Your top 5 current-gen games

[the7k]

I'm going to assume MGS4 slipped my mind because it was one of the first games I got for my PS3. Maybe I just assumed it was last gen in my head ball.

I think the first game I got for my PS3 was The Darkness though. Maybe not Top 5 worthy, but definitely a great game.

[Ack]

Hey, look, a top 5 is hard, so folks worried about not including something...well, we know you love it too.

For me:

1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series - Admittedly I don't feel as strongly about the second game, but the first and the third game in this series completely blew me away and changed a lot of how I feel about what an FPS can be. From the terrifying atmosphere to the sudden fervent gunplay and almost reckless and random monster attacks, to the open environment that encourages one to simply wander until one finds one's own death waiting for him...simply put, this is just about everything I've ever wanted in an FPS, and I consider this series to be one of the tops in its decade, let alone its generation. It's what I've begun comparing all other modern FPS to, and most fail utterly against it.

2. Amnesia: The Dark Descent - I was finally able to play this game over at a friend's place, and it terrifies me. It also terrifies me how easily an independent title could grab me by the gut and wrench in ways that so many of the AAA survival horror games of this generation haven't been able to. Several of the other guys in here put this in their lists, and it deserves the accolades.

3. Deadly Premonition - Thank you, thank you for this! This is everything the old school survival horror fan could dream of, mixed in with a cast and story so bizarre it disturbs the player and all wrapped up in a bargain bin price tag.

4. Condemned: Criminal Origins - When I bought my original Xbox 360, I was eagerly awaiting Dead Rising. At the time I hadn't seen many games that interested me, but I wanted to try out the console a little, so I opted to pick up a game I knew very little about solely because I'd heard it was a horror title. Condemned turned out to be excellent, a game that deserved much more attention than it ever received. The combat in particular stands out, or I should say the ripping-anything-I-can-off-the-wall-to-take-down-this-maniac bit does. The mall level in particular will always stand out to me the most, but there are quite a few places I recall disturbing me. Unfortunately I ruined myself on this game the first time I played through it: turns out the brightness was as low as it could go. Now it seems easy to see in the dark every time I pop it in.

5. Medal of Honor: Airborne - What, were you expecting Dead Space? Yes, it's an FPS, and yes, it's a WWII FPS, and one that comes off as overly preachy about the sacrifices and valor of the Airborne. It also happens to be one of the most inventive WWII games that I've ever played and finally shows a way to take a stale and bloated subgenre and make it fresh again. Levels are wide open, and you can end up parachuting down just about anywhere you can see, making for some interesting starting points. And while some of the traditional "I've played this battle a dozen times in a dozen games" places are there, the final level takes place somewhere I've never seen any WWII FPS go, and for that I appreciate it. The only real downside is that the game is incredible short...well, that and the horrid lag. This game's not optimized to run on anything apparently.

You know, it was harder to compose this list than I thought. There have been a lot of games this generation that I really liked. Uncharted 2, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Virtua Fighter 5, Saints Row 2, Red Dead Redemption...and there's so much more I haven't even gotten to play yet.

[Xeogred]

I really wish that I could get into Stalker. It's not that I have anything against it, it's just been a chain reaction of bad experiences starting it up throughout the years and the game really does seem terribly optimized in some regards.

Originally I got it when I just had a laptop and it couldn't run for crap on that thing, I turned the settings down almost entirely and it just wasn't very playable.

Got a new PC and for some reason the crappy internal card I had was one card that didn't work well with the game, the sky was really messed up and stuff so it was pretty much unplayable. So I got a new card, but then my friend showed me a lot of the Complete 2009 mod which made it look like a completely new game and it was pretty awesome, so I tried running that... it ran decently for awhile, but particle effects and stuff like fire almost locked up my computer. Now going back to the vanilla game it's just a huge step down, and still even with my Radeon HD 5570 the game doesn't seem to run that well. Not that this is a gaming machine or anything, but the game is old... and it's just easy to tell it wasn't optimized too well for inconsistent machines like mine.

Someday I will really have to play and hopefully actually can, lol. I'm sure I'd enjoy it a lot, although after watching a friend play a lot of it, the shooting mechanics looked pretty frustrating.

But it's nice to see some Condemned love Ack, I could probably put that on my list as well. Especially when the 360 was new, easily one of the best you could get at the time. The mall was definitely unforgettable, the combat was amazing, and the game is disturbing because you're beating the shit out of, or being hunted down by psychotic drug addicted HUMANS. I thought that seriously gave the game quite a disturbing element. What'd you think of the sequel? Sadly I thought the narrative and story was so bad it kind of ruined the original, but I just try to pretend it's not even canon stuff. It had some great moments (the mansion in the mountains, the bear...) and the investigation segments were nicely improved, but other than that... a major let down for me. Not to mention it turned into an outright FPS towards the end, and everything about the end story wise and whatnot was just terrible. Dumbest twist to a series ever.

[Ack]

Yeah, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. does have that issue. To play it you need to patch it to full, then find the fan patches, and then put it anything else you might be interested in. The later games are better about it, but can still be hit or miss.

As for Condemned 2...my girlfriend and I both like survival horror. So sometimes I'll play one and she'll watch, and sometimes she'll play and I'll watch. Because we both really enjoy it. But unfortunately when I watch her play, I tend not to ever get around to playing them myself. Condemned 2 fell into this hole, and after watching her play, we both came to the conclusion that it really wasn't anywhere near as good as the first.

[J T]

You guys are making me feel bad. I've owned all the STALKER games and Condemned Criminal Origins for awhile, but haven't installed them yet.

[Xeogred]

You definitely need to play Condemned! It's really awesome.

Glad we agree on 2 Ack, it was a huge letdown... the main character, was not the same person at all (even got a new voice actor, lmao?). I also thought the level design was insanely boring, up until that mansion none of the environments were nearly as varied as the original game.

I just remembered the school from the first game as well, oh man that part was crazy too. That and it was just hilarious how you constantly went further and further underground. Had a blast playing that one with friends. For some reason I was always voted the one to play horror games in groups, haha (Fatal Frame comes to mind too).

I really wonder what Monolith is up to, since they're not doing FEAR 3. Condemned 3?... Shogo 2? lol.

[alienjesus]

I couldn't begin to make a top 5, but I do know I just finished up Ghost Trick on DS, and I'd be very very tempted to put that on this list. Oh god did I enjoy that game. I'm still feeling slightly depressed that it's over.

[Bradtemple87]

I also loved YS Seven

[Breetai]

Railfan (PS3)

Really? I got in on release, but more as a novelty item (and I'm a secret densha otaku, slightly). Still, top 5? I guess I'm just a bit surprised, but it that's your thing then cool.

I love the Densha de Go series and this game just takes it a step further. It's more on serious side, but it's great. I like it. It takes me back to when I lived in Tokyo. I lived in Nakano and took the Chuo Line everyday. I guess you can say I chose this game because it takes me back to those times. Sometimes my woman watches me play and says "Natsukashiiiiiiiiiiiii" when I play the Keihan Honsen. I don't own that many 'current gen' games, so there are probably more games that are great that I haven't touched yet.

Yeah, I lived on the Keihin Tohoku line. I got screwed!!!!! They should have had that instead of Chicago. It must have similar ridership levels to the Chuo line I would think.

The Keihin Tohoku line had a 209% occupancy rate in 2007 (latest stats I could find in a 2 second google search), while the Chuo Rapid was only 198%. I guess that is during the peak time(s). I'm not sure about the amount of people using them, though. Anyway, I'm just upset that line wasn't in there! I am aware that it's in some of the PS2 versions of Densha de Go.

[dedalusdedalus]

Not very much of the current gen has made a strong impact on me, so here's my very short list.

1. Valkyria Chronicles - I'm amazed this hasn't gotten mentioned. This is easily one of my favorite games of all time, let alone of just the current gen. The gameplay successfully fuses the 3PS and RPG genres into something completely unique and original. It's also got a lot of heart - it's easy to become invested in the characters, even the minor ones; so much so, that you'll probably find yourself restarting levels if any of your minor characters die.

2. Street Fighter IV + Super SFIV - What can I say that isn't already obvious? This is hands down the defining fighter for this generation.

3. ?

4. ?

5. ?