After
playing virtually every noteworthy game that has come out over the last 15
years (except Gamecube ;), this is my tribute to the
games that really stood out in one way or another.
Lets start at the start with best intros to a game:
Simply
a mindblowing intro showing off everything which is
great about the game with constant loud gunfire, action and fantastic movie
like narration all backed up by a music track which they have actually matched
to the on screen events. Fantastic stuff and gets watched literally every time
we start the game up.
The
most important aspect here is the music, it just suits this type of game
perfectly and makes me want to watch the intro all the way through every time I
start the game up which is always a good sign of a great intro.
When
game awards are mentioned on a site called Guardian Heroes dot com, you know
this game is going to pop up from time to time :) Seriously though, the cartoon
style is so good, I actually thought it was a cartoon on TV when I first saw it
in a games store – that is until the title screen showed up :) Again, great
music composition matched to the onscreen action along with the great anime style
makes this one a must watch.
Honorable
mention: Crazy Taxi, Sol Feace, Cyborg
Justice, MSR, Shining Force 3
And now
for the category no one cares about:
The
music is just such a brilliant riff it always makes me wait until it is all
over before I press start and the image itself is nice (like just about every
other title screen in existence :) Top stuff sonic team.
Absolutely
captures the dream like nature of the game with the soft music and dark but colourful background.
Not
sure if this qualifies as a title screen but the stage select screen you are
initially placed in is amazing – its unreal with the scribbled drawing look about
it, like nothing else I’ve seen on the PS2 – or any console for that matter .
Honorable
mention: Golden Sun
And on to
a category close to my own heart:
The
game featuring my most listened to mp3 of all time comes in at number one and
as you’ll see from the top three, I love all music by Richard Jacques full
stop, the guy is a legend. Reactive Factory and Super Sonic Racing stand out
here but in all honesty all the tracks are top notch.
Again,
Richard Jacques does the business, this time in a better racing game. Time,
Holding on, Am I Only Dreaming, Club Paris, Heartland, in fact most of the
tracks are brilliant (sound wise and driving wise :)
And
yes, it’s the man Jacques again this time remixing many other fantastic artists
tracks, such as Hideki Naganuma (almost as good as
Jacques) and lots of the great music from Jet Set Radio. Rock it on, What about
the Future, Sneakman, and most of the other tracks
all kick ass enough to make you just stop playing the game and listen.
Honorable
mention: Guardian Heroes, Shenmue, Shining Force 3,
Initial D, Sonic Series, The Ninja, Fantasy Zone
This had to
be best graphical achievement instead of best graphics otherwise it would
basically be the most recent games winning it all:
The
graphical realism shown in this games surpasses every other racing game and
what I thought was possible on current consoles, its
not really the number of polygons, but more the shading and lighting techniques
which are breathtaking when shown on a composite cabled TV. Stunning!
I
have no idea how they got so much oomph out of the DC – the environments are
way beyond anything that had been seen before and even today looks a lot better
than most PS2 and even some Xbox titles! Simply unreal.
Treasure pull another win out of the bag with
the incredible Radiant Silvergun, the 3D elements in
the game in particular will surprise many Saturn gamers and the v.high resolution 2d stuff (such as the title screen) are
equally impressive.
Honorable
mention: Maken X, House of the Dead 2, Halo, Dead or
Alive 3
Now a very
hard fought category:
The
fight which erupts once you enter the covenant ship is simply one of the greatest
gaming achievements of our time, fighting alongside a friend and some NPC
marines against what seems like an infinite number of covenant, some wielding
plasma swords, is something you do not want to miss. Although it took us about
three hours of solid play on legendary (the only way to play), as soon as we
reached the next checkpoint I wanted to go straight back for more. Your marines
shouting different things each time, one elite always
managing to flank you and endless scampering micro covenant just make
this the best videogame fight in
existence!
Following
closely behind Halo, is the fight between you and Valgars
team of soldiers on the bridge early on in Guardian Heroes (episode 4?). You
have to pull out all your best moves to survive against his onslaught and all
the while he is talking to you onscreen, commenting on your performance! The
music playing during this fight is some of the best ever also,
just maximizing you’re enjoyment from the fight. Fantastic! The secret fight
against P silver and Village god simultaneously later on in the game is also
wonderfully executed. If Halo wasn’t so damn good this would easily be number
one.
After
seeing how tough Magician can be in HOTD1, you’re treated to an amazing battle
in a huge courtyard against a slightly upgraded magician, especially if you
take him on at five stars in boss mode. The music is utterly amazing and the
feeling of tension you get from fighting what you already knew was going to be
a seriously challenging adversary is absolutely top-notch.
Honorable
mention: Radiant Silvergun final boss, Way of the
Samurai, Ninja Gaiden, Shenmue
70 man fight
And now
for those with many friends, its:
This
is one of the greatest gaming experiences known to man. If you can actually get
a copy of duke nukem and a Saturn and a working
cartridge and a 6 player adapter and seven Saturn controllers (unlikely) then
you too can experience this nirvana like state :) Every time you play, some new
crazy event will cause you to crack up with laughter and you will not care who
wins or loses. One of the few games to ever almost cause a
fatality due to laughing so hard. So do whatever you can to play this
game!!
Being
able to play with a ludicrous number of players is always good but in Micro
Machines V3 it is used to the fullest extent. Trying to get 16 cars onto a
small floating sponge or out of a flaming test tube alive is totally excellent
and with tanks and weapons it just multiplies the fun. You will hear “Who
pushed me off?” soooo many times it will hurt your
ears, but you’ll be laughing so hard you won’t care.
More
of a serious competition multiplayer game than the two hilarity fests listed
above but nonetheless, this game is awesome when played over a system link.
Even though they foolishly dropped the kudos system and voice and replays from
multiplayer (ouch) it still rocks which is a testament to how good the gameplay
is. When you are using cars that are balanced you can have some extremely close
and fun races and you will not want to stop playing.
Honorable
Mention: Guardian Heroes, Halo, Bomberman, Gauntlet IV, Virtua Tennis, Dead or
Alive 3
And for
you net-types (Ed: that means those
reading this website I guess):
RPG
goodness absolutely perfected for online play. The only thing that could ruin
this game was hackers and cheaters and guess what
battle net was full of? :) It was still great fun though, it’s just a shame
Diablo 2 wasn’t quite
up to the level set by the first one.
Sublime racing against anyone and
everyone online.
Just stay away from the newcomers playing Downtown short and KGB corner and
you’re all set for some vicious battles and serious competition. This is
without a doubt the best racing experience around.
Lets face it you knew this was going to
show up. They play the game in
Honorable
mention: Quake 3, Alien Front Online, Rallisport
Challenge 2
And
finally, my word on what are the:
Initial D
Second Stage (ARC)
Shenmue II (DC)
Death Tank
Zwei (Sat)
Radiant Silvergun (Sat)
Outcast
(PC)
Guardian
Heroes (Sat)
Sonic
Adventure (DC)
Grandia (Sat)
Project
Mystaria (Sat)
In no real
order, just the best ten ever – I never realized how many were on the Saturn
until now :)