Top 10 games of the 7th Generation

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Sam Coles:

 

The 7^th generation support is coming to a close and I wanted to take the time to remember the best games of the 7^th gen and remember this is my opinion so if you don’t see anything you like on here do not have a fit, if you like it fine but we are not going to have the same opinions so be mature about it.

 

10. Fable II:

Fable in my opinion isn’t the best RPG, but there was something about Fable II that I liked and they seemed to hit the right spot with this entry. By opening up the world more with large areas, more exploration and lots of loot to find, however it’s this high on the list because Fable is a fairly Vanilla experience and they’ve screwed it up after this entry.

 

9. Two Worlds II:

Again this RPG series is a very flawed one but the thing that made this game make my list is that this is the way a sequel should be done, by learning from you’re mistakes and fixing the issues from the last game. The issues with the first Two Worlds were legendary with the worst frame rate I’ve seen on the Xbox 360 and laughable voice acting which was like primary school kids acting Shakespeare it was called the poor mans Oblivion. Two Worlds II got rid of those problems by making the world, enemies and items interesting with a stable frame and beautiful environments plus this game still has the most interesting spell system out of any RPG where you can pretty much create anything you want if you think it up.

 

8. Driver San Francisco:

Driver took a very long hiatus after Parallel Lines back in 06 and then at E3 2011 Ubisoft show us this game which took a new and fresh spin on the driving genre. You play as John Tanner and you’re shortly put into a coma and then are stuck in a dream where you can shift into different cars and assume direct control of that person. So for example you can be in a car chase and if they are too far ahead you can shift into a truck up the road and ram him or her off the road.

 

7. Call of Duty 4:

Yeah when you say Call of Duty today you hear a heavy sigh from the gaming community, but back in 2007 World War II shooters were over saturating the market (sound familiar) so the guys at Infinity Ward stuck two fingers up and released Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare which was a breath of fresh air. The campaign was paced like a high budget blockbuster Hollywood movie and although clichéd it was executed well, with a hateable villain some shocking scenes and great characters. COD 4 also injected life into online multiplayer on consoles especially and especially on the Xbox 360, with its perks, loadouts and interesting game modes. If you still have a 360 or PS3 play COD 4 and where have you been if you haven’t.

 

6. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

I know, I know I’m going to get pitch forks launched at me with this choice, but I’ve always preferred Oblivion compared to Skyrim, because it felt more of an RPG with the different perks and it didn’t have this modern game design choice of “Play it your way”, so you pick a class and deal with it and work on it, it gave it more focus rather than clutter. Plus I was 13/14 when the game came out and it showed me that games are more than just games, that they can be living, breathing worlds that still live when I turn off my system and my adventurer is still walking through the markets of Cyrodil or battling bandits on the road side.

 

5. Max Payne 3:

Here is game that is often bashed by fans of the series and I don’t know why because the story was great and yes it was less complicated compared to first two games, but it was performed well with a fresh change in scenery of Brazil rather than the snowy streets of New York. The visuals of Max Payne 3 are beautiful and they still hold up today considering that the game came out in 2012, coupled with the John Woo gun carter action with the noir narration from Max. The game is a blast to play and is super cheap now so pick it up if you still have your 7^th gen consoles or PC.

 

 

4. Red Dead Redemption:

Yes another Rockstar title and this game smashed it out of the park when it was first released, it successfully made a believable open world set in the wild west mixing popular spaghetti western themes from Fistful of Dollars with some great tension and drama with a complex anti-hero with a troubled past. You really felt that you were traversing the long and hot deserts in and having a gasp of relief as you reach the nearest town as you avoid the scrum bags of the open road.

 

3. The Witcher 2:

If you know me you know that I love the Witcher from the books to the games, by the way read the books if you like the games. The Witcher 2 introduced a lot of people to a dark and gritty fantasy world that is filled with monsters both supernatural and human alike. You play as Geralt of Riva who is a Witcher which is a monster hunter who has been framed for the murder of the king of Termeria so you must clear your name in this violent world. This is not an easy game it doesn’t hold your hand and you have to figure out things for yourself, coupled with the tight combat mechanics which demands timing and patience.

 

2. Grand Theft Auto V:

This game was an excellent swan song for the 7^th gen of consoles as it pushed the boundaries of what these decade old machines could which squeezed all the juice out of them. Most of us were thinking that “No way could the 360 or PS3 produced these visuals” then the game came out and we were proven wrong. Rockstar again have reinvented the open world genre by including multiple playable characters in the story which open world games are slowly adopting now such as The Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. It’s world is a living one where NPC’s will react to you whether it be what car you drive, your clothes or the way you talk to them it feels organic. The environments are varied and lush from the busy city centre, to the vibrant forest and the stretch out deserts.

 

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots:

This game is very close to my heart as the ending is probably the first piece of video game media that has made me shed a tear as I’ve stuck with the series for years, where you see an old and withered Solid Snake slowly losing his mortality due to his accelerating aging and then collapse after his mission is done. The cutscenes do run longer than usually, but it’s rapping up every loose end in the MGS saga and its Solid Snakes final mission. The gameplay was excellent to with new stealth toys to play with such as the octo camo suit where it would automatically blend in with any surface. This game defines what video game art is.