#23

'Metroid Fusion'

for the GameBoy Advance released in 2002 as played on Nintendo 3DS.

A game that's better than it's home-console predecessor, it happens sometimes. Okay, the GameBoy Advance was more powerful than the Super Nintendo, but usually, the console experience is most impressive. With 'Metroid Fusion' however, they went all out. Creating a strong story and a powerful setting. The game strayed a bit from it's three predecessors in that it was more linear instead of the series' trademark non-linear maze style, but here it was done excellently.

The game was linear, but it was done in such a way, that there was still plenty of opportunity to explore, and still tonsof stuff to find. Backtracking could be rewarding, and is advised if you want to make it easy for yourself. Because the game isn't very easy. The linearity helps the story progress, and strengthens the main antagonist's impact on the player. Because it is invincible until Samus herself is as powerful as it, some sections are almost like survival-horror games. Hiding out of sight and running for your life can become very tense and gets your heart pumping.

It's an extremely exciting game, and you're kept on your toes the whole experience. Sadly, I missed the experience a decade ago when I should have had it. It wasn't until the Ambassador program on the 3DS when I played the game. The GameBoy Advance was disappointing to me at the time, but the program made me see I missed a pair of gems on the system, two to be exact, of which 'Metroid Fusion' is the best. Here's hoping for a sequel!

#22 Hint:

A lot of stuff breaks in this game, especially at the end. During a couple of occasions the player even finds himself inside or on top of such a collapsing structure, which I have to say was an extremely impressive piece of game technically.

#23: Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (Wii U)

I was happy to hear about this HD remake not only because of how pretty it looked but mostly because of how the Wii U controller was put to good use for the game and how they fixed things that bugged me from the original (triforce fetch quest and sailing speed). Now all that's left is one of the best Zelda games ever made. Wind Waker is full of charming little touches, like the look on Link's face as he siddles along a cliff or the angry glare he gives villagers who outbid him at the auction house or the apathetic attendant of the battleship game yelling "SPLIIIISHHHH" and "KABOOM" with each shot you fire. The sea is a joy to navigate, full of barrels, hidden treasures, ghost ships, giant squids, whirlwinds and more. Also, the game doesn't hold your hand and lets you figure things out for yourself which is a big plus.

#22 Hint: Like MineCraft but actually fun.

23. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (16)

In all honesty, I'm a sucker for time-travel (see other games on list, particularly those yet to come).  But given the predecessor wasn't spectacular in many ways I was expecting to only like this one a little.  Removed is the annoying, un-window dressed linearity and in its place, more of a level type system where you can go to one of many areas at different points in time. The ending was highly controversial but I actually loved it, because it was nice to have someone take a different stab at story telling.  In addition, weaving the time travel into the plot, even going as far as having events occur for characters in different orders, allowed a lot for players to discover. The combat changes were interesting, and having the very flexible third slot made up for having two fixed characters.  As a pokemon fan I also enjoyed the take on catching monsters.  The only issue I had was that there was so much in the way of sidequests that the main plot line almost seemed like an after-thought while playing. This game made me actually want to buy its DLC, but I have regrettably been sidetracked with other (great!) games to play.

Might as well answer them here (and bring this thread back to life!)

#28: God of War

#27: Braid

#26: Age of Empire II

#25: StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

#24: Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

#23: Super Mario World

22. Pokemon Red and Blue (last year 24), first impression 9, replay 10, technical 6.5

Pros: The Pokemon game that started them all, catch monsters, train them, fight them around a world filled with interesting monsters. It was one of few games with very beneficial glitches that aided the experience, with Missingno. over-leveling and infinite items within easy reach.

Cons: Balance, for the most part. Having a single special stat and skewing the monsters that were *supposed* to be strong against it made the game insanely broken in favor of psychic types.

21 caused quite a stir when it was announced due to its choice of platform. When 21 was re-made (as games in this franchise inevitably are, again and again), it's choice was *again* controversial, and its franchise is one of the most-demanded on this handheld platform.

Final Fantasy VII?

I've got some catching up to do. @_@

27. Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal/HeartGold/SoulSilver
GameBoy Color (2000)
Game Freak

The Elite Four had been vanquished. Your rival Gary was beaten for the final time. Mewtwo was captured. MissingNo was abused for Rare Candies. Mew wasn't under the truck (but you still came back just to make sure). The land of Kanto had been tamed... and only one question remained: What more did the world of Pokemon have to offer? Well two years later, Pokemon Gold and Silver were announced... and apparently Game Freak still had a lot more to give to the worldwide leigon of Pokemaniacs. First of all, the game was vastly ironed out and polished compared to Red/Blue/Yellow. And while many other gameplay elements were introduced and tweaked to create a better system, it was the actual adventure that fans came running back to. A land of Hoenn was now available for every trainer to explore... and even after that, Pokemon Gold/Silver offered one of the most mind blowing revelations in gaming history: you could go back to Kanto. Also, Gold/Silver brought us the greatest thing in the history of Pokemon: Dark types!