Bryan’s 50 Favorite Games Ever (20-11)

The countdown gets closer to its inevitable conclusion. Today’s themes are action and ninjas

 

20) Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. The best Legend of Zelda game on the N64 and my second favorite game of the franchise. The mask system helped make it unique and the ominous presence of the moon closing in  lent a sense of urgency that no other game in the series has matched.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19) Devil May Cry 3. Devil May Cry 3 was such a good game. The glorious over-the-top action and multitude of awesome weapons made the game good, but the incredible boss fights are what made it legendary. The fights against Vergil were some of the most memorable battles I’ve ever had. The amount of customization the game gave you by letting you select a style that matched how you like to play. I also loved that DMC 3 didn’t pretend to hold you hand with the difficulty, as once you got to Cerberus the game went from a cake walk to a challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

18) Ninja Gaiden (NES): One of my favorite games as a child. The brutal difficulty forced you to adapt or die, though death was still more or less inevitable thanks to those stupid birds (if you’ve played it you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about). The opening cutscene is still one of the coolest things I’ve seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17) Bayonetta. I struggled between this and DMC 3, but chose Bayonetta to take this spot thanks to the slightly more goofy style that I enjoyed. The boss fights against Jeanne where great, but what I really loved about the game were the ridiculous QTE’s that could show up mid match. What other game would let you see fists made of hair  pummeling each other in the fights against Jeanne reminiscent of  Fist of the North Star battles between Kenshiro and Raoh? Name another game that would let you play catch with a satellite, ride on a missile, or punch a god into the sun. Bayonetta was just plain fun.

16) Fallout 3. It’s the game I’m playing right now as I write this, and I play it gladly for something like the seventh time. The Capital Wasteland was fun to traverse, and the world was intersting. I was more than willing to enjoy the music and Herbert “Daring” Dashwood radio plays while exploring, whereas in  most open world RPG’s I usually just put on my headphones and listen to CD’s. The V.A.T.S system was fantastic giving you the ability to target and cripple enemy limbs. If a super mutant master is running at you waving a super sledge in the air, then simply pump a few rounds into a leg to slow him down. V.A.T.S and Fallout 3 added a layer of strategy that most similar games at the time were lacking.

 

 

 

 

 

15) Final Fantasy Tactics. The story of Ramza Beoulve is one of the best crafted ever. The perfectly done tactical gameplay that every SRPG now bases it’s style from. I loved it for the impending threat of doom that comes with one misstep. So many classes to choose from and you needed to have most of their skills readily available if you hoped to succeed in the later missions. Despite trying out a completely new gameplay system, Final Fantasy Tactics managed to be one of the best games in a legendary franchise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14) XenoGears. Xenogears had a fantastic story and likable characters. Battles in Xenogears were based off an AP gauge where you could go light medium or heavy. What made the combat unique was the ability to unlock combos. When you input certain commands consecutively your final attack will change to a special move that deals massive damage. Figuring out these combos and managing your AP was of tantamount importance as the game gets really hard toward the end. I managed to get this far without mentioning it, but the thing that first drew my attention with Xenogears was that you get to battle in giant robots!! When piloting Gears, the combat stays pretty much the same, but you have to manage your fuel lest you run out mid-boss fight. The Gears battles added one more layer of strategy to one of the best RPG’s ever made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13)  Revenge of Shinobi. One of the first games I got for Christmas with my Genesis as a child. I still love Revenge of Shinobi. Shinobi never held your hand, it just dropped you in expecting you to be skilled with jumping and reactions. The boss fights of Revenge of Shinobi were some of my favorite in gaming. What other game can you fight the Terminator, Godzilla, Batman, and Spiderman (or cheap, obvious ripoffs). Oh, and the soundtrack is AWESOME.

 

 

 

 

 

 

12) Bioshock. Descending the lighthouse and just seeing Rapture for the first time is one of the most memorable moments in gaming. The world just oozed a creepy sort of charm that kept you enthralled and forced you too progress. All the characters were interesting and well voiced. Dealing with the mad Sander Cohen, meeting Andrew Ryan, the Atlas twist. Each and every moment of this journey was unforgettable and for this reason, Bioshock will forever be one of the first franchises I recommend to a new gamer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11) If you’ve read my bio, you know I’m an avid lover of fighting games. Street Fighter 4 and it’s subsequent iterations literally revived what was a dead genre for nearly a decade. The Super version I feel was the most balanced and that’s why I chose it over the others. It didn’t hurt that they added ten characters including one of my new favorites, Juri.

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for the top 10.