Madden NFL 10

Uhm, hike? Hut? Hgghhh?

Source // PlayStation

There was a time, brief though it may have been, where I was actually interested in American Football. I'm not sure where it came from, but I suspect it had something to do with the Super Bowl being on the BBC and a demo of Madden NFL 11 for the PlayStation 3.

My trophy list would suggest I played it for at least a week in late 2010, but that's a little too late for this 1001 list. We need to go back just one yearly instalment to Madden NFL 10, which changed the game of videogame Handegg like nothing else.

Well, I mean, I guess. I've no idea what goes on in the world of American Football, even having briefly followed it, and you know what sports games are like - when was the defensive AI feature introduced, what changes did the career mode get, what was the game-breaking exploit in this one. I don't know, let's just hit the field and see what happens.

Killzone 2

"My people. Sons and Daughters of Helghan."

Source // MobyGames

There are an awful lot of components that go into a great game. Solid gameplay is an obvious bonus, but as technology has advanced, great stories, characters, and voice actors have made games shine, and film composers and orchestras have provided incredible soundscapes that can be recalled in an instant.

But there's another aspect that can make an otherwise excellent game fade over time if not done right, and that's worldbuilding and the aesthetics of what's on show. The reason I rate Front Mission 3 so highly is the look and feel of those big stompy mechs. I'm a fan of that aesthetic. Metal Gear Solid is also helped by its look and feel, but that game does have a whole load more going on besides them. Wipeout famously had a graphic design studio turn the game into the vibrant futuristic wonder that it is today.

However, in my opinion - though it's a tough call to make - there may well be no more aesthetically pleasing game, no better world to dive into, than the grungy, smoggy, near-future, WW2 analogy that is Killzone 2.

The first game of the series didn't grab my attention. That E3 teaser trailer and the subsequent gameplay footage that followed sure did. By the time you've played it, you too will know that Helghan belongs to the Helghast.

Left 4 Dead 2

Dude, haven't we been here before?

Less than a year after Left 4 Dead came Left 4 Dead 2, and there's probably some pun we could make about dealing with one group of zombies only to turn around and walk right into another, or that the dead aren't easy to kill, or that's always more where that came from.

I have a history of not liking it when this 1001 list says we need to play what are essentially identical games, especially sequels. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty is a sequel to Metal Gear Solid, but despite their similarities, you can find a whole bunch of reasons to put both forward as must-play titles. Halo 3 is a sequel to Halo 2, but we've got a harder time of things now, though 'finishing the fight' might be enough to sway it. Left 4 Dead 2 is a sequel to Left 4 Dead and it has, let's see... daylight, melee weapons, a few new monsters.

So who should we leave behind, this game or the first one?

inFAMOUS

"Yes, I'd like to schedule a package for delivery. Would it be possible to request a specific courier?"

Source // PlayStation

Comic book heroes come in many shapes and sizes, and they don't all have to be part of the Marvel or DC universes, as third-person zap 'em up inFAMOUS can demonstrate.

Courier Cole MacGrath awakens at the epicentre of an explosion that sees the city turned into a containment zone along the lines of something like Escape from New York, and the innocent civilians that are now stuck here fight amongst themselves for what resources remain.

You can help them out, or you can show them who's in charge. They do blame you for their problems. After all, you were the only survivor from the blast, and now you've got superpowers...

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey

It is a plane, blimey. I definitely need to shoot at it.

Source // PlayStation

It's a name you can't really forget, IL-2 Sturmovik. Who names a flight sim after a Soviet fighter plane anyway? Worked, though, I suppose. What better name could there be for a hardcore military simulator set in the skies of the Second World War than the harsh sounds of 'Sturmovik'?

A couple of years since I played IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 for this 1001 list (where I saw absolutely nothing of interest across multiple missions, then usually crashed), we've been told that the consoles also have a historic hardcore flight simulator worth checking out in the form of IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey.

Even that sounds friendlier and more welcoming, doesn't it? Birds of Prey. We like birds. Will we manage to fly them, though? Will we actually see some action?

Halo Wars

"You got Halo in my RTS." "You got RTS in my Halo..."

Source // Xbox

The second Halo spin-off the 1001 list throws our way is a real-time strategy game that aims to work on the consoles as well as Halo made first-person shooters work on them. That is to say, it's going to be dumbed down a little and fiddly to control precisely, but Halo Wars will nonetheless give you an action-packed time as you command the UNSC forces against all-comers from your birds-eye vantage point in the sky.

RTS games can be hit and miss, but I'd be lying if I wasn't looking forward to seeing what this one was about in detail. I'd heard of it, but that was about it. Now it's time to hear some more.

Machinarium

¯\_d[o_0]b_/¯

Source // Steam

Long, long ago, coincidentally around the time of this next game's release, I owned a MacBook. I then owned a MacBook Pro. One of those two devices, for a short time, had a copy of Machinarium on it, a point and click game about a little robot looking for love.

I have absolutely no idea how I came to have Machinarium. None whatsoever. I didn't like point and click adventures, and gaming on a Mac just hadn't taken off, outside of iOS devices at least, though I do remember getting Steam when it launched on the platform...

Anyway, what is immediately obvious about Machinarium is that it doesn't look like any other game you've played, does it? You might even think it was made for the Mac, but it wasn't, because it's on everything nowadays, and it's still as challenging.

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

"By the trees! Demons sneaking through our woods unnoticed?"

The Might & Magic series is completely alien to me. I can guess what it's about, of course - fantasy, magic, probably competed with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and untold numbers of other RPGs that have far more entries in the series than is sensible, but I've always viewed it as 'cheap', as though it were a store-brand version of those more successful series.

One handheld spinoff, first emerging on the Nintendo DS and then sweeping over to iOS and Android and then consoles and computers, serves as the sole Might & Magic entry on the 1001 list, a puzzle RPG by the name of Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Is this an entry point to the series, or merely an entertaining off-shoot to occupy your hands on a commute?

Halo 3: ODST

"You know the music, time to dance."

Source // MobyGames

Given the sheer dominance of the IP, it was an inevitability that there would be some sort of spin-off set in the Halo universe. As it happens, there are a couple, and we'll get to the second in a very short while, but up first is the spin-off that retains the first-person shooting you're familiar with, and a story you very much aren't.

Halo 3: ODST grew too big and bold to be a Halo 3 DLC, and I'm informed that it is set during the events of Halo 2, so good luck trying to work out where any of this fits if, like me, you're not a huge Halo fan and haven't completed any of the main games.

Still, the fact that it doesn't follow ol' Chief again allows the formula to be shaken up and made into something different. Something worth playing? Let's stop waffling and start finding out.

Guitar Hero: Metallica

Off to Never-Never land.

Source // Nintendo

I couldn't tell you a single song that Metallica has written. Well, there's Enter Sandman, but I only know that from ECW, and wouldn't have been able to tell you that it was a Metallica track until I looked it up just now.

I am, quite simply, not the target audience for Guitar Hero: Metallica, though it does have the odd offering from much more recognizable bands should you require a change of... musicians?

Look, you know the drill. I don't have the kit, I don't have the desire, I'm not going to be saying a whole lot about this game, and I'm probably going to slag off Metallica, so let's all just ignore this one and move on.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

"The city is out there for the taking, just waiting for an enterprising man like myself, and you're making penile jokes."

We're not finished with Grand Theft Auto just yet, but we are taking a bit of an unexpected departure to the handhelds of the day, with a callback to the top-down GTA's of yesteryear, in a story set very much in the thick of the GTA IV present that we've seen so much of.

When I said Liberty City is full of stories, I meant it, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars follows the criminal (obviously) life of Triad member Huang Lee, returning to the city to avenge his father's murder, and whatever other shenanigans he'll inevitably become embroiled in for various criminal enterprises.

It might look like a step down from Episodes of Liberty City, but this little package can still pack a punch.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony

"I should be sent to prison, shouldn't I?"

As I'm sure you know, you can't have a game called Episodes from Liberty City without a second episode, and The Ballad of Gay Tony has, according to some, gone down as one of the greatest GTA games of all time. For a shorter, more episodic experience, what does that say about just how well crafted a piece of entertainment this is?

Club owner "Gay" Tony Prince is borrowing money from the wrong people, and his business partner and bodyguard Luis Fernando Lopez is the man to solve all his problems, of which there are many, and they are bonkers. The kind of bonkers that only a GTA game can offer.

Let's hit the streets of Liberty City one more time to see them under the glitz and glamour of the neon lights of the night.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

"Just say the word, sugar, and we'll ride off into the sunset."

You must be doing something right if episodic downloadable content for a game that was already certain to be included on a must-play games list is, itself, a must-play game. That's exactly what Rockstar did, not once, but twice with Episodes from Liberty City, two new stories for Grand Theft Auto IV, the first of which is The Lost and Damned.

Johnny Klebitz leads the Lost MC in the absence of its president Billy Grey, and the two are not quite seeing eye-to-eye on how it ought to be run, and when a game is set in Liberty City, you just know that means something violent and illegal is about to occur.

Saddle up and get ready to experience an even grungier side of an already pretty miserable city.

FIFA 10

"How big can soccer get?"

Source // Giant Bomb

I must admit to being a little perplexed by the lack of FIFA on this 1001 list. The tug of war between it and Pro Evolution Soccer should surely have been in full swing for several years now, but as the end of the list draws near it is FIFA 10 that is the one and only FIFA video game we must play.

Why? Apparently, this is the game that finally knocked PES off its perch. Hmm. Let's have a look for ourselves.

Grand Slam Tennis

You cannot be serious.

Source // EA

Motion controls and a tennis game were such an obvious pairing that Nintendo themselves made sure to include the sport in a few Wii titles of theirs, but the addition of the Wii MotionPlus controller meant even more accuracy in terms of what inputs could be captured and used in a game.

And so EA sought to capitalise on it all with Grand Slam Tennis a cartoony looking but deadly serious simulation of tennis, and all the spins and slices your backhands can manage. Do I know what a spin or a slice is? Have you not seen how many tennis games the 1001 list has seen me suffer through already?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

"There's no honourable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in CoD. Except its ending." - Abraham Lincoln, probably.

Modern Warfare was quite the hit for Call of Duty fans. Overnight, the first-person shooter became something else entirely, an action-packed romp through the world of today, cranked up to extremes found only  - we hope - in cinema.

A sequel was inevitable, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the first direct story sequel in the CoD series up to this point. What was the story about, again? Was it terrorists or Russians? Both? I can never really remember what goes on in CoD, owing to the amount of strawberry jam I see on my screen...

Let's try and work out what's going on this time out.

Fuel

You can climb those mountains.

Source // MobyGames

The Earth is pretty darn big, isn't it? Compared to people, I mean. There's an awful lot of land out there, and several video games aim to capture that kind of scale with huge maps for players to run across, drive through, and explore in whatever fashion they like.

Most, however, stop after a reasonable distance. A city. An island. A fantasy countryside. A fictionalised representation of America. Fuel didn't stop until more than 5,500 square miles had whizzed by, and it's not a sprawling fantasy action RPG, but a post-apocalyptic racer.

A tad ambitious, no?

geoDefense Swarm

Another one?

Source // Giant Bomb

I genuinely thought we'd seen all the Tower Defense genre had to offer. The 1001 list was adamant we saw a whole bunch of them, but once you've seen one, you've seen them all, no? What could geoDefense Swarm possibly add that we've not yet come across?

Neon colours? Is that it?

Football Manager 2010

Let's be having you?

Football. What a sport.

I'd say I follow it, but following requires a bit of effort. I'd say I'm a fan, but I don't go around parading my allegiances anywhere, even if it's perfectly fine to support Liverpool these days (or perhaps was, until they started playing like the Liverpool I grew up with - losing).

I've been to very few live matches mostly because of having absolutely no desire to go. You get a better view at home, in the warm, away from the racists who think their own team's players are absolute dog-shite, what are you doing, you pillock, my nan could have scored from there.

Football fans who think they could do a better job than the players on the pitch, and especially the manager on the touchline, are just the worst. I'm sorry, but you are. Luckily for you, though, Football Manager 2010 exists so that you can have a go at being the boss in the comfort of your own home.

Please. Only have a go in your own home.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

"You have a date with destiny, Sergeant Becket. Let's not keep her waiting."

It's not the best of screenshots to give you a sense of what F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin is all about, is it? Truth be told, even knowing what to expect after having played a bit of the first F.E.A.R. thanks to this 1001 list, this is still too hands-on a game to worry about grabbing screenshots in the middle of it, my attention is too focused on what is getting chucked my way that I simply can't provide you with anything that looks nice and composed.

So live with it. Just imagine that you, too, are in a dark and spooky first-person shooter that follows on from the psychological horrors of the first game and see how you fare.

Let's try and make some sense of it, though.

Flower

"I am a petal on the wind; watch how I soar."

Source // PlayStation

First, there was flOw, then there was Flower. What a journey these games take you on, eh? From the microscopic life in the seas to the very nature of a gentle breeze, rolling across a field and lifting up your spirits.

Flower is not the kind of game that will challenge you to the point of frustration. It's barely got any challenge at all, so it should be the perfect game to sit back and relax with, and put the motion controls inside the Sixaxis controller to use.

Noby Noby Boy

Carefree stretching.

Source // Giant Bomb

I can't remember where I was when Noby Noby Boy was announced to the world, but I'm sure I said "What?" a few times during the presentation. What is this nonsense? What is going on? What is the point in playing this game?

Is it a game, or is it interactive art? Should I take a punt on it? Something - presumably the cheap price of entry - got me to check out Noby Noby Boy first hand, and you probably do need to try and do that for yourselves, and we're about to see why.

Flight Control

Ground Control to Major Disaster, come in, Major Disaster...

I have no idea what it's like to be an air traffic controller. I would hope that air travel across the world is a nice and organized affair, where planes stick to their predefined approaches to the runway, and the pilots are capable of thinking for themselves if needed.

Basically, I hope it's a lot easier and less stressful than the mobile game that is Flight Control, a little game about juggling aircraft that very quickly spirals out of control...

Let's see how many happy landings we can get in this one.

Crayon Physics Deluxe

This should work. On paper...

Physics. My worst enemy? Probably not. No, of course not. Plastic instruments are my worst enemy from this 1001 list. Physics-based puzzles are a step or two above, sometimes working well for me, sometimes not.

I often have to go back to the drawing board on many occasions when struggling to work out a solution to a physics-based problem. In Crayon Physics Deluxe, everything is that drawing board. Scribble a ramp and you've got a ramp. A makeshift golf club on a pivot point and gravity will swing that sucker in what you hope is a useful manner.

Let's put it to the test, shall we?

Empire: Total War

"History repeats itself because no one was listening the first time."

This is it, the last chance for a Total War title to impress me, and if the cover is anything to go by, it has a damn good chance. The era of armies lining up in fields and marching towards each other as though war were a noble game is coming to an end. Troops have firearms of their own, artillery is more accurate, and land is no longer the only environment you need to keep on top of.

It is the age of empires, and Empire: Total War puts you in the driving seat of another grand army or two for you to hurl across a field towards your enemy. Have we learned enough to actually know what to do with all these units yet? Will the management sim stuff continue to get in the way?

I hope not, because this is a period of history I'm a little drawn to, and we're about to command our own ships of the line.

Dragon Age: Origins

"Before us stands the Darkspawn horde. Gaze upon them now, but fear them not!"

The BioWare RPG. Baldur's Gate, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Mass Effect. Even the 'smaller' projects that the wider world won't remember, like Jade Empire, show off such a devotion to the genre and a focus on building new worlds that they are deserving of a spot on the 1001 list.

It should come as no surprise that there is yet another to add to that list, a darker generic fantasy that puts the sex back in... fantasy? I have no idea where that sentence was going. Let's just go back to the start in Dragon Age: Origins.

The House of the Dead: Overkill

"What does a brother have to do to pacify a bitch!?"

Source // PlayStation

Usually, video games on this 1001 list fall into one of two broad camps, those that I have played already and those that I haven't. I mean, that's pretty much a given and not worth talking about, but what is worth talking about is that I have played The House of the Dead: Overkill, albeit in the form of The Typing of the Dead: Overkill, the closest I could get to playing The Typing of the Dead.

Now it's time for me to actually play the game that typing spin-off was based on, The House of the Dead: Overkill, which is an added extra in The Typing of the Dead: Overkill.

Confused yet? Let's wade through these mutants and see if we can work out what's going on.