I seriously attempted to answer the thread on your overall top 5 games of all time, but it was a struggle, so instead, here's a thread to start narrowing lists down into platform specific threads.
So everyone, feel free to make accompanying Wii/Wii U/PSP/DS/3DS/Vita, etc. threads, if need be!
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Not going to bother putting these in order, because it would just be arbitrary and I'll be comparing vastly different experiences.
- Journey; a strange little game keeping things as minimalistic as it can while still exuding gorgeous visuals. It's so unassuming; here is a little game that were someone to read out from the paper what its concept is, they would garner little to no excitement. But it's a game that manages to not have a single dialogue, and simply through the visual medium of a beautiful, haunting, ethereal desert landscape with evident signs of a dead civilisation, Journey is astonishingly immersive. Big budget games attempt to court players with the immersion factor, but no matter how realistically written and portrayed their characters are, and how intricately sewn together the open-world cityscapes are, Journey manages to outclass them completely in that factor. Also, that soundtrack.
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron; now, I remember that PS2 Transformers game with the Armada incarnations of the characters, and despite the odd, floaty movements of the characters and the repetitiveness, I was quite fond of that game, until the disc mysteriously disappeared from my life. High Moon's Transformers games come along and quickly cement their place as the best that the Transformers video game licence can currently offer, and Fall manages to become one of my silent hits. It's a very well-accomplished third person action game, and nails the pacing aspect. Rather than overwhelm the player with an avalanche of good things at once, and leaving the rest of the game as an exiguous thing and a repetitive slog, the developers have avoided that, crafting a game with levels that are full of variety, gimmicks and ways to spice things up. Great story, characters and voice acting to boot.
- Assassin's Creed II; I can easily have put Brotherhood here instead, but as polished and great as it is, I can't help but see it as a glorified expansion pack to its mother mainline game. Ass Creed 2 had been another surprise hit; I came in expecting very little, except perhaps for regular bouts of frustration as stealth games ordinarily have that effect on me. Instead, I was given a game that manages to tick my boxes with its parkour aspect and the architectural fascination that comes with each and every city. The soundtrack is among one of the best I've come across, and there's nothing quite like prancing around the rooftops of Venice in the pale moonlight as the glorious accompanying theme blares out from the TV. I perhaps would have liked more flexibility with approach when it comes to the Templar targets, perhaps as a halfway point to how Dishonored is designed, and combat is ridiculously easy when you exploit the counter + kill mechanic. Other than these two quibbles, I love this game, and I'm frustrated at how the series has since become.
- Batman: Arkham City; truth be told, I'd happily put all the Arkham games in this list. Even Origins, a game I still adore, even if it is a very, very incremental sequel, or a glorified DLC expansion. I could have put Arkham Asylum up here in City's place. Asylum has a fantastic, relatively enclosed environment that suits Batman perfectly, but then I recall the disappointing boss encounters and, well, Joker by the end. City is a lot better in the boss department, and they feel like satisfying experiences that force you to whip out new strategies as the fights wear on. Having a decent open-world environment works in City's favour, and it's believably realised (okay, well, as believably realised as it can be within Batman's universe) compared to Origins inexplicably having the entirety of Gotham as this lawless hellhole. Also to point out, I love the more complex use of gadgets this time to solve puzzles or to win certain encounters. Flying a remote Batarang through sparks to give it a charge sufficiently enough to fly into a switch and disable it? That was fun to work out.
- Valkyria Chronicles; it's been surprisingly a bit sparse on the Japanese game front, but here is Valkyria Chronicles. In an ideal world where certain extremists don't exist, where the worst expanses of capitalism don't proliferate at the expense of the needy, and where Britain is an empire again, Valkyria Chronicles would sell well and be a success. If only. It would have been fantastic to see more things like Valkyria, with, at least on paper, a seemingly incongruous combination of turn-based strategy RPG and real time third-person action, and the end result surprisingly works out so elegantly. I've a line-up of different classes and ample room to adjust strategies on the fly and try out different, personalised combinations and tactics beforehand, which is necessary, because this isn't a game whose enemies keel over just by grinding out stats. The story is very respectable, bearing in mind it goes a little batshit crazy, as inevitably Japanese fantasy stories will do, and the characters exude the charm and likeability that endeared me enough to twitch with shock when they decided to unexpectedly kill off one of them at a very unexpected moment. On top of that, the watercolour art style is gorgeous, elevating this anime game a mile above other anime games.
Honourable Mentions
- Fallout: New Vegas; it's this game that has convinced me that if Fallout 4 were to occur, it should be at the helm of Obsidian, rather than Bethesda. Well, Obsidian should handle the writing, naturally, but neither companies compliment each other on technical polish. It's the lack of polish, and the post-apocalyptic wasteland setting that I'm not too fond of that means this very good game misses out.
- Vanquish; it's probably the most fun I've had of any third-person shooter since...ever. Plot is dumb, and there's nothing clever about a stereotypically evil, ultranationalist Russian oligarch as the main antagonist, but the action and the gameplay is where it's at. It misses the top 5, because it's inevitably short. Replayable naturally, but still egregiously short.
- Uncharted 2; I had a better experience with this one than Uncharted 3 when I really realised that enemies were bullet sponges, and when the ship level had me gnarling my teeth incessantly. I think Uncharted 2 is just more memorable of the two UC games I've actually played, even if I continue to prefer Talbot as a conniving villain over that of Lazarevic.
- Bulletstorm; it's probably the most fun I've had of any first-person shooter since...ever. This one is seriously underrated, and I encourage anyone, even those with a weak disposition of shooters, to try this one out and treat it as good, clean arcadey fun, as you figure out how satisfying it is to kick a person into a cactus.
- Sleeping Dogs; the car "combat" and moving carjack features are great, and the former reminds me a little of Burnout. Hong Kong is also a fantastic setting, and one I want to see more of, even if in Sleeping Dogs, it's surreal in how relatively empty the streets are. I'm ready with my pork buns for a second offering of Hong Kong cop drama.
Honourable...ish Mention?
- Final Fantasy XIII-2; I've a catalogue of problems with this game, most of it to do with plot, and how it takes the FFXIII series and drags it into the realm of stupid, but I did enjoy it, perhaps somewhat differently than other people have. It's the clock puzzles I find oddly alluring, and actually the best thing about this game. Ha! Who knew? I just wish the combat was a wee bit more balanced and harder, but otherwise a fairly respectable JRPG out of the few PS3 JRPGs I did get my hands on to extensively play through.
Great games also available for PS3 that I didn't play on PS3
- Mass Effect (PC); oh, the little things. I managed to get weirdly addicted to the hacking "minigame" of the PC version. I found out it doesn't exist on PS3, which prompted me to thank the Lord, which is bizarre even for me. And as repetitive and often featureless the uncharted planets are, I still love being able to have that illusion of planetary exploration available. I think BioWare made a mistake when they canned this feature for subsequent games, instead of improving on it.
- Mass Effect 2 (PC); I'm a little wary that the sequel begins to jettison some of its RPG aspects and the planet exploration, but it does deliver on some much improved combat and biotic abilities, culminating in a game that is all-round more polished than the original. I've not touched 3 yet, because a) don't have access to PS3 at uni, and b) I don't fancy using Origin for the PC version, but I know enough about it to realise that 2 is the Empire Strikes Back of the series.
- Dragon Age: Origins (PC); if this game has made me realise something, it's that firstly, playing as a mage is a lot more satisfying than I initially thought it would be; secondly, real time with pause is a damn good combat system for an RPG; and thirdly, the Fade's not that bad, people.
- South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC): as an occasional South Park viewer, though not all the references were understood, I had an amazing blast with this game, and during the search for the references I did understand. And during the more...obscene moments of the game. I just wish it had more of a challenge to it though, and it is a bit on the short side for an RPG, as well as becoming the thing it's mocking BY featuring such predominant as villains Nazi zombies.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC): I heard the hype and I responded to it once it came up cheap on Steam. Suffice to say, after a period of time adjusting to the style of game I was playing (I'm not exactly the most methodical of players looking at my style of doing things), I was engrossed. Very much looking forward to a proper follow-up.
Conflicted
- The Last Of Us; I don't recall how many hours I've spent to get from beginning to end, and I've yet to take a look at the Left Behind DLC, but it's been an unforgettable time with Joel and Ellie, as cheesy as this sentence may sound. The story isn't exactly bursting with originality, having borrowed numerous elements from other established films and fictional concepts of zombie outbreaks and the worst natures of man when civilisation collapses, but it's the storytelling that I consider to be among the best in video game fiction. I file this under "conflicted" because...well, maybe it's just me and I suck in general, but it's well documented that I don't consider this game to be much fun. I know that might sound daft, because no one is expecting to walk into this game expecting fun, but a lot of the time I was heavily stressed, which gives me pause should anyone suggest to me that I go replay the game.
So everyone, feel free to make accompanying Wii/Wii U/PSP/DS/3DS/Vita, etc. threads, if need be!
-------------------------------------
Not going to bother putting these in order, because it would just be arbitrary and I'll be comparing vastly different experiences.
- Journey; a strange little game keeping things as minimalistic as it can while still exuding gorgeous visuals. It's so unassuming; here is a little game that were someone to read out from the paper what its concept is, they would garner little to no excitement. But it's a game that manages to not have a single dialogue, and simply through the visual medium of a beautiful, haunting, ethereal desert landscape with evident signs of a dead civilisation, Journey is astonishingly immersive. Big budget games attempt to court players with the immersion factor, but no matter how realistically written and portrayed their characters are, and how intricately sewn together the open-world cityscapes are, Journey manages to outclass them completely in that factor. Also, that soundtrack.
- Transformers: Fall of Cybertron; now, I remember that PS2 Transformers game with the Armada incarnations of the characters, and despite the odd, floaty movements of the characters and the repetitiveness, I was quite fond of that game, until the disc mysteriously disappeared from my life. High Moon's Transformers games come along and quickly cement their place as the best that the Transformers video game licence can currently offer, and Fall manages to become one of my silent hits. It's a very well-accomplished third person action game, and nails the pacing aspect. Rather than overwhelm the player with an avalanche of good things at once, and leaving the rest of the game as an exiguous thing and a repetitive slog, the developers have avoided that, crafting a game with levels that are full of variety, gimmicks and ways to spice things up. Great story, characters and voice acting to boot.
- Assassin's Creed II; I can easily have put Brotherhood here instead, but as polished and great as it is, I can't help but see it as a glorified expansion pack to its mother mainline game. Ass Creed 2 had been another surprise hit; I came in expecting very little, except perhaps for regular bouts of frustration as stealth games ordinarily have that effect on me. Instead, I was given a game that manages to tick my boxes with its parkour aspect and the architectural fascination that comes with each and every city. The soundtrack is among one of the best I've come across, and there's nothing quite like prancing around the rooftops of Venice in the pale moonlight as the glorious accompanying theme blares out from the TV. I perhaps would have liked more flexibility with approach when it comes to the Templar targets, perhaps as a halfway point to how Dishonored is designed, and combat is ridiculously easy when you exploit the counter + kill mechanic. Other than these two quibbles, I love this game, and I'm frustrated at how the series has since become.
- Batman: Arkham City; truth be told, I'd happily put all the Arkham games in this list. Even Origins, a game I still adore, even if it is a very, very incremental sequel, or a glorified DLC expansion. I could have put Arkham Asylum up here in City's place. Asylum has a fantastic, relatively enclosed environment that suits Batman perfectly, but then I recall the disappointing boss encounters and, well, Joker by the end. City is a lot better in the boss department, and they feel like satisfying experiences that force you to whip out new strategies as the fights wear on. Having a decent open-world environment works in City's favour, and it's believably realised (okay, well, as believably realised as it can be within Batman's universe) compared to Origins inexplicably having the entirety of Gotham as this lawless hellhole. Also to point out, I love the more complex use of gadgets this time to solve puzzles or to win certain encounters. Flying a remote Batarang through sparks to give it a charge sufficiently enough to fly into a switch and disable it? That was fun to work out.
- Valkyria Chronicles; it's been surprisingly a bit sparse on the Japanese game front, but here is Valkyria Chronicles. In an ideal world where certain extremists don't exist, where the worst expanses of capitalism don't proliferate at the expense of the needy, and where Britain is an empire again, Valkyria Chronicles would sell well and be a success. If only. It would have been fantastic to see more things like Valkyria, with, at least on paper, a seemingly incongruous combination of turn-based strategy RPG and real time third-person action, and the end result surprisingly works out so elegantly. I've a line-up of different classes and ample room to adjust strategies on the fly and try out different, personalised combinations and tactics beforehand, which is necessary, because this isn't a game whose enemies keel over just by grinding out stats. The story is very respectable, bearing in mind it goes a little batshit crazy, as inevitably Japanese fantasy stories will do, and the characters exude the charm and likeability that endeared me enough to twitch with shock when they decided to unexpectedly kill off one of them at a very unexpected moment. On top of that, the watercolour art style is gorgeous, elevating this anime game a mile above other anime games.
Honourable Mentions
- Fallout: New Vegas; it's this game that has convinced me that if Fallout 4 were to occur, it should be at the helm of Obsidian, rather than Bethesda. Well, Obsidian should handle the writing, naturally, but neither companies compliment each other on technical polish. It's the lack of polish, and the post-apocalyptic wasteland setting that I'm not too fond of that means this very good game misses out.
- Vanquish; it's probably the most fun I've had of any third-person shooter since...ever. Plot is dumb, and there's nothing clever about a stereotypically evil, ultranationalist Russian oligarch as the main antagonist, but the action and the gameplay is where it's at. It misses the top 5, because it's inevitably short. Replayable naturally, but still egregiously short.
- Uncharted 2; I had a better experience with this one than Uncharted 3 when I really realised that enemies were bullet sponges, and when the ship level had me gnarling my teeth incessantly. I think Uncharted 2 is just more memorable of the two UC games I've actually played, even if I continue to prefer Talbot as a conniving villain over that of Lazarevic.
- Bulletstorm; it's probably the most fun I've had of any first-person shooter since...ever. This one is seriously underrated, and I encourage anyone, even those with a weak disposition of shooters, to try this one out and treat it as good, clean arcadey fun, as you figure out how satisfying it is to kick a person into a cactus.
- Sleeping Dogs; the car "combat" and moving carjack features are great, and the former reminds me a little of Burnout. Hong Kong is also a fantastic setting, and one I want to see more of, even if in Sleeping Dogs, it's surreal in how relatively empty the streets are. I'm ready with my pork buns for a second offering of Hong Kong cop drama.
Honourable...ish Mention?
- Final Fantasy XIII-2; I've a catalogue of problems with this game, most of it to do with plot, and how it takes the FFXIII series and drags it into the realm of stupid, but I did enjoy it, perhaps somewhat differently than other people have. It's the clock puzzles I find oddly alluring, and actually the best thing about this game. Ha! Who knew? I just wish the combat was a wee bit more balanced and harder, but otherwise a fairly respectable JRPG out of the few PS3 JRPGs I did get my hands on to extensively play through.
Great games also available for PS3 that I didn't play on PS3
- Mass Effect (PC); oh, the little things. I managed to get weirdly addicted to the hacking "minigame" of the PC version. I found out it doesn't exist on PS3, which prompted me to thank the Lord, which is bizarre even for me. And as repetitive and often featureless the uncharted planets are, I still love being able to have that illusion of planetary exploration available. I think BioWare made a mistake when they canned this feature for subsequent games, instead of improving on it.
- Mass Effect 2 (PC); I'm a little wary that the sequel begins to jettison some of its RPG aspects and the planet exploration, but it does deliver on some much improved combat and biotic abilities, culminating in a game that is all-round more polished than the original. I've not touched 3 yet, because a) don't have access to PS3 at uni, and b) I don't fancy using Origin for the PC version, but I know enough about it to realise that 2 is the Empire Strikes Back of the series.
- Dragon Age: Origins (PC); if this game has made me realise something, it's that firstly, playing as a mage is a lot more satisfying than I initially thought it would be; secondly, real time with pause is a damn good combat system for an RPG; and thirdly, the Fade's not that bad, people.
- South Park: The Stick of Truth (PC): as an occasional South Park viewer, though not all the references were understood, I had an amazing blast with this game, and during the search for the references I did understand. And during the more...obscene moments of the game. I just wish it had more of a challenge to it though, and it is a bit on the short side for an RPG, as well as becoming the thing it's mocking BY featuring such predominant as villains Nazi zombies.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PC): I heard the hype and I responded to it once it came up cheap on Steam. Suffice to say, after a period of time adjusting to the style of game I was playing (I'm not exactly the most methodical of players looking at my style of doing things), I was engrossed. Very much looking forward to a proper follow-up.
Conflicted
- The Last Of Us; I don't recall how many hours I've spent to get from beginning to end, and I've yet to take a look at the Left Behind DLC, but it's been an unforgettable time with Joel and Ellie, as cheesy as this sentence may sound. The story isn't exactly bursting with originality, having borrowed numerous elements from other established films and fictional concepts of zombie outbreaks and the worst natures of man when civilisation collapses, but it's the storytelling that I consider to be among the best in video game fiction. I file this under "conflicted" because...well, maybe it's just me and I suck in general, but it's well documented that I don't consider this game to be much fun. I know that might sound daft, because no one is expecting to walk into this game expecting fun, but a lot of the time I was heavily stressed, which gives me pause should anyone suggest to me that I go replay the game.
Likes:
Nikolasvanitas and Azuardo
I find it difficult to class ME1, 2 and 3 as separate games due to the way in which the story all rolls into one, but if I had to choose one in a life or death situation, I'd probably pick ME2. It's the game I played first, and as unfortunate as that might sound, ME1 was never an option for me unless I bought a 360 or capable PC, and it was sadly quite some time later that ME1 was announced for PS3. I couldn't help myself and dived in at ME2, but I've since played all of these games in order enough times that it doesn't matter that I skipped ME1 to begin with. Easily one of the most immersive universes I've ever been drawn into. I was never a Star Trek/Wars guy, but I was absolutely enthralled by the futuristic space travelling nature of these games. It really makes the mind wander, and I think the bigger appeal of it comes from the fact that I'll never get to see what lies beyond in the real world, so this is the closest I can get. I also have no shame in admitting that asari are sexy.
