Top 25 Games of the Last Generation…and the Worst (#10-#6)

Bryan continues his list this week upon the arrival of E3. It's about to say goodbye to the 360 and PS3, and the arrival of games for the new generation of consoles.

[higgins78]

I would be highly surprised/dubious if anybody who played SMG didn't nominate it THEE game of last gen.

[McScroggz]

SMG 1 & 2 are fantastic games. However, what I will say is it is very hard to compare a Mario platformer to more "modern" games. When you look at the scope of Fallout 3/Red Dead Redemption, or the incredible atmosphere and narratives of The Last of Us or BioShock, it makes something like Portal 2 or Super Mario Galaxy look very simple. It's not entirely right to look at it that way (see my top 5 below); but I do feel like there is something to be said there.

For instance I told my best friend about IGN's top 100 games of the generation. He has played The Last of Us and BioShock, as well as both Super Mario Galaxy games and Portal 2 with me. Whenever I asked him to guess what they chose as the number 1 game he guess The Last of Us (he NEVER reads gaming sites/forums either). When I told him it was SMG, he had the most incredulous look on his face I've ever seen. To think that a Mario platformer, even a fantastic one, would beat out a game with: incredible atmosphere, superb voice acting, a great narrative with impressively subtle moments, fantastic and moving soundtrack, interesting and neat "realistic" stealth mechanics and a survival/horror feel, really impressive multiplayer that enhances the gameplay, etc. It's a game that is very good or great in basically every aspect of a modern game there is (subjectively of course). So, hopefully you and others who love SMG can see, it is really hard to say a Mario platformer is the best game of the generation - especially if you've been running and jumping on goombas' heads since the 80's.

[higgins78]

I cant agree. I played The Last of Us and Portal 2 last gen, both fantastic games, truly, but to take anything away from SMG (1&2) is near sighted. Yes, it almost is impossible to compare a Mario 'platformer' with a more 'modern' 3rd person adventure, but for my money while SMG (1&2) are flawless - I really mean flawless, both The Last of Us and Portal 2 had elements which left me feeling a disconnect.

Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 (to me) are both a love letter to games where EVERYTHING has been taken into full consideration, TLOU is a shining light in the genre but (again, for me) Resident Evil 4 is still king of the 3rd person survival horror genre, just.

[McScroggz]

I actually would agree that the two SMG games are pretty much flawless (though personally I feel the same for TLOU). I guess a good comparison is one of the sports where judges score the performance like diving, gymnastics or ice skating. In those, and I'm certainly no expert, there are categories for technical and artistic merits. If you do a dive, for example, that is technically very simple but you perform is flawlessly, you will get a very good score - but because of the simplicity, there a cap at how high your score can be. The opposite would be a highly complex dive that is done well; there may be some small imperfections in the dive, but the complexity lends itself to a much higher overall score potential.

Do you see the argument I'm trying to make? Don't get me wrong, I don't want to undermine the technical brilliance of the SMG games; but I do think it's a fair point to cede that TLOU is a much more ambitious, complex game that is by most accounts not very flawed, and thus comparing it to a relatively much simpler game in SMG - flawless or not - is a tough sell. Quite frankly, I think it's much easier to compare SMG to a game with clear faults like a Fallout 3 or a Mass Effect 2.

Simply put, I think SMG 1 & 2 are basically flawless. I also think TLOU is basically flawless. Due to the difference in complexity I think you should at least listen and understand those that feel like SMG is the unquestionable best game of the generation. Especially since a lot of people will overlook the games because "it's just another Mario platformer."

[McScroggz]

My top five would probably be:

5. Mass Effect 2
4. BioShock
3. Portal 2
2. Super Mario Galaxy 2
1. The Last of Us

[Master-H]

The games i enjoyed the most on my ps3 in no particular order :
- Assassin's Creed II
- COD 4: MW
- Uncharted 2
- TLOU
- Dark Souls (my personal favorite)
- GTA V
- Red Dead Redemption

Keep in mind that i haven't played many of the the popular best games of the generation yet like Mass Effect 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, Fallout 3, Portal 2, Bioshock 1/Infinite, Demon's Souls... i own most of them and plan to play them in the summer tho.