Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Top 12 Best Games For the PlayStation 3



 #7  NBA 2K12          

What do you do for an encore after bringing a virtual Michael Jordan back to video games after a decades-long absence? Well, 2K Sports assembled dozens of the greatest b-ball teams throughout hoops history, let players rehash rivalries and traveled back in time to tight-shorts yesteryear. If NBA 2K11 was a love letter to one player, then 2K12 is an ode to the whole sport.

A Good Match for: Atlanta Hawks fans. New York Knick Fans. Minnesota Timberwolves fans. If you're unlucky enough to live in a city that's only had fleeting flashes of b-ball star power, the "NBA's Greatest" mode will let you bask in those glory days and forget how, erm, challenged your hometown team currently is.

Not for Those Who Want: Online pick-and-rolls. Since its launch last year, it's been a rocky road for people wanting to play NBA 2K12 against each other online. Constant dropped connections and crippling lag have actual competitive match-ups against other humans the stuff of dreams.

 #8  PixelJunk Sidescroller           

The latest in Q-Games' wonderfully stylish offerings pays homage to memorize-the-sequence shoot-em-ups of the 80s and 90s, and add modern twists that provide even more challenge. Check out PixelJunk EdenPixelJunk Shooter and PixelJunk Monsters for more Q-takes on tried-and-true genres. They're all brilliant. Really.

A Good Match for: Galaga fans. Defender fans. Sinistar fans. If you ever stuck a quarter into an arcade stand-up machine to fly a spaceship, this game will bring back old joys and introduce you to new ones like co-operative blasting.

Not for Those Who Want: Super-vibrant colors. Sidescroller's commitment to mimicking the vector graphics and scan lines of old gives it a more muted look than other games.

 #9  Portal 2          

Call it the Superman 2 or Empire Strikes Back of video games. Valve's follow-up to a classic improves on the humor, characterization and puzzle-solving of its predecessor to deliver a tight, focused experience full of poignancy and humor.

A Good Match for: Comedy lovers. The voicework alone—performed in stellar fashion by Stephen Merchant and Ellen McLain—will make you laugh out loud but the brain-teasing puzzles and embedded gags keep the chuckles coming even when everything else in the game goes quiet.

Not for Those Who Want: Mediocrity. People who argue with Portal 2's greatness are like folks complaining that diamonds came from dirt. Their argument is invalid.

 #10  Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time         

Arguably the best outing in Insomniac's buddy adventure franchise, A Crack in Time still offers the prankish cool of the dev studio's witty weapons but also throws in mind-bending time-manipulation platforming to blaze all paths in an all-new way.

A Good Match for: Star Trek fans. Sure, the Lombax-and-robot duo violate the Prime Directive all over the place but A Crack in Time's action should satisfy anyone who liked watching Kirk get into a scuffle as well as pleasing those who prefer Spock's cool Vulcan logic. This one is also probably the best game on our list for kids.

Not for Those Who Want: Busywork. Some of the interstitial space stuff—battles with enemy fleets, blasting asteroids into smithereens—just feels like filler, no matter how good it looks.

 #11  Shadow of the Colossus         

Universally praised as a must-play experience, this towering achievement originally debuted on the PS2. But 2011 saw a hi-def re-release that's brought has made Shadow of the Colossus playable on that console's predecessors. Lonely desperate battles against giant creatures stand out as some of the most moving and hypnotic experiences ever to be had in gaming.

A Good Match for: Die-hard Romantics. Love's the reason that Colossus's hero battles the game's iconic creatures. The Colossi themselves embody a mix of platforming, combat and puzzling and you'll grow to have a love/hate relationship with each one of them, too. Plus you get SoTC's spiritual prequel Ico, too, for double the love.

Not for Those Who Want: Gadgets. Dev studio Team Ico's oeuvre puts a high emphasis on minimalism, meaning that you're never going to get a magic satchel full of upgradeable tchotkes.

 #12   Uncharted 2         

Naughty Dog's Uncharted games let players become the hero in the kind of cinematic action epics that you've only been able to watch so far. Mechanically, Nathan Drake's feats of jumping/punching/fighting derring-do aren't all that different from other game heroes. However, the attention paid to acting, camera movement and tone create a wholly captivating interactive counterpart to big-budget movies that you don't have to leave home for.

A Good Match for: Mark Wahlberg fanatics. The former rapper may not be in the running to portray Drake anymore, but the Uncharted games center around the kind of roguish, emotive man-of-impulse that the Oscar nominee's made a career of playing. This is also a game for people who like Indiana Jones movies, since this is basically those.

Not for Those Who Want: An exploration of consequences. Drake mows down thousands of enemies in the Uncharted games but he cracks wise in hour 10 the exact same way as in hour 1. For a game so focused on character, it's not clear that Drake feels anything about all the carnage.

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