Star Wars Battlefront 2- So many hours of my childhood spent playing this game. I mastered every weapon and map, and played it for quite literally a decade, from the original XBOX release I got at launch to the enhanced Steam version, where I enjoyed countless hours playing all the amazing community mods. I was obsessed with the original SW films as a kid, and this game really brought the series to life. Every match felt so exciting, the playable classes were all unique and the maps were all massive and made with insane care and love.
Team Fortress 2- Team Fortress is an interesting game. On one hand, it's a messy shooter with poor matchmaking and optimization, and confusing updates and balance. Yet it's also home to some of the greatest community servers to ever grace a video game, with incredible people, maps, mods, and tons of different ways to play the game. TF2 is so versatile it sometimes feels like ten different superb shooters, all topped with a super appealing art style.
Star Fox Assault- I'm a die-hard SF fan, and every game (except....*cough* Command *cough) has something fun and unique to offer, but when it comes to the best of the best, I have to go with Assault. SNES was a solid shooter, SF2 added some great new platforming elements, 64 is a stunning classic that is so much fun to play a run-through of, Adventures is a fantastic Zelda-clone, but Assault got everything right for me. The Shooting feels perfect; the Arwing levels are smooth and a 60 FPS dream, and the on-foot sections offer third-person combat on large maps akin to SF Battlefront that are really fun to run through. The Soundtrack is without a doubt one of the greatest ever composed for a Nintendo game, Namco really made a orchestral OST that brings the world of Star Fox to life, with a epic Space-opera feel. Just listen to that Star Wolf track, it's beautiful! Graphically the game is also stunning, it features a streamlined synthetic art style and exaggerated characters that takes Star Fox to the style it always needed to be in. Honestly this game looks gorgeous on the GCN, and when played in 1080p in Dolphin you are simply given an HD treat. I hope someday we see a new SF game in this art style, because it is just so appealing to the eyes.
Kid Icarus Uprising- I will admit this isn't as solid of a shooter as SF, but man, for a 3DS portable game Kid Icarus is a true treat. The gameplay is super smooth and features a control scheme that's easily to learn and tough to master. The writing and characters are top-notch, and some of the best work we've ever seen from the Treehouse team. Graphically this game is also stunning, the landscapes are vast and the monster designs are super interesting and neat. Sakurai is a genius game designer, and here we really can see that.
Final Fantasy VII- The greatest video game ever created. What else is there to say? The combat is perfect, the soundtrack is striking, and the visuals, oh man those pre-rendered scenes of Midgar, are something truly special. It's a product of 1997 that could have only existed in the era, and the experience cannot be replicated. Everyone should play FF VII, even those who aren't RPG fans, the game just has so much offer: The gameplay, the art design, the music, the story, the characters, everything is just flawless in this game. It's been talked about for years, and is often hailed as the greatest video game ever produced. And it still deserves all of the praise.
I love games and could literally go on and on. The Tony Hawk series, Grim Fandango, the Half Life series, the list is shockingly long. Obviously both Splatoon games belong here too, or else I wouldn't be a part of the Squidboards! It's interesting to read everyone's list, and I'm happy to see everyone plays such a variety of great games.
