RuneScape

Just a few seconds...

The MMORPG. Will I ever be interested in this genre? The next title to see if it can wow me is RuneScape. The only thing I know about RuneScape is that you ought to run and escape it. Thanks, Internet. Real helpful.

You are whoever you want to be in a simple, graphical, multi-user dungeon. The text adventures of the past are now the graphical adventures of the future in this free to play, no download needed, world of questing with your friends and a whole load of strangers too.

It's been some 18 years since its release at the time of writing, so playing it is a little different nowadays. RuneScape Classic was available until around this time last year, before being shut down for good, which leaves me with the closest playable version of the original game, Old School RuneScape, recreating the game from around 2007. It'll do. After all, I don't expect to be spending ten years in this game catching up with the community...

Golden Sun

"Please, dear, wake up."

When you finally take Advance Wars out of your Game Boy Advance, you might wonder what else you can put in instead. According to the 1001 list, old school RPG Golden Sun is worth a look. Well, more than a look, it's a must-play video game. I wonder why that is.

I've never heard of the series before, so I've no idea what I'm in for. There's no better way to find out than by diving right in.

Advance Wars

"What?!? Even my medium tanks are defeated??? THAT NELL!!!"

Source // MobyGames

Help. I started playing Advance Wars after lunch, and now four hours have gone by, and I'm still playing it. It's just... it's quite good this. Oh, when will I find the time to play this?

I had a Game Boy Advance. I waited until the SP model to get one, but I got one, and it was a great little handheld. Why I never picked up Advance Wars for it is anyone's guess because this cartoony turn-based tactics game has devoured my attention this afternoon. I guess I just had absolutely no knowledge about GBA games back in the day unless I knew I wanted to own something.

Well, now I only want to play Advance Wars. Why is that?

Pikmin

"I am compelled - I must approach it and press A..."

Do you know what the RTS genre has been missing? Dopey-looking living carrots. Enter the saviour of the RTS, Pikmin.

Now, I joke, to be clear, but the GameCube wasn't exactly the destination console for the genre as it was. No, to get people - kids - interested in its mechanics, a game would have to look at the genre from another angle entirely, and space gardening is perhaps as strange an angle as you could get away with.

What on Earth is this, then?

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis

"2! ENGAGE! Soldier."

The military simulator is, as one might expect, not the easiest of genres to get into as a beginner. Demanding from the offset and fueled by realism, these games are nonetheless somewhat successful, spawning few imitators but a great many community-made mods and custom maps. The genre's success today is arguably thanks to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.

The year is 1985, and your humdrum existence in the US military is about to become an awful lot more dangerous, as you'll face the business end of all kinds of guns in this open-world tactical shooter.

I don't expect to get very far through this one...

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

"So all I have to do is push the Action button in front of the computer once I have the pictures, right?"

Source // PlayStation

I absolutely loved going back through Metal Gear Solid when it appeared on the 1001 list, so you might be able to guess how much I was looking forward to getting around to the PlayStation 2 sequel, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

While the die-hard fans would go on to buy Zone of the Enders to play the demo, I couldn't justify buying an entire game I wasn't sure of to play just a snippet of a game I most definitely did want. Instead, I had a VHS of that E3 trailer, and then a magazine demo finally arrived, and then magazine article after magazine article kept my interest until the game finally released.

Delayed in Europe, we got a bonus DVD as means of an apology, full of behind the scenes, making of stuff. I gave it its own case, complete with homemade box art. I think it may even have been done in Paint. If not, then Jasc PaintShop Pro.

The point is, I was quite a fan of MGS, and when I was done with MGS2, you can bet that I also bought MGS2: Substance when it came out, complete with gameplay tweaks and extra modes, including skateboarding. Madness.

So. Having not played it in a while, can I still get through the demo?

Ikaruga

We'll meet again someday soon.

The shoot 'em up genre may not grab everyone's attention, but it still manages to see some stellar-looking video game releases that put up quite the challenge for newcomers and veterans alike. The latest in the long list of entries on this 1001 list is Ikaruga, a multiplatform offering whose name I'm sure I know but whose content I certainly don't. Apart from ships and bullets, I suppose.

I'm not too hot on shmups, so let's see how far my credits will take me.

Maximo: Ghosts to Glory

"If there's no more dead, then I'm out of a job. Now go!"

The dead rise from the underworld. Royalty needs saving. Your underwear remains your last line of defence, as the Ghosts 'n Goblins series enters the third dimension in Maximo: Ghosts to Glory.

The jump from two dimensions to three is not always a pleasant one, but some games can pull it off. A hack and slashy platformer shouldn't have too many troubles in this generation, but will we? It is, after all, a homage to the no-nonsense, high difficulty Ghosts 'n Goblins, and I didn't get too far through that...

Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

"Even the rocks do not recall."

Source // IMDb

Mario vs Sonic. FIFA vs PES. Mario Kart vs Crash Team Racing. Similar games divide players into defending one or the other, often til death. Well, not often til death, but gamers will argue nonstop over which is the better of the two, and will rarely switch their stance.

Ratchet & Clank vs Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was a popular one, with each cartoony platformer making a home on the PlayStation 2, and seeing a full trilogy emerge before the next generation of consoles would appear. But which was better?

I was firmly in camp Ratchet, having only played a brief demo for Jak & Daxter before making my choice. And I don't really know why I chose Ratchet over Jak. Probably the setting. Maybe the fact that Ratchet spoke and Jak didn't. Who knows. I haven't gone back to see what the other camp were playing ever, so this will be interesting, and I am looking forward to it.

Luigi's Mansion

"You made my dark and stormy night!"

For the longest time, I thought the closest I'd get to playing Luigi's Mansion would be its arcade release, a decade or so after the release of the twin-stick Ghost-capturing GameCube adventure that found its way onto the 1001 list. Thanks to grabbing a disc from somewhere, though, I'm able to play it in the comfort of my own home, as Nintendo originally intended.

For once, the bigger, lankier Mario sibling, Luigi, gets the starring role as he turns cowardly hero to save Mario from the clutches of spooky ghosts. Armed with a vacuum cleaner, because that's funny.

Do we have the courage to venture into Luigi's Mansion?