Welcome to the second part of my top games entry. Last time around we discussed games that have been in some way significant in terms of my gaming career. This second entry won't be the final one, because I wound up producing a hell of a lot more text than I thought I would, so I decided to make this a three-entry deal. Today, we focus on two out of the four games that I just plain like (the most). I don't think I have any surprises in store, though. Again, these are in no particular order of favourite-ness.
Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time series
Yeah, I should point out right now that three of these four games are in fact game series, for reasons which I will explain. Also, I want to emphasize here that the series in question is just the Sands of Time series of Prince of Persia, not the generic Prince of Persia semi-series it was based on nor the strange new semi-series that is being based off of it.
The reason this entry is a series is because I can't pick a single game from the trilogy (the Sands of Time, Warrior Within and Two Thrones) is because they're really all equally good. None of them are perfect, because every time a new game improved on the old, it also screwed up in one way or another. The reason I'm including this entry is because, quite simply put, this is the best and most innovative platforming game I've played. The platforming is cool and works well and is actually augmented by the series' iconic control over time.
The first game I played in the series was Warrior Within because I got it along with my graphics card (along with Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, which incidentally also got me started into a new series). I really liked it. That is to say I freaking loved it. I have lost all recollection of how many times I've played that game through. In a way I was lucky to enter the series here, because I my enjoyment of the gameplay itself wasn't marred by the much-criticized change in the tone of the game. While The Sands of Time was, slightly exaggeratingly, a fairytale adventure, Warrior Within tried to be more serious and mature. Not only was the subsequent change in tone very drastic, Warrior Within also overdid it pretty badly. While even I found the over-the-top grittiness and mature-ity-ness of Warrior Within a bit annoying, I found the Prince of the first game equally annoying because he was just such a wet noodle I couldn't stand him.
As the last statement suggested, I did eventually go on to play the Sands of Time. I bought it, played through, had a good time and I've never touched it since. I kept hearing how the first game had stronger platforming but I honestly can't stand by that argument. Warrior Within stands pretty much shoulder to shoulder in terms of the platforming mechanics and in fact comes through as winner when it comes to what the game does with the platforming.
The biggest fault of Sands of Time was the combat. It was pretty functional as such, but the problem is with how the game treated it. Instead of having small-to-medium scale fights seasoning the platforming along the way like Warrior Within wisely had, Sands of Time had very clearly separate fighting and platforming sections. It was platforming, then fighting, then platforming and then fighting, as opposed to platforming and fighting together. And in the end, the combat in Sands of Time was cumbersome and unenjoyable.
The final game, Two Thrones, seemed to fix everything. It toned down the grittiness and found a pleasant middle-ground between the two previous games and took the best of both worlds. Well, that's what it looked like. In the end it felt a lot like a bland version of Warrior Within, because it played like Warrior Within, but was less angsty. Yes, that was what we had hoped for, but along with the angst the game lost what I can only call panache and style. There wasn't anything really wrong with it, but it didn't feel the same.
In the end this remains one of the best game series ever, because it knows what it's doing and does it well and tended to add in some innovation while it was at it.
Mass Effect series
Using the umbrella term 'series' might be a bit misleading since the third one isn't out yet. But what the hell, I'll do this anyway. Once again, I'm including the whole series because I can't pick one over the other one or the not-yet-existing one. Like with our previous entry, both games have made improvements that were balanced by... de-provements?
On with the show. While Mass Effect is a series of shooter/RPG games the series here does not represent the best in either category. The reason I love Mass Effect and call it one of my favourite game series is storytelling. Mass Effect does not have the best story, but it does have the best storytelling I've seen. The dialogue is good, the voice-acting is good and the visual telling of the story (cinematography in terms of video games). The dialogue system in Mass Effect is amazing. Also, I repeat as I have many times before that Mass Effect has good, strong characters, something I'm very unused to in video games.
I won't spend a lot of time here comparing Mass Effects 1 and 2, because I did that a few weeks back in the blog entry concerning Mass Effect 2. In short, I enjoy them in equal amounts but for different reasons. What didn't change between the two games was the quality of storytelling. And that's what sets Mass Effect apart.
OK, another entry done. Tune in next week for the thrilling conclusion!
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