Top 10 Vocal Tracks in the Metal Gear Series (#10-6)

Earlier this year, I wrote up two top five lists for songs from the Metal Gear series. One was focused on orchestrated tracks, while the other was focused on the series’ vocal tracks. While I still feel the selections I chose for both of those lists are deserving of the rankings that I assigned them, there are other Metal Gear theme songs that I feel deserve mentions. As such, I have crafted a follow-up to the vocal track list – a ‘part two’, if you will. If you missed the original list featuring the top five vocal tracks, you can check it out here.

#10 – The Stains of Time (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance): Though Metal Gear Rising boasted a loud and bombastic soundtrack during its early hours, The Stains of Time is reflective of the way in which the narrative begins to ramp up, and the themes at play head into darker territory. Monsoon is certainly one of the more freakish boss characters Raiden squares off against, having his entire body segemented into small pieces, allowing him to split apart and reform as he makes quick strikes with his octagon sais. The music and battle only become more intense, as Monsoon hurls military vehicles at Raiden, while the cyborg ninja protagonist ultimately embraces his inner demons, letting Jack the Ripper run free in order to inflict greater damage on Monsoon chop him up into even smaller pieces from which he cannot reassemble.

#9 – Rules of Nature (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance): While perhaps not officially the main theme of Metal Gear Rising, Rules of Nature is certainly one of the most popular tracks to come from the game. Rules of Nature accompanies one of Raiden’s first boss battles, against a towering Metal Gear Ray. During the first stage of this fight, Raiden slashes the Metal Gear’s armor off, and uses his cyborg enhancements to hurl it through the air. Later on, the Metal Gear takes a second attempt at besting Raiden, only for the cyborg ninja to jump across the barrage of missiles it fires his way, sprint straight down the side of a crumbling clock tower, and finish the mechanized foe off for good. Rules of Nature is an unapologetic, fast-paced adrenaline rush that perfectly encapsulates this battle, and the overall vibe of Metal Gear Rising.

#8 – Heavens Divide (Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker): Heavens Divide begins softly, not unlike Portable Ops’ main theme of Calling to the Night. But it gradually picks up pace and volume, delivering a message about Snake taking responsibility for his past and present, and his forging his own path toward the future. While Snake Eater was the major turning point whereby Naked Snake lost faith in his home country and government, Peace Walker focuses on Snake’s taking the title of Big Boss to heart, training an organized military and setting forth on a path to finally lay to rest his internal struggles with The Boss’ actions from ten years prior. Heavens Divide weaves a tale of loss and sorrow, resulting in the eventual solidification of Big Boss’ ideals and determination to create a military without a nation.

#7 – A Phantom Pain (Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain): A Phantom Pain’s dark atmosphere and synth sounds are a wonderful mash-up for a few reasons. First and foremost, the lyrics are reflect loss, lingering pain, and the self-destructive nature of revenge, themes which affect all of The Phantom Pain’s major players, in some form or another. Secondly, its choice of instrumentation, with heavy emphasis on keyboard and electric guitar, are perfect matches for the game’s 1980s setting, as is one so-close-to-being-cheesy-that-it’s-great saxophone solo. A Phantom Pain deals with the search for oneself after the jarring losses of battle – whether physical or psychological – have been stacked, and the impact that has on someone and their peers.

# 6 – Sins of the Father (Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain): The most thematically appropriate vocal track in the series since Snake Eater’s self-titled theme song, Sins of the Father is a powerful, commanding tune. Its lyrics paint the dark path Punished ‘Venom’ Snake will embark upon, while haunting wails beautifully match the tumultuous backdrops of the Afghanistan desert and the African jungle. Listening to the lyrics after following The Phantom Pain’s story to its conclusion further reveals just how specific to the game’s events Sins of the Father truly is.

Top 10 Vocal Tracks in the Metal Gear Series (#5-1)

The Metal Gear franchise has long stood among the greatest of video games, due in no small part to its deep and involved narrative that carries on in increasingly complex ways from one entry to the next. With each new game comes an equally impressive soundtrack, which fittingly also tend to rank among the best this entertainment medium has to offer. Below are my personal picks for the five best vocal tracks in the entire Metal Gear franchise. With the release of The Phantom Pain, I have also created a follow-up to this list, detailing the vocal tracks I feel are deserving of spots numbers six through ten, which you can read here.

#5 – A Stranger I Remain (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance): One of the few Revengeance tracks to steer clear of screamo lyrics and thrash riffs, A Stranger I Remain is not only a solid metal track with a beautiful blend of haunting vocals and a heavy, fast-paced guitar part, it’s also a song very befitting the character it represents. Mistral’s theme provides a great accompaniment to someone as imperfect as Raiden. It’s rather curious that MGR gets so much right in their presentation of the Mistral boss fight, as it is so early in the game – much in the way of the gameplay, visuals, and music that make up the later boss encounters fail to reach the fantastic culmination witnessed in the Mistral encounter.

#4 – Calling to the Night (Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops): One of the few Metal Gear Solid titles I have not played, this tune seems to have transcended its platform to become recognized as one of the more memorable tunes in the series. Of the two major MGS releases on the PSP, Portable Ops was largely overshadowed by Peace Walker, yet this tune continues to appear on fan compilations of favorite tracklistings from the franchise. And rightfully so – it’s a melancholy tune that is very fitting for Naked Snake post-Snake Eater. He has to effectively rediscover who he is and make a name for himself, so that by the time that the events of Peace Walker roll around, he and his private army are fully prepared for the greater challenges that lie ahead.

#3 – Red Sun (Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance): Sundowner ended up being one of my least favorite characters in Metal Gear Rising, both with regards to his hillbilly personality and a boss fight that felt significantly less inspired than the company of Monsoon, Mistral, and Blade Wolf. However, his theme song utilized deep vocals and a slightly grungier rock sound, all while maintaining the hardcore metal appeal of Revengeance’s soundtrack. Red Sun’s lyrics offer metaphors that are perhaps a bit more thinly veiled than the game’s other vocal tracks, but it’s certainly a catchy number, one that I have found myself listening to many times since completing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

#2 – The Best is Yet to Come (Metal Gear Solid): I often favor many of the softer, slower vocal tracks from the Metal Gear series because they tend to convey the emotional burdens carried by Solid Snake and Naked Snake better than the fast-paced and loud tracks. Those are great for stealth and action sequences, sure, but at the end of the day, when it’s time to gaze back upon everything Snake has accomplished, every hurdle he’s had to overcome, every friend and foe that has fallen along the way, there’s really no other track that better embodies the gravity of all that than The Best is Yet to Come. It's a reminder of the trial he has surpassed, and those that lie still lie ahead.

#1 – Snake Eater (Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater): Snake Eater is one of those tracks that is equal parts silly and epic. It’s a deliberate throwback to James Bond theme songs (some of which boast more cheesy lyrics than others), as can only work in a Cold War setting featuring a one-man army. Snake Eater has long been my favorite entry in the Metal Gear franchise, as its perfect combination of stealth and action elements, deeply human story, and unique sense of style result in a product that transcends what most video games, films, and novels can deliver. There’s really no other medium in which Snake Eater would work to such an effective degree, and there’s no other song that could make the introduction so memorable. Snake Eater presently stands as one of my all-time favorite video game theme songs, and I have no doubt it will continue to do so for many years to come.

Top 10 Video Games of 2014 - Part Two

As in years past, I’ve compiled a list of the best games I played in 2014. While some might say 2014 was a slump year for gaming, I felt the case was quite the opposite – granted, some of the titles on this list were not released in this year, but a large chunk of the titles I played this year were released in a window between late 2013 through 2014. In each year prior to this one, I narrowed my ‘games of the year’ down to a select five. However, I felt that doing so this year would serve a great injustice to many of the titles I found to be simply exceptional this year. As such, this year’s list will consist of the ten best games I played in 2014, and will be split into two parts. Keep in mind that the order of these games on this list is not necessarily representative of the score I gave each of them in my reviews, rather a ranking based on which games were the most enjoyable and impressed me the most.

#5) Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U: As a pair, these two new Smash Bros. titles might just be my new favorites in Nintendo’s all-star fighting franchise. The Wii U version offers a wider variety of game modes, many of them fast-paced, and while the 3DS’ controls might hold a little less appeal in the longterm, the handheld version’s classic mode is more in line with that of previous Smash installments. The roster includes some curious characters, each of whom makes use of highly inventive movesets and feels right at home with the veteran characters. Coupling that with the intelligent repurposing of final smashes, these two latest titles offer up the most balanced fighting frenzy Smash Bros. has seen since its N64 debut.

#4) Bayonetta 2: One of the smoothest-playing action games I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting my hands on, Bayonetta 2 is equally impressive in its visual presentation. It’s easily one of the most graphically impressive games on the market right now, and the polar opposite designs of statuesque Angels and mechanical Demons provides a great variety of designs to coincide with their various attack and defense patterns. Bayonetta 2 is thoroughly unapologetic, in both its demanding combo system of close encounters and pinpoint-accuracy dodging, as well as its sense of flash and flair, which, much like its very vocal and very confident protagonist, it owns and flaunts in every possible angle.

#3) Skullgirls Encore: I’ve never been one to claim I’m particularly skilled at popular combo-heavy fighting games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but Skullgirls was something of a game-changer for me. It is designed with the hardcore fighting game crowd in mind, but somehow opens up to a wider audience with tutorials and combo chains that prove far more intuitive than heavyweights of the genre typically offer. While the default character roster may be smaller than in most fighting games, each character is designed with a very specific play style in mind, and with more DLC characters on the way, fights are bound to push forth more complex team strategies and fast-paced action as they are added to the lineup. The hand-drawn character models are absolutely gorgeous, and a further testament to the love of labor that the creative team behind Skullgirls has poured into this magnificent creation.

#2) Killer7: It’s no secret that I love the utterly bizarre creations of Suda51 and the team at Grasshopper Manufacture, and Killer7 is no exception. Polar opposite in themes and presentation to No More Heroes, Killer7 is a dark and serious tale, albeit an incredibly weird one, that weaves political intrigue, a terrorist organization that mutates its loyalists into walking time-bombs, the personas of multiple assassins given corporeal form, and heavily cel-shaded graphics into one effectively perfect gaming experience. Of all the aspects of Killer7 I found myself simply in awe of, it was the fact that – despite its unorthodox combination of on-rails progression, third-person action, first-person shooting, and character-specific puzzles – I was unable to find any noteworthy flaws in the design or mechanics of this game.

#1) Shovel Knight: Shovel Knight is a case of David holding his own with the Goliaths of the gaming industry, an indie title that shows as much love and polish, if not more, than most of its AAA-title competitors. It’s a love song to NES-era icons like Mega Man, Zelda, Castlevania, and Final Fantasy, and yet is able to craft its own identity that feels right at home in the company of Nintendo’s long-since-famous mascots. Shovel Knight is not a cakewalk of a game, by any means, but its smooth controls and wacky items prove a wonderful pairing to the game’s 8-bit aesthetic. Shovel Knight is great for its classic fantasy vibe, its comedic cast, and its addictive gameplay that is great for both brief sessions on the go, or a long haul of taking down the nefarious Order of No Quarter.

Top 10 Video Games of 2014 - Part One

As in years past, I’ve compiled a list of the best games I played in 2014. While some might say 2014 was a slump year for gaming, I felt the case was quite the opposite – granted, some of the titles on this list were not released in this year, but a large chunk of the titles I played this year were released in a window between late 2013 through 2014. In each year prior to this one, I narrowed my ‘games of the year’ down to a select five. However, I felt that doing so this year would serve a great injustice to many of the titles I found to be simply exceptional this year. As such, this year’s list will consist of the ten best games I played in 2014, and will be split into two parts. Keep in mind that the order of these games on this list is not necessarily representative of the score I gave each of them in my reviews, rather a ranking based on which games were the most enjoyable and impressed me the most.

#10) Persona 4: Mixing up many staples of the JRPG genre, Persona 4 offers very deep and rewarding quests both inside dungeons and Inaba’s small town locales like the market, high school, and riverbed. Persona 4 requires you to choose your path wisely, as the social links between characters which will grant you the ability to summon stronger Personas attributed with specific Arcana as well as pave the way to a greater understanding of your friends and party members, cannot all be completed in a single playthrough. There are plenty of ways to boost your stats, from sports and after-school activities, to visiting a local restaurant during one of their rainy day promotions, and each player will naturally prefer certain party members based on skill set and personalities. The game’s greatest flaw unfortunately arrives during the endgame stretch, wherein the story and gameplay become so streamlined and uninvolved on the part of the player, that it becomes a dry, monotonous routine of highlight segments, with no downtime to specialize or focus on specific characters or tasks in-between – perhaps this lull would have been less jarring if the game provided any implication that it was coming.

#9) Grand Theft Auto V: My first proper exploration of Rockstar’s long-running open-world series, GTA V provided me with hours of entertainment, whether it was Trevor’s off-the-wall psychotic antics, Michael’s spiral back into the criminal lifestyle, Franklin’s dreams of grandeur, or simply barreling through downtown Los Santos in a newly-acquired sportscar. The radio chatter and classic rock and hip-hop tunes give Los Santos and its surrounding areas as much in the way of specific flair and identity to the experience as conversations with NPCs and the crazy drug runs, heists, and assassination gigs do. These elements not only steer the direction of the gameplay, they shape the satirical cast of characters and story. While there is a ton to do in GTA V and its easy to get lost in side missions, races, or simply the adventure of exploring this fictional world, Rockstar has done a maginificent job in providing a solid balance of both quantity and quality in what is believed to be their biggest game yet.

#8) Kid Icarus: Uprising: The hybrid between on-rails flying/shooting sections and ground-based action/adventure segments comes across as a bit strange at first glance, but both portions of game design handle quite well, if not with some notable differences. Kid Icarus: Uprising is a game that offers plenty of freedom in selecting and upgrading weapons, and incorporates a smart risk/reward system through its higher difficulty settings. The aesthetic of Greek and Roman mythology is apparent from the outset, but the real charm comes from the humorous interaction between the characters and references to other retro Nintendo properties. Kid Icarus: Uprising could have been a quick and enjoyable experience had it capped out at its initial false ending, but the fact that its lifespan is extended nearly three-fold and it manages to incorporate so much variety into its level and enemy designs makes this 3DS exclusive a real treat – its biggest hindrance being the tax that the frenetic gameplay and somewhat unorthodox control scheme takes on your hands after playing a few stages in succession.

#7) Kirby: Triple Deluxe: Of all its design points, I never expected to be so thoroughly impressed with the manner in which Kirby’s latest outing utilized the 3DS’ internal gyroscope. Puzzles are more immersive as a result, while the 3D effect enchances the implementation of foreground and background items and foes immensely. The story of Kirby: Triple Deluxe is not terribly complicated, though I do wish it had been just a tad longer. Still, its visual presentation is superb, its soundtrack more experimental than what fans might expect of the series, and the final battle intense and challenging, albeit more in line with the tones and aesthetic of something like Final Fantasy.

#6) DmC: Devil May Cry: A bold reimagining for the Devil May Cry series, this new entry, handled by Ninja Theory, boasts what is easily the most fast and fluid combat in the series. Enemies sport varying grotesque statue designs, and the entire world drifts back and forth between a punk Eastern European metropolis and an ethereal realm where the forces of hell sport their true colors. This new, younger Dante spouts profanities left and right, along with cheesy insults, and the dialogue from his more calm brother Vergil as well as any given one of the demonic bosses is similarly cliché, but it is nonetheless entertaining and works well for a series that always opted for the spectacular and over-the-top.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #1: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

This is easily the most impressive Zelda title I’ve played since Ocarina of Time and the Oracle titles. Whereas Twilight Princess blatantly tried to align itself with Ocarina of Time and offered up a host of uninspired and generally non-threatening bosses, Skyward Sword borrowed elements of practically every previous Zelda game and meshed them with a brand new combat system. The result is one of the most fresh and enjoyable experiences I’ve had with any video game in a long while, and the most fun I've had with a Zelda release in over a decade.

Certainly, the core essence of Zelda is retained, but there’s plenty of new characters and content to indulge in, like sassy and prideful Demon Lord Ghirahim or the Timeshift Stones that are scattered about Lanayru Desert. Ganondorf has long reigned as my favorite video game villain of all time (specifically, his Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker incarnations), But Ghirahim ranks quite highly as well. While Skyward Sword’s enemy number one is full of attitude from the first encounter to the last, he slowly reveals more and more about his true nature with each encounter he has with Link – and I don’t mean that we learn more about his plans to revive his master, as that is something we know practically from the outset. Rather, we see how truly prideful he is, as well as how he is unable to deal with someone else besting him in battle, let alone a human.

As for the new combat system, it is what the Wii was designed for – a perfect 1:1 reaction as Link swings his sword up, down, sideways, and vertically. The dungeons are chock full of fun puzzles and stronger enemies than usual, many of whom require a specific angle of attack from Link’s sword. There’s a curious collection of items at Link’s disposal, including a whip, double clawshot, and the beetle, though none of these serve to replace pre-existing items as is typical of Zelda titles. Many of the items also see multiple applications, such as the whip being used to swing across chasms and pull on switches. While few of the dungeons ever reach the scale of those in Ocarina of Time or Majora’s Mask, they are all wonderfully inspired on both the front of puzzle design and aesthetic presentation.

The soundtrack is gorgeous, the art style phenomenal, and the characters – especially a more bright and talkative Zelda – genuinely lovable. Skyward Sword ends with one of the most epic, atmospheric boss fights to ever grace the series, which is saying a lot, considering how well-received the boss fights in nearly any Zelda game tend to be. This is the story that sets in motion all the patterns witnessed in the rest of the series, and I could not have asked for a more perfect way for it to be conveyed. It’s a game that I waited more than two years to play after its initial reveal, a game that I was excited for unlike any other before it, and a game that delivered everything I had hoped for and more.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #2: No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

While there have been plenty of solid sequels and revamps of classic titles on the seventh generation titles, few developers have dared to tread into brand-new territory. Few have dared to create something so bold as No More Heroes. Much as I love the Mass Effect sequels, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and the other games that found their way onto this list, they are all sequels or spiritual successors to previous releases. Though the No More Heroes titles do draw inspiration from contemporary hack-and-slash action titles and 8-bit arcade-y games, the culmination is a wonderful breath of fresh air, not just to the genre, but to video games as an entertainment medium.

Both the original No More Heroes and its sequel Desperate Struggle are (among other things) unapologetic – Travis Touchdown slices and dices his foes into bloody pools, spouting off vulgar one-liners during his moments of downtime that are equal parts awesome and silly. The original game defined a brand-new experience and was one of the earliest Wii titles to really nail the motion controls down by balancing those with a traditional button/joystick combo. While No More Heroes boasts many a colorful environment and memorable assassin, the sequel cleaned up the entire experienced, streamlining the overworld and amping up the combat just enough that it was more fast-paced without teetering into the realm of frenetic.

The sequel also saw a more focused, darker story – one of Travis seeking revenge – which still managed to balance the silly with the gritty. While the first game was more off-the-walls goofy, the references to Star Wars and Back to the Future therein seemed unorganized and random compared to the sequel’s mecha boss fight between robots inspired by anime Space Runaway Ideon and Gurren Lagann, or a narrow forest whose twisted dead trees and red night sky were an obvious nod to Capcom’s explosively popular Resident Evil 4. Instead of giving off the impression that the game was chock full of ideas that creator Suda51 thought were cool, NMH2 came across as more of a love letter – not only to the creative minds behind the works Suda was paying homage to, but to fans of the original NMH as well.

Personally, I am a bit partial to Desperate Struggle. It’s much easier to jump into, has a higher degree of replayability due to its time attack Death Match mode and general faster pacing. But I won’t deny that the boss fights in the original No More Heroes were some of the best I’ve experienced in any game. Being such a huge fan as I am of the Legend of Zelda series, that is the standard with which I compare the boss fights of any and all other video games, and it is incredibly rare that another title provides as consistently high-quality encounters. But the UAA ranking matches in the NMH games are truly something to behold – a brilliant mesh of flair and challenge that defines the core of the experience.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #3: Bioshock and Bioshock 2

The opening to the original Bioshock was an interactive sequence that blew me away when I first played it. Six years later, I still consider it to be one of the (if not the single) best introductory sequences in any video game. While the brief monologue Jack relays moments before his plane crashes into the ocean serve to provide players with some inkling of who he is and what is to come, it’s still deliberately vague. The game takes you (the player) and protagonist Jack from a familiar setting and thrusts you into a strange, dangerous, and yet ever-intriguing environment: the city of Rapture.

Bioshock is a curious game in the sense that most of the story is conveyed to Jack via audio diaries and radio chatter from both Atlas and Andrew Ryan. To tell more than to show is always a risky formula for a game, but having Jack enter Rapture after it has already gone to hell in a hand basket allows players to focus more on the hauntingly gorgeous setting. Little Sisters urge their Big Daddy protectors on to new corpses, blissfully unaware of the walking guinea pigs they have been transformed into. Sander Cohen has Jack go on a murderous scavenger hunt to gain passage through Fort Frolic. And the direct interactions Jack has with characters like Cohen, Tenenbaum, and Ryan cultivate one of the game’s most important aspects – choice.

While the core of Bioshock will remain the same for each and every player, there is a significant degree of freedom to how the game is experienced. Aside from the option to save or harvest the Little Sisters for precious ADAM, players can choose which weapons and plasmids to upgrade. They can choose to explore areas not important to their current objectives to better explore the fallen city, and they can choose to pick up or not pick up audio diaries that would better inform them of what led to Rapture becoming a such a horrifying place.

While most would argue that the story of the first Bioshock is superior to the sequel, I would argue that the method of storytelling in Bioshock 2 trumps that of its predecessor. The ‘stranger in a strange land’ approach does not work particularly well in a second visit to the same locale, and 2K avoided this problem altogether by putting players in the boots of a Big Daddy named Subject Delta. One of the original Big Daddies, Delta is far more powerful and intelligent than the typical Bouncer or Rosie and can wield much more powerful variants of the weapons Jack previously used. Because players would already know the fate of the characters from the first game, there was no reason to pull a ‘smoke and mirrors’ routine. Bioshock 2 gave players the run of the place almost instantly, and expands upon the stories of major characters that shaped the experience of the first game, while also introducing all-new characters who were key in both the rise and fall of Andrew Ryan’s underwater utopia-turned-dystopia.

Bioshock 2 looks better, sounds better, and - most importantly - plays better than its predecessor. Chunks of coral and more heavily flooded areas give players a sense that Rapture has decayed even further since their last visit. The gun controls are more tight and the hacking process distracts less from the core gameplay. As a Big Daddy, you are certainly tougher than any normal human, but then again, the splicers have mutated so far along that they are more dangerous and creepy than ever.

It would be inaccurate to state that the Bioshock titles belong to the horror genre. While certainly spooky, they consistently utilize elements from action, adventure, and RPG genres. But if there is one thing that can unquestionably be stated about Bioshock and Bioshock 2, it is that they are two of the most thought-provoking games of their day, due to the ideologies they bring into play and the questions they raise – not just within the context of Rapture, but also for the people who make and play video games.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #4: Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3

While I thoroughly enjoyed the original Mass Effect, the sequels improved upon the gameplay and storytelling significantly. The first game provided a glimpse of the greater universe that you actually get to explore in the sequels, and while there are certainly elements of BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic that inspired the Mass Effect games, the homeworlds and cultures of the Asari, Turians, Krogans, Hanar, and so on feel strikingly original.

These two games run incredibly close for me. While neither is perfect, they both have their strengths and weaknesses that ranks them at approximately equal quality in my eyes. Mass Effect 2 was more reliant on shooter mechanics, but offered a greater host of side missions and squad members. Mass Effect 3, though more focused on reaching the end of Commander Shepard’s story, brings back many traditional RPG elements absent in ME2 and offers fewer squad members that, while specialized to one role or another, are more adaptable than in the previous installment.

Above all else, what impressed me most about the two games was the weight of your decisions and how it impacted the manner in which the greater story unfolded. The original Mass Effect forced you to choose one human squadmate to live and the other was left to die, but these were characters that I frankly could not have cared less about. Sure, there was the romance subplot, but it only offered two options per gender. Mass Effect 2 rectified all of this by including loyalty missions – sidequests that would earn Shepard the trust of his squadmates. Opt not to complete a loyalty mission and there’s a good chance your pals might not survive to the end of the game. As for the romance subplot, there were significantly more choices available to both male and female Shepard, each of them arguably more interesting and involved than those offered in ME1. Mass Effect 2 required much more time and attention than the first game, but it also gave a lot more back. It was a game that allowed you to play however you wanted, and your decisions would carry over to Mass Effect 3. The characters you allowed to live would appear in Mass Effect 3, potentially offering you assistance in your fight against the Reapers, while those who died might be mentioned in dialogue, but were otherwise nowhere to be seen.

The Mass Effect sequels are phenomenal spiritual successors to the Knights of the Old Republic titles as well as the original Mass Effect. Gone are the clunky periods of exploring uncharted worlds in the Mako, gone are the repetitive landscapes and underground bases - all replaced with planets that exude a sense of adventure. While BioWare’s love for space operas like Star Wars are clearly visible in the art and story direction of Mass Effect, these games host their own lively universe - one that was equally creative and engaging. Whether Shepard is investigating a string of disappearances on human colonies, securing the last hope of curing the Krogan genophage, or helping to beat back Reaper forces from one of the moons orbiting the Turian homeworld, each quest is uniquely exciting.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #5: Pokémon Black and Pokémon White

Over the years, Game Freak has done quite a bit of experimenting with the Pokémon series, between the core entries and the side games/spinoffs. While still a six-member party RPG game, the inclusion of dual types and special abilities provided a new dynamic to strategies players would adopt. However, the Generation IV titles Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum were less well-received by many in the Pokémon community following their release, due to a number of factors including a lack of balance in the representation of the then-seventeen types, as well as some new evolutions of pre-existing Pokémon that some fans considered entirely unnecessary.

Thus, the Generation V games known as Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version saw Game Freak perform a sort of balancing act between the new and the old. The fundamentals of the game were retained, and many familiar tasks were streamlined to better utilize the DS’ hardware. Trading was no longer handled through the Pokémon Centers – rather any player could access the ‘trade’ and ‘battle’ options on a whim via the handheld’s lower screen and interact accordingly with a friend/opponent nearby. The simple act of combining the Pokémon Center and PokéMart into a single building proved to be a giant time-saver.

Meanwhile, the one-hundred and fifty Pokémon players could catch in Black and White were all new, with access to Pokémon from previous generations being restricted (outside of trading) until the sizeable post-game section. The types were carefully chosen to create a near-perfect balance. Though some generation V Pokémon were perhaps more ideal to certain players than others, the fully evolved form of each Pokémon had a practical use and could serve to complement a party well. The Elite Four put up a solid challenge, and the concept of having the antagonistic Team Plasma’s desire be the liberation of Pokémon from their owners/partners made for a strikingly original and entertaining spin on an old classic - one that was mildly more thought-provoking than the plans laid out by previous baddies who wished to drown/dry up the world or mess with the time-space continuum. Everything Game Freak implemented in Black and White, they did so with good reason, and the games stand out as what I would consider to be among the best in the series as a result. There’s a decent degree of challenge, though the game allows for a great range of freedom with selecting party members and strategies. Above all else, Pokémon Black and White are just plain fun to play.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #6: Halo: Reach

The first-person shooter is generally one of my least favorite genres in video gaming, due to the sheer number of FPS titles that are released each year with minimal effort or inspiration. As much as I have enjoyed the Halo series over the years, it is still rather surprising to me that Bungie’s swansong to their monumentally successful series landed a spot this high on my top ten list. While I will always consider the story, gameplay, and multiplayer offerings of Halo 2 to be the best in the series, Halo: Reach follows not far behind the title that essentially shaped online gaming for consoles into what it is today.

The tale of Noble Team is really a side story to the main tale of Master Chief and Cortana. While the fall of planet Reach is one of the most pivotal events in the Human-Covenant War, it’s content that is largely unfamiliar to anyone who has not read the Halo novels, and NPCs only make brief mention of the battle in any of the three main games or spin-off title ODST. Witnessing an earlier conflict in the Human-Covenant War firsthand is entertaining and does well to separate the story from the all-too familiar routine of Master Chief blowing away every Covenant and Flood foe that stands in his way. But throwing five squadmates into the equation, giving them each a unique and interesting personality, and showing players just what is at stake with the loss of a planet so critical to UNSC operations lends to Halo: Reach an atmosphere notably different from previous Halo titles.

While dual-wielding was done away with, the balance of weapons Reach offered up was darn near perfect and plenty of fun to experiment with. The armor abilities were a much more intelligent implementation of the rather awkward equipment introduced in Halo 3. The Vehicles were largely familiar, though a couple of new additions felt right at home in the UNSC and Covenant squadrons respectively. The campaign is decently lengthy, and the highest difficulty setting offers up a genuinely challenging trek that requires a far more careful and tactical approach without feeling the least bit aggravating or unfair.

As for the multiplayer side of things, Halo: Reach’s offerings may not be as consistently high caliber as Halo 2’s maps, but many of them return in the form of remakes (whether full-fledged, or variations in the make-whatever-your-heart-so-desires expanse of Forge World). Classic game modes like Slayer and Infection return, while a few new modes like Headhunter and Invasion may be drastically different in their implementation (the former being silly and frenetic, the latter requiring finesse and teamwork) but are a blast to partake in. Add in Firefight, a team-based mode where waves of Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, Elites, and the occasional Hunters advance toward your location, and you have the most complete package a Halo title has ever offered.

When it all boils down to it, the story of Noble Team’s last stand on Reach is basically a countdown to extinction. But the presentation is damn good, from Marty O’Donell’s masterful soundtrack, to the oddly gorgeous decay of a planet ravaged by battle. Though chronologically Halo: Reach takes place prior to the original Halo, there’s little more I could ask for from Bungie in bringing a conclusion to their long-running series. Nobody knows the Halo property quite like Bungie.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #7: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

I consider the original Metroid Prime one of the most bold and successful revivals of a video game franchise ever attempted. I also consider it to be one of the best video games ever created. While I enjoyed the sequel Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and its light world/dark world scenario, the layout of planet Aether’s different regions did not feel as intelligently crafted as the regions of Tallon IV in the first game. Whereas the distance between save stations, weapon upgrades, and the balance of puzzles and combat was relatively consistent in Prime, it was more sporadic in Echoes – Samus could traverse incredibly short distances at times and come across a number of missile expansions or quick and easy environmental puzzles, or it could be close to an hour between two save stations.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was one of the earliest big-name titles Nintendo revealed for their Wii (or as it was known at the time, the Revolution). While the original reveal trailer didn’t show much, the final product turned out to be a balance of familiar and fresh content. No longer was Samus limited to a single planet – in their alliance with Dark Samus, the Space Pirate forces had spread Phazon across the galaxy, requiring Samus to visit multiple worlds and undo the gradual infection and mutation brought on by the Phazon. While these individual planets were scaled down in size from the regions of the previous two Prime titles, they were still bold visions on the part of the creative team at Retro Studios. The skylines that run above the clouds of Elysia, the needle-like forests of Bryyo, and the haunting remains of the G.F.S. Valhalla all made for areas that were as interesting to look at as they were to explore.

For being one of the earliest titles to make full use of the Wii’s motions controls, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is arguably among the best on the system. Response times and targeting accuracy might not be perfect, but they’re pretty great even when you compare them to later Wii releases by Nintendo. Prime 3 spends as much time exploring the core mythos of the Metroid universe – the legacy of the Chozo, the properties of Phazon, the role of the Aurora Units and the connections they share to Mother Brain – as it does providing a satisfying conclusion to the story that makes up the Prime trilogy. To that end, Corruption does as much to send the Prime series out with a bang as it does to connect the dots of many underlying tales that helped to shape the Metroid story at large.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #8: Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII does not use the exact combat system of its predecessors, but that’s kind of a pattern the series has followed all along – trying new spins on an old classic. FFXIII utilizes a variant of the ATB battle system introduced way back in Final Fantasy IV, and puts you in control of three characters at a time, requiring you to rotate through your lineup of roles (known as paradigm shifts) in order to fight foes. While it is true that the game does not require you to be particularly involved with selecting specific attacks seeing as auto-battle will generally select the most useful magic or physical attack, FFXIII’s fast-paced combat will ask that you remain attentive and ready to switch party roles at a moment’s notice. As a result, the combat is less chaotic and frenetic and more fluid and methodical.

The only real gripe that I have with Final Fantasy XIII is that the side quests are all centered around the concept of tracking down increasingly stronger creatures and slaying them in order to unlock Xbox 360 achievements/PS3 trophies. While you can technically continue grinding during the game’s later hours in order to fully level up your party members and expand their crystarium, the roles you’ve assigned them up to that point should complement each other impeccably – each character basically starts off on two primary roles (in the case of Snow, these are Sentinel and Ravager), and then a third is recommended to both further specialize your party members as well as cover potential gaps in your strategies. Unlike many a JRPG, it offers opportunities for grinding for experience points without actually requiring it.

For my first foray into the core Final Fantasy games, FFXIII was a strong start. It’s not perfect and I have since discovered elements of other Final Fantasy titles that I prefer over some of what FFXIII has to offer. But nearly everything that FFXIII brings to the table is handled very well. During the forty plus hours it takes to complete the main game, there is ample time to develop each of the six main characters as well as explore the lore of the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe without the terminology going completely over your head. I loved Lightning and Sazh, I came to appreciate Snow, Fang, and Hope and everything they offered to the party. But in a most unexpected turn of events, Vanille, the bubbly girl who I expected might get annoying rather quickly, proved to be the most deep and engaging of the bunch.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #9: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

A proper sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Peace Walker explores the impact the Boss’ training and philosophy have had on Snake in the years following her death. It’s very much a story about Snake – in typical Metal Gear fashion, there are plenty of other cast members to intrigue players, to flesh out the experience, and to better connect the dots that make up the Metal Gear lore. But through all of Kazuhira Miller’s radio chatter it’s quite clear that this is the story that is meant to bridge the gap between the Naked Snake era and the rise of Big Boss’ Outer Heaven. David Hayter puts on a more gruff tone to convey how Snake has aged both physically and emotionally, and the shift in his presentation of this iconic gaming character goes a long way in sowing the seeds of both Big Boss’ new identity and the goals of the Militaires Sans Frontieres.

Much like with MGS3, Peace Walker offers a slightly greater range of freedom with picking an approach to countering Snake’s foes. You can distract them by making noise and then carefully sneaking around them, or you can take them head on thanks to a more-powerful-than-usual arsenal. A few of the boss fights do require a more straightforward combat approach, as foes will attempt to flank Snake and force him out of a well-defended spot. This results in the need to balance your strategy between taking out these lesser enemies and dealing blows to the tank, helicopter, or mech that is Snake’s primary target.

While the individual areas in Peace Walker are nowhere near as expansive as those in MGS3, they are still structured as a series of connected sectors. For a handheld game, these look gorgeous due to their high level of detail. The soundtrack is classic Metal Gear and, again, of impressively highly quality. The multiplayer mode and RPG elements worked into building Snake’s forces are both unusual choices for a Metal Gear title, but they work surprisingly well.

Peace Walker is a bold spin on everything you’d expect from a Metal Gear game – at its core, it’s the same tactical espionage action you’ve come to know and love. But the gameplay elements give it a whole new flavor that makes it a fresh experience for MGS veterans. Peace Walker is not only among the best entries in one of my personal favorite video game franchises, it’s one of the best handheld titles I’ve ever played.

Top 10 Games of the Seventh Generation Consoles - #10: Portal 2

Now that the big three game companies have all announced their new consoles, I thought I would take a look back at my favorites from the Wii/PS3/Xbox 360 era. I realize that what is soon to be dubbed ‘last generation’ isn’t actually over yet and there is a chance that some more truly impressive games might be released between now and the time that the Wii U/PS4/Xbox One take over completely. But as of right now, I feel that my list of favorite/most important games from this past generation will see little-to-no alteration, even with new games still on the horizon. The criteria for this list is as follows: all of the games listed below are among my favorites of this past generation, and have been placed in order of which I think were actually handled best, from gameplay, to storytelling, to graphical/artistic presentation, and overall production quality. A few series had sequels that were competing for a spot on this list, and because of how close it came between some of them, I’ve opted to include both as a single spot on the list. Keep in mind that this list is drawing from a large pool - everything from the Wii, DS, PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360. Also, re-releases of a game are not eligible – no Virtual Console or HD Collections, I'm afraid. However, full-fledged remakes are allowed. If your favorite game didn’t make the list that simply means that either I didn’t play it or it didn’t leave as significant an impact on me.

While the original Portal was certainly a landmark game for its physics engine and combination of puzzle and platforming gameplay, it lasted but a few hours. They were an enjoyable few hours, to be sure, but left less of an impression that I had played a ‘masterpiece’ and more the impression that I had played something that was a crossroad – not just for the aforementioned genres of video games, but for the medium as a whole. In the years that followed Portal’s release, there was seemingly no end to the number of developers who attempted to pay tribute to the game by including not-so-subtle references to false promises of cake and the instantly recognizable companion cube. But for so many that gave their individual nods to the game, there were few that dared try and replicate something like Portal.

Enter Portal 2, a sequel released four years after the original, which built and expanded upon everything the original created. Portal 2 once again follows protagonist Chell, but through a full-fledged story instead of a one-sided conversation with power-mad AI GLaDOS. It’s true that Chell is still silent, but Wheatley acts as both narrator and companion, while the other cores (brief though their appearances may be) and the recorded audio from Aperture founder Cave Johnson add a lot of life to the equation. The original Portal, while entertaining in its own right, did not feel to me as complete of a product as Portal 2. The addition of gels added a new dynamic to the gameplay, and a few of the puzzles were real stumpers. As for the flawlessly-executed co-op mode, that was simply icing on the cake.