1) Mass Effect
Mass Effect has been my favorite game since I first picked up an Xbox 360 back in 2008. I knew nothing about this game except that one of my friends absolutely hated it. He was a huge fan of another Bioware game, Knights of the Old Republic. I had always heard great things about the game, even though I never had an opportunity to play it. (Later I did, it totally holds up. Fantastic game). He wanted a Knight of the Old Republic type game but in its own universe. He bemoaned it so much that I hated the game by proxy. I don’t even know why I picked up the game. I knew nothing about what the Xbox had to offer, as I was more interested in PS3 games at the time. So I went into Gamestop blind with some store credit and no idea what to do. I picked up Forza 2 and I had just enough to buy a second game used. There I saw it. Mass Effect, in all of its glory. That’s not how I saw it at the time. I saw it as that game my friend totally hated. But for some reason I picked it up and I paid and went home. I played a couple rounds of Forza’s main solo campaign mode. After losing repeatedly and spinning off the course (I love racing games, but I am literally the worst person ever at them) I gave up. I saw Mass Effect sitting there, and I decide what the hell, might as well try it out. I put the game in, and I started playing. Initially I wasn’t blown away. The character creator really paled in comparison to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which I was playing beforehand. The game seemed rather simple in comparison. I made a decent enough looking Shepard. Eventually the game started. I was instantly blown away. I loved everything about it. I loved the music, I loved the build up to the use of the Mass Relay. I loved that the conversations between the characters felt natural. I loved that characters explained thing in a way that felt natural and not a history lesson. I loved the combat, and the leveling, and the story. I loved every twist and turn. I beat the game right after I finished school, and the first thing I did was to boot it back up and restart. I played that game like 7 times in a single summer. I loved it so much that I didn’t even realize you could skip conversations until me 4th play through. This excitement and enthrallment fed right into Mass Effect 2, and then into Mass Effect 3. The reason I am doing top 5 favorite franchises is because 3 out of my 5 favorite games are from the Mass Effect series. Sure the third game stumbles at the end, but the overall experience that is Mass Effect is amazing, and I would really recommend everyone checks it out.
2) Assassin’s Creed
My next favorite franchise has gotten some heat over the last couple years for becoming a bit stale, and having some of the worst DRM in the gaming world, but something about Assassin’s Creed really sticks with me. I really enjoy all the climbing. I enjoy running around these ancient time periods and getting a (warped) version of history. I love the social stealth options of hiding in crowds and stalking your targets. Sure there are flaws, and the Desmond storyline is really dumb. However, each game introduces enough new concepts to keep the games fresh…most of the time. The best in the series are Assassin’s Creed 2 and Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The second one is an almost perfect refinement of the first game introducing much less repetition and a much more likeable character. Black Flag is the probably the greatest departure from the series’ formula by making you a pirate with the likes of Blackbeard and Charles Vane. It has one of my favorite game trailers where Blackbeard goes on to say that the main character is even more terrifying than he is, and he has never seen a man fight so viciously. It’s a perfect representation of the game. The series does stumble. I am not a fan of Brotherhood as I find Rome very boring. Revelations is my personal lowest point for the series. The main character was just about to overstay his welcome, and the tower defense game was a stupid addition. The series got better with Assassin’s Creed 3 by refreshing the fighting mechanics but the location and time period are a bit boring, which isn’t helped with a very stoic main character. However none of these game are bad, they just aren’t as good as the first two in the series. 4 Picks the torch back up and brings with it tons of fun. The series is a hitting a slump again with Unity and Syndicate but I have hopes that because Assassin’s Creed is supposedly taking a break this year, that they will bring something fresh back to the series.
3) Ratchet and Clank
I love me some Ratchet and Clank. People always write it off as some children’s game because of the cartoon-y looks. I can sort of understand that a little bit, but I think that it is sort of judging a book by its cover. If you can get past the look of it, there is so much to love. There is an excellent sense of humor…if you’re a bit immature. The subtitles are pretty good indication of the type of humor you will get. Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, A Crack in Time, Quest for Booty, Size matters. But more than that, the game is just fun. It’s got amazing 3-D platforming, amazing gun play, tight controls. It’s just really fun. And this isn’t nostalgia. I recently replayed the three PS2 games just recently on my Vita and I loved every second of it. It was still fun to use the gadgets to solve puzzles and to shoot evil aliens. It’s a great time all around and worth playing all of them.
If you liked this list, then maybe you'd be interested in supporting this blog! If so checkout this sweet PSTR merchandise.
Thank you, guys for your support! It really means the world to me
Have you guys ever wanted watch movies online? If so you guys should check out my-movie pass!
Click Here!
No comments:
Post a Comment