Medieval II: Total War

That's not a hedge line, is it?

"I think I'd enjoy a sequel more", I once said, with regards to Medieval: Total War. "Oh yeah? Go on, then" replies the 1001 list, shoving Medieval II: Total War into view.

Sequel to the first game, obviously, Medieval II brings the middle ages into the modern ages with the new 3D engine first seen in the last outing, Rome: Total War. I've never gotten into these strategy games, but if I said I thought I'd enjoy a sequel more, I better at least play the sequel to find out, right?

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends

Rise of Eyebrows

Source // Moby Games

When I was on the lookout for these 1001 games in the wild, I would, without fail, go "Oooh, oh, there's one!" Whenever I saw Rise of Nations, before realising that, no, it still wasn't the Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends that I was looking for.

What was this game? An expandalone? A sequel? Something altogether different? I had absolutely no idea for the longest time. And to be honest, I still don't.

A real-time strategy where steampunk technology meets actual magic, Rise of Legends serves as a spin-off to Rise of Nations, so Wikipedia tells me. I wonder why that is...

Lumines Live!

We'll do it live!

Source // Moby Games

Lumines II was a firm favourite of mine on the PSP, but a simple game like this can be put on anything, and the next place that it was found was on the Xbox 360 in the shape of Lumines Live!

What could a console offer a game like Lumines? More importantly, what could a digital marketplace offer it...?

Gottlieb Pinball Classics

Tilt with care now...

A long time ago in this 1001 list, I played Pinball Dreams, an early attempt to bring classic tables onto television screens. A year or so ago, I played Flipnic, an attempt to reimagine pinball without the constraints of having to be played on a pinball table. Or make sense.

Now, though, we're back to attempting to bring classic tables onto television screens again, only this time with far more care and attention, in Gottlieb Pinball Classics.

If the name Gottlieb means nothing to you, don't worry. It means nothing to me, either. Say what? They did Q*bert? Well, apart from that, Gottlieb means nothing to me, but to pinballers, it means the very best, and this museum quality collection aims to show you why.

Slitherlink

Please touch!

The transition from paper to screen, or even from physical to digital, can turn a mediocre game into a smash hit. I play a lot of tabletop games, but the digital versions of some of them are so much easier to set up and play that if you want a quick game of them, it's a no brainer.

The digital arena can be used to great effect to highlight old or obscure puzzles, keeping them alive through the generations. Crosswords and word searches, Sudoku, or - if snakes are your thing - Slitherlink.

The rules are simple, and the number of puzzles available is seemingly infinite. Do I have the necessary logic to complete just a single puzzle?

Naked War

MOVE OUT

'What do you get if you cross Advance Wars with Worms?' I hear nobody saying, because as questions go, that's not ranked high on anyone's list. The answer, apparently, is a must-play game called Naked War, where units don't explode and turn into tombstones but instead lose their clothing and run around the map desperately searching for a promotion.

Huh.

Mercury Meltdown

Formerly known as Hydrargyrum. Little chemistry joke for you there.

Marble Madness. Whatever happened to that game eh? You don't really see that coming out in swanky HD releases these days, but its hard to argue that it's not worthy of such a release. Delicately diverting a marble around a stage designed to knock said marble anywhere but across the finish line - the gameplay doesn't even need to be changed.

But along came Archer Maclean, who probably said: "Yeah, but what if it was a blob of colour changing Mercury instead?", and minds were blown and multiple PSP games were made about just that, the second of which being Mercury Meltdown, building upon the launch title (and my first PSP game) Archer Maclean's Mercury.

Tilt stages to manipulate a blob of mercury from the start point to the finish line, through obstacles and puzzles, across level after level of simple, though head-scratchy gameplay. Do you think you're smart enough to avoid a meltdown?

Gunpey

Go-way, please.

Gunpey Yokoi is remembered for essentially making everything you ever loved about Nintendo in your youth. The Game Boy, for example. You know, like, it, as a thing, is thanks to Gunpey. Even earlier than that, the guy is praised as the creator of the D-pad. Where would you be without that, eh?

What he won't be remembered for is Gunpey, a puzzle game with a lengthy history, but a DS release that has the unofficial honour of being the game I played for the least amount of time before noping out of.

I think I've already taken the same amount of time to write this intro than I spent playing Gunpey. That's how quickly I backed out of it. So let's get this over with, I guess.

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

"Quit your whining. The bullets went straight through. Now get up!"

The PlayStation Portable was a neat bit of kit. I got one early on its life, and while I probably never made the most of it, I have some damn good memories of various titles. The Metal Gear series, for example.

2005 saw the release of Metal Gear AC!D and its sequel, a turn-based collectable card game tactical RPG that I think is all kinds of fun and worth playing without a moment's hesitation. There was also a digitally animated adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid graphic novel by Kris Oprisko and Ashley Wood, which I am absolutely gutted that I no longer have (so far as I can see), though I do cherish the actual graphic novel itself.

That brings me neatly onto Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, the fourth Metal Gear on the PSP. Just think about that next time you wonder what happened to the PSP. It was loved, that's what happened. Metal Gear had been proven to work as a card game and a visual novel. The PSP was clearly a capable little machine. Could we squeeze a full Metal Gear Solid game onto it?

The answer is 'not quite', but while we didn't get a mini Metal Gear, we weren't left with a half-arsed product, either. Are you ready for some Metal Gear on the move?

Just Cause

"I can't believe I get paid for this."

While I do prefer games to have a great story and be focused on what they do, sometimes you just need a playground of one sort or another. If you want your playground to be a third-person action kind of thing, full of ridiculous combat and over the top stunts, then Just Cause might just grab some of your attention - and if even has a story, should you want to pursue it.

The island of San Esperito is run by a dictator that needs to be overthrown, and you're just the man to help get things moving, Agency operative Rico Rodriguez, channelling as much Antonio Banderas as he can muster.

Will this island paradise end up tourist-friendly? Let's find out.