Celebration of a generation

[Paul3704]

Animal Crossing, Pikmin.

Halo.

GTA series, Ico.

[Plisken]

Dreamcast :

Shenmue I + II - easily my favourite 2 games for the system and a triumph in storytelling, immersion and beauty. Being amazed at watching the weather change and day changing in real time, to incredible fighting a mini games, the level of immersion has only been matched by 2 games since these, that's how good they were.

King Of Fighters '99 Evolution - this was my first SNK fighting game and started my obsession with all things SNK, a truly grand fighter with stunning depth bought up to polish by amazing 3D backgrounds the DC could muster. A brilliant soundtrack and rediculously competitive VS play made it a firm favourite for years to come.

Headhunter - Wasn't expecting a lot from this game but was truly unique at it's time - the bike segments were a refreshing change and the Robocop style humour struck a chord with me. Top visuals and an amazing soundtrack didn't do it any harm either.

Xbox:

Manhunt - As close to a John Carpenter game we'll ever get (no mention of Sentinel, you nerds!) which is enough for me. So yeah it was sick, twisted and brutal, but also very atmospheric and boasted great stealth gameplay.

Ninja Gaiden - 1 of the 2 games this generation to reel me in and not let go, NG is an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Amazing gameplay, hundreds of moves and combos/techniques to learn and stunning graphics, as someone said it really feels like a 16-bit game in modern graphics. A real showcase for the Xbox.

Rocky Legends - Although i feel like i'll be the only person championing this title, it really captures the spirit of the movies and is the most fun boxing engine to date. Stuff your soulless Fight Night, this game has fun gameplay in spades and an excellent 2player.

Red Dead Revolver - A supremely playable and enjoyable westen based shooter which brings genuinely new ideas to the tired 3rd person table. The gunplay is superb and although rarely, some purely wonderful art design shows through. The opening level for example is a beautiful looking stage .

Cube :

Resident Evil 4 - the 2nd game of this generation to really draw me in, i just beat it a few days ago and i have not been so engrossed in a title for a long time. The gameplay is consistently exciting, the puzzle/collect keys factor is down and the Shotgun to the Face is up, resulting in a much more visceral experience than other Survival Horror titles. Truly amazing , even astonoshing graphics , smooth as butter control method and a generous helping of extras make RE4 the best thing to come out of Capcom is years.

Viewtiful Joe - i'm sure everyone will agree this throwback to the 16bit days was as charming and fun as it could have possibly have been. Unforgiving difficulty , excellent character design and buckets of personality, how could Joe not be a winner.

PC:

Far Cry - a true stunner in every sense of the word that for me, even eclipsed both Doom 3 and Half Life 2 in the 'wowness' factor. A scale of which has never been seen before, truly breathtaking graphics, plenty of weapons, vehicles, and enemy variations, backed up by strong lead characters , fantastic ballisitics on all weapons, the ability to go about things how you want to, made it for me probably the finest PC game of the lasy 5 years.

Half Life 2 - not to discredit at all, can't say much about this title other than it is very,very good and needs to be played by every PC owner!

Call Of Duty - i'm not one for all these goddamn war games, but CoD's excellent multiplayer mode has kept me playing for almost a year. Great enviroments and a great selection of weapons.