Rate the Game: Week 121

[M-A-G]

Another good morning to everyone here in the TPWW Universe. August is upon us and we're set to kick it off with something good, I hope? What titles will we have before us that will define this month? We'll get to the pulling out part of this in just a bit but last week's Destiny needs to find its place on the board. I kind of had a feeling it'd be pretty split but what does the overall average say? Let's go to the leaderboard....

<select><option selected="">Rate the Game Results

<option>1. Super Mario World (4.81)
<option>2. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (4.8)</option>
<option>3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (4.8)</option>
<option>4. Hitman: Codename 47 (4.75)</option>
<option>5. Mass Effect (4.75)</option>
<option>6. Goldeneye 007 (4.72)</option>
<option>7. Super Mario Bros. 3 (4.7)</option>
<option>8. Silent Hill 2 (4.66)</option>
<option>9. Portal (4.5)</option>
<option>10. Red Dead Redemption (4.5)</option>
<option>11. Chrono Trigger (4.5)</option>
<option>12. Final Fantasy 3 (4.5)</option>
<option>13. Silent Hill 3 (4.5)</option>
<option>14. Mega Man 2 (4.44)</option>
<option>15. Donkey Kong Country (4.44)</option>
<option>16. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (4.44)</option>
<option>17. Super Mario Bros. (4.41)</option>
<option>18. God of War (4.4)</option>
<option>19. Mega Man X (4.36)</option>
<option>20. Metal Gear Solid (4.33)</option>
<option>21. BioShock (4.33)</option>
<option>22. Perfect Dark (4.3)</option>
<option>23. Shadow of the Colossus (4.28)</option>
<option>24. The Last of Us (4.28)</option>
<option>25. Super Street Fighter 2 (4.15)</option>
<option>26. Sonic the Hedgehog (4.14)</option>
<option>27. Resident Evil 2 (4.14)</option>
<option>28. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (4.125)</option>
<option>29. Super Mario 64 (4.07)</option>
<option>30. Grand Theft Auto 3 (4.06)</option>
<option>31. The Legend of Zelda (4.06)</option>
<option>32. NBA Jam (4.05)</option>
<option>33. Super Mario Kart (4.0)</option>
<option>34. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (4.0)</option>
<option>35. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (4.0)</option>
<option>36. Super Smash Bros. (4.0)</option>
<option>37. Super Metroid (4.0)</option>
<option>38. The Simpsons (4.0)</option>
<option>39. Resident Evil 4 (4.0)</option>
<option>40. EarthBound (4.0)</option>
<option>41. Fallout 3 (4.0)</option>
<option>42. Mirror's Edge (4.0)</option>
<option>43. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (4.0)</option>
<option>44. Donkey Kong Country 2 (4.0)</option>
<option>45. Banjo-Kazooie (4.0)</option>
<option>46. Final Fantasy 7 (3.94)</option>
<option>47. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (3.92)</option>
<option>48. Mega Man (3.89)</option>
<option>49. Castlevania (3.86)</option>
<option>50. Contra (3.86)</option>
<option>51. Devil May Cry (3.86)</option>
<option>52. Half-Life 2 (3.85)</option>
<option>53. Half-Life (3.83)
<option>54. Infamous (3.83)</option>
<option>55. SimCity 2000 (3.8)</option>
<option>56. Final Fight (3.8)</option>
<option>57. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (3.77)</option>
<option>58. Batman: Arkham Asylum (3.76)</option>
<option>59. Double Dragon (3.75)</option>
<option>60. Max Payne (3.75)</option>
<option>61. Tetris (3.69)</option>
<option>62. Mortal Kombat 2 (3.67)</option>
<option>63. Alan Wake (3.66)</option>
<option>64. Diablo (3.66)</option>
<option>65. F.E.A.R. (3.66)</option>
<option>66. Mortal Kombat (3.65)</option>
<option>67. Doom (3.625)</option>
<option>68. StarFox (3.61)</option>
<option>69. Resident Evil (3.58)</option>
<option>70. Kirby's Adventure (3.57)</option>
<option>71. Ninja Gaiden (3.5)</option>
<option>72. Burnout Paradise (3.5)</option>
<option>73. Dark Souls (3.5)</option>
<option>74. Shinobi (3.5)</option>
<option>75. Dead Space (3.4)</option>
<option>76. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (3.39)</option>
<option>77. Resident Evil: Nemesis (3.38)</option>
<option>78. Crash Bandicoot (3.33)</option>
<option>79. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (3.33)</option>
<option>80. Wolfenstein 3D (3.33)</option>
<option>81. Dead Island (3.33)</option>
<option>82. Left 4 Dead (3.33)</option>
<option>83. Condemned: Criminal Origins (3.33)</option>
<option>84. Gauntlet Legends (3.28)
<option>85. Gears of War (3.27)</option>
<option>86. Borderlands (3.22)</option>
<option>87. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (3.22)</option>
<option>88. Duke Nukem 3D (3.2)</option>
<option>89. Darkstalkers (3.2)</option>
<option>90. Quake (3.2)</option>
<option>91. SoulCalibur (3.16)</option>
<option>92. Pac-Man (3.125)</option>
<option>93. Killer Instinct (3.11)</option>
<option>94. Virtua Fighter (3.09)</option>
<option>95. Rock Band (3.09)</option>
<option>96. Earthworm Jim (3.0)</option>
<option>97. Metroid (3.0)</option>
<option>98. Time Crisis (3.0)</option>
<option>99. Tekken (3.0)</option>
<option>100. Halo 2 (3.0)</option>
<option>101. Destiny (3.0)</option>
<option>102. The Secret of Monkey Island (3.0)</option>
<option>103. Shenmue (3.0)</option>
<option>104. Guitar Hero (2.875)</option>
<option>105. Streets of Rage (2.84)</option>
<option>106. Altered Beast (2.8)</option>
<option>107. Bayonetta (2.75)</option>
<option>108. Assassin's Creed (2.71)</option>
<option>109. Gauntlet (2.71)</option>
<option>110. Dead Rising (2/71)</option>
<option>111. Saints Row (2.66)</option>
<option>112. The Sims (2.6)</option>
<option>113. Silent Hill (2.6)</option>
<option>114. Tomb Raider (2.55)</option>
<option>115. Halo: Combat Evolved (2.5)</option>
<option>116. Twisted Metal (2.42)</option
<option>117. Crackdown (2.42)</option>
<option>118. Golden Axe (2.33)</option>
<option>119. Gran Turismo (2.3)</option>
<option>120. Ghosts n' Goblins (2.14)</option>
</select>

Yeah, I figured right. Destiny finds itself with a middle-of-the-road overall rating of 3.0. Not bad but unfortunately that means it lands way on the lower end of things on our list with the ranking of 101. Almost poetically, it finds itself right underneath another Bungie title, Halo 2. It's fair to say it was not destined for glory on our leaderboard.

Perhaps glory is reserved for one of the titles still remaining? Or for all of them? Come on over here bowl and let's get Week 121 into gear. Here we go....


<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/oncsI8XCJ0Tzhn076T" width="480" height="222" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/oncsI8XCJ0Tzhn076T">via GIPHY</a></p>


Switching to overhead seems weird. Anyways, Eidos didn't just have the lovely Lara Croft and her tremendous...assets under their banner. They also had a sneaky, sticky-fingered one-eyed thief named Garrett as part of their portfolio. Just our luck, this week's game to rate is the first entry in Garrett's franchise, the PC first-person sneaker Thief: The Dark Project. Garrett might not be as visually appealing nor action-oriented as Lara but maybe he's got enough game under this hood to be a contender on our leaderboard? It's all about stealth and guile as opposed to guns blazing and cracking heads. What do you have to say about it? And then there were four. Until next week!

[Lock Jaw]

Never heard of it. Never played it.

[ClockShot]

I played the newest one that come on the last gen consoles a while back.

But not this one.

[DAMN iNATOR]

Haven’t played it.

[screech]

Never played it

[M-A-G]

Damn it, I was afraid of this. :(

[M-A-G]

I played the newest one that come on the last gen consoles a while back.

But not this one.

I have a weird relationship with that one. I mean, it plays like a Thief game, looks like a Thief game, but it doesn't really feel like a Thief game. Maybe it's the focus mode or the confusing nature of "this a reboot, sort of" in the presentation. Then there was the problem of the open world areas being too vast to where it makes things tedious when hunting for loot. I don't know, I'm probably too much of a purist regarding this franchise.

[Destor]

I played so little of it i cant rate it. It was fine just other things came i wanted to play so i shelved it and never went back to. Got it for free when i purchased my console

[M-A-G]

Oh, man, I'm going to be the lone man on the branch this week again, huh? :(

[M-A-G]

I played so little of it i cant rate it. It was fine just other things came i wanted to play so i shelved it and never went back to. Got it for free when i purchased my console

I still have all four entries in the series. The first two PC titles are on disc somewhere in my closet. I actually don't know if they'd run on my set up. Thief: Deadly Shadows, the third one, for the original Xbox and the "reboot" are both sitting pretty on my shelf.

I got into the series basically by accident. I managed to get my grubby little hands on a demo disc that came with a magazine and the second game, Thief 2: The Metal Age, was one of the games on it. I hadn't heard of the series but the description in the magazine sounded cool. It played well and I loved the stealth aspect of it. Garrett is a great character and he had the right voice for those first three games. I eventually got around to playing the two games that were available at the time. The first one is fine but the second knocked it out of the park as it was more polished and the story was better. Deadly Shadows is probably the best one and holds up better than the others, even counting the newest one. I credit the first three games for managing to have separate individual stories for each entry while still maintaining the universe. The franchise has to be one of my favorites right up there with Legacy of Kain, Silent Hill, and Mortal Kombat.

[drave]

Missed this - sorry.


This first one was great. I remember thinking it was really cool that torches could be extinguished by water arrows.


I can probably STILL play the first two levels nearly blindfolded, I played them so much. Great title, though the subsequent follow ups felt too clunky with controls to make things work like they intended. Stealth always seems incredibly hit or miss with games, and I'm sure it's not the easiest thing to develop.

[M-A-G]

One of the biggest things I loved about it was that changing the difficulty did more than just adjusting hit points or increasing enemies. Your goals necessary to be successful changed. It was one of the first games I played that featured that and it was a gateway to other games that asked you to be strategic and smarter about how you approached situations. You needed to take into account your gear and whether or not it was worth it to waste a water arrow on a light source. Hitman and Metal Gear Solid might have the crown as far as stealth gameplay goes but I'll always a soft spot for this series.

[drave]

007 on N64 also did that. That was very cool, but made some levels super stressful too (looking at you 00 Silo time requirement)

[Fignuts]

Played the demo. Not enough to rate it.

[M-A-G]

007 on N64 also did that. That was very cool, but made some levels super stressful too (looking at you 00 Silo time requirement)

I never tackled anything above Secret Agent, I don't think. I was getting my ass smeared enough as it was. Plus, I'm sure I was traumatized after doing Doom and Quake on their respective hard difficulties.