As discussed on the ForwardSlashAwesome Podcast - The Podcast featuring new games and old... and the occasional bukkake reference. NSFW.

The Internet is a list based place, on every gaming forum, hundreds of people post lists of their favourite in a desperate attempt to have their choices approved by others. It is almost pitiful.
As we all know however, no one seeks approval more than AwesomeLarsen so for the next twenty five days, be mildly entertained by AL's Top 25 games!
I was going to put an 'ever' on the end but that tends to imply that it is a definitive list that will not be altered by either games that will come out in the future or games from the past I haven't played yet. 'Top 25 games' by itself sounds a little bland though, if you want to spice it up you can add an 'Eva!!!!' or 'Of all time!!!!!!!' onto the end in your mind, I won't stop you.
The only rule is that there can only be one game per series. This article also was totally not posted several years ago on another blog.
Now enter the Garden of Madness!

24.Jagged Alliance 2. PC 1999.



Released in the golden year of 1999, Jagged alliance 2 is one of a kind... seriously, no one has ever made a game like this. It could be described as a turn based Rainbow Six/Sims 2 game, the game focused on leading a group of mercs through a war torn country. The Mercs all had unique personalities and would form relationships between one another and comment on how everything was progressing. If a friend died they might leave the team while if their nemesis croaked it their efficiency would improve. Determining which team would work well together was a critical part of the game strategy.

When it came to combat nearly everything you could think of was implemented into gameplay. Ammo conservation, bleeding factors and environment destruction were all implemented in a game that is now hitting it's tenth year. Which makes it like 896 in human years, so it is surprising how the old bugger can get busy like the best of them.

You could also tackle overthrowing the country in whatever way you felt worked. After being dropped at a static insertion point it was pretty much up to you how you wanted to proceed. You could destroy ammo dumps to disadvantage enemies. Cut off their supply lines to gain more income, take over towns to make the populace revolt, take over airports to open up new insertion points, it goes on.

It wasn't completely perfect however, the game featured an optional scifi mode that will good in the sense that it added different enemy types, really didn't fit with the rest of the game. Also, Until recently the game and it's excellent but brutal expansion pack was reasonably difficult to find. With the rise of sites like Good Old Games however, it has become more readily available. A DS port of the original reportedly is coming out in may though it has been delayed several times before.

Jagged Alliance took up weeks of my time and is replayable as hell. I booted it up today and became addicted once again. A true classic. The graphics are a little dated by today's standards but fans of games like X-com and even Full Spectrum Warrior and the Swat series should definitely check it out.

Awesome Character Expose:

There was a German character that kept saying 'Shizer', you can't teach that.

Next up: The only game on this list set in Arabia