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Top 10 Games of All Time

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 08/02/2012

Posted in: Blogs. Tagged: 2k games, 989 studios, ac2, assassin, assassin's creed, assassin's creed 2, assassin's creed ii, bethesda, big daddy, bioshock, blog, cars, david jaffe, eidetic, elder scrolls, epic games, ezio, fatality, fighter, fighting, gabriel logan, games of all time, gears of war, god of war, gran turismo, greek, guitar, guitar hero, harmonix, irrational, kratos, marcus fenix, Microsoft, mortal kombat, next-generation, oblivion, playstation, PlayStation 2, polyphony, ps1, ps2, psone, racer, racing, rhythm, rpg, Sega, sega genesis, shooter, simulator, sonic, sonic the hedgehog, Sony, spy, stealth, syphon filter, top 10, top ten, ubisoft, unreal, xbox, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

There are hundreds of thousands of games out there, but only a few hundred are considered masterpieces or classics. These are my personal top ten. I know it’s to everyone’s taste, but you can’t deny that these games are great. I have played hundreds in my 20 years of gaming, I have played through three generations of consoles, so at least I can speak on experience. I will try to be non-biased and even address some flaws in the games I pick because I have no problem with that. Flaws are flaws, and not a single game is perfect. There are more that are my favorite, but I would have to make a top 50 list.

10.Sonic the Hedgehog 2

This was one of the first games I had ever played at 2 years old. It helped introduce me to the gaming world and I just fell in love with the fast speed and intense gameplay. StH2 had some of the best level designs out of any game in the series and one of the best soundtracks to date. I remember never being able to actually beat the game because it was too long and too hard. I could never get past the factory level with all the grey orbs floating around Robotnik. I had to beat it many years later using an emulator and quick saves, but I still enjoyed it every time I played the game. I think I actually ruined my cartridge from taking it in and out of the Genesis so many times.

In fact, I even remember my first Genesis for Christmas of 1992. The copy of StH2 it came with kept freezing up in the system, so my mom took it back to Circuit City to exchange it. I remember throwing a tantrum because no matter how many times I blew the cartridge it kept freezing after pressing Start. The series has fallen off the deep end in the past ten years, but nothing can ruin the memories of this classic gem.

9. Gran Turismo

This game changed everything for me when it came to cars. My very first racing simulator actually made me think about every turn and what car I had to choose. I always played arcade racers before because consoles didn’t really have the power yet for realistic physics and graphics. I actually learned some things from this game like how to recognize cars on the street, and basic ways on how cars operate. I was sitting in front of my TV at 8 years old tuning my car and adjusting things like camber angle, toe angle, stabilizers, sway bars and gear ratios like a champ. I then followed the series all the way to Gran Turismo 5 today and have witnessed one of the greatest evolutions in gaming history.

8. BioShock

I remember the skepticism from PC gamers because of the greatness and expectations from System Shock 2. I didn’t have a PC capable of playing any major games throughout my early gaming years. My computer didn’t even run Flash very well, so I solely relied on consoles. BioShock’s narrative and atmosphere made a huge impact on me and the gaming industry as a whole. The first time seeing a Big Daddy and Little Sister was just shocking. You felt trapped in this underwater utopia, but you were also memorized by how it could have been accomplished in such an early time period. The game just worked so well and felt different from the standard military shooters at the time. BioShock 2 was too similar to the first game and just didn’t make the same impact.

7. Assassin’s Creed II

The second game was so much better than the first because it created a whole new world and a much more likable character Ezio is one of gaming’s most familiar faces and the game itself was revolutionary for its time. A huge open world in a historically accurate Rome, Italy was just unheard of. There was so much attention to detail that you had to sit back and just take it all in. The characters were likable, and the story was memorable with a deep and tangled political plot. The game was also violent with a fighting system never before seen in an action/adventure game. This game was almost perfect in so many ways that the rest of the games have yet to capture.

6. Syphon Filter

Syphon Filter was criticized a lot for ripping off Metal Gear Solid plot-wise. The game had unique characters, a memorable plot, and some of the best-level designs ever seen for its time. The stealth was perfectly executed and had some memorable moments. I have played this game numerous times and was actually my first-ever third-person shooter. I remember how confusing the game was because I didn’t understand how shooters worked. I was so used to platformers, adventure games, and puzzle games. After playing this game I felt like I was part of the grown-up crowd. The other two games on the PS1 were just as good but not as memorable as the first game. This has grown to be one of my favorite games of all time just due to the wonderful memories I have had.

I used to beat the game once a week using the one-shot-kill code then again without it. I memorized every enemy, and how to get every kill without being seen in stealth missions. I even went as far as replaying certain dialog scenes because they were just that cool. Syphon Filter is a mostly underappreciated game because of the lack of releases the series has seen. The last game came out three years ago on the PSP, but thankfully Syphon Filter 4 was announced for PS3.

5. God of War

God of War changed my way of thinking about action/adventure games. I remember driving to K-Mart to buy my copy after reading reviews and hearing the game blow up on forums. I didn’t really expect much other than Greek mythology-themed Devil May Cry. I was dead wrong. The game had one of the most thrilling and epic combat systems ever created. I never really even knew what quick time events were until God of War made them cool and did them right. It added a whole new layer of depth and connection to the combat that has never really been done before. The huge boss fights, gorgeous (at the time) visuals, and unabashed nudity and sexuality that few games dare tread. God of War still impresses to this day and with each iteration in the now 5 game series. Kratos is also one of the most memorable and recognizable characters to date. Make sure to pick up God of War Collection and God of War Origins Collection if you missed out on those four awesome games while waiting for God of War: Ascension.

4.Gears of War

Gears of War changed my mind on shooters the way God of War did for action games. The gameplay was just so different from your standard shooter. It was heavy-hitting, atmospheric, and featured some of the most memorable characters and stories to date. For a futuristic military shooter that’s a huge achievement. The weapons were memorable, it was perfectly balanced, and everything had a dark crunchy hit to it. The game was nearly perfect, and the graphics were out of this world at the time. I remember this being the first next-generation game I ever played when I got my first Xbox 360 for Christmas of 2006. Each of the three games in the series is amazing, but nothing compares to when I first played the first game. It wowed me like no other, and Gears of War is one of the few games I have played multiple times.

3.Guitar Hero

Sure this series along with Rock Band single-handedly killed the band instrument rhythm genre, but nothing compares to the first Guitar Hero. This game is the reason why I currently own and play the guitar today. Pulling off complicated riffs, solos, and chords with the then high-tech guitar controller was like magic. I spent dozen upon dozens of hours replaying songs and getting high scores. Sure it cost a lot, but it was well worth it to me. While the songs weren’t originals they were masterfully re-created and the guitar controller responded perfectly. The games later in the series lost sight of the value of mastering songs and just start pumping them out uncontrollably after GH3. This game redefined the rhythm genre and took the entire world by storm. Most people nowadays never played the first game, and they were missing out on a lot.

2.The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

This was the first game I spent over 100 hours on. The world was so rich and fantastic that I felt like I was playing in one of my favorite fantasy novels. The lore, characters, quests, and loot were just so addictive and engrossing I couldn’t put it down. I remember one play session going on for 12 hours when no other game has kept me in front of the TV for that long. The expansion pack was even more amazing, and the graphics blew me away. Of course, there were a lot of technical problems, and the PC version was better, but I sure had a ton of fun with this game. Skyrim is just as good, but it didn’t wow me like Oblivion did because this was my first Elder Scrolls game. To be honest I picked this up for $60 expecting not to like it much and I was dead wrong. Anyone who has just played Skyrim needs to go back and play this. It revolutionized the action RPG genre in my eyes and a lot of games have tried to copy it to this day.

1.Mortal Kombat

Yes, I am talking about the 1992 Sega Genesis/Arcade classic. This is my favorite video game series of all time and this is because it was the first video game I ever played. I remember my cousin babysitting me and seeing him control these characters on-screen at 2 years old. I remember seeing him pull off Scorpion’s mask and burn a character. It was something I saw before, and soon enough I was mastering the controls and beating him at 2 years old. I never knew how to pull off a fatality until years later when the internet became more mainstream, but I loved beating this game constantly. To date, I own almost every game in the series on several different platforms and have pre-ordered every recent game since 2004’s Deception. I don’t think I have played a game more than Mortal Kombat, but I still enjoy Japanese fighters. I find Mortal Kombat more accessible with more interesting characters and a story because they aren’t cliché and generic like most Japanese fighters tend to feel. There’s a whole giant story behind each and every character and they are all unique.

Gran Turismo 5

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 07/06/2011

Posted in: PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles. Tagged: cars, gran turismo 5, multiplayer, playstation, playstation 3, polyphony, ps3, racer, racing, simulation, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Polyphony Digital

Release Date: 11/24/2010

Available Exclusively On

Ever since GT4 the series has had a lot of problems with visuals, content, and just overall polish. GT4 was infamous for its high difficulty and questionable car selection. However, the series is known as the best-looking racing simulator and the one with the most realistic driving physics. GT5 has all of that, but problems lie in other areas, but more on those later.

The first thing you will notice is the new menu which is laid out better instead of pins on a map. You will notice a used car menu (which tracks mileage now), a better maintenance shop, the ability to generate a unique user profile for online races, and now seasonal events. Seasonal events are updated quarterly and feature endless amounts of races so when you finish the disc content you don’t get bored. Even tuning your vehicle is more user-friendly thanks to better descriptions and better visual guides. Polyphony really polished up the menus so everything looks more streamlined and not so cluttered and confusing. You know right where something is and how to get to it without referring to guides or searching around.

Buying cars is really fun thanks to the huge selection and in-depth descriptions and history of each car. There are hundreds of them so car aficionados won’t get bored or yawn at the selection. A few new car dealers are Maserati and Lamborghini to name a couple. There are a lot of selections that can cost millions, so you should stick to the used dealerships until your credits are in the millions. The car selection is varied and strong so I have no complaints here.

When you actually race the physics are excellent, and the new cockpit view is amazing. However, only premium vehicles have high-resolution textures and a cockpit view. The rest of the cars look like complete crap and have no cockpit view. Why do this? I have no idea, but it looks tacky and unfinished and is a real blow to the game. The cars that do look good look photorealistic and the cockpit views are just amazing. Needles move on the dash, and even the rear window and seats are shown in the car. Driving the cars has a great feeling, but of course, you will have to fine-tune them to get some to drive properly. If you aren’t a racing simulator fan you are going to hate this because it can take hours to get a single car to drive just right. Tuning the cars is very easy to do thanks to the clean menus, but if you add too much power to most cars they won’t drive right anymore.

Slipstreaming has been added to the game and driving properly such as gas goosing, late braking, and everything else has never been more important thanks to the updated physics. Most of the races are just challenging enough that if you focus and drive right you will win. I rarely had races where I was blown off by the competition, but being able to see the PP (Performance Points) that the other cars have helped a lot too. If you feel you need to tune something on the fly you can now do so in the race menu instead of having to completely quit the race. If you race it for long enough you will need to do engine overhauls and chassis alignments now thanks to the new physics system.

While shopping for cars and racing them is fun, the first-ever online mode, photo mode, and new community features are a plus as well. Museum cards can be acquired by logging in every day, new paint jobs can be acquired by winning vehicles, and there are just so many little things added that it all adds up to make a big difference in the overall experience. Winning licenses, however, is just as big of a pain as ever before, but the new special events are a nice touch such as NASCAR racing, go-carts, and even Top Gear Rally events. Polyphony really tried adding variety to the game and it shows indefinitely.

There are a lot of little problems with the game that add up to really frustrate you. For example, when I select a race that has requirements why can’t it take me to the dealerships to buy that car if it’s country-specific or a specific drivetrain. Why do I have to memorize the flag symbol in order to know which dealership belongs to which country? I’ve already mentioned the cockpit and low-resolution standard cars issue. Why are there still loading times between every menu and how come they can be so long? Some tracks look really ugly and weren’t updated at all with cardboard cutout buildings and flat grass textures. Why is the graphics all over the place? There are so many questions as to why these issues are present, but I guess we will never know.

With some other nice features like custom soundtracks, a huge selection of supported wheels, true 1080p visuals, 3D, and Eye support. GT5 has so many options, features, and a huge car selection that will make any car fan drool. From exotics to classics, you will find something to love about this game just remember to focus on driving and you will win that dream car.

2010 Game of the Year Awards Round-Up

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Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

Awarded

Best Puzzler

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Super Mario Galaxy 2

Awarded

Best Platformer

Nominated

Game of the Year

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Awarded

Best Atmosphere

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Gran Turismo

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 02/21/2010

Posted in: PSP, Retro Consoles, Sony. Tagged: gran turismo, playstation, polyphony, psp, racer, racing, simulator, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Polyphony Digital

Release Date: 10/1/2009

Available Exclusively On

Hate me all you want, but Gran Turismo on the PSP is a huge disappointment. Why? Well, first off this game has been floating around the vaporware bin since 2004 and now 5 years later we get a half-done game. Where’s the career mode? That’s my biggest question. Instead, we are forced to pick everything ourselves. This doesn’t have anything to do with laziness either. I like my career modes in Gran Turismo and this is the first game in the series that doesn’t have one. Another thing you’ll notice missing is there’s no way to upgrade your cars…ouch.

Like every GT game once you start the game up you head to the dealership, but that’s where the problems already start. It’s random…yeah you get four or five random dealerships every day in the game. You see a car you want? Sure! Normally you just save up for it, but then when you go back the dealership is gone…why Polyphony chose this stupid idea is beyond me.

The game also lies about there being 500 different cars. There are a few models of each different car so you’re only looking at about 200 or some odd different types of cars. The game gives you some interesting backstory on each car, but viewing the stats is a nightmare since they just scroll by without a still datasheet or something of the like.

Once you start getting into a race it’s simple enough. Choose your track, number of laps, and the car from your garage. You can use quick tune options or do a bit of fine-tuning, but the default works just fine. The number of laps and length of track determine your winning outcome, so you can always change accordingly. If you want money faster try the license tests. They range from passable to impossible thanks to the game’s new and weird slipstream system. This is only normally seen in street racing games, but GT doesn’t even give you any visual clues as to if you are doing this right or not. The point of the slipstream is to stay behind the opponent so they block the wind for you giving you a small boost in speed. While it works on paper it’s very hard to execute in the game.

Once you start racing you are in for a treat because the cars feel very close to their console counterparts, and it feels like our beloved GT. The game even sports an impressive cockpit view for the tiny handheld that could and not just the floating rearview mirror view we’ve been accustomed to seeing pre-PS3. Each car handles differently and buying and stocking is a lot of fun, but without a career mode, vehicle upgrades, or even an online mode it makes you wonder why they even bothered. All of the most beloved features of GT have been stripped out as a joke to us fans waiting for GT5.

When it comes to the looks the game delivers, I know it could be pushed just a bit further. The vehicles look like no other racer on the system, but the tracks are lacking a bit. Still, the game accomplishes a lot more than most PSP games ever have. The audio, however, is also a bit of a disappointment, with a dull soundtrack, and a lot of the engine sounds sound the same as well as sounding a bit tinny. This is probably for hardcore fans only so fans of other PSP racers should stay away.

Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 01/18/2010

Posted in: PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles. Tagged: gran turismo 5, playstation, playstation 3, polyphony, prologue, ps3, racer, racing, simulator, Sony. Leave a comment

Publisher: SCEA

Developer: Polyphony Digital

Release Date: 4/15/2008

Available Exclusively On

When you think of racing games most older gamers will think of Gran Turismo: Graphics that push the current generation to its limit, ultra-realistic physics, and cars that drive like their real-life counterparts to a T. Just when we thought racing couldn’t get any better than Gran Turismo 4 for the PS2 back in 2005 Gran Turismo 5 rolls along on the PS3.

As the title suggests this is just a preview, or an over-glorified demo, of that, is to come in the full game coming out this year. While the game was released almost 2 years ago it still looks amazing today and the realism is so close to real-life you can taste it. Everything you know about Gran Turismo has had a facelift and this includes the menu. Instead of all those icons on a map, you are treated to your car being displayed in different countries in the background along with an event calendar and some new icons. The first thing you will notice is the fully-fledged online play with up to 12 players. The second is the GT TV which lets you purchase episodes of car shows for the die-hard car fanatics (I completely skipped this), but it’s there. You have your regular events and single races instead of the standard simulation and arcade modes. You can go to the dealerships and pick up your cars and jump into the events.

Some problems do pop up right from the start when buying a car since there are frequent loading screens between screens and the car info isn’t displayed right. It scrolls across the bottom and you can only view the car if you click on it and have it load. There is no full detail spec sheet mainly due to the fact that you can’t upgrade your cars. Yeah, guys sorry. In the “demo” version of Gran Turismo 5, you just buy your cars and race as is. I have no idea if Polyphony is completely stripping this idea since it is also missing in the PSP Gran Turismo as well.

Once you buy your car (there are about 80 or so cars if you get the free Spec III update) you can go into your garage and sell cars from here as well as view them. Gone is the whole car wash thing, for now, but some sort of virtual tour of the car would have been nice as well as being able to use all the items in the car (cmon you want ultra realism right?) Once you get into the event menu you can see the requirements for entering and these are limited to certain types of cars. Once you start racing you should get third or better to earn credits to buy more cars, rinse, and ad infinitum. While this sounds dull each car handles surprisingly different and the AI is a really nice challenge. However, the usual time limits are set WAY too tight and are almost impossible to beat even when driving with the guideline and not crashing.

When you actually start driving you’ll notice just how tight the controls are. You really like your turning a wheel thanks to the great analog stick of the DualShock 3 and the great vibration feature. Every car also sounds the same and the amazing in-dash cockpit view (the first time in Gran Turismo) is beautiful, but I just wish you could turn the driver’s head around. There aren’t too many tracks to drive on, but there are a lot of familiar ones all the way back to the first game 12 years ago.

If you want to talk about aesthetics the game looks stunningly real. You can’t really tell the car apart from something I real life and the tracks all look amazing, but I know I can look better and I hope the graphics engine I boosted a little for the final release.

While there are many flaws, and things missing, such as the driving tests, and upgrades; there are a lot of things not improved like the super strict time limits, plus sometimes the game just is too real to be fun. Other than that for about $25, you can really have a good racer that will last you a while or if you are a die-hard Gran Turismo fan this will tide you over until the final release.