No sponsorship, just convenient branding for The 551/1001 Milestone Awards, the first look at games in the second half of this monstrously large list of video games.
It's 2003, or thereabouts, and the PlayStation 2 continues to dominate my memories of the time. That's not to say it's the only source for great games, as the GameCube and even Xbox have got something to show off too, and we can't forget the absolute charge that the Game Boy Advance has been on of late.
As more and more familiar games come into view, ranking them in any significant way becomes that little bit harder. Where does a favourite PS2 title rank against the best games of history? Can anything compare to the classics? Will any game look better than The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past?
Let's plunge into the last fifty games to find out. Everything from Dungeon Siege to Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town could be in with a shout here, but most will have to be content with winning nothing.
The first bunch of titles are winners in one sense, but nobody really wants to be part of The Indifferent 5, games that are just there for those that want them, I suppose. They in, in no particular order:
Jet Set Radio Future, Smilebit
Dungeon Siege, Gas Powered Games
Panzer Dragoon Orta, Smilebit,
GROW, On
Amplitude, Harmonix
Congrats?
Still, they're far better than our next winner. Nobody wants to be the answer to the question What Was That 1 Even Put On The List For? but someone has to be. Usually, it goes to a game I found so bad that I'm almost offended at its inclusion on the 1001 list. This time... well, actually, yeah, I'm offended at its inclusion on the 1001 list... But it's a doozy.
What Was Super Mario Sunshine Even Put On The List For?
That's twice in a row, Nintendo. I thought you were good at this gaming lark.
We need a replacement for that garbage, and it comes from an unexpected place this time around: The Internet.
When I was at school, trying to survive through GCSEs and A-Levels, a simple, captivating, frankly ridiculous sort of MMORPG caught our attention. It was so good that it could be played on school computers without having to install anything. So long as the Internet worked and the safe-word filter wasn't having a stupid day, you could be immersed in the weird world of the answer to the question You Forgot What?!
Kingdom of Loathing is a work of mad genius. Hand drawn stick figures take on nonsensical quests in an effort to earn Meat to spend on far too many customisation options. As the decades have gone by, the Kingdom has expanded with more storylines, more mechanics, more Meat, and more reasons to long for a return to a simpler, stupider age of gaming.
I really need to log back in sometime. West of Loathing does an admiral job of taking its place, but Kingdom is where it's at.
Now that we've addressed that glaring error, we can get stuck into more meat, as it happens. The meat of The Top 10. Lots of contenders this time, some trying to sneak onto the list unexpectedly, others clearly cementing their place without any arguments. But what ranks where?
10: Wario World, Treasure
A complete surprise when I saw it, it deserves an honorary spot on The Top 10, even if just to show Nintendo who the better character is.
9: Call of Duty, Infinity Ward
I played it from beginning to end in what felt like no time at all, but it still managed to give a better overall feeling than the competition from Medal of Honor.
8: Soul Calibur II, Project Soul
I will always wish I was better but will never put in the effort to improve. That is the Fighting game genre for my, though, whether it's Soul Calibur or not.
7: Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, IO Interactive
That demo introduced me to a kind of game that I had never seen on consoles before and has stuck with me ever since. The series might be a rollercoaster in terms of review scores, but it is this game that really got players on board and interested.
6: TimeSplitters 2, Free Radical Design
My recent attempt at it didn't go very well, but the many hours I put in during my teenage gaming years sure did.
5: Eternal Darkness, Silicon Knights
I've barely peered into the dimly lit corridors of this one, but it shows so much promise and looks pretty good too. Surely with today's hardware, the fourth-wall-breaking scares could be so much more terrifying?
4: Freedom Fighters, IO Interactive
Sequel when?
3: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, Game Freak
I'm currently trying to find a decent fighting type 'mon, if memory serves, so that I can beat my father and earn his respect. Or do I already have his respect and just need to show him my progress? I forget.
2: Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac Games
Funny, futuristic, and better than Jak and Daxter. Owes its existence to Jak and Daxter, so we can't forget them, but we can outplay them.
So what makes the top spot this time around? There can be only one choice, surely. Instantly hitting the top of the list and staying there. The number 1 game of this batch has to be Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It took a formula that shook the world and polished it up, dropped it into the colourful, sun-soaked setting of an alternate-reality Miami, and allowed gamers to lose themselves in it for hours on end.
But does it make it onto the list we actually care about, The Topper Than That 10? Well, yeah, spoilers, of course it does. But where? What has shifted? What have we lost? What's not good enough to stand with the greats any more?
10: Super Mario Kart, Nintendo EAD
It's going to need a blue shell to stay on this list much longer. Will we finally say goodbye to this SNES classic next time around?
9: Tekken 3, Namco
Last time, I mentioned that I played Tekken 7, after being reminded that I owned it. I've since uninstalled Tekken 7 because I wasn't really interested in playing it anymore, but that's no slight on the third game of the series at all. They're both solid entries.
8: Freedom Fighters, IO Interactive
Seriously. When?
7: Advance Wars, Intelligent Systems
It's slipping down the list... The more I play it, the more it turns into a puzzle, rather than a war. That's not a problem, per se, but seeing it in that way has changed my views juuuust a lil.
6: Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, Game Freak
I would hope it would get replaced by an even more addicting Pokémon title, but I wouldn't be too upset if it never was. It's what I remember about playing the older games, displayed in the fancy graphics of the newer ones.
5: Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac Games
The lone Lombax and his butler boy robot were a joy back in the day, and nostalgia does tend to skew these results for some titles...
4: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Rockstar North
Oooh, it's good, but whenever I think about it, I do remember all the times where it is a little off. To be fair, I've been playing a fair bit of GTA IV recently and might be comparing the two. Vice City shows its age, but it is still a game worthy of the high spots of this list.
3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Nintendo EAD
It still looks good. Still. How?
2: Front Mission 3, Square
I didn't think I'd have a Square title so high on the list but clearly forgot that Front Mission 3 was done by the greats too.
1: Metal Gear Solid, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan
Squint in just the right way and you'll see Snake smirking. He knows he's still top dog.
So, no change at the top. It's going to take a ridiculous effort to budge these titles, I think. But, we've still got some 450 titles to go, and somewhere in there might be something even better. I can't think what it might be, off the top of my head, but the chance is there at least.
The first game to try will be Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Sounds like a bit of mouthful. I don't actually know anything about it. What is it? Oh no... It's on the Game Boy Advance... I'm doomed.
At some point in the distant future, we'll see where it ranks in the next Milestone Awards. In the meantime, get some gaming in already, will you?