35

Crazy Taxi

• SEGA Dreamcast
• 2000

• Guessed by Bofferbrauer2

Crazy is in the name of this game, and crazy it is. Today such a one-issue game probably wouldn't really turn many heads in an age of big open worlds, and I actually doubt it did back when it came out, but at least it wasn't out of place.

The premise is simple, get your customer to where they want to go. But to get there you'll have to drive like a maniac to get there in time because there isn't much of it. Anything goes, in fact, stunting makes your customer happy and they'll pay more.

Dreamcast was a great console, one of the best actually, and I played a lot on it. Crazy Taxi was one of a group of games I'd frequently come back to. I'm not sure if I'd still think this fondly about this game if I'd play it again, but then again, simple fun stays fun, right?

34

Blast Corps

• Nintendo 64
• 1997

• Guessed by TruckOSaurus

I have no idea what genre this game is. Wikipedia says it's both 'puzzle' and 'action', so I'll just put that on the list. I guess there's a puzzle element in some cases. And there's certainly action. Plus even though you drive vehicles it isn't exactly a racing game either. Anyway.

The big thing is you destroy things using a variety of vehicles. The early ones are generic construction vehicles like you'd expect, like a bulldozer and a dump truck. But later it gets crazier. A rocket buggy, a big robot with a jetpack among other things. You move around from vehicle to vehicle to use the one you need at a given situation and sometimes when the journey is too great there's secondary vehicles like the car from Dukes of Hazard and whatnot. One vehicle is better at the job than the next; the bulldozer is easy and the robot with jetpack is powerful, but the dump truck is notorious. Because this game is so weird, and there never was and never has been anything like it, it's so memorable.

33

Star Wars Shadows of the Empire

• Nintendo 64
• 1997

• Guessed by Mnementh

While usually not really mentioned alongside the greatest Star Wars games, this is in fact a great game. People never really say it's bad, but they don't mention it at all. I feel it's quite underrated. It has a fun story taking place in the background of The Empire Strikes Back, it has great gameplay with varied levels and amazing music.

The N64 was the first console, not counting an old console my mother had when she was a kid, I had in my own house. Obviously I've played games long before that, but the gamer in my family was my aunt, and she had 'the stuff'. With a new stepfather, that changed quickly. A computer, an N64, soon a GameBoy, more awesome multimedia things.

The N64 in Europe was released in 1997, so it came with more than just two games at the start. Shadows of the Empire was one of the launch games, and subsequently one of the first, maybe even the first, N64 game I got. Super Mario 64 alone is already enough to make the claim, but with games these added into the mix, I couldn't not say that the Nintendo 64 had the greatest launch line-up in the history of video game consoles.

32

The Operative: No One Lives Forever

• Windows PC
• 2000

• Guessed by Bofferbrauer2

The early 2000s was a great era for first person shooter games. Maybe it pales in sales in comparison to today, but in variety in quality it's the other way around. There were so many games with different themes and styles of play, there was something for everyone. Until the brown and drab took over the genre, at which point I abandoned it pretty much completely.

No One Lives Forever is no different and is one of these great shooters of the 2000s. It is a story driven game, inspired by James Bond it follows a female special agent in her hunt for a cliche crime lord with even more cliche henchmen and motives. It's all pretty over the top, but that's what's fun.

I wouldn't mind a remaster of this game for modern systems, it deserves it, and in a perfect world it could help getting the genre out of this creative slum. Though maybe that's a bit unfair, because it seems to be going in the right direction for the last couple of years regardless.

31

Metroid Fusion

• GameBoy Advance, Nintendo 3DS
• 2002

• Guessed by Mnementh

Metroid is usually a very non-linear game. They're mazes really, with the exception of Metroid Fusion. And this is the game I liked best in the series, with the disclaimer that I haven't played the Prime Series, or Other M.

I first played this as part of the set of 'ambassador games' on 3DS, games gifted by Nintendo to those who had bought the system shortly before the famous price cut. I knew of the series itself of course, but hadn't played it in a very long time, and then only briefly when I was young so I thought I'd try it out.

The narrative is very engaging, but the star of the show is the main antagonist; the SA-X. A copy of Samus herself. However, the copy is much more powerful, mindless and never stops hunting you. Encounters are scripted, but the threat feels real. The game is actually almost a survivor horror game because of it, and a good at that.