For the next installment of the top 25 games of the current generation of consoles we are bringing you one of the greatest villains of all time, a throwback western, a movie-like block buster, and a kung fu thriller. If you don’t agree with these games on the list, you had better prepare yourself for a dub stepping robot and his corrosive sniper gun wielding buddy Zero, who I am sure can straighten you out because yeah…they are on the list too. In case you missed out on the other games on the list check out:
So to continue our countdown of the top 25 current generation games I present to you…
15) Portal 2
One of the most beloved series and villains in gaming comes by way of the Portal series and GLaDOS . In a sequel to the 2007 Valve hit Portal, you take the role of Chell, the female protagonist, and once again are faced with trying to find your way out of the Aperture Science facilities. Set up for another long line of tests, or GLaDOS induced puzzles, Chell has no other choice but to go forward. However, unlike in the previous game you are aided by a new Ai, Wheatley, who helps you escape. Portal 2 is filled with some of the best dialogue and humor in gaming and will have you LOL’ing along the way. They put GLaDOS’ brain in a fricken potato for crying out loud.
Don’t expect to get through the game though without hitting a few walls of frustration. The puzzles are not only harder this time around, they are more intricate and require more precision than the previous iteration. That being said you will feel a great sense of accomplishment once you have completed the game and all of its many puzzles without using a walkthrough from gamefaqs.com or a wiki. Throw in a ton of hidden easter eggs and the ability to play co-op and you have a game that is a must for anyone who calls themselves a gamer. Portal 2 is as refined of an experience as they come and will be a game that stays with you long after. I still have GLaDOS on my iPhone with some of the alerts and have used the “Want You Gone” as my ring-tone for over a year now.
14) Uncharted 2
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves for the Playstation 3 was a generation defining game. Not only did the game push the boundaries of what’s possible in terms of cinematics and visuals, but I would argue it pushed the boundaries of the medium as a whole in both gameplay and story. The game was just as fun for non-gamers watching the game as it was to play and the story while not the greatest, was a fun movie-style adventure the likes of any Indiana Jones film that had fun dialogue, tons of locations, and some really great ebbs and flows of action. All in all the game is a masterpiece that any gamer should have had in the library at one time or another.
For all the praise it gets, both on a single player and multi-player aspect, Uncharted 2 and all of the other games associated with this franchise, suffers from itself in the end.
Why Naughty Dog, must you throw in some crazy supernatural enemy at the end of your games? Why?!
The final boss is just there to annoy and quite frankly it made me not want to replay the game. Even with the terrible boss at the end of the game, you still need to give this game a spin and for all of you PS3 haters out there, suck it up and play Uncharted.
13) Red Dead Redemption
It’s been a couple years now since Rockstar Games released a Western that no one thought they needed or ever really wanted. Red Dead Redemption came rolling into town in May of 2010 and the game was ready to Duel with the best of them. From the amazing marketing that lead up to the release to the first moments of the game, I knew that this game was something special. You play as John Marston, a former outlaw but now family man, who is forced into working for the law in order to keep his family safe. The story is long and epic and takes you through a world that truly feels alive. From the random encounters and events along the trail to the vast number of critters out on the plains and countryside, Red Dead Redemption is a world that must be experienced.
I am not going to go into the ending of the game here much but to say that you need to finish this game. I know a few people that loved the game but for some reason or other they never got around to completing it. For those of you out there…just do it…find a copy or dust off your old copy and finish this game! If you get a chance, especially with Halloween being around the corner, pick up the Undead Nightmare DLC which will have you wasting away zombies and hunting Big Foot.
12) Borderlands 1 & 2
Initially when I started this list of top 25 games of this generation, I had Borderlands 1 up here. Since then, I have been playing through Borderlands 2 and I have to say that the 2nd game of the series by 2k and Gearbox Software is the one to go. Sure Borderlands introduced us back in 2009 with its huge open world FPS / RPG gameplay but its Borderlands 2 where it includes all of the best from the first game and steps it up a huge notch with some fantastic story and side missions. Both games are huge and will have you playing in excess of 30 hours easily. It’s not the vastness of the world or even the story, albeit better in the 2nd one, that will keep you coming back.
It’s the LOOT! or more bluntly the crazy and just mind blowing guns that you will find out in Pandora.
It’s something about finding a new gun that deals more damage both from a basic HP standpoint and then to have corrosive, or fire, or electricity damage added on just makes a gamer smile. Let’s not forget about one of the greatest side kicks in gaming history (although I wish he were around more in-game) in Clap Trap. Nobody sings Dub Step like the Clap and no one can insult you and make you smile at the same time like the Clap. Don’t get me started with the many crazy and twisted guns that can either insult you with each miss or are constantly vibrating. Haha yeah I didn’t get that joke until much later after I thought my controller was broke. Inside joke but it will be one that you understand after playing the game a little. All kidding aside though, you need to play this game but don’t bother with the first one as the story is nothing special and Borderlands 2 improves on everything from the first and then some.
11) Sleeping Dogs
I have already expressed my thoughts on Sleeping Dogs over at the Sleeping Dogs Review, but if you don’t have time to check that out, let me leave you with this. Sleeping Dogs is the open world game that I had hoped for in that it had a great unexplored city (in video games that is) in Hong Kong; almost Batman Arkham City melee combat; enjoyable driving mechanics; and a crime story that is both traditional and a little over the top. The game is a contender so far for game of the year and it looks like United Front Games has a fun Halloween themed DLC in Nightmare in Northpoint to sweeten the deal even more.
Stay tuned for the final 10 games on the countdown…
Disclaimer: This best of list is one I wrote many years ago for one of my old websites that no longer exists.
