Captive(ST): Mentioned it so many times now, but I love the technical aspects, the way you can snap your leg off and trade it in for a new one, but gadgets, the sheer volume of weapons available. It was just an excellent RPG with real depth, like deeper than most people would ever see. In terms of scale, it makes Oblivion look like it's sad little mobile phone counterpart - it would take 50 years continuous play to complete, I really appreciate that impossible goal idea, it's one of the few games that I still play regularly.
Bubble Bobble(All): Arcade gameplay does not get any better, tons of collectables and secrets, 2 player mode, 100 levels that take a good few hours to get through, and it's a game of extreme skill, kinda like a fun version of Manic Miner
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Pikmin/Pikmin2(GC): The best microcosm game imaginable, little guys and little beasties in a puzzle game. But Pikmin is so involved and deep that you can literally loose yourself for days - the Pikmin dudes themselves are cute but robust, and I think that gives a good balance, vital in a game where you have to throw these guys at monsters. It's a little bit sandbox, a lot puzzler, and a lot action adventure - hunting for treasure with your army of Pik's and battling scary monsters while keeping track of them provides nicely varied gameplay. If your running low on Piks you would spend the day gathering food to make more, or if you need a particular type of Pik you'd go down a tunnel looking for a flower to transform them, all the time trying to retrieve treasure. I'm hoping for a DS version, even with the low spec, sprited piks, and lower eye-candy quotent, it'd still freakin rock. Pikmin2 is a gorgeous game, some parts just stick in your mind and remind you why Nintendo do games right. For instance, the shallow drain water - you know how with drain water going down you get these smooth ridges on the water surface?, well there's this section in Pikmin2 where they have a drain like that, and it just sticks in my mind as the coolest water effect I've ever seen, understated and rare, but finding things like that on a supposed lowly past-gen console just amplifies it's effect.
Res Evil 4(GC): I'm not gonna go on about this masterpiece, but seriously, put an GC with a copy of Pikmin2 and RE4 beside a 360 with any 360 games you like and I'd still opt for the GC. The graphics are great, the gameplay is flawless IMO, the storyline and depth is the best in it's genre.
Farcry:Instincts(XBox): +Evolution of course... But hang the single player mode, I play online through XBC, my brother has his own XBox, so we link up and play online with about 15 regular players from all over the place. It's a lot of fun, and it's usually a great connection, no lag. The best aspect of these games is the map editor and the online fun - it's just very well balanced once you get to grips with it and a really engrossing game.
''Stick that in your text and scroll it!.''
