Activision has made a royal screw up this time. The next Call of Duty installment is Call of Duty Ghosts 2. I promise this is relevant! The first Call of Duty Ghosts was made poorly in my opinion. Hold your horses for one second: I typically only play Call of Duty games for singleplayer experiences, which have for the most part turned out to be decent. Ghosts unfortunately could not draw me in. The only multiplayer I do is Battlefield, and Ghosts turned out to be a $15 flop. I am definitely skipping this Call of Duty. This blog post is about times when games got the singleplayer correct. Let's get started:
1. Halo 2- When I got Halo Master Chief Collection, I was really just looking for a few games to fill in the void of waiting for the next Call of Duty (Yes, at one point I actually anticipated Call of Duty for something other than slamming). I decided to play through the games in chronological order, and the first installment left me longing for more action and more options. Halo 2 spiced the plot up with a "2 sides to every story" type of plot. In one side, you would be playing as the Master Chief, attempting to save the universe again. On the other side, you play as the Arbiter, a disgraced enemy soldier whom is given the chance at redemption by trying to halt Master Chief's progress. At one point, the two characters meet up and discover their respective quests would both end out in destroying the universe, so they must form a truce to reverse their actions. When I started Halo 3, I was quickly disappointed by how the characters are now fighting side by side as co-op characters. Nonetheless, Halo 2 will remain one of my favorite games of all time.
2. Uncharted 3- Even though I am personally an Xbox guy, I really respected the Playstation for one franchise- Uncharted. In these games, you are Nathan Drake, on the search for some lost treasure, and while the first two were really impressive installments, I have to give the award to number 3, Drake's Deception. I played this game, and I felt really satisfied leaving it. This game has a strong single player experience, and it really felt like a big game. It had a good amount of shooting, puzzle solving, and platforming.
3. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2- Way back when there were still good Call of Duty games (between Black Ops 2 and the original Modern Warfare), this game blew me out of the water. I did not play it on release (I only started gaming in 2011), but instead 2 years ago. I did not really know how to feel about this game other than "wow". This game was less of a Call of Duty and more of a political thriller. It had lots of steam and had a plot I was motivated to play. What really kept me going were the twists. There was a fairly predictable one in an optional chapter (near the beginning), and a really surprising one later on at the halfway point. This second twist I won't reveal, but I will say that it was a betrayal. While looking up a walkthrough (One of the most embarrassing things a gamer will ever do), I saw the twist in writing. While playing the level, the twist still caught me by surprise, and gave me reason to power through the game. (I said something nice about Call of Duty. Now move along)
4. Portal 2- This game has one thing most games don't- a sense of humor. The first one had a good sense of humor too, but since it was so short and more or less of an indie feel, I really just preferred Portal 2. I was impressed by the voice acting, including a stellar job from Stephen Merchant, as well as how the gameplay never felt too stale (later in the game, there were some more mechanics). It is one of the few games that you don't have to have guns (that shoot bullets or otherwise kill) to have a good game.
5. Tomb Raider (2013)- A game series I thought I would never care about actually turns out to be one of my favorite games of all time. This game is a lot like the Uncharted franchise, but it has a darker tone to it, since this game tells Lara Croft's hard origin story of how she was kidnapped during an archaeology expedition gone wrong. This game has plenty of strong action and a thorough plot. This game is just one of the few good games offered by Xbox/Playstation as their free games services (Games With Gold, Playstation Instant Game Collection).
What all of these games share in common is a well made story and good gameplay. There are several other games that I could put on here like Super Mario 64 and Grand Theft Auto V, but I want to let some of the underappreciated games shine out and get their turn in the spotlight. If you disagree with this list, please remember that is your opinion.
Game on
Jacob Bacci
No comments:
Post a Comment