#28 - New Super Mario Bros. U

After the rushed New Super Mario Bros. 2 on 3DS, there was concern this title might be tired and phoned in but it certainly wasn't the case! The level design in NSMBU is fantastic, creative and challenging. For the first time, I managed to collect all the star coins and unlock all the hidden levels thanks to how crazy fun playing this game is. Although, the background isn't as alive as in the Retro DKC games, there's some truly beautiful scenery to be found as made evident by the screenshot to the left.

#27: This game saw the introduction of a new character to this franchise, a new character who since then seems to appear everywhere.

#28 - Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

After SOTN, the Metroidvania Castlevanias moved onto the portable consoles while Konami experimented on home consoles with various types of 3D games. Dawn of Sorrow plays pretty similarly to the post-SOTN Castlevanias. You spend most of the game exploring a version of Dracula's castle, finding weapons and other upgrades and beating bosses. In this game like Aria of Sorrow the main character is Soma. Soma's moves are very similar to Alucard's in terms of the jumping arc, the attack and the slide. In SOTN you would get upgrades like being able to turn into a wolf by collecting cubes, in this game the way you get upgrades is by getting souls. Every monster has a soul you can collect which gives quite a bit of depth to the game and it encourages you to collect them all, the only issue is the souls are based on RNG so there is a lot of grinding involved to get 100% completion. Like always the graphics and music are excellent. Dawn of Sorrow doesn't really do anything new with the dual screens but having the map of the castle on the bottom is a nice touch.

Damn you've re-done the OP now Smeags...I don't know what to do.

#27 - I love open-world/sandbox games, and was really pleased with this year's Watch Dogs. A novel approach, lots of things to do, lots of stuff to collect, a full, vibrant city... It was a very good beginning of summer for me...

Repost:

Game #27

Using this cheat you can get a huge castle if you refuse the money.

Kresnik would know this, WHERE IS HE?!

Makes me think of Sonic... But I don't know .

29. Fallout 3 (PC)

Fallout 1 & 2 were classic old-school RPGs. Fallout 3 is Oblivion with guns! When I found out Bethesda were doing the new game I was very excited and it didn't dissappoint. Large open sprawling world, the perks that made the original games great and an odd mix of old school Fallout atmosphere mixed with modern open-world Oblivion-esque gameplay. It just seemed to have a great mix of old and new WRPG elements. Nearly all of my gamer points are thanks to this game (A full 1500 thanks to the DLC!). The levelling system was great and exploring the each new area was actually a joy. The lessons learnt on Fallout 3 (and Oblivion for that matter) have also translated well into the latest elder scrolls game Skyrim.

28. Portal 2 (PC)

What to say about a work of pure genius? The original Portal was fun. Short, unpretentious and pure gaming fun. Portal 2 could have just continued with the same, but instead added some fantastic new ideas, more mind-bending puzzles with some hilarious characters and great humour. The story mode alone really was comedy value and could have justified the asking price alone. Steve Merchant was great and really helped set the tone at the start of the game with comments like

"Most test subjects do experience some, uh, cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now, you've been under for quite a lot longer, and its *not* out of the question that you might have a *very* minor case of serious brain damage! But, don't be alarmed, alright? Uh, although if you do feel alarmed, try to hold on to that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told that you've got brain damage."  

The added co-op mode though really added to the value, although I have yet to complete it. What I have played though has been pure bliss.

Forbidden Siren?

Hints:

27. The game engine and toolset used to develop this game are even today still being used by dedicated hobbyists, long after the developer has stopped supporting it. Same engine was used to produce the first game in CDProjekt RED's main RPG series.

26. This game was originally released in 2010 with the third and final expansion due to be released (hopefully) next year.