Top 20 Video Games of the Generation

As the current generation of consoles ends, I was reflecting on how many fantastic games came out during this lifecycle. There were so many memorable moments and characters over the past 7 years that I wanted to honor and recommend them by making a list of my top 20 games of this generation.

20) Burnout Paradise – This was my favorite racer of the generation. I loved how you could pull up to any stoplight and a new race would start. The city was so much fun to drive around and it looked gorgeous.

19) Heavy Rain – I give David Cage, the game director, a lot of credit for trying something new. In an era that is dominated by the first person shooter, he created a game not around guns, but story and interacting. With branching storylines that depended on choices you make, it felt like the story that unfolds was your own.

18) Tearaway - No game made me feel like I was interacting with a game world as much as this one. It uses the Playstation Vita's front facing camera to literally put you in the game as well as the touch screen to create items that are used throughout the game. By the end, your journey through your creations is both charming and heartwarming.

17) Braid – Braid was one of the first downloadable games of the generation and it manages to still resonate with me today. It's a puzzle game that allows the player to rewind time to solve puzzles while also telling a unique story that leaves you thinking afterwards.

16) Persona 4 Golden - This was the game that got me back into Japanese RPGs again. I loved managing my connections to my schoolmates and the fun turn-based combat system.

15) The Walking Dead – Telltale Games returned the point and click adventure games of the past to prominence with this game. Another game that tells a great story with characters that you truly care about. The relationship between Lee and Clementine is one I’ll never forget.

14) Grand Theft Auto IV – The one thing I remember about GTA 4 is starting the game thinking, “I don’t know how Rockstar did this!”. I couldn’t believe the size and scope of the city and the variety of things to do. You could spend hours just driving around do races or going to comedy clubs and watch standup comedians or even going to strip clubs without ever doing a story mission.

13) Call of Duty IV: Modern Warfare – An argument can be made that this is the game that had the biggest impact of the generation. Jaw-dropping visuals and smooth frame rate gave it a look all its own that many have tried to duplicate. The multiplayer was a game changer that all first person shooters have copied. It also had one the best stories in any Call of Duty game.

12) Little Big Planet 2 – I dare you to try playing this game without a smile on your face. This game took what was a very good platforming game in the first Little Big Planet and refined it as well as gave the community the tools to create their own levels. It has thousands of levels to play that were made by the community and it has you play as a character called Sackboy that is one of the most adorable characters ever.

11) Bioshock – One of the best openings to a game ever and one of the most memorable characters in Big Daddies. The art deco style of Rapture was so memorable and the story, told through audio logs you find, gave a sense of discovery as it unfolded.

10) Gears of War – This game was the one that made my jaw drop the first time I saw it. It also created one of the most iconic weapons of the generation, the Lancer, a gun with a chainsaw attached to the bottom. This was so fun to play with friends and few actions were more satisfying than chainsawing a friend in half.

9) Assassin’s Creed 2 – I really enjoyed the traversal of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. It was so fun running across rooftops and climbing up buildings and then diving off them. This edition had the best setting, taking place during the Italian renaissance and the best story of the series.

8) Bioshock Infinite – Another great opening to a game as well as one of the best endings. In Columbia, Irrational Games created such a well realized world that I wish I could visit. Few games I played this generation had as many memorable moments and characters as Bioshock Infinite. Booker and Elizabeth's relationship is one I’ll never forget.

7) Rock Band – I spent more time playing Rock Band than any other game this generation. It was so much fun having four people combine to make the best fantasy band. I got to live out all my musical dreams playing this game.

6) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – What a world Bethesda created! I played this game for about 50 hours and I barely scratched the surface. I spent 10 hours going to school to learn alchemy. I got chills the first time I saw a dragon circle above and land right beside me. Few other games made me feel like I was in a living, breathing world like this one.

5) Mass Effect – This is the Star Wars game I’ve always wanted. Flying from planet to planet, picking up new members of my crew, getting to know them, fighting alongside them, and really care for them. Over the trilogy, it was a great space odyssey that was not just about what you did but the people you did it with. My crew was like my family and I would do anything for them.

4) Batman: Arkham City – Finally, the Batman game I always wanted. It brought the entire rogues gallery into Gotham and you must defeat each one while gliding around the open city. The combat is second to none and the voice acting is some of the best ever in the Batman universe.

3) Uncharted – This trilogy is my favorite combination of set piece moments, story, and characters of the generation. Drake is one of my favorite characters These games made me feel like I was in a Indiana Jones movie. Climbing walls, solving puzzles, and cracking jokes with Sully was so much fun. I can’t wait to play the next one.

2) Journey – This was the game that affected me the most emotionally this generation. There is no shooting or words said, yet there is an emotional connection with your robed character. You interact with other robed characters along your journey without saying a word, instinctually helping each other along the way. Even though the game is only 3 hours long; by the end I was in tears, completely moved by the experience.

1) The Last of Us – Simply the best story ever told in video games and one of the best told across any media. I will never forget some of the moments that happened and I felt like I knew Joel and Ellie as well as I know characters from any other medium. This is the game that all others will have to measures against going forward.

While compiling this list I realized that this is the first generation I can say I had more memorable moments than the movies I watch during the same period. I believe we are just in infancy mode of gaming and look forward to the stories to come in the next generation. With that, I raise a glass to the many game developers that spent years of their lives creating these characters and worlds to explore. Well done all, well done.

Tearaway Review

Media Molecule has made some of the most charming games on PlayStation with Little Big Planet 1 and 2. They have such a whimsical feel that I loved. Tearaway is their first foray on the PlayStation Vita and it doesn’t disappoint.

You play as Iota or Atoi, depending on the gender you select, who is made out of paper with a head that's an envelope. The entire world is made entirely of paper. Media Molecule uses all the unique features of the Vita, and not in a gimmicky way. You use the front touch screen to unfold paper and rear touchpad to push your finger through the paper and move objects around and create holes in the paper. You can also create anything you want by picking a color of paper, drawing whatever you want, and cutting it out. That object will then either be used in the environment or can be glued to Iota. They do a create job of adding new abilities throughout the game to create new ways of gameplay.

The rear camera on the Vita is used to take pictures and add them as skins on objects and the front camera is used to show you in the world. I’m won’t spoil how this is used but it really makes you feel a part of the world. This also makes the ending of the game feel extremely personalized. You'll feel a real connection with your character and the story that unfolds. There is also the ability to take pictures throughout the game and share them on Twitter and Facebook. The game takes only about 5-6 hours to complete but there is replay value to go back and get collectables that you were unable to get the first time through because you didn’t have the abilities to reach them.

What Media Molecule has done is showcase all the features of the Vita as well as create a story that made me feel more a part of it than any other story I’ve played. The majority of the time I was playing, I was smiling and laughing at how cute and charming it is. By the end, I really felt nostalgic about my journey with my Iota. With Remote Play and the recent price drop, there is no better time to pick up a Vita, and Tearaway should be one of the first games you play.

GRADE: A

Contrast Review

With the launch of the new consoles, there are a few downloadable games that are available to play outside of the big, tent poll games that are beautiful in their own right. One of these is a game that is available for free on PlayStation Plus called Contrast. It takes place in Paris in the 1920s, where jazz is playing in clubs and magicians are doing shows on the streets. You play as a friend to a little girl trying to help her mother and father through problems, both financially and emotionally. They live in the shadow world and show up throughout the game only in the shadows of light.

Your unique skill is you can transfer between the real world and the 2D shadow world. You have to solve puzzles by passing between the worlds, jumping on shadows to move through the environment. You’ll have to move spotlights around to change the shadows on the wall to solve puzzles. This could have been more flushed out but the second half of the game, it falls back onto moving boxes around to set on switches to open doors. I wish they would have developed the shadow mechanic more and didn’t fall back on moving boxes around. The puzzles feel similar to Portal but aren’t as difficult.

The real downfall I found was the traversal and jumping felt really floaty and imprecise. There were many times were I knew where I wanted to go but had a very hard time getting there due to the way the jumping functioned. I also incurred a few times where I would get stuck on geometry and couldn’t get out without restarting from the last checkpoint. I feel like the developers rushed this out to make the console launches and if they could have had an extra month or two, the game would have the polish it needed.

Over the four hours or so of the story, I did find myself really enjoying the story and the shadow mechanic. I did wish they did more with it and had the extra month to work out the bugs but overall, you can’t beat the experience for the price.

Grade: B-

Rain Review

With big budget games getting larger and more bombastic, the smaller titles can provide an experience against the grain. In Rain, there’s no shooting, only traversing your surroundings and enjoying the atmosphere it creates.

You play a little boy that wakes up in the middle of the night and finds a portal to another world. Inside this world there is a city that looks similar to Paris, where it is always raining. When you walk through the portal and enter the city, you are no longer visible. This is your advantage against the ghostly figures that are seeking you and will kill you when seen. During the duration of the game, your silhouette shows when you are standing out in the rain. You also have to look out for puddles of mud or water as they will both show the monsters where you are by your footsteps showing on the ground. Without spoiling the story, it revolves around you and a little girl, who you run into in the world. The story and the charm of the game are its strengths. The soundtrack is also a standout. The gameplay is a unique twist on the stealth genre; however I never felt it wasn’t fully fleshed out. The game could have done more with the stealth mechanics or offered different types of monsters to avoid.

I find games like Rain are the perfect palate cleanser to large mega-budget games that we are flooded with at this time of year. I thirst for the shorter, more thoughtful experiences. Journey and Walking Dead were that for me last year and although Rain doesn’t reach those heights, I did enjoy the experience enough to recommend.

Beyond: Two Souls Review

In Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream and the game’s director David Cage, build on the previous game design they have used in Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain. These games tell a narrative story through interactive queues. I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, the story it told, and how it unfolded. With Beyond, they pushed this brand of storytelling by having Hollywood actors for motion capture and voice acting. Ultimately, although there are memorable moments the story doesn’t reach the heights it tries to reach.

Beyond follows the character Jodie Holmes, who was played wonderfully by Ellen Page, from childhood through her adult life. She has a ghostly entity that is connected to her that she calls Aiden. As the player you control Jodie and when she needs help, the player controls Aiden. Aiden is able to open doors, knock items over, choke enemies, and take over enemies by inhabiting them. Ellen Page’s superb acting really shines throughout the game and was a real highlight. She is able to say so much through facial expressions which has only happened a few times in video games. William Dafoe and Kadeem Harrison play research doctors who are trying to find out how to help Ellen control Aiden. Both give good performances however Ellen Page outshines them both.

With a game that doesn’t have much gameplay, the story must carry the experience. This is where I feel David Cage and Quantic Dream didn’t fully succeed. The game plays out in segments of Jodie’s life but doesn’t take place chronologically. This makes the story feel disconnected and schizophrenic. Jodie will be a child, then she’s a CIA agent, then homeless, and then back to childhood, all within an hour of the story. This made for less emotional impact and felt like small vignettes into her life, which never let me fully connect with the character. By the end, I wanted to feel more for her but I didn’t. By telling the story in chronological order, I feel it would have made be more invested in the story.

I appreciate the risks that Quantic Dream took with the game and most of it succeeds. Beyond: Two Souls provides enough memorable moments and pushes the limits of performance capture and graphical fidelity that is worth playing. I just wish I cared more of the characters by the end.