. Battlefield 1 came swinging with WWI stuff and had gripping mini-stories within its campaign and fantastic online multiplayer. It remains my favorite Battlefield game to this date and I enjoy the campaign every once in a while. The visuals were fantastic and is still a favorite among fans.

DOOM – 2016

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch
Score: 9/10

DOOM took the world by storm. It was a skeptical hype train, but once the game released it blew everyone’s minds. id Software had managed to recapture the magic of the original game in a new generation. The visuals were breaktaking, the gore and gameplay were there, the movement was fact paced and insane, it felt like classic Doom. There were plenty of secrets and something for everyone. It remains one of my favorite shooters of all time.

Forza Motorsport 7 – 2017

Xbox One – PC

Forza 7 perfects the series gameplay and adds a ton of cars and just gives us more of what we already love. Forza 7 remains the best console racing simulator and quickly has become one of the top PC racing simulators. I personally am still playing through this game with my racing wheel setup on PC, and is one of the game that made me want to invest in one. The handling is amazing, the visuals are astounding, and I can never get enough of it.

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – 2017

PlayStation 4
Score: 8.5/10

Lost Legacy is probably my favorite Uncharted game story wise. The banter between Cloe and Zoe is just so amazing and I got hooked and sucked into the world more than the main games in the series. That’s not saying they were bad, but the writing is so tight and clever here and I loved the locales of this game. It was shorter than previous games, but I couldn’t put the game down thanks to the amazing voice acting and writing. It’s a slightly overlooked game that was overshadowed by Uncharted 4, but should be played by any PlayStation fan.

Nier Automata – 2017

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC

Nier Automata was a huge surprise as the first game wasn’t received very well. With amazing visuals, superb combat, and a wonderful art style and memorable characters, this was Platinum Games next magnum opus. They remain one of the greatest hack and slash developers of all time. Nier also created one of the biggest video game sex icons next to Overwatch. Google 2B and you will see what I mean. The 2B butt contest on Twitter probably didn’t help that either during development.

Star Wars Battlefront II – 2017

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC

Despite being one of the most controversial video games of all time, it quickly turned around by removing loot crates and has remained one of the best games in the Star Wars game universe. The game has a great single player campaign along with a constantly expanding multiplayer suite. It brings back memories of the original games on PS2 and holds up to that standard.

Super Mario Odyssey – 2017

Switch
Score: 10/10

Super Mario Odyssey is one simple word: Perfect. It’s the best Mario game ever made in my opinion, and is just pure simple fun. It looks great, players great, and each level and action Mario does is amazing. There’s so much to discover and do that I spent dozens of hours in this game and got lost, I never wanted to put the game down. It’s a testament of Nintendo’s game development that after all these years they can still make amazing games. There’s literally nothing like it out there.

Horizon: Zero Dawn – 2017

PlayStation 4

Horizon is a huge departure from Guerrilla Games’ usual Killzone outings, but it became one of the best game released this decade. The game featured a great story, characters, an a beautiful world that pushed the PS4 to its limits. I have yet to complete the game, but its deep combat, and no-so-easy approach to enemies means this isn’t your usual easier open world outing.

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – 2017

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch
Score: 9/10

Wolfenstein II is one of the few shooters that provides a fantastic story and characters, and a great setting. With the Nazis having won WWII BJ and his crew are still trying to find a way to take down Hitler and his band of merry men. Classic Wolfenstein gameplay is in play with great level design and some tense scripted events. It remains one of the best shooters of all time.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy – 2017

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch

N. Sane Trilogy set the standard for video game remakes. We’ve had HD remasters and upgrades for over a decade and they were getting tiresome and not adding enough to these games outside of making them playable on newer systems. N. Sane Trilogy took three entire games and remade them from the ground up with new visuals, improved gameplay, and all the love but into the originals. Many games have followed suit and total remakes from the ground up are the best way to go.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War – 2017

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC

Shadow of Mordor was a new era of Lord of the Rings games. While the older ones from EA in the early 2000’s were considered nigh perfect, there wasn’t much since. Shadow of War introduced the fantastic fight system from the Batman: Arkham games and added an open world with amazing visuals, characters, and expanded lore. There was a lot to do here and it was the first game set in this universe that fully immersed the player. Shadow of War just did this and then some by perfecting what was already done and creating a better story.

Forza Horizon 4 – 2018

Xbox One – PC

Forza Motorsport is already one of the best console racing sims out there, but take that and add some arcade flair and you have one of the best arcade racing games in recent memory. Horizon 4 expands on Horizon 3 tenfold with more cars, better visuals, better wheel support, and fun new expansions. The open world racing has never been better and Horizon 4 remains some of racing fans greatest games of all time.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy – 2018

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch

Following Crash Bandicoot’s footsteps, Spyro was the next PlayStation classic to be remade from the ground up with love. While some fans didn’t like some gameplay changes in the game, it still remained in the pinnacle of video game remakes. With gorgeous visuals, refined controls, and three whole games wrapped into one, there is so much to love here.

Red Dead Redemption II – 2018

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC

Red Dead II is probably one of the most anticipated games of all time. While it feels very different from the first game, it’s slower paced, more realistic, and extremely heavy on survival aspects, it’s still a fantastic Wild West simulator with amazing visuals, great characters, well written dialog, and plenty to do and explore. Rockstar games are events and chapters in gaming history, not just releases.

God of War – 2018

PlayStation 4
Score: 10/10

God of War is by far, and most wouldn’t argue, the best game released for this generation cycle. It’s exactly what we all thought this generation would bring. Groundbreaking, breathtaking visuals, exciting cinematic gameplay, and not to mention, and entire reboot of one of Sony’s best franchises. The story is phenomenal, the gameplay is a blast, and while it’s short, there’s so much to explore and find. This is one game that every gamer is missing out and worth picking a PS4 up for.

Marvel’s Spider-Man – 2018

PlayStation 4
Score: 9/10

Spider-Man isn’t something you would think would be one of the best games on a PlayStation console. Being a Sony exclusive is a huge strategy move, and any fan of the hero is missing. This is one of the best games of this generation cycle, and on PS4. With amazing visuals, a huge sprawling world, and combat similar to the Batman: Arkham games, there’s not much to dislike here. The story is great, the characters and writing are well done, and the visuals are some of the best you will ever see.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9/10

Modern Warfare isn’t just another Call of Duty game. It’s a smart reboot that very well may have saved the entire franchise from its own demise. The game hearkens back to the original trilogy of Modern Warfare games by bringing us back to the good old boots on the ground gameplay that we grew to love. With the best campaign in the series history, and a fantastically well done multiplayer suite that is bar none some of the best online gaming you will ever experience, Modern Warfare is nearly perfect.

Resident Evil 2 – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC

RE2 pretty changed the way we look at remasters/remakes. No one will except just a resolution bump anymore. RE2 is an entirely new game while also still being the same game we loved. It’s one of the best games ever created, and somehow is better than the original. It stays faithful to the original game while also being new. It features the most realistic zombies ever made and not to mention outstanding visuals. It’s a game of an era and hopefully more are to follow.

A Plague Tale: Innocence – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9/10

A Plague Tale was a shocking surprise to me. An indie game that feels like a AAA game. A heart wrenching story, great voice acting, gorgeous visuals, and some of the best paced gameplay I’ve ever experience with each section feeling fresh and exciting. It’s a wonderful game that many should play as it’s one of the best of this generation cycle.

Super Mario Maker 2 – 2019

Switch

Very rarely due Mario games become memorable to me, but Mario Maker 2 is basically The Best Of Mario. It features all the physics and visuals of every Mario generation wrapped into a level editor with endless content. It’s the perfect 2D Mario game. You can play any type you like with thousands of different levels from the developers and players. There’s endless fun here and it’s exactly what makes this game so amazing and exciting.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC
Score: 9/10

Fallen Order isn’t just one of the best Star Wars games, it’s the best Star Wars game ever made, at least an action one. There is so much here that works such as the amazing combat system, the puzzles, the story and characters, and dialog that feels like it was written for a movie. The visuals are fantastic and I felt like I was sucked into a Star Wars universe. There’s so much here that works and it’s original and not based on a movie which is hard to find these days. I just feel this is the Star Wars game everyone has wanted for years, and what we thought The Force Unleashed would be.

Life is Strange 2 – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Mac
Score: 9/10

What I love about Life is Strange 2 is that it feels close to home for me (I live in the Seattle area) and it has all the makings of a memorable game that feels real and down to Earth. These two brothers becoming homeless while running from the law is a real thing that can happen. Each chapter in the game feels raw and powerful and up close and personal. I was glued to my seat and sat through the whole game in one play through it was so good. Your choices really matter here.

Mortal Kombat 11 – 2019

PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch

MK11 is, hopefully, the end of an era for the series. We have three amazing 2D fighting games that are within the same generation of each other. X-Rays, environmental hazards, and the storyline, which is the best fighting storyline ever created, is fantastic with so much lore and content. MK11 may have changed a little too much for some players, but I love the visuals, gore, and all new content available here.