For Your Viewing Pleasure, Chickenman's Top Ten Video Games (Part 2)

Yesterday, I started out with the original The Sims (my preferred format being the PC, if that wasn't clear) to kick off my list. Today, I wanted to take it in a slightly different direction.

If I may, I'd like to clarify this as the collective Star Wars: Battlefront as well as Battlefront II, since they are so similar. And yet they are distinct with each having unique maps, as well as the latter having playable Jedi characters and space battles.

One does not need to be a big Star Wars fan to enjoy these titles; the gameplay offers fine third-person shooting, hands-on battle strategy (it often seems that strategy games offer no ground level tactics, as these do), and vehicular combat. But if one is a fan of the series, these are must-own and the best games based on it that I know of. If you really want to impress a small kid who thinks his Lego Star Wars is the bomb, have him play this.

Honorable mentions (in this category):

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (N64), Star Wars: Battle for Naboo (N64), Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (PS2)

For Your Viewing Pleasure, Chickenman's Top Ten Video Games (in no particular order)

It's difficult to make a list such as this, as it is subject to change (but not especially frequently). Video games are heterogenous, being different things to different people (or even to the same person at different times). The question is: What ends are one trying to achieve? Most players probably have an easier time playing World of Warcraft for hours on end, but cannot easily do the same thing with Tetris, yet no one will deny that Tetris remains a very fun game. A game that stands the test of time is a friend indeed. Games can also be social, and should be whenever they can. And by this I don't mean only what one experiences online, but with individuals in the same room. A lasting bond can be formed between those who cooperatively topple dictators electronically, and greater rivalries are formed with people that you know and play against. But video games are also there when it's raining and your friends are busy.

Point is that video games accomplish different goals. Therefore, choosing top tens are difficult. And that's what I have to say about that.

One of the best qualities a game can have is allowing players to create and be innovative. I believe that The Sims did this well and that is why the franchise has been so successful. What is also impressive is how wide of an appeal it has, thus being able to be different things to different people. The HGTV crowd can spend hours designing what they wish they could afford and the sadists can live out certain fantasies. No achievements were necessary back then. You made your own goals (such as having an entire lot full of tombstones or trying to start the pizza guy on fire), did them, and took a picture to prove it. To me, it provoked the need for more autonomy in what we play and set the bar for open ended sandbox-like games.

Honorable Mentions:

Vectorman 2 (Genesis), Jet Moto (PS1), Rayman 2: Revolution (PS2)