My take: top 5 Gamecube games
In no particular order...
1. Pikmin
2. Metroid Prime
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
5. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
First of all, for those of you that are Nintendo haters, I would like to point out the fact that the Big N has won Game of the Year for three of the last 4 years: Metroid Prime 2002, Zelda 2003, Resident Evil 4 2005.
Pikmin is simply one of the most unique games I've ever played, mostly because the whole real time strategy genre has been a tough one for me to grasp on the PC. In this game you've crash landed on a planet inhabited by all manner of creatures; among those are Pikmin, little flower-like creatures that when plucked from the ground, follow you around in your quest to find all the parts for your ship. These guys come in 3 flavors: red, the best fighters in the game and fireproof; yellow, smaller guys that are able to be thrown higher and carry bombs; and blue, the only ones with the ability to swim. For the rest of the game you're trying to navigate this world during the day to find all the parts of your ship. There is a good bit of trial and error here; you'll find yourself playing some days over and over again to finish with either one more part or more Pikmin (you'll lose quite a few in some battles).
Metroid Prime is the breakthrough game in the Metroid series - Samus Aran in full 3-D for the first time. If you're unfamiliar with the Metroid series, it's set in the future with the protagonist being Samus, an intergalactic bounty hunter. She - that's right, you're a chick - is constantly seeking out Metroids, little jellyfish looking globs that attack and suck the energy out of anything nearby. If you're unfamiliar with the Metroid series, check out Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo, the best of all side-scrolling shooters. A plethora of upgrades (new arm beams, missiles, bombs, grappling beam) later, you won't be disappointed.
Resident Evil 4 is actually the only member of the series I like - the others have been plagued by terrible camera issues. Those are definitely solved here; the camera remains over the shoulder of your character Leon, a former cop that's on an assignment to find the President's missing daughter. The plot twists and turns from there - let's just say many quasi-zombies are shot, weapons collected, fun is had. This is essentially a survival type game more so than a "shooter" (you can't strafe). There's a little role playing aspect to the weapons, too. You start out with a basic handgun that you can upgrade in terms of firepower, firing rate, reload speed, and capacity. You can also sell your weapons and other things you find to buy better guns; the debate could rage about what's best. My caution: this is a very mature game; lots of gory, very strong language (mostly in Spanish, but the English can get coarse, too), and several terrifying sequences.
If you have never played a Legend of Zelda game before, let me recommend starting with the original for the NES (also available on the PC for free here); after that, play the Super Nintendo Zelda: A Link to the Past; then finally, Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64/GC). If you just want to play everything, there was a Zelda II for NES and Zelda: Majora's Mask on the N64/GC; however, the former three would be the core curriculum for all things Zelda. Its adventure, puzzle-solving, RPG, and action all rolled in to a perfect bundle. I'll just leave it at that.
That leaves LOTR: Return of the King, the only game on my list that appeared on all three home consoles (RE4 did eventually make it on to the PS2, however the graphics suffered; it's slated to come to the PC shortly, though I doubt it will do great there). ROTK is a hack and slash with some RPG elements thrown in. As you fight your way through the game (which mimics the movie pretty well), your characters (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and others) earn experience points which can be used to buy new combos. Sure, you could probably get through the game without using most of them, but it sure makes it easier when you face the stronger foes to be able to execute them (it also looks way cooler). I love loading up the level when the army of Mordor is storming Minas Tirith and slaughtering all the Orcs that make it up the wall - a wonderful stress relief. BTW - the reason I prefer the GC version over Xbox or PS2 is because of the controls; they just make more sense to me.
1. Pikmin
2. Metroid Prime
3. Resident Evil 4
4. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
5. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
First of all, for those of you that are Nintendo haters, I would like to point out the fact that the Big N has won Game of the Year for three of the last 4 years: Metroid Prime 2002, Zelda 2003, Resident Evil 4 2005.
Pikmin is simply one of the most unique games I've ever played, mostly because the whole real time strategy genre has been a tough one for me to grasp on the PC. In this game you've crash landed on a planet inhabited by all manner of creatures; among those are Pikmin, little flower-like creatures that when plucked from the ground, follow you around in your quest to find all the parts for your ship. These guys come in 3 flavors: red, the best fighters in the game and fireproof; yellow, smaller guys that are able to be thrown higher and carry bombs; and blue, the only ones with the ability to swim. For the rest of the game you're trying to navigate this world during the day to find all the parts of your ship. There is a good bit of trial and error here; you'll find yourself playing some days over and over again to finish with either one more part or more Pikmin (you'll lose quite a few in some battles).
Metroid Prime is the breakthrough game in the Metroid series - Samus Aran in full 3-D for the first time. If you're unfamiliar with the Metroid series, it's set in the future with the protagonist being Samus, an intergalactic bounty hunter. She - that's right, you're a chick - is constantly seeking out Metroids, little jellyfish looking globs that attack and suck the energy out of anything nearby. If you're unfamiliar with the Metroid series, check out Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo, the best of all side-scrolling shooters. A plethora of upgrades (new arm beams, missiles, bombs, grappling beam) later, you won't be disappointed.
Resident Evil 4 is actually the only member of the series I like - the others have been plagued by terrible camera issues. Those are definitely solved here; the camera remains over the shoulder of your character Leon, a former cop that's on an assignment to find the President's missing daughter. The plot twists and turns from there - let's just say many quasi-zombies are shot, weapons collected, fun is had. This is essentially a survival type game more so than a "shooter" (you can't strafe). There's a little role playing aspect to the weapons, too. You start out with a basic handgun that you can upgrade in terms of firepower, firing rate, reload speed, and capacity. You can also sell your weapons and other things you find to buy better guns; the debate could rage about what's best. My caution: this is a very mature game; lots of gory, very strong language (mostly in Spanish, but the English can get coarse, too), and several terrifying sequences.
If you have never played a Legend of Zelda game before, let me recommend starting with the original for the NES (also available on the PC for free here); after that, play the Super Nintendo Zelda: A Link to the Past; then finally, Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64/GC). If you just want to play everything, there was a Zelda II for NES and Zelda: Majora's Mask on the N64/GC; however, the former three would be the core curriculum for all things Zelda. Its adventure, puzzle-solving, RPG, and action all rolled in to a perfect bundle. I'll just leave it at that.
That leaves LOTR: Return of the King, the only game on my list that appeared on all three home consoles (RE4 did eventually make it on to the PS2, however the graphics suffered; it's slated to come to the PC shortly, though I doubt it will do great there). ROTK is a hack and slash with some RPG elements thrown in. As you fight your way through the game (which mimics the movie pretty well), your characters (Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and others) earn experience points which can be used to buy new combos. Sure, you could probably get through the game without using most of them, but it sure makes it easier when you face the stronger foes to be able to execute them (it also looks way cooler). I love loading up the level when the army of Mordor is storming Minas Tirith and slaughtering all the Orcs that make it up the wall - a wonderful stress relief. BTW - the reason I prefer the GC version over Xbox or PS2 is because of the controls; they just make more sense to me.
posted by misawa at 7:45 AM
2 Comments:
I have no problems with Game Cube; I enjoy playing Lego Star Wars with my nephew when I'm visiting. But I like my XBox, though I prefer sports games like Madden. So I'm no help deciding if Doom is better than Halo or whatever.
I love my Xbox, too. There have been times I wished Nintendo would pull a Sega and get out of the hardware business and just make games. The idea of seeing Zelda or Metroid rendered in Xbox type graphics would be awesome.
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