Best Games I've Never Played - Part III

This choice might be a bit "controversial" when compared to the first two entries in this feature (Counter Strike and Final Fantasy) as it's not considered, as far as I know, as one of the "best" or "greatest" gaming franchise of all-time. But it's certainly one of the most widely recognizable, even in the non-gaming world.

In fact, come to think of it, I really haven't played a lot of "Sim" games in my life. I remember a friend of mind when I was 12 who played a LOT of SimCity (It was 17 years ago, I can't remember which one it was, I'm sorry) and I also remember, around that time, trying a simulation golf game but I cannot recall the name of that game either. After a quick Google search, it might be something like Golf Resort Tycoon. Although I don't remember the name being that long. And I might have downloaded that game illegally with LimeWire or some P2P software. Typing these sentences makes the whole thing feel like it happened 56 years ago.

Anyway, Sim games as a whole never really caught my attention. When it comes the The Sims franchise, I've actually never played any of them. Sure, the fact that I have been primarily a console gamer for the past 15 years has a lot to do with this, but I'm fairly certain I wouldn't even have bought or tried any of these games even if presented with the opportunity.

That doesn't anything away from those games, who have generally received (barring The Sims 4) high praise from gaming websites and magazines throughout history. Furthermore, the 4 main Sims games are amongst the highest-selling PC games in history, each selling north of 5 million copies, with the first one hitting 11.24 millions. It's fair to say this is one of the most successful and well known franchises in the gaming world.

Other "Sim" games have been quite successful in their own rights, namely the SimCity franchise and its multiple iterations in the past 30 years.

It's highly possible I spend the rest of my life never trying any of these games, but I still wanted to acknowledge their existence, success and popularity in the gaming world.

Best Games I've Never Played - Part II

From 1998 up until 2008, I thought there was at least ONE universal truth in the gaming world : The best game of all-time was The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time. In my head, it wasn't even a debate, it was a fact. An undeniable, solid and widely known fact.

When I first started to participate in gaming forums in 2008, I learned that some people actually had different ideas of what the best game of all-time was, and I was confused and somewhat frustrated at times, because I thought they were all wrong and that Ocarina of Time was better than anything else, period. I'm actually exaggerating, I knew that different people had different opinions and it's all a matter of taste, but I was surprised at the number of games "contending" for that basically-impossible-to-determine title of the best game of all-time. And there was one game that kept being mentioned, quite possibly even more than Ocarina of Time itself.

That game was Final Fantasy VII. On that particular forum, it seemed like FFVII was popping out everywhere, but that's not all. While reading people's posts, it occurred to me that other titles in the Final Fantasy franchise were mentioned by my fellow gamers, most notable FFIII. (Quick side note, I was also surprised that another Zelda game kept popping up : A Link to the Past. It's a superb game too, so it makes a lot of sense...)

And then it hit me : I had never played a Final Fantasy game in my life !!! I always knew the series existed, I knew it was popular if they had released at least 12 of them (I had no idea there were spin-offs as well), but it never occurred to me that it was as important for some people as the Zelda games were in my life. Obviously this can be explained by the fact that, when I was younger, my parents paid for things I bought and I only bought a few games and never ventured past the known pastures of Mario, Zelda, anything Nintendo made and a few other popular games like Sonic, GoldenEye or Street Fighter. And it has to be said that I never owned a SNES before 2008 (Made the jump from NES to N64 via a Sega Genesis, for some weird reason...) nor did I ever own a PSOne or a PS2, so it's not THAT hard to see how I never had the opportunity to try a Final Fantasy game.

I eventually tried FFXIII on the PS3, but I never could get into the game. Some people tried to explain by saying how FFXIII was too linear and that it never was a "real" FF game. Anyway, I got bored an hour in, because I never really liked anything with turn-based combat other than Pokemon games and the first Paper Mario. I also tried FFV or FFIV on the Playstation Store, but when I died without saving or knowing how to save for basically 90 minutes, I never touched it again... I kinda liked the game, but even then I could never get that much into it.

Perhaps one day I'll have the patience and courage to start a Final Fantasy game again - and I want to, if only for the fact that they're a staple in the gaming world - but until that moment I can't say I've ever PLAYED a Final Fantasy game.

Best Games I've Never Played - Part I

According to a list I'm constantly updating, I've tried nearly 300 games in my "career" as a gamer which has spanned over more than two decades (and there's probably dozens I'm simply forgetting...). In this list you find a number of historic franchises (Zelda, Metroid, Diablo, Fallout, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Uncharted, Need for Speed, Mario, Mario Kart, Call of Duty, The Elder Scrolls) and outstanding titles (GoldenEye, Biochock, Journey, Yoshi's Island, Ico, Paper Mario, etc.). But even as I played through some of the most amazing games the industry ever offered, I missed many of the greatest titles, according to the Interwebs, the world has ever seen. Now is the time to come clean...

This past August I bought Counter-Strike : Global Offensive on the PlayStation Network, which is the latest installment in the long-running PC franchise. Amazingly, as I bought it, I came to the realization that I had NEVER played a Counter-Strike (CS) game before. Not the original one, not CS : 1.6 or even CS : Source. The funny thing is that most of my friends and even my brother (sometimes) played it (I'm talking here about the first one) and I really enjoyed sitting there and watching them play. But I never played or was even tempted to play. I can't pinpoint exactly why, but if I had to guess, I'd say that I was intimidated by the skills and speed of everyone playing. I didn't think I could perform, so I chose to sit and watch.

In fact, except for GoldenEye and Perfect Dark on my N64, I almost never played FPS games before the GameCube came out. Of course I tried some of the classic games (Duke Nukem, Doom, Turok, Allied Assault), but I would rather play action, adventure or platform games. When I got my GameCube I played more of them (Time Splitters 2, Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 and Halo at my friends') but still not that much compared to other genres. In fact I played a LOT more FPS's since I got my PS3 in 2008 than I've ever played before. Now I can say that I like the genre, but it's getting harder and harder to find some innovation.

That's where CS : GO came in. I won't lie, I don't play THAT much, but I really appreciate how there's no leveling up, no XP, no "perks", no unlockable weapons or no clear advantage for veteran players (except sheer experience) over "newbies". Weirdly, it was a breath of fresh air, even if I'm not very good and I'm having a hard time adjusting to the gameplay.

Next up : Final Fantasy VII