A Sneak-Peak At My Other Side Of Gaming And My Favorite Games Of All Time
Having a website focused on Strategy games implies that, for most of my gaming life, I’m playing all kinds of strategy titles, be they real-time strategy (RTS), turn-based strategy titles, wargames, city-builders, management sims, you name it, I have probably played it. In the few moments of respite I have from playing strategy games, I also enjoy a ton of other genres you might not expect to see me enjoy, and I guarantee you, you cannot know which game places first, as my favorite videogame of all time that’s not a strategy game.
In here you’ll find a selection of the games I consider to be my favorite games of all time, from role-playing games (RPG) to first-person shooters (FPS) and action-adventure- from PC to consoles- there’s a bit of everything. Maybe we even share some favorites!
10 – Jet Set Radio
I had to include one console game in here, somehow. I could have chosen several games, from WWE’s Smackdown vs Raw to Killzone on the PlayStation, from Clockwork Knight to RoboPit on the Sega Saturn. There were plenty of titles I played back in the day, and consoles were my first introduction to gaming. However, one title stands amongst them all as a memorable experience: Jet Set Radio. With its groundbreaking cel-shaded graphics, funky Tokyo-inspired world, and a phenomenal acid-jazz soundtrack, it’s a game that simply oozed cool to my 10 or 11-year-old self at the time I played it. Looking back at it with the nostalgia of 20 years gone by, I played this at a time when I wasn’t concerned about a game’s performance, its mechanics, and themes (heck, I didn’t even know what those concepts meant), it feels like a liberating experience of just grinding rails and tagging graffiti. For me, the game was never about reaching the maximum score or even about finishing it; it was about just experimenting with the cool tricks the game had. What’s more incredible about Jet Set Radio is how it’s still fondly remembered and revered by a substantial portion of the gaming community.
There’s a reboot of Jet Set Radio in the works, so I have that to look forward to. Also, I would like to give Bomb Rush Cyberfunk a shoutout because it was one of the few games that got close to that pure, unadulterated, uncaring joy of playing Jet Set Radio.
9 – League of Legends
Everyone has a complicated relationship with League of Legends. You either love it, hate it, or love and hate it at the same time. It’s the kind of game that manages to bring out the best and worst in people. I go long stints without booting up League, sometimes years at a time, but there’s always someone, some friend, some person you met, some colleague friend that invites you for a game of League, and since you don’t want to say no, the whole cycle begins anew. League is also, quite possibly, the game I have spent the most hours playing, and one that holds dear several of my favorite gaming memories.
As a MOBA, its strategic depth and endless complexity are what made it so compelling, but it’s the competitive aspect and the feeling of perfecting a new champion that keep me coming back to it. Long gone are the days when I would tryhard midlane and jungler, and traded that for a career as a support, a more relaxed and fun role to play around with. Still, I only play this one with friends, and I cannot remember the last time I played a solo game.
8 – Hades
Rogue-like games aren’t for everyone. The repetition and the grind can start to wear some people out very quickly, especially those more narratively inclined. I, on the other hand, am quite the opposite, and would rather disregard narrative for mechanical excellence in a game, but when you get both amazing combat mechanics with an amazing and heartfelt narrative, then it’s the best of both worlds. Enter Hades, a rogue-like dungeon crawler from Supergiant Games that’s a masterclass in elegant design (stemming from their previous, and equally excellent titles such as Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre), blending fast-paced, hack-and-slash combat with a compelling narrative that unfolds with every death. Unlike other games in its genre, death in Hades isn’t a failure—it’s a narrative opportunity that delves deep into each of the characters’ motivations, and escape attempt allows you to delve deeper into the rich world of Greek mythology, building relationships with a charming cast of gods, heroes, and monsters. This list wasn’t created with the explicit purpose of advising you on your shopping sprees, but if you’ve never played a rogue-lite, I can recommend it with zero hesitation.
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