People tend to think of video games as trash that'll rot your brains... A thoroughly unfair statement. How different is it to play on the computer instead of on a game board? If you consider the time and effort put in to make a really good game, it seems cruel and biased just to say that it will make you a zombie that will never accomplish anything in life. Consider the art design, the programming required to not just make a game a game, but to make it ART. Thus, I have compiled a list of REALLY GOOD games that I have played.
1.) Professor Layton Series:
Professor Hershel Layton, archaeologist and avid puzzle solver, along with Luke, his loyal apprentice, win by a landslide. Unlike any puzzle game before, the game's plot is deep and complex, one of those games you have to play twice through to read all the messages that hint at the totally unexpected climax. It keeps you guessing as you unravel every new clue. Like any great detective novel, it's hard to know the answer to the mysteries that the intrepid Professor faces until the very end. The puzzles you need to solve range from easy to mind-blowing, but every one is fun and exciting. This is one game you won't want to put down.
2.) Freespace 1 and 2:
A rather interesting game to be in the Top 5, considering it's a shoot-em-up space sim that was made in 1998 (Freespace 1) and 1999 (Freespace 2). However, the sheer excellence of its design, the complex storyline, the the wonderfully-made ships you fly along side with (The distinctive style of each species is amazing), mix-and-match ship choice and loadout, the detailed mission briefings, near-perfect AI, intriguing and mysterious dead races (Complete with still-functional relics and the race that killed them), and realistic military-style feel of the game (Complete with classification levels, ranks, Interspecies Alliances, and even SPECIAL OPS FORCES!) make it more than deserving of second place.
SPOILER:
Freespace starts out with a terrifying cutscene, in which a pilot in a damaged Apollo craft desperately cries for assistance from a nearby Ross 128 Installation. Soon, an unknown destroyer, later identified as the Lucifer warps in and obliterates both the pilot and the entire installation. The game itself begins in the final throes of the Terran (Human)-Vasudan War. Both races fought on more or less even terms. In the midst of a Terran-Vasudan battle, a new race, later dubbed the Shivans, attacks. With technology vastly superior to both races, the terrans and vasudans have no choice but to make an alliance. They hastily retrofit their old ships with shivan technology in an attempt to stop the nigh-indestructible race. Soon, however, tragedy strikes. After capturing the Shivan cruiser Taranis, the Lucifer strikes, obliterating both the cruiser and the installation harboring it. The Lucifer, pushes into Allied systems, meeting no resistance because of its unmatched weaponry and invincible shield system. The Lucifer successfully destroyed any possibility of sustaining life on the Vasudan's homeworld, Vasuda Prime. The Lucifer then made a B-line for Earth. Earlier, the vasudans discovered a manuscript dating back to 8,000 years ago, explaining that shields did not function in subspace. Using this knowledge, a group of bombers destroyed the Lucifer, causing a massive subspace cataclysm that severed all connection to the Terrans' homeworld.
32 years later, Freespace 2 begins. You start with battling an insurgency known as the Neo-Terran Front. The details are irrelevant, as they soon become a secondary threat. Shivans come into the scene as you discover a cargo depot surrounding an artifact that seems to distort subspace. A terran battle group investigates where it goes to, and find themselves in a vast nebula. They find it Shivan-controlled. After destroying what seems to be the shivan's capital ship, they realize their mistake as the most powerful ship ever encountered attacks. Dubbed the SJ Sathanas, it pushes into allied systems, but the terran-vasudan equivalent, the Colossus, destroys it. The victory was not to last. SPOILERALERT!!!!! Approximately 80 Sathanes assemble around a star, triggering a supernova and destroying all the ships within the system. The game then ends.
After about fifteen minutes of play, you'll feel the suspense and terror any space pilot must feel while blasting away at hordes of enemys. Your hands will start to shake when get skewered with beam weaponry and your hull goes down to 25%. You'll almost scream out loud in terror when the enemy juggernaut warps in and tears your friends to ribbons. In short, you become deeply invested in the game, or more specifically, your pilot. If your a fan of flying or shooting, this is the game for you.
3.) SPORE:
The unique game of evolution and survival, SPORE will take you for a ride that you won't forget. Starting as a humble cell, your creature gathers DNA points to evolve and become more effective at survival. Throughout it's evolutionary process, your creature will be threatened from all sides by rival cells, hungry creatures, malicious tribes, enemy civilizations, and intergalactic foes, each one more dangerous than the last. As you take your creature from its humble beginnings in a primordial soup all the way to a galactic conquerer, you'l come to love it. You'll cringe everytime he dies. No game will ever be the same with the creature and vehicle creator and editor, allowing for full customization of your creature. The game deserves every bit of praise it receives. Don't ever forget to play it if you have the chance. You won't regret it.
4.) Super Scribblenauts
This game takes its place in the Top 5 because of it's unique and engaging design. It puts virtually unlimited power into the hands of the player by allowing him or her to make anything he or she wants. This power is used to solve levels that range from simple to complex, and help the main character (Maxwell) get his Starites. The game has very little story at all, but the sheer originality of being able to make anything is beyond fun. The game has every right to be in 4th Place.
5.) Descent 3
This game is also along the lines of Freespace, as it was published in 1999 and is another shooter. While lacking the depth of Freespace, the game is nevertheless exciting and fun to play. You play as an unnamed mercenary known as Material Defender 1032 who was hired by Samuel Dravis, an important figure in the PTMC (Post-Terran Mining Corporation). MD recently escaped from an alien planetoid (Descent 2) when Descent 3's storyline picks up. The game starts with an intriguing cutscene, showing MD's ship being thrown into the sun. The unconscious mercenary is saved by a mining station, but his ship is hopelessly lost. It is soon apparent that Dravis backstabbed the poor MD in the hopes to get him out of his way. Material Defender then throws his lot in with a group of insurgents, hoping to halt Dravis' plans. The game is gripping and fun as you battle through waves of robots with surprisingly good AI. As you collect more and more powerful weapons, you feel excitement and an urge to try them out on an unsuspecting bot. As more bots appear, you'll feel annoyance because they just WON'T DIE. The game is a pulse-pounding thriller that shouldn't be passed up by any self-respecting action gamer.
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