Ten Favorite Video Games

Hey, guys. Today I'm going to share my top 10 favorite video games. This has come to pass because I just recently started a Let's Play channel on YouTube (if you don't know, a Let's Play is when someone records their live playthrough of a game with commentary). I'm subscribed to a couple Let's Play channels and I decided I wanted to give it a shot. But I also needed to take some time to figure out what games I would feature on my channel, so here goes. I don't have them in any particular order (though I would say my more favorite ones are in the top half) so they are not numbered.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Knights of the Old Republic is a Star Wars role play game released for the xbox and pc in 2003. You start the game as a Republic solider who develops force sensitivity and is trained as a Jedi. In your mission to stop Darth Malak and save the galaxy, you find yourself as a pawn in one amazing plot twist.

Why I like it: I'm a Star Wars fan. And the storyline and characters are awesome.

Best Moment: The plot twist. Seriously, it's even more life changing than "Luke, I am your father!"

Jak and Daxter (1, 2, 3)

Jak and Daxter is an adventure game series, with the first game released for the playstation 2 in 2001. You run around throughout the series collecting eco (the energy that holds the world together), collecting precursor orbs (the precursors being the long lost beings that created the world's technologies), and also discovering clues to your own destiny.

Why I like it: It's a fun, comical game. Jak and Daxter are both strong characters that I care about and want to see through to the very end, which usually means playing through the games all in one go.

Best Moment: Anything that comes out of Daxter's mouth. True, he's often used for comic relief, but he is also often the force that pulls the game along, especially during Jak's darker moments and in the first game where Jak never speaks.

Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 is a first-person shooter game released for the gamecube in 2005. You play as Leon Kennedy, former police officer of Racoon City, who has been charged with finding and rescuing the President's daughter from a cult with goals to implant and you and her with mind-controlling parasites.

Why I like it: It's fun. The characters, game play, story elements, enemy battles - every aspect about the game comes together in this perfect synergy of game playing that the Resident Evil series hasn't accomplished before or since.

Best Moment: The live action events where someone is coming at you with a knife and ohmygod!Press"A"now!

Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet

Star Fox Adventures is a gamecube adventure game released in 2002. For the first time in the series, Star Fox steps outside of his aircraft to walk among dinosaurs as he works on putting the crumbling planet back together.

Why I like it: If it isn't obvious by now, when it comes to gameplay, I'm all about the fun factor. It doesn't get much more fun than exploring a planet of talking dinosaurs. The dialog is really good, and the way the planet is structured and how the dinosaurs all have their own tribes and customs is really clever. The dinosaurs even have their own language!

Best Moment:  This was hard to choose . . . Fighting with the staff is a really cool and fun game mechanic. Fox is told he can't use any lethal weapons, and the staff ends up as a really nice alternative that isn't just melee combat but also has a few powers that can be unlocked.

Kingdom Hearts (1, 2)

Kingdom Hearts is a kind of Final Fantasy meets Disney game. The Disney villains are in command of creatures called the Heartless and are using them to capture the Disney princesses. The main character becomes the chosen of a key blade, which can unlock people's hearts and destroy the heartless.  

Why I like it: Again, fun factor comes into play. Who wouldn't enjoy a game where your companions are Donald and Goofy? The storyline and characters are also well done.

Best Moment:  Fighting alongside Mickey!

Dragon Age (1, 1.5, 2)

Dragon Age is a roleplaying playstation 2 game with the first game in the series released in 2009. You play as a member of the Grey Wardens, a group of humans, elves, and dwarfs, charged with the task of safeguarding the world against the Darkspawn, creatures that rise from the earth and devour everything in their path. 

Why I like it: Depth. The characters are very well done. Also, there's no good or evil in Dragon Age. You just play as you would and see how your choices pan out. You even have the opportunity to grant mercy to the main villain, travel with him for a while, and find out why he did what he did. Or, you know, you could just kill him. But as revealed at the end of the game, your decisions have an effect.

Best Moment:  Killing a freaking High Dragon. 

Batman: Vengeance

Batman Vengeance is an adventure game released on all major platforms in 2001. I don't remember the main plot, but the important part is that you play as Batman, battling major villains such as the Joker, Mr. Freeze, and Poison Ivy. And you have the help of Oracle the entire way.

Why I like it: Pure fun factor here. It's just a fun game. The dialog is good, Batman's gadgets are fun to use, the individual missions are all unique, and I think it's voiced by most if not all of the actors from the cartoon series. 

Best Moment:  Taking down the Joker.

Exmortis (1, 2)

Exmortis is a little different than the games I usually play. It's an online horror flash game (the first game released in 2004) that has stuck with me since the first time I played it. Your character wakes up in the woods with no memories as to how you got there. You are freezing and decide to go into the house you find. But you are immediately locked in, forcing you to investigate the house and discover it's gruesome past with the Exmortis cult.

Why I like it: It has a pretty detailed story line with intriguing characters. And with the demons of Hell (basically) trying to take over the earth, there's a lot at stake.

Best Moment:  You'll never look at a red sunrise/sunset the same way again.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a puzzle-adventure game released in 2003 for various platforms. The main character is tricked by the evil Vizier into releasing the Sands of Time which turn everyone in the palace into sand monsters. The Prince must travel the palace, collect the sands, defeat the Vizier, and put the sand back into the hourglass to reverse his actions. The puzzles are filled with things trying to kill you with the often added threat of falling to your death. To ease the frustration, the main character can use the Sands of Time to reverse any mistakes.

Why I like it: Again, it's fun. The dialog is quirky, the characters are different than what you would expect from your typical heros, and being able to reverse time  is just plain cool.

Best Moment:  The Prince telling his companion to please not help him with combat because she'll probably shoot you. And then finding out that, yes, she will shoot you.

Fable 2

Fable is a roleplaying game that never quite seems to live up to its potential, but it's still a fun game to play. Fable 2 was released for the xbox in 2008. Your character is one of the last Heros and is on a quest to overthrow the bad guy and take the throne. 

Why I like it: The concept of the series is the player's ability to make choices and through those choices change the game around them. The problem with the concept is most of these choices don't really affect the storyline itself and only do tiny things like alter your character's appearance. Still, it's fun and intriguing. The second game of the series also has some very interesting characters, dialog, and combat choices.

Best Moment:  Getting captured by the big bad.