The previous post that was put up focused on the Wii games I had played, set by the score I had given them. It was the first time a Wii edition had been done, but this is the second time a 360 edition will be going up. The original one had been done in December of 2006, making this one almost a year late.

To give some perspective on everything, there will be four games from the original list returning to this one. When I put up my original post, it was still with the old scoring system and it was before I revamped how I rate games. To give perspective, Halo, Halo 2, Oblivion, Soul Calibur, bona-fide hits like these which are all 10's to me were stuck with some wacky 9 score instead back then. So if you see a returning 360 title and see the different score, remember, I changed it all up back in 2007.

Also, this list cannot be relegated to ten games. Try as I might, it's impossible. I knew this list would be far more exciting than the Wii list, but I didn't think it would break my own rules. There were four games with a score of 7.0, two with a score of 7.5, and three with a score of 8.0, and none of these games made the list. To give that perspective, only titles with a score of 8.5 or higher actually made the list, and this makes for a much more exciting countdown to the top!

10- F.E.A.R. (three-way tie) Score: 8.5
The most cinematically intense shooter around. The environments might be dull and drab, but F.E.A.R. packs in the scares and the action and mixes them up so well, with an intrigueing plot that you'll be hard-pressed to care. When a game can make me believe that there are little girls right outside laughing at 2AM in the morning, you know it's done it's job well.

10- Lost Odyssey (three-way tie) Score: 8.5
An existential masterpiece, Lost Odyssey is filled to the brim with shocking mature themes that will rock your world. Any fan of excellent story-telling and sharp writing coupled with great character development throughout the whole 60 hour game needs to play Sakaguchi's first true game in ages. Besides, Lost Odyssey is the only game that can bear the distinction of having ever made me cry. That's awesome!

10- BioShock (three-way tie) Score: 8.5
The fact that gems like Lost Odyssey, F.E.A.R. and BioShock all have to struggle to barely make the cut is a testament to how awesome the list is. But BioShock, much like Lost Odyssey is a sharply written game, but it does more than provide an excellent story. It uses it's plot and game world to go ahead and make a social statement on the role of the gamer in videogames, all in an emotionally charged storyline that genuinely plays with your emotions and makes feel hopeless at times. Forget the predictable gameplay, BioShock shines because of it's game world and story.

9- Project Gotham Racing 3- Score: 9.0
I hate racing games. This is a fact which cannot be denied. I also suck at them. But Project Gotham Racing 3 is my favorite racing game, ever. Aside from being the one launch title on the 360 that actually wowed people, it provides a variety of gameplay modes with some solid, arcade racing that hints at some sim-like play. But above all else, you can actually choose to complete each individual event on any difficulty you choose to play on making it that much more fun. Suck at timed laps? Play it on an easier setting. Love kudos challenges? Ratchet up the difficulty. Flexibility and fluid controls make this the best racer I've ever played, and multiplayer is a riot too, as some of you may remember from some of my older blogs.

8- Dead or Alive 4- Score: 9.0
Dead or Alive 4 is the best game in the DoA series. That said, I can't say I've enjoyed any series as a whole as much as Dead Or Alive. There's never been a dull entry, but Itagaki did something with Dead or Alive 4 that makes it impossible for me to go back and play the older ones, he changed up the fighting mechanics, making it a much deeper game based more on skill. Sure, in DoA 3 button mashers could have their day against average players, but in DoA4, there's a way around every damn button masher, you just have to learn how to play. The levels are dynamic and beautiful and while the characters still have that anime vibe to them, they still retain the Dead or Alive look. The fastest, most brutal, hardest-hitting, and fun fighter on the 360 is Dead or Alive 4.

7- Ninja Gaiden II- Score: 9.0
Itagaki's final game with Team Ninja and one of the best action games around. Much like Dead or Alive 4 it's fast, brutal, hard and fun. There are some minor setbacks to the whole package, like an incoherent storyline, levels that have no continuity from one to the next and some cheeseball dialogue. But when judged as an action game there are none as deep as Ninja Gaiden II, with an emphasis on combat, blood and boobs. While I consider the original Ninja Gaiden the greatest action game ever made, Ninja Gaiden II is not near it due to the story and level issues. But when it comes to the actual gameplay, it's faster, more brutal and more fun to play. If you own a 360 and are looking for either action, blood, gore, a challenge or simply monsters to kill, Ninja Gaiden II fits the bill nicely, making it the slickest action game on the console. Besides, Ryu Hayabusa is cooler than ice cream, and I mean cooler than ice cream in Mt. Fuji's boiling epicenter. That's hardcore.

6- The Orange Box- Score: 9.5
The single greatest deal in gaming, ever. The Orange Box is the greatest quantity of quality gaming available for the price of just one game. Half-Life 2, Episode 1 and 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2. It's one of those packages where you want to stop and say, "BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!" It's like that crazy Oxyclean bucket, except this stuff is actual worth the money. Half-Life has been the one game which has walked the fine line between Halo and BioShock. One settles on the gameplay, the other on the story and gameworld. Half-Life takes a bit of both and makes for one of the most compelling FPS games around. Portal is the hilariously unique puzzle game added to the package showing Valve's commitment to quality and new games and Team Fortress 2 is a different breed of multiplayer shooter, and one that's clearly not meant for the "go and kill everything" Halo crowd. If you don't own The Orange Box, you probably just hate good games, that or you're one of those idiots on the EA boycott bandwagon.

5- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night- Score: 9.5
An Xbox Live Arcade game and my runner-up game for the 2007 Game of the Year. I was honestly so surprised to find out how amazing this game is. My cousin swears by it and calls it his favorite game (behind Okami that is), and it's easy to see why. An awesome atmosphere, a fantastic soundtrack, surprisingly deep and engaging gameplay, a wondrous world/castle with a seemingly endless amount of secrets waiting to be found out and four different endings including another playthrough with Richter Belmont instead of the moody Alucard (spell that backwards) makes this not only one of my favorite 360 games ever, and not only one of my favorite games of 2007, but also one of my favorite games of all time. This was the game which justified the Live Arcade service for me, I simply can't praise this game enough.

4- Eternal Sonata- Score: 9.5
My other runner-up for 2007 GotY was Eternal Sonata. For those of you not in the know, I generally hate JRPGs, and the only reason why I wanted to play Eternal Sonata was because Chopin is one of my personal heroes. So how fitting that everything about this game felt like it was made for me. A rollicking fantasy adventure the likes of which I haven't experienced before, with my favorite RPG combat system ever. It builds the excitement throughout the entire game, making for a hell of a great game to play. It's only 30 or so hours long, but that length has no filler, it's all the main plot, and it's worth it. Eternal Sonata is hardly a grand, epic, sweeping tale like The Lord of the Rings films but instead it tells each character's highly personal story, and as more characters are introduced, yes, their paths intertwine on their adventure, but every character's personal story comes to an end at a different time, making for an intrigueing plot. The character development feels a bit rushed, which may be due more to the game's length, but it's all still good fun. Couple that with dreamy artistry and a beautiful soundtrack consisting of Chopin's music as well as original music, and you can see why I love Eternal Sonata. In fact, aside from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, this is the only JRPG I've finished more than once (AS IN TWICE!).

3- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion- Score: 10
My reason for purchasing the Xbox 360. Sure, chances were that I'd probably get a 360 over a PS3 anyway due to my personal preferences, but I saw no reason to own a 360 until Oblivion came out and blew the world away. This was my reason for owning a 360, the single most deepest RPG I have ever played and the finest example of what the current generation could do, especially considering that it was released so early in the 360's life. I've spent over 100 hours in the world of Tamriel and to date this is the only game I have ever earned 1000 out of 1000 achievements for.

This is that insane, Lord of the Ring-esque adventure I was talking about, and for a while, it was cool to be a bit nerdy and talk about Oblivion gates in public. After spending so much time in this game world, I can safely say that if you only play one RPG this generation, make it Oblivion. You won't get bored, but you will get lost in one of the most beautiful worlds created. I was caught in a mad man's mind trying to save him, I was lost in a painting, I shut the Oblivion gates, I became the Listener of The Dark Brotherhood, I led all of the Guilds and became The Gray Fox, I killed the King of Worms, I lit the Dragonfires and I hunted a damn Unicorn too! Oblivion is an amazing game and more than worthy of earning that 10 score. This is the best RPG I have played, 360, console or otherwise.

2- Gears of War- Score: 10
The anticipation for the sequel is killing me. But until then, I know where the Xbox 360's first killer-app is. Gears of War blew me away the moment I played through the first level, and it is the only game I have ever marathoned through (though that came out of necessity to write a review for the school paper at the time). While the plot itself isn't that great, it hints at something greater, there are loose ends, and it was fantastic to see those loose ends hinted at in the Gears 2 trailers. The graphics, I mean, geez, there are games released today that wish they could look half as good as Gears of War. The character's themselves are spectacular, Marcus, Dom, Cole Train and Baird, they're like the new A-Team, making for some of the best character development in any shooter. You'll go from a variety of locales and not everything is gray, though much of it is, you'll still find yourself having showdowns in some unique places. The final act itself is so unrelenting sick that you'll be giving that signature "I'm such a badass" smirk throughout it all.

Some great multiplayer, making for a different paced shooter is great as well, though the achievements themselves somewhat impacted them a bit, making gamers go for achievements with specific weapons rather than playing the game. It's good to see that much has at least been rectified with the sequel. However, where Gears of War shined the brightest was in the actual co-op play. It was designed with co-op in mind and nothing is more enthralling than taking two seperate paths and covering each other from opposite sides of the pathways. But above all else the level design rocks! I won't say much except that even my grandfather looked at the game and said that it was designed very well. I don't think there's more I can add. Gears of War is sick! Here's hoping that the sequel lives up to everyone's expectations and then some.

1- Halo 3- Score: 10
If you're wondering how much I love this game than I implore you to look at my Now Playing list. You'll see that at the moment, Halo 3 is the only game on that list, and it hasn't left that list since September 25, 2007. There's only one way for me to describe Halo 3: Equal AND Superior! It's equal to Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, and superior to every other FPS around. It's just downright fun to play. This isn't about it's significance to gaming, this isn't about what Halo did for the genre, for gaming or for the Xbox. This is about how fun it is play. How players of various skills are divided into their own groups of similarly skilled players and set loose on the world. The multiplayer is fun, fast and fair whether it's two people or sixteen, which is more than I can say for Call of Duty 4.

But Halo 3 surprises in it's maturity as well. In Halo 2 you get a medal and then jump off of a ship in space with a bomb in hand. Halo 3 doesn't have that. Hell, Halo 3 is as much a love story as it is one about saving the universe. There's tragedy and loss in Halo 3 and neither of the two previous Halo games hit those notes quite as hard as Halo 3 does. Death, love, vengeance, honor, these are some of the themes throughout this game and playing it never gets old. What were once skirmishes have become full-blown battlefields with mutliple vehicles trying to wreck you while aircraft zip above you. Every iconic character is back, but the war has changed everything. This is the way to end a trilogy, not with a happy, "Hey we saved the world, FRAT PARTY TIME", but with one of the most mature endings that won't make you feel good, but will rather have you ask, does a hero really deserve an end like that? Halo 3 is simply magnificent.

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

Again, keep in mind that the actual order of the game doesn't matter in their scoring subsets. This isn't a countdown from 10 to1. It's a countdown from 8.5 to 10.0, which makes Halo 3, Gears of War and Oblivion on level ground. Also, if you guys are wondering if SoulCalibur IV or Call of Duty 4 could have changed the list, the answer is no. Neigther one of those two games would have made the cut. So now you know what kind of scores to expect for them when I review them.

It's been a little over two years since I've had my Xbox 360, and as far as I can tell it's one of the original launch models. It's never given me any problems and has let me play some of the most awesome games released recently, whether they were exclusive or multiplatform, I've been having loads of fun with my 360 since 2006. But it was in that same year, in 2006, at the very end, when I recieved a Wii as a Christmas gift. It became my little bundle of joy in a sense, and I've loved it ever since I herded livestock with Link, who actually bore my name, making the romantic interludes in Twilight Princess that much more real.

It was about a year ago when I put up a blog post called Lucid Dreams up, which had the scores of 10 Xbox 360 games I played by the order of the scores of the games. Ranging from King Kong with it's 5.5 score to Gears of War with it's 10.0 score. Well, I do intend on putting up another post chronicling the top 10 scoring NOT FAVORITE, BUT SCORING, games on the 360. But after some research, lo and behold, I've played 10 Wii games and rated them all on the site and now it's time to chronicle my adventures on the Wii by score.

10- SSX Blur- Score: 4.5
How? Why? These are two questions which come to mind very quickly. SSX Tricky is my favorite sports game ever. All I needed was a competent boarding game to keep faith alive. Instead, I got a "no-skill required" toned-down wannabe game for every poser and tool on the block. Get rid of the skill it takes to rack up more than a million points on the Tricky maps, go ahead do that. But flailing your wrist around and thinking it replaces skillful play is just a stupid idea.

9- SpongeBob Squarepants: Creature from the Krusty Krab- Score 4.5
I honestly don't even know what the hell this game is about. The controls are a mess, the gameplay is no fun and would probably suck even if the game controlled well and, dude, it's Spongebob. I don't care if it's underwater, this ain't no BioShock.

8- Wii Sports- Score: 5.5
Wii Sports is a free pack-in with the Wii. It's kind of fun at times, but there's no depth. You just keep doing the same thing with no purpose. There's no meat to the game. It's a glorified tech demo. Just because it's free doesn't mean it gets a free pass.

7- Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga- Score: 7.0
Lego Star Wars is a fantastic game and in fact, it contains two games in one with both Lego Star Wars games packed in. It's good, simple fun that anyone can enjoy from adults to children, making it a real treat when the two share the moments together. However, the game's a bit too simple to be played by most grown gamers (or men) alone. But with a youngster at the helm, this game shines!

6- Trauma Center: Second Opinion- Score: 8.0
Trauma Center is one of the few games that utilizes the full potential of the Wii Remote. It's a smart, devilish, challenging game and one of the best launch titles for the Wii. Stopping medical terrorism and taking on the Death Doctor is more fun than watching an episode of Scrubs! OK, wait... that's a lie, Scrubs is awesome....

5- Super Smash Bros.: Brawl- Score: 9.0
The multiplayer king of the Wii and easily the best multiplayer game of 2008 released thus far. Brawl is so fun, with so many great characters and exciting levels including cameos from other game companies. For most Wii owners this is the one game to own this year, and a what a gem it is. Besides, how many games can call themselves the best fighting game, the best party game, the best multiplayer game AND the best Sonic the Hedgehog game of 2008 all at once? Just this one, folks, just this one.

4- Okami- Score: 9.0
Ah, the adventures of Ammy and Issun, one of the finest on the Wii, hell, one of the finest of all time if I don't say so myself! Sure, some things could have been improved a bit more to make this game one of the all time greatest games ever, but for now the questions begs to be asked: how many games are as good as Twilight Princess? Just this one. All other Zelda-like adventures failed, but Okami is a heart-warming, touching, beautiful game that should be played by everyone, including nay-sayers like NeoJedi.

3- Super Mario Galaxy- Score: 9.5
The return to form. Mario's back in his finest adventure since The Thousand Year Door on the GameCube in 2004. Galaxy brings back skillful play and a quirky, beautiful Mario universe comes to life in ways that few others can. The platforming genre has some decent games. But there's only one series that deserves to be placed on a pedestal above the rest. And Galaxy is further proof of that.

2- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess- Score: 9.5
The only thing keeping Twilight Princess from a 10.0 is that it doesn't change up the formula, that it plays it safe. But if you were to compare Okami and Twilight Princess, it's clear which game is the better choice, and Twilight Princess is it. This is simply some of the best level design with ingenious puzzles and a tale to save Hyrule with darkness, filled with heroism and nods to previous Zelda games as well as fresh new ideas to push the series forward. It's just a shame that the first three dungeons feel like Ocarina of Time and that the bosses are such ninnies. But at the end of the day this is one of the finest reasons to own a Wii, if not the absolute finest reason of all. Sure, Twilight Princess may be an homage to Ocarina of Time, but here's hoping that the next Zelda game for the Wii pushes the limits like never before.

1- No More Heroes- Score: 9.5
Punk's not dead. Punk is dead. Long live punk! We killed punk.... Punk's not dead.

No More Heroes is simply badass. That's all there is to it. The best action game I've played this entire console generation and my current favorite game of 2008. Nothing's come close to Suda 51's masterpiece. A magnum opus of gore and sex, making a social statement about gaming itself and providing the craziest boss battles since God knows when. If you haven't played No More Heroes, you aren't worthy of my respect. This is fact. Now suck it and go buy a Wii.

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut

NOTE- The top three games are equal by score. I just had to number them. 4 and 5 are the same, 1, 2, and 3 are the same. The countdown number means less than the score in this place.

Also, next blog will be the 360 edition. That one should pretty exciting since it'll be the second one I'm doing. It'll be crazy to see what games actually remain from the original list.

The final game by Clover, Okami, has finally been ported to the Wii and if you haven't played Okami yet, now is the time to do so. Okami is a bold and beautiful game, and not simply because of it's graphics, either, but rather, everything about the game stands out in a big way.

Zelda fans will notice right away that Okami is basically another Zelda game, and due to it's release around the same time as Twilight Princess, the wolf comparisons also work well. Your hero, Amaterasu, known often simply as Ammy, is another mute hero out to save the world. She is joined by the small sprite-like, Issun, a wandering artist who also happens to carry a sword and from the very introduction of the two characters the charm rushes in and never lets up.

The game plays very well when it comes to exploring the world. Everything you do earns you praise, whether it's bringing plants back to life, helping someone catch a fish or simply feeding forest animals. Running around and exploring brings a grand sense of joy that once only belonged to The Legend of Zelda franchise. Of course, all of this praise that is earned will help you in your quest as the more praise you earn the more you can upgrade certain abilities, such as having more ink or more health.

Combat on the other hand isn't quite as rewarding. At first you'll learn new moves and even find new weapons all helping to provide different way to play the game, as well as choosing to make one weapon your main and the other your sub. However, once you've found a few of the weapons, combat will remain the same throughout the game until the very end.

Of course, brush techniques come in handy for the fights, and they will help spice up the combat. Whether it's making gusts of wind, slashing an enemy or making bombs, using your main and sub weapons with your brush techniques will ultimately help provide the most variety. The brush techniques however are far more useful and creative when it comes to puzzle-solving, whether it's making lightning strike to power a door open, making platforms rise out of the water or drawing vines to swing across wide expanses. Okami's brush techniques are an integral part to the game and easily the most enjoyable abilities the game has to offer.

However, all of the brush techniques are motion-sensitive. Having never played the PS2 version of Okami I personally had no problems with the Wii port's motion controls. They do require you to be quite precise at times, but it was never frustrating and a few hours into the game I had no problems. It is something to keep in mind though that the PS2 controls are reportedly more intuitive, but if you have no choice at all then there's nothing wrong with the Wii version's controls.

The first thing many people will notice about Okami, before even the motion controls, are the graphics. While the artistry is absolutely brimming with simplistic charm it deserves to be praised in how it's used rather than simply for being cel-shaded. Many developers will often use cel-shading to save money, but Okami originally began its life with a realistic look to it. The current form however works better than any realistic form would have. In Okami the cel-shading is used to help convey the feelings of life itself. As you control Ammy you are restoring the world to it's natural beauty and the graphics help that feeling of rejuvenation so very much. Words cannot describe what it feels like to turn a cursed land into a lush forest waiting to be explored. Okami truly nails that feeling of wordless awe so many times throughout Ammy and Issun's quest.

The musical score in the game is absolutely stunning, providing some of the most memorable tracks to explore to. When the game goes for drama, the music adds so much to it all. The music is so important to Okami simply because there is no voiced dialogue and most of the sound effects are rather minimal. They get the job done, but this isn't Halo, there won't be explosions and shouting as grenades explode all around you. There's a sort of subtlety that almost makes Okami seem humble. You won't be bombarded with sound, but you'll never care to be either.

The story in Okami is filled with as much charm as the characters; it has as much charm as the Zelda games. There's so much drama and the mature themes of love, loss, life, death and nurturing the relationships we have with one another as well as with nature not only seem like a breath of fresh air, they provide for one of the most compelling stories in gaming ever for much of the actual quest. Unfortunately, Okami just can't keep it up. To go back to the Zelda comparison, more specifically Twilight Princess, it's key to understanding that both of these games took me from fifty to sixty hours to complete. Twenty hours into Okami I was absolutely floored and addicted with spectacular story-telling and exciting gameplay. With Twilight Princess, while the story was good, the gameplay felt far too similar with the first three dungeons. However, by the end of the game Twilight Princess left a pang in my heart, while Okami became too far-fetched for it's own good. A lot can change in a sixty-hour game and that's key to remember.

The ending needed to be, in a word, better, or rather, there was the moment before the final area of the game where Okami should have ended. There was so much drama, so much intensity and it led to one of the greatest, most intense and creative dungeon crawls ever. It all climaxed in the most exciting boss fight in the entire game, and that's where it should have ended. The actual ending itself provided more story and fleshed out certain things, but it also led up to the lamest final boss since BioShock's and a cheeseball moment ripped straight from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door and you can see that while Okami provided an excellent adventure as a whole, it could have been so much better.

Okami is a bold and beautiful game. It's ambitions are grand and for the most part it succeeds where most other games fail. A wonderful story filled with strange, unique characters all brimming with charm and wit, and none of them seemingly as obvious to read as you'd think. For younger Zelda fans Okami is a must-play. For those looking for excellent story-telling Okami is a must-play. For those looking for a deep, touching, mesmerizing adventure Okami is a must-play. For those looking for a fantastic game Okami is a must play. While some variety in combat would have been nice, an ending that wasn't so far-fetched would have been a definite plus and of course, an awesome final boss that isn't an exercise in repetition would have been awesome too, Okami still provides one of the greatest gaming experiences of the past decade.

Score

We start the countdown to #50 with a bang! Stay tuned folks, some surprises are still in store, including the possible death by heart-attack of usagi!

Bye Bye, Little Astronaut