RIP Last Gen

With the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One last week, I have to finally make amends with the fact that we're done with the generation of vidcon that brought us eight years (EIGHT YEARS) of fun for the whole family in at least one case I'm sure. So here are my ten favorites from last gen. All cover images are from Gamefaqs.com. I will point out for posterity's sake that I never owned a PlayStation 3. Handheld consoles are not counted for this list.

10. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (XBOX 360)

THAW came out right at the beginning of the XBOX 360's lifespan, and it really didn't get much of any benefit at all from the new, more powerful 360 hardware. It's nothing that I would consider a yardstick or a barometer or whatever instrument of measurement you'd like to use (I prefer a rain gauge, personally) of the consoles themselves. The control of of THAW was probably the tightest that the series ever had, and the level design (while not as varied as some of the previous releases) was as good as ever. Definitely my favorite entry in a favorite series of mine on any of these platforms.

9. NCAA Football 14 (XBOX 360)

We're getting off to a high-class start here on the list with skateboard and football games (but what do you expect from me really). This series really dropped off after the jump to new consoles in around 2007, and had to figure out how to properly adapt to a new engine. It reached peak gameplay performance in NCAA 12, but it finally figured out what made for a really good NCAA Football (I'm defining "really good" as "something I'm not getting from Madden") game in 2014. That was as simple as having a single season mode again for those who don't feel like dealing with recruiting, easier defensive playmaking control, and the ability to make the option work.

8. WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)

This is exactly what I wanted from WarioWare back in 2007. On a console whose main feature was swinging your arms everywhere, I can't think of a better use of your time than swinging your arms everywhere. WarioWare often ends up being some exhibition of a new feature (see: Basically every WarioWare game after the first), and I'm okay with that.

7. You Don't Know Jack! (Wii)

A trivia game has made it on the list ALERT A TRIVIA GAME HAS MADE IT ON THE LIST. This series was actually a favorite of my parents' in its original form during the '90s, and I'm glad to see it make a comeback like that. I only can explain why I like this so much via personal anecdote, so here it goes:
Out at the camp where I worked this past summer, I brought out my copy of the PlayStation version and played it against 2 of my co-workers (to protect their anonymity we'll refer to them as "Mighty Mouse" and "Joe"). We enjoyed that, and when we got to the Wii version, we enjoyed it just as much. Consistent quality even over a fifteen year gap, especially on a game based around humor, is hard to do.

6. Mirror's Edge (XBOX 360)

I went through a really snobby rebellious phase back in 2009 and I went searching for a game that was "different" from the "generic" games that all the "douche" kids in my middle school liked (those games were Halo 3, Call of Duty: WAW, and Madden 2009) so I went and tried a bunch of "different stuff" (Tony Hawk's Project 8, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and Portal), some of which I liked, and some of which I didn't. I liked Mirror's Edge back when I first tried it, but it's one of the only games from that period that I tstill think sticks out as a really good one. (and, for what it's worth, I still haven't played anything similar to it since)

5. College Hoops 2K7 (XBOX 360)

Really killing it here on the whole "hardcore gamer" crowd. But hey, it's about everything I could want from a basketball sim. Really expansive legacy mode, gameplay sliders, that weird chant creator thing that I absolutely didn't abuse, and almost every Divison I school. I couldn't want much more than that. It's just a very fun game to sink hours into and find yourself with a team somewhere unexpected, trying to build a winning program. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who is me.

4. Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (XBOX 360)

So this is a great game with a great story and excellent humor from the early 1990's. I know some people weren't a huge fan of the added voice work, but I like the person who played Guybrush, and I didn't have all that much of a problem with the cursor system (though I will admit that it didn't work quite as well in a few bits as SCUMM would have). Easy to get into a classic series such as Monkey Island through a remake done as well as this one (especially at 10 dollars)

3. Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii)

Another one of those that I played at work, and another from the guys who made WarioWare. Catchy and memorable music comes from just about every one of my favorite games, but there's something different when that music makes the game work. You'll see this in similar rhythm-focused titles like PaRappa The Rappa as well, where people remember the fun music along with the  action. I think I had so much fun with this one because my friends were playing it at around the same time, and we all got very much into it.

2. Call of Duty 2 (XBOX 360)

I like to imagine the guy here's like "LETS GO LETS GO STORM THE HILL THERE'S A BAD THING ON TOP"

There are two XBOX 360 games from 2005 on this list somehow but I'm not ashamed. The second COD game was probably the game that killed the World-War II "genre" to a certain extent. The developers left no stone unturned when it comes to knowing exactly what made a good game based upon a bloody, generation-destroying war such as WWII. The single-player mode perfected the formula that the Call of Duty series ran on (or would have run on had the games not changed dramatically in the fourth entry), moving from character to character, most of whom were simple people involved in a war much bigger than them. It managed to be cinematic, but not too cinematic to the point where it didn't feel like you were "playing." The XBOX Live multiplayer was great as well, the first that I ever experienced.

1. Skate 3 (XBOX 360)

I would lose so much street cred if anyone were to ever read this list. But Skate 3 is exactly what I wanted from skating games. It didn't feel as restricted as the original Skate (one of the main reasons that I asked for an XBOX 360 back in 2008 for a Christmas present), and I vastly preferred the setting Port Carverton to San Vanelona after a few hours of trying it. The fact that the setting was named "Port Carverton" added to why Skate's still my favorite: a stupid sense of humor. Also: Shameless product placement from Miracle Whip (they really wanted to get in cool with the kids for a while).
Also: These videos I made-

I can go for a really long time with this but I'll spare you. That was me having fun with a cool game that I like a lot, pure and simple. I've beaten it about twice but I've put more than a few extra hours into it. Highest recommendation from me.

TRYING TO KILL TIME WITH COUNTER-STRIKE SOURCE - TEACHING AN OLD DOG TO PLAY GAMES AGAIN

FBack in late 2011, I was a huge fan of Counter-Strike: Source. I played it all the time, after school and on the weekend, and it was a main source of killing time for 16 year old me. But I quit playing it for the most part after Junior Year of high school for whatever reason. But I had like thirty minutes to kill before a date tonight so I decided, hey, why not try it out again? So I booted up Steam and got ready to play some more of an old favorite!

the fuck is this

so OKAY STEAM'S GOTTA UPDATE OR SOMETHING I DUNNO PLAN B I GUESS

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch. Another time sink for when I couldn't get CS:S to play/I wanted to actually play for an extended period of time without having to sit and wait for someone else to finish up what they were playing/the 3 days that I didn't own Counter-Strike and only had Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.

Naturally, I chose the server with the most players (12 in this case, the only one with more than 10 at the moment). Half-Life 2: Deathmatch was always the Robert Griffin's Baylor to Counter-Strike: Source's Oklahoma if we're in a 2011 mindset here. CS:S was always carefully calculated, very strategic, and you'd really have to think hard and be very skilled in order to be successful. HL2, on the other hand, was just as good though very chaotic and sometimes you'd just get lucky but at other times you'd be confused as hell and die like 19 times in a row without even taking a step.

HL2 offense vs CS:S defense essentially (from SBNation)

But anyway, I got started back up right here with this:

Started Mid-Game. I don't think I ever got into that structure there in the middle

I started out well, as always

If you're me, roughly half of HL2 is dying before you get to move

This guy killed me a bunch

This guy didn't move for the whole game

Tried to use this chair as a weapon but outside of WWE they aren't great

Above View of the Map. Very hard to land on the tree

Finished not last to the guy who wasn't physically there and still only died ten times more than I did

 Game One Review: Still trying to figure out what works for me, and I realized that I wasn't good with the Magnum anymore so I pretty much used the basic machine-gun thing and the shotgun. Still, I had fun, and time was killed.

Game Two started in a much different place. For one, it was indoors

For two, there were levels!

Constant death didn't escape me, however. This time I died from a piece of metal

At this point I realized why I stopped playing video games online

 Read that chat box

mmhmm. Quality humanity from a real person who is really real. Let that sink in for a second. They probably have a job

 Probably a well paying job too

and the person on the receiving end of the abuse is a real person as well.

FINAL SCORES: SECOND TO NOT LAST PLACE also that Biceps guy left

Game 2 review: I really liked the map, much better than the first but my gilded age of gaming sorta came back, what with the whole realizing that yes, very very angry people do still play online games. My sound was actually still all the way down from when I typically played.

But this next map was great, very big with many different rooms and levels

Really big inside room

Spent a lot of time with the gravity gun interestingly enough, killed a guy with a barrel

There is a hole here, though...

And it leads to a basement. This guy stayed there and killed everyone who went down there, though

Except for me on a stupidly lucky no-scoped shot with this here crossbow

Also there's a roof

Also also I've done significantly better this time

But then I was done. So time for a final verdict:
Was Counter-Strike: Source still fun? Well not exactly
Was Half-Life 2 Deathmatch still fun? Yeah, I'd say so
Did it still hold your attention? Yes
Why did you write a post about it? Well I haven't posted since August, I think?
WHERE CAN I FIND OTHER INTERESTING WEB FUN FROM JOE BUSH

Go! Go! Hypergrind (Review)

(Written in late June on a PC with no internet connection. Figured I'd post it here finally.

Back in the late 1990s, skateboarding took off (both figuratively and literally) as a viable source of video game entertainment. Thanks to the long reach of the immaculate Tony Hawk, many (read: most) developers couldn’t resist the other, equally long reach, of almost certain cashflow. Somehow, along with those typical publishers, expected to fall into a certain trend, fell Japanese RPG giant: Atlus.

Go! Go! Hypergrind stands as Atlus’ first and only venture into the skateboard genre. Though the game’s foundation bases itself in skating, the settings and design differs heavily from anything like the typical Tony Hawk archetype. However, in terms of core mechanics, Hypergrind plays very similarly. Jumping, movement, and tricks work nearly the same way. The only real difference between the controls of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and Hypergrind comes with flip tricks, as they are completely nonexistent in Hypergrind.

Along with the standard tricks, Hypergrind includes a variety of “appeals,” which come from various different stage obstacles, including decapitations, being covered in paint, and flattenings from obstacles as typical as construction machines to absurdities, like dinosaurs and alligators. Appeals add a new element to skating, unseen in any other game that I’ve played.

Unlike many skating games, Hypergrind’s story actually matters. Eleven cartoon characters have been chosen to restore interest in hand-drawn animation (accentuated by excellent cel-shaded graphics). The way that this happens apparently revolves around skateboarding or something. Every level operates under a series of competitions, ranging from simply scoring the most points, to a head to head race to gather the most points. Score carries from level to level, so competition is constant and remains suspenseful throughout all eight locations.

While I’m very experienced when it comes to skateboarding games, Hypergrind manages to stand out from the pack. While the quality does not stand up to that of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 or 4, and the stages are basically subpar, the art style and general gameplay mechanics make Hypergrind unique at the very least. Which is more than can be said for Grind Session, Transworld Skateboarding, MTV’s Skateboarding featuring Andy MacDonald, or most of the Tony Hawk games past Underground.

3DS Outpost: Niche game alert

Has anyone heard of this new game? It's called "Crossing Mammals" or something like that. "Animals Walking."

Danimals Talking or something like that

I don't really know. I guess it's about some guy talking with some little creatures who can talk. You gotta take this guy (or girl) and dig holes and catch fish so you can make some raccoon guy happy (with your money) (named after a musical instrument). Except this new one on the 3DS also has some girl sheep that you gotta make happy. While still paying the raccoon guy.

Of course this new sheep girl doesn't want your money. She wants you to be nice and plant trees or something until everybody thinks you're nice and they like you. Also you're the chieftan or something. That probably could have been said earlier. Governor. Mayor. One of those. I wouldn't have voted for me. 

So you act as a diplomat and you cross animals for like six hours per day and you don't do anything else with your actual life. You now live with small animal people and you owe your soul and your finances to a fucking raccoon in an apron. Really fun. I recommend this to anyone and everyone who can find a copy. You'll spend days planting trees and hanging up fish and sympathizing with clothes porcupines, just so you can become the best mayor ever. Then population grows. It's a wild world. 

With these city folks.

new

leaf

3DS Outpost: Desperate Times Call for Ice Climber Multi-player

Background: I work at a summer camp. Sometimes it rains at a summer camp. One of those instances, and a particularly dangerous one, happened at 4:30 AM on Friday, May 30th, 2013.

And so, when you and a fellow staffer (doba) are sitting in the dining hall for like 2 hours in the early morning, having already beaten WarioWare and being just kind of tired of everything, you take a desperate route:

Ice Climber download multi-player mode.

Ice Climber became available to 3DS owners in 2011 with the 3DS Ambassador program. Of these twenty titles, Ice Climberstands out as one of the most questionable releases. While many players, mainly those from the 1980s but not limited to them, remember Ice Climber fairly well, many current players stay away from it due to the slippery controls and narrow jump arc. I fall in the latter category.

Single player in Ice Climber works like this: Run left and right, then jump to clear a hole in the icy ceiling above, then jump again to go through said hole. If any animals come, show no mercy and hit them in the head with a hammer. If you fall through your own hole, then you're dead. Do that three times and Game Over. Though I never played Ice Climber while growing up, all of my experiences with it could have been worse.

Multi-player in Ice Climber works... exactly the same way. There's another one, though. It's sorta like a race between the blue one (Popo) and the pink one (Nana). Though vertical scrolling typically kills the player in single player, one player's speedy ascent cannot lead to another's lost life as long as the player on the bottom doesn't fall into a hole. That's nice, as it keeps the competition going between both players, as well as doing a part not to make the multi-player unplayably hard. 

Via the 3DS' download play, Ice Climber's multi-player works fairly well. Not bad, not great, but certainly lasting.

The 3DS Outpost: First, a few confessions

I like to title things. That's my first confession. I like having columns with titles. I also like the 3DS. In this "Column," as it could loosely be titled, I'll talk about the 3DS.  Now for some 3DS-related confessions:

1. I haven't played with the 3D on for months
It gives me a headache. That sucks because I like the 3D effect but I don't so much like physical pain. Granted, even before the system launched, I thought that I would never use the 3D because I assumed that there would be problems with the technology. Thankfully, there were none, but I still don't use the 3D technology.

2. There are a few MP3s on my SD Card
I'm willing to bet that most people don't know that the 3DS has the capability to play MP3s. Well, it can. I've written about this feature before, (Mainly about the laughable attempts at auto-chiptune creation) but still, I have yet to meet anyone who actually uses the 3DS' music player capabilities. I knew a few people back in the sixth grade who used the MP3 player on the PSP, but other than that, these tacked-on music players on gaming devices seem to be mostly obsolete. I wonder when they'll stop trying.

3. I haven't used SwapNote in months
Others have probably done the same. I haven't checked it, even though I could. Really. My 3DS is right next to me and I don't even care enough to look. Sorry if you have sent me anything in the past few months, either of you.

4. My collection does not contain any sports games
Weird, considering the fact that I basically play sports games and nothing else if the stuff that I upload online is any measure. Is that weird? I hope not. At this point, I've only seen a handful of sports games available for purchase. There's a Madden game, Mario Tennis, and a few FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer games. I like the idea that both FIFA and PES are available on the system, as that seems to be the only real competition in sports games currently going (unless you want to count the competition between the arcade style NBA Jam and the sim NBA 2K series) I'll probably buy PES 2013 sometime soon.

5. The 3DS is home to my favorite game
My favorite game of all time (at this point, at least) is Mario Kart 7. MK7 currently sits atop my 3DS' rankings in terms of both hours played and times played, mainly because in early 2012, it became a distraction from insomnia. There's nothing better than being unable to sleep at 1 AM and racing against a group of Japanese people. (Correction: Losing against a group of Japanese people). I still consider MK7 to be the best Mario Kart and the most fun game on the 3DS, as well as probably the best game of all time up to this point.

So those are a few confessions. Feel free to comment yours as well!

Post Play Report: Teenagent

Wikipedia

I really thought I would enjoy Teenagent, but that just wasn't what happened. I liked the premise, I liked the humor, and I liked the characters, but eventually, it just became too difficult for me. In most games like this point-and-click game from 1994, I don't need to use a walkthrough for many things. I hate using a walkthrough unless I'm absolutely completely stumped. If I can figure something out on my own, I will. In Teenagent, I would find myself completely stumped every few minutes.

Of course, much of this is my own fault. I understand that I have to think with adventure games, and sometimes, I felt stupid, quite frankly, when I would find the answer to a puzzle in a walkthrough. In a few instances, I was just about to try something (for instance, using a spring in getting over the brick wall), but I felt it probably wouldn't work. That led me to become less lenient with my peeks at the walkthrough. Of course, when the time to actually do a mission came, I got completely lost.

There was so much to find! My inventory was constantly expanding upon finding small things in abandoned houses, tricking people into leaving their houses in order to steal from them, and stealing from small animals. It was really interesting to look at what I had and think of what I could do with them. I was excited for how, when, and where these items would come into play. But eventually, the tedium kind of took over in.

I wanted something, anything to happen, and it didn't. I just wanted the plot to advance, but I just got bored with it and put it down. I don't think I'm going to continue. I also don't think all of that is my fault. Some of the puzzles were just asinine. At some points, I found myself scanning my eyes across the screen, my face just inches away from a screen that can't possibly be helping me in health, in order to find some mythical object sitting underneath a chair or on a pathway. I understand that both of these are to be expected from classic adventure games, but it got a little ridiculous in some cases.

There isn't much to hate about Teenagent, and I'll absolutely admit that this is an above-average game, but there are better games to go for. To be fair, you can try Teenagent for absolutely free by signing up for an account at gog.com. If adventure games are your kind of thing, then go ahead and try Teenagent for free. Just keep in mind that great patience is a must.

This lunch line is too goddamn long

Something game related. Mario Paint music stuck in my head. Smells way too heavily of pizza here. I'm really excited for Gone Home.

what the hell happened to regular italian sandwiches Planet Sub these are exactly the same except you renamed it "Spicy Italian." Any way you slice it (right down the middle of the baguette typically) you lied. You lied, Planet Sub.

Games Update: 3/24/13

Haven't done this in a while. Due to the NCAA Tournament, I've been completely enthralled with watching every game, no matter how lopsided the victory is or how long it takes. (Also my mother is using the basement TV for basketball watching so I don't get to play as much as I would typically during a week without anything else to do.) Typically this week would be spent on the TV but for other reasons I cannot use a mouse on my laptop correctly this week either. SO HERE'S WHAT YOU GET

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (XBOX)
I own like 4 different versions of this game. When I first obtained a copy (back in 2002 when I turned 7 years old), I played through the game with nearly every character with all cheats in use. Special meter was always full, perfect grind and manual balance, and surf mode, which made it nearly impossible to fall if you land sideways. I was like 7, don't blame me.

Two years ago, I played and completed 100% the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the Sega Dreamcast. While I actually probably had the least experience (of the first few THPS games) on the original, I played all the way through it. With every skater. On the Dreamcast. You see, I was working at a camp, living in a small 4-person cabin. I only had a small TV, my Dreamcast, and the great outdoors. In order to stay away from the great outdoors at the place where my job was to teach kids about the wonders of the great outdoors, I played with that Dreamcast. Unfortunately for me, my Dreamcast library was barely anything compared to what it is today. Basically, I owned the first two Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games, Sonic Shuffle, Sydney Olympics 2000, and Unreal Tournament. Most of these games were geared towards multi-player action, but the only roommate who I would have wanted to play against had stopped working there for a few months. So I sat alone, with the first THPS, intending to complete the entire thing. With every skater. Even the hidden ones. It took a long time, but I was able to get my 100% completion time down to like 25 minutes per skater. (I was really goddamn good is what I'm trying to get across)

So now, because I'm pathetic, I've started to do the same with THPS3. This is basically all in the name of misplaced nostalgia. I'd like to replay the game I beat as an eight year old but without cheats. Some kids were in little league. Some kids played games against their friends. Some kids rode bikes and went on adventures. I cheated and completed almost all of THPS3 and LOOK WHAT I BECAME.

College Hoops 2K7 (XBOX 360)
I'm playing 2 sports games. Sue me. This is an impulse play based on March Madness, nothing much to see here. I love the legacy mode, though. It's a whole lot of fun to take a small team from the Ivy League or the MEAC or the like and turn it in to a big program (though it takes a lot of time). I find stupid stuff like that to be very enjoyable (though I don't have any reasoning as to why). Hopefully, once I'm done with this, I can play a longer RPG style game, because I think it would be fun in the same kind of way.

The Best Video Games of March Madness

March Madness fever has, like some sort of awful epidemic, spread through the United States of America within the past week, taking over the minds and voices of everyone within an office pool or with nothing else to do. If you’re an awful impulse player like me, who only plays some sports games when they’re in season, you’re scrambling for any College Basketball games you can get your hands on by this point. I’m here to help you out. Here are some of my favorite games that exemplify the sport and excitement of this month that we in the States call “March.” (and those in Quebec call “mars”)

6. NCAA Basketball (SNES)

                                                                                         Gamefaqs

I made a video about this a little while ago. The gameplay doesn’t look like fun, because players move very slowly. However, after a few minutes, you’ll realize that NCAA Basketball plays much better than it looks. You won’t get much more than a few games out before boredom takes over, but NCAA Basketball provides a pretty good time sink for a quick College Basketball fix.

5. NCAA March Madness 2003 (PS2)

                                                          Gamefaqs

This game makes great use of the NBA Live 2003 engine. In fact, you could get away with referring to this as a carbon copy. By no means is this a negative fact: NBA Live 2003 is an excellent basketball game as well. Unfortunately for those looking for an authentic simulation, NBA style gameplay does lead to NBA style scoring, so most games end up with unrealistically high scores. Still, the expanded Season and Dynasty modes add a lot of depth to an already enjoyable game. Does it lack a few things? Absolutely. There's a notable absence of most mid-major programs, but that's a common factor in many College Basketball games of that era.

Gamefaqs

4. College Slam (SNES):

Gamefaqs

I made a video about this game roughly two years ago in a hotel room in Wichita, Kansas at like 9:30 in the morning with a cheap Philips microphone headset from a Target. It’s a little out of date, but the points I brought up are still relevant today. College Slam basically stands as an NBA Jam clone made by the same people who made NBA Jam. While there are no real player names or likenesses, using the facsimile of your school of choice to jump like 80 feet in the air over a player from your rival team is amazingly satisfying. While College Slam lacks in the realism department, I don't think that fact matters to anyone playing, as players are sure to get a quick and enjoyable experience from this title.

3. Final Four 1999 (PSX):

Gamefaqs

The first in 989's Final Four series is undoubtedly the best. Unfortunately, it isn't terribly realistic, and the A.I. can be amazingly stupid at points, just giving up free possessions through penalties that any real team of level-minded athletes wouldn’t be caught dead committing multiple times per game (You’ll end up with 3-in-the-key calls multiple times per game). One thing that sets this game apart from others of the era is the number of teams. With most games of the era, you were lucky to have the entire power six. In Final Four, nearly every D1 squad is available. That's a tremendous technical feat for 1998. To show this at work, this year I simulated the entire tournament in this game, and I only had to replace 1 or 2 teams. (Granted, it had Oklahoma State making a championship run so you may not want to follow my example.) Along with the great selection of schools, there is still a fun interior basketball game, along with fairly deep season and tournament modes.

2. College Hoops 2K7/2K8 (XB360/PS3/PS2)

Gamefaqs

2K sports in the aughts kicked ass. ESPN NFL 2K5, NHL 2K5, and even recently the NBA 2K games have been simply awesome. These games defined how to make excellent sports sims. The level of realism found in most of 2K's outputs was so astoundingly high that they became the standard of sports games, until they all died out 1 by 1 due either to the greed of a certain rival company, or the apathy of a certain U.S. PUBLIC. College Hoops 2K8 was the final entry in the College Hoops series, and it contained just about everything that could be wished for in a College Basketball game and more. Full legacy mode, classic teams, alternate uniforms, in season tournaments, and even a weird chant creator! This had it all! By this time, full mid-major conference inclusion was standard, but it’s still nice to see how detailed it gets. It's the attention to detail, along with solid gameplay that makes this game great. Even the tacked-on mini-games, found in the student lounge, are fun somehow! College Hoops has it all. The only real downside is the amazing difficulty in making shots on default settings. The gameplay sliders help alleviate this problem. Even the addition of gameplay sliders add to the simulation aspect of this game. That's really the major point of College Hoops 2K8: Attention to detail. Nobody put as much work into their game as 2K did here.

Gamefaqs

1. March Madness 2002 (PS2)

Gamefaqs

Choosing to put games from the same franchise on this list may seem like a bizarre choice, but March Madness 2002 and NCAA March Madness 2003 from EA Sports could not be further apart from each other in terms of gameplay. March Madness 2002 employs a much slower, but still incredibly fun, style of basketball action. It lacks a season mode and almost all of the teams from the mid-major conferences, but they are made up for in the simple and enjoyable action on the court. A.I. flaws are present in some aspects, especially on the defensive side where blocks and steals rarely occur. March Madness 2002 applies momentum, alley-oops, and fast breaks nearly perfectly. Like most others on this list, the most fun in this game comes from playing a few quick games to satisfy your march madness craving.

Gamespot

I'm just going to tell you about how great Sega Rally Championship is

Back in the mid-1990s, very few racing games could actually stand by any promise of realism. Outside of Test Drive and the early Need for Speed games, most racing games were based in fantasy. Fantasy is cool, but those looking for an actual driving experience (for whatever reason necessary) probably were left in the figurative dust of games of the era.


That was before Sega Rally Championship. This game understands driving and handling almost perfectly. This is remarkable, especially with the fact that this control, this near-perfect control, is done only on an 8 direction digital pad, without any sort of pressure sensitive buttons for acceleration. That's like Tony Hawk landing a 900 on a skateboard made from a broken, rotten 2 x 4 with a pair of roller skates strapped to the bottom with masking tape. But Sega did it.

There are only 4 courses.

But I don't even care about that

Because all 4 of the courses are great

Except for maybe the last one which is super hard.

 Only 2 playable cars? Not even sort of a problem. You don't even need more than one. Despite the limited number of features, the near-perfect controls and courses make this a must-buy for anyone with a Saturn. Even if you don't have a Saturn, you should buy one and play this game.

Post-Play Report: King's Quest: Quest for the Crown

Over the past year, I've really become interested in point-and-click adventure games. With the completion of King's Quest I, I have basically completed three of the first games that people tell me to try when it comes to point-and-click games. First, I played MYST, the game typically referred to as the game that killed adventure games in the '90s. Second, I played the Secret of Monkey Island, which essentially perfected the adventure formula. As of last night, I've beaten King's Quest. The first one. King's Quest was known as one of the original great adventure games.

This should be considered one of the most important games in the history of gaming. While some of the puzzle solving was confusing, (I had to use a walkthrough for most of the game) it was still a lot of fun to get through.

While my experience in adventure gaming has never exactly been great, (my first adventure game that I really played was actually Dark Seed II, a game that I probably shouldn't enjoy as much as I do) I know what a good game looks like, and King's Quest was just that.

Also I'm terribly sorry for using a walkthrough

Post-Play Report: Tecmo Super Bowl

Well, push has come to shove, and last night I took a shot at Super Bowl 28 in Tecmo Super Bowl. The opponent was (as was typical at that time) the Buffalo Bills. While they started off with a ten point lead, eventually, I was able to come back and it ended like this:

For one: Reggie White dominated throughout the whole game. It shows up there that Thurman Thomas ran for only about 26 yards. Weirdly enough, one of those runs was for around 50 yards, but the rest of his attempts were stopped by Reggie White. Also, Jim Kelly was injured in the 3rd quarter and he got replaced by Frank Reich, who proceeded not to do much.

On the other end, Favre had a terrible first 2 quarters. Aside from a 60 yard or so throw to Jackie Harris (Which I assumed would be intercepted) The passing game was dismal. By quarter 3, however, I started to figure it out, and I took the lead with 2 touchdowns. It was sweet.

Admittedly, this is the first time I've ever actually won a Super Bowl in a video game. I don't play many NFL games, but this is the one that I've played the most. I've probably had the most fun with Tecmo Super Bowl out of every football based game. While I'll never call this a great sports game, (because of the rubber-band A.I.) it's still a whole lot of fun. I'd say it is better when played in multi-player than single player, though.

This game has provided me some of the most fun that a game has ever given me. Unfortunately, the later games in the series decreased in quality, (even though I did like the recent "Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff" on XBLA) but this game, if you can find it, is one of the most enjoyable football games ever made.