Top Fives

Given that lists of things are an endless source of blog topics, I’m going to start throwing in random Top Fives here and there. I’ll typically present them in descending order (5 to 1), but other than that… I’m not going to adhere to any specific rules. In fact I’ll probably cheat a bunch with ties and the like. Oh and as always, feel free to leave comments like “How can you have a list about blah and not include blah?!” Or better yet, drop a Top Five of your own.

That being said, my first Top Five is after the jump.

Top Five games (or series) I haven’t played that hurt my gaming cred

#5 – Resident Evil 4

This game was hailed not only as a completely new direction for the series, but as a the game that revolutionized 3rd person shooters today.  Games like Gears of War and the slew of games with the now familiar “over the shoulder cam” owe a lot to this Gamecube game. That’s right! This game originally came out late in the Gamecube’s life (and then later to PS2 and PC) , which is an extremely strange thought when we think about where Nintendo is today. The game was also well known for elevating the cinematic quality of games with its smart use of Quick Time Events (QTEs). Resident Evil 5 has since been released, although not to the same level of critical acclaim. What do people think? Does the game hold up today?

#4 – System Shock 1 & 2

I actually don’t know much about these games. But I’m still ashamed I haven’t played them. Why? Because industry gods Warren Spector and Ken Levine have been involved. This was the series of shooter-RPGs that preceded the likes of Deus Ex and Bioshock. The games were touted for their use of sound to create the spine chilling atmosphere not seen in that many games of that era. The game definitely drew inspiration from the film “Event Horizon” and its depiction of the cold and sometimes frightening loneliness of space. Since then, there haven’t been many games in the “space horror” genre except for one of this generation’s sleeper hits, Dead Space.

#3 – Ico & Shadow of the Colossus

These two games are well known for their artsy (some would say pretentiously so) style. I don’t think it would be too far of a stretch to say that the art style of these games is reminiscent of the works of director Hayao Miyazaki. These two games are also very minimalistic in story; with little dialogue and narrative, it becomes up to the player to try to make sense of what’s happening. I’ll be honest, I’m cheating a bit, as I’ve played a little Shadow of the Colossus (about half an hour). But that was late last generation and then the Xbox 360 happened.

#2 – Civilization series

These games straight scare me, but every time my buddy John would regale me of tales of bizarro world rewritings of history that would take place in his Civ games, it would intrigue me. Then I would read up about the game and whimper away at the thought of having to manage an infantile civilization’s economy, tech developments, religion, politics, and military all whilst trying to ward off the French from impending invasion. I know that any self-respecting PC gamer would say Civ IV is the bee’s knees, but I think that the consolized version of the popular franchise, Civilization Revolutions, might be more up my alley. On the other hand, I feel that if I’m going to try my hand at Civ… I gotta go all in and play the best one. One thing’s for sure, I need to play one of these games… just as soon as I work up the courage ;p

#1 – Lucas Arts adventure games

…And finally, the series of games that I’m terribly ashamed of not playing, the Lucas Arts adventure games released from the late 80s to the mid 90s. Especially the games developed and written by the venerable Tim Schafer. The funny thing is, I’m not that much of a stranger to adventure games, I’ve played some of the oldies like Police Quest, King’s Quest, and even some obscure titles like Teen Agent. But somehow these classics just passed me by. Anyway the long list: Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, Indiana Jones, and Sam & Max. Phew! I’ll probably never get to all those… but now, thanks to the folks at Telltale, I’ll at least get my chance to try some of the classics.

Anyway, sorry for the long post… I guess I have a lot of pent up gaming guilt. Unfortunately, a lot of these classic titles are hard to track down or are incompatible with current systems. That highlights some of the issues with archiving video games moving forward. Unlike films, it’s not clear that future generations 50+ years down the road are going to be able to enjoy the classics in the making of today. But that’s a topic for another day isn’t it?

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~ by e on July 13, 2009.