I know some will find this to be incomplete without (Insert this game), and feel inclined to say so. It really should go without saying, but I honestly can't comment on games I've not played.. Or aren't thinking about..
Either way, sit a while and listen...
Alan Wake:
I keep saying it, and I mean it, the one game that can be announced for the Xbox ONE that would get me antsy to run out and buy one right now would be Alan Wake 2.
In a generation that marked horror games as a dead genre due (that would be wonderfully picked up by the indies -thanks to them and their tireless work) to waning sales and claims of unmarketability, Alan Wake proved that you could still get your blood pressure up with a good, dark, game.
A masterfully told story by Remedy, the minds behind the original two Max Payne titles, that has still yet to completely unfold, in spite of a glorious pseudo sequel side game (thing), Alan Wake shows where Horror games can go if given to a studio thats willing to take the time to buck conventions, rather then go for the quick buck.
Deadly Premonition:
Quirky, mysterious, fill of laughs for so many reasons (and not always the right ones), Deadly Premonition is a game from the generation before that was almost never released, but I'm damn glad it was.
Yes, most of the game makes no sense. Sure, it plays like crap at times. Yeah, a lot of the action slows the game down, instead of supercharging it. But you know what? It doesn't matter, because this game exemplifies why I've stuck with gaming my entire life: It's so much fun.
Batman: Arkham Asylum AND City:
Two game as one entry? I'm nuts right? But this just goes to show you how much I loved these games and how spectacularly crafted Rocksteady made their sequel.
Playing these games makes you feel like Batman, with a fighting system worthy of actual, bone crushing, street fighting, and settings and character designed that, by God, are some of the best things to happen to Batman in years.
Origins was great (review still incoming.. If I can get time away from my other thoughts to write it out), but hit just shy of the bar that Rocksteady meticulously set. Lets hope that Rocksteady picks the series up again soon, with a true sequel to the series they created.
The Walking Dead:
David Cage may think high polygon counts means greater depths of emotion, but TellTale Games showed us the real meaning of the word with far less.
The story TellTale tells is a gripping choose your own adventure to the backdrop of a beloved comic book series turned phenomena, and doesn't flinch at the thought of having to compete with it's other parts. You care about every character you encounter, even if caring means you wanting them to die a horrible death.
TellTale teaches us an important lesson with this game that you'd be hard pressed to find this generation: Story comes before graphics and action any day.
Oh, and I'd be selling them short if I didn't say one more thing: They did an awesome job taking feedback and applying it to tweak their episodes between releases. You can tell there is a progressively better flow happening in how well the game worked and played as you got deeper in.
Fallout 3:
Yeah, I'm one of those people who can't mention Bethesda without mentioning how ridiculously buggy all their games can be. The fact that they, although being great games, can still get Game of the Year, in spite of such massive flaws that often go unfixed, is beyond me. But that doesn't stop me from loving their games, and particularly loving Fallout 3.
I know a lot of people prefer New Vegas when you say "Fallout," but I couldn't get into it enough compared to the rich, sprawling, atmosphere of The Capitol Wasteland.
With well over 100 hours logged and pretty much every quest completed, this has to be one of my most played games of this generation. I even put it down for a long while and still felt compelled back to it -a really big feat for someone like me, who feels like they don't have that kind of time.
Tomb Raider 2013:
People hate reboots but love controversy, and this game has it all.
One of the most talked about games at the time of it's announcement, Tomb Raider was talked about more for it's yet to be seen, and completely baseless when played, idea that Lara will be raped and spend the game under the threat of more, rather then the game itself.
What the game actually spins is the story of Lara's beginnings and starts her anew with none of the hardened skills we've come to know her for in past games. So what we get is a character that pants when running, cries out in pain when grabbing a ledge in mid fall, and, as she puts it, "hates tombs." It's a first time fight for survival that, to me, felt like just that.
It's not a perfect game at all, having had some crazy bugs, personally, and had a rather lackluster ending, but it was a damn good launchpad for a series I'd love to see more of.
Dead Space:
Remember above where I talked about Alan Wake above? Well take any terror that game may have instilled in me and ramp it up to 100. The story may not be as nuanced as Wake's tale, but the twists and turns Issac Clark is asked to take can be all the more jarring.
Dead Space 2 may have taken some of the ideas set up by it's predecessor and made them better, but I found not a single scare compared to the horror that Dead Space had, where as Dead Space has the rare honor, only shared by Silent Hill 1, of being a game that creeped me out so much, that I almost quit playing it. I've seriously not had that reaction since I was 4, where in one Halloween I was doody-in-the-pants scared of Chucky (having had a My Buddy doll --which promptly got thrown into the deepest darkest part of the attic) and by a friend of my parents coming to our door dressed in a horrifically realistic Freddy outfit (after having seen all the Elm Street movies to date, and -as I'm told- laughed my ass off through them all.)
Even though I like 2 a lot, I would have been completely happy ending my time with the series at the first game, with it's wonderful surprise ending, rather then see where EA allowed (pushed) the series to go in part 3.
Honorable mentions:
High Moon's Cybertron Series:
Nothing has done more good for my nostalgia bone then these games. I really hope we get to see more of this series in the new generation. YOU GOT THE TOUCH! YOU GOT THE POWER!!
Lego Batman:
I was able to leave behind the Star Wars games before it, in spite of my love for all things Star Wars, but this game? I couldn't rest till I 100% it's achievements. Honestly, I've yet to find another Lego game since that's make me as happy as this one did. I've got Lego Marvel Superheroes sitting out in the living room with my PS4, if that game makes me even a fraction of how happy Lego Batman made me, that'd be a huge win.
Darksiders:
THQ's little engine that could (before the transmission fell out and the company folding like a wet napkin). In spite of being called "A sub-par Zelda meets God of War clone" I found this to be one of my most surprisingly good spur of the moment purchases I've made all generation.
Brutal Legend:
Aside from the "your doing it all wrong" strategy sections, this game would have been a pure metal masterpiece if it just stuck to the 3rd person areas of the game where it excelled. And I'm a metal head, and I love Double Fine, so sue me for being supportive.
Shadow Complex:
Repetitive if you're going for all the achievements, this game's first play through was one of the best "Metroid-vania" games most of us have played since Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
My feeling on the 7th gen:
This was secretly the generation of the episodic game; even if many of those games hid themselves as big, $60 releases, like Alan Wake, budget titles like Deadly Premonition, or indie darlings like The Walking Dead. It's a big surprise to me that my favorite games came in bite sized chunks, like a wonderful Whitman's sampler. (Honarable Mention: LA Noire)
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