Top 100 Countdown – 60 – 51

60. Secret of Mana (SNES)

Another classic Squaresoft RPG.  Secret of Mana combined real time combat with Square’s traditional outstanding plotting, evocative graphics and great soundtrack.

59. NiGHTS (Saturn)

Sonic Team’s unique game of acrobatic aerial twists and high score seeking intensity has a fond place in many gamers hearts.  This is another game we’d love to see on Virtual Console..

58. Lemmings (Amiga)

One of the most original puzzle games ever released, Lemmings genius is to swap blocks and abstract shapes for living, walking creatures that can be given a limited range of tasks to help them survive each level.  A few choice speech samples gave injected a ton more charm, and the mass head exploding armageddon is perhaps the greatest quit function in video game history.

57. Project Gotham 3 (Xbox 360)

The next gen update of the urban racer is a hugely generous package, offering a huge range of tracks, cars and challenges.  Its the online implementation that really makes this game shine though.  Rather like Xbox live itself, PGR3 has so many little bits and pieces which just add up to make a great experience.

56. Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)

Sonic’s first proper 3D outing was a rich, verdant gaming landscape managing to translate Sonic’s high speed abandon onto the Dreamcast.  A Tamagotchi style minigame was also included, allowing you to download your Chao onto your Virtual Memory Unit and take it for walks.

55. Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)

Three days to save the world may not sound like a lot, but when you can move through time its not such a drag.  Rather than expanding on the excellent ‘Ocarina of Time’, ‘Majora’s Mask’ compressed it and recrafted it into a darker, more intricate affair.  Character’s go through the same actions in each 3 day cycle, as Link gets to know the game he can use his prior knowledge of events to solve peoples problems and make them happy.  Playing this made us happy.

54. Halo (Xbox)

Bungie’s epic shooter does pretty much everything right.  At its core its a string of brilliantly designed set pieces, powered by AI that’s good enough to stop it feeling like a string of set pieces.  Its ability to reinvent itself and make new demands of the player through the game elevate it above the FPS crowd.

53. Elite (Spectrum)

Psychologists looking at false memory syndrome should really take a look at this game – players will reel of misty eyed tales of duels with alien mother ships, smuggling runs and all sorts of other things – much of which wasn’t really in the game at all.  Elite worked by making you imagine – a trick repeated to some extent by the Grand Theft Auto series.  What was in the game was enough to keep players flying round the galaxy, shooting space pirates and trading their way to elite status.

52. Rez (PS2)

Another defiantly innovative on-rails shooter, Rez’s core concept is ‘synesthesia’, the intergration of sight and sound.  The graphics and sound are interwoven, and both evolve into more complex forms as the game progresses.  The relatively simple gameplay actually allows the player to enjoy the ride more, even so, this is one of those game where you’ll notice twice as much if you watch someone else play it.  You can finish this in a couple of hours, but guaranteed you’ll come back for more.

51. Super Metroid (SNES)

Platform adventuring mixed with a stunning inventory of weapons and equipment – bombs, plasma beams, spin attacks. This is a beautiful piece of design – each new ability you gain opens up new areas for exploration, Zelda style, and the bosses and levels are crafted to make your progress as pleasurable as possible. The haunting sound track adds tremendously to the atmosphere – one of the few games to make effective use of silence.  This game has a haunting atmosphere that will encourage you to explore its many secrets.


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2 Responses to “Top 100 Countdown – 60 – 51”

  1. […] Secret of Mana Space Invaders: The Original Game […]

  2. […] looking new games at the recent E3 show was Child of Eden. A spiritual successor to the seminal Rez, Child of Eden will allow players to interact with musical rhythms via […]

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