Here are the games listed from past entries.
15. Tomb Raider
14. Xenoblade Chronicles
13. Dead Space 2
12. Batman: Arkham City
11. Final Fantasy XIII
10. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
9. Gears of War 3
8. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
7. The Last of Us
6. Red Dead Redemption
…and now for my top 5.
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5. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
*2006 Game of the Year*
Technically this game is indeed a 7th generation title even though it was originally developed for the gamecube. Due to a ridiculous amount of delays it was pushed back as a release title for the Wii, with the gamecube version following shortly after. Anyway, I absolutely loved the dark, (time for an overused word) gritty, realistic art design, and the serious tones of this Zelda. Transforming to a Wolf added some interesting gameplay elements that worked great, a solid amount of thought provoking puzzles, fun boss battles, a nice woven story, and followed by a great sidekick that isn’t annoying.
Twilight Princess stands right there alongside of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past as one of the greatest Zelda games ever made.
Note: I have played Skyward Sword and I found it to be the worst game in the Series. Awful art direction made colors muddy, character design made Link look like the son of Michael Jackon, enemy design that made the game look childish, and a forgettable soundtrack. Unlike Midna, Fi was a nuisance and to epitome of the term “Captain Obvious”. Yes Fi, I know that the Forest is completely flooded...
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4. Mass Effect.
*2007 Game of the Year*
Although the game hasn't aged well when it comes to the technical side of things (glitches, late textures, and a buggy cover system) it’s still one of the best games I’ve played. It might not be as polished at the next 2 games but I find it to be the best in the series. The RPG elements were perfect giving you lots of freedom with the amount of customization that’s not found in the other games. The soundtrack was pure bliss, the story was by far above ME2 and 3, and a great deal of actual exploring (even if they used recycled parts), RIP Mako.
Note: Mass Effect 2 was pure trash. As mentioned above, EA destroyed this game by stripping out everything that made ME1 great. Dumbed down RPG elements made room for more action, and they took out planet exploration in favor for planet probing....great decisions. Mass Effect 3 was an improvement as I did enjoy it, but that ending! What a cluster you-know-what. Once EA got their grubby hands on the series it never felt the same…go figure.
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3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Jaw dropping visuals, challenging and fun gameplay, witty dialog worth a few chuckles, and just hectic set pieces really make Uncharted 2 stand out. There is a nice pace between killing things; platforming, exploring and puzzle solving that gave the game great balance making repetition non-existent. It’s a pure blast to play and has aged extremely well as it’s still one of the better looking games from this generation. The leap from Uncharted 1 to2 is astonishing. It nearly had the 2009 game of the year award but was stripped by this next game…
Note: Of course I have played Uncharted 3, but to me, it was a big step back. It started off well throwing in some puzzles and all the other things that made Uncharted special, but about midway through the game it seemed to abandon the treasure hunting theme/expedition and puzzle solving for more action. Also, there was a chapter dedicated to walking, and, the final “boss” can be beaten by standing still…what more can I say?
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2. Demon’s Souls.
*2009 Game of the Year*
One of the hardest games ever concocted in a generation known for coddling the player, Demon’s Souls was a breath of fresh air. It’s med-evil themed, RPG gameplay, with a brilliant multiplayer component makes DeS a truly unique experience. Blood stains on the floor breeding caution, messages left behind to warn you of a trap (or that “sticky white stuff” message hilariously put in front of a female NPC), the ability to invade someone else’s game, or team up with 2 other players and assist the host. It’s one of the few games that I actually WANTED to obtain all the trophies to because it was just that pleasing, and even after achieving that, I recently went back to experience it all again with a new crowd while it was free on PSN. The replay value is insanely high.
It might not be the prettiest game, it might not have a great story, it might have some problems with targeting, and the framerate drops can be annoying but it did little to affect the pure enjoyment I received. The gameplay and challenge is the driving force behind this work of art and trumps all of its imperfections.
Note: I really enjoyed Dark Souls as well, but there were some tweeks to the gameplay that I didn't care for, and the MP didn't feel as 'tight'. The open world was great but it might have affected the MP.
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There's one thing that separates my top 5 from the rest of the game I've played, and it's the fact that I've beaten these games more than once, twice, hell, even three or more times. They are still enjoyable after all these years and that makes them a step above the rest.
Next up is obviously the last game on the list, my favorite game from generation 7.
Thanks for reading.
Former Deviation Games developers have formed a new studio at Sony Interactive Entertainment in order to work on a brand new PlayStation IP.
Well that's an awesome and very surprising turnaround. Cheers to the new studio and what they'll build!
That's..... confusing, so shut down but just reformed and same employer 🤔 sounds like pretty much what happened to Japan Studio basically just being rebranded as Asobi
It is odd one I don't know how business deals work or the law of that kind of stuff. But is it possible Sony reached out and said hey we want you apart of Sony but don't want to purchase you for what ever reason. How about use disband and we will open a studio and hire you guys type of thing. Is that even possible?
I guess the deviation team fell apart and didn't deliver good progress on what they pitched (they overhyped themselves when the team was announced)so Sony shut them down. They regrouped with a new team and a new pitch so Sony is giving them another shot.
And this time they are keeping it quiet to keep pressure down on the team. So people aren't asking everyday what deviation(or whatever the new team is called) is doing.
Edit: Also Sony never owned them. They just ended their partnership with them. Deviation decided to close on their own.
Good point. You know, i was thinking of Days Gone too. They pitch an idea to Sony for Days Gone 2 but Sony didnt like it do they scrapped the whole thing. Maybe if a good pitch came by...they'd reconsider it.
To be fair, Sony didn't shut them down. Devation was independent. Sony pulled funding on the project they were working on. As a result, they couldn't run so Devation decided to close on their own.
Good for them that they were able to work it out. Hopefully they're developing something interesting.
These days Xenoblade is one of Nintendo’s bigger franchises – at least when it comes to RPGs – but that wasn’t always the case. The first entry came out in English more than a year after its Japanese launch, and that was for European fans only.
Would've been yet another whack move on Nintendo. I'm glad they did. It's one of the few games I got the switch for.
I guess Nintendo forgets how boosting sales numbers work. Why lock a game to a certain region or certain regions? You want sales number then flood the market and release the game in every region.
I just don't understand why companies enjoy locking software behind such specific things. Imagine if Minecraft was only available for Xbox 360 and only North America and never again on anything else..
WTMG's Kyle Nicol: "Heading Out combines genres and styles which might sound incompatible at first glance, but did so in a very interesting manner, resulting in a truly unique roguelike experience. I, for one, really liked the presentation as well, with its slick visuals and soundtrack. It’s not entirely perfect, as the driving could have been more polished, and the pop-in glitches really took me out of the experience at times. That being said, it’s a game unlike any other out there, which wlll definitely keep you engaged through a good few runs."
Nice blog!
Demon's Souls is such a great game. I remember renting it out of curiosity when it first released. I got to that first boss fight and died almost immediately... I wondered if I would ever be able to defeat him, then quickly realized that death was a core mechanic within the game. Demon's Souls really made me change my perspective on how I think about and play video games.
Since then, I play almost every video game on its' hardest difficulty. Because, after playing the Souls series, nothing really feels too tough. :)
I agree about Mass Effect 2 being trash compared to the 1st. The original was a true rpg. About your first place I wonder what it'll be. For me the best game of last gen was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Oh how much I disagree with you on Zelda. I'm a huge Zelda fan and found Skyward Sword to be fantastic. I thought that the graphics in TP looked awful. It just looked washed out to me. I thought the controls were horrible with the waggling of the wiimote. I didn't find the wolf to be fun and just thought it was one of the worst in the series.
Skyward Sword is my third favorite in the series. I thought that the art style was fantastic. I prefer games with a really nice art style and that game had a fantastic one. The controls were just tons of fun. You actually had to be precise. My main issue with the game is that you had to resync the controller rather frequently. But Twilight Princess just didn't do it for me even though I beat it three or four times.
The thing that amazes me most about this list is how few of the games I have played. I'm not much of an RPG guy, haven't yet played tomb raider, played the first two batmans but not origins....maybe I should think about adding a few games to my backlog.
I would have included portal 2, GTAV, mario galaxy/3d world, assassins creed 2, and bioshock in my top 15
I picked up Demon's Souls last night after a week at Dark Souls. I will go back to Dark Souls, but I wanted to do them in order.
Dark Souls 2 is now my most anticipated title, on ANY system... and I have a PS4, XONE.
I have a lot of Souls to capture and spend before March 11th!!!