<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>For games already out:
1) Super Smash Brothers Melee, despight Resident Evil being the primary reason that many of you bought the console, this still happens to be the best title on the console available. It's fun, polished, and has hours of gameplay in the single player mode (took me around 40-50 to finish everything) and amazing replay value. You can't ignore the multiplayer modes in this game either, if you played the first Super Smash Brothers, you'll find that this game seams like it has about 100 times more content and feels much more polished, there's a lot of little things in the game that really add to it.
2) NHL Hitz, despight being a third party game, and fairly crappy for a single player game, I found that this game is perhaps the next best multiplayer game on the console, it beats out NHL 2002 in the graphics department and the over the top gameplay has been done extremely well. I like the physics engine, and to think this game was done by Midway. It's good for any fan of Arcade style Hockey. If you're not much of a fan of Hockey, you can take this one off the chart, it's still worth a rent, but it really is a multiplayer game.
3) Sega Soccer Slam, another game that kicks ass in the multiplayer mode, it's a better game than NHL Hits, but it's not getting as many play hours for me, possibly because I'm a Hockey fan and all of my friends are Hockey fans, we all grew up playing Hockey and Hockey Videogames you see =)
4) Resident Evil, I think probably everyone with a Gamecube here already has this so I won't bother explaining.
5) Star Wars Rogue Leader, now, this game has the highest quality graphics and levels of all of the first Generation titles, well, maybe not Resident Evil, but as far as 3D graphics go, it beats that game I'd say. There are levels where you're speeding through a cloud of like 100 Tie fighters and shooting them down and trying to dodge hundreds of blasters at the same time. This game has extremely intense gameplay at a lot of parts, most particularilly near the end. The Battle of Endor probably took me literally 90 attempts to pass, and the next Death Star level seams nearly impossible after around 20 attempts. Some of the stuff, you really have to keep on your toes and do everything right. The major problem with this game is that the main plot of it (Playing as Wedge Antillies) is too short, it has 10 regular levels and a few locked ones, though I know you can play this game over from different perspectives, like flying from Han Solo's perspective or something (You can even go from the Imperials perspecive including some levels with Darth Vader), I'm still not there yet, so I can't really comment on it.
6) Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, shows graphical improvements over the Sega Dreamcast one (I've only rented Battle, I own the Dreamcast version), plus it has the link-up feature with the Gameboy Advance Sonic game (I own it, but lent it out to my sister who took it home to Toronto with her, I'll get it back in June when I'm over there visiting). Not much more to say, this is the only major platform game available for the Gamecube, and to me, Platformers are THE absolute most important genre, looking back on other consoles, SNES< my favorite titles are Kirby Superstar, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3, etc... On Genesis, they're Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic 2, etc... On N64, Banjo Kazooie and I want part 2 for under the retail price of 80 bucks, Conkers Bad Fur Day, etc...), I know there's Luigi's Mansion, I haven't played it and I don't really feel compelled to.
7) Pikmin, Now, I never really got into this game myself, but for a lot of people it's their favorite game, if you're into RTS-puzzle style games (actually, I think this one might be the only one) or quirky games, there's a lot to do in this one, tons to do in fact. The game's replay value is incredible I'll admit, I had much more fun the second time playing through, and even more the third time. Now, if I was in the mood for slower paced simulation style games right now, this one would be #1.
8) Super Monkey Ball, you control a Monkey in a ball by shifting the weight of a table, I can't really explain it. This game might be one of those games that interest a limited number of people, but this one has probably got the most playtime of all single player Gamecube games for me (well, maybe not as much as SSBM). There's a lot of other modes too, there's a Golf game, Pool, racing, fighting, etc... If you liked the game marble madness back on NES, you'll definetly like this one. There's a sequel coming out soon, the sequel will more than likely show many new modes and stuff, but this one will likely go down in price, pick it up when it does. I'm serious, this game is fun as hell! Nothing graphically spectacular though, and the sound and music can seam repetetive, otherwise I would have scored it higher. Again, this is a game that seams to get nearly impossible later on, takes a lot of skill, very old school. I haven't even talked about the multiplayer yet, that is definetly a time eater, I think I must have played that for at least 6 or 7 hours strait once =)
9) SSX Trickey, a game developed in my home Country, everyone knows this game, sequel to last years game of the Year SSX. The button configuration was a bit hard to get used to at first because I was used to SSX on PS2, but I got the hang of it, and nobody on any console has scores to top mine =)
10) Fifa Major League Soccer, I know that another Fifa game has come out but I haven't had a chance to play it. Sega Soccer Slam is definetly the better game, and I would probably wait until a later version comes out as this one seams to be lacking in a few features. Overall, if you just want to play Soccer, and you're a fan of the sport like myself, get this game, I think it's probably cheap now with the new Fifa game out.
<B>Games to look forward to</B>
In Order the 5 games I'm definetly going to buy this year (It will be more, but these 5 will be before all the rest, you never know when something might come up and you'll be lacking finacialy):
1) Animal Crossing, I made a post on this earlier, mix Simulation with RPG, add three times the amount of text as Xenogears, an NES you can buy and get games for (a few dozen I think) including Excitebike and other classic titles, job opportunities, expansion. Blah! There is so much you can do in this game that it would take me a page to cover it, the game recieved a very high score from Famitsu and would have been perfect had the graphics been even a little better. For me, this could possibly be the best game ever created, I was a huge fan of Harvest Moon, this one looks like there's about 200 times more to it than that which is mind boggleing.
2) Legend of Zelda, Obviously this is going to be most people's top pick, sure we were turned off by the Cel shaded graphics at first, they still used them, but anyone who saw the new video's were likely blown away. This game looks absolutly amazing, and according to those who played it, "best game ever," Apparently the targeting and camera system is perfect.
3) Metroid Prime, obviously this game is good considering most people are calling this the game of E3, I admitedly have ignored most information on this game.
4) Starfox Adventures, I can't get over how good the graphics are in this, I've always loved Rare platformer/adventure type titles, and though I haven't really read up on the game, I have seen the screenshots and heard comments from people who have read up on it, I normally don't read much up on games I already plan to buy. Lets just say that this game will play a lot like a more action based Zelda Ocarina of Time, and has the animations to match.
5) Eternal Darkness, years in the works, a game that revolves around time travel over the last 2000 years or so. They came out with a demo that actually has nothing to do with the game, in fact, none of the levels or characters used in that demo even exist. The demo wasn't really that great anyways, the final title is apparently supposed to be amazing though, and after reading up on all the effects (like the sanity) and the fact that you dream in this game. The game features groundbreaking animations, supposedly the best ever seen in a videogame, and it brings the characters to life, a huge graphical leap from the demo version, amazing music, and very historically accurate settings and weapons. The latest word on this game is "Music, sound effects, artwork, technology, story and game play combine in a way never before attempted in a video game", the game apparently has an amazing story to go along with it, but I won't read the spoilers =)
There's definetly more that deserve to be up here, like Skies of Arcadia (my favorite RPG of all time), Mario Sunshine, Phantasy Star Online Episode 1&2, Bloodrayne (I don't know anything about it really, but it was supposedly the first or second most anticipated title on Xbox until they found out it was coming to Gamecube as well), those Starwars and Resident Evil games, etc... but those are the five I believe will be the best.
Anyways, I hope this helps you out a bit.</div>
1) Super Smash Brothers Melee, despight Resident Evil being the primary reason that many of you bought the console, this still happens to be the best title on the console available. It's fun, polished, and has hours of gameplay in the single player mode (took me around 40-50 to finish everything) and amazing replay value. You can't ignore the multiplayer modes in this game either, if you played the first Super Smash Brothers, you'll find that this game seams like it has about 100 times more content and feels much more polished, there's a lot of little things in the game that really add to it.
2) NHL Hitz, despight being a third party game, and fairly crappy for a single player game, I found that this game is perhaps the next best multiplayer game on the console, it beats out NHL 2002 in the graphics department and the over the top gameplay has been done extremely well. I like the physics engine, and to think this game was done by Midway. It's good for any fan of Arcade style Hockey. If you're not much of a fan of Hockey, you can take this one off the chart, it's still worth a rent, but it really is a multiplayer game.
3) Sega Soccer Slam, another game that kicks ass in the multiplayer mode, it's a better game than NHL Hits, but it's not getting as many play hours for me, possibly because I'm a Hockey fan and all of my friends are Hockey fans, we all grew up playing Hockey and Hockey Videogames you see =)
4) Resident Evil, I think probably everyone with a Gamecube here already has this so I won't bother explaining.
5) Star Wars Rogue Leader, now, this game has the highest quality graphics and levels of all of the first Generation titles, well, maybe not Resident Evil, but as far as 3D graphics go, it beats that game I'd say. There are levels where you're speeding through a cloud of like 100 Tie fighters and shooting them down and trying to dodge hundreds of blasters at the same time. This game has extremely intense gameplay at a lot of parts, most particularilly near the end. The Battle of Endor probably took me literally 90 attempts to pass, and the next Death Star level seams nearly impossible after around 20 attempts. Some of the stuff, you really have to keep on your toes and do everything right. The major problem with this game is that the main plot of it (Playing as Wedge Antillies) is too short, it has 10 regular levels and a few locked ones, though I know you can play this game over from different perspectives, like flying from Han Solo's perspective or something (You can even go from the Imperials perspecive including some levels with Darth Vader), I'm still not there yet, so I can't really comment on it.
6) Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, shows graphical improvements over the Sega Dreamcast one (I've only rented Battle, I own the Dreamcast version), plus it has the link-up feature with the Gameboy Advance Sonic game (I own it, but lent it out to my sister who took it home to Toronto with her, I'll get it back in June when I'm over there visiting). Not much more to say, this is the only major platform game available for the Gamecube, and to me, Platformers are THE absolute most important genre, looking back on other consoles, SNES< my favorite titles are Kirby Superstar, Donkey Kong Country 1, 2, and 3, etc... On Genesis, they're Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic 2, etc... On N64, Banjo Kazooie and I want part 2 for under the retail price of 80 bucks, Conkers Bad Fur Day, etc...), I know there's Luigi's Mansion, I haven't played it and I don't really feel compelled to.
7) Pikmin, Now, I never really got into this game myself, but for a lot of people it's their favorite game, if you're into RTS-puzzle style games (actually, I think this one might be the only one) or quirky games, there's a lot to do in this one, tons to do in fact. The game's replay value is incredible I'll admit, I had much more fun the second time playing through, and even more the third time. Now, if I was in the mood for slower paced simulation style games right now, this one would be #1.
8) Super Monkey Ball, you control a Monkey in a ball by shifting the weight of a table, I can't really explain it. This game might be one of those games that interest a limited number of people, but this one has probably got the most playtime of all single player Gamecube games for me (well, maybe not as much as SSBM). There's a lot of other modes too, there's a Golf game, Pool, racing, fighting, etc... If you liked the game marble madness back on NES, you'll definetly like this one. There's a sequel coming out soon, the sequel will more than likely show many new modes and stuff, but this one will likely go down in price, pick it up when it does. I'm serious, this game is fun as hell! Nothing graphically spectacular though, and the sound and music can seam repetetive, otherwise I would have scored it higher. Again, this is a game that seams to get nearly impossible later on, takes a lot of skill, very old school. I haven't even talked about the multiplayer yet, that is definetly a time eater, I think I must have played that for at least 6 or 7 hours strait once =)
9) SSX Trickey, a game developed in my home Country, everyone knows this game, sequel to last years game of the Year SSX. The button configuration was a bit hard to get used to at first because I was used to SSX on PS2, but I got the hang of it, and nobody on any console has scores to top mine =)
10) Fifa Major League Soccer, I know that another Fifa game has come out but I haven't had a chance to play it. Sega Soccer Slam is definetly the better game, and I would probably wait until a later version comes out as this one seams to be lacking in a few features. Overall, if you just want to play Soccer, and you're a fan of the sport like myself, get this game, I think it's probably cheap now with the new Fifa game out.
<B>Games to look forward to</B>
In Order the 5 games I'm definetly going to buy this year (It will be more, but these 5 will be before all the rest, you never know when something might come up and you'll be lacking finacialy):
1) Animal Crossing, I made a post on this earlier, mix Simulation with RPG, add three times the amount of text as Xenogears, an NES you can buy and get games for (a few dozen I think) including Excitebike and other classic titles, job opportunities, expansion. Blah! There is so much you can do in this game that it would take me a page to cover it, the game recieved a very high score from Famitsu and would have been perfect had the graphics been even a little better. For me, this could possibly be the best game ever created, I was a huge fan of Harvest Moon, this one looks like there's about 200 times more to it than that which is mind boggleing.
2) Legend of Zelda, Obviously this is going to be most people's top pick, sure we were turned off by the Cel shaded graphics at first, they still used them, but anyone who saw the new video's were likely blown away. This game looks absolutly amazing, and according to those who played it, "best game ever," Apparently the targeting and camera system is perfect.
3) Metroid Prime, obviously this game is good considering most people are calling this the game of E3, I admitedly have ignored most information on this game.
4) Starfox Adventures, I can't get over how good the graphics are in this, I've always loved Rare platformer/adventure type titles, and though I haven't really read up on the game, I have seen the screenshots and heard comments from people who have read up on it, I normally don't read much up on games I already plan to buy. Lets just say that this game will play a lot like a more action based Zelda Ocarina of Time, and has the animations to match.
5) Eternal Darkness, years in the works, a game that revolves around time travel over the last 2000 years or so. They came out with a demo that actually has nothing to do with the game, in fact, none of the levels or characters used in that demo even exist. The demo wasn't really that great anyways, the final title is apparently supposed to be amazing though, and after reading up on all the effects (like the sanity) and the fact that you dream in this game. The game features groundbreaking animations, supposedly the best ever seen in a videogame, and it brings the characters to life, a huge graphical leap from the demo version, amazing music, and very historically accurate settings and weapons. The latest word on this game is "Music, sound effects, artwork, technology, story and game play combine in a way never before attempted in a video game", the game apparently has an amazing story to go along with it, but I won't read the spoilers =)
There's definetly more that deserve to be up here, like Skies of Arcadia (my favorite RPG of all time), Mario Sunshine, Phantasy Star Online Episode 1&2, Bloodrayne (I don't know anything about it really, but it was supposedly the first or second most anticipated title on Xbox until they found out it was coming to Gamecube as well), those Starwars and Resident Evil games, etc... but those are the five I believe will be the best.
Anyways, I hope this helps you out a bit.</div>
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