Video Game Favorites

May 1st, 2005

Filed under: General

I’ve been playing video games for the better part of ten years, since the glory days of the Playstation . With a few exceptions, the games I prefer seem to fall into three categories: action games, adventure games and roleplaying games. I know the line between the various types of games gets a bit blurry now and then, but it’s my site, so it’s my call.

The following have been my favorite games over the past ten years, in no particular order. Most can be found cheap in bargain bins or eBay:

Action Games:
Ratchet and Clank I, II and III(PS2) – My favorite series of games. Fun and humorous on so many levels.
Jak and Daxter I, II and III(PS2) – a close second to the Ratchet & Clank series.
Medievel I and II(PS) – Humorous horror-inspired series. Lots of fun.
Psychonauts(PS2, XB) – My current game.
Sphinx(PS2) – Play as a muumy and a god.

Adventure Games
Akuji the Heartless(PS) – Voodoo and Richard Roundtree, what more could you want?
Beyond Good and Evil(PS2, XB) – Clever setting with an intriguing storyline.
Nightmare Creatures(PS) – chasing monsters at night in Victorian England.
Ghost in the Shell(PS) – Very (very) loosely based on the original movie. In this game, you get to pilot one of the spider-like Tachikoma tanks around, shooting innocents bad guys.
God of War(PS2) – A recent favorite. Bloody, but fun.
Resident Evil(PS) – The original.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds (PS2, XB) – Surprisingly good for a licensed game.
Devil May Cry(PS2) – The orginal was haunting and fun. Diluted by the sequels.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter(PS2) – Another good licensed game.

Roleplaying Games
Skies of Arcadia (DC, GC) – Probably my favorite video game RPG.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time(N64, GC) – The best of the Zelda series.
Final Fantasy VII(PS) – The best of the Final Fantasies.
Final Fantasy VIII(PS) – Good storyline and good characters.
Final Fantasy X(PS2) – Beautiful, but became too much like a chore at the end.
Final Fantasy X-2(PS2) – Like Final Fantasy X, but with beautiful women and dancing…
Legend of Legaia(PS) – An overlooked classic.
Dungeons and Dragons: Heroes(XB) – The closest I’ve come to my D&D games growing up (we were all about the hacking and slashing).
Baldur’s Gate(PS2) – A little more thoughtful than the above.
Parasite Eve(PS) – A modern day RPG by the makers of Final Fantasy.

3 Responses to “ Video Game Favorites ”

  1. Jog
    May 1st, 2005 at 11:53 pm

    That “Ghost in the Shell” game was really great; I still remember the fight with the final boss, where you spend most of the battle in freefall from the roof of a skyscraper, and you have to finish things off before you hit the ground… great stuff! Out of action games on the PSX the only final stage that got my blood pumping more was the last lever of Square’s “Einhander”, where I believe the camera keeps swooping around the place for the whole thing, which really ought to be annoying but it actually came off really well…

  2. John Nowak
    May 2nd, 2005 at 1:41 am

    Heh. I like the “Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance” games too.

    “BG:DA I” has an interesting strategy which can be silly, but fun: play the elf, and go through all of Act I saving up your experience points. Spend on on Magic Missle, but otherwise, horde them and be careful to kill everything you can. You’ll need to turn the elf into a heavily-armored sword-swinging tank, but it’s worth it.

    Right after you kill the Beholder, you should be able to buy the delicious package of death which is Ball Lightning, or, as I like to call it, The Spell That Kills Things You Don’t Even See Yet. It’s surprisingly effective.

    “Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II” was written by another design group, but it’s still quite a lot of fun. Ranged weapons, which were almost useless in the first game, were pumped up to a shameful level. Ammo no longer has to be bought. Fairly early on, I had a Dark Elf Monk with a rapid-fire crossbow of flame conducting recon by fire: shoot some bolts offscreen, and if you hear a scream, fire for effect until their agonized squeals stop. Repeat as necessary. It’s like bringing an M-60 to a swordfight.

    The game also has a sweet magic item system that lets you build items yourself. This means that no matter how rich you get, you can always plow another hundred thousand or so to get another +1 to your crossbow.

    Bad news is that the game doesn’t look at saved games from the first volume — you can’t load an old character, and when you meet the characters from the first game … they’re not the ones you played. Sorta sucks.

    Probably my favorite, though, is “Champions of Norrath”, which was done by the same team that did the first game. The Shadowknight — the Drow — have the most hilarious but useful combat spell I have ever seen in a life of gaming.

  3. Dave Ferland
    June 20th, 2005 at 9:19 pm

    Legend of Legaia IS an overlooked classic. It is huge and entertaining and fun. Check it out if you can find it. TORNADO FLAME!!!

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