Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)
Genres:Role-playing (RPG), Adventure, Platform
Themes:Action, Horror
Game modes:Single player
Story:The year is 2035 and Soma Cruz is about to witness the first solar eclipse of the 21st century when he suddenly blacks out -- only to awaken inside a mysterious castle. As Soma, you must navigate the castle's labyrinths while confronting perilous monsters at every turn. But beware, you must escape before the evil consumes you!Show more
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Now here's a great Castlevania game. Some even considered it better than Castlevania: Symphony of the Night including myself. This is exactly what I wanted in an metroidvania Castlevania game. You play as Soma Cruz, easily among the best Castlevania characters ever!!! He can use souls of enemies that gives him many advantages. You get a truly fantastic main map that takes hours to explore. The artwork instantly pulled me in during an 1st playthrough. The audio as a whole is mind blowing awesomeness!!! You get some truly sick tricks that's very helpful. Keep in mind this was an Game Boy Advance game. You get a fun lineup of bosses. Plenty of weapons you can use including oddly enough an gun. To me this was the true definitive GBA Castlevania experience. I played this through Castlevania Advance Collection. The compilation game itself among my favorite compilation games I played for that matter. Aria of Sorrow in all honestly a game you really need to play before you die. You get plenty of content to keep you busy for a long time. They even made this taking place in the future towards the end of the classic Castlevania time line work. The way the story told quickly because standard for the remaining metroidvania Castlevania games. This Castlevania game is something you may have to play to believe it even exists!!! Easily among my favorite Castlevania games I played hands down!!!
Fatal FrameFatal Frame is the first game of the Fatal Frame series, introducing the franchise's unique premise of fighting ghosts with a special camera.
Fatal Frame was the first to introduce the innovative use of an old-style camera as the primary weapon. In addition to navigating the main characters around the mansion grounds, players are able to enter Viewfinder Mode, where the camera is raised and the view changes to that of the camera's frame. In viewfinder mode the player is able to snap photographs of ghosts, both violent and benign, which is the main method of progressing through the game. Items are also available, some being consumable and most being key items needed to unlock doors, complete tasks or solve puzzles. Puzzles are encountered frequently in the game, some being based on the same concept but becoming progressively more difficult. The varying difficulty settings of the game (Easy, Normal, Hard, Nightmare, or Fatal (Xbox only)) determine the amount of consumable items scattered throughout the mansion and how formidable the enemies are.
The main horror aspect of the game is, undoubtedly, the ghosts. The mechanics programmed for the ghosts allow them to float ethereally through the air, walls and floors, and even teleport, allowing them many ways to attack the player. The ghosts' appearances are usually inspired by their deaths or by Japanese stigmas of horror, which, some argue, are particularily chilling.
The game, depending on which console it is played on, offers two endings. Upon completion of the game, a ranking is given based on total time taken, points accumulated and other categories. The player is also given rewards and unlockables, such as alternate costumes and camera functions, depending on what difficulty was beaten, how much of the Ghost List was completed and other criteria. Beating the game also unlocks Battle Mode, where the player is faced with fighting specific ghosts, and is rewarded with points towards purchasing unlockables. An option is also given where the game can be replayed with all equipment, upgrades and unlockables carried over.Horror Survival
Fatal Frame III: The TormentedRei Kurosawa suffers a strange dream each night, since she took a photo of her dead boyfriend in an abandoned old mansion.
Every night the dream will take her deeper and deeper in an old mansion, when she will have to find out what is going on.Action Horror Survival
Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of CortexCrash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is the fourth mainline series game and the first to feature Crash Bandicoot on the PlayStation 2. It was later ported to the GameCube and Xbox, making it his first multiplatform appearance. The player controls Crash and his younger sister Coco who must gather 25 crystals and defeat the main antagonists of the story, Doctor Neo Cortex and his new super weapon Crunch Bandicoot. Much of the game takes place in a Virtual Reality Hub System created by Coco to help Crash gather the crystals. The gameplay is similar to the older games of the series.Action
Digimon World 3Digimon World 3 is a role-playing video game created by Bandai for the PlayStation. You play as a child called Junior who enters an online virtual reality MMORPG called "Digimon Online", which is run by the "MAGAMI" corporation. A terrorist attack on the Internet traps Junior and his friends inside the game and he sets out to stop them with his Digimon partners.
Unlike past Digimon World games, battles against wild Digimon are random and the battle system although turn-based is very different from Digimon World 2, the most notable distinction is battles are one on one instead of three on three although you may tag in a different Digimon, battles also feature three types of digivolution; normal, Blast, and DNA digivolution.Action
Far Cry 3Beyond the reach of civilization lies a lawless island ruled by violence. This is where you find yourself stranded, caught in a bloody conflict between the island’s psychotic warlords and indigenous rebels. Struggling to survive, your only hope of escape is through the muzzle of a gun. Discover the island’s dark secrets and take the fight to the enemy; improvise and use your environment to your advantage; and outwit its cast of ruthless, deranged inhabitants. Beware the beauty and mystery of this island of insanity… Where nothing is what is seems, you’ll need more than luck to escape alive.Open world Action Stealth Sandbox Survival
Final Fantasy VIIIFinal Fantasy VIII is the eighth main installment in the Final Fantasy series. The gameplay makes a departure from many series standards. While it still uses the Active Time Battle system, it deviates from the series' traditional means of boosting a character's power via leveling, although levels are not completely abandoned as they were in Final Fantasy II. In addition, it does not have a Magic Point-based system for spell-casting. Instead, magic is collected, drawn, and created from items, and is used to power up the characters via the junction system.Open world Fantasy Science fiction
The X-Files GameThe X-Files Game is an interactive movie point-and-click adventure video game developed by HyperBole Studios and first published by Fox Interactive. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and PlayStation in 1998, and is based on the television series The X-Files.Science fiction Mystery
Enchanted ArmsAn action adventure role-playing game that has a linear storyline with a somewhat open world to travel through and explore. Along with 4 main playable characters mix your team up with over 100 collectable creatures scattered throughout the game. Uses a turn based battle system with each side on its own 3 by 4 square grid area across from each other. Characters can move a set number of squares on the grid each turn and skills have different area of effect patterns.Science fiction
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake EaterMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is the follow up to Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It is the first prequel in the series, taking the series to the year 1964. The player takes the role as the series' original antagonist, Big Boss, then known as Naked Snake.
MGS3 is the first game in the series to take place in a jungle. This unique setting created an opportunity for new mechanics. The player can adapt to the environment by swapping Snake's camouflage, hunt animals and gather plants for food. This iteration in the series introduced a new feature in which the player must apply medicine and perform medical procedures on Snake if he is damaged in combat. Apart from the survival themed features, the controls and gameplay of the game are very similar to Metal Gear Solid 2. Like other Metal Gear games, the focus is on stealth, but the player can go through the entire game like a shooter if they choose to. Throughout the game Snake acquires weapons of all types; non-lethal firearms, handguns, sniper rifles, machine guns, shotguns, sub-machine guns, and explosives.
Metal Gear Solid 3 was the first game to implement the CQC (close quarters combat) system. CQC allowed Snake to beat enemies down to knock them out, or put them in a chokehold to knock them out, kill them, or and/or question them.
Metal Gear Solid 3's health system required the player to occasionally pause the game and treat Snake's ailments. When Snake is shot, there is a chance that the bullet didn't pass through him, requiring the player to use a knife to remove the bullet, apply disinfectant, apply styptic and bandage the wound. This was done through a submenu in the pause screen. Other ailments the player must treat Snake for include: leeches, broken bones, burns, cut, arrow/bolts/needles, stomach sickness, colds, and food/venom poisoning.
Adding to the survival elements of the game, Snake Eater lives up to its name by requiring the player to scavenge food for Snake. Under the life bar there is stamina bar. If Snake does not eat any food the bar depletes, causing various effects. When the stamina bar is low, the player's ability to aim is severely handicapped, Snake's hands will shake in the first person aiming mode. Just like real life, Snake's stomach can also rumble, enemy soldiers can hear this, and will be alerted to Snake's presence.Action Fantasy Historical Stealth Survival Drama
Day of the TentacleDay of the Tentacle, also known as Maniac Mansion II: Day of the Tentacle, is a 1993 graphic adventure game developed and published by LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 1987 game Maniac Mansion. The game's plot follows Bernard Bernoulli and his friends Hoagie and Laverne as they attempt to stop the evil Purple Tentacle — a sentient, disembodied tentacle — from taking over the world. The player takes control of the three and solves puzzles while using time travel to explore different periods of history.
Dave Grossman and Tim Schafer co-led the game's development, their first time in such a role. The pair carried over a limited amount of elements from Maniac Mansion and forwent the character selection aspect to simplify development. Inspirations included Chuck Jones cartoons and the history of the United States. Day of the Tentacle is the eighth LucasArts title to use the SCUMM engine, and the company's first title to feature voice acting.
The game was released simultaneously on floppy disk and CD-ROM to critical acclaim and commercial success. Critics focused on its cartoon-style visuals and comedic elements. Day of the Tentacle has featured regularly in lists of "top" games published more than two decades after its release, and aspects have been referenced in popular culture.Fantasy Historical Comedy Science fiction