We are on the brink of the next round of console launches but we are yet to hear if our downloaded XBLA and PSN games will work on these new consoles. So we thought we would put together a Top 10 Games You Need To Play before your old and beloved console joins the others in the attic to make room for your shiny new Next Gen model.
This list is made up not from AAA titles but titles that may have crept under your radar. The best part about this list is that if you was to buy all 10 of these games they would cost around the same price as one full price retail game. Not only would they be cheaper but each of these games will offer you an unique gaming experience and will keep you coming back for more.
Top 10 Games You Need To Play Before The Next Gen Hits
Mark Of The Ninja
Ninja have been the stars of video games for many years. Titles such as Ninja Gaiden, Bushido Blade, and Shinobi have all allowed us to step into the shoes of the fearsome assassins and kick some serious ass using swords, shurikens, and awesome ninja magic. However, apart from the Tenchu series, most titles portray ninja as action heroes - running through battlefields, taking on enemies face-to-face, and using a wide variety of deadly weapons.
Mark of the Ninja is the latest game in the genre, and brings things back to their roots. The character you control uses stealth, silence, and deception to bring down his foes - striking fear into their hearts and eliminating them before they know what’s coming. This is the mark of true ninja greatness, and one that Klei Entertainment have managed to deliver so perfectly. (continue reading)
Trials Evolution
It’s hard to classify Trials Evolution in terms of genre. While it may look like a simple racing game, it’s really more of a cleverly disguised platformer. Played entirely from a side-on perspective, the challenge lies in correctly balancing your rider and rationing your speed as you bounce over jumps and climb hills. At first, it seems like nothing more than a modern day Excitebike - the only controls are gas, brake, and lean, but as the courses become more difficult and your bikes become more powerful, you soon realize there’s a lot more to it than simply landing each jump at the correct angle. (continue reading)
Arcadecraft
Have you ever dreamt of owning your own Retro Arcade? Well know is your chance with Arcadecraft from Firebase Industries.
Arcadecraft puts the player in the role of a 1980 video game arcade entrepreneur, when video games were seen as nothing more than a passing fad to be capitalized on. Bank loan in hand, deep in debt, and tied to a lease, the player must use their finances to purchase arcade machines from the multiple manufacturers and then move and rotate them into position within their arcade. Attracting customers with the hottest new games, players start building a fortune one quarter at a time while navigating the financial rollercoaster ride that was the historic fast rise, immediate collapse, and glorious return of the arcade industry over six full years of accelerated time simulation. (continue reading)
The Unfinished Swan
Unique is probably the first word that came to my and every other gamer or journalists’ mind when we first set eyes on this “first-person painter” developed by Giant Sparrow. I know using your imagination isn’t something this generation is particularly used to with games, generally more familiar with a completed story that guides you through a linear landscape instead of attempting to penetrate your senses. The Unfinished Swan proves that with a little imagination (and not much else), you can create an unparalleled gaming experience. (continue reading)
Rock Band Blitz
Rock Band Blitz brings some familiar features, along with some unique elements. At a glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was another Frequency or Amplitude-style game, much like the PSP’s Rock Band Unplugged, but the way the score and power-up system works brings a very different feel to this chapter in the franchise.
Rather than choose your instrument and stick with it throughout the entire song, you’ll have all the instrument tracks laid side by side, and you can switch between them at will. Instead of the usual number of ‘lanes’ (which used to correspond to the buttons on the instrument), each track has only two of them - trigger one with the D-Pad (or left analog stick) and one with the A-button (or right analog stick). If this sounds much simpler than the multi-laned games of old, well, it is. However, you have more to consider than just hitting every note…. (continue reading)
Hybrid
Hybrid is a shooter with some definite deviations from the norm. For a start, there’s no single player mode - it’s entirely online, and played exclusively in 3 vs. 3 matches. The second main change in the gameplay of Hybrid is the fact that you never run around the maps - you fly. To look at screenshots, you could be forgiven for thinking it was just another cover-based shooter, but once you see it in action, it quickly becomes apparent that things are a little different. (continue reading)
The Splatters
I’ll try to break down the gameplay, so you have an idea of what The Splatters is. Basically, each level contains a number of bombs scattered about the place - in piles on the floor or clusters hanging from the ceiling. There are also a number of coloured blobs dotted around, each one smiling serenely as though unaware of the horrible fate it’s about to meet. One by one, you aim the blobs and launch them, splattering them against walls and showering goo down on the bombs, setting them off. Just match the colour of the blob with the colour of the bomb, and try not to splat them all before you’ve detonated everything. (continue reading)
FEZ
Fez tells the story of Gomez, the pixelated Pillsbury Dough Boy, whose whole 2D world is turned upside down (or side to side, I should say), when he’s given the ability to perceive a third dimension. This power allows him to turn his scenery around, changing perspective and cleverly altering the layout of things around him. Although the levels are technically 3D, everything plays from a side-on perspective, so if you shift the camera and things look close together, then they are close together. This is how you’ll navigate Gomez around the world - bringing platforms in line, connecting up sections of ladders, and other similar viewpoint-based stuff. (continue reading)
I am Alive
It’s been a year since the event. Earthquakes destroyed the land, and what remains is desolate, filled with dust, rubble, and the remains of a once-great civilization. An unnamed man wanders across the barren landscape, and eventually reaches a city. That city is Haventon - his home. Will his family still be there, safe from the disasters that struck, or are they long dead? Can he be reunited, or will his journey end the way it began - with tragedy? These are the questions you’ll answer when you play I am Alive. (continue reading)
Journey
Journey, a PSN game made by Thatgamecompany, developers of the highly original Flow and Flower. Journey does not stick to any established formulas, and it very clearly states that, yes, video games can be art.
You begin your adventure in the desert. No dialog guides you, and no path is laid out to follow - all you see is a mountain in the distance. While it may appear that you are free to travel wherever you wish, you are in fact being cleverly guided along the adventure with subtle visual clues: Shapes rise over the horizon, giving you something to head towards, and this is all you really have to go on. To talk much about how the game is actually played would spoil the discovery, so I’ll keep this review fairly short, but know that nothing is explained to you as you make your pilgrimage across the lands - you’ll have to figure out what to do by yourself. Or will you?…… (continue reading)
So there you have it our Top 10 List, Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments below.
