SixTwoSixFour

But I LIKED the MGS3 box art! Don't be a hater!

The counterpart of the Terrible Box Art thread... let's see some amazing box art! I'm going to go ahead and nominate EVERY Japanese Final Fantasy... tastefully minimalist.

God Hand I must have played through this baby a half-dozen times. It has the BEST combination of action and humor that I've ever seen, and it's a game that has the balls to try stuff no one else could get away with. A boss duo that is flagrantly gay. A special move that consists of begging for forgiveness. The ability to spank a woman to death. And all of this with the best combat system before or... well, maybe not since, Bayonetta is pretty amazing, but honestly, between the two of them it's a close call. Hilarious cultural humor, off kilter style, and action that just won't relent. Tales of Phantasia Back when I was still a kid, my older sister was sort of my mentor in getting started as a gamer. She didn't have trouble getting me to like games... she had trouble getting me to have good taste in games. I liked Batman Forever for SNES, for god's sake. So one day, she showed me an emulator on the family computer, SNES9x, and a translated copy of Tales of Phantasia, my first JRPG. This game has it all. Beautiful art, great story, great characters, writing that was no doubt not nearly as good in the original Japanese, but the translators did a HELL of a job, awesome combat system... and holy shit, it even had VOICEWORK. On the SUPER NINTENDO. Not a lot of it, but damn. I still think it's the best game on the SNES... and perhaps the best RPG of all time. Super Street Fighter IV So, I've always hated fighting games. Always. But when SSFIV came out, at a budget price, I thought to myself, "oh, what the hell, it's not like I have any other releases to be excited about right now." ...Now I've logged 200 hours on the game, I'm hooked. All the stuff about fighting games that I never understood finally clicked, and I now play online competently enough to have some fun. It's great, it taught me how awesome fighting games can be. Perfect Dark Goldeneye deserves respect, but Perfect Dark is the game that really brought it all home. Perfect Dark is the game that my friends and I have been playing SINCE RELEASE. The recent rerelease on 360 has made things easier, but it is just so perfect. Incredible customization, tons of weapons with unique alternate fires, so many modes... I just wish they hadn't taken away the ability to put human heads on alien bodies in the 360 version. That was good times. Chrono Trigger If Tales of Phantasia is the game that taught me to respect the JRPG, then Chrono Trigger is the game that taught me to love it. Wonderful characters, writing, action, plot, great settings, I mean come ON, this game is as close to perfect as I can imagine a game getting. I literally cannot think of a single thing about this game that I would want to change. Multiple endings... god, this game had it all. Final Fantasy X Honestly, I enjoyed the game, but it didn't really blow me away. Then why is it here? Two words: To Zanarkand. That has got to be the prettiest goddamn song I have ever heard, and thanks to its power, FFX remains the only game to ever make me cry. It's just such a powerful, sad song.... Devil May Cry "Let's rock, baby!" And with that, all my preconceptions about what an action game was were blown out the window. Devil May Fucking Cry, ladies and gentlemen. The game that taught the world that it's not what you kill... it's how you do the killing. Juggling enemies with gunfire, leaping off an enemy's face, Devil May Cry was style incarnate and it blew me away. Metal Gear Solid My first Mature game, incidentally. I was wildly underage when I bought it, I had to pay my sister's friend to buy it for me. I booted it up, I ran for the enemy base, and I was getting close, when... "Huh? Whose footprints are these?" You should have seen my face. I was just stunned. And throughout the experience, MGS continued to amaze with not just its incredible attention to detail, but its great voicework, action, level design, and story. I love the whole MGS series, but honestly, they're all just playing catchup to the glory of the original that left us all in awe. Mass Effect 2 You know a game has really, really made a difference when you start using its swear words. Yes, I have caught myself using "keelah" and "bosh'tet" in casual conversation. My brother in law was a little confused. ME2 is really the ultimate game- amazing writing, great combat, great characters, great graphics (not that that's high on my priority list), an immense world, and so much to do. And Tali. Oh man, Tali. I still say she's the best written character I've ever seen. Side note- that's some pretty hilarious image cropping, Mosaic Maker.

The only people who hated MGS4 are people who wanted to be disagreeable, and the only people who hated MGS2 are idiots who can't get over the fact that it's not Solid Snake long enough to enjoy the freaking game. The plot was kinda dumb in 2, but the game was very fun, and had some INCREDIBLE details in the gameplay. Like catching a cold, shooting fire extinguishers, and so much more.

Hahahaha, it is pretty ironic, isn't it? I just don't use it- both my jobs and the grocery store are within walking distance, and this city has a great bus system, so there's no point to having it.

Guys.... we have a mission. Kevin Butler- the game. Make it happen.

Do you find it gives you a better experience, significantly? I'm about to sell my car, which will give me a little disposable income, and I've been considering a racing wheel.

Fist meets face? No... the real win... is fist meets BALLS.

Fighting in space = disorienting as piss. At least, when it's done accurately. Though DW: Gundam did do it pretty lamely, not that Dynasty Warriors does much of ANYTHING right. I have no problem with the plot linearity either, I just think it would be interesting to put you in that role. 1 and 2 both had you fighting alongside the underdog, but I think there's real potential in being a side in and of yourself. It would feel pretty crazy badass, tearing through the opposition like that. I don't know, I suppose it occurred to me during ZoE2's huge epic battle, where I found myself thinking, "I would actually be doing better if I was by MYSELF, rather than having to deal with these talentless LEV pilots."

Turns out, you can export the pictures you take in photo mode as jpegs! So here you are, since you didn't ask- my Ferrari that I'm so proud of. A true classic.

Ah, I misunderstood your argument. You're saying, "you can't rate a game you haven't played." I agree with that. I thought you were saying, "if it doesn't sell well, it's not a good game."

I really didn't find NG2 that hard. I'm not bragging, or anything- NG1 sure kicked my ass, that's for sure- but for some reason I just handled 2 okay. It seems like I'm posting God Hand in every thread now, but seriously, God Hand. It's a hard game. A ball-bustingly hard game. It's hard... ...But fair.

Holy shit, I came here thinking VIII was gonna be the dark horse and it's WINNING? Dang, yo. I would have changed my vote if I'd known- I voted for VIII because it's my favorite, and I wanted it to get a little love, but honestly I think VI was the best. Oh, and IX was weaksauce, that is all.

Christ, this is so true. KotOR2 could have been freaking LEGENDARY if they'd actually finished the goddamn game. What sequel would I like to see? Zone of the Enders 3 would be favorite. Put it on the PS3, give us a customizable Frame to pilot- and of course it would have to either be Jehuty or have some connection to Jehuty- and give us a huge battlefield, open world-ish without being GTA-like, where there are two sides at war... and we are the third side, the lone mech that is kicking the fuck out of everyone. God I would love that. Also, make someone other than Kojima choose the character names. I love the man, but... "Dingo Egret"? Are you fucking serious?

Oh god, now I'm getting flashbacks... you son of a bitch, Bouchart, I had actually managed to FORGET that fight....

I really have to disagree with you there, Dean. Why should popularity have ANYTHING to do with the value of a game? That would condemn Psychonauts, Viewtiful Joe and countless other STUNNING titles to the wastes simply because the public never gave them a chance. If Railroad 2 was a mind-blowingly well made game, then who gives a DAMN if no frat boys or soccer moms bought it? Quality is quality.

Devil. May. Cry. 3.

Did someone say God Hand? I could have sworn I heard someone say God Hand. I love that game, but weird as fuck.

I think there is no "top game regardless of how you feel." It doesn't work like that. Maybe it was one of the best games of the year- I don't deny it, I haven't played it or seen it in action. But this is a list of the ones the author found most interesting- not the "best." Not the official list of what gamers are supposed to like. So you really don't get to tell him what his opinion is. My list would be rather different, but that is, of course, the beauty of the top 10 list- it's entirely subjective.

GT5, anyone? I just got it the other day, and DAMN, what a game. I'm still pretty terrible, but since I'm racing in a Ferrari 512BB it hardly seems to matter- I can corner like shit and still blow everyone away on the straightaways. God damn that is a sexy ass car. This is not my first GT- I played 3 back in the day for all of ten minutes before hating it with the fire of a thousand suns. I don't know if the game has fundamentally changed, or I have... but 5 is the shit, my friends. What car are you guys driving? Are those license tests driving you crazy? And why won't that goddamn Trueno show up in the Used Car Dealership?

Second verse, same as the first. I'm SixTwoSixFour on PSN.

I don't have a problem with games where the player is the one that makes everything happen, AS LONG AS THEY GIVE YOU CREDIT. I remember playing through World at War and simply being STUNNED at how well my player character was being treated- Dimitri, the Russian PC, was being hailed as an immortal soldier, and perfect example of Communist strength. And then I thought... "why don't the other Call of Duties mention the fact that I'm the one doing all the work?"

How can you not have time for a portable game? I'm being cereal here. On the bus, on the plane, on the train, waiting for a crosswalk to change (we have long lights here), when someone else is driving... there are so many opportunities.

I'm still looking for a reason to care about KZ3- it looks interesting, but it just doesn't feel like they've changed enough. Give us a Helghast campaign, Guerilla, you know it's what we want! The ISA is super boring! Radec was the best character in KZ2!

They did? Boooooooo! I love RPGs on handheld, it takes timesink games and makes them perfect. I played the HELL out of both PSP Disgaeas. And P3P ain't leavin' my UMD slot for the next two months at least, I'm sure. I haven't seen that much of Persona 4 (I know I should), but from what little I've seen I would want to romance Yosuke. Or better yet, Evil Yosuke.