A few weeks ago, a hashtag rolled around social media, encouraging people to list their seven favorite games of all time. I figured I'd bring that here. So, what are your seven favorite games of all time, in order?
1. Kingdom Hearts II: My personal favorite game in the series, KH2 is was really ignited my love for Kingdom Hearts as a whole. It redefined how combat would work for the rest of the series, and I have never spent so much time with any other game. The game isn't perfect, and nostalgia certainly plays a hand in my affinity for the game, but it nonetheless is still my favorite.
2. The Last of Us: Truly a masterpiece, The Last of Us might be the most well made game I have ever played. The attention to detail and the writing are absolutely spectacular, and for weeks it was a game I could not stay away from.
3. Uncharted 4: Putting the games into a concrete order at this point was no easy task. I spent the first week of my summer locked in my room, lights off, completely absorbed in the world of Uncharted 4. It was a game that repeatedly took my breath away. I truly appreciate how balanced the number of combat scenarios were with the rest of the game, and how mechanically improved this game was compared to all of Naughty Dog's previous titles.
4. Journey: I had heard quite a lot about Journey before the first time I played it, but after sitting around one night, desperate for something new to play, I decided to pick up both Journey and Hotline Miami on a whim. I was completely wowed from beginning to end, and it is a game that I take time to revisit once a year. No game truly understands nonverbal storytelling and atmospheric storytelling the way that this one did.
5. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: Regardless of anyone's opinion on Call of Duty and what the franchise is, there's an element of grit and mechanical perfection found in few other games. CoD 4 truly has one of the greatest first person shooter campaigns in genre history, and it revolutionized multiplayer gaming as we know it today. It's impact on the genre of FPS cannot be understated.
6. Ratchet and Clank: I had played games almost as soon as I could walk, but Ratchet and Clank is one of the titles really kickstarted my current love for video games. It showed off a world full of color and friendliness, and while I wasn't able to beat it until later, it was the first in a franchise that I've stuck with for years.
7. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance: My second favorite game in my second favorite series, DDD added onto the series' gameplay in a way that hadn't been done since KH2 with Flowmotion. When it comes down to it, DDD is just plain fun, and I couldn't be happier to be getting my hands on a remastered version of it this December.
So, those are my favorite games of all time as it currently stands. It was harder to make than I thought, and I had to leave so many fantastic games out. These aren't necessarily all of the best games I have ever played, but they're my favorites nonetheless. Thoughts on my list? What's yours?
1. Kingdom Hearts II: My personal favorite game in the series, KH2 is was really ignited my love for Kingdom Hearts as a whole. It redefined how combat would work for the rest of the series, and I have never spent so much time with any other game. The game isn't perfect, and nostalgia certainly plays a hand in my affinity for the game, but it nonetheless is still my favorite.
2. The Last of Us: Truly a masterpiece, The Last of Us might be the most well made game I have ever played. The attention to detail and the writing are absolutely spectacular, and for weeks it was a game I could not stay away from.
3. Uncharted 4: Putting the games into a concrete order at this point was no easy task. I spent the first week of my summer locked in my room, lights off, completely absorbed in the world of Uncharted 4. It was a game that repeatedly took my breath away. I truly appreciate how balanced the number of combat scenarios were with the rest of the game, and how mechanically improved this game was compared to all of Naughty Dog's previous titles.
4. Journey: I had heard quite a lot about Journey before the first time I played it, but after sitting around one night, desperate for something new to play, I decided to pick up both Journey and Hotline Miami on a whim. I was completely wowed from beginning to end, and it is a game that I take time to revisit once a year. No game truly understands nonverbal storytelling and atmospheric storytelling the way that this one did.
5. Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare: Regardless of anyone's opinion on Call of Duty and what the franchise is, there's an element of grit and mechanical perfection found in few other games. CoD 4 truly has one of the greatest first person shooter campaigns in genre history, and it revolutionized multiplayer gaming as we know it today. It's impact on the genre of FPS cannot be understated.
6. Ratchet and Clank: I had played games almost as soon as I could walk, but Ratchet and Clank is one of the titles really kickstarted my current love for video games. It showed off a world full of color and friendliness, and while I wasn't able to beat it until later, it was the first in a franchise that I've stuck with for years.
7. Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance: My second favorite game in my second favorite series, DDD added onto the series' gameplay in a way that hadn't been done since KH2 with Flowmotion. When it comes down to it, DDD is just plain fun, and I couldn't be happier to be getting my hands on a remastered version of it this December.
So, those are my favorite games of all time as it currently stands. It was harder to make than I thought, and I had to leave so many fantastic games out. These aren't necessarily all of the best games I have ever played, but they're my favorites nonetheless. Thoughts on my list? What's yours?
), but it pretty much gets it right where it mattered to me (it's a Sora Donald Goofy game through and through, pure and true, something I've always longed for since the beginning of my KH fanaticism). It indeed feels odd to rank this so highly already in its four months of existence, in contrast to other games on this list that had months upon months upon years for my feelings regarding them to fully sink in. But KH3 just feels like the kind of game made for me, that much I already can tell. I can already tell, years from now, I will never tire of exploring The Caribbean with Donald and Goofy, diving underwater searching for dark mysterious caves or exploring lush jungle islands. Or tire or bringing out a choo-choo train to finish off a rock monster. Or tire of summoning a meteor shower alongside Donald. Or tire of watching Woody tell some anime pretty boy that he's a jerk and nobody loves him. Or tire of fighting a gigantic demonic wolf. Nor tire of summoning Ariel into battle (the first time in the franchise where I feel any incentive to use Summons beyond Tinkerbell in KH1, purely because they're fun!). You catch my drift, hopefully.