My Top 15 Games of All Time: #6

Let's face it, if you owned an N64, you owned this game. We as gamers were bred to believe that all video games based on movies suck, though there are some exceptions, most notably this game. I remember many sleepovers when I was in middle school, where we would bring over our N64 controllers, get a couple 2-liters of Mountain Dew, and get our licence to kill.
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#6 - Goldeneye 007 - First Released August 25th 1997 (N64)

In today's industry, we are used to seeing movie-based video games released alongside the film for a promotional boost, and normally, as previously stated, they suck. Goldeneye the game came out a full 2 years AFTER the movie. In fact, 4 months later, in December, Tomorrow Never Dies would hit theaters, so maybe the game was getting us ready for a new (albeit not nearly as good) movie with a game based on the last (and one of the best) Bond movies.

Either way, childhood me (and many others gamers) always dreamt of life as a secret agent, and James Bond always was and will be the premier name when it comes to that. Smooth-talking, girl-getting, world-saving, shaken not stirred-drinking, gadget-wielding, ridiculously good-looking, he had it all and we wanted to be in his shoes, and this was the best way of doing it.

Worth noting, this was not the game the developers had in mind when they set out to recreate the James Bond experience. The idea was to make this an on-rails shooter, much like a Time Crisis or House of the Dead. I can guarantee you that this game wouldn't be on my list of all-time favorites had it been an on-rails shooter. Before that, the game was originally proposed as a 2D Side-scroller on the SNES, due to the success of Donkey Kong Country, but the team decided it wanted a 3D shooter for Nintendo's new (then still in development) "Ultra 64" system.

The game was shown at E3 1997 (full 3D shooter mode by the way) and showed poorly. The media figured this would be a flop and an afterthought. Just goes to show, you never know what you are getting until a full release. The first-person shooter was still a genre dominated by PC (some argue it still is today), so a console shooter was a bit of a novelty. That "novelty" feeling went away pretty quick after you drop down from an air duct and kill a guard in the men's room. It was Bond time!

The campaign was full of espionage, betrayal, women, villains, all the makings of a great Bond experience. The game followed the plot of the movie pretty closely, with all the characters from the movie. Again, it helps that Goldeneye the movie was pretty awesome, which made playing the game equally as awesome.

Of course, the game wasn't just about getting from level to level and telling the story. You wanted to do it as efficiently as possible, like James Bond would. Higher difficulties meant more objectives to complete, and doing enough objectives in the shortest amount of time will unlock cheats like "Big Head Mode" and (my favorite) "Paintball Mode". This put the replayability through the roof.

The star of the show here was, naturally, multiplayer. Up to 4 players could choose their favorite Bond characters (except Oddjob cause that's cheating) and shoot each other a bunch in some of the most iconic maps in video game history, like Facility and Complex.

Let's look at what not only set the bar, but CREATED the bar for console multiplayer shooters:

That takes me back.

And to think: the multiplayer wasn't added until very late in the development cycle and was described as "A complete afterthought".

After the massive success of this game, companies tried their best to capitalize on Bond and the Goldeneye name. No future Bond game could top this though. We as gamers just compared everything to this and nothing could beat it. Recently (As in 2010, so might be a stretch) Goldeneye 007 was released for the Wii and was a reimagining of this game, with Daniel Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan. It was actually pretty good and featured online multiplayer. A year later, it was HD-ified and released on Xbox 360 and PS3. I may have to play that game again.

However, like many things in life, the original stands as the best, and it is no different here. Goldeneye 007 for the N64 will stand as the best shooter on the system, one of the most fun experiences of my gaming life, a game that revolutionized the genre and made it console-friendly, and #6 on my list of all time favorite games. If you think that's too low, just wait until you see my top 5.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #7

Ah, the Wild West, a time of outlaws, savages, gamblers, pretty ladies, bar room brawls, and everything else we learned from John Wayne movies. Many games have tried to capture the spirit and tension of America's Frontier, with varying levels of success. There's the Call of Juarez games, GUN, Mad Dog McCree (ok that might not be the best example, but any chance I can get to mention MDM, I gotta take it).

Leave it to Rockstar to come in and try their hand at the genre, which they did with Red Dead Revolver in 2004. While Revolver was a fine game, its spiritual successor would arrive and become the greatest Western game ever made, and #7 on my list of favorite games of all time.
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#7 - Red Dead Redemption - First released May 18th, 2010 (PS3, Xbox 360)

When you live in Iowa and happen to have had a Grandfather whose idol was John Wayne, you get exposed to a lot of western movies. It helped that these movies still hold up today. While I may never have owned a 10-gallon hat, or owned a pair of snakeskin boots, and the fact that my favorite "Western" movie is Blazing Saddles, I always found the Wild West a fascinating landscape for storytelling. I always wondered what it was like to be like Billy the Kid, or "Wild Bill" Hickok.

Rockstar set out to make Redemption larger and more ambitious than their previous release, Grand Theft Auto IV. While many people feared that Redemption would end up being "Grand Theft Horsey", they ended up creating a game that stood on its own, while pushing the open-world genre forward.

You are John Marston, an outlaw who is separated from his family by the Bureau of Investigation. He will get his family back if he cooperates and turns in the members of his former gang. This already gives us a reason to like John and gives us a good reason to understand why he's out here doing all these (mostly illegal) activities; A man who would do anything to see his family again.

The main story starts in 1911, near the end of the "Frontier" Era, and takes place in 2 fictitious American counties: New Austin, West Elizabeth, and the fictitious Nuevo Paraiso, Mexico. All of these locales feel like they were ripped out of Hollywood and really immerse you in the world. The opening mission has John confronting his old gang at Fort Mercer, after a bit of dialogue and failed convincing, John is shot by his former gangmate and current gang leader, Bill Williamson. As John is left for dead, he is found by Bonnie MacFarlane, a local rancher, and and healed with the help of a $15 doctor's bill, which she loves to remind him about. The first few missions in the game involve Marston doing some odd jobs around the ranch to pay back the $15, or basically how the game decides to introduce all the mechanics.

While the main story is amazing, what sets Red Dead apart from GTA is the random events. Since the game doesn't take place in a sprawling metropolis like Liberty City or San Andreas, Rockstar needed to make the wide open areas still exciting and interesting. You may randomly get ambushed, you may see a robbery take place,  you may have to hijack a stagecoach, or prevent a hanging. All this kept you on your toes even if you were nowhere near "civilization".

Of course there are side missions/activities to take part in, just because this isn't Liberty City doesn't mean there aren't a lot of things to do. You could to some bounty hunting and bring criminals to justice, take part in iconic duels and show who is the fastest trigger, play poker (naturally), gather herbs, or hunt and collect hides from fallen wildlife.

Along the way, your actions factor into the game's morality system, doing heroic deeds, like saving a woman from kidnapping, will raise your honor and raise your fame, which will cause NPCs to feel safer around you and cause stores to give you a discount, while doing criminal acts will reverse these effects.

Red Dead Redemption also features multiplayer for up to 16 players. Every game began with both teams in a Mexican standoff, waiting for the round to begin, opening fire on each other, then taking up positions for the respawning members. I always thought that was a nice touch, appropriate for the time period and generates a lot of tension before the match even begins. The typical modes are here: deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, etc. You also could team up to do some free roaming as well as attacking another posse, or taking down computer-occupied strongholds. The DLC from Undead Nightmare added zombies and a "horde" mode. I loved the multiplayer here and I imagine people are still playing it, so I may have to jump back on.

Rockstar put out a series of videos in preparation for Red Dead Redemption's release, here is one that goes more into "Life in the West", and shows a little bit of everything, really.

We have all thought about what Grand Theft Auto would be like in different cities, but Rockstar showed that it can take several of the GTA mechanics, put it in a different historical era, and still put enough content in it to make it stand out and not just be "GTA: Wild West". Red Dead Redemption stands alone in the street, waiting for any future game to try their luck and outgun it, which will be a tough and almost impossible endeavor, partner.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #8

There was a time in video games where "twitch shooters" were king. These were fast-paced, heart-pounding, nausea-inducing games that required fast thinking and even faster mouse clicking. Some of these games were Quake and Serious Sam.

However, the series that always stood out to me was this one. A brutal bloodsport that packed some of the coolest weapons in gaming AND was an absolute blast to play.
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#8 - Unreal Tournament 2004 - First released March 16th, 2004 (PC, Mac, Linux)

The original Unreal Tournament was one of the first games I ever played on my PS2 and it hooked me in right away. I just must have been the right age and of the right mindset to enjoy a sci-fi, fast paced, action packed shooter with humans and aliens turing each other into tiny gibs (pronounced 'jibs' by the way, hard G on 'GIF" and 'J' sound on 'gibs', deal with it). Unreal Tournament 2004 was the expansion/replacement for 2003, actually replacing it on store shelves. The big things that 2004 added were the use of vehicles and the new Onslaught mode, where you had a HUGE map and had to control several power nodes between your base and the enemy base, once you controlled the nodes, you had to go into the enemy base and destroy their power core. This added a whole new layer to the series with large-scale vehicle warfare.

2004 featured the standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag modes, as well as several others, including my favorite: Bombing Run. A ball spawns in the middle of the map and your team has to take it to the opponent's hoop to score. 7 points if you are holding the ball while you jump through the hoop, and 3 for shooting it in, basically Grifball meets Football.

There was also Mutant mode, in which all players first spawn in with all weapons, with the first person to get a kill becoming the mutant, which grants them unlimited ammo, camouflage, increased rate of fire, and super speed. Of course the downside is that you constantly lose heath and can not acquire pick-ups. The person who killed the mutant became the next mutant.

The guns in the UT series are some of the best in gaming. While the Rocket Launcher is great, and the Lightning Gun can be super-effective (if not a little newb-ish), my favorite UT weapon will always be the Flak Cannon. The primary shot fires bits of shrapnel that you want to use at close quarters. These bits will bounce off walls and floors and whatnot, but that weakens them. If you use it like a shotgun, it can be VERY effective. The secondary fire launches a ball of shrapnel like a grenade launcher, exploding upon impact and can cause instant death. Very fun weapon to use.

Of course, some players swear by the lightning gun combo, shoot the secondary ball of lightning out, then hit it with primary-fire bolt of lightning, which causes a deadly shockwave. I always found the Bio-Rifle the hardest to use and least like my style of play. You shoot green acid which sticks to walls and players, causing damage over time, the secondary fire could be lethal, though, since you could charge up a massive ball of ooze that, if it contacts an enemy, is instant death.

That's the kind of craziness that I loved about the series and this game in particular; the fact that you could die at any moment, but you had the ability to kill anyone with one pull of the trigger, and then have your character taunt them with the old "You Suck", it was awesome!

The game also was very easy to mod, and of course the community went crazy with it, so you can find new maps, models, modes, etc. to keep the game fresh. The best part of all this? I was checking the servers just a couple days ago, and people are still playing this game. Of course you can go against bots, but the human element always made it more fun.

Let's show off the fast-paced action if you have never seen it before:

In case you didn't know already, UT was created by Epic Games, the same studio that produced Gears of War. So these guys know how to make damn good games.

The fact that people still play UT2004 online is a testament to how good it is and the fact that the twitch shooter can still exist today. Unreal Tournament 3 was released in 2007 and was fine, I actually enjoyed it a lot, but I keep coming back to 2004. I am, however, very excited for the new Unreal Tournament that's currently being worked on and will be absolutely free.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #9

You all should already know that I am a superhero nerd, pretty much comes with the territory of being a "geek", and there have been plenty of video games based on comic creations, one of which I just recently mentioned at #10 on my list.

In the ongoing battle between Marvel and DC, it is obvious that Marvel is winning at the box office with movies like Guardians of the Galaxy (go see it, seriously) and with DC putting out movies like Green Lantern (ugh) and playing catch-up by putting so much into the new Batman v Superman movie. I will give DC this: their TV shows are excellent. Arrow is fantastic, The Flash and Gotham look equally as promising.

All that aside, both companies put forth great video games, and I think it's fitting that both companies have good enough games to each have a spot on my top 15 of all time. Believe me, this is not just me pandering to both sides, it's really because both Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and this game are both amazing games. So let's talk about the best DC game and #9 on my list of all time favorites.
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#9 - Batman: Arkham Asylum - First released August 25th, 2009 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac)

Truth be told, the whole series can go here, and while I will touch on the later games later this post, let's just start where it all began.

Batman has always been a beloved character, which is a true testament considering Batman first started popping up in 1939. Through a cheesy (and yet awesome) 60's TV show, an amazing animated series, and mostly great movies (Batman & Robin never happened to me and I still think Forever is ok), Batman has usually avoided the real clunker (with the exception of Dark Tomorrow for the GameCube). Which means making a Batman game already garners high expectations.

Luckily, Rocksteady knew exactly where to begin, by making sure to get Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to reprise their roles as Batman and The Joker respectively. Right there, they had already hooked those of us who loved the animated series, I mean those are the voices we hear when we think of those characters, which immediately made us interested in this game. Throw on the fact that this game would be used with Unreal Engine 3, as in the same engine Gears of War (and several other) games used, and we knew the game was going to look great.

 

Batman arguably has the best who's who when it comes to villains, so why wouldn't you want to put as many as you can into a game? You really get the true scale of the type of situation you are getting yourself into when you walk The Joker through Arkham Asylum at the very beginning of the game. Batman has the feeling that something isn't right when Joker made it way too easy to capture him in the first place. During the long walk through the halls of Arkham, Joker treats it as a homecoming and you can feel that something has the inmates all stirred up (probably since Batman is the one that put them there in the first place). The two scenes that really stick out for me are: (1) The elevator scene when the power goes out, presumably because of something Joker planned, only to come back on with Batman holding Joker by the throat, "Don't you trust me?" (2) The appearance of Killer Croc, who is massive, promising to kill Batman, downright frightening.

Then you get into gameplay and the game opens with its best feature: the combat. This was the first to use the "free-form combat" system and you really felt like you were kicking ass as you jumped around from one enemy to another delivering fists and boots of justice to bad guys' faces. It's a really satisfying system, made even more so when the game cuts to slow motion as you deliver the final hit to the last enemy in the group, along with an accompanying bass thud. I think it was after that first fight I said to myself, "OK this is gonna be something special".

The deeper you get into the Asylum, the more characters/villains you meet, including an early (and rare in Batman games) appearance from Zsasz. You get to see Killer Croc, Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, and more, and you really get that lonely feeling, knowing you are on enemy turf and you aren't getting any backup. I will say my favorite Batman villain is The Riddler, so giving him the main collectible in the game (Hidden Riddler Trophies and in-game riddles to solve) made me very happy.

Also, worth noting, it's not just Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who own the show, the voice acting is superb from top to bottom here, all the villains sound like they could snap at any time and start killing people. The Riddler especially sounds creepy with the overlaying static, really helps set the overall tone of the game throughout.

Then you get into one of my favorite collectibles of all time that incorporates the fantastic voice acting: the Audio Tapes depicting each villain's interaction with an Arkham psychiatrist. These are some of the more chilling and "Whoa" moments in the game as you delve into the psyche of these deranged characters. The most notable ones involve The Joker since he is being interviewed by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, and you get to hear how she lets herself fall for him. Gripping stuff here.

Then you get into the Riddler Challenge maps which are either stealth based or combat based and get a high score while donning your favorite costume from the comics to take part in the games best mechanics. Nothing is more frustrating than losing your combo in the middle of a fight, it's kind of like hitting a wall in a game like Mirror's Edge or Sonic the Hedgehog.

After the success of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady created a series out of it with Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and the upcoming finale; Arkham Knight. City really upped the ante with more baddies, a bigger environment, and more challenge levels, while Origins did a really neat job at showing a younger Batman dealing with his first few mega villains like Black Mask.

The videos I have selected for this post encompass a couple of these games (like I said, the whole series is great) and I wanted to focus on the superb voice acting. Starting with Mark Hamill's portrayal of The Joker from Arkham Asylum:

Then later on, it became Troy Baker in Arkham Origins, since Mark Hamill retired from the role due to the strain on his voice, can't say I blame the guy. 

That is Troy Baker, one of the busiest men in voice acting, performing a monologue from "The Killing Joke" at NY-Comic-Con 2013 while promoting Arkham Origins. Sends chills up your spine doesn't it?

Much like the most recent Batman trilogy being the best 3 Batman movies (hey I love Keaton/Nicholson, but c'mon), the Arkham series stands as the best Batman games ever, some of the best superhero games ever, and definitely belong in my top 10 favorite games of all time. Rocksteady set out to make a game where you could truly "Be the Bat" and they accomplished that and so much more.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #10

We are here in the top 10 of my favorite games of all time and it was not easy to make this list. I am sure I will make some huge glaring omissions, but I will say it's been fun to go back through my back catalogue reminiscing on some of my favorites.

We are in the middle of Marvel Movie Mania and I for one have been loving every second of it. I'm going to take this time to mention that Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite Marvel movie yet. It was amazing and hilarious. If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you do. My sister, who had no clue what she was going to see, loved it too.

But before the Guardians and the Avengers made it to the big screen, the best way to see your favorite heroes team up to take down the bad guys was on my 10th favorite game of all time.

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#10 - Marvel Ultimate Alliance - First released October 24th, 2006 (Xbox 360, Xbox, PS3, PS2, PC, PSP, Game Boy Advance, Wii)

Ultimate Alliance was the next step after the successful (and quite fun) X-Men Legends games. It's an action-RPG set in the Marvel Universe where you can control an entire army of characters ranging from the regulars like Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, to the lesser used characters like Daredevil, Moon Knight, and Ghost Rider. Any Marvel fan has to love the ability to control so many characters to beat the hell out of some of the biggest and baddest names in the Marvel Universe, such as M.O.D.O.K. and Doctor Doom himself.

Putting 4 heroes of the same team together gave you an extra boost, so putting the Fantastic Four together gave you a stat bonus, same with the Avengers, the X-Men, the Defenders, and so on. While it certainly helped, it was never NECESSARY to do so, leaving the player free to choose their favorite heroes and go nuts. 

The story opens with Doctor Doom and The Masters Of Evil attacking the Helicarrier, leading Nick Fury to put out a call to all super heroes to stop this threat, the first 4 to respond are Cap, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Thor. Game start! From that point on, the game says "Hey, you like Marvel, right? Here you go!". From then on out it is so much fan service, with the first few bosses being Scorpion, Bullseye, Winter Soldier, the list goes on and on.

The game also takes you to several well known Marvel locations, like Atlantis with Namor, Stark Tower, Asgard, and so on. Beyond the main storyline, you find collectibles along the way that open up hero-specific side stories which, upon completion, unlock a new costume you can level up. There are around 3 to 4 different costumes which have their own stats, and they are all costumes taken right out of the comics. Want to be Symbiote Spidey? Brown and Yellow Wolverine? Yellow Daredevil? Go right ahead.

I would say my favorite heroes to play as were Daredevil, Deadpool, Blade, and Ghost Rider. I always love seeing Daredevil in a game, FYI. It was also great to see lesser used characters get their due. DLC came out later adding even more heroes and playable villains, including Cyclops, Hawkeye, The Hulk, Nightcrawler, Magneto, Sabretooth, Venom, and the ability to play as Doctor Doom.

Another big standout from Marvel: Ultimate Alliance were the cinematics, take a look for yourself.

The game looked incredible, played great, was a fun and rewarding Action-RPG, and was a love letter to all Marvel fans. Sure, MUA 2 was also a great game that focused on the Civil War aspect, giving us 2 different storylines, but that first game was absolutely incredible and what every Marvel fan wanted. Hopefully they look into a MUA 3 on these new systems, but until then, we have this instant classic and my 10th favorite game of all time.

Excelsior! 

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #11

First-person shooters are everywhere in the industry now, there are way too many to count and it's a genre where you really have to do something massive to stand out. Several years ago, there were a metric shit-ton of World War II shooters, with one of the more popular ones being Call of Duty. For a long time there, with games like Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Day of Defeat, and Call of Duty, it seemed like time was running out on the historical shooter and someone needed to make the jump forward.

Of course these games were successful and I'm sure it's terrifying to try anything new with a community like ours full of nit-pickers and complainers. However, Infinity Ward decided to take the Call of Duty franchise in a new direction and bring it to more modern times. The end result would be the best Call of Duty game and would kick off what we now know as "Call of Duty Mania". You want to know why everyone squeals like a girl when they see anything about a new Call of Duty game? It all started here.
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#11 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - First released November 5th, 2007 (Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PC, Mac)

This is not to say the previous games in the series were bad, they were fine, but I feel with those being more historical and with Modern Warfare hitting a little more close to home for people, this had a bigger response and a deeper appreciation. Plus, to me, having played all the games in the series, Modern Warfare was the first to really up the "shit's-hitting-the-fan" ante. Which is evident in the very first mission on the ship when, all of a sudden, the ship starts taking on water and you have to run for your life and jump into a hovering helicopter. In a case of sheer perfect pacing, the game brings it down action-wise and puts you in a vehicle being taken somewhere while you watch a war-torn city pass by, full of executions and trauma. Once you figure out who you are and what the point of all this is, you yourself are lined up for an execution, get a gun pointed at your face, and are assassinated point blank.

All this sets the scene for the amount of shit you're going to see throughout the campaign. In fact, I can claim that this game was the first game EVER to make me actually say "OH SHIT" out loud, and I did it two or three times. This kind of campaign wasn't seen before and the trick to all this was this: you could imagine this actually happening in our world. That helped make the story gripping. Also, the fact that this was the best action you didn't need to buy a ticket for. The game looked great, played fast, and was an absolute blast.

Of course what is Call of Duty nowadays without its multiplayer? This was the beginnings of what we think about when it comes to CoD multiplayer. All the different modes, the leveling up, the unlocks, the challenges, the perks. This was still all relatively new in the grand scheme of things, putting an RPG element into a shooter like this, so that definitely added the whole "carrot on a stick" aspect that keeps people coming back.

This was, unfortunately, the birth of the Call of Duty players who like using voice chat to make sure you know how much you suck and calling you all sorts of derogatory things. I have been against using public voice chat since my days of Halo 2, and while I do dabble in it while playing Dota 2 (I make sure to play with friends), it's worth mentioning that I have always found CoD to be among the most annoying when it comes to people on voice chat, but I digress.

Though that's a reason I'm not going to put a video on this post, since most of it is just walkthroughs or "Check out how many dudes I kill while telling them how fat and ugly their mom is".

Also worth noting is that this game really brought to life the fact that a constant 60 frames per second does wonders. It helps deliver that fast, frantic gameplay the series is known for. Granted, 30 frames per second works for some franchises, but Call of Duty's main draw is that in-your-face action, and it would not be able to achieve that unless it was at 60.

Call of Duty is still one of the most popular franchises on the planet, and the new one (Advanced Warfare) looks like the next big jump in the franchise. Will it be as groundbreaking as 4 was? We will find out in a few months, but until then, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare stands out as the best in the franchise and the game that helped kick off an era of shooters that we had never thought possible.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #12

Star Wars is in a weird spot at the moment: the idea that we are going to get Episodes VII, VIII and IX is causing quite a split. Many people are excited for a new story in the universe, and some of us remember how Episodes I, II, and III went and are (putting it mildly) skeptical. I guess I can say I am a bit of both.

One thing we all can agree on, however, is that the franchise has given us plenty of video games. Some of them are quite good and some give you the same feeling you had when you first saw Jar Jar Binks (ugh).

Nevertheless, one of the best games to carry the Star Wars name happens to find its way onto my favorites of all time.

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#12 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - First released July 15th, 2003 (Xbox, PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone)

KOTOR (as it is affectionately known) was developed by BioWare, who would go on to make the Mass Effect series as well as the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. While they did make great RPGs before in Baldur's Gate and the Neverwinter Nights series, KOTOR was a huge undertaking given the massive fan base surrounding it. Sure, you had the Dungeons & Dragons fans who liked the previous BioWare games (since it used the D&D ruleset), but now on top of that you enter the realm of the Übernerd with Star Wars. On top of that, they wanted a deep RPG game where you can also choose whether you lean towards the light or dark side while making both fun to play, create a gripping and epic story AND appease said Übernerds or be labeled as the company that "fucked up Star Wars". Also worth noting, while Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights ran on the Infinity engine and Aurora engine respectively, KOTOR was the first to use BioWare's Odyssey engine, meaning that this would be the first of its kind.

Luckily the planets aligned (pun? maybe?) and KOTOR not only hit all the beats that RPG gamers wanted, but it made Star Wars fans happy, and I can tell you, being one, that's no easy thing to pull off.

The combat reminded me of Chrono Trigger in that it wasn't quite turn-based, nor was it real-time. You chose the next action you and your party members made, and the timer would tick down until you performed the action. You could also pause the game whenever to get a better tactical look at the situation, a feature that was predominantly used in later BioWare games like Dragon Age. Before KOTOR, all we wanted to do was walk up to a guy, swing our lightsabers and be done with it. Here, we actually had to decide what type of swing we wanted, who to hit with it, and which lightsaber we wanted to use.

Oh yeah, different lightsabers had different stats on them, this was a loot game, and while you will see many swords starting out your adventure, that moment you get your first lightsaber is kinda like Indiana Jones finding the Ark of the Covenant, sheer awe and probably the notion that someone's face is going to melt off.

The big thing here that ended up becoming BioWare's calling card was the dialogue tree. If you have played Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or The Old Republic, you know what I am talking about. The answers you gave actually had meaning, which was incredible to me. Your answers dictated what side of the force you were leaning towards, which changed how you looked, the powers available to you, and how other people reacted to you, paving the way for a game such as Fable.

That was a big thing too, making both sides of the force fun to play. Sure, we all wanted to be the badass dark side and choke people and basically be Darth Vader, but the light side had its fair share of cool powers too. To me it's the nice balance that a game like World of Warcraft has, where both sides has its highlight and either way you play, you can feel like a badass.

KOTOR took you through the galaxy and on many planets, including Dantooine, Tatooine, and Kashyyyk. Also, the idea of controlling your companions, trying to keep them on your good side, and making sure they don't die in battle, added an extra layer on top of an already deep RPG. You level up, you select your skills, you improve your attributes, and you felt like a more and more powerful Jedi, which is really what any Star Wars fan wants.

Video time! Here is some KOTOR gameplay:

Knights of the Old Republic was an ambitious and successful attempt at an epic space RPG. Of course now we know this would pay off for BioWare with the Mass Effect series. People were excited for The Old Republic MMO because they wanted an even bigger version of this game, and for good reason. Say what you will about the MMO, the original KOTOR is a classic that I can always go back to.

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #13

I have mentioned this game before in a Flashback Friday post, so this might be a brief one, and it seems like great timing with the blockbuster movie out soon, so let's talk about one of my favorite arcade games of all time dealing with the biggest thing from my childhood, that I ended up spending a lot of time with via my NES.
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# 13 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game - First released 1989 (Arcade, NES)

First and foremost, I am a HUGE TMNT fan, to the point where whenever I am even close to anything dealing with them, I turn back into an 8-year-old boy and basically start only making sounds like "wah", "gee", "yee", and hop up and down (I was a weird child). I had the bedroom set, the action figures, the Turtle Van, the playsets, the plastic weapons, the plastic shell, and somehow I still turned out OK.

This was still in my early ages of being a video gamer, but even by 1990, I had played the first TMNT game for the NES and it was a HUGE bummer. Even for me, that game has very few redeeming qualities. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to get not only a great TMNT game, but one of the best games I have ever played. Again, I may be a little biased based on the source material here, but it's my list, so deal with it. :)

Again, I've covered this game before so just know that I spent A LOT of time with this game, jump kicking my way through all the levels, beating the game so many times. To this day, I can go back and know which enemies are in which level and what scripted events happen and when they happen.

Since I like adding videos to this countdown, let's look at a speedrun:

Amazing game, better with friends, the best TMNT game out there, and one of my favorites of all time.

If you want to read my previous post, HERE is the link.

Also, kind of already stoked for this weekend so I can see my boys on the big screen again.... "yee"....

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #14

Well before my days of Halo LAN parties, and long before the internet came into consoles and effectively made "same couch multiplayer" obsolete, I remember many a night going over to my friends house and playing some N64. While there is a really good chance I will mention one of those games later on in the countdown, let's talk about this one first.

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#14 - Perfect Dark - First released May 22nd, 2000 (N64)

Also, look at the box there, it says "Expansion Pak REQUIRED". Granted, yes, this was near the end of the N64's life cycle as the GameCube would be announced the same year, so many gamers already had the Expansion Pak, it's just odd how Nintendo would require something to play their games, I'm sure they won't do that in the future (Looks at all the Wii nunchucks and the Wii Fitness Board I somehow own) ....well shit.

Moving on.

Perfect Dark was the next game from Rare after the widely successful Goldeneye game. A lot of the same mechanics stayed from that game, but, obviously, the setting and characters and story are unique. I can recall this being one of the first few instances in gaming (at least in my experience) where your protagonist is a kick-ass femme fatale (the other big game, naturally, being Tomb Raider). 

The setting and the characters kinda reminded me a bit of Blade Runner and anything that can get me thinking of that is great in my books. By and large, however, this game owes a lot of its success to Goldeneye since it acted as the next drug for us. That's not to say this game didn't stand out on its own merits since it totally did. The graphics were improved from Goldeneye, there was a lot of dialogue, and plenty of Easter Eggs, including Robin Williams' face being used as Daniel Carrington. Seriously, go look at it, you'll all say "Really?". (Yes it is actually Robin Williams).

The campaign was a great future-espionage story which still had the hooks of unlocking characters and modes by completing the missions fast and efficiently, so replayability was extremely high here. Also, the local multiplayer was still in effect and it was still a lot of fun to talk trash to your friends while gunning them down.

The big draw for me here was being able to play 8-player matches against bots. This was still a relatively new thing, especially for me since I didn't have a great gaming PC for most of my life and games like Battlefield 1942 were still on the way. If I couldn't hang out with my friends, I could still play multiplayer Perfect Dark against enemies and still have a fun, chaotic, challenging experience. I attribute PD for starting my love of games that have bots since this allows games to continue to have multiplayer while not solely rely on actual people constantly playing the game. This also allows me to actually have a good time since people who play a multiplayer game often and a lot are usually great at it and bots can be as dumb as you want them to be.

Another big thing was the staggering amount of stat tracking this game had. You could see how many games you played, how many you won/lost, how long you've been playing (which I always feel is a little depressing no matter what the actual time is), kills, deaths, accuracy %, headshots, and on and on. It was incredible and really paved the way for future shooters like Battlefield, Call of Duty, and Halo.

Let's take a look at some combat from Perfect Dark in one of the most iconic maps in video games: Facility from Goldeneye 007.

If you don't still have your N64, and shame on you, you can now play the HD version on Xbox Live Arcade, multiplayer and all. Though there is something so surreal about holding an N64 controller while trying to use the Farsight.

HOLY SHIT THE FARSIGHT!

One of the best/most annoying weapons in video games, the Farsight XR-20 allowed you to kill anyone with one shot from anywhere in the map. Watch it in action:

It's the best when you have it, and the worst when you turn a corner, see nothing, and just die at the hands of your buddy who is across the map.

I remember losing so many nights to Perfect Dark and a lot of bot killing. While N64 games in general are hard to go back to and may not stand the test of time, Perfect Dark still will bring hours of fun and I have no problems playing this today.

Though, man, wouldn't it be cool if they made a new Perfect Dark?....no I mean one that's actually good. 

My Top 15 Games of All Time: #15

Thus begins the countdown of my top 15 games of ALL TIME. Now my criteria for this is simple:

- Any game is in play except for mobile games

- I have to have played it

- This does not mean all other games suck, these just stand out.

Get it? Got it? Good! Here we go!
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#15 - Sid Meier's Civilization V - First released September 21st, 2010 (PC, Mac, Linux)

I had never considered myself a big strategy game aficionado. Sure, there was Red Alert, StarCraft, WarCraft, other RTS titles before, but Civilization is more of a turn-based micromanaging style game, and the early entries seemed impenetrable to me, so younger me never bothered with those. Then Civ V came around and everyone who talked about it had nothing but amazing things to say about it, so I knew I had to give it a chance.

Oh man, that was a pretty great decision.

I remember the first time I booted up the game on release day and thought to myself, "I'm going to rule the world". That is what this game is all about, world domination. The big thing here is that they have made it much more accessible to someone like me (who has never played a game in the series) to jump in and get an idea of what's going on. That's not to say the game is simple (it's not), but Civ V does a great job at guiding you though the mechanics, then letting you have your free will, while always being a click away to advise you on what to do next, going so far as to put little gem icons next to things you should build to lean more towards that type of victory (Space Race, cultural, diplomatic, world domination).

That's also a really cool thing to me. Sure it's been in the previous games, but being able to win in different ways keeps your options open at all times in any given game, you could be trying to get the science edge on your opponents, see that they may be a step ahead, switch to a military focused approach, then wipe them out.

The original game launched with 18 playable civilizations, with 7 more as DLC. With the later expansions (Gods & Kings, Brave New World) adding up to total of 43, which is a lot of content for sure. Add to that, the fact that the game supports Steam Workshop, and the possibilities are endless. I downloaded a mod off there that added the Hyrule civilization with their leader being Princess Zelda, anything is possible.

Going back to the main civilizations though, there is something so appealing about playing as the biggest names in history. Washington, Augustus Caesar, Napoleon, Gandhi, Alexander the Great, etc, and taking them through time trying to be the superior civilization. Also, having the ability to play as someone like George Washington and taking him through the World War eras and firing tanks and bombers at my enemies is strangely satisfying.

There is so much going on in any given game, but the game does a great job of letting you decide how much of that you want to get deep into. There is city building/improving, citizen happiness, resource collecting, a tech tree, religion, lawmaking, etc. The amazing thing is that you can play the game on the surface, or get deep into all the mechanics, and have a great time either way.

Also, these games can go on for a long time and never get old. You can play the same game for days straight and it still grips you and never lets go. Being able to play online adds the human element and adds to the massive scale with so many players vying for the superior civilization.

Also, since I am a sucker for great music, here is the theme from the Gods & Kings expansion:

Then there was this theme from the Brave New World expansion:

Gorgeous stuff here and really adds to the overall feel of what you are out to do in this game.

I have never felt the feeling of "One more click, one more turn, one more click, one more turn" before, but Sid Meier's Civilization V got its hooks in me and left me always wanting to see what's next. Alliances will be formed and broken, cities will be founded and fought over, and it is one of the most addicting experiences you can legally have. I have to play some of this tonight.

....and this is just number 15 on my list.

The "Because It's My Birthday" favorite games of all time: Honorable Mention

It is officially August 1st, which means that THE Jeff of All Games is getting another year older (the "wiser" part is still up for debate, I'd like to think so, though). In the spirit of the birthing, I thought I would count down my top 15 games of ALL TIME (so far, I mean this holiday season may produce some new entries).

Why would I do this? It's my blog, so that's why. I will try to highlight one game a day from tomorrow on, but before I do, I want to mention a few here that JUST missed out on my top 15. Keep in mind, these are my favorites of ALL TIME, so there are going to be fantastic games that won't make the list. I have played A LOT of games, so trying to whittle that down to just 15 was a pretty hard endeavor.

So here we go, let's bring up the 15 honorable mentions on games that barely missed by top 15 (in no particular order):

- Team Fortress 2 - First released October 9th, 2007 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Mac, Linux)

I have played many shooters in my years but TF2 is the one I very easily spent the most time with. Between the original launch in 2007 and now, the game has changed in so many ways (including, of course, going free-to-play). Constant updates and support from Valve helped make this game huge and helped it maintain a substantial fan-base. There is always something new with TF2, whether it's a crafting system, new items to acquire, or the pure fact that it's a shooter with damn loot drops, TF2 will always be a game I come back to.

- Star Wars: TIE Fighter - First released July, 1994 (PC, Mac)

Many (including me) consider this to be the best space flight sim on the market. With X-Wing being released a year earlier (and also a success), TIE Fighter took that and made it even better with improved graphics and the fact that you are playing as the freaking dark side!

- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron - First released December 3rd, 1998 (N64, PC)

Keeping the Star Wars flying game theme going, Rogue Squadron was a game that I'm sure overheated my N64. I hadn't taken the full plunge into flying games (besides TIE Fighter, of course) and I was still young and appreciating the original Star Wars trilogy, so anything that could put me in the cockpit of a star fighter while jamming out to the Star Wars theme had my interest. It certainly helped that the first Rogue Squadron was a fantastic game.

- Gears of War Series - First released November 7th, 2006 (Xbox 360, PC)

Gears was the game that got people excited for the new Xbox 360. Shooters were going to go in a new direction and the bar was going to be raised on how action games looked and played. Everyone's first reaction to seeing the chainsaw bayonet was "HOLY SHIT!". Luckily, the Gears series fulfilled the hype and turned into a huge franchise, even being used in the same breath as Halo and Call of Duty. You know your game is a real deal when every other 3rd-person-cover shooter is called "Gears of War-like". I would have to say that Gears 2 is my favorite in the series.

- The Last of Us - First released June 14th, 2013 (PS3, PS4)

Naughty Dog has really hit its stride. The Uncharted series is award-winning and an important franchise in gaming, but The Last of Us is a masterpiece. The story telling here was second-to-none and they do a fantastic job of keeping the player hooked into these characters the entire time. While the combat can get a little repetitive and frustrating near the end, that is a small blemish on a game that will undoubtedly be talked about for years to come. Hell, the opening cinematic made me cry a little and I NEVER DO THAT!

- L.A. Noire - First released May 17th, 2011 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Rockstar makes great games, period. I have always had an infatuation with the mobster era, The Untouchables, Al Capone, prohibition, etc. So giving me a crime drama set in that era is like Christmas. And, yeah, that whole "our characters look real and their face moves perfectly to what they are saying" worked beautifully. It's amazing looking. You really feel like an old-time movie mob cop and I'd gladly play this again and again. I might even use the black and white filter for added effect.

- Twisted Metal series - First released November 5th, 1995 (PS1, PS2, PSP, PS3)

Car combat became a real thing once Twisted Metal was released unto the world. The whole concept of a destruction derby with outlandish characters and weapons made 10 year old me very happy. Plus the fact that it played well and looked great. This trend carried on through the generations of consoles, with Twisted Metal: Black being the standout here. Though I do really enjoy the new one on PS3. Though this game did inspire WWE Crush Hour, so you know...take that for what it's worth.

- Super Mario World - First released November 20th, 1990 (SNES)

The best Mario game ever, period. Deal with it!

- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - First released November 11th, 2011 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

While Oblivion was a ambitious and awesome game, and with Fallout 3 being an instant classic, Skyrim took the open world game and took it far beyond what people could imagine. This is the epic fantasy game everyone wanted and with mods and Steam Workshop, this game will stay fresh for a long time.

- Ratchet & Clank series - First released November 4th, 2002 (PS2, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, PS4)

Crazy guns, great humor, likable characters, and tight gameplay all add up to a fantastic franchise. I absolutely love the "Future" series on the PS3, and I am very excited for the PS4 reimagining of the original game that will coincide with the release of the MOVIE! I'm in!

- Command & Conquer: Red Alert - First released October 31st, 1996 (PC, PS1)

My entry into the RTS genre (before StarCraft got its hands on me) and a staple of my childhood. I can't tell you how many games of this I played with friends, while of course jamming out to "Hell March". The supremely cheesy cut-scenes helped put this game (and it's sequels) into a special place in my heart.

- God of War series- First released March 22nd, 2005 (PS2, PSP, PS3, Vita)

It's hard to believe that the series will be 10 years old next year. The angriest man in all of Greece has brought us so many memories and brutal executions. These games have always been epic in scale and somehow always satisfying. Damn, it feels good to be a badass. I can not wait to see Kratos on my PS4.

- Sonic the Hedgehog - First released June 23rd, 1991 (Genesis, so many other consoles)

The reason I was excited to have a Sega Genesis. The Blue Blur blew us away with colorful graphics, kick-ass music, awesome sense of speed, and a likeable character. This was made doubly so with Sonic 2, which was my favorite, even though I do always have a soft spot for Knuckles the Echidna. That's it for the series right? They didn't make any other Sonic games after Sega stopped making consoles right?.....right?....:( (Hint: those later games were really bad).

- Saint's Row series - First released August 29th, 2006 (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

What started off as more of a GTA clone with Saint's Row 1 and 2, (with a little more craziness thrown in), the series really took off and became its own thing with Saint's Row: The Third (my favorite in the series). The insanity really ramped up and continued to go overboard with 4. I will always have fun with this series and it's a ridiculous good time. 

- Diablo III - First released May 15th, 2012 (PC, Mac, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

While Diablo and Diablo II were the beginnings of the genre, Diablo III stands out as the very best. Blizzard's cinematics are the best in the industry, and the bottom line is that D3 is so much fun to play. I threw myself into the game and I am still itching to click and loot and see what new things drop. One of the most addictive games I have ever played.

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There you go! The 15 games that didn't quite make my top 15 list of ALL TIME. There are some real outstanding games here, and I am in no way saying these are bad. In fact, quite the opposite. The best is yet to come though, so soon I will start the countdown of my 15 favorite games of ALL TIME!