Saturday, November 14, 2009

MJ's Top 50 Games of All Time (40 - 31)

40. Worms: Open warfare (PSP)

While this version of Worms is not as critically acclaimed as previous releases (they trimmed down the arsenal so no more holy hand grenades) I still found it to be the best purely because of the Platform, the PSP. And I remember many hour playing multi player wi fi with my mates during media lectures. Worms went the Mario route and tried 3-D, but like many other successful 2D franchises that didn’t make the transition that well (Earthworm Jim I’m looking at you)

39. Viva Pinata (Xbox 360)

It feels weird having a farming game up here nestled between all the violence, but I truly love this game. Often overlooked as a simplistic kids game, Viva Pinata balances between being an addictive collect a thon to a more casual 'i just want to water the garden' game. Ive put in over 80 hours into the single player mode - thats more than any other xbox game i Have.


38. BattleToads and Double Dragon (Nintendo Entertainment System)

When we think crossovers in gaming, the first thing that comes to mind are the Capcom vs SNK or Marvel vs SNK beat em ups, and crossovers are becoming increasingly popular (Think about Kingdom Hearts or MK vs DC) My favourite Crossover game is still battletoads and Double Dragon. Which other game could you literally pound your enemy into the ground before punting them out of the screen.

37. Tetris (Almost any system out there)

Three years ago I read a Book called Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children which covered the Tetris saga, and unveiled how Governments stepped in to procure the rights to the game. Any game that has that kind of impact deserves to be in a list. Also, when you draw up a list of the most influential people in video games, alongside Miyamoto, and Meier and Kutagari, you will find Tetris inventor, Russian mathemetician, Alexey Pajitnov.

36. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (PS2)

In popular culture, the term jumping the shark denote the point at which the characters or plot of a TV series veer into a ridiculous, out-of-the-ordinary storyline (wikipedia) Usually this occurs after a series has reached its peak. For me, Tony Hawk Underground 2 represented that point in this series, with the two previous games (Thug 1 and Tony Hawk 4 initiating the decline) For me, Tony Hawk 3 will always be the best T.H experience.

35. Pong (Magnavox but I used to play it on the Mega Drive)

My fondest memories of Pong actually come from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. There is a cheat you input at the title screen in UMK3 which loads a game of Pong, and as ridiculous as it sounds, my mates and I spent half the time actually playing Pong instead of other Mega Drive Games (UMK included) Pong is regarded as the first commercially successful video game ever, and if it was not for it, The first console, The Magnavox back in 1972, would have never taken off. In some part, your shiny Xbox or Ps3 owes a bit to Atari, and their smash hit, Pong

34. Smash Bros Melee (wii)

Im a Nintendo fan (Now im more into Xbox but growing up, ive always preferred Nintendo) so its a huge treat to be able to play something like Smash Brothers and beat the crap out of pikachu with Mario. Ive owned all three of these games - The N64, Gamecube and Wii editions, and I must say that the Wii Edition is by the far the best.

33. Forza 3 (Xbox 360)


I’m not a huge racing fan. I enjoyed Need for Speed Most wanted, and Midnight Club 3 but thats about it. I can handle arcade racers like Burnout but I find Gran Turismo to be a tad sterile for my liking. Thats why I was mildly surprised to enjoy Forza 3. Great Game that should be in any petrolhead gamers collection. This was actually a tough call because I really enjoyed Shift this year, and Need for Speed Most Wanted was also up for contention for this spot. But Forza gets the nod.

32. Chronicles of Riddick. Escape from Butcher Bay (Xbox)

I prefer the Ps2 to the original Xbox, and even though I had many of the exclusive XBox titles (fable, halo etc) none of them could stand up to the Gamecube or Ps2 exclusives. Until I played Chronicles of Riddick that is. Five years later and I have yet to see a PS2 first person shooter that looks as good as this game (Black and Timesplitters 3 come close though) Most games that are based on Movie licences are destined to fail miserably, so extra points to Riddick for breaking the generalisation.

31. Jak 3 (PS2)

Unlike Hollywood, most Gaming trilogies actually get better with each title, and usually the third game is the best (Prince of Persia comes to mind) In fact, Jak shares many parallels with Prince Of Persia. With both series, I disliked the second game because it was too dark and moody for my liking. The thing about Jak is that after playing it, its hard to accept the mediocre graphics of most other PS2 games.

Join me again tomorrow for another ten games

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