As I’m always giving my opinions and reviews on a variety of different aspects of video game culture, I thought would share my all-time favourite games. These are my little gems that literally hold a place in my heart.
Some are just funny, casual humour and others can actually get my heart racing with excitement when I play them. Some bring back memories for me of certain times and places in my life, hence adding a lot of nostalgia for me, and so without further a do, here is my top 5:
5. Fat Princess
Finally I have chosen Fat Princess. This game is a little hidden gem with hours of fun packed into it.
The basic idea is that you both have each other’s princesses and there are two teams, red and blue. You have to keep your own princess safe while capturing the other team’s princess. This may sound very easy but there is a catch (as there always is!). Each side can have up to 50 controllable characters at a time, so this whole game is always online.
As well as capturing the princess, each side has many different classes that can help their team mates, such as using warriors or chopping wood to build up to new unlock-able classes such as ‘the dark mage’. Then there is also the expansion pack called Fat Roles which enables you to have pirates, giants and ninjas (pirate is my favourite).
This game all-in-all is just hilarious and can bring you to tears with laughter, and yet brings an intense battle to your plate as well. The final thing that makes this game so funny is that you can feed your princess cake in order to make her really fat, which means the enemy kidnaps her at a much slower rate, giving you time to rescue her.
4. Assassins Creed 2
Assassins Creed is coming in at number 4.
The reasoning behind this is simply that I absolutely love Venice. It is my home away from home and someday I would love to live there myself. I also found that the city layout is remarkably close to the real thing, so you can tell they took the time to map Venice and incorporate it as much and as accurately as possible into the game. I loved leaping around the rooftops and visiting areas I had seen before in real life. This gave me a massive amount of nostalgia and, as we all know, nostalgia is a powerful thing!
Another reason I love Assassins Creed 2 is because of Ezio. My god, what a charmer (yes, I realise I sound like a person with a cartoon fetish right now). He is also a very kind-hearted character who you are proud to be playing as and going on your adventures with.
The final thing I like about this game is obviously the interaction with the city around you, such as the benches, hay bails and hideouts on the roof terrace. You can have some pretty intense chases on these rooftops trying to get away and hide in time before any of the guards catch up (I was useless at this).
3. Uncharted 3
Next up is Uncharted 3. I know most people will argue that the Tomb Raider reboot is just a female version but, to be honest, it’s true and I don’t see a problem with this. Uncharted is exactly what Tomb Raider should have been in the first place.
The main reason for my liking of Uncharted 3 and all Uncharted games is Nathan Drake. He is a strong character, sexy as hell, very charismatic and has a little bit of a bad boy streak in him. So, let’s be honest, he is amazing! He also cares a lot for the people he loves and, from what I can remember from gaming over the years, he has managed to keep all his loved ones alive (wouldn’t mind being stuck in a desert with him).
Again, just like above, I find the environments very appealing to me. Especially those in 2 and 3. I like that this game can be played either in stealth mode or crazy mofo mode (running with all arms firing and not giving a single shit!).
The final thing I love about this game is there is always a little side story going on, such as his and Elena’s love interest. The reason Tomb Raider got 2nd and not Uncharted is simply because, even though there is extra story in Uncharted 3, I felt the decision not to have that in Tomb Raider served itself much better as it focused on the development of a very powerful character and her traits. As much as it pains me to dis my sexy Nathan Drake, I do prefer Lara, but only by a fraction!
2. Tomb Raider
At number 2 is Tomb Raider and, yes, I mean the reboot! Most people who were fans of the old series of Tomb Raider will not agree with me on this one, and the sole reason it seems is because the puzzle trivia, which played a big part in the original, seemed to be removed from the revamp. To be honest, I had no feelings or emotions towards the older Tomb Raider games; I neither disliked or liked them, for me they just were.
However, the new revamp for me is astonishing! The first main thing for me is the amazing detail put in, which is no surprise as it’s Square-Enix. When I say ‘detail’, I mean everything from graphics, to music, storyline and the transition of Lara Croft’s character to a tomb raider.
I played this whole game from start to finish with a headset on and I’m happy I did. The soundtrack for the game is perfect throughout. The amount of suspenseful moments when I was on the edge of my seat was crazy and the music really fed into these emotions.
The storyline, while relatively simple, was actually perfect. It’s simple, but then again you were told from the start the game is about a woman who becomes a tomb raider. I felt more in-tune with this Lara than the previous Lara. If I was in her shoes, I feel like my storyline would play out almost the exact same way as this.
1. Final Fantasy VII
This is my favourite game of all time.
The first of many reasons is the fact that the story is very well developed and it really does tug at your heart-strings (for me, Aerith’s death and Cloud’s mako poisoning brought on floods of tears). The emotion that was poured into this game really does add to the story being told.
The attention to detail for characters’ personalities and how they evolve these throughout the game was top notch. My favourite character progression has to be Cloud because he starts doubting his existence once he finds out he was a mako experiment. The way they dealt with this transition and back was incredibly well done and you could really feel his inner struggle.
The amount of extras this game packs into a single game is fantastic, including two fully kitted out secret characters that have interaction in the main storyline if you decide to have them. As well as this, there is Chocobo breeding (my favourite), extra bosses, extra summons, side quests and the Golden Saucer theme park among other little surprises. The best part of all the extras for me is Vincent Valentine (an extra character) as he is one of the coolest characters with a mysterous hidden past.
What are your favourite games? Let me know in the comments!
