4. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
A spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series, the Persona games are a series of JRPGs that are also a school-life/dating simulator. That may not sound like an interesting series of games, but neither did a point-and-click adventure about being a defense attorney, and look how that turned out. Persona 4 definitely improved on the formula a bit, but the majority of the staff at Operation Rainfall agreed that Persona 3 is the superior game.
3. Kingdom Hearts
Nobody ever anticipated how this game would turn out. I mean, a crossover between Disney and Final Fantasy? I mean, that’s about as unlikely as a crossover between Pokemon and Nobunaga’s Ambition. But it worked. Boy, did it work. While the story of the non-Disney sections can be an incomprehensible mess at times, and even though II made some significant improvements…the art direction, music, and the combat are great enough on their own. Also, fighting alongside various Disney characters in their retrospective movies is pretty boss.
2. Shadow of the Colossus
When anyone gets into a debate about whether games can ever be art, this game is always brought up, and for good reason. Its minimalist nature, emotional story, impressive soundtrack, and engaging gameplay got itself some pretty great sales, landed itself the top spot of many top 10 lists, and it even won several awards. We still have no idea when The Last Guardian will be released, but if it’s anywhere near the same quality of Shadow of the Colossus, only good things can come out of this.
And finally, our number one game…
