The Best Game of All Time?

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS!

There are so many games within the world, if you asked ten different people what their favorite game of all time was the chances are you would get ten different answers. The point I'm trying to make is that everyone has different opinions on games, some people won't even play a game from viewing the trailer. Where as other people, like myself, buy games second hand, simply because if you don't like it you haven't gone out and spent £30-£40 on a game that you think is awful. The best thing about this is that you get about 5/6 games for the same price as one brand new one.

So in choosing what is the best game of all time, in my opinion, I took into consideration my most recent purchases.

Sleeping Dogs; Set in Hong Kong, China, Sleeping Dogs is a martial arts crime fighting game. You are the main character, Wei Shen, who was born in Hong Kong but moved to San Francisco when he was ten to help his older sister, Mimi, overcome her drug addiction. Whilst in America Shen joined the police academy and qualified top of his class. Mimi later died from her heroin addiction and Shen set out and killed the person who was dealing her the drugs. Shen was then sent on a undercover mission back in Hong Kong. To establish his cover his was to do a drug deal and spent the night in a cell where he met his childhood friend Jackie. Jackie then helped Wei get in with the notorious Water Street Gang, led by Winston Chu. This allowed Shen to infiltrate the Sun On Yee, often fighting with rival gangs. Mostly the Jade Gang, ran by Dogeyes Lin. Jackie is the main person for Wei to be seen with. They were best friends in childhood, until Wei moved to America that is.

The main aim within the game is to keep undercover and do the work the HKPD are asking you to do. There are many tasks to do both criminal and police work, there are very few police officers know that Wei is an undercover cop so getting arrested has to be kept to a minimum, however sometimes the story plans for Wei to get took into police custody.

Having only played the game for roughly 2-3 hours my opinion is only based on the beginning of the game and the general feel of it. I like the game and I'm getting into the story too. The story is so far gripping me in a way in which I want to keep playing. There are many emotional themes within the game for Wei and I'm interested in seeing how it all pans out. Another thing I like about the game is it's uniqueness, not many games are martial arts based and/or set in Hong Kong. Most crime games are American based. The game so far is starting to climb my top ten list.

 LA Noire; Set in 1940's America post war Cole Phelps is a War Hero, who has since joined the police force. The game follows Phelps through is different job roles and promotions with the LAPD. Formerly serving in the Second World War, Phelps believes firmly in justice and not sending the wrong man down. Unlike his homicide partner, Rusty Galloway, who tries to pin a woman's murder on the husband in the majority of cases.

Phelps starts off as a patrol officer with his partner, Ralph Dunn. Cole then gains promotion for going above and beyond what was expected of him, he is the partnered with Stefan Becowsky, in the Traffic department. After a few more cases Cole is again promoted to Homicide where he comes to work with Rusty Galloway, where they together solve 'The Black Dahlia' case which has left officers stumped as to what could of happened and who could have been behind it. This leaves Phelps with another Promotion, this time to Ad Vice working with Roy Earl.

As it is a relatively new game of mine this is how far I have got to, but overall my initial opinion of the game gives the potential for this to be right up there on my favorite games of all time. Although I have yet to fully crack into I can feel a gripping backstory coming along and I am intrigued as to how to rest of the game is going to come together.

Brink; I was quite disappointed with this game. The game case made it look like a fast-paced online shoot 'em up. Of which it is, however for me it lacked structure. There is a campaign mode but it was, again in my opinion, dreadful. I tried to play the game multiple times but each time I was disappointed. I rarely play this game and when I do it is mainly just to take my anger out and shoot people.

The online gameplay is of mediocre quality, for online it's fine but with the campaign lacking any motive to continue, for me, it brought the whole game down with it.

The main positive I have with Brink's gameplay is the quality of the graphics and sounds used within the game.

So with my three newest games taken into consideration I have decided what my favorite game of all time is. It was hard to choose from so many brilliant games that I have played but I have to stick with my top ten list and choose The Legend of Zelda, The Wind Waker. As I have previously mentioned I have never fully completed this game, however I have come close and the gameplay I have experienced is, in my opinion, world class.

The Legend of Zelda, The Windwaker

 

So the Wind Waker is the ninth game within The Legend of Zelda series. It was released in 2003 and has two separate games that initially follow the same story within this game, they are: The Phantom Hourglass (2007) and Spirit Tracks (2009).

Spirit Tracks follows The Phantom Hourglass in Chronological order and in story. Where as there is two additional games in between The Wind Waker and The Phantom Hourglass.

The Wind Waker was originally only released on Nintendo GameCube but has since been rereleased for the Nintendo Wii U with a slightly modified title, (The Winder Waker HD).

 

The game starts on the quiet Outset Island and you are the main character, Link. However the main characters name will be whatever the file is saved under, for example is Paul saved his game under his name then the main character will take the name of Paul. To make the character be called Link then that is what the save file must be named. It is Link's birthday and his sister, Aryll is on the search for her big brother. She calls his name a number of times. When she finds him asleep atop of 'Aryll's Lookout' she wakes him up and lends him her most prized possession, her telescope. It's just for one day, she tells him to look after it carefully. Whilst Aryll shows Link how to use the telescope Link notices a giant bird carrying a young blonde girl within its claws. Below in the sea is a Pirate Ship shooting boulders at the bird through the cannon.

 

 

The bird subsequently drops the girl, who you later find out is called Tetra, and Link decides he needs to try and rescue her. Link climbs down from the lookout tower and goes to visit the only man on the island who knows about swordplay, Orca. Once Orca teaches Link the way of the sword he heads up to the forest to rescue the falling girl. Link succeeds in this and on their way back to the village Aryll is snatched by the bird, who believed she was Tetra. The local Rito postman, Quill, convinces Link to take him on their ship and assist him in finding his sister, considering it was Tetra's fault in the first place.

Once aboard the ship Link plays a game below deck, this game must be completed to arrive at your destination. Once arriving at the Forsaken Fortress, where Quill has been told the snatched girls are being held, Tetra fires Link over the wall of the Fortress in a barrel. Link lands in the water and swims to the nearest ledge before climbing onto land.

Link then gets a fright from hearing Tetra's voice, before they flung him into the unknown she slipped a Pirate Charm into his pocket. The Pirate Charm allows Tetra to see what Link is doing and also allows Link to hear what she is saying. Link must explore the Forsaken Fortress to try and reach the room where Aryll is being held. Tetra often gives Link pointers or tips on how to continue. There are numerous monsters for Link to contend with as he tries to rescue his sister. Some of these enemies are those such as a Bokoblin, which is the mini-boss the first time Link travels to the Forsaken Fortress. There are other enemies such as the Moblin, pictured below.

 

Once Link reaces the top of the Fortress he has to defeat a Bokoblin before he can enter the room where his sister is being held. Link does so and he sees his sister just before the bird that snatched Aryll swoops down and grabs Link. The bird then takes Link to a mysterious hooded figure who tells the bird to throw him away. Link wakes up the next morning in a boat, not just a normal boat. The boat begins talking to Link, he explains that he is the King of Red Lions and he is the only boat in the land that possesses the power of speech. The King of Red Lions agrees to help Link as long as he can buy a ship to help him properly. Link and the boat then travel around the Great Sea seeking help and guidance in how to rescue his sister from the evil Ganon.

 

So there is a brief overdraft of how the game begins, now in my opinion this game is not only the best in The Legend of Zelda series but the best game I have ever played...

I have recently began playing The Phantom Hourglass again and I'm over halfway of completing that. It came as a close second I would say, the story behind the games are very similar both have Link in this cartoonish character rather than the more grown up version, as I have shown to the right. The difference in character appearance is quite obvious, the first Link is from The Ocarina of Time, compared to the Wind Waker Link. You can see both characters are representing the same person, but as well as this they show different personalities and attitudes. Now in terms of me thinking this is the best game ever I am merely stating that I prefer the Link from Wind Waker as his attitude and determination seems more apparent than that of Ocarina of Time Link. Wind Waker Link is often referred to by Nintendo as 'Toon Link' as opposed to the other version just being 'Link'.

 

Now onto what I like about the game, I suppose my favorite thing about the game is the quality of graphics that are shown for such an old game. It was first released in 2003 for Nintendo GameCube, and was immediately criticized for its name not 'rolling of the tongue' as easy as other games in the series such as 'Ocarina of Time' or 'A Link to The Past'. However, with the game now twelve years old the graphics are top quality to when I compare it to recent versions, like The Phantom Hourglass.

 

Another good aspect of the game in my opinion is all of the different islands you get to visit, each one has such interested characters within them. The background of each island and its inhabitants are thoroughly thought through and are all very detailed.

 

The King of Red Lions aspect of the game, without ruining big spoilers, is very well thought through and will leave the player in awe of how clever the story writer has been. This is also the case in Phantom Hourglass with one of the main characters, Oshus. The depth that the story goes to, not only in the Wind Waker, but in all games with The Legend of Zelda series, is phenomenal. The detail and creativity leaves me awestruck each time. The way all of the stories tie into each other as well is amazing. Overall if I was to rate to game I would give it a 9.8 out of 10, the only thing I would change being a very long game to fully complete.