For being one of the few games that had the balls to stand up and say and play what it wanted, this game is one of my personal favourites. Live on, Rockstar, live on.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Once upon a time, there was a hugely successful duo called Boon and Tobias. Mortal Kombat enthusiasts will know that this particular duo was employed not only as lead creators of Midway's hugely successful Mortal Kombat series, the names were actually reversed to form "Noob Saibot", a hugely popular shadow character available in some of the MK games. But then maybe Tobias died, maybe he absconded with his rightful earnings of being the only one who knew how to make a fucking fighting game, maybe he packed up and left because he was being harassed by Al Qaeda, we just don't know. Yet what we do know, is that once Tobias left, leaving Mr Ed Boon in charge of Midway (which isn't dissimilar to leaving a two year old in charge of a B2 Bomber carrying nuclear weapons) the games we once revered turned to shit.
Boon thought it would be a good idea to have Mortal Kombat themed Tetris. I rest my case. I hear he's also developing Kombat Kart, something rather similar to the luke warm Mario Kart. Yet while Tobias enjoyed a happy reign as lead designer at Midway, we at home enjoyed a rain of high quality games that lived on with us for years. Then came the self destruction. But with Tobias, the quality of his work culminated in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, with its kick-ass fighting action, new characters colliding with old, one button fatalities, brutalities, animalities and anything else, but with Boon, we could probably soon expect bestiality.
MK Trilogy played so well, there wasn't any conquest clutter to deal with, no stupid manufactured characters (Who the fuck is Bo-Rai-Cho?) and no 3D turn around arena game play. So, you can thank Boon, or Boob rather, for taking Midway, shitting on it, then stamping on it, then shitting on it again, then gladly handing us his shoes.
So I salute Tobias for developing what was previously known as a respectable gaming company, and I enjoy Mk Trilogy, one of his finest works to date.
Grand Theft Auto IV
The Playstation 3 ranking in again at an impressive bronze with its recently hyped game, "GTA IV". This makes Rockstars third appearance in our list, making this game company pretty damn prolific in terms of playability. Rockstar have always been the "sandbox" gamers, with such titles as any number of GTA's and the ever popular "Bully" or "Canis Canum Edit". In this instalment of the never tiring Grand Theft Auto series, we see East European Niko Bellic arrive in America, desperate for the realisation of the American Dream. What he finds is a capitalist nation of injustice, where those who have money are rewarded, and those without simply cannot live. A really quite superb tale of injustice and inequality.
Not only is the storyline expansive, branching and simply quite detailed and amazing, the game play far surpasses any other sandbox type's. Here you really see Liberty City come to life as a living, breathing Metropolis with leaving, breathing citizens. Take the pedestrians, of which there are so very many. Police will hang in front of police stations and doughnut shops, fire fighters will casually smoke cigars outside their stations and the riff-raff of society can generally be found in the poorer areas or simply at night time. If you're damaged, for example, hit by a car, citizens will be Good Samaritans and rush to your aid. Everyone and everything is alive in Liberty City, and this makes Grand Theft Auto IV simply one of the best games ever released on the Playstation console. I highly recommend you go out and buy this game, as it is quite simply one of the best games ever invented.
Dead Rising
However Dawn of the Dead-esque this game may be, Dead Rising is simply one of the greatest zombie games released today. Only available on the 360 (somewhat disappointingly) this game was available to a very limited market. Given a time frame of 72 hours and locked in a mall full of the living dead, you decide your fate. Discover what happened or simply try to survive? Help other survivors or fend for yourself?
The beauty of this game is that the choice is yours and it isn't simply stuck on a one track storyline, unlike other zombie games. Not only the unique game play, but the ability to turn anything into a zombie killing utensil brings a new and exciting aspect to the classic survival horror genre, with the ability to use anything from benches to coat hangers, from drills to hammers, and guns to swords. Simply try to survive or do your best to discover the truth. Not only all this, but the boss battles are both extremely challenging and satisfying, and somewhat terrifying to boot.
This is the makings of a great game, and I seriously suggest you go out and buy it.
Sim City 4
If any game lets you be God, this is it. Sculpt mountains, gouge valleys, trace rivers and assemble plateaus. Create a world imagined only by you, where you are God and ruler.
Assemble your ideal city, and imagine the possibilities. Imagine a world where the government is fascist with the freedom of the press, or capitalist without it. Govern with care and vision, and your reward will be a vibrant city coming to life under your very eyes.
You can literally spend hours in front of this game, constructing your very own utopia, or if you feel so inclined your dystopia. Not without its challenges, this is not a game for those who simply wish to throw buildings up and watch magic unfold. There is an enormous amount of micro-management involved, from setting funding, to maintaining safe roads, mass transit, terrorism, expansion, taxes, civil unrest and the classic recuperation from natural disasters (which you now have control over like never before). Wreak havoc upon your citizens in the form of a deadly tornado which only you control, let the floods begin or the lava flow, you decide your city's fate. If you truly feel like you have no control over anything you want, get this game. You will feel like God.
I definitely wish to impress upon you the need for this game, as it is one of the coolest, most well constructed games you will ever get on PC.
So that's it. If you don't have those games, you've probably failed as a human being.
