The Top 25 PlayStation 3 games you have to play!
Spec Ops’ bro shooter-like
name does the game no justice at all,
because behind its generic title rests one of the most disturbing,
story-driven shooters of the entire generation. Set in a future
version of Dubai obliterated by rampant sandstorms, Spec Ops: The
Line puts you in the role of Captain Martin Walker. Traveling with
two other soldiers that you control only cursorily, Walker and his
crew are charged with investigating reports of survivors left stranded
in the desolated city. But as you find out, not all is as it seems in
Dubai -- or with Captain Walker himself -- flipping the script on
players as they
realize that
they’re in for a ride they never wanted to witness in the first place.
There are few franchises more synonymous with the PlayStation brand than Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank series. The most recent entry into the saga on PlayStation 3 was A Crack in Time, a great game that not only takes full advantage of PS3's tech, but keeps the series' beloved characters, humor and weapons intact as well. A Crack in Time is a standout action-platformer that's both challenging and accessible, one of the hallmarks of Ratchet & Clank since the PlayStatio
2 days and the singular reason why Ratchet & Clank games have such
broad appeal..
It's the internal struggle of
protagonist Isaac
Clarke. Whereas Nathan Drake can wipe out 3,000 pirates
and crack off a one-liner in the next game,
Isaac begins the game wrecked. The horrors he saw in Dead
Space have broken him, and while the sequel is all about
dismembering monsters, it's also about piecing this guy's
mind back together. Heavy stuff for a game that tries to
scare you with spider-aliens exploding from a fat guy's gut.
You could make the case for Valkyria Chronicles being hard to
describe -- it's a turn-based strategy role-playing game mixed
with anime and some third-person shooter mechanics -- but we
think that's a cop out. Call it "great" and move on. Lead your
troops through an alternate 1930s Europe, fight for freedom,
and build your squad as you see fit. Beautiful art and
award-winning gameplay combine for something every PS3 player
should try. Now, SEGA, patch it with Trophies.
Original superheroes in games don't happen all that often, so when
developer Sucker Punch (makers of the first three Sly Cooper games)
announced Infamous, comic nerds held their breath. Luckily, everything
worked out. In Infamous, players take on the role of Cole MacGrath.
An explosion turned Empire City into a walled city of super-powered
people, and Cole has to decide if he wants to use his electricity-based
powers fight the good fight or rule the playground. A sandbox game,
Infamous gives you your powers, some cool comic cutscenes and turns
you loose.
It doesn't reek of the same
quality of Grand Theft Auto IV, but
Saints Row: The Third is still easily one of the best open world
sandbox games ever created and a testament to how other developers
can take a formula Rockstar created and do something different
with it. In Saints Row: The Third, the major difference comes
from how completely over-the-top everything is, from the story
and characters to the gameplay and weaponry. It’ll take you dozens
of hours to see and do everything in Saints Row: The Third,
which is a good thing, because it happens to play splendidly, too.
It's a shame that more people didn't play Vanquish,
because its third-person shooting mechanics are among
the best of the generation. Developed by Platinum Games,
Vanquish tells the story of a futuristic Earth where
a densely-populated planet has everyone on edge.
The United States and Russia do battle both on Earth and in space,
and that's where your character, Sam Gideon, comes into play.
Vanquish has been talked about as what a GI Joe game could have
and should have been, and with good reason. The over-the-top enemies
you're fighting invoke GI Joe, as do the awesome vehicles, while
the sci-fi story keeps the narrative moving quickly.
There are plenty of shooters to go around, for instance.
But every so often, something comes out that's so radically unlike
anything else that came before it that it's hard to ignore.
One such game is Catherine, a title from Atlus. Catherine tells
the story of a man who is cheating on his girlfriend.
The story is told through nightmare sequences that require gamers to
traverse gruelingly-difficult block puzzles. Those sequences are
broken-up by awesome story-telling interludes that make the entire game
come together, quite the feat for something that's so authentically unique.
BioShock shoved something into first-person shooters you
don't always see -- story.
Players start adrift in the ocean -- the plane they were on
has crashed -- and find an elevator to an underwater world
that's all sorts of screwed up. Rapture, a utopia created by
industrialist Andrew Ryan, has seen better days, and by using
weapons and hacking a bunch of super-abilities known as
plasmids, it was up to us to set the world right -- or at least
survive it.
It took over a year, but by the end of 2007, PlayStation 3 finally
had a Triple-A game that had the gaming masses drooling all over
themselves. That game was Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
A third-person action-adventure title from Naughty Dog, the creators of
Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter, Drake's Fortune told the story of
Nathan Drake, an adventurer distantly related to the famous explorer
Francis Drake. Nathan's exploits are now the stuff of PlayStation legend,
and Drake's Fortune is where the series kicked-off. And as many would
rightfully argue, Uncharted is now easily the most important exclusive
franchise on Sony's console.
The bar was high for Kratos' true PlayStation 3 debut.
The God of War franchise was known for being one of the
most beautiful and brutal franchises in the PlayStation stable,
so it's leap to HD needed to be nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Sony Santa Monica delivered. The (supposed) finale in Kratos' story
took us up against lowly thugs, huge monsters, and even the Gods
themselves. Whether we were pounding someone's face in from the beaten's
perspective or pulling off a massive combo, we were enjoying ourselves
in God of War III.
Millions upon millions of
gamers live for a game like
Grand Theft Auto IV. Set in an impressively large and
diverse sandbox Liberty City, Grand Theft Auto
IV puts you in the role of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European
immigrant who comes to the United States for the very first time.
It's in the seedy Liberty City that his exploits begin, as he claws
his way up from obscurity to a force to be reckoned with.
All of the classic GTA mechanics are here, from jacking cars
to killing just about anyone you come across. But in size,
scope and polish alone, Grand Theft Auto IV is a marvel worthy
of any game fan's admiration.
The orginal LittleBigPlanet
introduced the PlayStation
community to the idea of creating content and sharing it
with the world. LittleBigPlanet 2 blew the doors off that idea.
No longer were players limited to only being able to create levels.
Now, you could create games, races, cutscenes, and movies.
LittleBigPlanet 2 kept the Sackboy platforming
and collecting everyone knew and loved. It even brought over the
million levels created in the original game.
That number has only been added to since launch, and new DLC always
keeps this title fresh.
Comic book video games
don't have a great track record,
so when Batman: Arkham Asylum got announced, nerds
held their breath and hoped for the best. Luckily, the
folks at developer Rocksteady turned out to be some
huge Dark Knight fans and delivered the best comic book
game in years. From its excellent voice acting, stunning
graphics and awesome Bat-gadgets, Batman: Arkham Asylum was
a game that every comic book fan could pop in and get lost in.
And most importantly, it was a blast to play. Also, you could
say "I am Batman" and mean it.
A fitting conclusion to one
of the greatest trilogies in all of
gaming, Mass Effect 3 raises the ante significantly compared to
the two previous games in the series. The threat the Reapers pose
galaxy-wide is imminent, and it’s up to Commander Shepard and his
(or her) diverse crew to stop the Reapers from destroying life as
we know it. The wonderful story, character development and gameplay
the Mass Effect series is renowned for persists in Mass Effect 3,
but what perhaps makes it stand out most is its surprisingly fun
multiplayer mode.
Between games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Manhunt,
Rockstar Games started to put itself in a sort of hole.
By releasing the epically-good Red Dead Redemption,
however, Rockstar managed to show the world that it's
capable of far more than just blood, guts, gore and sex.
Don't get me wrong – Red Dead Redemption has all of that
in spades – but it also has deep characters, a great story,
and a totally unique western setting that sits in stark
comparison to the modern cities of the GTA franchise.
Red Dead Redemption is a truly deep game that's worthy
of your attention, especially if you have scores of
hours to sink into a single title.
Let’s come right out and say it: Resistance 3 is the best
PlayStation 3-exclusive shooter. The Resistance franchise
has always been known for its dark, dreary and hopeless
setting since Fall of Man launched alongside the PS3 itself,
but Resistance 3 is perhaps even more dire than anything
you’ve seen in the series.
Nathan Hale is no more -- Joseph Capelli is now the man
charged with stopping the Chimera -- and his travels across
America to Chimera-occupied New York City will go down as
some of the most fun, story-driven adventuring available on
PlayStation 3, a true testament to the amazing abilities of
its developer, Insomniac Games.
Let's not overlook the task developer Rocksteady had with
Batman: Arkham City. After proving comic book games didn't
have to suck with its first Bat-outing -- Arkham
Asylum -- Rocksteady decided to take the cape crusader into
an open world chockfull of classic rogues such as the Penguin,
the Mad Hatter, Hush and more. Batman: Arkham City upped the
original by giving Batman new gadgets and environments but stayed
true to the addictive combat and award-winning storytelling
the franchise made its name on. It gave us Catwoman missions,
a race against time, and one of the best Joker stories ever told.
Now, give us more.
Following-up on a game like the original Infamous isn't necessarily easy,
but developer Sucker Punch was up to the challenge.
The first game showed us Cole MacGrath, a bike
messenger-turned-superhero
who was endowed with extraordinary electrical powers. Infamous 2
changes pace by introducing a new city and new powers, but the
sandbox mechanics remained the same, as did the action-heavy combat
that makes Infamous 2 so fun. The city the game takes place in,
the New Orleans-inspired New Marais, is one of the coolest locales
any video game has ever been set in and is a true testament to the
power of the PlayStation 3.
Developer Quantic Dream is known for pushing boundaries in games,
and that's exactly what Heavy Rain did. Packing a crazy motion/quicktime
control scheme, Heavy Rain had you switching between four
characters who were all tied up in the kidnappings and murders
perpetrated by the Origami Killer. Packing 22 ending movies,
your choices mattered and directly influenced what happened in
the story. Let the kidnapped kid die, let your characters die,
never solve the mystery -- all of these outcomes were possible
and made for some excellent replay value. Quantic Dream called
Heavy Rain "interactive drama," and we have to agree.
Last year, we wondered if Portal 2 made it to the list a bit too early.
The game had just come out, after all. Here, a year later, we can tell
you that it didn't. Portal 2 is awesome. Once again, players are a test
subject in the halls of Aperture Science and need to use a portal gun
to solve crazy puzzles. And as awesome as the portal puzzles are -- you
shoot once to make an entrance and once to make a connected exit -- it was
the story of this game that really turned heads. Clever writing,
interesting twists, comedy, and robot characters you couldn't help
but love and loathe. Toss in multiplayer that could connect with PC players,
and you have one hell of a game. That's why Portal 2 smokes so many on
our list.
Do you like the idea of spending hundreds of hours on a
single game? Do you like RPGs and shooters? Then you'll
be absolutely thrilled withFallout 3 from Bethesda,
a game that mixes all of those elements together into
one of the most stunning gaming experiences in recent memory.
Fallout 3 tells the story of The Wastelander, a nameless hero
(or villain) who is unleashed from his nuclear fallout shelter
into an uncertain, alien world. Fallout 3 is all about
exploration and choice, which is why the game takes so long to
complete, and why it also has inherent replay value that brings
the term "bang for your buck" to nearly unparalleled heights.
When you think of space adventures, you probably think of
Star Wars. And rightfully so. But BioWare's Mass Effect saga
is an epic space adventure in its own right, one that tells
a stunningly realistic story set in a futuristic, science
fiction-heavy galaxy. Mass Effect 2 continues the story of
Commander Shepard, a human who wields incredible influence
in a galaxy full of hostile aliens. So much influence, in fact,
that a private corporation revives Shepard after he
(or she) dies and sets him (or her) off on a choice-laden adventure.
Everything about Mass Effect 2 reeks of the highest quality,
from its aesthetics to its gameplay. Jetting around the stars
has never even remotely been as fun or satisfying.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves took everything great about
Uncharted: Drake's Deception and amped it up.
From escaping a collapsing building to scaling
a falling train, Uncharted 2 played like a summer
blockbuster and introduced a slew of new characters
that kept the sequel to the Nathan/Elena love story
fresh. This is all ignoring how goshdarn beautiful
the game was and the visual bar it set for the PlayStation 3.
Plus, developer Naughty Dog tossed in a brand new multiplayer
mode that the teams supported until it debuted with upgrades
and revamps in Uncharted 3. Speaking of...
I said it in my review and I'll say it again:
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deceptionis the reason I play video games.
From breath-taking graphics to truly fun gameplay to a bromance
that kept me guessing at what was around the next turn,
Uncharted 3 is a tour de force. Many would -- and will in the
comments below -- make the argument that Uncharted 2 is superior
to Uncharted 3, but we disagree. Uncharted 2 followed a setup
extremely similar to the original Uncharted, and Uncharted 3 deviated.
The third entry in Naughty Dog's series played with the supernatural
twist, sent us back in time, and gave us a story that wasn't all about
Drake's lady problems. Here we wrestled with family and how far Drake
could ask his best friends to go.
Originally found on:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/20/the-top-25-playstation-3-games-2?page=1
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