One of the problems with consensus list is that you tend to miss out on those brave, exciting, personal favorites. While we put in a lot work into developing the best list that we could, we couldn’t help but each private bemoan the fate of a personal favorite which hadn’t made the cut at all. We’re all very different gamers here at Critically Sane, and while that makes our coverage diverse, it also means on a consensus list, it’s harder to get consensus on lesser known titles.
With that in mind, here are a few of us on our favorite titles that didn’t make the list at all.
Anything not on the list that makes you despair? Let us know in the comments!
Witcher 2
I adore The Witcher 2. As a hardcore strategy gamer, I’m used to playing games that are as intellectually demanding as they are fun. I think to think three steps ahead, to plan my actions and to execute that plan. The Witcher 2 was that rare RPG that had both excellent action and was a thinking-person’s game. This was a tale, with monsters and battles and heroes, that was built for strategic minds. You couldn’t potion spam here- you couldn’t even drink potions during the battle. You had to research your foes, find their weaknesses ahead of time, and use the correct buffs and equip the right equipment before you stepped into the field. This was a wonderfully fun game, certainly one of the top RPGs of the generation. I’m very sad it’s not on our list.
~Tony Odett
Rock Band 2
Out of all the games that missed out on making our top 50, the one that most stands out to me as an oversight was Rock Band 2. Where Rock Band was a four player extension over what Harmonix had been doing with the Guitar Hero franchise, Rock Band 2 elevated the genre to the next level. From the radically improved career mode, which delivered what felt like a realistic progression from garage band to globe trotting arena rockers, to the ability to bring Rock Band’s music forward into the new game, along with every bit of DLC that had already been released, Rock Band 2 was a music lovers dream. There are more nights than I can remember where friends and I would, over a case or two of beer, play the game until the wee hours of the morning, belting out our favorite songs in an attempt to be the best virtual band ever. Rock Band 2 was this generations best party game and it is unfortunately missing from our overall Top 50 list.
~Chris Scott
Gran Turismo 5
The wait for Gran Turismo 5 was a long one. Gran Turismo 4 was one of my favorite games, period, so it would take a lot to impress me with GT5. I had a similar problem between Gran Turismo 2 and 3; loving GT2 and being disappointed with GT3. I did not have the same issue this time, though. After my lengthy install of Gran Turismo 5, I sat down and played for about eight hours straight. I didn’t love the game initially. I didn’t mind the user interface, which everyone else seemed to complain about. I was a little miffed at the lack of events though. A little over a month later, Polyphony fixed that with the Seasonal Events; races that changed every few weeks and had specific stipulations. That was what sealed the deal. About a thousand cars, dozens of tracks, and then they add that feature. Top that off with some of the best graphics this generation, and you have a winner – especially in the racing genre.
A longtime blogger/games writer with a distinct love of strategy, he brings the smarts and the sarcasm to the Perfectly Sane Show and to Critically Sane. Always going on about games with vast strategic minutia, Tony also writes as the Critically Sane Strategist.
A longtime blogger/games writer with a distinct love of strategy, he brings the smarts and the sarcasm to the Perfectly Sane Show and to Critically Sane. Always going on about games with vast strategic minutia, Tony also writes as the Critically Sane Strategist.
