Nuu’s Top 100 Greatest Games of All-Time
#20-11
20| Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
Released: November 16th, 2004
Available On: PC
Most RPGs only focus on two settings. Either they are from a medieval era or they are science fiction. Whether they are of the Western or Japanese variety, it’s almost always either going to involve dragons or space cruisers. It is very uncommon to have a role playing game take place in the modern era. For this alone, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines turns heads. But add on the fact that it was made by Black Isle veterans and it used the, then uncommon, theme of vampires, and on top of all that using the then hot Steam engine, it made role playing gamers stop in their tracks. Those who dared to test the jungles of digital distribution found a role playing title rich with core role playing elements. A true three dimensional successor to Black Isle’s role playing behemoths of yesteryears. Unfortunately, the game didn’t sell too hot. In the long run the studio went bankrupt after a string of underperforming titles. However, it was not without all of their games becoming cult classics. The most well known one being Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines.
Even today the game seems just as popular as ever. With the title being talked about on a regular basis whenever WRPGs, or even just RPGs in general are brought up. But what exactly makes Troika’s outing stand out so much even today? In an age of Witchers and Deus Exes, titles that are far more modern it doesn’t really make sense that this title is still so yearned on. However, once one plays the game it becomes pretty obvious. The simplest way to explain it is that the game is arguably the best representation of a core WRPG in the three dimensional sphere. Sure games like Fallout 4 and Skyrim are certainly ambitious when it comes to map size and the number of quests they offer. However, when it comes to making choices or altering world around the player in a personal manner the games truly lack. In contrast, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is a very personal game. The choices the player makes throughout the title not only has rippling effects to change the overall arc and story, but also alliances they can form and even the lives of acquaintances and strangers.
The game begins as the player selects which race of vampire they want to be. Depending on which they chose, they have different strengths and weaknesses, and can partake in only specific quests or even storylines. Once the player is finished setting things up, they are left to embark in the stunning metropolis of Santa Monica, California. The game is set up in a free roaming map that the main character explores to discover unique locations, events, and characters. The characters players come across results in interwoven quests with connected storylines. It is up to the choice of the player of how the story will play out depending on their decisions.
Now in text, there really much that sets this game apart from most other well done RPGs. But when playing the game everything just fits so well. Most RPGs can’t seem to figure out in having a open world that truly feels alive and full of discovery. Quests that truly feel that the player is making an impact in real events around them. However, this game nails these things perfectly. On top of that, the game has very unique gothic type theme to it. Today, the vampire craze that begin in the late 2000s has recently ended. But before vampires turned into a guilty sex pleasure for girls in their teens and twenties, they were seen as very clliche horror monsters. Troika’s title mixed things up by bringing the vampires into a much more modern, urban, and hip atmosphere. To simplify things, most JRPGs clearly focus too much on targeting teenagers. In contrast, most WRPGs focus too much on targeting adults well into their thirties and beyond. This leaves many people who are in their twenties and early thirties without anything that focuses on them. JRPGs seem too child-like and angst, while WRPGs are too dry and pretentious. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines finds itself targeting those in young adulthood very well with its focus on stumbling upon social themes, but divorcing itself from child-like drama or life long regrets. It isn’t the fact that the actual gameplay allows a lot of freedom, but the setting the player finds themselves in. You are twenty-something year old without parents to answer to or children to take care of. The world is your playground with the city as your playpen. I feel that is an accurate deduction of why the game is so beloved.
Of course this isn’t to say the game doesn’t have a dark and creepy atmosphere. The game has a wonderful gloomy artstyle with dark tones and saturated colors. The environment is dirty and depraved. And the soundtrack is top notch. However, at the end of the day I feel that the two things that make this game so beloved is the focus on appealing to the lifestyle of twenty-something year olds (as well as a good share of those in their thirties), but the fact that it showed an alternate route of where 3D WRPGs could have gone. It seems that most 3D WRPGs today focus on having a large environment with lots of quests at the expense of consequential choice based gameplay. Sure there are some titles like The Witcher that show developers that they can have their cake and eat it too, but they are incredibly rare. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines went against the tide in many aspects, and as a result it stands out today in many many ways, and will continue to do so in the future.
19| Mother 3
Released: April 04th, 2006
Available On: Game Boy Advance
I’m going to be very blunt about this. I didn’t like Earthbound at all. Personally, I feel that it is one of the most over-rated games ever made. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very unique and charming at times. However, much of the game mechanics, as well as the over-arching story are a mess. The cult status the game enjoys is a big mystery to me. That said, when I gave the game’s sequel a try “Mother 3” all I could think of to myself was this “I am very glad that this wasn’t localized”. This wasn’t because the game was bad, rather to the contrary. It was because the game was so unique and avantgarde that there would be no way that Nintendo’s conservative localization team would be able to do it justice.
Due to Earthbound having a large cult fanbase, when the game wasn’t getting localized the Earthbound community decided to localize the game themselves. The result was one of the best localization of any game ever. I can’t praise the fan translation enough. It’s probably the best localization I have ever played. It’s up there with Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter. It’s even more mind blowing considering that it was done for free. It isn’t just because of how they handled the characters and plot, but how they handled the game’s lighthearted as well as off-beat tones. This includes some touchy subjects such as death, slavery, and sexuality. Yes you heard that right, despite this game looking like a Nick Jr. cartoon, it takes on some serious subjects. But to add further to the confusion is how when these subjects are present the game, for the most part, still takes a lighthearted tone.
To explain exactly what Mother 3 is, it is essentially a parody of common Japanese Role Playing Games. Technically it plays just like any other JRPG out there. It’s party based, has a main character, has a turn based battle system, is linear, and has a strong over-arching story. Even if you want to get more technical about it, the game even revolves around kids saving the world. The thing is, outside of that, the game is anything but ordinary. For starters the world of the title is far removed from anything typically seen in other video games. Supposedly it takes place in the modern day, but despite that there are dinosaurs, advanced spaceships, and cowboys running amok. If I had to compare the world of Mother 3 to something, I would say that it’s sort of like the world of Dragonball. A mix of the past, the future, and the modern day. This kooky crazy world lends much to the look and feel the game shoots for. Playing the title kind of feels like you are in a living comic strip. There are plenty of times when you crack a smile or even laugh. That said, things can get pretty morbid at times, however going into detail, I will likely be spoiling it.
Gameplay wise, despite the game doing it’s best to hide it, it follows a mostly typical JRPG design. There are some stand out features though. The biggest is the battle system. Like it’s predecessor, damage is done by rolling health, as health gradually depletes instead of being taken instantaneously. For example, say that my character has 200 HP left, and an enemy hits me with 300 damage. Obviously my character is on their way to die, however I don’t get the 300 damage all at once. The health will see a quick drop initially and then gradually deplete over the course of a some seconds. During that time I can heal my health back up or attack the enemy, hoping to kill them first, before my health counts down to zero. Unfortunately, this is a double edged sword, as the opposite can happen with an enemy that could do quite some damage to my party before they collapse. There is also the fact that the game takes some pages from Dragon Quest IV as throughout the title the player plays as multiple characters, each with their own story arcs. Personally, I don’t usually like this, but the it is done perfectly as each character is very charming and memorable.
Before closing out, I have to give a shout out to the soundtrack. It isn’t the best out there, but it is certainly unique. It fits the style and tone of the game perfectly.
Despite being such a niche series, it is crazy how much influence the Mother franchise has had on gaming. I’ve already covered it in an early entry, but Undertale was so influenced by the Mother series that the creator got his start with an Earthbound game hack. Again, I don’t see what people saw in Earthbound, but I certainly see what people see in Mother 3. It is a highly unique and entertaining game that I wouldn’t want to have come out any different. Mother 4 may never, and likely will never, be released. However, the spirit and tone of the series will live on for a long long time.
18| Splatoon
Released: May 28th, 2015
Available On: Wii U
Splatoon is the game that Nintendo fans, and gamers in general, had been waiting almost fifteen years for. The biggest criticism given to Nintendo is how they rarely create new IPs. Now before Nintendo diehards pull out the guillotine, let me explain what most people mean by this criticism. Sure, technically Nintendo makes new IPs, even frequently. Recently we saw Codename S.T.E.A.M. and there is the upcoming 3DS game Ever Oasis. However, what people mean are big budget new IPs that are clearly part of Nintendo’s entrenched catalog of Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and what not. For an equivalent, take Ubisoft’s Watchdogs. It was a huge big budget game developed internally by Ubisoft to be slatted as one of their biggest franchises. It was also highly praised at the time not only due to its seemingly unique concept, but that it was a big budget new IP for Ubisoft, as the company had been resting on its laurels every since Assassin’s Creed. Sure, Ubisoft had made some new IPs around that time such as Child of Light and Grow Home, but they weren’t that highly budgeted and clearly don’t serve those who want something more meaty and part of Ubisoft’s main catalog. This is similar to Nintendo’s dilemma, they make new IPs, but they aren’t planned to be as entrenched in Nintendo’s main lineup as their other well known titles. The last game Nintendo released as a new IP that fit this criteria, was Pikmin all the way at the turn of the millennium. When Splatoon was announced, it was met with a lot of excitement just for being a new title that was part of Nintendo’s main course.
At the time of Splatoon’s release, it was initially met by skepticism to some. First off, it was a third person shooter where the goal wasn’t to shoot the enemy, but rather to shoot literally everything else. “Paint the town red” isn’t just an expression in the game, in fact it is the game. Each player controls a humanoid squid equipped with squirt gun-like paint weapons. The goal is to cover the map in as much of your team’s paint as possible before the timer runs out. It sounds simple, but it is surprisingly fun and competitive. What’s more, is that due to competitors being squids, the characters can actually jump inside and swim in their team’s paint, being undetected by the enemy. However, if they manage to walk on the enemy’s paint, their feet get stuck on it and thus they begin to walk very slowly, basically being the perfect targets. What’s more, is that the game is developed around the Wii U’s unique controller. The touch screen is used to have players instantly travel to other players across the map at any time with no interruption of the game. There is also the fact that the game uses gyro controls for superior aiming, proving that gyro controls are far more accurate and responsive than analog controls. If you took any one of these aspects of the game, you would have an innovative title, but when you add them all up together, you get ground breaking one.
As time has gone on, Splatoon has changed in many ways. Unlike virtually every other game with updates, Splatoon not only hit the ground running, but began offering tons of new weapons and modes on a regular basis for free. It seemed Nintendo has taken a chapter out of Valve’s Team Fortress 2 book in rather than creating a game with a bunch of paywall DLC, expansions, or yearly outings, focuses on keeping the title alive with free updates. And it seems to be working well as the game is one of the best selling titles on the Wii U and has a strong following. This isn’t too surprising as many of these updates keep pulling people back into the game. Many of the new modes such as Splatoon’s version capture the flag and payload are so popular that it is difficult to imagine the game without them. This goes ditto for a lot of the new weapon classes such as the paintbrush.
One thing that is to be said about the game is how cool and hip it is. Never since Jet Set Radio has there such a “cool” and “with it” title. From the Akihabaran inspired location, to the killer soundtrack, to the fashion focused design choices, the world of Splatoon feels very young and energetic.
Splatoon is a welcome in not just Nintendo’s offerings, but gaming in general. In the modern age, it feels all of the best and most interesting games are happening in the independent scene. Boxed games are becoming less and less relevant to the gaming community as the titles feel more homogenous than ever. Splatoon is different, it breathes new life in the long stagnant shooter genre as it puts a focus on expanding territory and teamwork, all with a happy and energetic vibe. Splatoon is the game Nintendo needs if they want to stay relevant in the modern era of gaming. And if the title is a hint at things to come, the future looks very promising for the house that Mario built.
17| Guilty Gear XX ^ Core
Released: September 11th, 2007
Definitive Version: Arcade; Also On: PS2, Wii
In today’s gaming world, the fighting game genre is as healthy as it has been in years. Just this year alone there has been a new Street Fighter, as well as a new King of Fighters. Both titles are seen as solid according to the fighting game community at large. The future also looks bright with many ongoing series continuing to receive revisions, as well as a slew of interesting indie titles, and rumors of a fourth Marvel vs Capcom game. However, things weren’t always so peachy when it came to the fighting genre, specifically the 2D type.
After 2001, Capcom all but abadoned the genre. SNK was a shell of its former self constantly working with the same rehashed sprites from the Neo Geo, and the only developers focusing on making traditional style 2D games were doujin developers from Japan. Which were never properly released in the West (most notably Melty Blood). However, in this dark period of the 2D fighting genre there was one developer keeping things alive. Arc System Works was releasing the “Guilty Gear” series which boasted unique and fast one on one gameplay, an enticing combo system, and the highest resolution sprites ever seen. Both playing the game and looking at the game had it an arm and a leg above of what other developers were churning out.
It’s difficult for me to try and explain what made Guilty Gear so different from other fighting games at the time, but I’ll try my best. The most obvious reason is that it focuses a lot on dashing, specifically in the air. Hence why it’s often referred to as an “air dasher”. If you ever watch Guilty Gear being played, especially by experienced people, you will notice the characters dashing back and forth in the air after the player does a jump. This is a very good way to close and gain distance on your opponents. It also makes certain moves, such as overhead attacks, much more of a threat. Technically there were games that had airdashing long before Guilty Gear, Vampire Savior for example had air dashing. However, it wasn’t as intuitive nor as useful as it is in Guilty Gear.
There is also the fact that the game has many different features crammed into it. There is the burst meter which results in the character immediately “pushing” their opponent far away while they are being attacked, which is a good way to stop long drawn out, and even possibly infinite, combos. There is also the tension meter which can be used as a shield to stop damage when blocking, performing supers. And of course, there is also the option to disable the tension meter to perform an “instant kill” attack which results in the opponent being killed outright, no matter the state of their health.
All these things combined to make Guilty Gear’s “airdasher” genre the “third pillar” subgenre of the 2D fighting game…err…subgenre. You had traditional one on one fighters like Street Fighter, combo focused tag team games like Marvel, and now airdashers like Guilty Gear. Yes, this is a hilarious oversimplification, but it does ring true to a degree and displays just how unique Guilty Gear was for its time.
Before I close out, I HAVE to mention the game’s incredible soundtrack. The Guilty Gear series has the best soundtrack of any video game out there. I feel that only the Ys series can be compared. Even today after almost a decade of discovering the series, I still listen to some of the tried and true tunes in my car while driving to work.
Despite the series starting from humble beginnings, the once cult franchise has become one of the most popular game series in the fighting game community. The newest iteration was in the top five most registered games at EVO last year, and the second most registered traditional fighting game at nearly one thousand people. This is pretty impressive for a series that was once dropped for a year, as some suspected due to the lack of entrants. The series love is more than deserved as there is nothing else like it both from a gameplay and presentation standpoint. I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.
16| Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations
Released: October 23rd, 2007
Definitive Version: Nintendo DS; Also On: 3DS, iOS, Wii
The Ace Attorney franchise has gone from obscure to cult classic to a household name in portable gaming. Much like Etrian Odyssey and at one time Castlevania, if you are a “portable gamer” it is mandatory that you play the Ace Attorney games. And for good reason, they provide a whimsical and fun storyline and atmosphere that few other games can offer. The gameplay and plots are designed around small bites of playthrough, but are intriguing enough to hold one’s attention if they are looking to play for hours on end in a single sitting. The title is very text heavy that it feels more like an interactive book than a video game, and the charming characters make even the most anti-bookworm in us want to dabble through the game’s text even more. There are currently six mainline games in the series, and nine if you count the spin-offs.
With so many entries in the series, it obviously has newcomers constantly asking what is the best game in the franchise? Typically when there are so many high quality games a series, fans are divided over which entry reigns supreme. The Souls fanbase constantly seems split between which of the four entries is the best one. Street Fighter fans have no consensus over what is the best the Street Fighter game. The list goes on. However, this isn’t really the case for the Ace Attorney series. A vast majority of fans agree that the best game in the series, is the third entry.
It is very common in gaming for the third entry in a “trilogy” to be the best one. This is mostly due to the fact that they are often planned as the last games in the series. It definitely seems that’s the way it was for the third entry in the Ace Attorney series. In terms of story and characters, the developers went all out. Trials and Tribulations is bar none the most intense and “epic” title in the franchise. I don’t want to give too much away in terms of plot, I’ll just say that it heavily involves the past of protagonists and addresses some glaring loose ends in the game’s series.
There isn’t really much to say about Trials and Tribulations other than that it is an Ace Attorney game. It uses the same visual novel, detective, and contradiction finding gameplay as all the other titles in the series. What makes it stand out is just how well written and paced it is. I realize this may not be the most satisfying answer, but it is the truth. The characters shine in this game like they don’t in any other title, the plot is gripping, and the writing is top notch. If you are going to play only one game in the series, don’t make it this one, as it can’t fully be appreciated unless the first two entries are played. Being honest, all titles are in the series are great and are deserving of being on this list. But being forced to choose the creme de le creme, I’ll have to put Trials and Tribulations at the top of the list.
I realize that this is a very short entry, especially for such a high quality game. It certainly deserves a much longer write-up. But in reality all there is to say about it is that it is the best Ace Attorney game. Simple as that.
15| Virtue’s Last Reward
Released: October 23rd, 2012
Definitive Version: Playstation Vita; Also On: 3DS
It seems that what’s all the rage these days are escape rooms. I’ve noticed that many of my coworkers often talk about how they often look forward to going to local escape rooms around the area with their friends, or playing various iPhone escape room themed apps. For those unfamiliar what an escape room is, it essentially puts people in an unfamiliar room with various puzzles and tricks. It is up to the individuals to solve these puzzles and trickery in order to unlock an exit to the room. It’s a simple concept, but it results in a lot of fun. As such, these businesses have been popping up everywhere lately.
However, those who are familiar with gaming, especially that in the handheld sphere, are no strangers to escape rooms. Over half a decade ago, Western players were introduced to a title called “999” which gave gamers a familiarity with the concept. The game was essentially part visual novel and part escape room. The game was progressed with heavy text cutscenes, in visual novel fashion, followed by an escape room puzzle. It was pretty much rinse and repeat after that, however, the puzzles and story were both so engaging that this was welcomed. But what really made it stand out was it’s branch pathing gameplay. Throughout the game players make choices of what to do in various events. This mostly included who to partner with, usually to unlock various doors within the game. To summarize, each character was assigned a number, as were the doors throughout the facility. In order to open up the doors, the player must team up with enough corresponding characters to add up to the number on the corresponding door. It may seem silly, but it is interesting and adds a lot of replay value as different puzzles are encountered and different events occur.
999 was very well received and quickly gained a cult status within the gaming community. It also had a soft rivalry with the Ace Attorney series, as it arguably still does, since it was a contender for the best visual novel/adventure game on its respected platform. However, the game was released at the tail end of the Nintendo DS’s life cycle and new platforms were approaching. A sequel to 999 was soon announced and that it would be released on both the upcoming Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita. The title was released a bit over a year later.
Virtue’s Last Reward takes place a few years after the first title. I don’t want to give much away, so I won’t explain much, if any, of the story. The basic format is still all there. The game is essentially half visual novel and half escape room/puzzles. Though there are a few key differences. The biggest difference is that while the game still extensively features branch pathing, the player must explore every possible path throughout their playthrough. While one has to restart their playthrough with 999 after each, often gruesome, ending, during Virtue’s Last Reward the player has the ability to navigate through a web of various events throughout the storyline and jump back and forth in between them, exploring every possible option. In 999, you are at the whims of the timeline you choose, while in Virtue’s Last Reward you wield it. It is very interesting seeing just how things can progress so radically different just by altering one single event. There is also the fact that rather than using the cumbersome number system, the game has each player and door assigned a “color” instead. It takes out the complication of math and makes things more straight forward.
But arguably the most interesting change to the game is the “ally” and “betray” system. Basically, the way it works is that before each escape room each “contestant” is paired with a partner. In order to exit a room, each pair must cooperate with another pair to solve the puzzles. After the escape room is completed, both pairs go into a private room where they vote either “ally” or “betray”. If they vote “ally” then each player gains 2 points, if you choose “betray” then you gain 3 points, while the corresponding person gains no points. The purpose of these points is that those who receive more than 9 points are released from the facility, those who do not stay until they reach 9 points. The solution may seem simple enough. Just have everyone vote ally so everyone gets out. Unfortunately, knowing human nature, things aren’t that simple.
The result of these changes is a very engaging title that is overall bigger and better than the first game. Virtue’s Last Reward takes everything that was great about 999 and builds upon it. This isn’t just from a gameplay standpoint, but also a story standpoint. A lot of dots left over from the previous game are connected, while in contrast a lot of new single dots are created. There are also a few recurring characters from the previous title as well as plenty of new ones. Virtually all of them stand out and are arguably the best characters in the series. This however, could be argued as a “weakness” as the title really is best when playing the first game in the series to fully understand the situation.
I also have to touch upon the game’s music. The soundtrack is great and fits the game perfectly. It is no wonder that the next game in the series uses so many, if not the majority, of it’s musical pieces from Virtue’s Last Reward. The trance like state and disillusion feeling the music brings is perfect for the game’s atmosphere.
The series has supposedly come to a close with the recently released Zero Time Dilemma. The game was released for the PS Vita, 3DS, and to a pleasant surprise Steam. It’s a great game and all, and is in-line with the other games in the franchise. Unfortunately, I find the game to be the weakest in the series, though that isn’t saying much being how well made these titles are. With the series supposedly at a close, I can comfortably say that Virtue’s Last Reward is the best game among the three. It has the best story, the best gameplay, the best music, and really the best everything. It represents the pinnacle of the series and is at a peak that very few games reach. With the popularity escape rooms are getting it is difficult for me to imagine that this is the last we will see of the nonary game. I hope that I am right.
14| Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
Released: September 13th, 201
Available On: PC
From the late 2000s to the mid-2010s there was an utter domination of the shooter genre. Never since platformers during the late 80s and early 90s had a genre had such a strangle hold on the console market. With Halo maintaining its status as a popular franchise, and Call of Duty becoming a monstrous success with it’s fourth entry, it seemed that every publisher was flocking to find the next big title in the genre. Sureeven today shooters are still one of the most popular genre in the market today, but during the Xbox 360 and PS3 era, it seemed that virtually every hyped game involved shooting guns in the first person perspective, or at least over the shoulder. Many people at the time were calling the generation “the golden age of first person shooters”.
While that is arguable for many reasons, personally I don’t really feel that way. While the quantity was there, like WRPGs at the time, many shooters were watered down to appeal to the mass market. Rainbow Six used to be a tactical FPS series, but starting with Rainbow Six Vegas, it became yet another corridor FPS. Bioshock was the spiritual successor of System Shock II. Yet, despite upping the ante with the presentation, the level design was pathetic and the RPG elements were much more basic than its predecessor. And while the likes of Call of Duty and Killzone dominated the charts, they were a far cry, of what other first person shooters were doing for years in multiple categories.
That said, the era did have a lot of quality first person shooters. Team Fortress 2, Crysis, and Metro 2033 come to mind. But out of all of them, the one I felt stood head and shoulders above the rest, especially in terms of online mutliplayer, was Red Orchestra 2. With such a funny sounding name, most assume it is part of a Konami’s “music game” series where the player is a maestro who wields a baton to conduct a symphony. While that does seem like something that is so strange that it could be a reality, the title is actually a Soviet themed WWII multiplayer first person shooter. The premise of the game is very basic, you join a large map with a large amount of players. Players are divided into two teams, Soviets and Nazis. There are two modes of the game, which is either to capture all of the territory or defeat all of the enemy teams players. In short, it’s much like any other multiplayer shooter.
What separates Red Orchestra 2 from other titles are quite a few things. First off is that the gun handling isn’t like most other titles. Modern machine guns and assault rifles do not exist in the game. The vast majority of players wield a simple rifle. This means that after each shot a player takes, they need to reload their gun. There is also the fact that the game is very unforgiving with its hitboxes. One needs be lined up just right in order to hit their opponent, while headshots are an extreme rarity, even moderate distances. That said when one does get hit, they lose a lot of health as it is often dire. This leads to two things about the game that few other shooters deliver, tension and reward. Due to not being able to kill enemies instantly in a spray of bullets players have to wait and sneak up on enemies in order to get a perfect shot in. Players often camp in dense foliage or obscure parts in buildings in order to surprise players. In most games, this would lead to plenty of cheap kills, but due to Red Orchestra 2’s brilliant level design there and multiple routes to take in a map as well as plenty of ways to scout for enemies. Waiting for a player to come by like a fish grabbing bait, or sneaking up and outsmarting a tricky opponent is so rewarding. Red Orchestra 2 doesn’t rely simply on skills of wielding the gun, but more so on tactics and strategy.
The game also has pristine presentation. The Soviet inspired world both terrifies and invigorates the player. Moving through the maps and hearing characters talk, one can see just how dominate Stalinism was during the era. Stalinism wasn’t just a political ideology, it was life for these soldiers and the world of the game really captures that. But one has to talk about the game’s excellent soundtrack. It’s so good, that the music actually players during gameplay. Regularly this would be ridiculed, but being that it fits the game so well, it not only gets a pass, but it is actively embraced with open arms. Being the Soviets were so heavily involved in World War II and did more to defeat the Germans than any other nation, it’s nice to see a title focus so much on their perspective of the war.
In 2013 a stand alone expansion pack called “Rising Storm” was released. It was essentially Red Orchestra 2, but only with Americans and Japanese rather than Russians and Germans. It too was a great game, but at the end of the day, I felt that the maps were a bit lacking. And while I would like to see more games about the Pacific Theater, there is just no beating hyper masculine Soviet theme of classic Red Orchestra. That said, Rising Storm does have the ability for the player to wield swords and flamethrowers. Another stand alone expansion called “Rising Storm: Vietnam” is also currently in beta and scheduled for release in the not so distant future.
Red Orchestra 2 was a military focused multiplayer first person shooter in a sea of military focused multiplayer first person shooter. Despite this it managed to stand out thanks to tactical, tense, and rewarding gameplay. Tripwire Interactive has proven itself to be a very competent developer, and hope the future of the series remains bright, and red, as ever.
13| Duke Nukem 3D
Released: January 29th, 1996
Available On: PC (all major OSes), PS4, Xbox One, PS3, XBox 360, PS Vita, N64, iOS, Android, PS, Saturn, MD
With the release of Doom in December 1993, there were soon seemingly countless titles emulating the game’s formula. After existing in the country’s mainstream culture for around 20 years, there was finally a video game that mastered a tight formula around America’s love affair with guns. As such, Doom was a major success, and every company wanted to cash in. So much so that there were “doom clones” found in cereal boxes (the game was supposedly pretty good by the way, which is shocking). Released at the absolute height of FPS domination was “Duke Nukem 3D”. A sequel to what was essentially a 2D platformer, Duke Nukem 3D was a dramatic shift from the original game to say the last. It was welcomed change because what resulted was arguably the greatest FPS of all-time, and in my opinion the best in the “run-and-gun” FPS subgenre.
For those unfamiliar with Duke Nukem 3D, it essentially Doom, but better. It has the same labyrinth style level design and fast paced run and gun gameplay. The key difference between the two titles is that Duke Nukem 3D is just…well a far superior game. Duke Nukem 3D has bigger and more complex levels, more challenging and original enemies, and is just far more ambitious overall. It may sound like I’m generalizing a bit too much, but there really isn’t any other way to describe the game. Duke Nukem 3D simply replaces Doom’s demons and the possessed with aliens and the mutated, and just ups the ante in every aspect. If you like Doom, you will LOVE Duke Nukem 3D.
Playing the game for the first time ever in 2013 was a real experience. I literally played the game for hours upon hours for days until I beat it. One thing that really stood out to me about the game, was how much more advanced it was compared to modern FPSes. This especially was ringing true since I then recently finished Bioshock: Infinite and tried my hands with Crysis 2 a couple of months earlier.
This image often get ridiculed, but the reality is that it is pretty accurate. Playing Crysis 2 or Bioshock: Infinite, the games were pretty much “run forward, kill things, repeat”. In contrast, Duke Nukem 3D was much MUCH more complex. The maps are multi-layered with tons of doorways and rooms to explore. Backtracking is very common and finding secrets and hidden areas are often a must in order to progress the game. Sure, much of the areas are a little ridiculous and at times seem to be designed by H.H. Holmes. But at the end of the day they made you want to explore and most importantly think of how to progress to the next area. That said, it just isn’t the map design that is more advanced. Duke Nukem 3D boasts an impressive arsenal of deadly and varied weapons. The player can carry 9 weapons at a time. Some of these weapons include the freezethrower to turn enemies into blocks of ice or the Shrinker that shrinks enemies so that the player can stop on them. This also of course includes the bread and butter weapons such as the pistol, shotgun, and RPG. In contrast to this, most modern FPSes rarely let the player carry more than two weapons at a time. This is likely due to the fact that most FPSes today are designed with consoles in mind, meaning that offering a lot of weapons at a time to the player is a big no-no, as switching between weapons is a pain on a traditional controller. This also ignores the fact of how boring the weapons are. When a shotgun is seen as the “oh shit!” weapon in your game, you know the weapon choices are pretty shitty. There are many other things as well, but bottom line is that playing Duke Nukem 3D really displays just how watered down the genre has gotten over the years.
Arguably the biggest thing that people claim that makes Duke Nukem 3D stand out is the presentation. The title character is portrayed as a “no fucks given” crew cut 80’s action hero badass. He constantly uses one liners and has no problem going into strip clubs or hitting on the ladies. The game also has a lot of humor such as having the LAPD all turning into mutated pigs and various pop culture references throughout the maps. I emphasized that this is what people claim, because through my playthrough I didn’t really notice this that much. I mean sure Duke Nukem is portrayed as a self-parody badass, but outside of a few one liners throughout a stage and a ten seconds cutscene after the seldom boss battles, it isn’t really that noticeable. The pop culture references are a nice touch, but even these aren’t that common. The game certainly isn’t a Working Designs title.
As I said before, what makes the game great isn’t the wacky humor and atmosphere, but that it is such a well designed title. Unfortunately, 3D Realms never got this message. It seems that ever addition to the series that followed Duke Nukem 3D was a disappointment. The first expansion pack “The Birth” had piss poor level design. The maps weren’t that simple, but they weren’t really fun to explore. However, pop culture references in the game were literally everywhere. I admittedly haven’t played the other expansions, but they look much more similar to The Birth than the main game. Duke Nukem 3D’s sequel, appropriately titled “Duke Nukem Forever”, was pretty much a running joke for the longest time. To make modern gamers under the age of 25 understand the whole hubbub about the title’s history, the game essentially out “The Last Guardian”…”The Last Guardian”. It was in continuous development for 14 years. It was plagued by delays and rebuilds all the way up until it’s final release in 2011. The thing is that 3D Realms technically never finished the game. In 2009, 12 years after the game was being developed, 3D Realms announced that they were severely downsizing the company, and that Duke Nukem 3D’s team would be let go. However, Gearbox software, mostly known for the Borderlands titles, agreed to finish the game and released it. The result is one of the most disappointing, broken, and shitty games of all-time. You can say what you want about “The Last Guardian” but at least the game was functioning and playable, however Duke Nukem Forever was just flatout unfinished. And is likely one of the most disappointing moments in gaming history, but being honest…it was kind of expected.
As far as I am considered, I view the Duke Nukem franchise much like I do with the Secret of Mana series. You have one or two really fantastic titles in the series, but with a bunch of other tiles that range from being mediocre to just piss poor. It’s very unfortunate, but it seems that with the release of Duke Nukem Forever the title character will finally be put out of his misery. I one day just hope that the genre goes back to its roots.
12| The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt
Released: May 19th, 2015
Definitive Version: PC; Also on: PS4, Xbox One
If you have been reading through this list, you can tell that I am a big fan of CD Projekt’s “The Witcher” series. It was the first “pure” Western role playing game series that I enjoyed. And it really aided in pulling me toward the genre. The first game was classic and testament to dark role playing rich games at a time when open world games with little substance were all the rage. The sequel continued that trend. To say that the third game realized the series potential is a mass understatement. The Witcher III just didn’t realize the original vision of the The Witcher series, but pretty much the entire role playing genre and arguably gaming itself. Now yes, this sounds like pure hyperbole but it really isn’t.The Witcher III does what gamers have been dreaming about since forever. A true role playing experience with a huge explorable interactive 3D world with a strong main storyline, deep intertwined quests, and a living breathing world. Typically with RPGs there is always a sacrifice. You either have a huge explorable world with a lot of pointless side quests and a weak storyline (such as Xenoblade X or The Elder Scrolls titles) or you have a small linear experience with a highly engaging story and/or very meaty side quests (such as in Final Fantasy or Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines). For the longest time, these things were divided because developers had to pick and choose. One simply doesn’t have the time or the resources to focus on all of these things at once. Apparently, CD Projekt managed to accomplish this impossibility. The Witcher III managed to check every box, and checks it damn well.
How did they accomplish this? Being honest, I’m not so sure. I believe it was just simply that they set out to create the best game possible and just exhausted the amount resources to make three games into just one game. And being honest that’s what playing The Witcher III feels like. To start off, just walking around or riding on horse back, exploring town to town feels like it’s own game. There plenty of hidden caves, dungeons, and random things going on. While just merely exploring you will come across plenty of side quests. A vast majority of these will be very meaty and have as much backstory to them as the average “big sidequest” in other WRPGs. The world is massive and everything you see in the distance you can actually go to, no matter how far. If you manage to reach the shore, no big deal. You can just take a raft and sail further to the next continent and continue your expedition.
The thing is though, is that the main game’s storyline is so intriguing that you find yourself torn between exploring or continue doing the “must do objectives.” Let’s be honest, storyline isn’t usually one of WRPGs strong points. People like to pretend that titles like Deus Ex or even Fallout have storylines to match the top end JRPGs, but they really don’t come close. The Witcher III technically doesn’t either, but it tries a different approach. Similar to Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines it tries to sell the world. Upon the quest you go through tons of towns meeting a variety of interesting characters with haunting backstories. It’s so easy to get lost in the game’s lore. However, the main plot is also pretty interesting. Again it’s not the most engaging plot out there, but it certainly keeps your attention. It revolves around the main character Geralt searching for who is essentially his psuedo daughter Ciri. It sounds basic and cliche, but it works very well. It’s interesting to see how each main quest, and even a good amount of side quests, are intertwined with Ciri’s actions. It’s really neat seeing everything come together at the end.
But what’s perhaps the most impressive thing to me is how despite the game having so many quests, both mandatory and optional, is just how interconnected everything is. Make no mistake, the size of The Wticher III makes zero compromise on the actual role playing. Every choice the character makes has an effect on the game, sometimes immediate, sometimes at the end. The games quests are intertangled in a massively huge web that results in other quests being unlocked or taken away. It results in many alliances or enemies. And it results in the entire world of the game changing right before one’s eyes. The title flatout embarrasses every other modern game when it comes to the role playing department. It isn’t just simply being “good” or “evil” it’s about making tough choices both personally and for the greater good.
I could literally write almost a book about The Witcher III. Hell, I haven’t even talked about it’s technical achievements as the game is fucking gorgeous and runs stunningly well even on average gaming PC. I haven’t written about the game’s perfect OST, or how everything in the game, down to the most minimal side quest is voice acted. The best way I can explain the game is that it is a unicorn. The Witcher III is a game that has massive overworld with tons of side quests, but with a deep story, deep quests, and and all that are interconnected with one another in choice based gameplay. It has tons of text that is all voice acted. Crazy huge draw distances and a big environment with some of the most best looking graphics in gaming, that runs very well in 60fps with modest rig. The game is just full of contradictions. I would usually end this by saying that the title added a new standard for the genre, but the reality is that the standard set by it is so high that it just flatout unrealistic. The Witcher III is like if CD Projekt got all the fans together like this clip from The Simpsons. The fans listed their highly unrealistic and contradictory wants and expectations. But instead of yelling at them, CDProjekt delivered.
11| System Shock II
Released: August 11th, 1999
Available On: PC (All major OSes)
Bioshock is a very mediocre game. After being hyped to Atlantis I actually purchased the game for my PC during its launch day on August 21st 2007. The thing is, is that at the time I was also at the point of wrapping up the original Deus Ex. I found Deus Ex to be a memorizing and highly enjoyable experience. With well designed maps, an immersive world, a well done mixture of the FPS and RPG genres, the game quickly became one of my favorites at the time. My only complaint with it was the brain dead enemy A.I.. However, despite enjoying the game so much, I was under pressure to finish it as soon as possible. The reason? Bioshock was releasing that day. The game was receiving praise to no end with many saying was the natural evolution of the first person shooter/RPG hybrid genre with revolutionary storytelling. I finished Deus Ex just a few hours after Bioshock was unlocked for downloading. The ending of the game was fantastic and it made me pump to play the evolution of the genre.
After some time with Bioshock I was extremely disappointed. Sure, the presentation was top notch. The graphics were insane at the time and the art style was beautiful. There was ton of cinematics throughout the game making me feel like I was playing a movie, and the character design was great with the Big Daddy’s in particular scaring the shit out of me. The issue with the game was anything relating to the actual gameplay. The map design was pathetic. So simplistic to the point where there were fucking arrows telling you where to go. Yes, you could turn them off, but the entire game is designed around this handholding and even with the arrows off the map design is still ridiculously simplistic. The RPG elements seemed a monumental step back from what I was expecting coming out of Deus Ex. They were very simplistic and as basic as you can make them. There was virtually zero penalty for dying as you immediately respawned at a nearby “checkpoint” in a regeneration chamber. The list goes on and on. Suffice to say, I found the game disappointing.
From what I understood at the time, is that Bioshock was a spiritual successor to a title named System Shock II that came out eight years early. I wouldn’t sink my teeth into this game until half a decade later. If playing Deus Ex prior to Bioshock made me disappointed in Bioshock, then if I would have played System Shock II before playing Bioshock then my disappointment would have instead morphed into venomously hatred. Playing System Shock II well over a decade after its initial release resulted in my being glued to my computer. The game was phenomenal in so many ways. And literally addresses every issue I had with Bioshock.
To start off, the level design is light years ahead of Bioshock. Despite taking place on a spaceship rather than an actual city, System Shock II’s maps are far more complex and layered than anything in Bioshock. Every area has multiple floors all interconnected with one another that are filled with different secrets, items, and other interesting things to discover. In order to actually progress in the game you need to actively explore the area. Rather than relying on arrows on the ground to prevent the player from getting lost the game instead just uses ingenious visual cues and constructed areas to give the player hints on where to go, but not enough to the point where it is handholding. The game’s maps manage to properly find the balance to not be cryptic enough so the area doesn’t feel like a maze, but not streamlined enough so that it doesn’t feel like a tunnel.
There are also the game’s RPG elements. There are so many different stats, weapons, and gadgets to play around with that the title arguably feels more like a RPG than FPS. It’s fascinating to see how changing different stats and settling on different weapons change the play style of the game. Particularly when they are all well suited in different situations. Especially when you can either choose to be good and using weapons or psychic abilities.
The final improvement I enjoyed was the game’s approach to immersion. To me, I sometimes feel that at times less is more when it comes to being immersed in a game. Sure, interactive cutscenes are nice and all, but they only maintain their effect in small doses. System Shock II understands this. While it does have its share of interactive cutscenes, must of the immersion comes from the gameplay itself. Huddling in a dark corner of a room, being in the opposite side of the exit, as two large dangerous creatures are walking in the room randomly looking for prey. Coming across a torn up body with blood all over the room and finding a recording of the person detailing their situation as they accept their inevitable fate. These are things to me that sell a game, while Bioshock didn’t have these moments absent in it, it did feel like it took interactive cutscenes as a primary focus.
In terms of the type of game System Shock II is, it is pretty much Bioshock, but on a spaceship. A character embarks on a flight in a spaceship only to wake up and find out that everyone is either dead or has turned into some type of horrific creature. It turns out that the ship has been hijacked by an extremely evil super A.I. with goals of taking over the world. It is up to the player to destroy the A.I. before it is too late. Things are obviously a bit more complicated than this, but it’s a general summary. The title revolves around an atmosphere of emptiness and loneliness as it plays the whole “in space no one can hear you scream” card. Here however it works very well being that throughout the player’s journey they will come across countless dead bodies and recorded journal entries of the victims detailing their situation in a haunting manner. Just like Bioshock these leave cues of the bigger picture of what’s going on. It’s a very innovative way of storytelling and it comes to no surprise that this is used so much today as demonstrated not only by Bioshock Infinite but also by titles like The Last of Us and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
System Shock II was way ahead of its time in virtually every aspect. It’s unfortunate that the game didn’t get the commercial success it deserved. Despite that it has not only become a cult classic but an absolute mandatory classic PC game playthrough. It is easy to see why. The game has aged phenomenally, partly due to it’s tried and true game design and partly due to modem FPS game design going backwards over the past decade. If you’re someone who tried their hand on the Bioshock series and felt that the series needed a little bit more meat during it’s course, I can’t recommend System Shock II enough.