Yes.

#39: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2 is still to me the best game in the series. The pacing is perfect, the locations you visit are breathtaking, the dynamic between Nate, Chloe and Elena is entertaining to watch unfold. The gunfights are thrilling, with fun interactions like throwing back grenades at your enemy and then there's intense action sequences where our hero with an ass worth saving has to escape an helicopter or a rampaging tank or making his way up a moving train. This is one of the rare games where I went for the hardest mode possible because I enjoyed replaying it so much.

Yessss. Star Fox 64 it is.

Okay, almost done with the hint spam here. Y'all guessed every game except one, so here's another hint because now I want them all guessed.

Same, although I haven't played 4 or Lost Legacy yet. Uncharted 3 hasn't aged well at all imo.

I've always had my problems with Uncharted 3 from the get go. The forced melee sections were terrible, walking through the desert is too long, the final fight is a series of quick time events and in general the pacing is off. It does have some impressive sections like the ship capsizing though.

Guessed by @Metafee

If there's any game I would call flawless, it's probably this one, as weird as it is. I guess it is easier for a game to be perfect the less complex it is, and for all its visual splendor, Thumper is about as simple as it gets. You're a beetle riding a rail and have to react to the beat to score points (or often, just to survive). You have an action button, the movement stick, and that's it. It's a mockery of the present day controller, really. But within the incredible simplicity of its controls, there is an insane amount of nuance and depth, keeping the gameplay interesting and challenging even after dozens or hundreds of hours - and not just because of memorizing all the notes or whatever, a lot of the high-score-getting gameplay revolves around the controls and how well you can move this little beetle. The way the game seamlessly teaches you all these hidden mechanics and makes you slowly implement them into your gameplay is amazing, and when you get good at doing all these different tricks, it feels incredibly satisfying - however, the level design is perfectly balanced, it knows when to expect you to have learned something and it will remain challenging throughout.

It's been years since I played this in VR, where it was absolutely insane, but for as trippy and heavy and the whole vibe and atmosphere of the game is, a lot of it was somehow preserved in regular screens, it is still very immersive even when I play it on the tiny Switch screen (that is, if I have headphones on). Thumper looks incredible, sounds incredible, and the gameplay is every bit as visceral as the developers wanted it to be. Heck, it almost feels like it has an engaging story too, despite having no narrative at all. Seriously, this game is amazing. It deserves more love.

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Guessed by @drbunnig

So last year I dropped a few games out of the top 20, because I was focusing more on story-driven titles, which this certainly isn't. It had been a long time since I'd played Tropical Freeze, and without a narrative to carry it in my memories, it was fading a bit. Then... This year I wanted to replay it, and so I did. Twice. It's too much fun not to play it through at least twice. And I remembered just how special this game always was.

I've said it many times here in the past, but this is the only platformer I've ever played where every level feels so unique, special, and memorable. I can remember every level off the top of my head and that's honestly pretty ridiculous. But when every level has such distinctly beautiful environments, phenomenal music, and unique challenges in the level design that are constantly challenging your understanding of the core mechanics in different ways, honestly, it's pretty inevitable that they'll be so easy to remember.

I like to make "top X" lists of just about everything, and always find a way to settle on my #1 of anything I put myself up to, but, I have tried to rank the stages of Tropical Freeze and it's simply impossible. From the beautiful music of Windmill Hills, to the dancing trees of Savannah Groove, to the ravaged forest of Scorch N' Torch, to the wonderfully deep environments of Amiss Abyss, to the intense escape sequence of Irate Eight, to the incredibly balanced and challenging Harvest Hazards, to the ice cream factory of Frosty Fruits, to the emotionally charged score of Seashore War, to the final showdown in Volcano Dome, and even some of the challenging temple "K" levels, most notably Bopopolis and Platform Problems, this game just keeps blowing you away over and over and over and over and by the time it's done, you can't help but play through it all again. Tropical Freeze is a masterpiece, it's the best platformer ever made, and I think it'll always be.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

It's funny how, back then, this was seen by many as the beginning of the downfall of the Pokémon franchise, because nowadays the 5th generation it's a part of is highly regarded as the best in the series, and the last good one. Not that I'm gonna argue against that, I've always loved it. Black and White were actually what made me get back into Pokémon for a while, as I was rather disappointed by the 4th generation games (they were the first games in the series I hadn't finished). I went into these with low expectations, but was blown away by how good they were, a massive step up from previous games in every regard - visuals, gameplay, quality of life, even soundtrack, and especially the storyline. By the time I finished it, it easily became my favorite game in the series and that's not something I ever said lightly, given how much I loved Gold & Silver.

I actually played through it on emulation at first, but the game was good enough that it made me want to buy a console to play it (and other Pokémon games), eventually leading me to become the Nintendo fan you probably know me as. This game essentially shaped my gaming choices and tastes for a decade. And while I think the franchise continued good for at least a couple years more before it undisputably went to shit, nothing Pokémon has ever come anywhere near Black & White in terms of storytelling. Here was an interesting narrative that asked all the questions we all asked ourselves about this franchise, and gave us satisfying answers through good character arcs in a well-paced and well-written storyline. I'm not sure where Game Freak got that from, but clearly it was a one-off spark of inspiration, because they never did it again. Ah well. It was good while it lasted.

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Guessed by @UnderwaterFunktown

Where to even begin with this one? Astral Chain is a game whose qualities feel near-impossible to describe accurately to those who don't know it. It has a super cool cyberpunk setting with tons of wasted potential because of its cliché storyline. It looks great, certainly impressive for being on the Switch, but still held back by its system, far outmatched by many other games that go for either the cyberpunk look or the anime look, even if it does both well. The soundtrack is very good, but outside of one breathtaking piece, is not one of the best. The gameplay is... well, the combat can have a serious learning curve, but the non-combat stuff could certainly be described as boring busywork.

To be honest, though, I think this game's biggest flaw is the Casual difficulty setting. Or to be more accurate, how it incites players to choose that as their first option. There's these post-game missions with pre-determined difficulty, and when getting to those at the end of my first playthrough, I was overwhelmed by how hard they were, stumbling my way through 3 or 4 until giving up when I read there were 70 of them. Yet, when I played through the game again, this time on Pt Standard difficulty, the transition into the challenging post-game missions was seamless, and I fully appreciated the continuously increased level of challenge as it made me use every tool the game gives me to its fullest - and the game gives you a lot to work with. All these tools, the game slowly gives you throughout the campaign, but in Casual, you never really need to use more than one at a time, so you never actually learn how to use them properly; on Pt Standard, though, the learning curve feels natural and easy to understand, if still rather difficult.

Anyways. For all my criticisms up there, I do really like this game's story, I love its setting, and I think it looks amazing. But the real reason why I continue to appreciate it so much all these years on, for sure is the combat. When you get the hang of it it feels incredible, there's nothing like it. The way the movements and attacks of both yourself and your legion combine into one another, alongside the special powers you can use every now and then, everything feels so seamless and free-form, it's easily the most fun I've ever had in combat in any game, by far. Now if only we got a sequel that expanded on the other aspects of it...

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