Top 100 Games of All-Time: #48

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Release Date: February 28, 2017

Platform Played On: PS4

2018 Placement: #48 (=)

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What It Is:

You play as Aloy in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi action-adventure where robot dinosaurs roam the world and you have to fight them and scavenge parts to upgrade your weapons. From your trusty bow and arrow to slings to all sorts of different traps, you have a wide array of tools to take down the robots. While the smaller ones are fairly easy to take on as you progress, the largest enemies like the Thunderjaw and Stormbird require careful planning to take down without any mistakes.

The gameplay is stellar – each type of robot you come across has specific strategies associated with it and are unique in their attacks and how you deal with them. And with a ton of options at your disposal you can make full use of any arena you find yourself fighting them in. Its open world is large, but not oversaturated to the point that it feels tedious or overwhelming. And on top of that, Horizon: Zero Dawn has an awesome sci-fi story that is doled out to you slowly over the course of the game where you not only find out the history of the current world, but how it came to be like this (and has one of the most hateable characters in gaming, even if you only interact with him through holograms).

Why It’s Important To Me:

Whenever I get a Platinum on a game, it is a testament to the quality of it and how I regard it. Horizon: Zero Dawn is another one of the few in the upper echelon of modern gaming for me, where after beating the game I still felt compelled to run through the open world and finish all the collecting I missed during my main playthrough. Every sidequest was fun to tackle, and while I hoped the final boss would have a little more oomph or uniqueness to it, it was still a challenge and the story beats of the ending were still satisfying.

I love this world. I love all the dinosaur designs. I love how the combat feels strategically and how all the tools are used in each fight. I love Aloy as a character, especially how the game treats romance and some of the people who are interested in her. She is on a mission and while there are a few suitors (and suitresses?) she doesn’t have time for that shit and is confident in shutting it down. Aloy is a refreshing protagonist in a lot of ways and is one of my favorites of all-time.

My Strongest Memory:

I think my biggest wow moment is when the big reveal for what happened in the past occurs in the story. You get all these little crumbs and seedlings as you progress through the game, learning a little more about Aloy and the people who lived before the apocalypse with each area you explore. Then the big bombshell is dropped and you’re like “oh shit” and “what a despicable piece of shit that guy is.” And it’s made all the more frustrating because you’re learning about the past so there’s really nothing you can do about it.

Honestly all the story beats were what kept me going in this game. I was glued to my seat every time I learned something new about the world and how it works. I’m a sucker for good world-building and Horizon: Zero Dawn has it in spades. How everything is explained is just wonderful and there’s a decent bit of environmental storytelling as well. The narrative and world is just so finely crafted I couldn’t get enough of it.

Why It’s #48:

There’s not much more I can say other than continue my glowing praise for Horizon: Zero Dawn. It’s post-apocalyptic robot dinosaurs, what more can you ask for? It’s the best open-world game where you can climb on things and explore a vast space and hunt things that came out the week of February 28 in 2017. Yes, I’m aware of the other game that came out that week. No, my opinion IS correct and Horizon: Zero Dawn is definitely the better game. Thank you for your time.

 

 

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #49

Rock Band 2

Release Date: September 14, 2008

Platform Played On: PS3

2018 Placement: #44 (-5)

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What It Is:

The sequel to Harmonix’s perfection of the plastic music instrument genre – Rock Band 2 was a little bit of an advancement as the guitar and drum controllers were better and there were some extra modes added to the game. The game used the same rhythm controls set up by the previous games of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, where you have to hit notes on musical instruments in time with the music. You get score modifiers based on how long you go without mistakes and at the end of each song you get a star rating.

The fun, of course, comes from getting to jam out with your friends locally. Setting up impromptu band sessions with buddies and putting on playlists of your favorite songs was just an absolute blast, even if the peripherals took up a ton of space when they weren’t in use. The Rock Band store allowed for more songs to be downloaded and added to your set lists and gave the game infinite replayability.

Why It’s Important To Me:

Rock Band was a fundamental fixture in hanging out with my friends during the late 2000s and early 2010s. Rock Band 2 was my favorite game of the series with my favorite base playlist – Almost Easy by Avenged Sevenfold, Ace of Spaces by Motorhead, and Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran amongst others. More importantly, it doesn’t have Creep, Say It Ain’t So, or Maps.

As has been evident by nearly every other entry in this list, music is very important to me. So of course a game based around music AND hanging out with friends would obviously end up being a game I loved very much. I was extremely sad when the genre was scuttled due to oversaturation – while I mostly blame fucking Bobby Kotick, some of the blame was also on Harmonix – Rock Band: Beatles? Rock Band: Green Day? C’mon. Still, this was karaoke combined with air guitar, except you were actually playing something on the air guitar. It was just an absolute blast and I still love bringing out the old plastic instruments on occasion.

My Strongest Memory:

There’s a lot I could go for here. There’s the first time I got my first complete gold star 100% on Hungry Like The Wolf. There’s the time and effort I put into mastering Almost Easy and nailing a near 100% on it – being able to hit the hammer-ons was so satisfying. There’s also getting up the courage to actually sing some of the rock songs in front of friends (I’m petrified of singing in front of other people because I can’t sing). There’s the times of laughter when my friends tried to rap through Beastie Boys or trying to hit the high notes of Judas Priest.

There’s just so much good music in this game and the joy of getting the rhythm down and nailing five stars as a foursome is unmatched. It’s one of my favorite local gaming activities of all-time.

Why It’s #49:

Look, it’s Rock Band 2. If you played games in the late 2000s this was a part of your life. Do I really need to elaborate any more than that? It was a phenomenon unlike any other and it deserved it because it was pure fun. It deserves it spots on the top 100 because it’s an iconic game that will always live on in my heart and memory.

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #50

Danganronpa 1/2/V3

Release Date: Nov 25, 2010/July 26, 2012/Jan 12, 2017

Platform Played On: PS4

2018 Placement: #53 (+3)

What It Is:

The Danganronpa series is part visual novel, part murder mystery, part point-and-click adventure, and all fun. The premise of the game is 16 students, each with a special skill that they have world-class talent in, are locked together in a game where they must kill each other. Each chapter of the game involved a murder and a class trial where the group has to come together and figure out who the culprit is, otherwise they’re all killed except the murderer, who gets to walk free. The time before each murder is mostly visual novel-esque, where some story beats happen but you also get to spend time with other students and learn more of their backstory. Investigating the murder itself is a point-and-click investigation where you find all the clues before heading into the trial.

But the trials aren’t just present your evidence like Ace Attorney: no, your evidence is loaded up into bullets and you have to shoot at contradictions in statements that the other students make. This, along with many other mini-games peppered in, makes the trials part revelatory and part frenetic action. It wouldn’t be as gripping if the characters weren’t amazing: each game has character you love, characters you hate, and characters you love to hate. And these characters are truly what make the games worth playing, as the entire premise lives or dies with the cast. Thankfully, Danganronpa nails it in that department three times over.

Why It’s Important To Me:

For my 2018 ranking I only had V3 listed. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized you can’t have V3 being such an excellent game without its two predecessors. Really, the reason V3 left such an impression on me can’t be disconnected from the other two. So as I said before with the Nonary Games listing: my countdown, my rules. And the Danganronpa series as a whole gets the first spot in the top 50 because they’re all awesome.

While V3 I think is the overall best game in the series (and has a perfect finale), 2 has two of my favorite characters of all-time: Gundham Tanaka and Nagito Komaeda. Gundham is just perfect in every way and Komaeda is the greatest, most lovable complete asshole in gaming history. The original also has one of my favorite moments in the entire series (Chapter 5’s ending, if you know, you know) so it’s just impossible for me to separate each of these games into distilled entries because the love I have for the series is intertwined with moments shared across all the games. You can’t have V3 without 1 and 2, you can’t have 2 without 1, and 1 is just plain awesome on its own.

The anime kinda sucked though.

My Strongest Memory:

Danganronpa originally wasn’t available in the U.S. It gained popularity, though, partly due to a Something Awful let’s playthrough where a poster played through the game and posted translations of the game on the board, allowing the board members to vote on who to spend time with between murders and adding cliffhangers and suspense to all the proceedings. I read through these and instantly fell in love with the characters and setting. The added bonus of seeing the highs and lows with other people as they also read through what was happening just enhanced the experience.

When I finally played them myself when 1+2 Reload was available on PS4, even though I already knew the story I was still blown away by the characters and fell in love with the series all over again. And playing V3 without having already been spoiled about who the murderers were was even better. I can’t even begin to get into the ending of V3 because I don’t want to give it away for anyone, but my favorite moment of the entire series is the final trial of V3. It’s just balls to the wall bonkers that had me on the edge of my seat grinning from ear to ear the entire time. It’s three games worth of build-up, but by god the finale knocks it out of the park. It’s basically the antithesis of how the Nonary Games ended and why this series gets all three games together instead of just the first two.

Also, again, fucking Nagito Komaeda. What a shitlord. I love him. I hate him. He’s been my profile pic on Steam for years. Fucking Komaeda. What a dickhead. I love him.

Why It’s #50:

There’s a certain type of movie my friends like to call the “Atma Movie” where everything takes place in one location, the people are pitted against one another and lots of people die. Danganronpa is that but a video game, so of course I’m going to love it. But add in quirky characters, weird-ass shit going down between murders, and the murders themselves being complicated as hell and an absolute blast to solve…well, you’ve got a recipe for Ultimate Success in my book.

Episode 92 – That Was Awesome!

This week on Make Me A Gamer, HarveyZ gets to talk about his accomplishment over the last year: watching 12 seasons of Criminal Minds. Then Atma and Harvey get down to gaming business where they first talk about Scott Pilgim vs. the World before moving on to beat ’em ups in general, after which Atma educates HarveyZ on the awful character designs of Dragon’s Crown. Finally Atma gives their first impressions on the PS5, DualSense, and Astro’s Playroom. Enjoy!

(This episode was recorded on March 17, 2021.)

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As always, thank you so much for listening and please leave us ratings and feedback however you’re listening to our podcast! Please stay safe out there and stay out of groups if you can!

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #51

Super Mario Bros. 3

Release Date: October 23, 1988

Platform Played On: NES

2018 Placement: #39 (-12)

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What It Is:

The third(fourth?) game in the Mario Bros. series. One of the classic, genre-defining platformers on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. From warp whistles to tanooki suits, from ducking on the white block to P-Wings enabling you to fly through hard levels, this game has a long, established legacy in the video game world.

After the single-player only Mario Bros 2, this game brought back multiplayer and allowed both players to explore the overworld. It added an item storage system as well, allowing you to store power-ups like raccoon leaves and hammer bro suits and use them when you needed a boost with a level. Toad Houses gave you random power-ups from chests and this game also introduced some of the best Mario characters ever: that’s right, the Koopalings. All hail Lemmy Koopa!

Why It’s Important To Me:

Super Mario Bros. 3 always had the forbidden fruit quality to me as a kid. I didn’t own the actual game myself (until I got Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES), only the first and second games. So whenever I got to play 3 it felt like a treat and a new world opening up in my eyes. I loved the overworld aspect of the game and how enemies would move around on the map. The fortress and airship levels were so cool and the theme of each world was even cooler.

It was the defining platformer for me growing up – I always considered it my favorite mainline Mario game for a long time. There was just something about the simplistic sprite work that drove me into nostalgia overdrive. And when I think long enough, I can even conjure up a distinct smell and memory of my grandfather’s old store, where we used to visit whenever I saw my extended family. My cousin had SMB3 and when I brought my Nintendo on Christmas vacations I would always be eager to borrow the game and get as far as I could while I was on vacation.

My Strongest Memory:

I fucking loved the Hammer Bros suit. The Hammer Bros were my favorite enemy from the original game, and the Hammer Bro Suit was like the holy grail of items. It was a “break only in case of emergency” kind of deal because I didn’t want to waste it. That shit was pure gold and I got excited every time I got one. I still think it’s the best power-up of any Mario game and am still personally offended it never came back in other games. And no, Mario just carrying a hammer in some RPGs does NOT count. It’s just not the same.

The other big memory was probably the same memory every child had playing this game: the fucking sun. That stupid angry-faced ball of gas was my absolute nemesis and I hated him with the fire of a thousand hims. Scared me half to death the first time I encountered him and my blood pressure still rises a bit thinking about him. And on the other end of the spectrum, Big Bertha scared the shit out of me too. A giant fish that eats you up in one gulp? NO THANK YOU.

Why It’s #51:

Super Mario Bros 3 coasts a lot on nostalgia. It was absolutely a formative game of my childhood and was one of the prime examples of awesome games that made me a platformer aficionado. The variety in power-up abilities is still unmatched (in my opinion) as Super Mario World shirked variety for a few specific ones and also got rid of the storage. While I know Nintendo doesn’t like to retread often, I wish they would drink from the Super Mario Bros 3 well a little more often: the New Super Mario Bros games almost got there but were missing the magic. A true SMB3 successor on modern consoles could be a game-changer.

 

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #52

The Messenger

Release Date: August 30, 2018

Platform Played On: Switch

2018 Placement: Unranked

What It Is:

A 2D side-scrolling action platformer that hearkens back to the days of Ninja Gaiden and other games in that style. As the titular messenger, you progress through stages, acquiring new abilities that help you fight the enemies and bosses at the end of each level. The cloudstep is a unique traversal mechanic that gives you an extra jump after you attack something while you’re in the air. If you’re skilled you can use the ability to attack enemies from all directions and it makes for some fun and challenging platforming sections.

At the halfway point is when the game decides to blow all your expectations out of the water: a twist in gameplay changes the format from stage-based to an entirely connected world and it turns into more of a Metroidvania. From that point forward you have to explore all the nooks and crannies of the world to unlock new items and abilities, which allow you to get to even more new areas. It blew me away when it happened and instantly cemented it as one of my top games in recent memory.

Why It’s Important To Me:

Some games are just special from the outset and this one grabbed me almost immediately. First, the music is absolutely stellar. The background track of the first level was instantly catchy. The third level, though, is where I became enamored with the game’s soundtrack as it is an absolute bop. And then the theme to Searing Crags is just chef’s kiss. But wait! There’s more! After the mid-game twist, the two different time periods you can go between are made distinctive through not just a change in 8-bit to 16-bit sprites, but in 8-bit to 16-bit music. You get remixes of every track in the game: here’s Searing Crags’ 16-bit as an example! The seameless transitions between the different music styles made The Messenger’s soundtrack jump to an all-timer immediately.

The game itself is fantastic on top of the amazing soundtrack. All the bosses are fun and it has some of the tightest 2D platforming traversal of the modern era. While not completely focused on platforming as a game like Celeste, it still puts some decent challenges on the table. Also did I mention how great the humor is in the game? The character of the shopkeeper is an absolute blast and the relationship between the shopkeeper and the messenger is wonderful. Also you must give a listen to all of the stories the shopkeeper offers to tell you – you’re missing out if you skip them.

My Strongest Memory:

I played this game for the first time while on vacation with my girlfriend. It was my first time in NYC and we were staying in a tiny little AirBnB apartment. The days were filled with awesome sights and touristy travels while during my down time I rested my feet and pulled The Messenger up on my Switch. My finish of the game coincided with the end of the trip as I beat the final boss while we were riding the train home. I had an absolute blast in NYC and will forever associate this game with those good memories because the two are inexorably linked in my mind.

As for the game itself, I can’t oversell how great the soundtrack is. This soundtrack is probably one of the most played albums on my phone at this point. It’s an absolute chiptune masterpiece that never lets up. It’s perfectly exemplified by the final boss, which is probably my favorite moment of the game: one of the best songs on the soundtrack accompanying the best fight in the game.

Why It’s #52:

I dare say that The Messenger is a modern classic. It’s a tight, fun experience that isn’t too long and lends itself to replayability. The DLC is also fantastic (here’s a sample of the DLC’s music – it keeps up the fire) and worthy additional content. And it was free!!! The Messenger was such a solid game that I instantly backed the studio’s Kickstarter for their next game – Sea of Stars – and cannot wait to see them knock that one out of the park too. If you have any nostalgia or interest in platformers/Metroidvanias/cool sprite-based games, you are doing yourself a disservice until you play The Messenger. It’s grand.

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #53

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Release Date: November 11, 2003

Platform Played On: PS2

2018 Placement: #47 (-6)

What It Is:

The second game in the Ratchet & Clank series, it takes the base format of the original and amps everything up, adding quality-of-life changes that improve the gameplay immensely and adding the ability to upgrade your weapons through enough usage to make it more powerful as well as new armor and weapon mods.

The gameplay is similar to all the other R&C games – shooting with crazy weapons scattered with occasional platforming challenges and other mini-games like hover racing and gladiator arenas. The story is one of the most fun, turning the misunderstood antihero Captain Qwark of the first game into an outright villain in this one. Although the final boss is probably one of the weakest of the entire series, overall the quality of this game is miles above its other PS2 counterparts.

Why It’s Important To Me:

Going Commando solidified Ratchet & Clank as one of my favorite series of all-time. While the first game was good and I enjoyed it, it was Going Commando that really put the series on the map for me and made me excited for where the sequels could go. With the all-new weapons and upgrades, the fun mini-games, and slightly more focus on lovable Insomniac humor it was an instant favorite in my books.

I watched a speedrun of the game within the last year and was surprised how little I remember about the game, though. It’s one of those games that I consider high quality and always rank highly – if you ask me what’s the best Ratchet & Clank game I will always say Going Commando without hesitation. It’s another one of those games that lives in my head and heart but more as vague nostalgia and good feelings than specific memories.

My Strongest Memory:

I…don’t really have one specifically. I do remember and love the Sheepinator, which has become one of the classic humor weapons of Ratchet & Clank. Turning enemies into sheep for the first time was a blast and always puts a smile on my face. Seeing the Plumber show up again was also very fun – especially since he was voiced by Neil Flynn, aka the Janitor from Scrubs. Other than that, though, as I said – this game really lives on in my mind as the prime example of what made me love Ratchet & Clank as a franchise. Just all-around goodness.

Why It’s #53:

I know it’s weird putting this after a game like Metal Gear Solid 3, where I clearly had a lot to say. But the fact is I love the Ratchet & Clank series and the second game has always maintained being my favorite, even after playing later games. Maybe it relies too heavy on nostalgia. But I don’t care, this is my list and this is the spot I declare my favorite Ratchet & Clank game gets. So there.

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #54

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Release Date: November 17, 2004

Platform Played On: PS2

2018 Placement: #49 (-5)

What It Is:

The third entry in Hideo Kojima’s tactical stealth action series. While there are plenty of divisive opinions over other entries in the series, most everyone agrees that MGS3 is one of the best, if not THE best, game due to its gameplay and story content. MGS3 is a prequel to the first two games where you play as Naked Snake aka Big Boss, the antagonist of the Metal Gear games. It keeps the straightforward stealth and CQC gameplay while toning back a little on the twists and insanity after Metal Gear Solid 2.

This game is packed with great villains and unique boss fights, fun gameplay that stays true to the original MGS game, and has a rockin’ theme song that rivals the best James Bond tunes. It also adds new survival components to the game, such as having to eat food to keep your stamina up and your stomach from grumbling, to specific injuries hampering your movement and abilities in combat until you take care of them and let Snake heal properly. There’s also a camo index that gives you a good idea of how hidden you are as you make your moves. Everything in this game is refined to a T and the end product doesn’t feel as bloated as later Kojima games.

Why It’s Important To Me:

The Metal Gear Solid series was hugely impactful to me in my formative gaming years. It and Hitman paved the way for my excitement for stealth games. The games also made me realize how much I enjoyed the bonkers, balls-to-the-wall storytelling that Kojima provided. I loved how unique the bosses were in this one, from The Sorrow to The End to The BEEES, er, I mean The Pain. You know how I love themed groups of villains and MGS3’s crew had some of the best monikers.

MGS3 was one of those games that I walked away from thinking to myself “yeah, okay, now THAT’S a Game of the Year.” Even if I wasn’t fully in on the concept of ranking my games of the year online for random people yet, in my heart I knew that’s where MGS3 belonged: at the top of an arbitrary list. At the time it ticked every box I was looking for in a game – and even now it still holds up on replays in my opinion. Young Revolver Ocelot is one of my favorite villains and the motorcycle chase sequence blew me away at the time as an unmatched setpiece action sequence, before Uncharted had even come on the scene.

My Strongest Memory:

I was playing through this game in college and some of my friends gathered together to watch me play it off an on. Towards the beginning of the game (like the third or fourth boss I’d say if I remember correctly) you fight The Fear. During this fight the boss shoots arrows at you that get stuck in Snake and due to the new injury mechanics, you have to remove them and heal yourself using your supplies.

After I finished the boss fight, as I was healing, one of my friends innocently asked “what happens if you heal the wound but don’t remove the arrow?” I obliged them and what we discovered is that if you heal it…you can’t remove the arrow anymore. The uproarious laughter of my friends still haunts me to this day as I ended up playing THE ENTIRE REST OF THE GODDAMN GAME WITH AN ARROW STICKING OUT OF SNAKE’S KNEE BECAUSE OF MY FRIENDS.

Anyway that’s why Metal Gear Solid 3 is awesome because of stupid shit like that.

Why It’s #54:

MGS3 is a game I would consider a classic. In the sense that it’s revolutionary and important at the time, but also in the sense that it’s timeless and will always have replay value. It stands out as a great, amazing achievement in video game design and just does some amazing work with the PS2 hardware. If you pressed me for what I consider the overall “greatest” PS2 game based on objectivity and not specific, emotional, nostalgic connections I would say it’s probably MGS3. And it still has that emotional connection for me because I got to play it with friends. Play it if you haven’t, because it’s worth it.

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #55

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Release Date: July 22, 2004

Platform Played On: GameCube/Wii?

2018 Placement: #37 (-18)

 

What It Is:

The GameCube sequel to Paper Mario from the N64. It follows roughly the same outline: you play as Paper Mario and gather party members as you progress through chapters of the game and explore different paper worlds. The turn-based RPG combat system is simplified so that the attack and defense numbers are easily digestible instead of numbers in the meaningless thousands. You can only have one party member assisting Mario in each battle and each helper brings different skills to the table.

There’s also tons to do in the overworld as you walk around between battles as Mario gains more paper-related skills as you progress, along with your partners having overworld abilities that can unlock new areas and secrets. The game also contains typical humor associated with Mario RPGs and has a lot of funny moments. It’s a meaty, lengthy RPG that turns into one of the best Mario spinoffs in existence.

Why It’s Important To Me:

As I stated in the Superstar Saga entry, I bounced off the original Paper Mario due to not liking the aesthetic and having a kneejerk young person reaction to the style change from Super Mario RPG. I wanted SMRPG 2, not whatever this paper abomination was. By the time Thousand Year Door rolled around, though, I had matured and grown up a little and decided to give the game a try.

Now I don’t remember exactly how I played it. I never owned a Gamecube, but my freshman year college roommate did. So I think what happened was he owned it, and over the course of freshman year at some point I gave the RPG a try and fell in love with it. However, I do have my own copy now and may have gotten it and played it on my Wii? I honestly don’t remember, time gets fuzzy. But from Rawk Hawk’s theme (and really everything about Rawk Hawk’s chapter) to the witty humor of the fresh buddies in the Mario universe, I was enraptured by the game whenever I did play it. It catapulted towards the top of my favorite RPGs of all-time and I honestly got mad at myself for judging the first Paper Mario the way I did in the first place.

My Strongest Memory:

For some reason, Magnus von Grapple is one of my strongest memories in this game. His theme is something that just pops into my head randomly for no reason. Maybe it’s because it’s delightfully robotic and has a weird cadence to it, but I really enjoyed battling him every time he showed up in the game. Him and Rawk Hawk are the two enemies I can immediately conjure when thinking about Thousand Year Door. Music strikes again.

But the character I have strongest feelings towards is Vivian. She is probably one of my all-time favorite Mario characters, even if she is just a one-off for Thousand Year Door. In all versions of the game except the English one, Vivian is depicted as a transgender woman. I, of course, consider her canonically trans regardless and she was my favorite party member even before I discovered other translations. I won’t deny that a big part of why I regard Thousand Year Door so highly is because of Vivian.

Why It’s #55:

As I do a lot of these write-ups I really get the urge to play all these games again because they mean so much to me. Just talking about Thousand Year Door, Vivian, and all the other moments of the game is making me antsy to play this again. Even though I don’t have a Gamecube or Wii to even play it on, I still own my hard copy of Thousand Year Door because that’s how much this game means to me. It’s a great RPG regardless, but there’s a lot that’s extra special about it to me.

Top 100 Games of All-Time: #56

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Release Date: May 10, 2016

Platform Played On: PS4

2018 Placement: #51 (-5)

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What It Is:

The finale of Nathan Drake’s journey and Naughty Dog’s first entry on the PS4 hardware. It’s an action-packed romp that utilizes the PS4’s power perfectly for an epic conclusion of Drake’s story. It brings back all the typical crazy action setpieces that are expected in Uncharted but also has a more grounded, slower take on the sometimes over-done “one last ride” trope of action heroes.

While it doesn’t stray too far from the third-person shooter with mild platforming formula established in all the previous Uncharted games, it does add a bit of an open world flair to some of the sections. A few specific areas give you more wide open spaces to explore, and the battle arenas often give you more options than just “start shooting and take cover when health gets low.” A grapple rope, stealth mechanics, and better encounter design make the combat arenas feel less restrictive and more free flowing. The story and acting is also one of the best in the series, although the decision to give Drake a brother we’d never heard of before in this final game is still a bit of question mark.

Why It’s Important To Me:

Look, if you visited my website before its revamping this past February, you know that the above image was the header image for this blog basically since its inception. I love the Uncharted series because it gives me that Indiana Jones pulp adventure vibe that not many games can replicate. Solving historical puzzles to find hidden treasure while taking part in globe-trotting action is exactly the kind of dumb fun that I enjoy reading, watching, and playing so of course the Uncharted series would be right up my alley.

This is my second-favorite of the series – I really do think the encounter design is the best of the bunch and it has some of the best new characters (and my favorite villain). The set pieces are great and the different locations are jaw-dropping. This game was the first one where I truly just dove into photography mode and had a blast. After Uncharted 4 I wanted every game to have a photo mode so I could be snapping action shots or photographing beautiful in-game vistas. It’s just a great package and a well-done finale for characters I got really attached to over the four games.

My Strongest Memory:

I tried to go into this as blind as possible: I made the mistake of digesting every single piece of pre-release media that came out for Uncharted 3, which made playing the actual game a bit of a disappointment as I already knew all the big action setpieces. So I was waiting to be blown away by whatever crazy stunts were in store that I didn’t know about.

What ended up happening was a game that was a lot more focused on the story and the characters of Uncharted and less about the blockbuster sequences. Sure there was plenty of action gameplay (and an awesome car chase that was probably my favorite sequence of the game) but what really got to me was the cut scenes and what happened in between all the action. I found myself genuinely upset as I got through the ending and the credits rolled, knowing this was 90% likely to be the last game I got to spend with Nathan, Elena, and the crew. This game brought to the surface feelings I didn’t realize I had towards the Uncharted series, and I’m thankful for it existing.

Why It’s #56:

Uncharted 4 is a masterpiece of a pulp action game. It’s not depressing or trying to be cinema like Naughty Dog’s TLOU games. It’s a fun romp with enjoyable characters that I like spending time with. It makes me smile every time I watch this fan-made Uncharted/MI6 mash-up trailer. It might not stick with you if you don’t have as strong feelings about the rest of the series, but I give it twenty thumbs up.