With Jeroen’s summary post looking back over the previous 50 I guess it is apt that I look to the future for when we reach our next big landmark of 250 games… or 25%!
Well, we have jumped around a lot between games and for the next 50 we are going to have more of a united theme of games that I have never played myself. This will mean games like Grand Theft Auto III, Okami and Theme Park will have a wait a good while until we even think about playing them. Oh well.
Best Game I Had Not Previously Played
As usual my favourite pick is one of the more recent ones that we covered. In fact I had a bit of a tough decision between two very different games. As can be seen by the picture above the game that won out in the end was the interactive drama Heavy Rain. As with films and albums I feel that in order for me to really love a game it has to connect with me on an emotional level somehow. Sure Borderlands was able to inspire bullet-powered glee but this story of the Origami serial killer, more specifically the sections told through the father’s narrative, won out. No other game in a long time has been able to inspire all the primal emotions from the joy in the prologue to the sheet tension and fright in the chapter where we first encounter Madison. Sure, it had it flaws but nobody’s perfect. I am now looking forward to when we get around to playing Quantic Dream’s other title on the list; Fahrenheit.
A close second to this was Flower the original game by thatgamecompany where you are charged with bringing colour to a drab world with your trail of petals. Few games have been able to enrapture me with the sheer aesthetic beauty as this gem. The story, told through the dreams of five flowers on an urban window ledge, also leads you through many of the emotions and has a strange replay value.
Worst Game
This is a bit unfair since I can see a lot of the merits in this game (plus Utopia was already taken) but weakest game in this 50 for me was John Madden Football but a lot of that really was that neither of us actually get the concept of American Football…
To be honest though this has been a hard group of games to pilfer a ‘crap’ game from since there has not been a stand-out bad one. Nothing to complain about though, it’s always good to have too many good games.
Most Surprising Game
Surprising is a bit of wide avenue to go down when choosing a game. The Path was surprising for me because of the reaction I had to it. Even the next day I felt guilt for the fate that befell one of the girls because our decision to go in search of the wolf. It then lead to me being constantly on edge trying to avoid the wolf at all costs and even feeling slightly sick. No survival horror has yet to make me feel this dread because I was never able to fully make the emotional connection I made here.
In terms of games being better than I expected a lot of credit needs to go to Pinball Dreams where I was shocked how well this game has weathered the ravages of time. Sure it is now the quality we would come to expect from iPhone games but since those games (like Flight Control and Fieldrunners) are so enjoyable then no harm no foul. I was also surprised at how freaking hard Kid Icarus was… I mean gees.
Biggest Disappointment
Since we began this list one of the games I was most looking forward to playing was City of Heroes. I envisaged a game which was the realisation of my dream of being Iceman from X-Men. However, this really was not the case since whilst it did have an interesting comic book slant it was not what I was expecting… it didn’t help that I loved Guild Wars so much and this really did pale in comparison to the depth of that game.
Another big disappointment of mine was Crackdown. Jeroen already covered everything that made this a disappointment so I’ll move on.
Best Blast From The Past
Plenty of games have inspired memories of the past. The Sims reminded me of the first amazing computer I ever had. Grow reminded me of university-related boredom. Worms was just… Worms.
However, the game that sent the most memories flooding back in my direction was Space Harrier. I mean they weren’t exactly great memories but there was an awful lot of them.
Games We Kept Playing
A lot of games were played after we finished the write up. Games like Heavy Rain, Borderlands, Flower and World of Goo.
The best of these, however, has to be Fat Princess since this has no real point where you can complete the game and yet the online multiplayer is just… intoxicating.