Okay maybe that's not the best use of the term. lol. But I've been seeing a lot of blog homework about favorite video games and if you know anything about me at all you know first and foremost I am very much a gamer. So without further delay here are my top five favorite games and why.
5: Soul Caliber:
Probably the only fighting game franchise I've been excited about in any way Soul Caliber is without a doubt the epitome of fighting video games in my opinion. Not only do you get to fight with weapons in true gladiatorial style combat but the enemy boss isn't a person or a creature. It's a demonic sword. Its the first time you have to go to war to fight a weapon and each character in the game has their own story about why they are trying to find it and what they want to do when they do. Right from the very beginning the character designs were pretty over the top and when the fourth iteration of the game came out it caused no small amount of controversy. So much controversy in fact that the sixth game was actually canceled due to the game designers fighting over how big Ivy's breasts should be. Nevertheless, Soul Caliber remains an amazing fighting game full of high energy, high impact fighting and is still one of the most popular fighting game franchises in the world today.
4: Gran Turismo
Although I never played 5 or 6 Gran Turismo 1-4 remain extremely high on my list of favorite games. The ability to buy any number of automobiles from modest up to exotic and race them on many of the world's greatest venues was second to none. Although Forza fans may disagree about which game is "better" no one can deny that without Gran Turismo, Forza would never have existed. The automobile library was massive, the tracks were second to none in terms of overall quality as well as challenge and the cars themselves were rendered in incredible detail. Even the inaugural game on the original Playstation was the top of it's class in terms of automobile design and presentation. Touted as the world's first real driving simulator (obviously no one who made the arcade game High Speed was around to argue) Gran Turismo filled empty shoes and filled them well.
3: God of War
If Ivy is my favorite female character of all time Kratos is my favorite male character and for the exact same reason. Troubled, haunted by his past and consumed by anger Kratos becomes so desperate to escape the nightmares that plague him he literally sells his soul to the Gods. Hard hitting gameplay, gorgeous, immense maps and puzzles that are as challenging as they are rewarding to complete God of War still stands out among it's peers as the go to action adventure platforming game. Not content to simply give us an amazing game to play the creators of the God of War franchise wrapped this amazing package in a story that would make a blockbuster movie. Literally, an interactive story telling medium God of War takes you on a journey through a nightmare world that you honestly believe was real at some point, somewhere.
2: Tomb Raider (2013)
What God of War started Tomb Raider perfected. Lara Croft's latest adventure is an action packed cinematic feast for the senses. You will not only control Lara Croft as she battles for survival you will feel her struggle. You will feel her pain as she looses friends and loved ones and struggles to come to come to grips with a situation that defies everything she thinks she knows about reality. Anymore to make a great single player video game you must create great gameplay and wrap it in an amazing story. But it also takes those extra special touches to really bring the story to life. Lara reacts to her environment in ways never before seen in any video game. She shivers in the cold, hides her face from the searing heat of nearby flames. She ducks and dodges under branches and between rocks and reacts to every ounce of pain and anguish she must suffer as she battles relentless enemies for survival. If you can play this game and not feel emotionally invested in Lara's struggle you just aren't human.
1: Elite: Dangerous
Nothing, and I mean nothing beats the awe inspiring journey that flying through space can be. Until now, however, that journey has been stunted in video games. Planets seemed to be little more than orbs barely larger than your own space ship and space stations were merely a hop skip and a jump apart from one another. Elite: Dangerous is the first space flight simulator that actually takes the vast scale of the universe and puts it in perspective right on your computer screen. But Frontier Developments wasn't content to stop there. They created a vibrant and ever changed geo-political starscape that player actions can directly intervene in. Gone are the days when you could only follow a step by step story line that would take you from beginning to end. Now you write your own story. As a pilot in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy you can literally travel anywhere, anytime even abandoning the bounds of human colonized space to explore the vast stretches of the milky way beyond. Some games give you an open world, Elite: Dangerous gives you 400 billion of them.