I know, and I'm sorry! I'm late to the party on this one! I've been a busy guy and I apologize - let's just get right to it shall we?
5) Journey
The price of admission has probably scared of many with the game being only an hour, but this game pacts quite a wallop in that small amount of time. It's hard to explain Journey without giving away all the magic that happens within it, but, everybody should experience the game. Being online and interacting with the other players is handled in such a way that you feel like you created this simple relationship with this stranger, and you miss them when they're gone. The style is amazing, and the music is powerful. The soundtrack really sends you deep into the games emotion - trust me on this one, take this journey.
4) ZombiU
With Red Steel being on most people's minds, many would have thought this to be a flop for sure. However, this game was a fantastic launch piece for the WiiU not only showcasing how to handle some good stuff with the GamePad, but also giving us a great take on old school survival horror. The game has a great amount of tension, a simple and interesting story, and the fact that they borrow some ideas from Dark Souls is totally fine by me. This is easily one of my favorite games of it's genre, and I recommend at least giving it a shot - it's truly a great example on how to do horror well.
3) Forza Horizon
This game took me by surprise. The first time I saw it being shown off at E3 I was ready to write it off. Forza has always been a tough series to be involved with because of it's realistic approach, but at the same time that's why you appreciate the series. When seeing that it was going all "arcadey" and being set in an open world Colorado, I thought maybe they were just shoving some off season game out there. Got this game for a steal, and let me tell you - it's hard to put down. The game controls super great, the graphics are stunning, and the friendly competition is integrated into the game very well. Outside of the Rivals mode (that gets you racing to beat your friend's time on tracks) they have all sorts of little checkpoints and speed cameras to get a little high score leaderboard rush against your buddies. The open world part is fun, and finding the cars all around in barns and fixing them up is cool too. The whole idea comes together great, and the soundtrack is perfectly fitting. It might be one of the nicest soundtracks in terms of complimenting it's game.
2) The Witcher 2 - Assassins of Kings
This seems a little weird to put on here for some people I'm sure because of it being an old PC remake/port here, but I'm counting it. Witcher 2 was a game I wanted to play for a while before it came out on 360; I was even scared it might not make it given the fate of the White Wolf Edition of the first Witcher 360 port (it didn't make it guys). This game is one of my favorite action RPGs. The combat requires some know-how and you can utilize your items in combat to really help you out. The story was intriguing, the situations flowed well with your travels, and man, the decisions in this game were drastic. While the Witcher 2's decisions are more linear than say a Mass Effect or Dragon Age game, the outcomes of the situations are serious and really take the story to a whole new level. The game isn't afraid to be an adult either. It usually doesn't hide behind a lot of cheeky humor and it wont hide it's brutality (or all of it's lusty parts either). The game takes itself pretty seriously for the most part, and overall just a solid experience.
1) Mass Effect 3
I get it, you're mad. Mass Effect 3 is a great game - that's it. I was never one to think that the ending was bad, I was never one to think that the DLC ruined the game, and I honestly think it's the best of the 3. While I will always say that ME1 has the best music and feels the most Sci-Fi, ME2 probably has the most impacting moment for most (the suicide mission), and both do things great, ME3 overall just had it all down to me. Let me break down my thought pattern here. Mass Effect was a great game, but man did that shooting suck; and setting up all the weapon stuff was a hassle. Mass Effect 2 really fixed up the shooting and had some amazing moments with the Collectors getting on the Normandy and the Suicide Mission, but I always felt that it was odd that I could not play a characters mission to see if I even wanted them on my team - not enough options with that (especially after coming off of Dragon Age: Origins). A lot of people hated the streamlined RPG elements, but that never bothered me as much I guess. With Mass Effect 3, sure it is enhanced by having the characters and situations of ME2, everything was just cool. That game opened with some great stuff happening! Watching those Reapers hit Earth was nuts! Seeing them again on the Turian homeworld was even cooler! Overall just some cool stuff happening throughout that game. The mechanics even improved from ME2 and they even added in more of the RPG stuff that people wanted; a perfect blend of the streamlined approach of ME2 and the more customizable style of ME1. Wrapping up some of the fiction in the series was really cool too. Getting to see some trials with the Genophage, getting a taste of the Rachni, just seeing the universe of Mass Effect gets some closer and insight, it's cool. I know people hated the end, and there are a ton of theories - regardless of how you feel you know that was a solid game before that point all the way through. I know people think it's crazy that you are doing side missions when all life is dying, but it's not like everyone is not fighting and your out there trying to figure out how to end it all ya know? The moments leading up to the end of ME3 are just great too. Getting those final touching moments with your crew was fantastic, and that little moment with Liara at the end is still one of my favorite parts in the series. When comparing my outcomes with Doug even, wow were those drastic! I get that people are mad about the 3 choices at the end of the game, but Bioware is still trying to tell their story, and honestly, there are much much worse endings out there.
I'll end the rant here, because it's way too long haha.
I will do some honorable mentions here though -
Dragon's Dogma is a game that people should definitely give a shot. It's basically a Westernized Monster Hunter that goes with old school style mythological monsters. The classes are really cool and being able to sub job them is even better. Game honestly took my by surprise when I picked it up - and the story is insane when you beat it (as there isn't much throughout most of the game). The Pawn system is really cool too; letting you create a secondary hero to travel with you and compliment your abilities. You can even share said pawn with the world, and hire others as well! Good stuff!
I need to mention Halo 4 as well. Halo 4 is truly a fantastic game. Some of the best graphics I have seen on the 360 and it plays great. The multiplayer is still fun as usually, and they do some balancing stuff I find wonderful - especially with the class stuff and how the guns feel. There are 2 reasons it got beat out by Journey for my top 5 though. The new enemies and guns just felt like secondary Covenant and the maps need to be open in more modes in my opinion. Overall, while I feel they played it kind of safe in just making another solid Halo game, this is easily one of the best. I personally like Reach the most, but that's for story reasons along with having Firefight.
OK, I think I'm done now...
-Eddie
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