Back To The Well

The first few days are a bit rough, after sending the 360 back again.  It was the mainstay in the Richie household for new games, DVD playback, and Uno.  I don’t love the infernal thing, but I do miss it.  Hey, I could really go for some PGR…oh, yeah…never mind.  Bad Company came out today!  I’ll go pick it up…oh wait.  Fuck.  It’s like losing your wrist watch; you go to look at the time and end up reading the hair on your arm.

But no matter – I am a gamer.  And when the 360 predictably breaks itself, it’s time to go back to the well.  When I say the well, I mean ‘the forgotten’.  Games that got great reviews.  Games that were praised by other BMXers.  Games that, while good, got lost under the din of whatever simracer or shooter I was playing at the time.  We’ve all got them.  People ask us about them, and we say, “Yeah, I heard it was good, but never got to play it.”  Hey, there are only so many hours in the day.

It’s a perfect opportunity, then, to get back to a few of the forgotten.

Parasite Eve – Square/EA – 1998 Recommended by: PlaystationFanBoy

 

How did I skip this one?  Survival horror + RPG format + Square = Epic Win?  Plus the chick on the cover looks hot.  But seriously, it’s by the same people that did the hallowed Final Fantasy VII.  The reviews indicate it’s probably less than perfect, but enjoyable nonetheless.

 

Odin Sphere – Vanillaware/Atlus – 2007 Recommended by:  BreakmanX

 

Another RPG, 2-D, with a very special art style that none of your beer drinking, Halo playing buddies will be impressed with.  There’s a lot to like, including a great story and the cool psypher/phozon system, yet no one you ask has every played it.  It’s somewhat rare in the states, so it won’t be easy or cheap, but well worth it.

Okami – Clover Studio/Capcom – 2006 Recommended by: Mecha

IGN actually gave this one Game of the Year in ’06, over the likes of Gears of War.  I can still remember seeing it at E3 ’05, remember WeezerJedi writing ‘fuck’ across several monitors right in the middle of the show floor.  
It’s one of those truly original games – you’ve never played something like this before.  If I ever had to prove games as an art form to the Supreme Court, this would probably be Exhibit A.

 

Being forgotten means they’re usually older, and thus available used
(read: cheap).  Feel free to critique my selection, or recommend
something else – Wii and PS2 only.

 

See you in the game.