This section of the list has probably got the most variety of any other ten-game chunk. We’re rounding out the bottom half of the list.
If you’re just finding this, I suggest you start at the beginning and work your way along from there:
On to Number 60...
60 - Grandia 2
Grandia 2 is one of the best JRPGs ever made. It wipes the floor with Final Fantasy for me, and when it comes to the action-queue style turn-based combat, it’s the smartest and most exciting game in the genre.
On the surface, Grandia 2 (which is actually significantly different from the original) looks like your typical anime inspired JRPG, but what you’re actually getting when you explore the first few hours of this title are a whole heap of surprises. Most of these come from the characters you meet and recruit to your cause along the journey. Your primary character is Ryudo, a Geohound (kinda like a mercenary or bodyguard) who has been hired to protect a young lady who is of utmost importance in the battle between good and evil. The story seems pretty bog-standard, right? Well, let’s just say that shit gets real pretty soon after.
Grandia 2’s combat system is its most impressive feat. There are four different types of points you need to manage, spend and preserve as you go, but it never feels clunky or overly-difficult to grok. Being able to move around the battlefield in a limited capacity gives you the opportunity to prevent the more dangerous moves of your enemies, and because your characters can move at different speeds and ready actions in a rotating order, your ability of combo up is more nuanced and varied than in similar RPGs.
Grandia 2 recently go a re-release on consoles and I’ve picked up the Switch version to enjoy in the New Year. If you like Final Fantasy, or JRPGs in general, it’s one of the absolute best.
59 - Guitar Hero 2
The year is 2006 and the game store doesn’t have a shopping bag big enough to cover the ridiculous plastic guitar I’ve just bought. I’m walking home with it under my arm, a mixture of slightly embarrassed and ridiculously excited. Guitar Hero 2 has come out and it has a bunch of songs I actually enjoy, plus it’s the first game in the series available on the Xbox 360.
Moments after plugging the guitar controller into the console, I was already addicted. The game is absolutely not in any way reflective of musical ability, other than rhythm, and initially on the normal difficulty, it felt like you’re only playing a tiny section of the music that is playing before you and an entirely manageable number of buttons are required to hit. Meh.
Turn Guitar Hero 2 up to Expert difficulty, and you’re finally playing the game. Normally I am as far from an elite gamer as you can get. I have no qualms about playing a game on Easy if it means I can actually experience it from start to finish. Guitar Hero 2 is different. To get the most out of it you have to be running your fingers ragged, laughing at the insanely difficult Through the Fire and Flames and hoping to one day survive it.
These games became hugely over-saturated on the market soon after and the bubble burst faster than the fad spread. For the brief time when Guitar Hero 2 was around, it was among the most fun pass-and-play gaming you could get.
58 - Sega Rally Championship
Nowadays a racing game usually has about 50 tracks and 400 cars. Sega Rally had 4 tracks and 3 cars. And it was still miles better than anything else around for years to come. How is that the case? Car handling.
Power-sliding felt incredible, and nailing the apex of a corner with the right amount of back end slide on the car was immensely satisfying. The Desert track in Sega Rally is probably my favourite racing game track to this day. I remember shaving hundredths of a second off my best lap times and being overjoyed. It was the first time I wanted to be a racing driver.
Sega Rally came out in 1996 on the Sega Saturn, having been out in arcades for a while before. Both versions are identical in every way. It remains one of the most impressive arcade-home ports that I've ever seen and is still a great rally game to dig out and play now. If you're ever on a ferry between Ireland and the UK, there might be an arcade version of this on board. Dunk some coins in and enjoy.
57 - Puzzle Quest
There's something about combining a match-3 with a fantasy RPG that just works. In Puzzle Quest you make matches to earn mana, which is then used to activate special powers. These powers help you to damage your opponent, who is trying to defeat you first.
Puzzle Quest is delightfully simple and compellingly addictive. The progression of your powers as you traverse the fantasy landscape is balanced to perfection, slowly granting you the options you need to overcome the different types of enemies v locking your path.
The recent mobile Version of Puzzle Quest are a much more watered down version and not what I am recommending here. Pick up the one from the 360/PS3 era for the best outing in the PQ series.
56 - Project Gotham Racing 4
By now, you've probably noticed that I like racing games. One of my other passions is motor-racing, and I've dabbled in karting and follow things like F1 quite closely. PGR is racing of a totally different kind.
The kudos system that began with MSR on the Dreamcast was adapted and grown across the PGR series, reaching its zenith with PGR4 on the 360. Unlike traditional racing games, many of PGR's races and events are won through this Kudos system, which rewards speed AND style, giving you bonus points for your position on the track, along with how many drifts, drafts, slides and close call overtakes you make.
PGR's cone challenge, a mode where you have millimeters of leeway either side of the car and a tight time attack target to get to the end, is amazing. PGR rewards fun and daring moves and encourages creativity in a way no other game can. Hopefully we'll see another one some day.
55 - Sonic The Hedgehog 2
I flip-flopped back and forth on which Sonic game to put on the list. Sonic 1 was pretty close to hitting this spot, and Sonic Advance and Sonic Mania are also pretty solid. In the end, I went for the one I played the most times as a kid.
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most iconic gaming characters of all time, and is very much a slice of the 1990s in pixel form. Sonic 2's levels were that bit faster than the original's, and that's what you're looking for with this series. Running down slopes to gather up speed, rotating into a ball to go faster, doing loop-the-loops, jumping huge distances onto springboards… it's just fun.
The Sonic games have always fought with balancing gameplay decision making versus that sense of speed, and they absolutely got it right in Sonic 2.
I'm pretty sure the danger music for air in the water level traumatised me as a child.
54 - Rayman Legends
Another platformer in this section of the list. Rayman Legends is one of the most creative game designs of recent years. Ubisoft’s mascot character has always lived in the shadows of Mario and Sonic, but neither rival franchises have managed a better 2D platformer than Rayman Legends in many, many years.
Aside from the beautiful visuals, which look exceptional, the most immediate appeal of Rayman Legends is the fantastic level design, right from the off. Rayman himself (and the supporting cast of characters) controls fluidly and with the utmost precision. Helicoptering down from a height seems natural. Bouncing on enemies and across distance from springboards has an element of risk but great satisfaction when it pays off. The fundamentals of platforming are at their best throughout Rayman Legends.
On top of the sublime gameplay, there are various other layers of the design that click on so many levels. One of my favourites is the inclusion of musical levels, where well-known songs like Black Betty are playing over the level, which throws enemies and obstacles at you that reflect the timing and rhythm of the music. Add the multiplayer cooperative mode to the mix and you have something very special indeed.
53 - Doom
Doom was a game changer. When it landed on PC (and later on the PS1 in a very faithful port) it brought a pace of gameplay and fresh new genre that felt truly revolutionary. Looking through the marine’s eyes and reacting to the horrors around you was unlike anything else at the time. Sure, it followed Wolfenstein 3D, but back in the day, most of us who learned this only did so because Doom made such a splash on the scene.
Many fans of the series would probably scream at their screens reading that this is my selection and not the 2016 reboot of Doom, which is undeniably excellent as well. The inclusion of the original (which you should read as including Doom II and Final Doom, as they’re practically expansions to the main game) over the new one is partially down to the impact this game made on me in my formative years. I learned so much about level design from this game just be repeat playing it and that is something that has stuck with me throughout my studies and into my career.
Doom is an all-time classic and something everyone interested in video games should go back and play for themselves.
52 - Left 4 Dead 2
Zombies can run.
Valve’s awesome procedurally generated zombie apocalypse simulator is like dropping into an action-horror movie. The lightning quick pace of both your character and the swarms of undead pursuing them is unreal. Left 4 Dead 2 (and let’s be honest, the original is just as good) is a wonderful experience, always bringing sensational, thrilling moments.
The possibilities in each level are nerve-wracking. Will a gigantic boomer grab you and spew acid all over you, making your team freak out? Will that Jumper mutation land on your back and drag you towards dozens of undead as you try to claw your way free? That noise, like a young girl sobbing, is a witch. She’s nearby, but it’s dark. How do you proceed?
L4D2 (or the original) with friends is one of the best cooperative games ever made.
51 - Tomb Raider
The original one. Not the reboot. Hear me out.
Back in the mid-90s when Lara Croft debuted on the Sega Saturn (and soon after, the PS1) it was a whole new type of game landing on the world. Sure, we had 3D games, at least in appearance, before Tomb Raider, but it wasn’t until Lara Croft jumped, grabbed, shimmied, side-stepped and swan-dived her way through caves and underground tunnels that we truly stepped into the next generation of video games.
Tomb Raider was full of surprises. The 3D swimming sequences were also unbelievable at the time. Walking out into a wide open underground cavern to be met by a Tyrannosaurus Rex has to be one of the most jaw-dropping things I’ve ever seen. Look at that thing!
Tomb Raider also wasn’t shy about its inspiration coming from Indiana Jones, with lots of traps, puzzles, levers and rolling boulders littered around its levels. Things get very intense in the latter stages of the game, with extremely tough enemies and lots of collapsible platforms, making the endgame a little frustrating. The game’s limited save game opportunities (you could only save once per save point in the game) didn’t help this phase of the game, but added to the challenge. Tomb Raider did so many new things when it was launched that it changed the landscape of gaming forever. Avoid most of the sequels, but the original is worth a play, even today.
That’s the bottom half of the Top 100 done. Now, I say “bottom” half, but when you’ve played as many games as I have, reaching this list at all means the game is pretty special. Everything so far has been a game I love. I hope you love some of them too.
Come back for the next 10 later today.
