I’ve been playing video games since the NES and Sega Master System days. I remember blowing the cartridge to Super Mario Bros, Metal Gear and others and trying to convince my mum to let me play a little longer. As the years went on, I eventually grew with consoles, getting a Sega Saturn, N64 and PlayStation within 5 years. I’ve played a lot of games, some I’ve hated, and some I’ve fallen in love with and still play to this day. Usually I’m one for action based games, from Space Harrier to Metal Gear, but I was never a big fan of FPS’s or puzzle games.
Below is a list of the 5 video games I’ve encountered, most of which are quite recent, that I didn’t think I’d like.
[promo title=”5.) Portal 2″][/promo]
I actually owned The Orange Box on PS3, and played a lot of Half Life 2. I knew it came with the original Portal, but I just don’t like puzzle games. I don’t know why, it’s just not my cup of tea. 2013 is the year I finally sat down and played Portal, starting off with Portal 2. My girlfriend had wanted this game, so we spent weeks trying to find it for a decent price, eventually finding at my local Walmart. During the beginning, I really didn’t know what I was doing, but once I got the hang of it, I really liked it. There’s something satisfying about finishing this game. Maybe it’s because I actually had to use my brain to progress, but the second playthrough was a breeze, and it’s easily one of my favorite games of all time. I’m hoping that Portal 3 will be released on the PS4 at some point in the future.
[promo title=”4.) Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance”][/promo]
Metal Gear is my favorite gaming franchise of all time. I just love it, so when Metal Gear Rising was announced at the Spike Video Game awards in 2011, I was confused. The game was originally announced as Metal Gear Solid: Rising, but production issues caused Hideo Kojima to ask fellow development studio Platinum Games to complete development, and thus, the reboot came. I don’t like hack and slash games. They just seem like button mashers to me and I know a lot of people disagree with me, which is good! Don’t get me wrong Revenegeance looked like a great game, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to give it a miss or not. But, since it’s Metal Gear, I pre-ordered it, got it on release date and played it through. I adored it. I adored it so much, I’ve played through the story dozens of times. The music, gameplay, story, it’s all excellent. This is one of those games where the “Don’t just a book by it’s cover” phrase comes into play. I’m very hopeful for a sequel, maybe on the Fox Engine?
[promo title=”3.) The Sims”][/promo]
Who thought that going to the bathroom, reading a newspaper and having a job could be fun? The Sims creator Will Wright did, and it worked. The Sims is the best selling PC game, and The Sims 4 is on its way this year. I originally played the GameCube port of the first game when my friend bought it round. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so I had to get it for the PS2. Fortunately, I had saved up my pocket money so I went to my local Tesco (I was living in England at the time), and they had it. So when The Sims Bustin’ Out came around, I had to get it. Again, pocket money is a handy little system. I probably put more hours into that game than any other. I loved building houses, living in them, then demolishing them and starting fresh. I did have the original on PC, as well as The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, but there was something about the console editions that got me into the series. After the disaster of the 2013 reboot of SimCity, I bought that, and fell back in love with the Sim series. I really can’t wait to see what The Sims 4 brings us this year.
[promo title=”2.) Space Harrier”][/promo]
Now this brings back some memories. I never had an arcade wheer I lived as a child, despite living in West London. I originally played Space Harrier on the Sega Saturn when it was included with the Sega Ages compilation. Looking at the box, it didn’t seem to have that much appeal. It kind of just looked like generic shooter, but hey, I fired it up and gave it a go. The game was very unique, in a sense I hadn’t seen this much creation on level design and bosses in my video game life. Then again, I was only 10 years old. One very fond memory of this game, was trying to complete it the day before we went on a 2 week holiday, and because there was no save function I left the console on for 2 weeks so I could continue with my progress. I never did finish the game. Only recently, well, a few years ago, did I finally finish the game when I got it on my laptop. A few weeks ago, my girlfriend got a Nintendo 3DS, and much to my surprised, Sega re-released the game in 3D, so I bought it and re-completed it a few days ago.
[promo title=”1.) Journey”][/promo]
Now we move onto the last game I expected to like. I had been reading bits and pieces of Journey. When people describe it as a “2 hour game where you walk across a dessert to get to the mountain”, it doesn’t really sound great. Some point last year, I was looking for a game to buy, as I wasn’t playing anything at the time, and I was looking at some PlayStation exclusives to sink my teeth into. When I saw the reviews for Journey, I took the plunge and bought it for $14.99 on the PS Store. The game, is two hours long, but much to my surprise, it was the perfect length. Journey is easily in the top 5 of my most favorite games of all time. It’s beautiful, simple beautiful. The emotional connection this game had with me was indescribable. Never have a I felt such a connection with a game, although I prefer to call this Interactive Art. This also prompted me to buy Flower, the previous game from thatgamecompany, and I loved that just as much. If you have a PS3 and have never played this. Just buy it. Trust me.
So that concludes the list of games I didn’t think I’d like. It just goes to show that even if a game doesn’t look like your kind of thing, it’s still worth giving it a go, because some of those games may end up becoming one of those fond, rare gaming memories you’ll have in years to come. What games surprised you?