I decided to completely revamp my GameSpot profile, and the first step was to delete all reviews and ratings of old games. I have saved them on my hard drive, so I will go back in, edit them and resubmit. I feel like I have a much more subjective look at video games and feel like I can review a lot better now than I could a couple years ago. So I plan on writing a lot more blogs, reviews, and etc. in the coming weeks.

I also decided to go ahead and rank my current favorite games, as listed in My Collection tab. Here is the list, and I am also going to go through and add a short explaination as to why I picked that one as my favorite, and why the Honorable Mentions are listed, but didn't take the cake. I limited the "Honorable Mentions" to four, making the "Top 5", if you will, of that genre.

I tried to avoid picking the most obvious choices for their genre, such as Final Fantasy VII, but sometimes, it is unavoidable. The game is either way too good for me to not put it as my favorite, or theres a lot of emotional attachment to that game. Or both! I feel like I have a pretty diverse taste in video games, so when my favorite is everyone else's favorite, it makes me wonder a little bit and question whether I want to fall in line like everyone else for that genre. But I try not to make decisions specifically to be different, because that is just stupid.

PREFACE:

Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are the games that made me think this way. But, Final Fantasy VII has a lot of nostalgia for me, as well as emotional connections with friends and my brother. I used to sit and watch him play it, I was pretty young at the time. It was a bonding experience. Those were the days that he and I got along the best... Not so much anymore, unfortunately. He eventually outgrew video games, and sold Final Fantasy VII, along with several other games, for me to play. That was around the time that FF8 was coming out, and I remember a lot of people trying to say that FF8 was better, which made me clutch onto FF7 even harder.

Furthermore, I even met my best friend because of Final Fantasy VII. My longest friend, as well. Back in 7th grade, I didn't have very many friends, maybe two or three, after joining a new school. I didn't fully understand cliques, and I was going through a very hard time in my life with my parents separating. I turned to video games and was very anti-social. One day, however, a kid brought in a Final Fantasy VII strategy guide, who I had already kind of been talking to in my Science class. I approached him and from that day on we were best friends. Actually, he and I are going to Las Vegas to celebrate our 21st birthdays at the end of May when he returns from college. Our friendship has outlasted every other friend I made around that same time. We used to be a quartet of best friends, and then dropped to a trio for a few years. Then, we lost another, leaving only the duo. All kinds of Shakespearian drama going on, but we still stand together.

Oddly enough, Metal Gear Solid was a game I got into shortly after, that I found he was also into. Another one I watched my brother play and he sold to me. So, I guess that these two games, I have a huge soft spot for in my heart. They're like connections to a best friend and a brother.

I was going to put Counter Strike: Source as my favorite First Person Shooter, but I don't play it much these days. I played that game for countless hours over a span of years. I used to be fantastic at it, and in competetive leagues. I met some good friends through it, over the internet, and still consider them friends today. One in particular evolved into a great friendship, one that astounds me at how long we've known each other and been friends, and that we are pretty darn close for internet friends. It's amazing that it's been 9 years.

Lastly, let's face it; Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the greatest fighting game ever created. I would go as far as to say the best party game ever created as well. I played through the single player the first day I got it, and have brawled online hundreds of times. It not only has classic Nintendo characters as per usual, but it has Solid Snake. Who is, incidentally, my favorite character. I loved the single player, and the multiplayer never gets old. I don't play very many fighting games, so I'm sure that tournament people would argue with me on this decision, but I don't care.

Without further ado...

Console Role-Playing - Final Fantasy VII
Honorable Mentions:

-Dragon Warrior III

-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

-Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II

-Final Fantasy VI

Action Role-Playing - Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Honorable Mentions:

-Marvel: Ultimate Alliance

-Diablo II

-Parasite Eve II

-Mega Man: Battle Network 2

Computer Role-Playing - Fallout 2
Honorable Mentions:

-Fallout

-Planescape: Torment

-Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

2D Platformer - Mega Man 3
Honorable Mentions:

-Ninja Gaiden (NES)

-Castlevania

-Super Mario Bros. 3

-Super Mario Bros. World
3D Platformer - Super Mario 64
Honorable Mentions:

-Sonic Adventure

Online First Person Shooter - Team Fortress 2
Honorable Mentions:

-Counter Strike: Source

-Day of Defeat: Source

-Aliens Versus Predator: Gold

-Call of Duty 4

-Battlefield 2142
Single Player First Person Shooter - BioShock
Honorable Mentions:

-Portal

-Deus Ex

-Jedi Knight II: Jedi Academy

Real Time Strategy - Starcraft
Honorable Mentions:

-Warcraft III

-Rome: Total War
Turn-Based Strategy - Final Fantasy Tactics
Honorable Mentions:

-Fire Emblem

-Disgaea

Strategy - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Honorable Mentions:

-Gangsters

Modern Action Adventure - Metal Gear Solid
Honorable Mentions:

-Ninja Gaiden Sigma

-Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

-Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes

-Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Horror Action Adventure (Survival Horror) - Resident Evil
Honorable Mentions:

-Harvester

-Resident Evil 2

-Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

-Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

Beat 'Em Up - River City Ransom EX
Honorable Mentions:

-Double Dragon

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game

-Maximum Carnage

-Battletoads
Shoot 'Em Up - Gun.Smoke
Honorable Mentions:

-Shock Troopers (Arcade)

-Contra

-Metal Slug

3D Fighting - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Honorable Mentions:

-Super Smash Bros. Melee

-Ergheiz

2D Fighting - Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

Honorable Mentions:

-Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

I'm addicted to Metal Gear Solid 3 online!  It's crazy!  I didn't like it at first, because I generally just dont like console based online shooters, especially FPS, but this has gotten amazingly fun.  Because it's not an FPS.  I'm still against console FPS games... There just isnt enough buttons for it to be efficient or fun, for me.

Anyhow, Im getting pretty good!  I've been playing quite a bit lately, like an hour or two or three or four or more each night, hahaha.  I think I'll make a new profile when I get really good, though, because I've done so badly so far on this one... I want to rank higher.  Hehe. 

I really like that you can use stealth and stuff when you're Sokolov in the online or a Colt S.A.A. when you're Ocelot.  Thats really awesome, and Im really glad they put stuff like that in there.  There are a lot of games out there that don't do things like that when it would be really easy to add them.  And they added them WELL, too.  I think that this is something Star Wars Battlefront II did poorly...

"I'm also addicted to boobies!" - Peter, Family Guy.

Haha, just kidding.  It's just a funny quote.  No offense to the ladies out there. ;)

Sigh.  People really need to check out the member reviews that are posted before going to the forums and posting "HALLO GUYZ IS THIS GAME GOOD?"  I spent quite a while on my member reviews that I have posted, because I try to get everything I can remember about the game.  They're long and detailed and strenuous.  There are member reviews for a reason.  If you have a specific question about a game, that's different, but the reviews should pretty much answer whether lots of people think it is a good game or not.  Wouldnt you think?

Maybe Im just being mean.

I really wish that they would make a Final Fantasy VII spin off.  Like a Final Fantasy VII-2.  I mean, they made X-2 and X wasnt even very good!  And X-2 was even worse!  I guess they are making quite a few spin offs, like Before Crisis, Crisis Core, and Dirge of the Cerebus.  And Advent Children, but thats not a game.  I just really hope that these games aren't the end of Final Fantasy VII.  Final Fantasy VII is, in my opinion, the most immersive and capturing story and land of all the FF games.  For some reason, that one clicked more than the others for me. 

I also really wish that they would remake the first Metal Gear games.  Not just rerelease them, but remake them into 3D and such and give them all the features that we have today.  Im sure they will do this sometime down the line.  I just really like the idea of playing against Big Boss as a green Snake, and then as a more experienced Solid Snake.  As far as Metal Gear goes, I also really hope that they make another Metal Gear where you get to play as Big Boss or even a Metal Gear where you get to play as Liquid or Gray Fox taking place before MGS.  I know that I'm being a total fanboy with this, but think about it, it's not that bad of an idea!

I wish that they would make a good video game movie.  Resident Evil was awful.  Both of them.  It really took the jelly out of my donut to watch these movies.  The first one was okay, except for that they had to put the Resident Evil label on it to make money from it.  F*** Paul Anderson. 

I wish that they would stop making crappy "real-life" games that are all the same like True Crime and GTA over and over.  Okay, so GTA was okay on it's own, nothing more, but then there had to be tons of people to make very similar games when GTA wasn't even all that great to begin with.  Especially 50 Cent... I dont want to get into that.  F*** 50 Cent.

I wish that Sony would let people just use homebrew on their PSPs.  Its not really hurting them any!  Plus, people are coming out with ways to crack it no matter what, so there isnt any use in trying!  I really want to be able to use homebrew apps and stuff on my PSP without having to use a different method every time a new firmware comes out. 

I wish that people would stop blaming video games for crimes they commit.  Ive played video games all my life.  I've played Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy since I was 5 or 6, and I havent run around with a sword cutting people.  I've played Counter Strike for years and I've yet to have the urge to go on a killing spree.  It's completely a scapegoat.  I was watching Law and Order: SVU the other night, and some kid was trying to blame the fact that he played video games for like 12 hours straight that he killed someone, when he clearly just did it on his own.  The lawyer's arguement really started frustrating me, the way he talked about how video games make people more violent and stuff.  It really bothered me...  If video games honestly do make you want to go out and kill someone, then you already have the predisposition to do something.  Video games are a form of expression.  They may not be an art, but they are a form of expression, and censoring them is like censoring a book or something, to me, and many others out there.  It is censoring free speech.  And there is too much of that going on in our corrupt country to begin with, if you ask me!  Video Game censorship is nonsense.  Parents who blame video games, television shows, and etc for their kids' behavior are completely irresponsible parents and should have their kids taken away.  Pay more attention to your children!  You wanted to have them, so its your responsibility to know what they are doing, playing, reading, watching!  We can all get ideas from books and comic books just as easily as we can video games and television and music.  F*** that noise, most everyone has control over their actions.

I think I'm done for now, but maybe I'll post another one of these later.  Enjoy.

I'd just like to say **** you to the programmers at Rockstar who put this into the GTA: San Andreas. You are responsible for what is going on right now with the government wanting to regulate and censor video games. You should be fired if you havent been already.

Sigh. I just really wish that dumb stuff like this wasn't put into video games that actually jeopardize video games as we know them. Rockstar doesn't even ever really make any GOOD video games anyways, just mediocre and detailed ones. State of Emergency 3?! Please! Wow. I cant even believe they made a State of Emergency 2... Sad...

So maybe I'm being a bit too harsh.  All GTA games including and after get tired and old because they are all basically the same thing over and over.  How long can you play a game like that without any sort of direction or storyline?  I just don't get it.  Vice City and San Andreas are fairly entertaining in very small doses, but they arent good games in and of themselves.  The only reason that people like them is because they are free and open, and you can do whatever you want in them, allowing you to get out some aggression and stuff.  And it is because of these kinds of games that we are looking at being censored.  And if I had to choose between having censored games and mediocre games like these, who try to push the limits with their content to give it a gimmick, Id much rather have all good games uncensored.  Wouldn't you?

I was thinking the other day about just how different the newer games are that are coming out these days.  Almost all of them are much, much easier than older games.  Could this be because there are more buttons and more actions in newer games?  I think that games are made easier now to appeal to a larger crowd.  Hm, this isn't a very good blog.  But my point is that Old School gamers are generally much better at all games than newer gamers.  Newer gamers tend to complain and lot and need help with even with the newer less-hard games.  Pick up Mega Man Anniversary Collection!  Play and play and play and play.  And your skills for all games overall will increase.  Thats all Im saying.