EGM 100 Best Games Ever 2002

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EGM 100 Best Games of All Time 1997

Disclaimer: The purpose of this post is to preserve history. ZBR Streetgang is not affiliated with Electronic Gaming Monthly and did not contribute to this article. If for any reason this post needs to be removed, please contact the poster and it will be done as soon as possible.

Enjoy.

Not Great Enough

Soul Calibur II HD Online
Namco

PS3 (2013)
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A decade after it's debut, Soul Calibur II has been treated with an HD facelift and online capabilities. Although it's arguably the best in the series, and inarguably an immediate top-ten fighting game on PSN, it will most likely be overlooked because of the hefty price tag and overdue release date.

Other classic fighters like Street Fighter III: Third Strike and Marvel vs Capcom 2 have been online for years, and Namco released the latest Tekken for free. Tekken Revolution proved that a free fighting game makes for a more competitive and thus more fun experience. Paying twenty dollars now for Soul Calibur II seems like backpedaling in a big way.

The fights look better than ever, and although the online lobbies are archaic, it doesn't take long to find a match. Even so, a bit of music would've been nice if we can't fight the CPU while waiting.

Formerly exclusive to Xbox and PS2 respectively, Spawn and Heihachi Mishima both make a return, although Link is missing for obvious copyright reasons. His presence was a main draw back then and will be sorely missed by players of the GameCube version. Despite the inevitable omission, Soul Calibur II HD Online retains a stellar cast of characters.

Soul Calibur II HD Online is indeed one of the better fighting games on PSN, but it's not among the very best of the best, and to maintain a community of loyal online players, that matters.

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Ibb and Obb
Sparpweed Games

PS3 (2013)
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Ibb and Obb is a fun little platformer wherein two mushroom-bodied characters must work in unison to overcome mind-boggling puzzles and continue their journey from the left side of the screen to the right. 

You can play alone with both joysticks, but I don't recommend it. You're going to need the extra hands for some of the impending twitch play and pitch-perfect timing, and having an extra brain handy ought to get the job done twice as fast.

Simple and slick in presentation and easy to pick up and play, it's fair to say Ibb and Obb is an obvious choice for someone into cooperative gaming, although I wouldn't be comfortable calling it a no-brainer.

You Say You Want a Revolution

Tekken Revolution

Namco

PS3 (2013)

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Tekken Revolution is Namco's latest entry in what is arguably the best modern fighting game series. It's an apt title considering they may have revolutionized the way fighting games are distributed. Revolution is downloaded from the Playstation Store and free-to-play as long as you have tokens that are earned through winning or waiting. Otherwise, you can purchase up to 30 tokens at once for five bucks.

The best thing about a free-to-play fighting game is that the competition is a lot less stiff. Revolution is all about online play, and you don't have to be an expert to rack up wins in ranked or friendly matches. Friendly fights are more balanced because you can turn off ridiculous character enhancements which give players more power and health. Ranked matches offer no way to turn off the handicaps, so you may run into someone who can take twice the damage.

Revolution can't avoid comparison with Tekken 6, which has remained one of the best PS3 games since its release in 2009. The core gameplay is still intact, but each fighter has been given three extremely useful and easy-to-perform super moves, which is another reason you don't have to be a Tekken aficionado to succeed. Tekken was always packed with cutting edge music, but the soundtrack to Revolution is perhaps the best in the series.

Where Revolution can't stack up against Tekken 6 is sheer content. It's to be expected that a free-to-play, online-based game won't have too many extras like the action levels instituted in each installment since Tekken 3. What's alarming about Revolution is the wanting character roster. While Tekken 6 boasted over forty fighters, Revolution has slowly garnered half that amount, and only eight of them are available from the offset. To unlock the rest, you can pay the hefty $6.99 per character or play almost endlessly with premium tokens. There are also some staple fighters missing like Lei, Bruce, and Eddy Gordo, and no one with similar fighting styles to select in their stead.

Regardless of the small roster, Tekken Revolution is a no-brainer for fans, and is paving the way for the future of fighting games in terms of distribution and community, ultimately pulling it closer to its roots in the arcade.

Boys to Men

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

Starbreeze Studios

PS3 (2013)
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Starbreeze Studios teamed up with Swedish film director Josef Fares to make Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The marriage of game and film produced a non-stop cinematic experience in which no time is spent fumbling through menus, button schematics, or overly challenging puzzles. It's a thrilling three hours for the price of a movie ticket.

Brothers offers many breathtaking views of the landscape.

The game's bubbly character models and tidbits of humor make it appear less exotic than somber influences like Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Journey, but the solemn story is riddled with suffering and delivered in a fictional language that masks any disastrous voice acting. With its maturity in question, the last thing this game needed was a Jake Lloyd sound-alike.

Hang gliding through the valley is all about positioning.

Although Brothers is an amalgam of gameplay focused on simultaneous activity of two protagonists, the linear action never feels forced. All dual activities melt perfectly into plot events instead of feeling like a loosely connected series of mini-games. The slick environments also suppress the gimmick, even though there are moments when the acrobatic boys can't overcome grossly insignificant roadblocks without first solving puzzles.

The troll guides the boys through otherwise unmanageable terrain.

Basic movement is similar to Ico but there are no customary jump or attack buttons, only one button per brother that interacts with triggerable objects or people. The brothers meet many troubled characters along the way and help them through their hardships. Some of them will assist in return, like the troll in the first chapter who can throw the boys across big gaps and position himself to be walked or climbed across.

Unfortunately, bland character design may alienate the sophisticated indie game audience.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an instant PSN classic that successfully combines interactivity and cinema. Those concerned about the short length should know it's absolutely worth a second play at minimum. I would personally pay the retailed fifteen dollars to play it just once, which makes me wonder about the future of downloadable games.

Telling the Same Tales

Poker Night at the Inventory 2

Telltale Games

PS3 (2013)
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Poker Night at the Inventory 2 recently popped up alongside Hotline Miami as a free offer for Playstation Plus subscribers. Now, people who were unwilling to shell out ten bucks for a simple poker game can experience this fun little romp. But when it's literally all said and done, they'll pat themselves on the back for not making the purchase.

Poker Night 2 is certainly more appealing than the average poker game because of the dialogue between the lovable characters which is a pleasure albeit too repetitive. You'll hear the same discussions by your second game, which has long been a concern of simplistic games like those based on television game shows. However, the developers of games like Family Feud and Buzz! have addressed this issue in recent years. Why can't a powerhouse like Telltale? You'd figure a game based around loose conversation would have enough of it to last a few rounds.

As is unfortunately commonplace in the digital market these days, Poker Night 2 was released with its fair share of bugs. Stuttering and freezing frequently occur around the auto-save function, but they are not game-breaking glitches, just another burden when you can't catch a break at the table.

All issues aside, Poker Night at the Inventory 2 is sure to please while the bits last, especially if you like the featured characters or just want to see some cards flop. There's also excellent stuff to unlock besides trophies, like character crossover wallpapers for your XMB menu. If you can get Poker Night 2 for free, enjoy it while you can, which is most likely but a few rounds.