My Top 5 Games of All time - Part 1

This is basically a list of my top 5 games that I have played in my entire lifetime that I will be presenting in 5 parts with each part containing each game. Obviously they are my own personal choices but I would urge any avid gamer that hasn't played these games before to give them a go, with that said lets begin.

1. Shenmue (for Dreamcast)

Original dreamcast game case cover

Lets go.

For me Shenmue is my ultimate favourite game, the outline of the game was that of a detective/action/role playing one. Your name is Ryo and your dad was murdered before your very eyes and you took it upon yourself to personally find the man who did it and seek revenge. Fairly simple at first but as the game unravels the story goes far deeper than you had ever thought with a secret relic mirror holding some sort of power at the centre of he hows and whys of what happened that day.

 As you begin you will realise as I did that this is no simple game, it was in production for many years and alot of time was spent to pull you straight into this world without hesitation. You have a set amount of time during the day of which you must use to venture forward into this rich world and seek clues and leads which inevitably take you further through the environment and open up a huge playground in which it almost seems impossible, for a game of its time, to the possibilities of just what you can interact with through the game.

Gotta catch em all.

Interaction and exploration are a huge part of the game, vending machines, shops, arcades, all of which with a little pocket money each day from your mother you can spend in all these things and some more and that's not even part of the main story. You can collect toys if you so wish to do so or you could go explore your house or the village it towers above. The possibilities are amazing and the environment can be explored in all its glory. One of the really cool features is that the date and time move fluently as you play the game and as the seasons pass so does the world your in. Christmas time is very cool indeed.

Sit down.

When you do start moving along the storyline, even more rich does the game become, the action side of the game starts to pop in with fight scenarios where you use your kung fu skills your dad kindly passed down to you. The fighting is very satisfying and the role playing element also comes into play with levelling up your fighting skills as you progress so you can get more bad ass than you already clearly are.

That easy huh?

Along the way you will meet characters that have not much to say or have useful information, any of which is logged into your journal for you to use your keen sense to unravel and figure out where you're headed to next and who to speak to. Sometimes you will even encounter special folks who have new
more powerful fighting moves for you to learn, and when you get them down, as some are difficult to master, you just feel like your living this life.

Don't miss.

Another exiting aspect of the game at the time was the use of quick time events, now bear in mind this was at a time when they were very rare, non existent even, not like today were almost every game has them in some form or another. It was really groundbreaking stuff and massively boosted the excitement of the whole experience.



The experience is fantastic, there's so much to keep you coming back time and time again to this engrossing world and the storyline is huge, the game comes with 4 discs its so rich and you are never left wanting.

Working 9 till 5.

There is even a section of the game where you will have to get a job to progress the story and once you have it you have to do it too, it sounds tedious but is far from it and just adds more depth to an already deep game.

Overall it is the single most spectacular gaming experience I have had and I very much doubt i will ever forget it and that is even without mentioning the fact there was a Shenmue 2 just as good, if not better than the first. The only downside being the story does end on a cliffhanger in the second instalment and no shenmue 3 was ever made, (rumours are rife of this happening but nothing solid, also shenmue hd and shenmue 2 hd may be coming to xbox live arcade and the psn network but still no confirmation but i will cover this in another topic soon) despite that its an amazing game and anyone who hasn't had the pleasure, buy an old dreamcast, get a copy of the game and prepare for your mind to be blown.

Enjoy!