Firstly, Far Cry 3's expansion makes
its way into my list due to its beautiful Tron-like charm which
creates a fantastic homage to the 1980s. If Michael Biehn's voice
acting isn't a good enough selling point, the sheer amount of cheesy
sci-fi film references make this title irresistible for a film
fanatic – the handshake from Predator and the Brad Fiedel-esque
soundtrack being some obvious examples (I could honestly go on). The
gameplay differs little from Far Cry 3 itself, despite being slightly
more action packed and over the top, oh yeah, you can fight dragons
capable of, well... firing laser beams from their fucking eyes! The
narrative is filled with blatant cliches, addressing itself as one of
Blood Dragon's strong points, and reinforces the thought that it
actually made me laugh – the opening tutorial chapter proves this
since it acts as a pastiche towards modern tutorials in general.
Overall Blood Dragon presents itself as a ball of cheese mighty
enough to clog the largest of arteries, despite clocking at 4 hours,
this expansion is a no brainer for any cult collector.
6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
I love a good hack 'n' slash, I love
Metal Gear Solid, combine the two and you get this succulent slice of
pie. Although an unnecessary tangent in the Metal Gear series it
provides us with a new, more action based orientation as cyborg ninja
Raiden (a.k.a. Lightning Bolt, a.k.a Jack The Ripper) sticks it to
the man with his high-frequency blade. Metal Gear Rising deserves a
spot on my list as it is solely all-around fun; it's quite obvious
this entry can't be taken as seriously as previous games in the
series – but Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is self aware, its slow
motion blade mode mechanic, plus the J-pop soundtrack grants this
title an explicit anime feel. Also the thought of slicing the hell
out of a Metal Gear Ray within the first 20 minutes of gameplay
redeems Raiden in my top ten coolest MGS characters; as well as
which, on another positive note, Metal Gear Rising doesn't spoil too
much of the franchise for newcomers.
5. Papers, Please
It isn't very often when an indie game
such as Papers, Please is thrown out there, I can only describe it
as... different. The premise depicts the player as an immigration
officer in a fictional country within a dystopian society. This
immigration officer essentially has the choice whether to let
immigrants enter the country or not; but to determine a choice, the
player would need to check specific details on the travel papers
provided by these immigrants. This game is highly addictive, as the
main task isn't just to act on harsh judgement, but to provide money
for your starving family – who can actually fall ill and die, and
currency is scarce – it's grim, I know - especially when
your shift is cut short due to a terrorist bombing. Accompanying such
a cruel tone, Papers, Please has some rather subtle dark humour; for
example, a specific male individual visited the checkpoint numerous amount of
times, in attempt to trick me into believing his home made travel
papers were legitimate, that's right, Jorji Costava, I'm talking
about you. The whole package may not appear to be much, but give it a
try, Papers, Please will make you feel like an absolute arsehole –
in a good way.
4. Metro: Last Light
My, this is
a treat. Being the post-apocalyptic fanatic that I am, Metro: Last
Light acts as
the crème
de la crème for such an experience. Taking after its predecessor,
Metro 2033 (based on the novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky), this game sets
the player into the shoes of genocidal protagonist Artyom, who must
finish the dirty work that he started (see Metro 2033) by eliminating
the last 'Dark One' in existance (a Dark One is basically the arguable
'next step' in the evolution of man - all caused by radiation, of
course). To achieve this nonetheless, Artyom will be plunged into the
darkness of the abandoned metro tunnels, encountering Nazis and
communist Red Line Troops, not forgetting the hordes of mutants and
deadly plagues in his path. Last Light is a ghastly, yet beautiful
look into the shadows of society – premised on the idea of Russian
civilians taking shelter in the metro tunnels from the fires of
nuclear war; it really emulates a feeling of desperation, on top of
the sparse supplies and the lack of breathable air on the surface –
there is still war, the threat of biological warfare is evident, even
bullets act as currency – there is no escape from a bleak world as
such. On a side note this title improved greatly from its
predecessor; from its tightened stealth and shooting mechanics to a
more fluid narrative pace, Last Light remains faithful to its
survival horror origins.
3. Bioshock: Infinite
I'm a great fan of the first Bioshock
game, after hearing of a sequel (besides Bioshock 2 – which was
just okay) I was curious as
to what direction the series would go. Infinite subverts the creepy
shades of dark blue from a dystopian Rapture into a rich, heavenly
gold-like tone for more of a utopia - Columbia. Following this, we
are presented with a mind-blowing story centred around two characters
designed far better than those from previous games. After completing
this beauty I immediately fell in love; whether I mean Elizabeth or
the game itself, I'll let you decide. Bioshock Infinite ditches its
horrific routes of a failed underwater society in order to present us
with a flourishing, floating city filled with bigoted views of white
supremacy, racial segregation is immediately introduced as a problem
as protagonist Booker must choose whether to perform a racist act or
resist it. This brings me to my next point, the first segment of the
game did a great job of sucking the player in, my entry into
Columbia felt extremely divine with assistance of the beautiful
soundtrack. From here on we are taken on a sky-rail-roller-coaster of
a ride leaving us powerless to resist as Infinite explores the theory
of the “multiverse”. Sure, my writing is a seemingly
unstructured jumble, but it just so emphasises how weakened at the
knees I feel after even touching this.
2. Grand Theft Auto V
I wasn't all with the hype for release
of this originally, however I caved in and purchased it soon after
seeing reviews as it appeared to be that impressive. Best described
as an immersive experience and a satire on how we perceive our
society, I could absorb myself into this entry of the series for
hours without progressing through the main story. With a map
appearing to be larger than any other Grand Theft Auto game (being of
the sandbox genre I found there were little bugs whilst it maintained
something visually spectacular), there was always plenty to do;
whether to proceed with the usual 'kill prostitute and get money
back' scheme, enter a triathlon or simply get high, GTA V is a
significant step up from the likes of San Andreas (which was formerly
the most successful game of the series). On top of this we're
introduced to three loveable protagonists with intertwining story
arcs - involving (at some point or other) adrenaline-pumping heists
on banks, jewellery stores and even government agency headquarters
which was all fun to play. There's probably a lot that I haven't
mentioned, but after spending over thirty hours in this realist
fantasy I've easily justified why Grand Theft Auto V earns the number
two spot.
1. The Last of Us
2013 has been generous for its release
of post-apocalyptic games, as three of my entries fall under this
category. In my own opinion, The Last of Us
defecates on pretty much anything set after a nuclear war or zombie
epidemic from a great height; this is
the most realistic and gritty post-apocalyptic video game I've ever
played, believe me, my biased opinion isn't too far from the truth.
You're thrown into the shoes of Joel, whose sole duty is to protect
fourteen year old Ellie from the hazards of such a harsh reality
after two decades of a viral epidemic. Ellie is believed to be a
potential cure for Cordyceps. What I find interesting is that the
fungal condition is actually legitimate, well, at least for ants –
it acts as a 'what if?' theory, characterising a world which could be
if Cordyceps can affect a human being. Anyhow the gameplay itself
isn't centred around that of a typical zombie/infection game, but it
also concentrates on the non-infected. I'm relieved that Naughty Dog
didn't ruin the Cordyceps-ridden infected by bringing too many
“special infected” classes into the equation; in other words they
didn't knock off the Left 4 Dead franchise, and retained the game's
realism by establishing these special infected as different stages of
the evolving fungal virus. Furthermore this Playstation exclusive
masterpiece grants a true sensation of struggling for survival on top
of a story designed to both break and soothe the human heart.
Experiencing a middle-aged former-father learning to love again after
losing his daughter 20 years prior is a great excuse to leak some
man-tears. After completing my first playthrough on the 'hard'
difficulty I decided to proceed to the 'survival' mode - which I
heavily recommend for true immersion; as the game is disabled of its
“hearing mode”, rations and ammo in addition are scarce and the
whole survival horror vibe is enhanced. This so forth goes to prove
that The Last of Us is probably one of my favourite games of all
time, if not - THE.
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