1. Ghost Blade (Dreamcast): So this game is awesome! I'd go as far as saying it's my second favorite SHMUP on the Dreamcast (Mars Matrix is #1). The soundtrack is one of the best I've heard on the console as well. My only gripe was frame rate dips during certain sections of the game that made it hard to dodge what was coming at you. Other than that, this game is proof the Dreamcast is alive and well with awesome new games
2. Cruisin Exotica (N64): One of my favorite arcade racing franchises from the 90s, this one goes for the tried and true formula of the first two. The gameplay is shallow, but the reason you play these games is the odd and interesting stages, which this one had some, but not as much as I would have hoped for. A good game to keep yourself busy for half an hour or so.
3. Twisted Metal Black (PS2): Sadly, I remember this game being a lot more fun when I was younger. The game is decent. but I have more to complain about than to compliment.
4. Star Wars Episode 1 Racer (Dreamcast): This game is definitely a lot of fun, not F-ZERO or Extreme G fun, but the Star Wars settings and themes make it enjoyable if you're a fan of the series. The most irritating part of this game is the difficulty spike mid-game which outpaces how much money you have to upgrade your pod, which leaves you SOL at times. Pretty fun game overall though.
5. Mortal Kombat (PS3): This game literally had everything going for it; excellent reimagining of the first three MK games with an awesome story, great combat, amazing graphics. Hell, I'd almost go as far as to say it's one of the best fighting games of the 7th gen...and then there is the final battle with Shao Kahn. He is one of the cheapest, most unimaginative, and grossly overpowered final bosses I've ever had the displeasure of playing. My satisfaction with this game plummeted after trying a variety of tactics to beat him since, you know, fighting him was completely ineffective. While you can avoid playing against him in various other modes, story mode, which is arguably the best thing about this game, is ruined by him.
6. Super Smash Bros. Melee (Gamecube): Certain games become nearly obsolete due to their successors being better in almost every way. Melee, unfortunately, is victim to to this, mostly because of the newest installment on the 3DS/Wii U that outdoes it in controls, levels, modes, trophies, roster, balance and nearly everything else. Don't get me wrong, it is incredibly fun to play still, but I couldn't help but wish I was playing Smash on the Wii U most of the time.
7. Kirby's Air Ride (Gamecube): This game is crap. Aside from the interesting and flashy stages, and the occasional good tune, this game is one of the worst racing games I've ever played. Even Nintendo makes bad games from time to time.
8. Motorstorm (PS3): For a long time when the PS3 first launched, this was the game that made me want to get one so badly. Still, to this day it's an excellent racing game. The damage effects, the gameplay, the levels are all awesome! My only gripe is the lack of stages and vehicles, however there is definitely enough to keep you occupied for a long time.
9. Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax (PS3): Being a fan of the various series that this game has characters from, it was easy for me to enjoy playing with them and fighting against other awesome anime/manga characters. The combat is fun and I love the overt Sega love in this game. Pretty fun, although overall beyond the characters and Sega-fan service this game stands as a mediocre 2D fighting game.
10. Star Fox 64 3D (3DS): Aside from the controls not feeling as good as the N64 version, this game had almost everything, plus some, that made the N64 version so great. The upgrade to the graphics was very well done as well. One thing that bothered me only slightly was them changing the voice actors for some of the enemies that had voice acting so bad it was good, from the original.
11. Irritating Stick (PS1): This game is one of those instances where a games simplicity is exactly why it's good. Based on a Japanese game show, this game has you leading a stick through a maze where you are not allowed to come in contact with the sides of the maze or any objects. This game, while fun, gets boring due to the lack of stages, meaning you can see everything the game has to offer in an hour or less. I wish they would have added more stages since the fun was in each stage's unique challenge.
12. Life is Strange (PS4): God, what a colossal disappointment this game ended up being! The game was nothing short of amazing, that is up until the endings, yes there are two of them. What ends up happening is pretty much choosing between shit and worse shit! To add insult to injury, both endings leave giant plot holes that ruin all the good writing that lead up to the end. What a wonderful way of taking a game that would have definitely made my top 5 games of the year, to making it one of the shittiest games I've played in a while. ALL BECAUSE THE FUCKING ENDING! Fuck this game!
13. Lethal Enforcers 1 & 2 (PS1): Aside from one taking place in modern times and the other in the old west, these games are practically the same. The stop motion animation is pretty amusing and makes one sentimental about the time period these games were made. Each game is a decent light-gun shooter, however my main gripe in the overall repetative nature of both games as well as this game often throws way more at you than you can handle which makes it feel cheap at times. Overall, it's a fun game and worth playing when you're in the mood.
14. Street Fighter V (PS4): Given how bare bones this game is right now, I hate to write this up, but I feel I've played around with the game enough to pass judgement on its core gameplay. Overall, yes it's great, but the severe lack of content makes me wish I was playing pretty much any edition of Street Fighter IV instead. Excellent game, but desperately in need of more content.
15. Super Breakout (Arcade): For a 40-year old game this game is pretty addicting and fairly challenging. You simply have to break all the blocks with a pong-like paddle to win. Found myself playing it for far longer than I thought I would, and continuing to try and beat my high score.
16. Halo 2 (XBOX): Its hard to say whether the original Halo or it's sequel is better. Halo 2 definitely definitely has better gameplay and better pacing, but for some reason it's story didn't hit me the same way the original did. A great shooter however and fun as hell!
17. Dead or Alive 5: Final Round (PS4): Like the other DOA games, this games s hard hitting, flashy, and a surprisingly deep combat system. The stages are very fun and offer a variety of settings and destructible objects. A highly enjoyable game overall with a lot of fan service (those who are familiar with the series know exactly what I am talking about).
18. The Oregon Trail (Apple IIe): One of the first games I ever played, and probably the first PC game I ever played, this was one of my favorites in elementary school back in the early 90s. Thanks to the wonders of technology, I was able to play this through a web browser and after all these years it's still a fun, captivating game. Hunting is hard as hell, but as long as you buy enough food you should be fine. This game will always be a classic and will always be fun.
19. Unreal Tournament (Dreamcast): The best way to describe my experience with this game is to compare it to the Dreamcast port of Quake III Arena. Quake 3, while missing a lot of content compared to it's PC port is a very purest experience, playing very similar to it's PC counterpart. Unreal is also missing a lot of content compared to the PC version, but plays very different from its PC counterpart. Unreal on the Dreamcast played more similar to Goldeneye or Perfect Dark, complete with auto aim, and fewer bots which I feel worked way better for the console port of this game, versus Quake 3's approach of releasing a PC optimized game on a console which made the game very difficult to play. It's a tough trade off, but in the end I enjoyed Unreal for what it was on the Dreamcast, albeit an almost entirely different game than the PC version, for better and worse.
20. Project X Zone 2 (3DS): This game would have been significantly better if it were about half the length it ended up being. After the 20th chapter I kept on thinking, "is this the last level?" Nope! It dragged on for about another 20 episodes. The story is forgettable and generic, in fact the only thing that this game has going for it is quarky dialogue, an awesome mashup on great video game characters from many great franchises, and a fun combat system. Again, would have enjoyed this game way, way more had it been shorter with a more interesting story.
21. Home Alone (Genesis): This one comes directly from my childhood. The game itself is fairly basic, but doesn't let you know soon enough what you're actually able to do. While it definitely does capture some of the charm of the movie it is based off of, and stays true to the source material, the game is rather shallow and does nothing to really make it memorable.
22. Batman Returns (Genesis): This game is an abysmal piece of shit and definitely the weakest title of many games that were based of the popular Tim Burton film. the controls suck, the gameplay sucks; perhaps the only things that this game has going for it are its music and the art style.
23. Battle Assault 3 featuring Gundam Seed (PS2): The first word that comes to mind when I play this game is clunky, followed by stiff. That is because the controls and the way your mobile suites move is best described as just that! I honestly wanted to continue to play in order to unlock all the mobile suites and stages, but the difficulty posed by the broken controls was too much for me to tolerate so I gave up on this one. Sadly, not a good game at all.
24. Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden (3DS): The game itself plays pretty good for a 2D fighting game and the added bonus of it being a DBZ game makes it appealing to fans of the series, but overall I felt fairly disappointed by the lack of playable characters, the allocation of most of the game's claimed "100+ characters" as non-playable assist characters, and the amount of difficulty it takes to unlock many of the most basic of assist characters. Worth trying if you're a DBZ fan, but go in with low expectations.
25. Wacky Races (Dreamcast): Not being a fan of the source material (even as a kid I wasn't that interested in this show), I didn't expect much, and while I didn't get much, this game is still mostly a competent Kart racer game. Not Mario Kart tier, but a mildly enjoyable alternative on a non-Nintendo system.
26. Jurassic Park Arcade (Arcade): Not to be confused with the early 90s light gun shooter, this 2015 version is extremely fun! My only complaint was the lack of variety with the dinosaurs. The visuals were vivid, the controls were great, the scoring was fun, and the cabinet itself looks great! Only regret that it wasn't longer, but it's an arcade game so what would you expect?
27. DOOM (PS4): This game was satisfying as hell (no pun intended)! Definitely the best game I've played this year so far, the gameplay, the pacing, everything is incredibly addictive and is the first new FPS game I've played in years that got the old school FPS gameplay style down just right. I liked this game so much I am planning on replaying it to get 100% of the trophies and secrets. Highly, HIGHLY recommended this one!
28. Pokemon GO (Phone): Initially I thought this game was a godsend; catching Pokemon in real life, seeing a ton of other people doing the same, getting out and exploring. And while these things remain a very positive aspect of this game, the more you play, the more stale it gets. When you get to about the 80-Pokemon marker in the Pokedex, things start to slow down as you typically only run into the same 4 or 5 Pokemon 80% of the time. Still, for what this game is, it's probably the coolest app I've ever used and definitely the cell phone game I've sunk the most time into.
29. Timesplitters (PS2): The DNA of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark is definitely present in this game, however it fails to live up to how good either of those games are in every single way. The "story mode" is pretty much rinse and repeat for every stage, with only aesthetics like reskined enemies and level theme being the difference. There is a multiplayer mode, but I didn't like the story mode so much that I had no desire to play around with the bot modes or any of that shit. I sincerely hope the second game and Future Perfect are an improvement.
30. Killer Instinct Gold (N64): Having only played this game once before when it first came out, I forgot how deep and fun the combat in this game is! The famous combo system is pretty fun to master and when you pull it off you feel like a total boss! The characters all play pretty different and the stages are really cool. For what it's worth, it's one of the best fighting games on the N64.
31. Tekken Hybrid (PS3): I'm pretty much reviewing Tekken Tag Tournament HD since it is the only full playable game on the disk (the other content is a demo for TTT2 and a Tekken movie). But essentially it is a prettier port of the PS2 version which was an absolute blast and still is! All the content is already unlocked which takes out some of the replayability, but it's nice to be able to jump right in and enjoy this game for how I remember it, but with slightly updated visuals.
32. Gran Turismo 5 (PS3): While this game is a solid racing sim and does the franchise justice in that regard, the leveling system in this game, as well as the game's focus on certain vehicles being needed more than others to progress makes this my least favorite entry in the series. I also was not a fan of the used car system where the inventory changed daily. Pretty much I'd rather be playing Gran Turismo 4 which is far superior in nearly every way.
33. Unreal Tournament (PC): Having played and reviewed the Dreamcast version earlier this year, the PC version is by far the definitive version of this game with incredibly tight controls, amazing enemy AI, and very well done level design. This game is a blast for an hour or two here and there, but I will fully admit that deathmatch or capture the flag gets stale after so long, no matter how well tightly crafted the game is. Still, definitely one of the great FPS games by far!
34. King of Fighters XIV (PS4): I have poured some serious time into this game and I am still not tired of it. The combat is very deep, yet accessible. The characters are many and most play very different from one another. There are a ton of stages, extras, and unlockables making replayability very appealing. I'm a little biased since I have been a long time fan of this series, but I'd go as far as to say this is a top five entry in the series for me. I can definitely say that this game is leaps and bounds better than Street Fighter V, which kept my interest maybe a whole evening. Love this game!
35. The Last of Us (PS3): First off, this game is incredible from start to finish; the story and characters are by far the biggest standouts, and this game is definitely one of the best looking on the PS3. While it wasn't bad by any stretch, the gameplay was at times frustrating, creating limitations at certain parts of the game that made for some frustration. And this is a personal bias, but I'm not a huge fan of stealth is games, and this game definitely favors that approach during the majority of enemy encounters. I can't bitch too much though; the game was amazing and definitely one of the best games on the PS3 for sure.
36. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3): Back in the day I had a blast with Hot Pursuit 2 on the PS2, and I feel like the franchise just kept on getting better and better, with Most Wanted being the best imo. Unfortunately after this the series began to slide rather quickly into mediocrity, and I just gave up on it all together. Decided to try the follow up to Hot Pursuit 2 and sadly I am still pretty disapointed in this franchise. Aside from aesthetics of the cars, they handle the same and the difference between 120mph and 200mph is barely noticeable. I got bored with it after a few hours. Next!
37. Gran Turismo 6 (PS3): Sadly, this was another disappointing entry in the Gran Turismo series, albeit not as bad a 5. Cars were mostly the same, tracks are mostly the same, and to add insult to injury there are barely any cars you can earn in order to help you advance. The whole game came across as lazy and almost just a re-skin of GT5. I had some annoying framerate issues throughout too which was hard to deal with too. Sadly, I don't think I'll ever like a GT game as much as GT4. Maybe I should give Forza a shot.
38. Contra 4 (DS): If you're a fan of the Contra series, which I am a little bit you will definitely enjoy this game, especially since you can actually unlock the first two Contra games here. You will enjoy it about the same as you did the other games in the series, for better or worse.
39. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Dreamcast): Like most 2D fighting games that Capcom released in the later half of the 90s, this game is a masterpiece! The controls, the music, the roster, the stages, everything is just magical in this game. Despite all this, i still wouldn't rank it up there with my favorites in the series, but that is only because there are so many amazing games in the Street Fighter series.
40. Dementium: The Ward (DS): I was pretty excited about this game when I found it; a first person survival horror game on the DS, sign me up! What this game ended up being was a boring, repetitive corridor shooter with the same enemies, cheap bosses and broken gameplay. There is no narrative either, making you wonder who you are and why you are even in this haunted ward. Avoid this game.
41. Lightening Force (Genesis): An amazing shooter with an incredible soundtrack! There are occasional frame rate drops during some of the more hectic battles, but never anything that ruins the experience. Very fun!
42. Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SNES): This port had a time and a place at one time; it was for people who did not yet own a PS1 or Saturn, that wanted to play a new Street Fighter, but were willing to sacrifice most of the updated graphics, sound and gameplay. While far from unplayable, this game is a very, very watered down port, which has now made it to many consoles and can be experienced in arcade perfect or near arcade perfect quality for very cheap, meaning outside a collectors item there is no reason to own or play this game.
43. Kirby's Return to Dream Land (Wii): This game was pretty fun overall, especially since you can play with up to three other people cooperatively. The level design and difficulty leaves a little to be desired, however without spoiling anything, the end of the game, including the final bosses are totally worth getting to; you'll know what I mean when you get to them. A fun game and definitely worth checking out.
44. Sin and Punishment (Wii - Virtual Console): I played this game for the first time last year and I instantly fell in love with it. In fact, it was my favorite game I played last year. I decided to try out the Virtual Console release and just like the N64 version, it didn't disappoint! The story barley makes sense, but the gameplay, music, level design, everything is extremely good! Every time I play this game, I consider placing it in my top 10 games of all time, it is that good!