Board 8 > Solio ranks his PS3/VITA/PS4 library in various categories

(+) Yeah! (+)

With two honorable mentions, let's start!

Top 10 Games
Honorable Mention - Borderlands 2

Damn. When this is just an honorable mention, you know I've played some good ass games. Borderlands 2 gets the zany fun stuff right in gameplay and tells an insane story that manages to still get you invested.

Handsome Jack is an amazing villain, as he brings to the table what no one in the first Borderlands really ever did. He drives the story forward at every turn with his hilarious but incredibly evil actions. What helps is that you get to see the vault hunters from the original game used masterfully, and you know exactly what group to root for and who to root against.

The loot system in this game is pretty boss too, although I'm not sure if I like it more than the original Borderlands's system. Basically, you won't be using anything quite as awesome as Ratchet & Clank weapons, but you'll have plenty of killing machines to choose from, and it's easy to manage your inventory/switch equipment.

Maybe my only complaint about this game is that it sometimes becomes a bit too much of a parody of itself. But that's okay most of the time. It's a funny game, and if I were to say that its humor wasn't funny just because it tried too hard, I'd be a liar.

Honorable Mention - Binary Domain

This game is epic. Straight up, this is one of the bigger spectacles I've played, and I don't even think it really tries to have the kind of scale of something like God of War or Uncharted 3's infamous plane sequence.

The 3rd person cover-based shooting mechanics are polished (mostly), augmented by a command system that allows you to take pretty solid control over your teammates. And the enemies that you fight are super fun to kill too - you're fighting robots the whole time, with each shot able to shred off parts of their machinery or being able to downright cripple them by removing a leg or arm. Level design is usually pretty good, and so I have nothing but good things to say about the gameplay.

The story in Binary Domain is based around a pretty cool concept, one that seems to be revisited lately in Detroit: Become Human. There are robots that are built like humans called Hollow Children, and a lot of the Hollow Children don't even know that they're robots. It creates for a couple of striking scenes and good character dynamics, but it is dampened by a somewhat douchey main character and low-quality voice acting performances. I really enjoyed the PLOT of Binary Domain, but the execution got a little too cheesy for me at times. Yet, I'll be honest, when I played it, I still found myself invested in what was going on. I bought into it despite a few moments of silliness.

If it weren't for the main character's shallow, stereotypical, bold & brash American man personality and the subpar VA, this game would be way higher on the list. There's not a whole lot else that holds it back.
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NFUN posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3YRGhAkz8w" data-time="

seriously, that soundtrack is killer
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#10 - #5 today. Let's get started and finish up later

#10 - God of War 3

This was in my top 5 ever when I first played it, but the ranking has changed quite a bit. I took another look at this game and realized it's not quite as great as I thought it was. But that doesn't disqualify it from being pretty great!

While Binary Domain is an epic game mostly from the adventure and the breakneck pace, this game is an epic game because it actively tries to show you its scale. You literally climb up one of the bosses while you're fighting it. It feels like a way faster and more intense version of the final colossus from Shadow of the Colossus. And instead of a colossus, it's a godly being from Greek mythology. Crazy shit dude.

I think the moment I realized I loved this game was when I was chasing down one of the bosses and Kratos realizes he needs to catch up a bit quicker, so he flings a giant boulder off of a giant catapult and then grabs on to the boulder as it starts to fly. It's simply a beautiful sequence and really captures the mood of the game in one picture. Absolutely fucking insane, violent, and really awesome.

The story isn't always the deepest or anything like that, in fact it's kind of all over the place. The ending is a highlight moment, but it follows the rest of the game in which the plot takes a heavy backseat to the carnage. And, of course, there's the infamous Aphrodite sex stuff that's really not anything substantial but it still managed to be put into the game.

Those aren't massive issues, although icon may tell you that the sex scene is horrible because it belittles women (fair point, but it's like one minute in the whole game and isn't a major focus of the game. Also she's literally the goddess of love, that's probably how the Greeks envisioned her). I think the pros heavily outweigh the cons in this game, because it knows what it's trying to be and pulls it off in grandeur fashion.
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#9 - Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

I said it earlier and I'll say it again. As a pure FPS game, this is the best of the decade. It's simply got the cleanest gunplay, the most satisfying feeling shooting, and it's got incredible atmosphere to complete the package.

The gameplay has an arcade-y feel, and the best part of this is when you increase your focus meter by continually killing enemies. Basically, when you're hot in this game, the game allows you to keep being hot as long as you can stay hot. It's fantastic. The game doesn't limit you from enjoying it and it doesn't try to kill your momentum. The mechanics want you to enjoy this game.

And the story is pretty great too, with a solid twist at the end. It drives the western atmosphere home in the best fashion I've ever seen in a game and intertwines that setting into a tale of betrayal and secrets. It's a short play, but you can play it a couple times over to catch some of the stuff you missed the first time, and you can do all the side content to get more than your money's worth.

I highly recommend everyone to play this game.
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#8 - Mirror's Edge Catalyst

Repeat: "This was not a downgrade from the original Mirror's Edge, this was the evolution that the original concept needed."

I loved this game, and I hate that so many people somehow thought it was worse than the original Mirror's Edge game. I understand opinions and all, but I think this game really improved on the original in every single way.

First, I was REALLY surprised by how much I enjoyed the story. There's so many reviews on this game that trash the story, but I enjoyed the characters and I enjoyed the plot. I thought it had a lot of solid tension to it, kept you invested. Second, the level design in this game is leagues above the original Mirror's Edge's level designs. You can fluidly free-run in this game without knowing the fastest routes beforehand. In the original game, sometimes it felt like you came to a complete stop at some points, and many spots slowed you down unless, once again, you were already aware of the best path to take. In Catalyst, they fixed this in a sense with the open world. There are many paths through the obstacles that you can take to each point, and the navigation is far more intuitive. It should be very rare that you ever have to stop and look at an environment to navigate it in Catalyst because you can usually just go at it.

And of course, there's the gorgeous, stylistic visuals of catalyst. The color scheme is vibrant, even if the world sometimes feels a little empty. I think that was done on purpose - it's kind of gilded. It's only gold on the surface. The open world was built to be pretty at a glance. There's a lot of bad shit going down, and it only makes sense that it feels like a landscape that's afraid to be lively.

Is the combat a little subpar? Yes. But I feel like it's not bad. If you can manage to mix your movement in with your attacks, it feels at least a little fluid even if it's still the low point of the game. Thankfully, I don't remember this game for that - I remember it for the world that it built and how I was able to run around the rooftops of the whole damn place with speed and fluidity.
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Damn, forgot to finish up before I went to bed yesterday! I've been so busy the past few days, today included. Yesterday I had people at my house the whole day and today I've been performing all day.

But we'll blast through 6 and 7 right now, then maybe let the top 5 happen tomorrow
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#7 - Bioshock Infinite

I've had a couple of jaw-drop moments in games, but most of them came at the hands of incredible visuals or scenes with high emotional stakes. Bioshock Infinite is the only game I've ever played that had me dropping my jaw from a big story reveal. And I kinda hate that it happened over a moment like that, because I can't elaborate on how incredible it is just in case someone reading this topic hasn't played the game yet. It's actually crazy. The moment I'm thinking of changes your perspective of the rest of the game. Anyone who has played the game knows exactly what part of the game I'm talking about.

Aside from that, this probably isn't the most fun Bioshock game to play, but it's close. I still give that honor to Bioshock 2, but this game still has some really good gunplay and design. The skyhook rails give the gameplay a new dimension that it would've lacked otherwise. What hurts here are the underwhelming plasmids/vigors, which aren't up to the level of the ones from previous Bioshock Games. They're still alright, but not fantastic.

Bioshock Infinite gives a fantastic supporting cast to Booker, even if it's not a very big supporting cast. They all play their role in the story, and Elizabeth in particular is obviously the focal point of the game. Her performance in VA, animation, and everything else is just brilliant. She's really one of the most well-done characters in a video game that I've ever seen.

With some gorgeous landscapes and impressive battle arenas, I have to say I remember very well the overall theme of the visuals, but there's very few moments in the game that I can remember specifically. Of course, it's been a while since I've played Infinite, but I think the reason this game is only #7 despite having an incredible story and mindblowing twist is because of how a lot of it blends together and gets overshadowed by that one story moment. That's not necessarily knocking too hard on the rest of the game, it's all still good. But the climax really is what you'll take away here. If that's all you remember, then that's quite enough.
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#6 - Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time

Ratchet & Clank is definitely one of my favorite gaming series ever. The weapons are incredibly creative and almost all are fun to use, the gameplay is simple but very effective, and the stories/characters have always been imaginative and enjoyable. Tools of Destruction was a great way to bring the series to the PS3, and Quest for Booty was a good way to interlude between ToD and Crack in Time. They really got the formula perfect on Crack in Time.

Everything you've ever loved about Ratchet & Clank is back in A Crack in Time, but this time you can add a couple of bonuses to the normal Ratchet & Clank-style story. This one actually carries weight and puts a pretty hefty emotional bargain on Ratchet. Usually, you play through these games, you laugh, and you enjoy defeating the villain, but A Crack in Time blurs the lines a bit more than that. There's the obvious villain, Dr. Nefarious, but then there's a lot of more complex relationships between the characters. The game calls into question loyalty and heritage, where Ratchet's true brotherhood lies. It's honestly something that the series has never done before this game and hasn't done on the same level since. I was taken by surprise at just how deep and emotional it gets.

There's also a bonus on the gameplay: the Clank time chamber puzzles. These are incredibly well-designed mini-games that go out of the normal comfort zone of Ratchet & Clank. The developers took a pretty big risk by adding these since the puzzles are not even in the same realm of gameplay as the normal arcade-style third person shooting/platforming that the series is known for. But it paid off big time. When puzzles are this well made, you can't help but appreciate them, even if it took you 30-45 minutes to figure one out.

Just talking about this game makes me think about how much I love Ratchet & Clank, and how amazing this game is. It's the pinnacle of the series, with Up Your Arsenal being the only other game that comes close. It's not necessarily a masterpiece game, but for what it is, it's the best of its kind. I hope this series never goes away in hopes of eventually having another R&C game like this.
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only one of these I've played is Call of Juarez and I remember getting stuck at a boss fight and after multiple attempts I could not finish it

it was all right up to that point
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Tag.
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Arti posted...

only one of these I've played is Call of Juarez and I remember getting stuck at a boss fight and after multiple attempts I could not finish it

it was all right up to that point

Was it the one in the wide open area?

That's the only weak part of the entire game in my opinion, and that boss fight is a little frustrating
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#5 - Mass Effect 2

If we were going to rank gaming series, Mass Effect would be #1 without a question. Nothing comes close to it as a continuous story. It's incredible. Sadly, none of the games on their own would crack my all-time top 5, but Mass Effect 2 probably is the closest.

This game certainly has a couple of flaws, most notably the scanning mini-game that you do when you need to look for elemental resources, but they're small and forgivable flaws. The highlight of the Mass Effect series has always been the characters. Garrus and Tali really start to come into their full potential as characters starting with this game, Mordin is an incredible newcomer who has a deep backstory and a surprising amount of emotional depth to go with his comic reflief, Legion blows your mind at first and stays interesting throughout, and characters like Thane and Grunt fill out the cast quite nicely. Probably the weakest character is Jack, but everyone else is great at worst.

The Collector story that ME2 tells may end up feeling like a side-story to the Reaper arc of the whole trilogy, but it's really an important piece of the puzzle. It's the introduction of the Illusive Man first and foremost, and... well, I guess I don't really want to say anything else for fear of spoiling stuff. But the point is that the collector story is both a fantastic standalone story and ties in perfectly to the rest of the trilogy.

It's really hard to rank this game without bringing the other two games in the trilogy with it, but they are separate games after all. While all three are great games, 2 and 3 really shine, and 2 is better than 3. It may not crack my all-time top 5, but it does reach the top 5 of my trophy library.
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#4 - Resistance 3

Holllld up. I just put this game above Mass Effect 2? Yeah I did. Let me repeat: if you ask me, Mass Effect is the greatest full series, minus Andromeda (which I'm playing right now!). But none of the three games alone are in my top 5. They need to be considered together to reach Mount Rushmore. Resistance 3 doesn't reach Rushmore either, but it's really fucking fantastic, and it outshines its trilogy.

Resistance: Fall of Man was a great start to the series, with genuinely great horror on a solid FPS game with questionable controls (but they could be remapped, so whatever). Resistance 2 took a slight step back and became more of a military-based shooter than an FPS with a focus on horror. Then Resistance 3 recognized the mistake and returned to the horror focus, but adding in with it a ton of fantastic story-telling and suspense.

I love the gameplay mechanics that Resistance 3 uses. After Resistance 2 used a double-weapon system similar to Call of Duty or Halo, Resistance 3 returned to a weapon wheel, as seen in R:FoM and Ratchet & Clank. Of course, if you use a weapon wheel, you have to have weapons that are interesting and practical enough to where you could use any of them, and Resistance 3 delivers on that front. It also uses a health bar that does not regenerate. This creates a bit more of a challenge than the now-industry-standard full regeneration mechanic, and makes you play a bit smarter. It also really helps to drive home the horror bit when you're on 1/4th health and you are desperately trying to find a way to replenish your health. I wish more FPS games used these two mechanics - the lack of health regen and the weapon wheel.

But what makes this game stand out from the original Resistance game is the story. It doesn't really take much, either: Resistance 3 ditches the military and instead depicts what's left of humanity after the chimera invasion. It creates more urgency, more desperation, and more of a human element to the story. You're not playing as this jacked total badass anymore, you're playing as a person. It really helps you connect to what's going on.

To round out the package, Resistance 3 gives you some truly memorable setpieces, awesome boss fights, and some fantastic cutscenes in the last 2/3rds of the game that really push the story home. The weakest part of the game is the first 3 chapters or so, when the game is setting up the conflict, but it by no means slows down the rest of the game. It's really a great play that is well-respected, but not well-known.
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The top 3 is coming up, and they're some real killers. Feel free to take some guesses - they'll be posted in a few hours!
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#3 - Horizon: Zero Dawn

Horizon is by far the freshest new IP to come into gaming since the release of the 8th generation consoles. It's simply incredible.

The world that Guerilla Games built is as deep as it gets. There's a ton of backstory leading up to the machine-filled world that exists in Horizon. Not a single bit of it is dull. In fact, it's really the strongest part of the story. That's not to say that the present-day events in Horizon are worse, it's just saying that the reason the main story succeeds is because of how strong the backstory is. If you are thorough with delving into the audio logs, especially getting near the end of the game, you'll feel as if you've played a series when you've actually only played just this one game. And the tale of Earth before Aloy's time is devastating. It makes you think, how evil can people get?

So the backstory and the lore of the world is fantastic, but I find it very impressive how they tied the main character back to all of it. The answer to Aloy's main internal conflict lies in the mystery of the beginning of the machines taking over. It's pretty easily figured out from early in the game, but as more and more is unraveled about it, it just blows your mind. I really want to say more about it and be more specific but I think this game is best experienced when you know very little, so for anyone who hasn't yet played Horizon, I'll stay quiet past what I've said.

Let's talk about something that's spoiler free: the gameplay. Because it is awesome. The game gives you so many options that it's insane. Every single situation can be approached with a variety of different methods. Want to use brute force with the Blast Sling and just blow everything up? Feel free! Want to target the weak points with accurate bow shots? Feel free! Want to lay traps for the machines and then lure them into running towards them? Feel free! Want to use elemental advantages to get one up on your opponents? That works too! At least against the machines, you have so many different ways to fight, and almost all of them are incredibly effective, so you can just pick whichever you think is more fun. Against human enemies, it often comes down to just shooting them in the head with arrows, but those fights aren't boring, they're just not as deep as the machine fights. The melee option in combat is also a slight weak point - up until the hardest difficulty, it can still be used effectively on some enemies, but it's really underwhelming most of the time and doesn't match up to the impressive range of other options.

I'm eagerly awaiting the release of another Horizon title, because with the success of this game, I know it's coming. If it's anything like this game, Horizon will become THE series to play from here on out.
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#2 - Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

I thought about including Uncharted 2 on this top 10, but decided against having it where it would otherwise rank in my top 10, because it would've been probably right behind this game or Horizon and I would've have to talk about both 2 and 4 back to back, leaving me with far less to say about this game. But Uncharted 4 is definitely the best Uncharted game, and that's saying something.

We all know about the legendary character work that the Uncharted series is known for, plus their groundbreaking visuals. Uncharted 4 breaks those standards and goes even further. It's ridiculous when I can say that Naughty Dog outdid themselves, because the character work in Uncharted 2 and 3 set the bar unrealistically high. The new addition of Nathan's brother is handled perfectly, and the characters never seem to act in a way that goes against themselves. As for the visuals... well, let's just say that I think some of these pictures look real:

https://imgtc.com/a/SDceqxq

All four of those pictures were taken by me in game. They aren't official released screenshots from the development team, those aren't promotional captures taken perfectly. Those were done by me. I typically don't use the photo mode that a lot of PS4 games include, but I tried my hand at this game's photo mode, and I was able to pull some pictures that look like real life. I especially am stunned by the mansion and the close-up of the mountain. They look like those pictures that Windows uses when your computer is locked and you're about to enter your password to unlock it.

I won't go too in detail on the story of the game because it relies a lot on that brilliant character work we talked about just a little while ago, but it's really amazing. One of the best stories I've seen in gaming. A lot of people were worried that Nate and Elena were going to ruin the game with whatever issues they were going to have, but it didn't hurt the game. It really made it better.

I remember before the game came out, I watched some released gameplay footage of shootouts with commentary from the developer leaders, and the commentary simply blew my mind. It basically went something like this:
"We always have Nate climbing around these cliffs and everything, and in previous games there was kind of a split between climbing and fighting. What we wanted to do was add a more vertical dimension to the encounter areas so that players can do Nate's normal climbing while they're fighting. We have a focus on mobility around the environment this time."

I thought it was fucking genius when I heard it, and I prayed that it showed in the released game. Sure enough, Naughty Dog didn't let me down. They legit turned maybe the biggest weakness of the Uncharted series (all that filler time spent climbing around walls and cliffs) and turned it into the greatest evolution that the Uncharted gameplay could've had. The environments that you fight in now allow for way more creativity and strategy. It also adds a lot of challenge, especially on those higher difficulties. Using the rope swings and steep cliffs to your advantage is awesome, but if the enemies catch you doing it, you're often left open. So you have to be smart about when you use them, but when you do it right, the game feels so so good.

I'd call Uncharted 4 the most perfect game I've ever played, or at least the most polished. It has everything done almost perfectly - the story, the characters, the gameplay, the graphics, and the sound design. But it still doesn't quite capture the #1 spot in my greatest games list.
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#1 - The Last of Us / Remastered

Yeah. Both of my favorite games from my trophy library are Naughty Dog games (and this may not be true only for my trophy library - Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us are probably my two favorite games ever). Y'all probably knew that this was my #1 game considering how much praise I give it, but let's just talk about why this game claims the top spot over Uncharted 4, which I just called the most perfect game I've ever played.

This game feels ALMOST perfect, and the imperfections feel like they've been done on purpose. Really, there's only one imperfection that I can think of, and it's small - the gunplay isn't super crisp. But I don't think it needs to be. In fact, it probably shouldn't be. It just makes sense for Joel to not handle his guns perfectly. He still handles them pretty well, but there's a little bit of aim wobble and a sizable amount of recoil upon each shot. It never robs you of kills, it just forces you to pick your shots a little better.

That aside, the reason I believe this is the best game I've ever played is due to the story. A lot of people who criticize this game say that this story really isn't anything special, it's just good by video game standards. To that I say, bullshit! This game's story is absolutely on another level. It's not just video game awesome, it's awesome period. The Last of Us makes a bold claim about humanity as a whole. It says, "when humanity is reduced to this, this is what we become. This is what people will do. This is who we are when it's kill or be killed." And I took a step back after beating the game, and I said, yeah. That's right. It's ugly, and everyone is forced into being a bad guy if they want to make it.

There's a lot of nuances to that message, of course, but that's kind of what it ends up saying. Just look at Joel - this is the guy you play as, and you want to root for him. The game sets you up to want what's best for Joel almost right off the start, as one of the game's more emotional scenes happens at the end of the prologue. But by the time the credits roll, you know Joel isn't the good guy in this story. And you say, wait, was there really a good guy here? It feels dirty. A lot of people hate the ending because of this. But that's just the world they live in, and that's who the character is. This game is true to itself, it's honest, and it pulls no punches. Some people get alienated by it. I think it's brilliant.

Of course, the strong story wouldn't be what it is without some of the best performances in video game history from Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as Joel and Ellie, respectively. Their VA is what really drives everything home. It's powerful stuff.

I think I said earlier about Papo & Yo that it's only one of two games that has made me cry. Given, I've played some sad games, I just didn't cry for ANYTHING up until the last year or so. But The Last of Us is the other one that got me to cry. Again, it pulls no punches, and it swings a lot. Right off the top of my head, I can think of at least 7 different moments that are easily in the most emotionally tough scenes I've seen in video games, and maybe in any form of visual media: the end of the Prologue, the notes you find in the sewers, the end of Summer, Ellie and Joel's conversation in the house during Fall, the ending of Fall and almost all of Winter, the part surrounding the awesome animal you find in Spring, and the ending. There's more than that, but those are certainly some of the top highlights.

No game has ever hit me with the story more than The Last of Us has. I'm not sure how Naughty Dog is gonna follow this up because it just seems impossible. But I hope they do a great job on Part 2.

P.S. The multiplayer in The Last of Us is also my favorite multiplayer in any game. It takes the tension of the single player and moves it over to a competitive format. It requires teamwork, strategy, focus, and a lot of thinking, which I love.
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So that wraps things up!

Top 10 Games
1. The Last of Us / Remastered
2. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
3. Horizon: Zero Dawn
4. Resistance 3
5. Mass Effect 2
6. Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
7. BioShock Infinite
8. Mirror's Edge Catalyst
9. Call of Juarez: Gunslinger
10. God of War 3
HM. Binary Domain
HM: Borderlands 2

Let me know if y'all enjoyed all the lists and write-ups! I'm hopeful that maybe I have inspired someone to take a look at a game they haven't played yet, or maybe I've talked about a game that's had you look at it in a way you haven't looked at it before.

Feel free to discuss anything about the write-ups or the games that you feel I've snubbed from the top 10.

Also, for reference, these are some contenders for my top 10 games that weren't in my trophy library due to not being on the PS3/VITA/PS4:
- Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal
- Halo Reach
- SSX Tricky
- Call of Duty 4
- Final Fantasy IX

There's no Nintendo titles on there mostly because I haven't ever been a Nintendo gamer - the only Nintendo game I've ever put significant amounts of time into are some N64 games (like No Mercy and Super Mario 64) and Smash 4. None of those would crack the top 10, but they're all great games!
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bump
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I finally got Horizon yesterday, so I'm excited to get into it in a few weeks after I finish what I'm currently playing through.

Your top 10 + HM list features 6 games from my top 100, but a few of them are either close to or on my own personal top 10.

Great write ups!
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davidponte posted...

Your top 10 + HM list features 6 games from my top 100, but a few of them are either close to or on my own personal top 10.

Which ones?
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The Last Of Us
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End
Mass Effect 2
Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
God of War 3
Borderlands 2

Mass Effect 2 is one of my favourite games of all-time (#6 on the list), and I had Uncharted 4 as #16. Definitely my favourite in the series.
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Oh boy. Turned on my VITA for the first time in probably over a year. Tried playing Geometry Wars 3

Thank God that the platinum didn't require you to play hardcore or ultimate mode once. Getting 3 stars on all those levels would probably make this platinum damn near impossible.
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