Tuesday, August 14, 2007

RLLMUK's top 100: 90 - 81

90Tomb Raider (Saturn/PlayStation)
89Katamari Damacy (PlayStation 2)
88Guitar Hero (PlayStation 2)
86Ninja Gaiden (including Black) (Xbox)
86Super Mario Bros. (NES)
85Street Fighter 3 (all variants) (Arcade)
84Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)
83Counterstrike (PC)
82Sensible Soccer (Amiga)
81Chrono Trigger (SNES)

Comments on the games I've played:

Tomb Raider (PlayStation)

I won't win any friends by saying this, but I actually preferred Tomb Raider 2. Admittedly, TR2 was the first game I played on my new PlayStation, and as such it was the first game to usher in proper 3D worlds and exploration, which may colour my judgement. But I preferred the action-based gameplay slightly more. That's not to say that Tomb Raider was bad - far from it. It's a really well designed game, at times really claustrophobic, at times really open. The level design still holds up today, as can be seen from Tomb Raider Anniversary. I'll be interested to see if Tomb Raider Legend appears in the list, as I feel that's the one TR game that's surpassed the original.

Guitar Hero (PlayStation 2)

It's clever and all, but it's not as much fun as Samba de Amigo, or even Dancing Stage.

Super Mario Bros (Game Boy Colour)

As a Sega boy when I was younger (there was none of this "owning all the consoles" back in my day), I never got to experience SMB the first time around. Indeed, it wasn't until the release of the Game Boy Colour and Super Mario Bros Deluxe that I actually played the game. And you know, it's not bad at all. Some of the level design is pure genius, and while I still prefer Sonic's speed, the difficulty of the later levels in Mario show that there's a lot to be said for taking things slowly. Until the time starts to run out.

Street Fighter 3 (Arcade)

I had difficulty enough with Super Street Fighter 2. It just got too complicated and too daunting and I couldn't be bothered.

Skies of Arcadia (Dreamcast)

Skies of Arcadia's biggest crime was being available on the Dreamcast when HMV were selling all the games off for £3. I bought it, played it for around three hours, and then never went back because I had 20 other games to play. And that's a shame, because what I did play I really liked. The characters are great, the story (that what I experienced) is great ... I'll have to set my Dreamcast up again soon and play this properly.

Counterstrike (PC)

I enjoyed playing this for a while, when I had a group of friends and we all played together. The community in general was just a little too serious, and we never really liked playing with randoms because ... well, we were crap and often got kicked out of games for being crap.

Sensible Soccer (Amiga)

I preferred the Mega Drive version, in fact - it was so much easier when the ball stuck to your feet a bit more - but whichever way you look at it, this is a great game, chiefly because it recognises itself to be a videogame and doesn't try to replicate real life too accurately. I played this so much during one school holiday, creating countless teams on the MD cartridge ... and the last time I looked they were still there.

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