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5 Great Video Games

Over the course of the next month, myself and Nick will each be posting one blog entry every single day, in an attempt to get us into ‘the flow’. I thought I’d kick my month off by attempting to start a blog meme. I was interested in what the 5 greatest video games I’ve ever played might be (and of course, those of other people). These games have to be seriously awesome, and great for a reason. It might be because of an incredible story, of an emotion it stirred within you, or because it’s a fantastic example of a genre done well. Imagine, perhaps, that an alien visitor came to you and asked you for 5 games for them to take away with them, representing the best gaming experiences they could have. That kind of thing.

So, without further ado, I present my list (in no particular order). I’m not going to go into big details about the content of each game - I’ll leave that to Wikipedia. I’ll simply explain why I think the game is awesome.

• Grim Fandango

  Grim Fandango was actually the easiest choice for me in making this list, and it’s what inspired me to start this meme. It wins a place in this list due to its incredible story. It’s truly epic, spanning the course of 4 years in the life of the main character. Not only that, but the game features a brilliant cast, fantastic art direction, and an immersive world - the game completely draws you in, and doesn’t let go. At the time of writing, Grim Fandango has a score of 94/100 on Metacritic. This is a really, really, must play game. In fact, writing this has inspired me to go and do it all again.

• Super Mario Galaxy

  What would a ‘Greatest Video Games’ list be without a Mario title? Super Mario Galaxy took the established (some may say formulaic) Mario game, and flipped it on its head. The feeling I got when I first played Galaxy; when Mario dropped into a huge, innovative universe and when the absolutely fantastic orchestrated soundtrack kicked in (seriously, the sound track is utterly, utterly incredible) was amazing. This was something new, in the same way that Mario 64 was.

• The Monkey Island series

  I’m cheating a little bit here, but this entire series is quite possibly my favourite series of games of all time. The original Monkey Island is one of the first games I remember playing on my Atari ST. In a similar vein to Grim Fandango, the entire series has a brilliant storyline, and brilliant (and hilarious) characters. I think if I had to choose a favourite from the series, it’d be The Curse of Monkey Island, for its artwork and voice acting. Lovely stuff. In the good old days of adventure games, Lucasarts churned out incredible titles that nothing has matched since. It’s a pity that the adventure game (in its point-and-click incarnation, at least) is all but dead. It’s some comfort, I guess, that these classics are so replayable.

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

  As with Mario, I feel a great games list must involve Zelda. I had an incredibly hard time choosing between The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, but in the end TWW won out due to its art style (that said, Twilight Princess is gorgeous in its own right). TWW is presented in a cell-shaded style that I had never seen executed so well before (or since), and still stands up graphically today. In fact, I’d go as far to say that it will most likely be timeless.

• Portal

  Portal was innovative. It was well presented. It was a neat little universe, and a cool little self-contained game. It was a really nice length, had a great story (with only two characters; one of whom never spoke), was utterly hilarious (yet creepy at the same time) and featured one of the best songs to ever grace a videogame. It just oozed quality.

Honorable Mentions: Games which nearly made the list, but didn’t, include Mario Kart DS (an amalgamation of all the greatest parts of Mario Kart history, with new tracks, old classics, online play, and spot-on controls - I could play it again and again), Gears of War (for brilliant style, story, and for doing new things), GTA IV (for creating such a realistic, gorgeous looking city, and again for the story), and Call of Duty IV (for being like a playable movie - stunning). I think it’s interesting that in the case of the majority of the games in my list, one of the key elements is story. With the exception of Mario games and Peggle, story is generally what seems to attract me to a truly excellent game.

So, to carry on the meme, I tag ShepherdNick and tobeon. Show us your lists, then pass it on!