#44: This real-time strategy game got an expansion, which was good, but sadly never got one for a third episode leaving it somewhat incomplete.

Yes it is.

Most people don't like that game.  I guess you are not like most people.

My man! I agree the DS Zelda games suffer from an undeserved bad reputation. I especially love Spirit Tracks :)

This little indie-game is surprisingly much fun. The premise is, that you play an well-known explorer or scientist and get tasked by the Explorers Society to go on six expeditions. Other members of the society do it too, and whoever gains the most fame gets a sculpture. So you explore six different regions in competition with different groups. You recruit people for your trek (or just a dog or a donkey) and go exploring. The regions are generated randomly, so each playthrough is different. In exploring the landscape you have a lot of events, like encounters with native people, atacks by wild animals, shrines, interesting spots in the nature and so on.

Everything you do has consequences, it might decrease or increase your standing with the natives or make an volcano erupt. In each region you search for the golden pyramid. But every step, every action also costs your group sanity, and if the sanity is dropping below zero bad stuff happens. Luckily chocolate and whiskey helps you keep sanity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5rfiQJTVqw

I am a fan of point-and-click adventures. Especially the old-school ones. There was a phase than this genre seemed dead. Thankfully recently a lot of indies are going back to the genre and developing it further. But ten years ago it was rather unusual. The small company Cing though took up on the task and produced some point-and-click adventures for console. Sadly Cing was going out of business later, but for some time they brought back adventure goodness.

From their games I liked Hotel Dusk: Room 215 very much (although all of them are recommendable). It has simple puzzles, but more of the time talking to people and uncovering the secrets of the past. Every in-game hour you make a conclusion of what you learned in a little quiz.

The hand-drawn graphics, the holding the DS like a book and other stuff made this really something else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNeEeXvoRVk

Alright, time for a new set of hints before I talk about #44 in more detail:

#43: A weapon-based fighting game that had different guest characters depending on the platform you were playing it on.

#42: The first main game in this long-running JRPG franchise to ever be officially released in Europe.

#41: "Kirov reporting."

#44
Rogue Galaxy
(Change YoY: -3)

The game that made me a fan of Level-5. Rogue Galaxy was one of the biggest positive surprises on the PS2 for me. It wasn't really marketed or promoted in Europe when it was released back in 2007, likely because by that time the PS3 was already out and the PS2 was quickly being abandoned by most people. Fortunately, even at such a late point there were still some great games being released on the system, and one of them was this space fantasy JRPG. I loved the art style, the story, characters, music and battle system, and pretty much everything else the game had to offer. Just a wonderful, and often overlooked, PS2 JRPG that deserves more recognition than it has.

#44
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (X360)



Easily my favourite online shooter of all time. Everything about this game was just right. It was fun to play, fast-paced, had great maps and game modes and the graphics were nice, too. I used to play this games for years with my buddies and we had a hell lot of fun. Especially with the Vietnam Add-On that came out a little later. DICE nailed it with this one. Too bad the last Battlefield games were kind of a letdown. At least in my eyes.

#49 Skyrim?
#48 Super Mario Bros 2?
#46 Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back?

Age of Empires II is very close. It’s just that there’s something done to it to make it suitable for something else...

And oh yeah, I’ll send you the list either tonight or tomorrow.