19. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time (1992)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was my jam growing as a kid. I had action figures, t-shirts (with one that specifically said TURTLE POWER that I think was my favorite shirt back then), and I had the live action movies on constant rotation. I first learned of James Cagney because of Michelangelo's impression of him in the first movie. Mom came home one day with a gift that she picked up from the store, and it was TURTLES IN TIME for the SNES. I never played the arcade version that was released in 1989, but let me tell you that I played the SNES game FOR HOURS as a kid, and I had to play each character.
I think one of the reasons why I loved this game so much because it had reminded me a lot of the cartoon series that was popular back then. The graphics sort captured the colorful personality of that show. The characters looked real good, and was one of the more impressive games graphic and animation was at that time. It was a great beat em up game, which was a reason why I went back to this game so much because it was hours and hours of fun. There was a multiple player option so your friends can join in too....I always had to be Michelangelo, of course. The formula is classic; go through a bunch of enemies and fight a boss. The levels have various traps here and there, and you get little waves of enemies and attacks. Once you defeat two or three of these waves, you progress to the next area of enemies. It one of the most fun side scrolling games I ever played, and I'm sure at 28 I can have as much fun with as I did when I was 6.
18. Tomb Raider (2003)
I never played the original Lara Croft: Tomb Raider games, so I don't have those to compare the reboot to. However, that doesn't matter. I had so much fun playing this game. It had the flare of
Uncharted with open world exploration. As I mentioned before, one of the things that got me into gaming again was the cinematic quality games have nowadays, and this is no exception. There was great jaw dropping sequences in this game that I got play through and just made the gaming experience more enjoyable. The action is gritty and intense, and kept me on the edge of my couch playing through this the entire time.
What I love that storytelling is such an integral part of gaming nowadays to where people get upset if someone spoils a game for them like they would if someone spoiled the new episode of The Walking Dead. This game is delivers character development at the highest degree. The first hour or so is very scripted, setting up set pieces and learning Lara Croft's abilities until the plot starts thickening. So this reboot is supposed to be Lara Croft in her early years, so we see a very vulnerable Lara. It takes a good while before she makes her first kill, which is a very dramatic scene and important to her characterization. From there things pick up, and action moves forward. You upgrade Lara's skills and weaponry to a gratifying extent. The
Uncharted inspiration is there, with masterful wall-climbing and cinematic action sequences, but one thing that Uncharted doesn't have is free roaming in an open world. Tomb Raider is dramatic, exciting, and incredibly well made. A must play for any video game fan.
17. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga/The Clone Wars (2005 - 2011)
As jingle.boy said in response to my Lego Batman write up, the Lego Star Wars games are "Tons of fun." They are probably one of the best Star Wars games made. It's Star Wars with the unique and clever humor of the Lego brand. That's one thing I love about these Lego games that makes me excited for each title release is that these games don't really take themselves seriously. They embrace the ridiculousness that these licensed brands are being Lego-lized, where you are playing through scenes from the movies or comics where everything is made out Lego pieces and you are allowed to cause utter chaos.
Lego Star Wars started it all, developed by Traveler's Tales. The raw concept of building new kits, smashing stuff up, and collecting studs through memorable moments from the movies. As I mentioned in my previous write up, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes started the voice acting aspect of these games, so with Lego Star Wars and then Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, the cutscenes that are usually voiced in any other case are replaced by goofy grunts, squeals, and shrugs. The charm about this was it made the moments more entertaining.
The first Lego Star Wars game focused on the prequel trilogy, and was released for the older consoles like Gamecube, PS2, and Xbox. I'm sure the decision to do the prequels first had to do with that fact that it was going to be released in 2005 when
Revenge of the Sith was released and back then, was suppose to be the very last Star Wars movie ever made. So you play through several different scenes from The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The replay value comes in when you can go back to these scenes as free play, which means you can play different characters that you unlocked, and all have different special skills for you to complete each scene at %100. So you have the opportunity the play Darth Maul battling Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of Sith. This is the basic formula for all Lego games, and with the games evolving, it's doesn't get boring.
In 2006, we get Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, with the same game engine as the previous game. However, they made improvements on the camera angles and movement, created vehicle levels such as dogfighting in A New Hope, and introduced character building. In 2007, they compiled both games to The Complete Saga. It incorporated the improvements from the sequel into the original game, and a new hub so that your characters will have access to all six episodes to go and replay, and was the first Lego game for the new PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles.
2011 brings us Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, based on the now canon cartoon series originally aired on Cartoon Network. While the game play is similar to the previous titles, it introduces scene swap in the franchise, which is a co-op type game play that lets characters play in two vastly different areas to complete multiple-part objectives. For example, one character will be fighting droids underground while the other character is blowing up generators off in the forest. You don't have to play with two people to complete these objectives. You just simply hit a button that'll switch to the other character. The split-screen gameplay with two people is actually excellent! Another great novelty of this game is the war strategy element. You are able to command large armies of Clone Troopers to battle the droid armies, capturing control points on a map, then call down troops and vehicles to use in an effort to take the battlefield from the enemy. I know many people who prefer this game over the other Lego games because of this new mode.
The Lego Star Wars games are fun, aesthetically pleasing, and a great use of the most popular license. Any fan of Star Wars can find pure joy playing these games, or any of the other Lego games. I'm sure Traveler's Tales has something cooking for future Lego Star Wars games, perhaps Rebels before they tackle the new trilogy and Anthology movies.