‘Metal Gear Solid’ follows Solid Snake, an elite soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize a terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Snake must liberate two hostages; the head of DARPA (an advanced defense research team) and the president of a major arms manufacturer, confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike.

Metal Gear Solid was met with a huge array of praise on its arrival and is often cited as one the most important game releases ever. It help solidify the “Stealth” genre and re-defined aspects of gaming that still hold strong in some of the biggest franchises today. It’s safe to say, franchises like Syphon Filter, Splinter Cell, Hitman, Tenchu, Assassins Creed & Rainbow Six wouldn’t be in the form they are in today, without Metal Gear.

The series is produced and developed by Hideo Kojima a Japanese game producer and former vice president of Konami (the company that publishes Metal Gear). He hasn’t had many notable games published outside of Japan besides the Metal Gear series but if you ever get a chance I suggest you check out his other games Snatcher & Policenauts.

What made ‘Metal Gear Solid’ such a unique game was its commitment to a cinematic style of story telling and the level of variety provided in both the games inner challenges and end of level boss fights. Its my opinion that the PS1 incarnation is the most well rounded version of the series and whereas later versions may be more advanced with better graphics and expand on the well thought out formula of game play from the first game. The sheer balance of story telling, outright action, puzzling challenges and cinematic tendencies make it the most complete title in the series. My main problem with the later games is the reliance on the cut-scenes to tell the story and the sheer length of them. Konami & Sony went so far as to ban reviewers from talking about the length of the cut-scenes in Metal Gear Solid 4, for fear of bad press and loss of sales.

My favorite stage of the game is the first boss, Revolver Ocelot. After finding arms tech president Kenneth Baker strapped to a ‘Saw’ like trap rigged with C4 explosives, Revolver (so called because of his love of handguns) appears and challenges snake to a fight. The fight takes places in a square room, the center is rigged with the explosives and a series of trigger wires. Snake has to avoid the wires, not shoot the explosives and chase revolver. Its a tactical game of cat and mouse, coupled with the need for some precision shooting. Check out the intro scene below.

Metal Gear Solid consistently ranks as one of the top 50 games of all time and it would easily be in my top 10. Too many hours have been logged fighting through its vast world and too many hours have been wasted toying with some of the games comical features, like hiding in a cardboard box and chasing guards (if you have played it, you’ll know what I mean).

You can check out the full trailer for the game below.

In concept, Twisted Metal is a demolition derby that permits the usage of bombs, machine guns, mines, nuclear weapons and a variety of “off the wall” projectiles. Players choose a vehicle and an arena—or a series of arenas in the story mode—to engage in battle with other drivers. The last driver alive is the winner.

Although each individual game features its own storyline, they all revolve around the same basic theme: a vehicular combat tournament called Twisted Metal is presented to prospective participants with the promise of granting the contest’s winner any single wish they so desire from mysterious host, Calypso.

I have fond memories of this game’s multiplayer. It’s one the first games I had on the Playstation, and one of the first Playstation games I owned that swung me towards multiplayer rather than single player – in the same way that I buy Call Of Duty games or Halo games now; mainly for their mulitplayer modes. It was the sheer choice of weapons, diverse locations and unpredictabilty of both each vehicles ability and the computer A.I. – was I going to be locked in a machine gun fight sheltering behind broken pieces of the Eiffell Tower or was I going caught in some napalm whilst pounding along a strip of highway?

The entire Twisted Metal series never takes itself seriously, the characters are off the wall and are straight out of a deluded childs nightmare – a deformed man with huge tyres strapped to his arms, an insane clown that drives an ice cream truck around, Calypso’s ex wife who apparently died in an accident years ago that was brought back to life by demons….yep….its not exactly grounded in reality. This is also evident in the level design and all the included “special finds” in each level – the ability to blow up the Eiffel tower from a hidden set of bombs or a secret base in the head of the Statue of Liberty.

I’ll admit, Twisted Metal is a very cheesy franchise, the graphics are pretty terrible and each game does very little to expand on the last – but as mentioned before the sheer playability and depth of each game’s multiplayer make it a must play for retro gaming nerds. You can get a good idea of the gameplay from the video below.

CREDIT: ERASER GAMING

With 7 games released so far and an 8th announced at this year’s E3 conference, it is the Sony Playstation’s longest running exclusive franchise. The first game was released in 1995, and has been running on the console for over 15 years, its closest competitor on the console is Gran Turismo which has enjoyed a 13 year exclusive run on the console. Twisted Metal looks to be going nowhere, here is the trailer for the latest version due to be released early next year.

Developed for the arcades the game was actually a fairly standard platforming affair. The player works their way through the five levels; from a forest to a base, in order to stop a threatening armed force. The levels themselves, like any conventional platformer are straightforward and semi-linear, decked out with ledges and platforms, with many situations in which there are enemies and other dangers lurking around the corner. Prizes like points and power-ups can be obtained from crates that come on the screen in a parachute (similar to Worms) which can be collected by shooting them. The one key difference and the defining factor in Bionic Commando’s success? You couldnt jump; in the place of a standard jump function, Capcom created the characters grappling hook bio arm.

Straight from huge success in the Japanese arcades the original game was granted a sequel on the Nintendo Entertainment System. In Japan it was released as Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret​ (The Resurrection of Hitler: Top Secret). Across the rest of the world, it was simply Bionic Commando. Why the change in title? I’ll explain in a minute.

The plot is set in the early 80′s, and centers around two warring states: the Federation and the Empire. One day, the Imperial Forces discover classified documents talking of the development of a new super weapon known as the “Albatros Project”, which was started by an organization known as the “Badds”, but was never completed. Killt, the Generalissimo of the Imperial Forces, decides to complete the project himself. When the Federation learns of the Empire’s plot, they send in their national hero, Super Joe to infiltrate the Empire, but he ends up being captured. To rescue Super Joe, the Federation sends in a second operative named Ladd Spencer of the FF (Double Force) Battalion, a team of commandos specially trained to use wired guns implanted into their arms, to rescue him.

The plot differs between the Japanese version and other versions published across the world. The Empire in the Japanese version was actually a Neo Nazi group and their army’s symbol was a Nazi Swastika with a thunderbolt behind it. In the English version, the Nazis were referred to as the “Badds”, the army’s Swastika insignia was changed to resemble an eagle. The leader of the villains, originally called Weizmann was now renamed Killt.

One of the most prominent differences involves the main antagonist of the game, who is meant to be a revived Adolf Hitler. For the English version, the character was renamed “Master-D”, but his likeness to Hitler was unchanged. There is a sequence towards the end of the game in which a close up of the characters face explodes and it’s massively obvious he was based on Hitler (video below).

I love this game and have logged many hours on both this version and its remake on Xbox Live (Bionic Commando: Re-armed). If you have never played the game and call yourself a gamer, I’d just take that left hand of yours and swipe it clean across your face. The Xbox Live remake is not a bad place to start at all as most of the game remains intact and the updated visuals and soundtrack make it one of the best games (visually) on Live.

Last year the game was granted a full 3D sequel; Bionic Commando (2009) for PS3 and Xbox 360. Although fun and visually impressive, the release was heavily criticized for its confusing and long winded plot; and more specifically its terrible plot twist. It’s by no means a bad game, but you’ll either love it or hate it and I highly recommend either digging out a NES emulator or playing the remake before you delve into the HD sequel.

Here’s the first 10 minutes of the game to wet your appetite, enjoy.

Created as a franchise by Nintendo and a simulations company called Paradigm, there have been two Pilotwings games to date with a third just announced. Intitially published on the Super Nintendo system back in 1990, the second landed in 1996 and was one of the first 3 games on the Nintendo 64 system. A lasting classic, the third is due for release on the Wii system later this year. Both the original and the 64 version we’re looking at were developed to push the system’s limits and show off their graphics. The SNES version was the first game on the console to produce a old school version of 3D, mimicking 3D graphics by rotation and scaling of flat objects (I’m such a geek). Pushing the consoles graphics and new engine to the limits, the 64 release marked the arrival of one of the most graphically appealing games outside of the arcade at the time.

Half simulation, half arcade, Pilotwings 64 was a mix of high score-led action, target based platforming and experience based simulation. It was the perfect way to take the realistic sim genre and inject some bloody life into the poor thing. I never got the appeal of Microsoft’s anally realistic commercial flight simulators or it’s statistic and management based football programs, but throw in some quirky characters, some balloon based challenges and a somewhat kitsch series of photography based challenges and watch me melt onto my sofa.

The game has four islands for you to navigate each with their own unique sets of challenges, each of which are are fantastically detailed and utterly complete in conception. Each landscape offers hives of activity; intricate details like sail and speed boats coasting across the ocean and groups of hang gliders circling mountain peaks. Each section feels unique and Paradigms previous experience in detailed army and flight sims shows through in both the graphical presentation on each location and the liberating feel of flight.

Whilst it’s both detailed and engaging,  what differentiates Pilotwings 64 from the aforementioned snore-fests that are the Microsoft flight simulators? Mostly a variety of irreverent characters that range from the all-American Goose to an overweight kid and a stunningly annoying army corporal.

Kooky characters are backed up with some equally off the wall flying machines. You dont get lumped with your average plane, no no. Standard machines includes a Handglider, Gyrocopter and Rocketbelt, and after completing challenges you can unlock the bonus Birdman wings.

Pilotwings 64 is a great piece of work and its worth having to put up with the lumpen, star-wing influenced Nintendo 64 pad to play one of the most satisfying games ever. The game is rammed full of charm and wit and also packs in plenty of little easter eggs; secret passages through mountains, Mario heads on Mount Rushmore and tons of neat little moments that will suck you into the world of Pilotwings.

Sometimes nostalgia can be deceptive though, looking back I noticed something brutally irritating that I didn’t notice when I first played the game; the mini music loop on the title screen is about 10 seconds long and doesn’t loop seamlessly, it sounds like a record skipping every 10 seconds… Lazy bastards.

Do you have a game in your collection or do you have a solid memory of a game that is so off the wall that you’re not quite sure why you bought it/registered an interest in it. Well for nearly a year in 1999 PaRappa The Rapper was firmly affixed to my Playstation as I bashed and rapped my way through level after level of Japanese themed nonsense.

The games artistic style was designed by Rodney Greenblat, an American graphic artist who is popular in Japan. Like in the Paper Mario series by Nintendo, all of the characters appear to be flat two dimensional beings cut from paper, while the surroundings are primarily three dimensional. While the setting is a bright interpretation of an urban city, the characters range from anthropomorphic animals such as frogs, spiders, and dogs, to lively versions of normally inanimate objects including onions, hammers, and flowers.

The game received positive reviews but didn’t sell amazingly well in the US or Europe. PaRappa and his plethora of teachers did however gain a huge cult following, and currently if you own the original disc you can fetch £20 + on eBay for it.

Widely considered the first rhythm/music based game to really crack the console market it paved the way for arcade crossovers such as Dance Dance Revolution, PS2 firework abortion Fantavision and recent success’s such as the Hero (guitar, dj etc) games and the Rock Band franchise.

OK….so here’s the plot of the game, try and follow it. You play the role of Parappa, a paper-thin rapping dog (Parappa is Japanese for “Paper Thin”). He is trying to win the heart of a flower (literally) girl named Sunny Funny. He’s aided by his friends Katy Kat (a hyper active cat) and PJ Berri (a fat bear DJ who eats everything). Also vying for Sunny Funny’s attention is Parappa’s arch rival Joe Chin, a rich narcissistic dog.

To impress Sunny, PaRappa learns to fight at a kung-fu dojo, and takes driving lessons to get his license. However when he crashes his Dad’s car, he has to earn money at a flea market to pay for it. When Sunny’s birthday comes up, Parappa decides to get cake, but ends up ruining it after an encounter with Joe. He makes a new one by watching a cooking show, and proceeds to eat a lot of it on the day. When spending some time alone with Sunny, he is suddenly overcome with the need to go to the bathroom. Parappa has to rap against his previous sensei’s in order to get to the front of the line to the toilet.

Then one night Parappa is invited to Club Fun and asks Sunny to go with him, which she agrees. Parappa then raps on stage with everybody, rapping a huge solo at the end of the song and expressing his feelings for Sunny.

This is the first and my favorite stage.

So yeah… Essentially you spend nearly 9 hours doing call and response button pressing with a variety of rap sensei’s in order to woo a flower. There has been a remake released for the PSP and two sequels (Um Jammer Lammy and PaRappa 2) for more info click here.

Its an odd one, but then what more do you expect from Japan?