Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The Top 5 Games on the PS2 and DS


A few days ago I listed the games that I thought were the best games you could get right now, today, on the PC and Xbox 360.

Here are my picks (with a little help) for the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation 2.

PS2

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence - I've always been a huge fan of the Metal Gear series and with this updated special edition that came out in March, I appreciate the series even more. A new camera angle and online mode make this a super game.

2. MLB '06: The Show - After the MVP series from EA went the way of the dodo, baseball needed someone to step up - which is exactly what this game did. The best baseball game on any console. Of course it doesn't hurt that my boy David Ortiz is on the cover.

3. Fight Night Round 3 - While not nearly as pretty as its Xbox 360 cousin, the game play on the PS2 version is just as good.

4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories - Yeah, I know. I've complained about this game in a blog before. The graphics aren't pretty and the soundtrack sucks. Still, its a GTA game and I'm addicted to the world of GTA.

5. The Godfather - Any time a game can put me in a movie as great as The Godfather, I'm in. This game has great game play, exciting missions and nice graphics.

Honorable Mention: Kingdom Hearts 2, Winning Soccer Eleven 9
Total Garbage: Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

I play my share of DS games but I thought I should defer to an expert. In order to get a more accurate view on the Nintendo DS scene I had my 12-year old son Connor ( a devout DS gamer) share his views on the best games out right now for the DS. My comments are in italics.

DS

1. Super Mario 64 DS - Its just like the original N64 version but with way improved graphics, new areas, 30 more stars, 3 new playable players and a fun multi-player mode with up to four people at a time. (Great game but the star collecting can be very time consuming.)

2. New Super Mario Bros - Wow! What a fun game! If you've played Super Mario World on the SNES, you'll notice a similarity. The worlds are now 8-12 levels long instead of 4. Though there are still 8 worlds. Like Super Mario World, the secret finding can be very frustrating. Other than that, it has great graphics and fun gameplay. (Personally, I would have put this game as #1 but I'm old school.)

3. Metroid Prime Hunters - This is another chapter of the seemingly endless series. I've only played the demo (I'm a cheap Dad, what can I say) but it looked fantastic. The demo I played was great fun but the controls were frustrating. Get ready to curse at your double-screened gameboy until you figure out the controls. Not that I would curse. (At least not in front of me.)

4. WarioWare: Touched! - It may be a weird, cooky game but really who can resist moving a baby with a stick so he can whiz on a fire to put it out. Or even popping balloons! So it is weird and a little cheesy but its still a really fun game. (Once again, proof that parents need to be aware of what games their kids are playing.)

5. Tetris DS - Everyone knows the catchy theme song to the original Tetris. This game offers other themes, like Mario, as well. You can still play the same Tetris game everyone loves but you can also get a new challenging mode called mission mode. Here you are commanded to clear 3 rows in a row or clear 2 rows with the green piece. Or if you're really bored, do puzzle mode and solve totally impossible Tetris puzzles. So all in all, a good game. (I really like this game as well but would've ranked it much higher. My wife and son have competitions with this game. You know its pretty good when you can get your wife to play a game.)

Looking forward to: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

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