Welcome to Part 2 of 5 in what is my Top 50 Favourite Resident Evil Moments. If you missed from #50 to #41 then click here. Let's get straight to it!
#40 - Meeting El Gigante - Resident Evil 4
El Gigante may be based on the Cave Troll from Lord of the Rings but that takes nothing away from the fact that this boss from Resi 4 is excellent. He's intimidating, especially further along in the game when you go against two of them, but he's also a very fun boss to go against. Shooting at his head, dodging his massive fists, then running away before he throws trees at you - it's insane and entertaining. The boss fight was so popular that they made it a boss fight in Resi 5 as well!
#39 - Ada's Trap - Resident Evil 6
As stated earlier, Resi 6 was the weakest entry in the main series and by a considerable margin. So much so that this is the third and final entry into this Top 50 involving the game. For me, this was a huge moment in an otherwise poor game. Ada Wong has always played nicely on that line between good and evil, both in Resi 2 and in Resi 4. So when we saw she was playing a big part in Resi 6 we expected a similar performance. That was until she throw an bomb of viruses at all of Chris Redfield's men, turning them into gooey monsters. It was the first time we really saw her doing something truly evil, rather than it being something mischievous or debatable because she was following orders. I've always been a huge Ada fan and I was like "noooo!" when this happened. Of course, later on we learn that it wasn't Ada but someone called Carla Radames, who was impersonating Ada and, basically, was an Ada clone, but it takes nothing away from this moment at the time and how you felt about it.
#38 - Meeting Yawn - Resident Evil
Ah, Resident Evil's first ever boss. Yawn was, and still is, a bastard. I've played Resi 1 countless times and Yawn still gives me a small amount of anxiety whenever I face him. Is he scary? Not really, not beyond the first time you face him anyway. But he is dangerous. All it takes is one bite from him and that's it, you're poisoned. Depending on who you play as in Jill or Chris and what actions you have taken to that point, getting poisoned by Yawn can make life difficult for you. It's best to avoid getting bit but that's a major task. Avoiding him on the way in isn't too bad. But when you try and collect the Moon Crest and escape he basically traps you in his little corner. So Yawn, despite all of the times I've faced him, is a pain in the ass and I think my escape percentage without getting poisoned is probably around 10%. He's a very memorable boss, being the first one in the series I'm sure everyone agrees.
#37 - Crimson Heads - Resident Evil Remake
I remember that I didn't play the Remake of Resident Evil 1 for, I dunno, maybe a year after it came out? I didn't have a Gamecube when it was released so hearing of the REmake got me excited but I was also gutted I'd not get to play it for a while. But I remember one of my good friends telling me about Crimson Heads, and how they're regular zombies that come back from the dead... again... and they're much more dangerous. When I eventually played the REmake they met my expectations. I mostly run away from them, because they run so damn fast and can cripple your health if you're not careful. Of course you can take care of them with a lighter and some fuel but there's not much of that around. They're pretty terrifying for sure!
#36 - Tyrant vs Birkin - Resident Evil 2 Remake
I touched on this in my Resident Evil 2 Remake article (which you can read by clicking here), but this was the fight we never asked for, but oh boy are we happy we saw it! Something some fans may or may not have thought while playing the original game is, what would happen if William Birking fought Tyrant? Well, we got the answer in the Remake, and it wasn't even close. William Birkin rips Tyrant's chest out in one piece and it looks insane. I LOVED this moment from Resi 2 Remake. I never asked for it but I'm happy we saw it!
#35 - The Gallery Room - Resident Evil
This moment brings me WAY back to when I first played Resi 1. On the surface, this room and this scenario isn't scary or anything special, so if you disagree with this entry I understand. But don't forget, this is my personal list! The crows in Resi 1 were pretty scary at the time. One crow you can deal with, but when around 3, 4 or 5 of them come at you, they can create havoc and really cause damage.
And then you have The Gallery Room. Which is FULL of crows. If you shoot at them, they'll come at you. If you get the puzzle in the room wrong they will come at you. Get it right and they'll leave you alone. But when I first went into this room, way back when I first played this game, I didn't know any of this. All I saw was a room full of crows. And walking through it, trying not to disturb these damn birds... I crapped myself! So it's a nostalgia moment for me, talking about how I felt going into this room for the first time, hence its inclusion in this list.
#34 - The First Tape - Resident Evil 7
If you've played the demo of Resident Evil 7 then you'll be also familiar with "the first tape", because it's basically the same thing. A team of ghost hunters enter the Baker house because of rumours of it being haunted and they get killed off. That's what happens in a nutshell. But playing the RE7 demo, or playing through the "tape" in the game really sets up the game very well. It's creepy and cheesy at the same, and it's all about what happens in the end of the tape, when we see one of the guys get killed off, with blood streaming from their eyeballs and mouth. It's brutal and it's classic Baker family shit. I love it.
#33 - Entering the Village - Resident Evil 4
Entering the village in Resi 4 is simply one of the best and most memorable moments in Resi history. No matter how much Resi you've played, if you've played Resi 4 in the first time and you get to the village, nothing prepares you for what's about to come. Arriving in that village, seeing all the locals, it's "backwards Hillbilly murdering village" vibes all over. And seeing all of them, coming at you, is just INSANE. In previous Resi games, you can have what, three or four zombies take you on at once? How many people are in that screenshot? And there's more in other parts of this area too! And then you have the Chainsaw guy. Run into one of the houses and a cutscene plays out where you hear and see all the villagers surround the house. Then you hear the revs of a chainsaw. Then his lunatic runs at you! It's just madness and I love it.
#32 - Meeting Mimicry Marcus - Resident Evil 0
Resi 0 overall doesn't do that much to further what happens in the games that were released before it, but the addition of leeches was, erm, interesting. And Mimicry Marcus enemies are just disgusting. They're a pain in the butt to deal with and follow you everywhere. When you meet the first one in the train it's a fantastic visual and it's pretty much the best scene in the entire game.
#31 - The First Zombie - Resident Evil 2 Remake
When they announced that they were remaking Resi 2 I was excited. Then there was radio silence for years. Then at E3 2018 they showed the trailer and they showed the first zombie killing a police officer. And it was absolutely GRUESOME. Just look at the level of detail in the GIF below. It's insane. I've never seen such detail in a game before, when it comes to this level of gore. We've come so far since the days of 1996 when we saw our first ever zombie. Seeing the first zombie in 2019 in RE2 Remake shows just how far. I love the level of detail. It's sick and I love it.
Welcome to the third edition of the “Old School Game
Review”. The last two games I covered were Sega Mega Drive titles, “Streets of Rage” and "Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe". This time? I'm going back 10 years instead of 20, and talking about a Playstation 2 title. To celebrate the release of the new title in the series, my third Old School Game review is the amazing, SSX Tricky.
Not familiar with the “Old School Game Review”? It’s
basically a gift wrapped game review so in theory it’s nothing new. But what is
different is that before I divulge into the review I talk about what makes this
game so good, and some facts and memories the game gave me. Oh and what counts
as an old school game? My ruling is the game has to be at least ten years old.
When did this game come out? 2001
What console was it released on? Playstation 2
What else was it released on? Nintendo Gamecube, XBox, Game Boy Advance
Compilations? None.
Other interesting facts? Well this game was released less than 10 years ago in the UK... if you bought the Gamecube, XBox or GBA versions. But I bought the PS2 version so that's my excuse! I'm not cheating with my criteria!
Best memories? Probably doing the first course, Garibaldi, with a score of more than 1,000,000 for the first time. I don't know what the official world record is, but this is the biggest score on YouTube at 4.6 million, which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Still, it's an amazing task to get a score of 1 million. I think my all time record is around 1.3 million, although it's been a very long time since I had the data on my memory card (oh those were the days... when you used memory cards... it felt like yesterday!).
Now onto the review!
For me, SSX Tricky, 10 years later, is still the best snowboarding game of all time.
SSX Tricky is the sequel to the original SSX game, which was released a year earlier as part of the new EA Sport BIG selection, a set of sports games that were unrealistic in style. SSX Tricky was basically SSX 2.0, with many of the tracks and characters making returns from the original games. But labelling SSX Tricky that way and thinking that it's nothing more would be a big mistake. SSX Tricky takes everything that was good about SSX, and mashes it up to make it bigger and better in every aspect.
The SSX game series are, as we said earlier, an unrealistic series of snowboarding games. The main course of the original SSX is a snowboarding race, and you can do tricks on your snowboard to try and give your character a speed boost for every successful trick pulled off. So you raced hard, did tricks off the big jumps and used your speed boost and try to finish the races in first place.
This is not going to end well...
SSX Tricky builds on this in a much bigger way. Much bigger. You see, you can still race against the other competitors, there's a "Race" mode for that. You can still use your tricks to gain speed boosts as well. But... the tricks are bigger and wilder than what was available in the original game. Not only that, but if you store your speed boosts to the top of the bar, the song remixes to include "It's Tricky" by Run DMC and you have access to what are called Uber Tricks. Uber Tricks are what make SSX Tricky special. They're incredibly flamboyant, melodramatic tricks on your snowboard that take a while to pull off, but look absolutely awesome. You also score much more points for pulling these off as a reward.
You'd be mistaken to think that so much emphasis on tricks in this game means there would be an actual trick orientated game wouldn't you? Well there is. On one end you have the "Race" mode, and on the other you have the "Showoff" mode. The purpose of "Showoff" is to, well, show off your tricks. More accurately, it's purpose is to give you the opportunity to get the biggest score tally possible. "Showoff" mode has big coloured icicles across the course, and doing tricks successfully through these icicles gives you a multiplier on the score given for the tricks done. The colour codes are yellow for a double multiplier, orange for a triple multiplier, and red for a quintuple multiplier. These icicles are pivotal for getting the highest scores in "Showoff" mode.
So you have "Race" mode and "Showoff" mode. You can access these options through "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" mode. But if you start from scratch only have access to a few tracks. To unlock more tracks you have to play the "World Circuit" mode. With "World Circuit" mode you, one by one, take on the courses in either "Showoff" mode or "Race" mode, it's completely your choice. With "Showoff" mode, you have to get a certain score to get either a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. Getting at least a Bronze will unlock the next track on "World Circuit", and it will also be available on "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" modes. For "Race" mode on "World Circuit" you will have to race the track three times, and will have to finish in the Top 3 in each race to qualify for the next one. After the third race, your placement will have to be in the Top 3 again to get a medal - Bronze, Silver and Gold again.
Getting a medal in "World Circuit" gives your character skill points to develop the attributes that are important to SSX Tricky - Edging is your sharpness for turning corners, Speed is your, erm, speed, Stability is how hard it is for you to get knocked off your snowboard and Tricks is how quickly you can do your tricks. If you get a Bronze medal you get two points to add to your attributes, four for a Silver, and six for a Gold.
There's the checkpoint! Caution signs? Booby traps? Hmm...
The characters in SSX Tricky are brilliant. You have lots to choose from, and you have to unlock a good few of them by getting gold medals in "World Circuit". All the characters specialise in different methods of SSX - some are very good at tricks, some are very good racers. There are 13 in total and all have different personalities - Moby and JP are arrogant players from England and France respectively, where as Marty and Kaori are quiet and shy players from Germany and Japan respectively. My favourite character however is Psymon, who is completely nuts but says some of the funniest and random lines in the game like shouting "French toast and syrup!" at the top of his lungs mid jump.
Another thing about the characters in this game is that for the only time in the entire series for SSX, there's an al-star cast who do the voices. You have Lucy Liu who does Elise's voice, of Ally McBeal and Kill Bill fame, Billy Zane who does Brosi and is famous for his roles in Titanic and Twin Peaks, David Arquette who does Eddie, famous for his role in the Scream film series, and singers Bif Naked who plays Zoe and Macy Gray who plays Seeiah. This all-stellar cast of voice actors to a great job and add to each character's personality really well. It's arguably one of the best jobs done by a group of celebrities in a video game in honesty.
The controls are quite slick in SSX Tricky, and once again are an improvement on the original SSX. You can use the D-pad or the analog stick to move your character and can sort this out in the Settings menu to change it to your preferences. You move with either, and you flip or turn your board with the D-pad, and with the shoulder buttons you can grab your board. You can press multiple shoulder buttons to do more complicated grabs with your board, which usually give you more points. Combining a turn or flip, or both (to make your character twist diagonally) and multiple shoulder buttons gives you by far the most points apart from the Uber tricks available if you fill your boost bar to the top. Regardless of how many combos you do, how many flips and turns you include, it's important to make sure that your character is as vertical as possible for landing, otherwise your character wipes out on the course, making your score not count on that 'trick'.
If you're racing, you can knock characters over by pressing the analog stick either left or right depending where they are to your character. Be warned though, characters often target you for revenge in the races if you continue to attack them. But if you knock a character flat off their board by using this technique, you're rewarded with a full boost bar straight away which can be useful. Your characters also have relationships with each other - some are friends with you while others are your enemies. For instance, Psymon fancies Zoe, so they are considered friends. Luther is a bully and picks on the cute Kaori a lot, so they're enemies. Your relationships can get better or worse depending on your actions on the track, if you hit them a few times they'll target you in the next few races for revenge. On the grand scheme of things this isn't that important but it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky.
One of the finest parts of SSX Tricky is the pretty damn good soundtrack. "It's Tricky" by Run DMC as mentioned before, is the title track of the game, and the original song and the remixed versions on the game all make the game that much better. It's a fabulous song and thoroughly works with the style of game SSX Tricky provides. There are also some good electronic dance and rap songs on the soundtrack too, and Bif Naked, also mentioned before, has a track on here. A few tracks by Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys are also featured, and Mix Master Mike is also a secret character in the game... if you use cheat codes. Over the gameplay are parts of commentary provided by Rahzel, who is a beatboxer, who does a fantastic job of putting over the action and doing some random beatboxing once in a while. He did a similar job in the original SSX too.
Luther (top right) is totally going to land that trick. Eddie's afro is impressive huh?
As you play through "World Circuit" you unlock snowboards and character costumes to customise your character's look. The snowboards are all in different shapes, and each character has a preferred board type. Some boards are best for tricks, others for races and some for in between. If a character uses a board they're unfamiliar with, they usually struggle a little more with this board, but do get access to a different set of Uber tricks if they fill their boost bar up. Once again it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky. If you get a gold in every "Race" and "Showoff" track on "World Circuit", you unlock a chrome outfit, which looks pretty cool.
If you ever want to take a breather and try things out in your own time you can always use the "Practise" mode. You can do it in either a "Race" mode style, but without any other competitors on screen so you're taking the track on in your own time, or you can practise certain tricks on one large jump. The latter also includes a tutorial to help you do certain tricks that are compiled in each characters individual "Trick Book". The "Trick Book" is a tick sheet of sorts, to fill up to hone your skills of performing tricks. If you complete a character's "Trick Book" you unlock that character's best snowboard in the game.
Overall "SSX Tricky" is an amazing game. It pains me to know this game didn't sell very well. It's completely unjustified. For me, even 10 years later, "SSX Tricky" is by far not only the best SSX title in the series, but the best snowboarding game ever created. It mixes fine snowboarding racing, and over the top tricks. It has a brilliant soundtrack and the characters are all great and will appeal to lots of different players. "SSX Tricky" gets so many things right it's almost perfect. It really deserved more people to play this grand game, but with the new SSX game just coming out, at least new players will get a taste of a new, fresh title to play. But if you ever want to get a retro SSX title (I feel old typing that, it was 10 years ago though), this is the one to get. "SSX Tricky" trumps every snowboarding title out there before this release, and arguably, after.
Rating: ****1/2 stars
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
Resident Evil 4 HD is the most complete version to date, of
one of the best video games ever made. A true classic.
Resident Evil 4 HD was released just under four weeks ago
here in the UK but the original game was released on the Gamecube just under
seven years ago. This HD version is available both on the Xbox 360 and the
Playstation 3, and is a direct port from the version released on the
Playstation 2, which itself was released just under six years ago. As you can
see this game has been released on many gaming platforms, including the four
above the game was also released on the PC, the Nintendo Wii, on the mobile, on
the iPhone, on Zeebo and finally, the iPad, totalling in ten different formats.
To clarify, this is a direct port from the Playstation 2 version,
with only one change; it’s been remastered in HD. What was different from the
Playstation 2 version and the Gamecube version? Well; the main addition being a
new game mode called “Separate Ways”, which explains what happened in the
original game but from the perspective of Ada, similar to the way Resident Evil
2 works (with the two scenarios with Leon and Claire). So in short, with all
the content and a crisper look, this is the most complete version of Resident
Evil 4 yet.
Asplosion in three... two... one...
Work on Resident Evil 4 actually started back in 1999, six
years before it was actually released. The idea was for the game to be more
action packed and less about survival horror. The backgrounds and atmosphere
was more reminiscent of old Gothic locations, similar to those found in Europe.
They eventually started to notice that the game was becoming something
completely different to Resident Evil, and decided to make it a game on its
own. They added demons and rewrote the storyline, and released the game as
Devil May Cry, a game series that has had a great amount of success on its own.
The game went through three more development segments, most
notably the one before the actual game release. This development time was spent
making the game even scarier than the previous four instalments (Resident Evil
4 is the fifth main title in the series, after Resident Evil: Code Veronica)
and took an almost Silent Hill approach to the series. The gameplay was similar
to the actual release of Resident Evil 4, but the locations and atmosphere was
much darker. The main villain in this game was a man dubbed Hookman, who
naturally, carried a large hook with him. He would pursue Leon in a fashion not
too different from Nemesis from the third entry into the series. The game was
dropped and development finally started on what we now know as Resident Evil 4.
Just in case you’ve never played the game before, Resident
Evil 4 features Leon Kennedy, an ex cop who was involved in the Zombie Outbreak
in Resident Evil 2. Leon was a cop for one day, and that was the day of the
outbreak. Six years have passed since that time, and Leon now works for the
American president. An unknown insider kidnapped the president’s daughter,
Ashley, and was brought to a small desolate village in rural Spain, where a
mysterious cult resides. It is Leon’s job to work with two Spanish police
officers to work undercover get Ashley home. Virtually no time passes from the
beginning of the game before these two police officers have been killed and
Leon must wade through hoards of villagers hell-bent on keeping Leon away from
the president’s daughter. These villagers are not zombies, but what is then
known as Los Ganados (or “The Cattle" in Spanish) who seem to be possessed
by something. These villagers are much more dangerous than the zombies of old;
they can work together in groups and are intelligent enough to throw or yield
weapons. The story unravels and answers all the questions needed, like why was
the president’s daughter kidnapped? How did these villagers get possessed?
What’s possessing them? Who was involved internally with the president to
actually kidnap his daughter Ashley? Everything gets answered.
As for the gameplay, the game has moved forward in leaps and
bounds from the old style. Resident Evil 1, 2, 3 and Code Veronica used
predetermined camera angles and when your character moved out of the picture,
the camera angle would change to suit the location of the character. This has
been thrown out of the window and instead the camera is always behind the
character, slightly above shoulder height. This new perspective adds a more
first-person approach without ever being a first person shooter. When shooting,
a red laser comes out of the gun to show the player where the target is placed.
Unlike before, where you shoot at a zombie’s upper torso or low to their feet,
you can now target individual limbs which do different things; shooting the
head makes the enemy stumble backwards or result in the head to explode,
shooting the feet makes the enemy crouch forwards, and shooting a hand results
in the enemy dropping a weapon if they are holding one. If you shoot the head
or feet correctly, you can run up to your enemy and pressing the action button
(“A” on the Xbox 360 controller) when near them gives you the option of
attacking your enemy physically. With Leon, pressing the action button when
they’ve been hit in the head allows him to roundhouse kick them to the floor,
knocking over nearby enemies. Depending on how far you are in the game,
pressing the action button when they’ve been hit in the foot allows you first
to kick them straight on, resulting them flying backwards a decent distance.
Later on this is replaced by the Northern Lights Suplex, a fine wrestling move,
where Leon actually lands the enemy backwards onto their head, usually
resulting in the head exploding. These moves are more than welcome to the
gameplay, which makes the game much cooler.
Watch out for that guy, he's pretending his arm's a cobra!
The signature weapons have returned, with a few more added
in; there’s a nice selection of handguns available that all specialise in different
things. The same applies to the shotguns and the magnums. These weapons aren’t
readily available, you start off with just the handgun (and a shotgun on the
easiest difficulty), but as you progress more and more becomes available. The
handgun is easy to use and very effective in the beginning against most of the
Ganados, and the shotguns are good against big groups of enemies, or the
stronger enemies you encounter later on in the game. Magnums, like always, are
the elite weapons that have very little ammo available in the game that should
be used sparsely; the bosses are recommended for such instances. Added to these
signature weapons are the rifles. Rifles have rarely been featured in the
Resident Evil series due to the fact that the games aren’t first person
shooters (apart from the Survivor and Chronicles series), and while this isn’t
a first person shooter, the camera angle works in favour of the use of a rifle.
Rifles, like in many other action shooter games, are great for long distance
and also pack a decent punch. There’s only one machine gun in the game which is
the TMP, a minigun that can be used effectively once in a while. There are
other bonus weapons too but these are usually unlocked after completing the
game and dramatically make the game much easier.
As mentioned earlier these weapons aren’t readily available,
but are slowly unlocked as the game progresses. They’re made available through
a merchant, who looks like one of the Ganados but speaks perfect English (in a
fantastic cockney accent) and has a hooded coat for his wares. You’ll soon
appreciate seeing the site of his blue flame that he is often standing next to,
as he often offers you the next and better versions of your weapons. On a side
note the Merchant is a fantastic character despite having virtually no purpose
to the plot other than providing you with better weaponry, his accent and
phrases while aren’t intentionally funny, are delivered fantastically you can’t
help but fall in love with him. As well as having the option to buy weapons,
you also have the option to upgrade them. Upgrading your weaponry is important
at it allows you to keep up to date with the pending difficulty increase in
enemies. Upgrades allow your weapons to deal more damage, to fire faster, to
reload faster and to hold more ammo in the gun itself.
Another new addition to the game is the items case. In the
old games you had usually six, eight or ten item slots and that was it. Most
items would hold up one space, with the exception of the very large guns like
machine guns and rocket launchers. Still there was a flaw; a shotgun was one
space and so was a small key. Naturally a shotgun is much larger than the small
key yet they take the same amount of space. This observation now doesn’t exist
with the new suitcase; Leon carries a case which has many items slots and each
item holds different amount of spaces. For instance, the smallest item is now
an egg that is used to increase your health, and this only takes up one item
space. In comparison, the handguns take around six spaces, and the shotguns can
take anything up to sixteen spaces. Your case has probably around sixty spaces
at first but like the weapons, your case can be upgraded to carry more and more
as the game goes on. This new system removes the flaw of the old item space
situation, while giving you much more customisation as well, unlike the older
games you can now also drop items.
Good luck...
The game itself can be completed in fifteen to twenty five
hours, which is a huge increase in time when compared to the older games. Not
only is the game much bigger than others, but there is still more to do when
you finish the game. You can take part in The Mercenaries game mode, which is
similar to the one in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, where you have a time limit to
kill as many enemies as possible. The difference between this and the Resident
Evil 3 version is that you are only allowed in one large area in this game, and
you can get time bonuses by going across the level. Killing enemies in
succession starts a combo which when finished gives you more and more points as
the tally increases. There are four levels in the game, which are all diverse
and are similar in design to particular areas of the game. As mentioned much
earlier in the review you can also play “Separate Ways” with Ada, which takes a
good hour or two to finish. Lastly, you can play another game mode called
“Assignment Ada”, which once again features the lady in red, where you are
trying to receive random ‘plaga’ samples across a terrain.
While that is the majority of the game, also added into the
game are the options to save your game and start afresh, a New Game+ if you
will, where you keep all your weapons and advances from the previous game. You
can also play again in a different difficulty, keeping in mind the easier your
difficulty of choice, certain sections of the game are removed to make the game
easier, meaning if you play on the hardest difficulty you play the game in its
entirety. You can also unlock new costumes for both Leon and Ashley, by completing
the game multiple times. So there’s a huge amount of content in this game, and
it’s all worth sinking your teeth into.
On the whole Resident Evil 4 HD is the most complete version
of Resident Evil 4 to date and is well worth getting no matter how much of an
experience you’ve had with the game in the past. If you have the original
Gamecube version, or a Playstation 2 or Wii version, it doesn’t matter, this HD
remaster looks incredibly smooth and stands well with the games being released
to day, despite being seven years old now. If you’ve never played Resident Evil
4 before, I can’t recommend this game enough. If you like survival horror and
action packed shooter games, get this. You won’t regret it. Yes, its seven
years old but it’s still one of the most complete games to ever come out. It’s
a true classic, a game that will go down in history not only as one of the best
games from the sixth generation of video gaming, but one of the best video
games of all time. Everything from the graphics, the action, the controls, the
enemies, the storyline, the vastness of the game, everything is close to
perfection. The only problem I’d say with the game is that at around £15, it’s
quite a steep price for a seven year old game, but it’s still worth it based on
the content you receive. Resident Evil 4 for me, is the best in the series and
this is a must for fans of survival horror shooter fans.
Rating: ****3/4 stars
For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!
I hope you've been enjoying the Game of the Decade list as much as I have. It got me thinking of all the good games that have come out in the ten years that have passed. I think the 128 games that have been chosen are really good, kudos to GameFAQs for that. I thought I'd do a list of my favourite ten games from that list. Just to note, this is only from the competition that is currently under way, there are other games I love that aren't on the list at all (World of Goo should have been chosen dammit!). Anyway, onto the list...
#10: Shadow of the Colossus (PS2)
It's just been knocked out of the competition just less than 5 hours ago. I've just wept my last tear. This game is probably the most unique on the entire list. You just have to experience it to understand. A game with no standard enemies, just bosses? And it not only works but also became one of the greatest games ever made? Impossible. Just the scale of these enemies makes the game worth playing; it's just such a mind-blowing experience.
#9: Silent Hill 2 (PS2/XBox/PC)
This game has possibly my favourite ending of all time in any game. It's a beautiful ending, well one of the endings you can get anyway, as you can multiple endings! It's probably my favourite Silent Hill game too, with the third not being far behind, this game was just a masterpiece from start to finish, storyline wise. The controls were a bit clunky once in a while, but you can ignore that with all that was good about this game. It's truly a phenomenal experience.
There's very few things in video games more fucking scary than Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2.
#8: Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (GBC) (Read my review here)
It's my favourite game in the Pokemon series; it's the game they got the most positives out of. The addition of colour, the night/day time, the breeding, going back to the original game's world... but the main thing they got right was how many Pokemon they had. The original 150 was great, the next 100 added onto it were also good, but then it just went overboard with every other game that has since been added. I've also done a review for the game, it's a bit old now but you can see it on this site if you're interested.
#7: The Legend of Dragoon (PS)
I was surprised to see this game on the list as it got mixed reviews by critics. But the fans that liked this game loved it so that's power to the people for you yo! Yes, this game had flaws, and many consider it to be Sony's flopped Final Fantasy game, but it does enough right for it to be more than enjoyable. It's got a decent storyline, some of the graphics look great (whilst other parts look awful) and Lloyd was a good villain. But the best thing I liked about this game was the combo attacks, it was hard to get at first, but once you got it, it was a lot of fun.
I've probably spent more hours on this game than any other on this list. FF10 had its great moments, I can't criticise it for its commercial value, and it’s the last game in the series that was universally popular. I had great times playing it, but it just lacked something. I don't know what that something was, but it just felt inferior to some of the previous games. Anyway positivity is needed for this list! Final Fantasy 10 was very good in nearly every department, a great storyline, beautiful graphics that still hold up well today, a good battle system, and one of the most kick ass characters in FF history in Auron.
#5: Left 4 Dead (X360/PC/Mac)
I'd just like to say, I hate FPS games. I can't stand them. They're always the same, there's just no telling the difference between each game that's out there. Apart from Left 4 Dead. L4D caught me by surprise. The main reason is its multiplayer game, it's just so much fun to play online. I love being the infected; it's just so entertaining. I'm actually quite obsessed with playing this game, I just can't put it down despite it being a bit dated now, and a sequel has also been made. That's the sign of a great game, that you'd play it over more recent games that have come out.
Man, there's very little more satisfying than being a Boomer on L4D.
#4: Plants vs. Zombies (PC/X360)
Speaking of addictive games, the most addictive of all is PvZ. Not a great deal of people have played this but those who have, get addicted. This game is so easy to play but so hard to master, and to top it all off it's funny as hell. Seriously, if you've not played this game, download a free trial, and then spend your hard earned money on getting it when you find out how awesome it is.
#3: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2/PC/Xbox/Mac)
I don't know why this game has been overlooked so much in the competition. GTA3 came out, it was ground breaking, but had flaws. Vice City came out, improved those flaws but felt a bit too gimmicky, with it being in the eighties. GTA4 just went overboard in many ways, no matter how slick it looked. But San Andreas, San Andreas expanded everything that made the previous games great, and didn't go too far like GTA4 did. It also has the biggest and most interesting map to boost. GTA San Andreas got the best of all worlds and what I think is the closest to perfect the GTA games will get.
#2: Resident Evil 4 (GC/PS2/PC/Wii)
And the award for most improved series award goes to - Resident Evil! I'm a huge Resi fan actually, but after Resi 2, the two follow-ups in 3: Nemesis and Code: Veronica decreased in quality for some reason. Capcom knew they had to do something to revamp the series. And this is what they did, and man, what a game Resi 4 is. It's just a brilliant game; I've not played an action game and had as much fun as I have playing this. I bought it, without thinking it was going to blow me away like it did. It's sometimes nice to not anticipate than it is to over anticipate (which is actually what I did with Resi 5, but that's a different story).
One of the best moments of Final Fantasy IX, Vivi and Quina... get married?!
And now we come to my #1. The people who know me well aren't surprised but I suppose as a GameFAQs list maybe you are. Other FF games were immensely more popular than this, 7, 8, 10, 12 are all more popular. But this game to me is the closest you will get to a perfect RPG, I mean, it has some minor flaws but I've never enjoyed a game as much as this. Remember, this is my list, and we're all different. But this game just oozes character, it's got everything what I want in a game, from it being fun to play, for the story to be both happy and sad, have characters I can relate to, it's long enough for me to get sucked into without ever getting bored, it's got an amazing soundtrack. It has everything. It frustrates me how much people overlook this game, but in a certain way it makes it more special, as I feel like it's my game.
And there you go, my favourite 10 games featured from the 128 chosen by GameFAQs. This is my list obviously, and I'm not claiming these are the best 10 games of the decade, nor are they my favourite 10 (although not many others would penetrate it mind!), but I just thought it'd be interesting to narrow down the 128 to my particular taste, and see the results. I didn't have a masterplan, I just chose the games I liked and chipped it down to 10. I hope it was interesting nevertheless! For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!
