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BEHOLD. The first meme I have ever done. This seemed like fun, though, and allowed me to take a break from homework for a while to reminisce on my roots - you know, my reasons for wanting to enter the game industry in the first place.

So here they are - in no particular order - my top 10 favorite games of all time! Starting from top left and concluding at bottom right:

1. Psychonauts - Remember, these are not necessarily ranked in order, but if I had to pick a favorite game of all time I'm pretty sure it'd be Psychonauts. I remember the first time I played it, too. My roommate back in Boston had hacked his XBox, and one day he downloaded this game. It looked kinda wonky at first - at the time I was almost exclusively into Japanese titles like the FF series - but after my roommate kept insisting how good the game was, I finally caved and gave it a shot, if for no other reason than to shut him up. I was blown away. The art style grew on me, and now I love it. And not only that, but the game was fun to play, and addictive, and had GOOD WRITING AND VOICE ACTING (a quality that is harder to come by in games these days). Every little detail was thought of, too: the way every aspect of the game mechanics made sense in the context of the story; all the notes up on the camp bulletin board that you could read through; all the well maintained side-stories that gave the characters depth. This game has it all, and I have yet to see a game to this day that has nailed every aspect the way Psychonauts has.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I know. Some of you may say this is cliche, but I don't care. I feel FFVII suffers from the same dilemma as popular religion: the game itself is good, but it's followers and future iterations have put a bad taste in the mouths of a great many people. However, I do not think this is enough to condemn the game. Final Fantasy VII is another all-around success. The story was immersive and captivating, the characters were well developed, and the music was amazing and lent itself very well to the mood of the game. I actually cared about the characters in this game, and they all seemed to be driven by believable motivations, which I believe is a quality lacking in modern Square titles.

3. Street Fighter II - The great grand-daddy of fighting games. It was the first game I ever beat at an arcade. I pumped so many quarters into that machine, they could've funded an impoverished third world country. And let's face it, Street Fighter is, and has always been, WAY better than Mortal Kombat.

4. Metal Gear Solid - This game single-handedly spawned the genre of Tactical Espionage. The story was well written, and the characters are reminiscent of classic films decades old like the Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape. And Snake? What a badass.

5. Shadow of the Colossus - Easily the best looking game on the PS2. Anyone who says video games can't be art obviously hasn't played this game yet. The mood of the game - loneliness, isolation, and somber beauty - was captured perfectly through the environment and game play. Your path as the hero through the game seems small and simple when you think about it, but when playing it takes on the air of a epic from Greek mythology.

6. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Call me a wuss if you will, but I was so sad at the end of this game. For those who haven't played it (where have you been??), I won't give anything away, but there's something to be said about a game from the GameBoy era that could illicit such an emotional response from me. There was so much stuff to do in the world that I actually became invested in the fate of its inhabitants. And, as with most Zelda games, the dungeons were well designed and incredibly fun to play.

7. Bioshock - Never before, and never since, have I seen a first person shooter with as much depth and substance as Bioshock. I remember moments where I would be playing the game and then, all of a sudden, duck behind a wall and stay perfectly silent while straining to hear the faint, eerie, rumbling sounds of a Big Daddy. The ambiance and visual aesthetics were perfectly captured, and what a twist! If you haven't already, you should play it... would you kindly?

8. Final Fantasy Tactics - I could play this game forever. I think a large part of the reason I like this game is because I like chess, and essentially this game is like a badass, more beautiful version of chess with a wider variety of pieces, interchangeable boards, and a well written story to back it up. This game was so good, in fact, it made it especially heartbreaking to see how FFXII turned out.

9. X-Men Arcade - If ever I was at an arcade with 2 or more friends, you better believe we were playing this game. TO THIS DAY I have never seen the end. I cannot wait for it to get released on XBox Live Arcade so I can download the shit out of it and force my friends to ignore their homework and help me beat it. P.S.: dibs on Gambit.

10. Final Fantasy VI - Three FF titles on one list? You'll have to forgive me, but it would be a crime to leave this one out. There's a lot of arguments over which Final Fantasy game in the series is the best, but no matter who is arguing there's always someone voting for FFVI. As with FFVII, this is no coincidence. It takes balls to kill off characters in your game, but to put the world through an apocalypse? Wow. That's straight street, Square. Respect. Final Fantasy VI embodies the golden age of Square, a time where you could rely on them to deliver a great title with hours upon hours of entertainment. It's titles like FFVI that made Square a household name for RPG fans, despite the fact that their newer titles seem to be taking a turn of a George-Lucas-like nature.

Wow. Sorry I wrote so much, but I love talking about games. This was fun and you guys should do it too!

Description
BEHOLD. The first meme I have ever done. This seemed like fun, though, and allowed me to take a break from homework for a while to reminisce on my roots - you know, my reasons for wanting to enter the game industry in the first place.

So here they are - in no particular order - my top 10 favorite games of all time! Starting from top left and concluding at bottom right:

1. Psychonauts - Remember, these are not necessarily ranked in order, but if I had to pick a favorite game of all time I'm pretty sure it'd be Psychonauts. I remember the first time I played it, too. My roommate back in Boston had hacked his XBox, and one day he downloaded this game. It looked kinda wonky at first - at the time I was almost exclusively into Japanese titles like the FF series - but after my roommate kept insisting how good the game was, I finally caved and gave it a shot, if for no other reason than to shut him up. I was blown away. The art style grew on me, and now I love it. And not only that, but the game was fun to play, and addictive, and had GOOD WRITING AND VOICE ACTING (a quality that is harder to come by in games these days). Every little detail was thought of, too: the way every aspect of the game mechanics made sense in the context of the story; all the notes up on the camp bulletin board that you could read through; all the well maintained side-stories that gave the characters depth. This game has it all, and I have yet to see a game to this day that has nailed every aspect the way Psychonauts has.

2. Final Fantasy VII - I know. Some of you may say this is cliche, but I don't care. I feel FFVII suffers from the same dilemma as popular religion: the game itself is good, but it's followers and future iterations have put a bad taste in the mouths of a great many people. However, I do not think this is enough to condemn the game. Final Fantasy VII is another all-around success. The story was immersive and captivating, the characters were well developed, and the music was amazing and lent itself very well to the mood of the game. I actually cared about the characters in this game, and they all seemed to be driven by believable motivations, which I believe is a quality lacking in modern Square titles.

3. Street Fighter II - The great grand-daddy of fighting games. It was the first game I ever beat at an arcade. I pumped so many quarters into that machine, they could've funded an impoverished third world country. And let's face it, Street Fighter is, and has always been, WAY better than Mortal Kombat.

4. Metal Gear Solid - This game single-handedly spawned the genre of Tactical Espionage. The story was well written, and the characters are reminiscent of classic films decades old like the Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape. And Snake? What a badass.

5. Shadow of the Colossus - Easily the best looking game on the PS2. Anyone who says video games can't be art obviously hasn't played this game yet. The mood of the game - loneliness, isolation, and somber beauty - was captured perfectly through the environment and game play. Your path as the hero through the game seems small and simple when you think about it, but when playing it takes on the air of a epic from Greek mythology.

6. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Call me a wuss if you will, but I was so sad at the end of this game. For those who haven't played it (where have you been??), I won't give anything away, but there's something to be said about a game from the GameBoy era that could illicit such an emotional response from me. There was so much stuff to do in the world that I actually became invested in the fate of its inhabitants. And, as with most Zelda games, the dungeons were well designed and incredibly fun to play.

7. Bioshock - Never before, and never since, have I seen a first person shooter with as much depth and substance as Bioshock. I remember moments where I would be playing the game and then, all of a sudden, duck behind a wall and stay perfectly silent while straining to hear the faint, eerie, rumbling sounds of a Big Daddy. The ambiance and visual aesthetics were perfectly captured, and what a twist! If you haven't already, you should play it... would you kindly?

8. Final Fantasy Tactics - I could play this game forever. I think a large part of the reason I like this game is because I like chess, and essentially this game is like a badass, more beautiful version of chess with a wider variety of pieces, interchangeable boards, and a well written story to back it up. This game was so good, in fact, it made it especially heartbreaking to see how FFXII turned out.

9. X-Men Arcade - If ever I was at an arcade with 2 or more friends, you better believe we were playing this game. TO THIS DAY I have never seen the end. I cannot wait for it to get released on XBox Live Arcade so I can download the shit out of it and force my friends to ignore their homework and help me beat it. P.S.: dibs on Gambit.

10. Final Fantasy VI - Three FF titles on one list? You'll have to forgive me, but it would be a crime to leave this one out. There's a lot of arguments over which Final Fantasy game in the series is the best, but no matter who is arguing there's always someone voting for FFVI. As with FFVII, this is no coincidence. It takes balls to kill off characters in your game, but to put the world through an apocalypse? Wow. That's straight street, Square. Respect. Final Fantasy VI embodies the golden age of Square, a time where you could rely on them to deliver a great title with hours upon hours of entertainment. It's titles like FFVI that made Square a household name for RPG fans, despite the fact that their newer titles seem to be taking a turn of a George-Lucas-like nature.

Wow. Sorry I wrote so much, but I love talking about games. This was fun and you guys should do it too!