31. Goat Simulator – Riley
“I got sacrificed by a goat once”
I’m going to be straight up with you on this one, you either love these physics-based sandbox games, or you don’t. Goat Simulator made the formula fun and ridiculously absurd, and absurdist humour just tickles me in a way I cannot explain. Gallivanting around a city as a goat spreading all sorts of chaos with fun mutators that add to the madness just appeals to me in a visceral sense. If wacky, broken gameplay sounds funny to you, it’s worth a shot and is usually ridiculously cheap. There’s even a remake if you don’t feel like going back to a PS3 to play as a hell spawn goat, let the chaos consume you.
32. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag – Sean
“In a world without gold, we might have been heroes!”
I’ll come clean and say that I’ve never been a huge Assassin’s Creed fan. I have a distinct memory of buying AC2 on release, playing for a few hours, not really meshing with it and then returning it the very next day. (I got Arkham Asylum, Prototype and Fable 2 for it, which seemed a good trade), and didn’t return to the franchise for some time. Do you know what I do really like, though? Pirates. Pirates are cool. Well, the fictional ones anyway. I remember all the lyrics to the songs in Muppet Treasure Island and swear down that Dead Man’s Chest is the best POTC film, swear on me mum.
Taking the usual Assassin’s Creed fare of parkour, stalking targets and a bit of stabbing, then plonking them into a Caribbean pirate setting was a stroke of genius on Ubisoft’s part and I know this to be true due to the numerous comments I’ve seen where people say things along the lines of ‘I don’t really care about the assassin stuff but the pirate stuff is awesome!’ Though it’s got an admittedly high amount of annoying tailing missions and modern setting gameplay that usually comes with this series, it’s undeniable that the rest of the game does a damn fine job of scratching that yar har fiddly dee itch.
Whether it’s decking out your ship with fancy new weapons and engaging in chaotic ocean battles, sailing the calm surf singing along to sea shanties or diving under the surface for treasure, there’s a lot to love about Black Flag. Also, the protagonist is from Swansea. Like me!
33. Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed – Riley
“What happened to the love and peace? Why is the world so angry?“—Announcer
Quite a few racing games on this list, huh? Well, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is quite literally a perfect sequel. Taking what felt like a solid attempt at a kart racer, but polishing the gameplay, adding new traversal methods and upping the ante on the gameplay variety. Even from a racing perspective, this game feels smooth, polished and a joy to play, especially with how responsive the control feels. The weapon variety feels well-balanced, and the stages are massive in variety and feature memorable set pieces that feel spectacular to race through.
This game is tough, though; you’ll often find yourself hitting a wall in the campaign mode and not being able to progress without a ton of practice. This means some courses, characters and unlockables may be out of reach depending on your skill level. While I personally feel like Cross Worlds has eclipsed this entry, it’s still a very solid kart racer that is worth your time. Plus, it has AGES, so it has that going for it.
34. SingStar – Riley
“Anyone can be a star”
SingStar is more often associated with the PS2, but I firmly believe the PS3 is where this series shines brightest. Yes, this is a karaoke game, you sing along to your favourite songs for points and high scores. There’s nothing deeper than that, but for many, it became a party classic and a great get-together game. There are several entries on the PS3 but it has an incredibly unique advantage over other games on the system. If you insert a PS3 game, you can select an option and insert a PS2 game and then access all the songs from that disk too.
This means if you have a PS3 and a single PS3 SingStar game, you can freely play ANY same-region PS2 SingStar disc and access all of the songs. This kind of functionality is seldom seen on the PS3, making this a super unique use case, and arguably the best way to play the series.
35. Persona 5 – Riley
“Wherever you decide to be, that’s where you belong” – Ryuji Sakamoto
Yeah, I know Persona 5 Royal is the definitive way to experience this entry, and the vanilla entry is pretty much redundant. However, the original does have its perks that the Royal version lacks. For one, it’s a lot harder, as without the perks and quality of life from the Royal edition, you are left with far fewer options. The story feels more organic and really demonstrates how some of the new additions were really shoved into sections with dead air to pad out time. But, mostly, the more difficult trophy list is the biggest draw. With Royal, you simply need to beat the game and complete a few tasks, but not with vanilla.
Vanilla requires you to get every confidant up to rank 10, complete the Persona compendium and complete a new game plus run to defeat the game’s super boss. So, you could play this on PS4, but why not pull out one of the latest PS3 releases and take the harder route to a well-earned Platinum trophy? It’ll make you appreciate the quality of life from Royal a lot more, that’s for sure!
36. LEGO Harry Potter – Riley
“Yer a plastic wizard ‘arry!”
LEGO games are fantastic collectathons, with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean being notably excellent. Having said that, two titles hold a special place in my heart: Harry Potter. These games came before the LEGO voice acting change, meaning a lot of physical humour, goofy moments and implied storytelling. You can take control of every conceivable Harry Potter character and travel throughout all of Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.
This is a standard LEGO affair, so don’t expect anything too deep. But the story is wonderfully told, with music from the movies accompanying you at every turn for that wonderfully nostalgic feeling. I’d recommend playing them in order, but either title is a great time. Plus, these games are so old and so readily available on the second-hand market that a certain person won’t profit from you revisiting them! Win, win!
37. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Sean
“Has his luck finally run out?”
Naughty Dog took the wisecracking banter, platforming and beautiful vistas of Jak and Daxter, slapped them into a pair of jeans and shoved them face-first into a rollercoaster of an experience with the first Uncharted. Nathan Drake is a happy-go-lucky adventurer who has no qualms about mowing down hordes of faceless goons, because he’s just that kind of guy. I don’t really have anything bad to say about the first Uncharted; it’s just that Uncharted 2 was a lot better. The set pieces were jaw-dropping, the expanded cast was more memorable, the combat was tighter, and it has blue people in it.
38. Dark Souls – Sean
“Prepare to Die”
Dark Souls is known for being hard. There’s a reason ‘x is the Dark Souls of x’ was such a prevalent and rightfully lambasted quote during its popularity. Yes, Dark Souls is hard, but it’s so much more than that. Dark Souls is an experience, a deep dive into deceptively cavernous player expression that will have you scrambling for a replay the moment you see the credits start to roll.
Do you want to swing around a giant axe, mashing enemies with big damage numbers? Maybe you want to focus on nimble katanas and dance around your foes? Or do you want to be a glass cannon mage with the potential to one-shot bosses and other players alike? The choice is yours. I’ve replayed Dark Souls more times than any of my other personal entries on this list, and I still find myself returning to Lordran from time to time. As long as I can get that Black Knight Halberd to drop, it’s all good…
39. Darksiders – Kane
War, war never changes… his clothes. But he does get some new weapons.
I don’t think I ever asked for Zelda and God of War to have a baby and dress it in Blizzard’s hand-me-downs, but that’s exactly what we got with Darksiders, and it works.
Following the story of War, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, accused of starting the end of the world too early, you hack and slash your way through hordes of angels and demons that have taken over the Earth. After an opening section giving you a glimpse of his full powers, War is stripped of most power early on as part of his punishment. Now armed with just War’s base moveset and a demonic version of Navi talking in your ear, you’re let loose on a now-ruined Earth in search of who framed you and why.
Gameplay is a mix of original God of War with hack-and-slash combat, with the puzzle and item-based exploration of early 3D Zelda. It’s a mix that works surprisingly well and spawned a whole franchise worth of games.
40. Soul Calibur 2 HD Online – James
I, for one, am quite happy that this tale of souls and swords will be eternally retold.
What’s better than one of the greatest fighting games of all time? A HD version of one of the greatest fighting games of all time WITH two of the three platform-exclusive characters, plus online play! That’s what.
Released on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, Soul Calibur 2 HD is the only way to play the original with squeaky clean visuals in PAL regions. NTSC players can play the original in 720p if they have an original Xbox and a component cable, however, this feature was sadly dropped from PAL consoles because HD TV adoption wasn’t as widespread at the time of release. You get to play as both Heihachi from Tekken and Todd Mcfarlane’s Spawn. Unfortunately, The Legend of Zelda’s Link does not make an appearance for obvious reasons. Soul Calibur 2 was written about in the Gamecube article, so for a more thorough write-up I’d recommend looking there.
For something short and sweet, I will say that Soul Calibur 2 in general, is a 1v1 fighting game with circle strafing and with an actual block button. The Soul Calibur series is much more approachable than other fighters, with basic combos being easy to find and replicate, and yet more complicated combos being just in reach of the average player. I would say this is the best way to play Soul Calibur 2, unless you’re that saddened by not being able to play as Link.
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