Correct on 6, wrong on 7.

#12

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has got to be one of the greatest examples of a sequel surpassing the original. The First Game while it was a solid game for its time it’s easily the least interesting of the series. The Second game takes everything about the first and improves it. The animations are more fluid, the gun-play is smoother, the Melee combat is better, the graphics looked amazing for a game released in 2009 and still hold up well today. The writing and the voice acting are so high quality it puts many games that were released at that point to shame. The puzzles and platforming are also well done and help to keep the game-play interesting.

The environments are also more varied and interesting which fixes the issue of the first game of not having a lot of variety. Of Course the highlights of this game and the series in general are the various setpieces you encounter throughout the game. I like refer to them as the “oh sh*t moments”. Shooting the engine of an armored vehicle while it attempts to run you down. Running through buildings and across rooftops while being shot at by an heli. It’s these heart pounding moments that make Uncharted so engaging. The game also has my favorite final boss in the series. It feels challenging enough without feeling cheap or unfair and also mechanically interesting. 

Uncharted 2 was a landmark title in the PS3 Library of games and to this day It's still arguably Naughty dog's best work.

#9

This game was quite a surprise for me. I saw the announcement trailer and thought oh nice that’ll be a fun little game to play between the big releases. I didn't expect it to be my personal GOTY and actually end up winning GOTY at the Game Awards.

First off the music. I never thought I would be hearing music like this from a modern PlayStation title. This felt like I got transported back in time to the PS2 Era.

There are so many moments in this game that made me go “wow that’s clever”. The use of the Dualsense controller is really good. You can feel each footstep with the speaker and haptics. The way the devs managed to simulate moving through different environments is amazing. Moving through snow gives the controller a crunchy snow effect or moving through grass makes you feel every blade of grass. For the intro of each level you use the motion controls to steer the controller ship around obstacles and snag collectibles along the way, which i thought was a pretty neat feature. Plus you can’t fail these sections so the motion controls don’t feel intrusive or mandatory. The controller is used in many other ways like swinging on a bar, or shooting projectiles or tilting platforms, etc. Though this kind of highlights how underutilized the controller is in most PS5 games.

The game has plenty of cool power ups and gameplay mechanics that are used in fun ways. One gives you a slow time ability that you can use to avoid or jump on fast moving objects. Or another power that shrinks you to the size of a mouse and back again. Another transforms you into an iron ball that makes you impervious to damage as long as the button is held down. The game also has really fun physic interactions. One of the things i loved doing in game is just screwing around flinging various objects around such as piles of leaves or hundreds of apples. it's just pure joy. The main goal of the game is to rescue the bots lost in each level. Special bots are usually references to characters from various games. When you find one they return to the hub level; each one having a special interaction. The various references add to the fun of the game, some of them are playful jabs at other games or clever meta humor. Many of them gave me a good chuckle. The section leading to the final boss has got to be one of my favorite sequences in a game in recent memory. Just the final boss itself is lots of fun to fight.

There is so much to love about Astro Bot that I couldn't possibly list everything in this write-up. If you're a fan of platformers I can't recommend this game enough. I think Team Asobi is probably the most talented studio Sony has when it comes to game design and Astro bot is the best platformer to come out of any Sony studio.

Some new hints then.

#7

• Part 2 of 3 (or 12)
• Bracers in Liberl - Part 2

#6 Shadow of the Colossus

• Sixteen foes

#5

• Europa at war

Current list - https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread/248646/post-only-once-the-official-thread-the-15th-annual-greatest-games-event/4/#4

12 - Super Mario Sunshine
- Poisonous rivers and pachinko machines giving players headaches.
- Players often say that a checklist of sorts would have been handy for keeping track of a certain collectible, as there’s no way to know which ones you have found.
- This title takes this gaming icon to an island that is shaped like the codename of the console the game was first released on.

10 (incorrect guesses - Luigi's Mansion)
- This game, which launched a major franchise, was originally conceived as a remake of another title.
- Wow, what a mansion!

09
- This sequel takes players outside of the United States for the first time, with competitions based in France and Mexico. That said, there are still plenty of American locations to visit.
- One of the bonus levels sees you dropped from a helicopter onto a small platform in the middle of the ocean, whilst the other gives you the opportunity to roam around Heaven itself.

08
- 11 / 96 (for minimalists / for completionists).
- This game introduced a beloved character to the series. The character’s main function here was conceived as an idea for previous games, but the hardware at the time was not powerful enough for it to come to fruition.

07 - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- Kudos to you if this game doesn’t make you hate owls even a little bit.
- This franchise’s first venture into 3D, which remains very popular over 25 years later.

06
- An adventure that has levels based in South America, Europe, Africa, and a mythical location.
- Or more specifically - Peru, Greece, Egypt, and Atlantis.

#9

Change YoY: +1   My Rating: 9.6/10

Elden Ring is not only the best game of this generation so far, but also the best open world game I've ever played by a decent margin. Initially upon hearing about the game, I wasn't entirely convinced that the soulsborne formula would translate well into an open world. The FromSoftware-developed titles were, among other things, known for their intricately designed, interconnected locations that wrapped around each other in various clever ways that made exploration a joy to undertake. Taking a game like that and placing it into and open world setting admittedly felt a little odd at first. However, as it turns out, they still created those same wonderfully designed locations and simply made them part of the larger world in Elden Ring. Best of both worlds I suppose.

The thing that hit me first about the game, at least once I made my way through the introductory dungeon and opened that first door into the open world, was just how gorgeous it looked. There may be games with better graphics from a pure technological point of view, but no other game in a long time has looked this great in terms of art direction. The next thing that hit me was a lance from a miniboss riding a horse, followed by the first of many death screens. Like meeting an old friend. After a while I got into the right rhythm, taking my time exploring, finding intriguing places and enemies, and slowly mapping out the first area of the game. As the world began to open up more and I got used to game's intricacies and differences from previous FromSoftware titles, I realized just how well it all worked together. Putting the developer's style into an open world setting had done nothing to hamper the experience, and in a lot of ways it only enhanced it. This was an open world done right.

There was a sense of wonder and mystery that remained with me throughout the over 130 hours I spent playing Elden Ring on my first playthrough. I never got tired of discovering new locations, dungeons, bosses, secrets, and details about the world. It felt like there was something new and exciting to be found no matter where I went and how long I played. Even now, after finishing the game and spending so much time with it, I've seen other players find entire dungeons and bosses I never encountered in the game. The game is so full of stuff, and unlike in so many other open world games, it's all engaging and interesting. No pointless fetch quests or worthless collectibles that mean nothing. While there are some minor faults to be found, such as certain bosses being repeated a few too many times, I have never enjoyed an open world as much as I did The Lands Between. Elden Ring was the first new game to enter my gaming top ten in five years, when another FromSoftware game entered into it, which I will be talking about very soon.

Then, came Shadow of the Erdtree, and my opinion on the game as a whole only improved. Not only was it another absolutely massive piece of content to add to an already huge title, but much of it is arguably even better than the base game. New enemies, weapons, skills, bosses, and locations, as well as lore and storylines that expand on elements from the main game and reveals new information about many characters you were already familiar with, first and foremost being Miquella. There's a chance that in the future Elden Ring will rise even higher on my list upon repeat playthroughs, as that is what happened to many of the other FromSoftware games. Until then, it sits firmly in my all-time top 10, and is unlikely to fall out any time soon.

I'm like 20 runs into the game across multiple platforms, modded and unmodded, PS4, PS5, PC, solo, coop, etc....and I'm more excited to play the game now than I Was two years ago. There's just so much build variety and so many ways to play the game. 

I've already put like 1500 hours into the game and every few weeks I get the urge to try something new. And I Feel like in spite of all that I've only scraped the surface in terms of what can be done with Elden RIng's mechanics. 

And even better...playing it made me go back and play Dark Souls III again and I like DS3 more now that I better understand infusions and weapon arts! You know a game is great when it gets better with time AND makes you like other games even more than you did before. 

Bloodborne is still higher on my list but I have to confess...might just be for nostalgia purposes. Because honestly, I think Elden Ring is the better game. Bloodborne was my first Soulslike game I finished and the first one I fell in love with and nostalgia is a valid emotion. Aside from some quality of life shit (30 FPS and some of the crap you gotta do to travel and level up, etc) it holds up remarkably well! Elden Ring and Bloodborne are both outstanding games that I recommend pretty much everyone at least TRY.

Merry Christmas! My gift to you is some quick guesses

Trails in the sky 2 and maybe Valkyria Chronicles?

12) Super Mario Sunshine

10) Luigi's Mansion?

7) Ocarina of time???

Correct on both.

12 and 7 are correct.

I often see people complaining about the pachinko machine level and the lily pad on the poisonous river level when talking about this game, as well as there being now way of effectively tracking which blue coins have been collected. The action all unfolds on the dolphin shaped Isle Delfino, with the GameCube originally going under the code name Dolphin.

As for number 7, well, who hasn't been caught out by that damned owl asking if you want to hear what he just said again?