9th March 2010, 10:35 AM
...of the decade? Jesus...
The Best:
Hardware (console): Gamecube. Why? The hardware created for it was leaps and bounds above the XBox and PS2. When games like Smash Bros. hit or RE4, people were in awe, not even the mighty XBox could compete graphically, all in a cube roughly half the size. But that's not the real reason why it wins the decade imo, they made the hardware so nice, they used it twice and with the Wii while it's definitely underpowered compared to 360 and PS3 and can still manage realistic graphics and detail that can compete with the rest of the market. A beautiful upgrade to the N64 with the most comfortable controller to date. It was never taken advantage of except for a few games, in terms of that, the PS2 wins. Never again in the industry have we seen shitty hardware used to such magnificent feats as the PS2, maybe the Gameboy color can compete there.
Handheld: DS. Was there ever a question.
Other:
Microsoft's online features
Nintendo's disruption to cause cheaper/free online and motion controls
Vast improvements for western developers
The death of the cart and birth of the DVD rom
The Worst:
Shitty hardware from all three companies that break and/or overheat
Expensive 'Gold' accounts for 360
Expensive hardware standards
Game budgets in the tens of millions that have little to show for it
The mini-game flood
The music game flood
Decline of the 'masterpiece' game
Friend codes
Best games:
Resident Evil 4 (REmake for GC should officially win, but RE4 is so perfect, it makes RE's control scheme look like an outdated mess and it takes the level of immersion over the top)
Silent Hill 2 (This is Silent Hill, the epitome. Yes, others have better graphics, Shattered Memories has more gameplay and interaction, but 2 is hands down the best story, presentation and scare the shit out of you moments)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (haven't played Brawl)
Mother 3
Mario Galaxy (this is a toss up between Sunshine and Galaxy)
Beyond Good and Evil
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Perfect Dark
Elder scrolls 3: Morrowind
Civilization 3
Burnout 3
F-Zero X (fuck you GX! F-Zero X came out on VC and its better than GX!)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2 (our first glimpse in to next gen gaming)
Cave Story
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
FF IX
Zelda: MM
Zelda: WW (arguably better than Twilight Princess)
Pikmin 2 (it improves everything over 1)
Metroid Prime 1 (this is hard, but the second Prime introduced so many new things while still keeping in tune with the Metroid legacy, Prime 3 not so much. But if Prime 1 is the original Metroid, Prime 2 is Return of Samus. Prime 3 really felt like something all its own. So Prime 1 might be more correct here, but Prime 2's difficulty, originality and experimentation with the FPS genre brought everything from 1 and improved it. It should be noted, the bosses in Prime 3 were vastly superior to 2, the creatures and enemies in 3 were vastly superior to 2 but I swear to God that Prime 3 could have been called Turok: Future Wars and I wouldn't blink an eye. Questionable in my decision includes Quadraxis and other amazing bosses from 2 but for a fun factor 3 takes it, even if it doesnt feel like Metroid. Prime 1 gets the trophy of easiest bosses but also the most cinematic and epic of all 3 games, who can forget the opening Parasite Queen which was probably an experiment and creating a 3-D mother brain battle or the holy shit moments of the Sheegoth (an icy version of a Kraid-like creature) staring you down before it charges and of course Flaggrah's roar as it watched you strafe over to the mirrors, just amazing)
Okami (Wii, the port is better than the original)
Multiple RTS... when did FFT come out? Fire Emblem series, Advance Wars series, all of them are worth your money.
Hmm other's im sure I missed. I should put Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in there somewhere and I thought about Mirror's Edge but really, the game is lacking, but the premise is undeniably awesome. Timesplitters 2 or 3 deserves a space.
Worst games
Almost everything else. Its all rehashes or re-paints or 'free-roam' game engines based off the Mario 64 architecture. I cant stand most free-roam games which just combine a krappy 3rd person shooter with a crappy driving engine, GTA3 and Tony are great but overall what are you left with? A chase simulator. You chase someone or someone chases you. Its fun, but its not groundbreaking. Want ground breaking? Uncharted and Among Thieves. Take GTA's free roam and multiple gaming engines, mix with Tomb Raider's puzzle and adventure and RE4's control scheme, action and camera and you have something to get excited about. The problem? The game(s) lack a soul. You'll have people rant and rave about God of War 1 through 3 but they dont seem to understand its Double Dragon 3-D. Take prince of persia's already button mashing combat and cliff n'jump puzzles with QTE's borrowed right out of Shenmue and RE with the same gameplay found in fucking Gauntlet (with PoP's bullet time no less). I swear the only reason it gets people excited is because of the imagery or the extreme methods of killing, its not a bad series, but its not a great one either. You dont give a game GOTY because it has 'big statues' and beheading. 300 didn't get movie of the year for this very reason, unless you're MTV. This is what still pisses me off about the industry - you dont have to make a good game, just present it well enough and you get acclaim. I cant stand it, anything that doesnt fall in to "DUDE DID YOU SEE ALL THE BLOOD' or "ZOMG R/M RATED HNGGGGG BOOBIES" gets put in to sub-categories of cool while game's that invent genres, perfect game engines, etc get passed up because it didn't jive with people wanting extreme images thrown at them every two seconds (which has to relate to blood or tits). It's frustrating. God of War hit 2005 the same year as Shadow of the Colossus, guess which game got more attention? blah.
The Best:
Hardware (console): Gamecube. Why? The hardware created for it was leaps and bounds above the XBox and PS2. When games like Smash Bros. hit or RE4, people were in awe, not even the mighty XBox could compete graphically, all in a cube roughly half the size. But that's not the real reason why it wins the decade imo, they made the hardware so nice, they used it twice and with the Wii while it's definitely underpowered compared to 360 and PS3 and can still manage realistic graphics and detail that can compete with the rest of the market. A beautiful upgrade to the N64 with the most comfortable controller to date. It was never taken advantage of except for a few games, in terms of that, the PS2 wins. Never again in the industry have we seen shitty hardware used to such magnificent feats as the PS2, maybe the Gameboy color can compete there.
Handheld: DS. Was there ever a question.
Other:
Microsoft's online features
Nintendo's disruption to cause cheaper/free online and motion controls
Vast improvements for western developers
The death of the cart and birth of the DVD rom
The Worst:
Shitty hardware from all three companies that break and/or overheat
Expensive 'Gold' accounts for 360
Expensive hardware standards
Game budgets in the tens of millions that have little to show for it
The mini-game flood
The music game flood
Decline of the 'masterpiece' game
Friend codes
Best games:
Resident Evil 4 (REmake for GC should officially win, but RE4 is so perfect, it makes RE's control scheme look like an outdated mess and it takes the level of immersion over the top)
Silent Hill 2 (This is Silent Hill, the epitome. Yes, others have better graphics, Shattered Memories has more gameplay and interaction, but 2 is hands down the best story, presentation and scare the shit out of you moments)
Super Smash Bros. Melee (haven't played Brawl)
Mother 3
Mario Galaxy (this is a toss up between Sunshine and Galaxy)
Beyond Good and Evil
Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)
Perfect Dark
Elder scrolls 3: Morrowind
Civilization 3
Burnout 3
F-Zero X (fuck you GX! F-Zero X came out on VC and its better than GX!)
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 2 (our first glimpse in to next gen gaming)
Cave Story
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
FF IX
Zelda: MM
Zelda: WW (arguably better than Twilight Princess)
Pikmin 2 (it improves everything over 1)
Metroid Prime 1 (this is hard, but the second Prime introduced so many new things while still keeping in tune with the Metroid legacy, Prime 3 not so much. But if Prime 1 is the original Metroid, Prime 2 is Return of Samus. Prime 3 really felt like something all its own. So Prime 1 might be more correct here, but Prime 2's difficulty, originality and experimentation with the FPS genre brought everything from 1 and improved it. It should be noted, the bosses in Prime 3 were vastly superior to 2, the creatures and enemies in 3 were vastly superior to 2 but I swear to God that Prime 3 could have been called Turok: Future Wars and I wouldn't blink an eye. Questionable in my decision includes Quadraxis and other amazing bosses from 2 but for a fun factor 3 takes it, even if it doesnt feel like Metroid. Prime 1 gets the trophy of easiest bosses but also the most cinematic and epic of all 3 games, who can forget the opening Parasite Queen which was probably an experiment and creating a 3-D mother brain battle or the holy shit moments of the Sheegoth (an icy version of a Kraid-like creature) staring you down before it charges and of course Flaggrah's roar as it watched you strafe over to the mirrors, just amazing)
Okami (Wii, the port is better than the original)
Multiple RTS... when did FFT come out? Fire Emblem series, Advance Wars series, all of them are worth your money.
Hmm other's im sure I missed. I should put Prince of Persia: Sands of Time in there somewhere and I thought about Mirror's Edge but really, the game is lacking, but the premise is undeniably awesome. Timesplitters 2 or 3 deserves a space.
Worst games
Almost everything else. Its all rehashes or re-paints or 'free-roam' game engines based off the Mario 64 architecture. I cant stand most free-roam games which just combine a krappy 3rd person shooter with a crappy driving engine, GTA3 and Tony are great but overall what are you left with? A chase simulator. You chase someone or someone chases you. Its fun, but its not groundbreaking. Want ground breaking? Uncharted and Among Thieves. Take GTA's free roam and multiple gaming engines, mix with Tomb Raider's puzzle and adventure and RE4's control scheme, action and camera and you have something to get excited about. The problem? The game(s) lack a soul. You'll have people rant and rave about God of War 1 through 3 but they dont seem to understand its Double Dragon 3-D. Take prince of persia's already button mashing combat and cliff n'jump puzzles with QTE's borrowed right out of Shenmue and RE with the same gameplay found in fucking Gauntlet (with PoP's bullet time no less). I swear the only reason it gets people excited is because of the imagery or the extreme methods of killing, its not a bad series, but its not a great one either. You dont give a game GOTY because it has 'big statues' and beheading. 300 didn't get movie of the year for this very reason, unless you're MTV. This is what still pisses me off about the industry - you dont have to make a good game, just present it well enough and you get acclaim. I cant stand it, anything that doesnt fall in to "DUDE DID YOU SEE ALL THE BLOOD' or "ZOMG R/M RATED HNGGGGG BOOBIES" gets put in to sub-categories of cool while game's that invent genres, perfect game engines, etc get passed up because it didn't jive with people wanting extreme images thrown at them every two seconds (which has to relate to blood or tits). It's frustrating. God of War hit 2005 the same year as Shadow of the Colossus, guess which game got more attention? blah.