7. Burnout 3: Takedown – XBOX, PS2

If there’s a better racing game out there than Burnout 3, I’ve never played it. Certainly there are people out there who sing the praises of your Gran Turismos and Forza Motorsports and what have you, but simulation racers, as technically impressive and engaging they may be, are just not my style. A good racing game should be all about speed, and no game before ever delivered the sense of speed that Burnout 3 did. After two solid but flawed outings in the, Criterion’s Burnout 3: Takedown was such a complete package for fans of arcade racers, the game upon its debut was an instant classic.

It cannot be stressed enough that this game FEELS fast. It isn’t simply that a high number is displayed in the onscreen speedometer, the environment and the car behave exactly as you would expect traveling at ridiculous speeds of over 200mph. The fun and tension of going so fast is arguably the best part of the entire game. Along with driving fast, Burnout 3 is all about taking risks. You have a boost meter that builds when you drive recklessly – driving too close to other cars, driving on the wrong side of the road, running opponents off the road – and, particularly late in the game, it’s essential not only to drive skillfully, but drive recklessly so you’re able to move at the high speeds necessary to beat your opponents. If you like slowing down for turns and other caveats of “realistic” racers, this probably isn’t the game for you.

Along with standard races, Burnout 3 has a variety of gameplay modes. Two of the more interesting modes are “Road Rage,” which challenges players to “take down”, or cause to crash, as many other cars on the road as possible, and “Crash” mode, where you must strategically destroy your car in such a way that as much damage as caused as possible. Completing a Crash mission requires that a specific dollar amount of carnage is caused. GTA, eat your heart out.

Burnout 3 has a huge amount of content, that plays as equally well in short spurts as it does in multi-hour marathon sessions. With the huge amounts a tracks, challenges, and objectives, it’s one of those games where it is nearly impossible to achieve 100% completion. The game excels so highly on every level that I would not hesitate to recommend it to any fan of video games, regardless of their feelings on the racing genre.

8. Pikmin 2 – GCN

Does anyone in the video game industry have a better track record than Shigeru Miyamoto? From Donkey Kong to Nintendogs and everything inbetween he’s had a hand in, it’s difficult to imagine Nintendo even existing today without the contribution of his astounding imagination. Not content with simply churning out new iterations of his beloved Mario and Zelda franchises, with the Gamecube Miyamoto launched one of the most innovative new series of the generation – Pikmin. A combination puzzle and real-time strategy games, Pikmin is without imitators and one of the most original games to ever come along. As good as the first game in the series was, Pikmin 2 outmatched its predecessor in just about every way. More than a sequel, Pikmin 2 feels like the first fully fleshed out realization of Miyamoto’s grand ideas.

The title of the series refers to a species of creatures who you control in the world of the game. In the roll of a spaceman, Olimar (and it isn’t a coincidence that his name is a near anagram of another Miyamoto creation), players must give orders to fleets of these Pikmin in order to recover random items strewn about the world. With direct control of Olimar, you are able to give RTS like commands to your “army” of Pikmin, directing them to attack, go around hazards, splitting them into teams to solve a particular puzzle, etc. Pikmin can be used to recover items that make additional Pikmin, which is handy when you’re playing in a world also populated by creatures who love nothing more than to feast on your little friends. It’s a pretty simple concept that works shockingly well, thanks to the fact that the oddly-shaped Gamecube controller almost seemed designed with this game in mind.

What makes this game special is how deep the actual gameplay is. Each mission requires a lot of thought and strategy, constantly keeping players actively engaged. Pikmin can be of five distinct types, with various strengths and weaknesses (Yellow Pikmin are weak but can be propelled much higher than other Pikmin, for example), and a very strict 15 minute time limit per outing makes effective use of time as important a factor as keeping your Pikmin alive. Perhaps most impressive is that the game is deep and complex in a very organic way – complexity isn’t gained simply by having use of a large number of units to pick from, for example. Consequently the game remains accessible to a large audience without ever feeling dumbed down.

Pikmin was a stellar game, but it’s short length and small scope almost make it seem like a tech demo when compared to the huge game that is Pikmin 2. Pikmin 2 added new kinds of Pikmin, more than doubled the amount of playable areas, added two new playable characters, all of which added significantly to the game without abandoning the core concept. Pikmin is probably the most unique game to come to the Gamecube, and Pikmin 2 is easily one of the best games to grace the system.

9. Final Fantasy XII – PS2

The Final Fantasy series is known for a lot of things – a rabid fanbase, a consistent level of quality, memorable worlds, beautiful graphics – but a word not often associated with the series is “innovation.” Final Fantasy XII is the first game in the series in a long time that does anything to challenge that notion. By distilling the long-running series’ essence into its best elements, and dramatically improving and streamlining some of the more tedious elements of the genre, Final Fantasy XII came out at the tail end of the PS2’s lifetime and breathed new life into a tired genre.

I’m going to cut right to the chase – FFXII has the best combat of any role playing game I have ever played. The designers of the game finally realized that, even in the best RPGs, the vast majority of battles are redundant and easily won, usually just by repeated tapping of the “X” button. The new Gambit system, which allows players to program each characters behavior using a simple interface, means that most combat progresses automatically and extremely rapidly. It’s not the first time such a system has appeared, but it’s the first time where the system actually worked, without characters constantly running out of mana or making extremely illogical choices. For more complex battles, a simple push of a button pauses gameplay and allows players to issue specific commands when more sophisticated strategies (aka boss battles) are required. Combat is fast, it’s clean, and for maybe the first time ever, it’s actually a lot of fun.

Ability development is handled through a new system, the License system. Players spend AP gained in battle on abilities, and each ability purchased unlocks the option to purchase different, more powerful abilities. It’s a simple system that provides a very high level of customization. For example, it’s easy to give your heavy hitters a few healing spells, in the event your healer falls in battle. There are a huge number of them, making it near impossible for a character to cover even half the board by game’s end. The licenses are inexpensive though, meaning characters will aquire new ones rapidly, which provides a great sense of progression and achievement while playing.

Aside from these wonderful improvements to the battle and level progression systems, this is very much a Final Fantasy game at heart. You play an unlikely band of heroes who have to save the world, the game looks wonderful, the voice acting and script are top notch, and there’s a slew of side missions to complete both during and after completion of the game. When I purchased this game as a fan of the series, I expected more of the same. What I got was more of the same, but made using far better ingredients. If you’ve found Final Fantasy games to be tiring and tedious before but always wanted to tackle one, this just may be what you’ve been looking for.