With the recent trailers for Mass Effect Andromeda and Red Dead Redemption 2. I found myself nostalgic for these games and went back to play them. There are not many games I find myself going back to play due to the increasing difficulty trying to keep up with current games releasing. So I thought I would do a little list of games I find myself replaying.
Mass Effect Trilogy
The first Mass Effect game was released in 2007 with the third in 2012. Developed by Bioware the first game was at first exclusively on Xbox 360 introduced us to Commander Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. Over the course of the three games you go on an epic adventure across the galaxy in order to save it from the Reaper threat.
Mass Effect is a third person action role-playing game where the players get to choose to be good or bad. Your choices influence the world around you. With everything from conspiracies, character romances and even your very own suicide mission. The Mass Effect trilogy is one of the best stories and games you can find.
The combat in Mass Effect is mainly a third person cover based shooter however the different classes available adds other aspects to it. There are biotic powers which lets you manipulate dark matter to create different effects. You can tear your enemies cells apart or causes a gravity well to pull enemies into the air. Then you have the engineering skills. Creating drones to go and attack enemies while your save behind cover. Using different ammo types to combat the many different enemies. Add in your supporting characters and the possibilities become endless and ripe for experimentation.
The different alien species in Mass Effect lend a great political story to the games in which humans are looked down on. We are seen as an infantile barbaric species and its down to Commander Shepard to help humanity earn its place among the stars.
Developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based strategy. Based on the cult classic UFO: enemy unknown. In XCOM you are in command of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. As command its your job to guide you soldiers through missions in order to stop the alien invasion happening around the world.
In the game you report to the world council. A united group of countries that give you supplies and provisions in return for you help. As the game goes on you have to choose which missions to undertake and which to leave. If you let the aliens attack a country too much without intervening. The country will leave the council and you will lose funding. This much-needed funding is used to improve your base and your soldiers. Upgrading weapons, armor and building new technology to help you fight against the superior technology of the alien race.
The missions play out with you moving your soldiers through the battlefield which is cover with the fog of war. Progressing through each level trying to complete whatever objective you have been given is always interesting. Not knowing which enemies you will encounter or if your soldiers will die. All this means its easy to play XCOM over and over again and you do not know how things will play out.
Red Dead Redemption
Red Dead Redemption is probably the best western game there is. Developed by Rockstar San Diego Red Dead Redemption is an open world western set during the end years of the American frontier. Set in a fictionalised Western America and a part of Mexico. You play as a former outlaw turned family man John Marston. Who is coerced by the government to hunt down three members of your former gang.
The gameplay consists of you travelling around the map on horseback and one foot completing many different quests as you advance through the story. Travelling to the town of Amardillo, helping out as a ranch hand and even helping a snake oil salesman sell his wares. These are just a very small sampling of what you get up to in the game.
As you can probably guess many of the systems are brought over from GTA including a revised version on the wanted system. Having a posse chasing after you on horseback as you gallop across open plains and ravines is truly one of the best experiences I have had in a game. The only thing better was riding in a posse with my friends in Red Dead Redemption online the precursor to GTA Online.
The Red Dead Redemption game culminates in what I believe is one of the very best ending in a video game. No matter how many times I experience the game I am always excited to start over again a year or two down the road.
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic 1 + 2
The Knight of the Old Republic games are probably the best Star Wars games you can play. Ever since I first experience them on the Xbox I have gone on to play them numerous times across all the platforms they appear on, this includes Android. The game are developed by Bioware, the same team that went on to make the Mass Effect games.
In each game you start out as a different character as you embark on an epic quest deserving of the Star Wars name. You choose how you look, your gender and your class. Before setting out to build your character from the unknown hero to an extremely powerful force wielder. The choices you make along your journey will influence your character and the world around you. Will you walk the path of the Jedi or become a sith lord and succumb to the dark side.
The combat in KOTOR is a round based combat system modeled after the dungeons and dragon games. Each character you have in your 3 man party can choose to use one of the feats or skills. Which you have obtained as you leveled up. You can issues command to each member of your party in real-time. You can also pause the combat to issue commands in order to add more than one command to the queue.
While most of the gameplay in KOTOR is the combat. There is also a number of mini games and non-combat actions to experience. In some cases you can use dialogue to avoid a violent confrontation all together. The dialogue system in KOTOR is one of the stars in this game. This system went on to be in games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect.
The main star of both the KOTOR games has to be the story. The twists and turns that you are put through in both games are some of the very best in the medium. The famous twist in the original Knights of the Old Republic still leaves me astounded every time I play it. unfortunately the only way I have to play this at the moment is on ISO. Which is not the best way to experience it. All I can hope for is that the series gets a third game. However thanks to the MMO The Old Republic that seems very unlikely.
Well there you have it, a very short look at the games I find myself constantly revisiting. What games do you find yourself revisiting? Tell us in the comments
