Time to start this thing properly and by properly I mean incrementally of course. Just a touch over six months after my pre-amble to the whole thing and I realise I neglected the minor detail of actually starting the actual list. You know, minor details like that. So with as little ado as possible let's start what will be my absolutely definitive, unquestionably final and irrevocably vital ranking of my all time favourite video games. A long time in the thinking and not a short time in the making, Entries #100 to #91 let's go... #100: Black (2006) The starting point for this list might not be the heaviest of decisions I've ever had to make but nonetheless it took me a while to figure out what did and didn't make the cut at the very top. Black was a gritty PS2-era first person shooter from Criterion Games , the guys who brought us the Burnout series. Both at the time and in retrospect it's not the kind of game you would necessarily expect f...
Imagine if you will the film that gives you an extra few minutes of story at the end if you watched it really hard and demonstrated a true understanding of its themes, its arcs, its subjects. A film that only gives you a full ending or a complete story if you engage with it hard enough or watch it over and over again? Does that sound off to you? What about the book that witholds its full content until you have read it at least twice? Is that worthwhile cultural engagement would you say? For those with the time, cultural background and energy to spare maybe it is? You see I'm not so sure... Of course I am not talking about films or books in this case, I am, as ever, talking about the humble video game. The single player narratives that ask you to commit however many hours of your fleeting free time to see a conclusion that isn't actually conclusive. I don't mean the conclusion is half baked or intentionally ambiguous here. No I mean there are critical elements th...