Why Moon Hunters has me excited...

Now hype is a sensitive subject, and I've got to admit I'm starting to get quite a bit bitter about the way people do it. However there's still those games coming out you just can't help but feel excited for, and that's great if you're willing to be cautious and skeptical. While being still bicker or praise over the overhyped Destiny a trailer slipped in and caught my eye as an amazing thing thankfully coming out of a major successful kickstarter. It was this trailer and the game is called Moon hunters. This is just one of those special moments where I feel like one of my wish list games is fulfilled, something potentially already being done by No Man's Sky. However while No Man's Sky is still full of mystery as to how it'll feel like. Will it feel like an FPS? Will the exploration have walls and limits? Will resources be a big part to add depth, or will it get in the way? And the most important question is how important is that online play, and whether or not I'm capable of enjoying myself without any server connections. MH here has that info covered in a way that both brings in more anticipation, and yet more worries.... so I feel more certain on feeling pressure to watch it become something I'll either love or wait for a sale on (I doubt I'd distrust it more, but it is possible).

A huge part of my fascination with this game comes from its theme and how far it looks like it goes with it. One of the major changes I want gaming to go through in a context/story wise area is religion and spirituality. It doesn't necessarily need to be a legit religion, it can be goofy with it, or make up its own stuff, either way though I want it to take on more of a major game event. Here in Moon Hunters it looks like the clever team has crafted an RPG world where you become a legend that mixes in with the mythological lore and a mysterious problem with the praised moon goddess. You take what is in real time a small randomized journey as a brave hero, and set your path to fame or infamy through your journey. The team sounds like they know a lot about mythology and religion from their kickstarter page, whether it be that "its more than just fighting villains" as they name some examples like what sounds like a Greek tale (a hero going to take retrieve the soul of a love one) and then one that may have come from a couple of Native American tribes (the gift of fire taken from another source). Then there's the fact that they describe the Druid class as a highly adaptable "shapeshifter" in battle. Who knows, maybe its being literal, but shapeshifting is seen as a metaphorical shamanistic term for transforming to your situations, as in highly adaptable and prepared. That's just so awesome! In addition to building up your legend, it seems each trait and piece that will make it on your record is remembered by the very individuals that witnessed it. Heck there's also one trait that can pop up as a "rumor" spreading around. That is amazing on its own merits, and the fact that there's going to be at least 50 of these traits sounds fantastic! It wont go old so easy. All those traits in the pool of possibilities, and defining your character among the stars as a hero or villain of some sort is quite impressive. On top of that there's tribe building, and I can't say for sure I totally understand this but it sounds like part of the process to determining what sort of person you are. For some reason I want to draw comparisons to Robin Hood, in addition to being looked at and pressured to do the right thing in the face of evil you're also bearing in mind the fact that you've got to provide for the more needy. Maybe I'm totally missing the point and the tribe builds more in your honor afterwards, thus they will kind of reflect whatever your last hero did mixed with the generations before that instead of being an entity you care for in the active sense.

My concerns come into play with the RPG combat aspects. The game, dungeons of fayte, they advertise as the base was alright. It had a cool central theme with time and work that tied in with character building, but the combat was just so off putting. It was a 4 piece attack system that was terribly unprecise, and I didn't have fun with that core part until I went ranger... and then it kind of sucked to know I couldn't charge up and slash at somebody. I'm hoping this system is more fluid and responsive, or totally overhauled and more like a 360 attack form of some sort... but it didn't look that way. After that test game I watched the trailer again and sort of saw it a bit, its especially reflected by the character with the red beam firing in one straight direction. Still this doesn't mean its doomed or anything, and heck if it can pull off everything else perfectly I may endure the agony of combat until I perfect its flawed system anyways just to use the magnificent myth features. However... what if it doesn't turn out all that special there either? When does the theme wear thin and it feels like a predictable gimmick with a decent but familiar RPG game at the front? These are my two concerns, especially as a guy that just doesn't get into these RPG games so much. Though with that being said, Torchlight 2 is absolutely incredible, and that's a basic action RPG at heart that just tuned things right. This can do so to, especially with such a powerful theme. Plus in this day and age where my gamer ADD is acting up without warning, it'll be nice to know I don't have to dedicate 40 hours of grinding to see this thing through. More and more I'm thinking if games pace themselves just right and play from a deep pool of features that are contextualized just right, a few hours is all I need to feel like I got something far more. So the journeys that last a few hours kind of feels like a safe bet for me and RPGs. I hope it all works out well.

Between a great art style, a theme I absolutely adore, outstanding music that had me replaying the trailer, and a real time combat system (that I'm keeping my fingers crossed works well) I think I can really look forward to this game along many others in 2015. I wish more games would pick up such a similar theme, it'd be incredible to see this idea expanded and expirmented with. eh, who am I kidding, it'll all be new and fresh with this game and I'm excited to see it this once even if its only once. Please be awesome Moon Hunters.

Tomb Raider (2013) review

Look I'm going to be blunt, I'm a bit disappointed in the gaming community when it comes to this game, though a part of it is my own fault. People seem to grab at the most shallow traits and then suddenly compare or bash games. This is why any kart racer is suddenly a "mario kart" clone and now it seems like any game that has a big story and 3rd person shooting is magically an Uncharted type game, even though before Uncharted was a "Gears of war" clone. The sad thing is some people, including me, will then set their expectations to that but find that they weren't impressed under this pre-determined perspective. Those describing this as a 3rd party Uncharted or even an open world game (and yes those contradict each other), really have a strange and very misleading comprehension of gameplay. Sadly these expectations worked on me the first time and was pissed at what this game had to offer (even worse though is that MS thinks the same thing, and temporarily grabbed the sequel to compete with uncharted.... despite them being totally different). I mostly finished my first playthrough for the story and atmosphere of the game rather than the game itself. However I guess I'll get around to that later on, but I bring this up because I've felt a strange shift in perspectives with this game as time goes on, and its not quite as sour of an experience anymore. Tomb Raider 2013 came out as one of the few, if only, games to get successfully rebooted with major acclaim. I... didn't agree with it so much at the time, but the game honestly feels a bit stronger with each new playthrough. I've been considering a review of the PS3 and campaign perspective of this game for quite some time, and I'm glad I waited to have more than one go at it considering I understood its better traits and influences more the second time around. However is it ever good enough to make it worth buying? Well onto the review....

Tomb Raider has undergone some pretty heavy changes without totally losing its touch within this reboot. For starters there's no more acrobatic flipping and auto-aim themed combat system this time around. Instead its a pretty normal 3rd person shooter format with a passive but completely responsive cover system. This is pretty great despite the fact it had potential to do more, but combat was never a strong point of the older series and its a good thing they made it feel more natural. The old one was unique, and is a bit more clever than the idea of auto-aim would sound at face-value, but not still very fun. Now guns feel like guns, combat has more depth, for a developer that's never done fluid combat before they sure did an amazing job with aesthetics. Both inventory systems of the past are also thrown out the window in favor of a 4 piece weapon system alongside some more passive tools and equipment that opens up more as the game progresses. Platforming and puzzles are reworked quite a bit. Platforming is sadly reduced to a very shallow cinematic style, definitely the worst change made unless you want to talk about the music (which is far more subjective). Its now pretty much the generic action game style of press jump and climb flashy pieces that stick out. That's it save for the very few timed platform collapses, but there's really no effort or thought put into it. Of course this effects the way puzzles are done. Puzzles are still present and environment based with a touch of physics at work, but without the platforming being as deep as its own puzzle your left feeling like the whole thing is a lot more basic. It doesn't help either that a special "Survivor instincts" vision is a button tap away from nearly solving the puzzles for you by coloring what you're supposed to alter. The puzzles hold themselves up only on figuring out what objects need to be interacted with or jumped on, and in what order. A couple of these have a need for timing, but I'm not really able to say much more without giving any away. However the awesome thing about puzzles is that while a few will be crossed every hour or so in the campaign's line of things, the real bulk of puzzles are off to the side in tombs and tease the player with awesome incentives.... but I'll get to rewards and progression later.

Of course you can't have a reboot without a new story and character development, and that's exactly what may have been pushed the hardest for this game. Lara has received a make-over and is a much younger and inexperienced adult than her former identity. She's never had one adventure in her life and is about to come crashing into a terrible one she has to overcome. Her original intent was helping an expedition find and film a great lost queen, only things take a turn for the worse when what they were looking for was on an island that's an amplified case of the Bermuda Triangle mysteries. Their ship crashes and little of the crew survives. Before you know it, a clan of crazy occultists have rugged militarized control over most of the island, and they aim to make things even harder for the survivors. With one of the only capable and ready adventurers being deeply injured from the start, Lara is forced to take up the torch and has to try and overcome the threat and live her first disastrous adventure while protecting. This means she has to overcome some pretty harsh obstacles, and endure through some intense scenes, and the game doesn't hold back on that. Not all of the island is what it seems though, and some interesting mysteries unfold. I really enjoyed the story for the most part, even my first time through when I was a bit more resentful towards the whole thing. I loved that despite this growing trend to take everything so seriously, they still kept to the series roots of going beyond realism and having conflicts that break into the supernatural (but I wont spoil what it is). Still the game does take itself a little too seriously and dramatic elsewhere, especially on Lara's character. Lara's character seems to take the distress up a notch more than it should be at, especially compared to the gameplay actions and her abilities. For the majority of the game her in-game comments, actions don't reflect a lot of her character in shown several of the cut-scenes. In game she seems very curious, powerful, and extremely agile and endurable. However a cut-scene may come along and changes her from someone that lived through outnumbered gunfights, climbed ropes across cliffs, and dared to brave into tombs into a suddenly timid and fearful person. I get that she'd still be very stressed, but Lara will go through countless shocking moments in gameplay without much of a comment and then feels conflicted later with a story piece. The example that hits hardest the most to me is hours into the game where she gets all grossed out over simply entering a tomb... even though by then you've more than likely went into several optional tombs with the result that Lara was fascinated and curious in the culture and artifacts within it. How much more of an obvious conflict in character and writing direction do you need than that? Its not a major deal in the whole picture, but the coined term for this kind of thing "ludonarrative dissonance" was popular with this game for good reason and if that bugs you, you've been warned.

Lara's first adventure doesn't keep the dangers so secret

However there's more to the story than Lara, but at the same time, just not much of it. The side cast holds up nicely in their time, but they just have a lot of that time. If you ever grow an interest to one of them, chances are they'll be killed off or too close to the ending for them to feel like their character development ever reached its height. I wont spoil it with specifics, but one character is almost thrown off to the side as a joker that has one real focused moment. Later he has another bigger piece suddenly showing a far more fleshed out sense of personality, and someone that could have turned out to be awesome... only he dies in the process of this moment. He has like two real scenes, and one audio-log letter that truly build on his character, that's it. Overall its a bit of a nitpick in the end, but the side cast is more of a tease and a plot element that helps give Lara more context. I wouldn't call them "weak" as some others have. The side characters showed great potential and I was usually interested in whoever was on screen, its just that the game never went anywhere with it. On the brighter side of this though, practically every character has a chunk of their story and background hidden away as a collectible document and it is so rewarding to come across them and suddenly have your view of them from cut-scenes reshaped by what they're willing to put on paper. It feels like you're reading their legitimate diaries of personal thoughts and past, and things they wouldn't share with you or anyone else in person but still make up who they were. Now that is pretty good writing for what was otherwise underdeveloped characters. On a smaller note about the characters, and Lara, I love how there are some subtle touches to the dialogue within the gameplay. Its all scripted stuff, but its pretty seamless and helps feel right for the moment in gameplay when for the first time enemies see you with the assault rifle they panic over it. I've also had them comment on when I reload as well. When one of the few game's mini-bosses comes your way, the enemies will question how you survive and Lara may have some retort for them. At one point there's a moment where if entered not so trigger happy, there are two enemies who will stay under cover and "talk it out" with Lara for a moment before it changes back to business as usual. These are just some really cool extra touches that help bring the gameplay and characters together, and make the world a bit more believable than robotic combat villains or a boring silent protagonist.

The setting and presentation are just brilliant. Set on a stormy island decorated in early Japanese culture, you'll find a lot of care and work put into the land. The island is full of history ranging from the locals talking about a tradition had with the queen, documents left by an old foreign ambassador seeking to cite rebellion to help his king's conquest, a WW2 era where both Americans and Japanese stayed for a decent period before they uncovered something horrible, and of course there's even a bit of history to how the enemies arrived and developed into who they are in the present. Some of this, especially the WW2 era, is represented well within the island. Bunkers, old papers, ancient statues of religious worship mixed with recent markings, and sealed herbs and artifacts from all these past eras. The artifacts are especially pretty cool, as each box is a small mystery that I loved stumbling across, and it was a representation of the far reaching history of your surroundings. You might find anything from an ancient japanese theater mask, to an American WW2 military canteen. These findings send you into a model viewer, and unlock any other game out there it actually detects what area you're looking at and a decent amount of the items have smaller details that Lara will notice and comment on as you examine the object. Its not only a perfect mechanic for fluidly adding on Lara's character as someone fascinated by artifacts and archaeology, but it also brings the player in to relate to that if they had any interest in the culture or history themselves. To further build on the island, the color pallet, the music, and the visuals all provide a perfectly amazing sense of connectivity with each other. I just love the color pallet especially and the way it works with the graphics and effects. You have heavy rainy conditions mixing with very dark, earthy environments. Its a lot of brown, and gray but not the washed up type you'd often hear people insult a military shooter or apocalyptic game with. Its more of a very natural tone for the surroundings, and its always offset by patches of contrasting color. You'll usually see green or white in outdoors, and in bunkers a bunch of wall decorations and believable objects lying around to make sure you're not just seeing concrete. At the end of the day its a gorgeous earthy style mixed together with the stone and fire colors of the more human constructions of the island. Its the only game I've played alongside Metro and to a lesser degree Killzone 2 that captures earth and ruined industry together so well that I almost want to play the game just to be immersed in that awesome tone. Of course none of that would be so good if the graphics didn't keep up with it, but oh do they ever. I think aside from Ground Zeroes, Tomb Raider is the best looking 3rd party game I've seen on the PS3. The effects are great and intense, the textures stand out and strong, character models are well detailed (and a nice touch is that Lara visually changes to her conditions as the game progresses), the game runs smoothly 95% of the time, and everything just feels as good as it could be expected to. Maybe the shanty town level looks a little grainy and ugly, but then again I also felt a bit like I was supposed to hate that place's visuals. I can't imagine how much better this got improved on in the PC and definitive version. The music isn't probably as gripping as it was in the older Tomb Raiders, but I can also see why they changed it. Many of the cut-scenes and big moments have the cliche and dull hollywood style orchestrated piece which just bore me and rarely get me to recognize it, but some of the in game music likes to blend in more with the ambiance of the area. A common musical effect you'll hear is these weird chimes, light screeches, or bells. The bells and chimes have an eastern vibe to them and almost come in at moments where it feels the wind could have caused that effect. Its a pretty amazing accomplishment when the game immersion and music mix so well together that it feels like its a part of the weather atmosphere. All of these things make the setting, visual, and aesthetics of the game feel like a true example of "Triple A", and it makes for a powerfully immersive adventure... whenever the scripts don't pull you out that is.

Much has happened over this island's long mysterious history

Now what about the gameplay that wasn't covered by the big changes? Well lets go over the combat again. Its a 3rd person shooter, but designed to some different smaller details than its direct competition. Cover is passive, feeling very intuitive and less sticky. This sounds bad on paper as you'd imagine it screwing you over a good bit, but its far from that. It works perfectly, and honestly I'd prefer it. Meanwhile you go in and out of cover, and using weapons, melee, and stealth to the best of your advantage. Stealth has limited scenes of use and isn't so fluid, but its very rewarding to do when you can pull it off. There are enemy types, but not so much worth mentioning. It usually comes down to the weapon they carry, and then there are shield guys where you basically have to lure them to you, dodge, and then shoot while they're open from trying to get you with a blade. However I'll give credit for their AI, they move in and out of combat with some thought, usually stay in cover when you think you're ready for them to pop out, and sometimes work together as a team really well. Meanwhile the bulk of meaning behind combat is how you manage to kill. Tomb Raider has a heavy XP system driving Lara's passive upgradable abilities, but because the XP is to some degree a bit limited you'll really want to get the highest kill points. You do this by placing headshots, getting well timed melee attacks, and upgrading the right skills with what points you do have to get more points in a sort of ironic way. However the major difference is that combat is only half of the active struggle and the most barebone way of scoring in the entire game, and the game sort of knows that when its only giving you a grand total of 4 weapons (shotgun, bow, assault rifle, and pistol). Instead there's a big focus on the tools and way you look at your surroundings. However on the bright side, Those weapons will upgrade both as the game progresses and gives you a new piece to them and then there will be upgrades from a salvage system that the player builds on at special campfire safe areas. Salvage is different from XP, but only by name and the exact thing you get it from. Its basically a secondary type of number that builds up as you do certain things (mostly looting, like crates, or certain corpses. By contrast XP is kills, and bonus activities) and you then can give your weapon more of a finishing touch. Secondary fire functions, better aim, faster rate of fire, etc. Something funny but also cool is how eventually the weapons practically transform their visual design. What starts out as probably a modified Sten Mark gun for your rifle will eventually look like an AK47. However when the game progresses the weapons for you, its basically opening up more ways into the environment. A good example is you eventually get rope arrows for your bow that you can use for bridging gaps and pulling certain things apart, thus opening up doors and making those distant cliffs more possible. Later on you get it upgraded once more with a thicker arrow that can penetrate climbable mountains, and then a tool that reels Lara across the lines or gives the pull of the rope extra force. This allows you to move with even faster speed, and pull apart heavier doors.

Remember that campfire bit I glossed over earlier? In addition to upgrades for your weapons and character skills, you can also use this to fast travel to past campfires. The game is still set in a line for the most part, so you're not going to be backtracking by mission, however you can and should because there were previous bonus areas you wouldn't be able to get into without those new tools. Collectibles, finding weapon parts that open up more weapon upgrade possibilities, activities, and maybe even a tomb or two may not be accessible from the very first time you stumble onto them. Don't get your hopes too high, its not going to give you a new area of the map, or branching paths, its still a linear game. However it does train you to go back seeking for more to make the rest of your linear adventure more powerful. So you've got to occasionally go back, observe the environment, and take actions based on your progress and exploration skills. Sound familiar to any older gamers? Its a metroidvania formula mixing seamlessly with a 3rd person shooter in a way I'm not sure any other game has done before. This is what I (on my first playthrough) along with any other naive gamer were missing out on by thinking with the Uncharted mentality. In Tomb Raider the combat is more about XP than it is about sharp balances and weapon or enemy variety. The collectibles and paths of the campaign are there to make you stop and explore rather than dash through onto the next part, the bonuses and tools are there to give you this "ah-ha!" moment while they don't even exist in other 3rd person games, the guns turn into door unlockers in a way that's similar to Metroid's blue door needs ice missile routine, and the game's design basically is set to say "exploration will make you a better adventurer" while Uncharted is saying "grab the popcorn, and prepare for this light hearted action packed adventure blockbuster!". Tomb Raider aimed to take on a fresh approach with the metroidvania formula. You don't have total areas locked off waiting to be backtracked like most of them, instead its just extra most of the time. Sadly this means you can charge through the game missing the point of backtracking, but still I'd prefer this more free style. However the extras are certainly worthwhile considering there is only but so much salvage and XP, and part of the collectibles include weapon parts where 3 of them will give you an entire set of more advanced weapon upgrades (like the potential for explosive arrows). You'll have to probably get at least 90% of things done in order to purchase every skill and weapon upgrade, but of course if you don't want to do that there's nothing stopping you from enjoying the game short of all upgrades. Meanwhile the mandatory upgrades are given to you by story, and feel a lot more fluid. Rather than the gamey sense of... well ice missile and blue door, you've got more down to earth and practical things like blasting a barricade door with a shotgun, and this is used sparingly rather than littering the island every step of the way. This mix of 3rd person shooter, the context of the adventure and survival, and the style in which you progress all blend perfectly rather than artificially with a moan inducing halt to your progress. Oh and of course, combat actually has depth to it, another trait usually missing from metroidvanias. Of course there's still some compromise to each other. Again if you go in expecting this to be on uncharted's level with combat depth, you'll be disappointed. The weapon variety, balance, enemy encounters, and environments just lack that edge to them. From a shooter perspective, the game just feels too on rails and too convenient. However if you wanted a full blown metroidvania, maybe you were looking for those mandatory environmental stops, maybe you got tired of the cut-scenes giving you the bigger gadgets, or found there to be too much combat or set pieces. Its a give and take situation that has worked to try and find a balance between the two, and naturally some aspects the purists may enjoy are lost. Personally, as a guy that oddly leans on loving or hating metroidvania games, I'm happy to say this lands more towards the enjoyable end of the spectrum. I think the 3rd person shooter hybrid with it is just perfect.

Spend as much time as you like attempting the side activities.

However before I wrap up the review I do want to bring some attention to a few complaints. As I've said, the game can bring on a cinematic adventure presence, and sometimes the cinematic is stronger than the "adventure" part. I would say the first quarter of the game is almost painful to experience. The game just isn't so willing to let you play a lot at first. You start off witnessing a multi-piece cut-scene that eventually gives you basic walking control with some minor set pieces tossed in to remind you there's still a lot of watching. What minimal walking and interaction you do is quickly interupted by three quick time events. Yes, you read that right, three paced practically right after each other at the very first area of the game and intro cut-scenes! The game goes in and out of teasing your level of control, and even so much as Lara just being pre-scripted to light a torch as she enters a cave will begin to get on your nerves. By the 3rd hour in around the moment you need to climb a radio tower, the game gives off one of its last Quick time events but its still up there among many, and within such a short amount of time. All this being a massive part of the beginning in addition to the fact that your gear and weapons have barely taken off (thus naturally leaving the gameplay feeling a bit closed even when in control of it) make for a very weak opening. Oddly enough though after you kick a guy off a bridge (which is also the very worst QTE since you have to practically strangle your controller stick to win it), there is practically zero quick time events from there, and a significantly better spacing with the set-pieces. I really don't know if they did this as a compromise to some sort of thing in the writing since it was the intro portion, or if it was just poor design choices at the start. Probably the last, because some of the QTEs just didn't need to happen. Out of the two times I've started replay profiles I've had to mentally prepare myself for this chore of a beginning. The rest of the game is worth it though, its just an atrocious opening you have to work through first. Its not all bad considering the hunt portion and some interesting moments, but its just so on rails in gameplay that its a pain and makes you feel cynical about where triple A gaming has lead itself to. My second major complaint is actually the opposite... the ending. The ending is good in terms of story, actually fantastic, but its the gameplay that suffers. Because the game expected you to backtrack and clear things up, enemies, set pieces, and objectives are totally absent leaving the areas totally clean of anything adventure related. Occasionally you'll find a scouting party of 3-5 guys, but that's about it. So once you're finished there's basically no more use in those weapons you spent the whole game upgrading, and you can't simply relive your favorite battles or adventure bits. However what about when you get everything? Well that's just the thing, you get everything, you get your achievements, and then its game over. You can still hunt, but that's about it. Everything is just done. This could be significantly improved if there was a chapter system added in to allow you to replay your favorite moments from the main menu, while your core save file still holds your normal progress and allows you to peacefully backtrack. The more obvious solution though is how this system begs so much for a new game + mode. Reset the adventure itself and let us keep many upgrades or equipment, and add in minor but fun new things to work towards, and slightly buff the difficulty, AI, or enemy placement in some way. It wouldn't take a lot to work this system in, the game is perfectly set for something like this. Instead it simply dies, and the only way to get value out of replaying it is replaying it all over again and throwing away your past progress. To bring things full circle with my issue, that means reliving the worst part of the game with no fresh incentive other than just "I want to replay the better parts". Oh you'll also have to deal with the tutorial prompts that intrude on you often, as the game has practically no options including the lack of turning that junk off if you know what you're doing and want the best immersion. The controls are also set in stone. You can't even adjust it for left handed controls or the basic 360 controller style switch. I also glossed over that survivor instinct vision before, and that's mandatory, and an element that makes things way too easy. There's no way to remove it, you'll simply have to ignore it and the consistent pop-up prompts to use it. A simple patch could have fixed this, but nope.

Overall:

I had a lot of trouble figuring out which rating to give this. Its fun, immersive, and unique enough to give it a legendary status among the big market's in and out supply of campaign driven adventure games. However then I remember some of the issues it has, but clearly these flaws have been mostly overlooked by the mass acclaim knocking out the niche "Flawed fun" idea. So... an awesome then? Yeah I think that feels about right. Back when this game got the praise it did in 2013, also known as the year of "mature story games", I felt like it was on par with most of those games as just not impressing me right. However its come around as a radical shift of views because I was influenced to look at it the wrong way originally. Its not just a straight forward action adventure blockbuster style game with an overdramatic story. Its not a survival game either, contrary to what original hype and interviews were saying (if you want that within a cinematic 3rd person shooter I'd recommend The Last of Us instead). Its actually got a lot of subtle qualities that pull you towards immersing yourself within the island and making the most of your surroundings, so that when you're ready to move on, you feel more prepared and ready to tackle the action and drama that lies ahead. Then by the end you've come a long ways into getting all that gear, braving all those cliffs and tombs, solving simple puzzles while being surrounded by armed lunatics and unexplainable superstition, and truly feeling the impact of Lara's first dangerous adventure. However like an adventure, nothing goes perfectly. While its an awesome experience, its nothing greater with the poor opening pace, no thought into post-game enjoyment (should have ditched the multiplayer nobody wanted and got the team thinking about another long term solution), and as is sad with most of these supposedly "accessible" triple A games they forgot some common sense options that would have been appreciated and made the game and presentation that much better. Plus while I don't feel its worth taking off the game myself, some will also find the gameplay to be too disconnected to some of its story content, or other nitpicks I've warned about. Still none of those problems cause me to forget how excited I become over opening artifacts, how well done some of the story aspects are, how beautiful the island is, or my satisfaction with the combat aesthetics. The fact is I've found myself coming back to this game twice this year and ready to endure a full playthrough, and its clearly doing something right even if it is sad that I MUST play through it all to do any of it again. For those who want a good adventure, are willing to admire the landscape and their surroundings to get an extra edge, and might be interested in getting a nice story or a cool metroidvania genre splice, I highly recommend Tomb Raider. Despite its flaws, it is certainly one of the best recent action adventure games out there. Plus I haven't even covered the multiplayer. Its not much, but if you're desperate for that to, you can get your fix for both adventure and some PvP shooting if you can find the remaining community for it.

100 post special: Favorite games of all time.

A field of crystal gems and treasure lie ahead

So nobody probably actually reads this stuff, but I feel this is a cool milestone. This is the 100th published post. I've been enjoying releasing my rants, opinions, editorials, reviews, and advice related to gaming here for a long time... even if this was actually supposed to be a bit more of a general "whatever I want" blog at the time of its creation. So... maybe the game posts is more at like 96. Whatever, I'm still celebrating with one huge special personal gaming post. Its about my all time favorite games. This is a massive list, so if anybody actually does end up reading this, feel free to take breaks. I know I have, I've spent time working and polishing this for over a week in advance. There's 20 games, each with a decent justification, pictures, and an honorable mentions list... because 20 just wasn't good enough. :p

Basically these are my favorite games, without repeating or conflicting traits. What do I mean by this? Well lets say I loved timesplitters. I really do, its a fantastic game. Lots of characters, options, replay value, some cheat codes, great weapons, and future perfect had a great campaign for its time. A long time ago it conflicted for a spot as possibly my favorite multiplayer-like FPS. However now there's another shooter that outshines it on every single trait of that... so it gets pushed off this list rather than taking 2nd place to it. The only reason I'd have to replay it is for its particular franchise traits, and maybe nostalgia, and other minor things. Meanwhile the other game outshines it, and other games deserve some different attention for offering their own unique incredible features. Another thing to note is that anything can share a number as long as its in the same series. I'll probably note my feelings about which ones I probably have a bias into, but if the entire series or multiple ones have me loving the game enough to be put here, then there's no reason I can't simplify it to one big highlight spot. Without further intro though I think its time to start this list, so as to make sure this article doesn't get any more needlessly lengthy.

Honorable mentions:

A brief tribute to those that almost made it...

Mario 64 (and its "clones")

My favorite genres at a very specific key could boil down to 3D platformers and corridor shooters. With both I kind of tend to need even more specifics though, especially 3D platformers. Crash Bandicoot, Croc, R&C, and from what I've seen of it the new 3D mario game on Wii U don't quite cut it. They're very tightly controlled down to very bare elements, or in R&C's case take another focus. Now mario 64 on the other hand is the great icon for my kind of platformer. Many collectibles, immersive worlds, move sets to practice and master, shortcuts and motion based tricks, little mini-games that break the pacing while still targeting some consistency within your common goals, boss fights, and spectacular worlds. Spyro was the first to throw all of this my way, and its still the best, but I'm still grateful for all the fun times in Gex, Banjo & kazooie, Jak and Daxter, Ty 2, Mario 64, and of course the Galaxy games. This formula they all shared together with their own little twists, worlds, and charm made up a great deal of why I love gaming so much and why its something so fun. However when doing this list I just didn't feel like I could or should include many of them on here, so I've decided to just honor the genre in here. Thank you collect-a-thon mario 64 style platformers for all the good times. This industry should be treating you with more respect than it does now, and I hope you eventually make a big come-back.

Wolfenstien, Doom 3, Half-life & Alpha prime

In all honestly the first shooter I've ever got into and enthusiastic about was Medal of Honor. However most of my childhood shooters are blown out of the water by comparison to the PC shooters riding mostly around the 2004-2007 timeline. Contrary to what the "master race" will tell you its nothing to do with the system so much as mostly coincidence, but regardless I'm so grateful these games above happened. They aren't even so much as my direct favorites as much as they are iconic to games that I ended up loving so much. Doom 3 (while not better than its original I'll admit) embodied the heavy dark atmosphere of monstrous horror combined with industrial sci-fi and action packed fun that earns itself an energy drink (Actually its a bit nostalgic in that sense as that was when I had my first energy drink ever), Alpha Prime reflects a more light hearted take on the same art style while delivering on stronger gameplay and precision heavy firefights at the sacrifice of cool monsters, and Half-life is the popular founder of the entire format these games all worked on. I don't actually care a lot for Half-life and find its sequel dated by awkward gunplay, but I'm ridiculously grateful for the formula it created. Great atmosphere and immersion, cheesy sci-fi horrors with imaginative set pieces and equipment, fun gameplay that had you looking for resources and lore details, interacting with allies and the world, and experimenting with new tactics on weapons and movement to get the best results. Despite this being the "PC shooter" thing it was also what influenced my earlier shooter games like MOH, Killzone 1, and Turok evolution, its just that I think these games were stronger innovators and more symbolic than Turok and whatever else. This was the perfect formula, oh and Wolfenstein is in here for being a game that agrees on that and came from MachineGames as a "love letter" to their favorite FPS games. It was the most recent, polished game to do something like that, and as it stands I think its the very best single player experience on the PS4 right now. If all 4 of these games combined all their best traits into one big shooter campaign, it'd probably be perfect. However I have enough shooters as it is on this list without including a bunch of extras that were only awesome... like all of these are. Despite how amazing these games and those like it are, I don't really have a direct place for each of them on this list. However on the "best of all times" bit, I really do have to give them an honorable mention, because it is a huge part of my interests within gaming.

Watch_Dogs

Oh.... watchdogs, what a weird case you turned out to be. Such a generic, confused, and sloppy job that somehow pulls together as possibly my favorite GTA style open world game. On one hand its all of that, the sloppy confused mass marketed triple A mess that forgot to put bullet particles on the ground or a 2nd save slot in. However on the other hand I've never had an open world game leave the kind of impact this has, leave me thinking about its morals and messages, left me both admiring and disgusted with the character, and wanted so badly to play more after I had finished the story. I guess the fact that this is one of the few open world games to do stealth right helps make it fun. Still I've only rented the game so far, and with the mountain of nitpicks I had in mind and its already large success I keep telling myself I can wait for a price drop (...and then grab the season pass with it). Maybe I was being too nice to it or was in a weird mood, but either way this game stuck out to me and "clicked" in a weird way it really shouldn't have. When it came to figuring out this list, I couldn't take this game completely off my mind, but I can't put it on her and feel confident about that either. So here's a good word in for it.

Skyrim

The honorable mention mini-list is mostly gushing about games that are almost good enough for this list, but for this one..... its frustrations. Skyrim isn't as bad for reasons I probably should be hating on. I played the PS3 copy and so you'd assume I'd be witness to all sorts of over the top bugs that should have been fixed on release, but honestly I think the internet strongly over-exaggerated on them. I witnessed very little, and mostly got to play unharmed... by glitches. However I started losing momentum, jumping in and out of play, and just felt a bit easily warded off for some reason. Why? I adored this game's sense of open-ness, the exploration, the awesome writing and surprises, the environment, and for all its problems I could really enjoy some of the combat and leveling as well. However after each and every fight I was met with an inventory screen. With each discovery, that same screen. With each treasure, each story, each new area.... menus, numbers, comparing, backpack weight management, and sometimes stupid roadblocks to doing cool stuff because some dumb number wouldn't go up. Oh and speaking of which, the dumb resources tossed in. For such a super streamlined game, it sure left a lot of awful crap to ruin the pacing in. Why is this one of the few games, if not the only triple A one, that has shops who have a ridiculously limited pool of funds you can sell with? Streamlined!? Not when I have to go to 5 separate vendors just to sell all my dragon bones that each weight 1/8th of my total inventory limit that shares space with potions, swords, books, armor, quest items, etc. The natural XP system while an amazing thing at first glance gets stupid when you have to grind common item or potion crafting to get through multiple tiers. It requires you to stack up on an absurd amount of equipment to get anywhere useful, and its just a waste of time when better things exist to be simply picked up and found for free. Skyrim is basically an RPG that fails to be entertaining because it is an RPG. Everything ranging from the numbers in combat, the carrying system, the vendors, repetitive dungeons, the misbalanced bosses, and the storyline itself could have all been done fixed or replaced if the game changed things up to be more of an open world adventure than an RPG. Instead numbers and inventory space stop you constantly to troll on all the fun stuff. The gorgeous music, amazing levels, clever quests, awesome beasts, the fascinating lore, it all grinds to a halt when suddenly you have to stop to reorganize all your loot. Skyrim is a masterpiece that secretly turns you into its chore lackey, and eventually when you realize it, and realize how that connects to why you aren't playing it as much as you thought you would it then all becomes clear how disappointing this game is compared to what it could have been. On a good day I'll continue to praise this game to the high heavens, but in truth it could be doing so much better. It should be on this list, but it really has hurt itself by doing the RPG aspects so weirdly and sloppy.

Dark Souls

Now I love Dark Souls a lot. I mean like really enjoy it. Actually its one of the most unique, strongest, and most interesting games I've ever played, period. I struggle but want to say it may just deserve the top of this list, but the struggle part makes this awkward. I haven't even beaten the game, and for some reason I just don't stick with it so well. So despite the incredible experience, the perfect and tense combat, the awesome art style and eccentric characters, the cool creatures, and how it feels like its hit hard in terms of an incredible unbeatable experience, I can't find myself feeling completely justified in putting this on the list even though it just might be the best game ever. I ended starting an article that became 3 essays worth on why this game may have been the best ever, so I could really get into this but its best I keep this short and sweet and leave it here until I feel more secure in having it take 1st or at least 2nd place on the list.

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20) Quantum Conundrum

Ok I'm really trying to keep off super recent games off this list, but for spot #20 and such a recent shockingly good game I really want to continue playing, I've got to give it this spot. QC is hands down my favorite puzzle game on the market. Fun physics based multi-sided puzzle solving alongside enjoyable first person platforming, it adds up to some great fun. The story ends on a terrible note, but honestly I didn't feel too cheated because I was never into it for the story and it was hardly building up to anything. Its story approach was simply style over substance, and I do love its style which never disappointed, even on the ending. The worst part is that there was an ending... I just loved playing this and didn't want to stop! I was glued to the TV screen until the end and ran through the game in under 24 hours of purchasing it. Sure its short, but it was fun, and every failure or success gave me that "just one more puzzle!" feeling to keep going. I actually went back and repeated half the game already, even if I had just played it. I was going to 100% until I realized how borderline insane the shift limits for that are, and that's where it would sap the fun out... but that's exactly why I'm not doing it and just strolling through the mansion, tossing physics around, freezing time, surfing couches and safe vaults, and playing with paintings and Ike. I'm currently thinking about taking advantage of its low budget side and using that as an excuse to replay the entire game counting all the paintings that repeat themselves and tally it up in the end to see what was the most used. Maybe I'll look back on this list with a slight regret towards putting this game up here so soon if it doesn't hold up in time, but right now I feel better about putting it up than my previous spot with Sims. I just love playing this game! Thank you for all the fun, laughs, and the catchy theme song Quantum Conundrum. I'm not sure if there will ever be a puzzle game as good as this one was.

19) Fur Fighters

Some part of me wants to put Duke Nukem 3D here instead, but honestly this game just stands out as a lot weirder while being a lot of fun and I think its worth mentioning just a bit more for this spot. Fur Fighters basically takes a lot of the fun of a shooter and a lot of the fun of a 3D platformer and combines the two in an amazing, although clunky, video game that deserves a remaster that isn't restricted to the stupid Ipad (that isn't helping with the already clunky controls either). The game is a ton of fun as you set out on a collect-a-thon adventure under the perspective of a trigger happy crew of 6. You swap between 6 different character with unique abilities and traits, battle gang bears and crazy creatures, fight bosses, collect coins and kidnapped babies, and build a large arsenal of many weapon types alongside picking up power-ups to help you. The difficulty kept things just tense enough, but without going overboard, the characters and world had plenty of fun style, and the puzzles were usually interesting though some were a bit dumb. Unfortunately it controlled kind of weirdly, the world is a bit stiff probably because of the tech the game was built on, and I recall bumping into some frustrations along the way. Still it remains a game that I think deserves more mention and recognition than it gets (especially the PS2 version, the dreamcast lacks a couple things like voice acting), and its one that had a good attempt of combining both of my favorite genres in a stylish world. I really need to find my PS2 version sitting around somewhere.

18) Tomb Raider Reboots (Legend & 2013)

Guess what theme song I'm listening to as I type this? Tomb Raider! The atmosphere, music, and overall feel to these games are amazing and has always had my attention, but the gameplay always wants to keep me away. This one is really weird for me to put here, and for that reason it may be up around the edge of this list because I'm just so unsure about it. For starters, I just played it this year making it difficult to completely agree that its a timeless amazing game I'll love for a while. On the other hand though Legend was finally the one to let me truly enjoy a series I've been meaning to. It has plenty of problems, strong linearity, short length, and not as much supernatural stuff as I like in the series. However it still amazes me. The cheesy dialogue full of fun characters, the amazing way the platforming is implemented, the gunplay is unique even if a bit broken, and the adventure is just incredible even if its in need of more alien/atlantian/dinosaur stuff. Something about the franchise has always grabbed a bit of me, and feels somewhat attached to who I am. The adventure, culture, the cheesy way the story is handled, and just the fact that its nostalgic with how I used to always watch my dad play the older games. I really loved playing this game, the story, the characters, and I've probably wound up replaying the 1st level 7 times so far from trying out new things, demos, or separate ports. So even though in some cases those replays were forced, that's still 7-ish times for a super linear game I just got into this summer. Its doing something exceptionally right if I've enjoyed it enough to do that.

Now 2013 is an interesting case. I have so many nitpicks with the way it was handled a bit too cinematic, and its marketing was an outright lie about how "survivalist" it was. However when I put down all hype, marketing, and conversations and just look at it as its own adventure game there was a lot there to make it interesting. When I started going more towards the right pace, I ended up making tomb raider one of the few games that I ever 100%'d, and I was actually depressed when there wasn't anything more to it. No new game +, no extras unlocked, and no replayable combat. That was it, and the fact I wanted more so badly made me really think about how much I may appreciate the game despite what I feel about some of its quality from a mechanical perspective. I feel like if it were set up just slightly more to resemble R&C's formula, with new game + and a different gun leveling to go with it, then I feel I may have been hooked for another playthrough or even a couple. At the very

least it could have set up a chapter system to replay with full enemies and stuff in tact. It still has some issues either way you look at it, like how stupidly restricted the options are, and how the first 3rd of the game is painful compared to afterwards. Once I kick that guy off the snowy bridge in that last annoying QTE, things go mostly uphill though. I hope we eventually see the sequel get a proper multi-plat release and see many great improvements within it. Maybe if those improvements were in with the original, and the game had more time to age than it does with writing this list, I'd be sure to place it a few spots higher.

In the end Tomb Raider as a series almost feels like its a big metaphor to me. Its a big chunk of why I play games, but within a game that is so hard to enjoy. Its like in real life about how I like the idea of traveling, but I hate the literal act of traveling like road trips. I want to see, experience, and do the cool stuff, but sometimes a barrier that's either annoying or seemingly impossible stands in your way to discourage you. That's kind of what the series felt like its been doing; Its got so much alluring things to it but also so many frustrations to board itself up from having me just enjoy it. On top of that here's a funny coincidence: Lara is following the footsteps of her father in an adventure with you playing in place of her struggles. I've been trying to do the same with trying to catch-up to my dad on enjoying these specific Tomb Raider adventures. Finally, Legend was the one I conquered. It was the adventure I finally had, could say I've been there and see similar things to what my Father worked to accomplish and see, and have that passion and desire to experience more. I overcame terrifyingly annoying platformer pieces or QTEs, had more endurance than the traps set in front of me, and found both the act within the journey and the destination itself worthwhile and very motivational. That's what a true adventure has. Its not all fun, its got some risks, frustrations, and some completely weird things that you despise, but in the end it all is supposed to come full circle in a way that you step out of it with a great level of experience and enthusiasm. It sets this mentality to do whatever it takes for the adventure and discovery. Tomb Raider has created an oddly relatable experience within itself, and has been a fantastic wildcard as far as games go, Legend and the reboot sit among the best of a franchise that in itself becomes every meaning of the word "Adventure" to me. Maybe one day I will finish the adventure and complete the PSx games, or at least the annoying part in underworld I'm stumped in. I'm still working on underworld first though. Oh and, again, the theme music rocks for the originals and Legend.

17) Worms 4: Mayhem

Ok so I've actually gotten over this one a bit. I've sort of given up on the series, and my life has been a bit better off since I stopped fussing at them over how awful they follow up their series. However it was a massive part of my child hood, and a big influence on gaming, and Worms 4 Mayhem is up there among the biggest time sinks and fun I've had within my years in the hobby. Whether role-playing out some campaign of jobs playing matches against myself, or playing the game seriously, its a blast. I've always been in the minority that prefered the 3D series over the 2D ones, and 4 was the best to me. Mostly higher level of customization, more team freedoms, more weapons, more interesting levels, and a less frustrating unlock system. I loved this game, and while I've fallen out a bit with it (and can't play the original any longer) I still keep the HD version on my HDD to load up occasionally when I want to fire an explosive banana at an enemy team.

16) Donkey Kong Country

I respect sidescrolling platformers and all, but its not my type of thing and I don't see their appeal from the "hardcore" perspective. As I've discussed long ago, I feel it is limited down to reflex, memorization, and maybe even a bit of luck. It also feels like you don't carry much substance out of a playthrough because you aren't really learning much or experiencing much for immersion or escapism. I will obviously make a big exception for LittleBigPlanet where its more of creativity and freedom at the front of the show. However despite my blunt careless-ness for most of the genre, its still got a charm and allure to it that makes it worth playing from time to time, and eventually there comes a time where you find one that just amazes you and feels just comforting or pure fun to play. For me, that's Donkey Kong Country for the SNES. The controls, music, levels, setting, boss fights, collectibles, and just everything was so awesome as far as a 2D platformer goes. Even though its technically inferior, I feel like the visuals are also some of my favorite out there capturing a strange cross between high detail and charming pixels. By contrast the GBA version has issues with color and sprites, and the new games are too clean and lack a certain heart to it, yet despite this the wii game still has some aliasing showing thus making it not even as polished as I wish it could be. In addition, the music is just plain better with this game and its possibly my favorite video game soundtrack ever. I can't really explain much more about the game, it just does things so well, and feels like the best 2D platformer I've ever played. Its made even better with an emulator where you can set your own saves and don't get hung up worrying over cheap deaths. There isn't a lot to explain because it still is down to a limited plane, and key "skill" is down to reflex and timing. Its still just a ton of fun though, and while DKC2 is fun as well it doesn't quite beat the original. The bosses, levels, and control just feel so good with this game. I suppose there's a dose of Nostalgia with it to. Just loading it up releases some feeling of comfort, and I know the fun will soon begin.

15) Sly Cooper: Thieves in time

As mentioned before (and contrary to my feelings on its 2D cousin), I adore a lot of 3D platforms that follow somewhat in line with the Mario 64 format. I wish there were more around in present time, as it seems like a thing that nearly vanished when the PS2 era died. Though back in that time era they switch over less out of collectible driven gaming and more on mini-games and a linear adventure, and sly might have been the best example of this. I absolutely despise and hold a grudge against the quick time rhythm game they pull as a lame boss fight in Sly Cooper 1. The original is the worst in this regard, having total mini-games like that out of pac-man fever or mario party rather than legit gameplay progression. Sly cooper 2 and 3 do a better job of making the mini-games more consistent and character themed, but still tend to feel like bad forced variety. Then... enter the newest one in the series that felt as close to perfect to me as I've seen a platformer in a long time. Also for the record, while I praise this game to the skies over how its not common to see its kind, its not that I'm being deprived that makes it any better. I jumped into the entire series with the HD collection, so it was all new to me in an era where Mario galaxy was basically the sole survivor of the 3D platformer. Similarly I still play older ones, so I could still "have my fill" so to speak. So my enjoyment of Thieves in time was legit and unique to this because of its quality instead of desperation.

Looking back on it, I kept arguing back and forth with myself on including it within the list. Is it incredible? Yes, but not idealy one of the "best games" ever. Ok maybe a bit. Did I enjoy it more than the five games above it? Well... yes, bu- Is it one of the most memorable and well polished games out of one of your favorite genres? YES! Damn, caved in and now its here. As said in the honorable mention its a tough call between amazing games of the past. Still I decided, this has a ton of polish, some of the best visuals, just the right challenge and diversity, perfect length, and was one of my favorite games in very recent times. I'm not saying its objectively better than M64 and other great platformers, but its so close and so fresh in my mind that its worth putting up here. Sure it still has forced mini-games, but it cuts back on the crap better than the rest of the series and keeps things flowing just right. The hub worlds were fun to explore, the character and story is great, the gameplay is fun, the bosses have attitude and interesting variety, and the difficulty is perfect. I have a couple issues with it, particularly that the new character feels like an afterthought and the last fight is a terrible QTE (not quite like the rhythm one from Sly 1), but as a whole I loved this game. Plus like I said, its still a bit different from the usual platformer I enjoy a ton, and had a different focus than those mentioned in the Honorable mention spot.

14) Warhammer 40'000: Space Marine

I owe this game a huge thanks for getting me into one of the best fictional universes ever conceived. In addition to that, this game is just damn fun, and I find myself going back to it again and again playing it. It all started when I noticed during a rental how strangely familiar several elements were. The goofy gruff british accents on the Orks, the red dusty skybox, the industrial corridors on top of more industrial corridors with dirt and rubble sprinkled along the way for a level design, the ridiculous weapons and heavy pound and blood splatters they made... it all felt like the kind of cheesy shooter world I adored and mixed with other universes and games I had enjoyed. It felt like Turok and Killzone got together and made a 3rd person shooter with mild hack and slash bits tossed in with some odd gameplay ideas. Among those odd ideas, was the mentality that instead of a cover system or full health regen you had to actually get your health back by diving into the enemy forces, combo stunning them, and ripping them apart with a brutal melee finisher to regain health. It installs a cheesy mentality that in order to win, you have to simply kill them harder than you usually do. Oh yeah, and near the end of the game you open up a demon portal where large jawed red demons spring out with long swords and a face that's stuck with their tongue hanging out. Yeah... the game is over the top nonsense with great gameplay that crosses between solid 3rd person shooting and an interesting dose of hack and slash. It has some issues, including quite a bit of repetition (Even I got a bit tired of seeing industrial corridors), and maybe a couple of odd difficulty spikes. Oh and the final boss was a bit anti-climatic in terms of gameplay, though in a novel kind of way its one of the most bad-ass moments in video gaming as you kill a demon prince by punching him in the face while falling for miles off a collapsing tower. Anyways despite those misteps, it remains one of my favorite PS3 games and I find myself going back to replay it a good bit.

13) Uncharted 2

My first PS3 game, and one of the most memorable and interesting 3rd person shooters out there. Ok to be fair, I have no idea if I really should be putting it on this spot. Its a really good game though. It had a cinematic presence and triple A budget done right without intruding on good gameplay and play input. I love its great balance of ammo and weapon variety in combat as well as the enemy types to use it on, and the set pieces often felt just perfect unlike how they're used in many other games. The characters are fun and likeable (except the villain, they really could do better), the visuals stunning with some immersive subtleties, and a good sense of replay value with just generally likeable levels and some awesome unlockables like cheat codes. Oh and the multiplayer rocked despite some pretty odd flaws and issues. The game just remains as one of the more fun and interesting games you can pick up on the PS3, and its harder to explain further on it. I'd say its biggest problem may be some pacing issues, and like most 3rd person action games it has very shallow platforming, and I fear its starting to slowly feel just a bit dated on the whole, but honestly as it stands I feel its good enough to put on this list. Uncharted 3 wasn't quite as good, and what I've played of the original just didn't hook me, so here's to hoping Uncharted 4 strikes the highest quality for the series yet again and on an even bigger system.

12) Mario Kart

Quick, what do you think of when you come up with the word "Fun" as far as video games go. Chances are Nintendo's creations are among your thoughts. They just have that fun charm to them, and I'm willing to bet more specifically you may be thinking of Mario Kart. Mario Kart is an odd spin-off that ended up making an entire sub-genre of racing games themed around arcadey statistics, power-ups, and humor. Its been selling big for years, is a staple in any Co-op gamer's house for some good 'ol party fun, and is just an amazing game to sit down and play. Personally its one of the only games to get me enthusiastic at all about a racing game, and remains as one of those series I've sunk hours upon hours into replaying and enjoying. I don't even get much of a chance to play couch co-op on it either, but its still ridiculously fun. I recently got back in on the series with Mario Kart 8, and it reminded me why its one of the reasons I still support and love Nintendo even if they're very much a secondary sort of fun to me. I usually just find Sony and PC platforms to contain the real games I'm looking for, but nothing has or ever will seem to beat Nintendo on the front of their sports-like games and this is the best example... unless we talk about Smash Bros, but we'll talk about that later. 

However I will say that Mario Kart 8 doesn't feel like its on competing grounds as the best. Instead if I were to pick out my favorites, it'd be the DS with a very close call with the Wii version. Mario Kart on the DS just did everything to blow my mind at the time. Before that I was only a bit amused with mario kart advanced, and enjoyed MK64 until I had to repeat tracks I didn't want. MKDS allowed me to play my favorite tracks whenever I wanted to in a standard race, it let me design my own kart, everyone had a standard and custom alternative, the battle mode was able to be played solo for the first time and was amazing, and it baffles me that this was the one and only Mario Kart I've played with a freakin' campaign in it. Based off my memory, it wasn't any gimmick or flop either, it was a legit campaign with fun moments, boss fights, and was just a blast to play whenever I wanted a break from racing. It was packed with tons of content, and was a blast to play. Meanwhile the Wii had more customization options, the steering and bike/kart differences were cool, and the maps were just a fun mix. The only major faults I can remember having with it (apart from the 150cc difficulty like always) is that the mission mode was removed as it has been since DS, and the battle mode was ruined with some stupid decisions on the balloon system. Oh and obviously the DS has the advantage of being portable. Still it comes close enough that its worth mentioning, and in total I love both of those the most out of the whole series. Now MK8, GBA, and 64 are still amazing, and I would love to get my hands on the odd twist within double dash one day. Anyways Mario Kart is one of the best games that after a stressful day, or you just want quick and easy fun, you just sit down and play this game and everything feels better.

11) Journey

I've said this before, but I'm going to keep hammering this in: Journey is one of the best games ever. That sounds like a "duh!" thing considering the list, but I mean that more on an objective note of what games simply excel in their league, take the best qualities of their kind to a whole new level, and deserve to be cemented in the history of the entire hobby as something incredible. Like Doom for FPS, or Mario for platformers, Journey is the answer to those for small emotional experience type games. It simply does everything at an all time high for its kind. It blends gameplay and replay value perfectly with its linear world, it innovates on social features in a way only gaming can do requiring your own input and stories set in the perfect canvas the designers made for you, and it tells a story that causes tears of happiness and sorrow almost unique to each playthrough and has countless people sharing their stories or making art based on their adventures. Journey does all of this without compromising gameplay, art, story, or player interaction. It knows how to be fun, and to yet leave you with a powerful overwhelming feeling of emotions that go beyond the common things you feel in a game. If there really is ever an argument for games as high art, Journey won and then slapped you in the face for daring to argue it in the first place. It is truly one of the greats, and the fact that its so enjoyable on a personal level that it finds a spot here is just a bonus point towards its success. More on a personal like, I enjoy how it interprets play interaction and the friendship you sort of make with these people forced into innocence, I enjoy its spiritual tones and story, and I adore the pacing and twists it contains. Also it earns special points for having a freakin' cheat code unlockable hidden within it. On top of all that, its just a very playful game. The floaty interaction, the singing chirp interaction, the drive to explore... its all a very slow paced and peaceful experience I really enjoy and I can get hung up on simply goofing off and become immersed in this beautiful game. It may be incredibly short, but I really do love this game and I think its more than earned a solid spot among my top 20 games of all time, and certainly one of the best on PS3. Speaking of which though, its a bit rough and off the spot it was before on the PS3 list where Uncharted 2, space marines, and sly 4 beat it by a good bit, and I still kind of stand by that to some degree. However in the grande scheme of all that I've done in gaming as a whole, rather than what I look forward to playing by console, I'd say Journey stands out as a far more unique and high impact experience. Now... when is it coming to PS4?

10) Metal Gear Solid 2/3

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't give this franchise enough credit. I feel like this is one of the most incredible things to have ever happened to gaming, yet I just don't seem to reference it much. However I actually don't like the first and last games that get the most praise. MGS1 feels like it has less control, areas, and options that kind of hold it back from the experience I got into with MGS2. Meanwhile MGS4 took it too far in the cinematic direction, forcing you down a far more linear path with less options, less spots to goof around in, and honestly compared to 3 it just worked with a lot less things. MGS2 and 3 were the most open, mechanically interesting, replayable, and also still had the amazing cinematic presence like the well praised games had. I sunk hours and hours into toying with the guards, trying out different weapons and tactics, finding easter eggs and codec tricks, experimented with minor little immersive bits, testing the difficulty mode differences, and re-watching cut-scenes on youtube as well as figuring out deeper bits of the story with the community. Its just one of those games where you could play for literally a whole year and then go back and discover something totally new that blows your mind. Now that's hardcore. I guess I haven't even explained the game though. Well its what I call a sandbox stealth game. You basically have tons of tools, weapons, and an open level design, and have to outsmart your enemy to progress and get by. That's it in a nutshell, but there is sooooooooooooooo much more to these games than that tiny little summary. The cheesy dialogue and psudo-military setting with lots of 4th wall breaking and oddball events help make the story side of it very enjoyable in addition to the ridiculous amount of depth hidden in these PlayStation 2 games. These games rightfully earn a spot on the list. I hope Phantom Pain delivers as another incredible game in the series, even with some mixed changes I don't quite agree with.

9) Dawn of War 1

Ok, like Uncharted 2 I'm not so clear on where I'd want this game placed. I love a good RTS though. They're kind of like a sandbox to me, I love fooling around with team set-ups, commanding an army down to their very structures and grunts, conquering my territory, and building up big assaults or padding out defenses to endure a harsh assault being lead on me. Its an amazing arrangement of tactics and strategy that I really appreciate whenever the difficulty is manageable. So naturally one that appeals extra to me through an awesome fictional universe, really over the top cheesy british dialogue, spacey monsters and aliens, industrial and religious tones, and you have me thrilled when you tell me I get to play general within this type of game world. Dawn of War in its entirety, and with the help of some game opening mods, makes for one of the best strategy games out there. Its also by far the best Warhammer 40k game out there, and considering how much I love that universe its a great bonus.

8) Torchlight 2

Torchlight 2 is hands down one of the best things to come out of indie gaming. Right around the time blizzard were wrecking all the hopes and dreams of Diablo 3 enthusiasts who were still holding onto 2 for over a decade, and occasionally dabbling in the lesser clones, suddenly a savior popped up for under half the price of their trainwreck Diablo 3. Now to be fair, D3 isn't such a mess now, but that's another story honestly. The fact is Torchlight 2 is what loot happy RPG fans have been waiting years and years for, and it went above and beyond their call at just the right time to deliver one of the most replayable, accessible, well supported, interesting, and content packed Action RPGs ever. Torchlight 2 has a great variety of play styles, mod support, free content updates, an absurd amount of replay value, great art style, and is just very open ended and fun to play. Cheat codes, randomized loot that is mostly unrestricted, amazing classes worth trying out, and awesome monsters on a great adventure. I'm not a major RPG gamer, yet this reminded me of why I play games. The freedom, and fun that comes with lots of experimentation and trying out so much content is just an amazing part of gaming. In an age where options are being lost all over the place, DRM is locking out games, and where fun is knocked down because of balance, Torchlight 2 steps in to set things right again and to give you only the essential basic mechanics and a whole lot of content to enjoy yourself with, and no limitations or restrictions on how awesome the game can be. This was accessibility done right, and I got into an RPG type I don't usually think much of. The game was brilliantly done, and the adventure, customization, leveling, and looting is just a blast. Oh yeah and the dragon fight with Vyrax is amazing!

7) Dishonored

For a lot of the same reasons MGS is on here, except in this case its got a lot of twists as you would expect from Arkane to make. Characters have a more two dimensional yet charming style about them, the setting is more fantasy-like and filled with cool lore bits, the tools you have are more interesting, and there is an interesting choice system that effects the fate of the world by your influence. Dishonored may not be as mechanically deep or sophisticated as Metal Gear Solid, but personally it ticks off a few more boxes that grab my interest. It has more of that introverted world building and creative campaign game feel to it, more imagination to it, and a more open ended way of doing gameplay. It has its issues and a pretty sour part towards the later game, and really needs a New Game + the way its set-up, but in the end its one of my favorite games out there. I really can't say anything else I haven't already said before, this game gets so many things right. Just read my "Now Playing" on this if you truly want me to hear the full blown praise I have for this gem.

6) Team Fortress 2

I feel weird about this because I actually haven't been into this game or its scene for quite some time. Similarly there are other multiplayer FPS games I'd argue are a bit better... but ultimately none feel quite as significant or as endurable as TF2. The support, care, style, community, and perfectly crafted mechanics make this one of the best games I've ever played and I say it proudly that this was my first true online game ever, and it remains difficult to beat. Some say its gone soft after all the hats and F2P, but honestly they've failed to convince me. The added bot support, customization, the new gear without wrecking balanced, all the new little tricks and maps, and new modes makes it seem even stronger than ever before only now its all offered up for free. I'll admit its sad the community isn't as vocal with its nice enthusiasm it used to have, and some amazing custom maps fell out of play, but its still an incredible game that has stood the test of time with good reason. So why was the game ever good in the first place though? Well TF2 has a weird system of balance and FPS rules. Every character/class is extremely different and radically alters the flow of the game, and there are 9 of them. That doesn't sound like a big deal, but consider this: In Killzone/Battlefield or any other typical class based FPS game, how good is the medic in combat? How about the sniper? How about the saboteur? Yes. They all play out practically the same. You get big guns that kill in a few shots, you get side equipment that slightly alters your purpose, and you clash with the other team until someone pulls out. TF2 makes a massive mark of the tools and gives each class a wonky weapon type and in most cases a large pool of health. The result is a strange combination of rock/paper/scissors balance and teamwork, and everyone is left to learn and adapt to playing, countering, and co-operating with each 9 classes with each of their unique traits. You'll find Pyros working with engineers to keep spies out, spies disguising themselves as medics to fool the wounded, soldiers rocket platforming their way into odd shortcuts to exploit weak spots on an enemy sentry, and medics that experiment with the right time to super charge a stronger class and support their way to victory. Throw in the additional modes, clever maps, and tons upon tons of weapon combinations, and you have an amazingly hardcore content packed experience that has you learning, experimenting, and laughing along with a large community of players. To top it all off the humor and large community has lead to not only an endless supply of maps, but also so many youtube videos that you might as well consider this game to have its own online cartoon series playing off the assigned personalities and memes of the game's world. TF2 is amazing, and I really have to say its among the best of multiplayer gaming. 

5) Unreal Tournament 2004

-Amazing FPS mechanics solidly implemented with fast paced and frantic combat. Check.

-Heavy customization, lots of modes, bots, and awesome community support. Check.

-Cheesy industrial super sci-fi setting and dumb dudebro characters and snarling lizard aliens. Check

-Awesome industrial techno rock soundtrack to accompany the awesome time melted setting. Check

I've got to admit I only play bots with this game, but its fantastic never the less. Unreal tournament 04 is one outstanding arena shooter with enough options to consider it my go-to sandbox shooter experience. I can customize basically every silly little detail of the arena I'm about to fight it, especially if you happen to have the ballistic weapons mod. Score, bots, individual skill level, health, how much gore, what weapons are banned/allowed, your avatar, and even your own custom soundtrack menu though the game's stock stuff is good enough. This is one of those cases where the game got so huge, well supported, and looks good enough that they almost can't make a sequel (they did and its not as good) because they simply can't outdo it. Honestly that's not completely true, there's always room for improvement, but its so hard to improve on this anymore that it likely wont go flawlessly. Everything and anything you'd probably want in an arena shooter is here, and its got the perfect art style, sound track, and balance to everything. This is just the perfect game to sit back and play on a lazy saturday, and I truly think its one of the best FPS games ever. This is actually what I was using as an example before, the game that clashed with Timesplitters. At one point and time TS would have belonged here, but this game just blows it out of the way with a more coherently cooler art style, better and more maps, tighter mechanics, and above all just way more customizable options. Oh and there's a level where you assault an Australian beer factory... enough said.

4) Smash Bros Brawl

Similar story to Unreal tournament, and honestly I had trouble competing which one would be higher. However honestly I think I've spoiled myself on shooters and UT04 got less time out of me because I've been there and done that with arena shooters. Its the best there is, but its still something I'm a little too familiar with. There is only one smash bros though. Only one game that does this balanced brawler thing right, gives you a map maker, brings together a large cast of awesome and classic characters, and has an amazing amount of extras in it to serve fans across generations of gaming all in one package. That one package is Smash Bros brawl. Now some will fuss about how this one was "casualized" and doesn't compete with melee. Well I can't say much on that because of my position. I've played melee, and its really the only gamecube game I own, but I don't have a save card for it so I haven't done very much. However I will say its not a catastrophic difference like some make it out to be, and there is no way a game packed with as much content, mechanics, and as big of a learning curve as Brawl is "casualized" of anything. Its a hardcore amazingly deep brawler that is worth well over a month straight of play time, and I do honestly believe its one of the best games you can get out there. 

3) The core Ratchet and Clank franchise

Remember what I said earlier with Mario Kart and how it comes to mind with the word "fun"? Yeah, personally I think R&C takes that to a more campaign tone but yet amplifies just that sense of raw gamey fun that heals or lifts whatever mood you're in. I've brought this series up quite a bit recently, and it reocures as an example because its such a unique but awesome long running series. Its up there among my very favorite, especially with a specific pair but I'll get to that later. The Ratchet and Clank series is amazing, especially counting the games after the very first (the first is a bit sloppy and lacks the kick its successors had). I just love these games, and I've replayed R&C3, deadlocked, Crack in time, and Nexus over and over and over and over again. I've bought the collection on the day it hit store shelves, and don't regret it a bit. I adore the characters (Best single villain ever with Dr. Nefarious), humor, the imagination, the nonsense, the stories, the planets you travel to, all the creative gadgets to play with, it has the best RPG to shooter implementation ever (including new game+), the best metroidvania influence, and every new true adventure feels like it instantly borders on game of the year starting at the prologue. There is practically no game that puts a smile on my face faster than most of the ones in this series will do, especially when playing a new one fresh with an unknown story and planets. The feeling and ambitions of touching down on a new planet (basically a level) for the first time is just unmatched excitement. This franchise has more golden releases than any other series I personally enjoy, and it captures a formula that manages to keep it fresh every single time by just being itself and giving me and other fans a brand new adventure.

Of course it isn't without its flaws, and as hinted I'm not totally including the full franchise. The gimmicky co-op spin-off by contrast is an example of one of the worst types of games I believe to exist out there, as its simply terrible design. Meanwhile FFA is fun, but very grind based and simply wasn't made with the same heart and soul that provides the fun experience we're all used to from the R&C name. Quest for booty is ok, but far too microscopic and a bit glitchy to really even remember. The original as said above is a bit of a sloppy and unrefined beginning with its sequel still in need of a bit of ironing, though I'll still put out there that is still of good quality and worth any fan's time. On a similar note, people just have their individual nitpicks for the series. Many fans adore Going Commando while I'd replace it by the less praised Deadlocked that I replayed over 20 times (and still to this day demand they bring back its modifier weapon upgrades). Similarly some fuss about Crack in time's lack of puzzle hacker device while I can't praise it enough for scraping that mild blunder of the younger games. Still that's sort of the fun in each game, they each try a couple of tiny differences that make the adventure a little different than the last. There's a new arena that may or may not be as good as the last, maybe space ship travel, maybe not, maybe the game re-introduces a fun side-character, maybe there will be a cool puzzle gimmick and maybe it'll be more smooth without one, and maybe you'll like something interesting about Clank's section... or maybe it'll just feel like a forced distraction from Ratchet's new and improved arsenal. Either way there's always enough of the same old fun that you can never stay mad with what the next adventure comes up with.

Personally speaking I think my favorites come down to a tie between the 3rd game Up Your Arsenal, and the final full game of the Future series A Crack in Time. Both have my favorite villain of all time, an amazing adventure, great weapon systems in place, great humor and characters, the least pestering or even enjoyable gadgets, and some awesome pacing. Crack in time went heavy on a collect-a-thon nature which is welcome in my book from an Inomniac game (Hint: Spyro), the space system was incredible and just awesome to relax with, optional weapon wheel pause, and the weapon improvements were pretty awesome with a customizable system for the 3 main weapons. Meanwhile UYA had better weapons, the amazing space ranger fights that I love, 3 piece weapon select, and the awesome hub world starship. I loved these two games the most out of the series, while the rest had more glaring flaws despite a still massively fun nature to them. With a fully funded movie being made close underway with Insomniac and Sony watching it closely and a remake of the original to tie in with it, I am absolutely thrilled for what lies ahead for the series. For providing so many hours of fun, so much to smile at, lots of laughter, and for remaining the same innocent fun gamey experience that remains timeless no matter what crappy trends happen in the rest of the industry, I have to say Ratchet and Clank deserves a ridiculously high place on my list of all time favorites. Thank you for all the adventures and fun with this series Insomniac, and please don't let it ever die. Also stop doing spin-offs, they don't seem to work. Maybe try a kart racer, but then quit it.

2) Killzone 2

While I love the series as a whole I feel like a specific one stands above all others. That would be Killzone 2. Such a game is a bit odd to be here because it contradicts a lot of what I seem to preach about my view with shooters. For that reason of conflicting and arguing with my principles, I hate it. However for the fact of how well it manages to master just what it is, for how strong its charm and atmosphere is, and for how hooked I was on repeating it over and over again and how well it still holds up today despite some odd nitpick problems, I adore it. Simply put its what comes to mind when I think of the best FPS out there, and again its so weird because it contradicts my principles of a good FPS game. Well not all of it, actually hit hits the market more if you take me literally and look back on my top 5 best FPS traits. Still it manages to destroy a lot of the ground mechanics I root so hard for. Health system is fully regenerative, guns are not only limited but you can only swap out one for the majority of the whole game while most others at least give you a 2 limit freedom, the campaign is stupidly short, and the world and universe is grounded in dark military stuff rather than cool monsters and absurdly fun technology. Actually I'll say right now that Resistance 3 is everything perfect about my checklist of a shooter, but fact is Killzone 2 remains my go-to game while Resistance is just there to replay maybe every once in a while. Why is that? Well simply put, Killzone 2 manages to just master everything and plays off mainstream stuff in such a weird way that taunts me about how awesome it managed to make everything. Its like how countless hardcore FPS veterans will praise the original Halo and yet talk trash about the impact it had on the industry (I'm one of those guys as well by the way, Halo CE is awesome). Some guys simply know how to take garbage or backwards ideas, and with finely tuned balance and execution create a masterpiece that simply shatters competition, even those that went in with better core values... like Resistance. Killzone 2 has superb level design and pacing along with strong replayability with a level select system by the very sections, great sound design, some of the best grunt AI you'll find in gaming, outstanding physics engine alongside a strong visual design that manages to blur the lines between serious and dark artsy tones, and the very best gunplay and cover system you'll find in a military shooter (at least that I'm aware of) even compared to its successors. To top it off there is a huge list of minor details that I just adore. Its one of the few games that conveniently register ammo refills right despite whether or not you've got a full magazine, no grenade indicators ruining the point of grenades, R3 aiming that is not only an option but the default, and a progression system that actually makes sense and works by logical simple points. With the exception of that last bit, I haven't even mentioned the fun of multiplayer! Oh yeah and there's a little something called the Helghasts, which are among the coolest iconic enemies in gaming.

Despite being a generic 6 hour long military shooter with base mechanics I frown upon, I've put in over 40 hours and that is just the statistically tracked time. That isn't counting all the times I've started a new data and save file just because I wanted to, or when I was using a temporary PlayStation. So its probably something more closer to 50 hours. The multiplayer nearly catches up to that time, though I'll admit it probably doesn't beat it because I rarely stick with multiplayer in games. However it is debatably the best flawed multiplayer out there. It has problems with its spawn grenades, the ribbon system is a bit annoying, lag had a very strange effect on players, and the DLC was never actively played, and last I checked the game is about dead now. Still I adored it, and so did the rest of the community. Few games of its time and type were as content packed, hardcore, and stable as Killzone 2 was. Don't get me wrong there are games that do beat it on all those traits, but in the same market place or type as Killzone 2, and its place kind of made it stand out quite a bit. The balance was just right, the gunplay was excellent, the classes were interesting and fun to play as, the community was interesting to hear from and talk with, some awesome youtube videos of tricks and amazing matches are out there, and the game just had that perfect balance between competitive and fun for fun's sake type of nature to it. Whether you were working to put together the ultimate Clan tournament showdown, or just relaxing to a lengthy tense hour long warzone match, Killzone 2's multiplayer had you covered and allowed you to choose the kind of experience and fun you wanted within its strong mechanics. For its mechanics, immersion, multiplayer, replayability, all the fun times, the surprisingly fascinating universe, and the excitement of just starting the game up and watching that amazingly well crafted into movie is all just a chunk of the admiration I have for this exact game. Killzone remains one of the best ongoing franchises I look forward to, but Killzone 2 is the one that is cemented above all others as the golden game of the franchise (so much so that even if other killzones are amazing, this one simply needs to be the title card above all others for this spot), and I can't see it being taken down or beaten soon. I still adore and respect other shooters more, and sometimes Killzone simply wont do when I want an experience like what customization and old school fun can be had in Unreal, a fun B grade game like alpha prime, or a unique oddball game like Metro could offer, but in the general whole I've never felt more attached or at home to an FPS like Killzone 2. Its just a pure masterpiece that just feels so good to play, and while it has some flaws or odd choices I could poke at it stands as the peak of one of the best franchises I've enjoyed. Killzone 2 is damn near the top of this list, and it more than earns that kind of medal. I just wish the online was more active and I had spent more time with it.

1) Spyro's PlayStation trilogy

Simply put, I might not be making this list if it weren't for Spyro, and I've stressed this so much that you know it had to go somewhere on this list and this is the place. On top of that, famart for it made the header picture as well. Spyro was the first thing that got me truly immersed and into gaming by offering up an amazing interactive world, imaginative levels and settings full of treasure and exploration, a difficulty that was easy to beat but hard to perfect, and so many memorable levels each with a great tune of their own. The games aren't perfect but very close, and while it has competition that can rival it on certain fields it never truly felt beaten in my book.... except maybe fo- well I'll get around to that later. In its own field, as a wonderfully constructed series of collect-o-thon 3D platforming adventures full of colorful worlds and characters, nothing has beat it and fills me with a sense of wonder, fun, relaxations, and "awesome" that just all comes together in unison. Even though I haven't technically 100%'d the entire series (the speedways were sometimes a bit much) its the closest to being able to say I've played these games practically dry. Its not just a matter of doing everything, its a matter of playing it over and over, memorizing pathetic trivial details, breaking the game and bumping into oddball glitches in a time where these things were super polished, and making a way through levels in ways developers may not have planned for. I've played the games just that much, and it was the primary thing I had a PlayStation 1 around for. Otherwise it was mostly demo discs honestly (I didn't do much with the PS1 despite loving that brand above the rest). The games set up to take you on a ride where magic meets with game design and produced vivid worlds and a theme of treasure hunting and boss fights until you get to the end... and then you probably didn't do it all, so its back to exploring and treasure hunting!

I could sit here and fiddle with playing favorites, but at the end of the day I can't think back on one game without having another with positive memories leak in. If I think about the great times on one great level I soon start to think of another from a different game, and then another, and then it goes full circle and repeats itself. The adventure and the passion taken from this series simply can't be left down to one game. Ultimately 3 is my favorite with great hub worlds, levels, so many bonuses, more levels and bosses than spyro 2, and it combined all the past abilities while giving you even more at your choice. However ultimately I can't forget the great things accomplished before that game. I can't go back on the fun I had with the bad lands, or the wonder I had when I first went into magic crafter's world, or the fun of having those enemies in the hub world, or some of the great side objectives of the 2nd game and how each level had its own special cut-scene. There are just so many amazing and good things to come out of the trilogy of adventures. Be it the fun skateboarding lessons with hunter, discovering secrets, chasing down moneybags after he's pestered you the whole game, or simply stopping to gaze at the amazing skyboxes of a mystical fictional world full of magic. The game's worlds were especially amazing and that's something that stayed consistent with the series the whole time. I mean just look at this where islands of crystal floated all about you. Or there was good 'ol huricos where a calm rain met with rainbows and industry in a beautiful way inspires art like this. Then you just have beautiful serene moments the game boils down to, and that sort of mood was embraced and captured perfectly with this fanart called "Goodnight Stone Hill". Heck even though the game looks good I just want to keep posting pictures from the amazing fanart that recaptures Spyro in a tribute fashion.

Now some may call it Nostalgia, and honestly if you didn't know me well I'd say that's fair. Tech changes over time and so many things have gotten better or been shown to be better. Not to mention there is also bias in the fact that Spyro is the first real game I started being attached to. So is it nostalgia? Ultimately you'll have to make your own call, but I say to that "no". Its pretty easy to separate that feeling I get of "remember that time" and being absorbed by it, versus the feeling of turning on the game and being astounded by it and reliving the joy and appreciating how well the soundtrack, combat, platforming, and collectibles all hold up to be a fun experience. Almost no true 3D platformer is made in the same formula or nature that Spyro is anymore, thus making it irrelevant how much technology leaps forward. I've said it time and time again, and I hold by it, that you need to be able to support the roots of gaming in addition to supplying innovation and trends. The industry does not put this into action though and Spyro and its 90's competition are left to fend for themselves and hold together through the test of time, and countless people can come together and agree that they successfully hold up quite well. If you can't sympathize with this and insist in a paranoid tone that all of us are wearing tinted nostalgia goggles (alongside a free pair of comfy fuzzy slippers) because we don't call the latest craze the best thing ever, then fine I cant convince you otherwise. Not many modern stuff grab me in and give me what I want and more at a decent length or adventure to justify placing over Spyro. Like I said at the start if anything could beat Spyro it would certainly be Dark Souls. The story telling, environments, mechanics & combat, the community, the depth, and the feelings it all brings out as well as multiple deep and thought provoking moments found along the journey make it a one of a kind experience that brought me to a new high and suits more of my modern day self. Still.... something is wrong when I just haven't finished it or feel the enthusiasm to yet. So until I can secure those feelings or think it out a bit more, I've got to leave it up to Spyro to top this list off. Its a strong tried and true feeling of an incredible and practically unstopable joy of a game that suited my interests for over a decade of amazing gaming. The closest thing to holding it back from this spot light is the simple and sad truth that it just isn't that fresh anymore, and I know its secrets and surprises a little too well. I sadly don't think that's going to change, but I'm keeping some beacon of hope in the back of my mind that one day it may happen. Maybe one day Spyro will come back from his vacation at dragon shores, defeat the gnorcs parading around as him under the guise of Skylanders, and return ready for a new adventure full of new treasure, creatures, and portals that lead to vivid and imaginative new worlds. If not then... well at least the true adventures of Spyro ended on a mighty and peaceful note and he's remembered very fondly by a strong fanbase that is still contributing to his awesomeness.

I can't lie, "goodnight stone hill" and writing this made me tear up