ten games to know me - quick take #8

I've never been one to engage in social media trends. Does that make me feel old? Not really, because I know that when one piques my interest, I'll gladly participate. When I first started seeing the "ten games to get to know me" trend begin to pop up on Twitter and Instagram, it made me realize that I've never actually made a personal "favorite games of all-time" list -- even if just for myself. Being absent for the entirety of the Xbox One/PS4/Wii U era made me feel like any top 10 list I would create would be full of holes. But then again, a personal list on this topic is just that, a personal reflection on the games that define me. Looking back on my history with gaming has revealed a wealth of exciting titles that I’m very excited to discuss. So, here are the ten games to get to know me!

Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

Let's start from the very beginning with what is literally the earliest life memory I can recount. It's 2001, and my Grandma has just gifted my brother and I a GameCube bundled with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Little did I know that this game featuring two beefing super-powered hedgehogs and their animal compatriots would kick off a lifelong love for the gaming medium. Sonic's infectious enthusiasm clashing with Shadow's jaded, moody persona resulted in a compelling narrative that somehow found a permanent place in my little four-year-old heart. Moments like City Escape's iconic skateboard intro, or the hair-raising moment where Sonic and Shadow go super to take down the Biolizard, became core memories that I still hold dear to this day. What’s more, Crush 40's iconic, heart-pounding soundtrack wound itself into my very DNA, with Live and Learn serving as one of my earliest musical influences. Throughout the years, I've continued to play this game on several platforms with friends spanning multiple phases of my life, which just goes to show the enduring impact it has had on me as a gamer.

Kirby Air Ride

I would like to take this opportunity to thank whoever gifted me Kirby Air Ride when I was a kid. You could have gone with Madden or Mario Kart: Super Circuit, or any of the many other popular choices taking up the early 2000s gaming spotlight. But instead, you saw the game with the little pink puff ball furiously riding atop warp star on the cover and thought, "yeah, this is the one". It is not an exaggeration to say that I have been playing Kirby Air Ride for 20 years, as even when gaming took a major back seat in my life for many years, I’d still power up the old warp star from time to time. This is owed in no small part to the endless replay-ability baked into its City Trial game mode, which can best be described as a collect-a-thon mixed with one of the earliest iterations of battle-royale. There's just something so addicting about running around City Trial's multi-biome map and collecting items to turn your riding machine into an overpowered beast capable of dominating any post-match stadium event. Whether I've got 20 minutes to spare or hours upon hours to waste, Kirby Air Ride's City Trial always delivered a memorable, everlasting, top-shelf gaming experience. I'm still pinching myself that we got a sequel to this niche cult-classic.

SSX3

Let me paint the picture for you with this one. It's Christmas 2003, and my brother and I just finished unwrapping presents. We rush to the GameCube to try out the new snowboarding game Mom and Dad stuffed in our stockings while we were asleep. I remember sitting on the floor next to my brother in front of the TV, watching as he tore through the peak 1 back country for the first time. I was completely mesmerized, as few things in my life up to that point looked as cool as nailing an uber trick in SSX3 did. Ever since that Christmas, I've made it a personal tradition to revisit this game every holiday season, and in what is perhaps one of my most impressive life achievements, I can proudly say that for 22 straight years, come holiday season, I've come back again and again to carve up that beautiful mountain.

A wildly successful product of EA's long-dormant BIG sports label, SSX3 boasted an undeniable style that made the player feel as cool as their rider, even if they didn't have the skill to back it up. The tricks were ridiculous, and the physics were way ahead of their time. It reminds me of a time when video games were all about the fun-factor, focusing on creating wacky, bombastic, and out-of-this-world experiences that served as a welcome departure from the real world. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to love about the modern design sensibilities of today's games, but there's something about the spirit of SSX3 and the other EA BIG sports games that feels like an irreplaceable moment in time.

Battlefield: Bad Company

So far, this article has been laid out as a chronological recounting of my journey through gaming. As you can see from the prior games appearing on this list, I did not spend my early childhood playing shooters. However, that all changed when my brother returned home from a trip to GameStop with a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company. Perhaps it was the smiley face grenade pin on the game's box art that convinced my parents this was a friendlier alternative to the grittier shooters of the day, because up to that point, they were not keen on my brother and I playing violent games. I suppose that in a way, they may have been right on the mark with that line of thinking, because Bad Company's focus on telling a humorous story with a cast of characters akin to what you'd find in a sitcom certainly took the edge off of its inherent violence.

Bad Company features a band of misfits who, instead of facing jail time for their crimes, are given the option of serving as grunts in the military. When a routine mission reveals an opportunity for the group to obtain obscene wealth, they break ranks to pursue it, making them an enemy of both the U.S. military and the game's antagonist army, the Legionnaire Mercenary group. The only negative in my experience with Bad Company was that it led me to believe that it was completely normal for military shooters to present as sitcoms. Not only was Bad Company my first shooter, but it also served as my first foray into online multiplayer. Featuring Battlefield's distinct brand of all-out warfare, its online multiplayer was as challenging as it was epic. I can remember using a golf cart to outrun tanks in Par for the Course, or rushing with my squad through a maze of buildings to diffuse a bomb in Gold Rush, like it was yesterday. I was never as good as I wanted to be at Battlefield: Bad Company, but when I think about the game today, I remember it for daring to be comical and light-hearted in a genre often steeped in gritty reality.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009)

Ask any gamer who played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 back in '09, and they'll tell you that you simply had to be there to understand how glorious the experience was. MW2 is the greatest military shooter of all time, and I will not be taking any questions. It featured a legendary hype cycle with trailer collaborations from icons like Eminem, making it the must-buy video game of the 2009 holiday season. Picking up right where MW1's story left off, MW2 dialed the heat up to 11 by bringing an invasion to America's shores. Fighting enemy forces to take back the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., or fighting to take back an occupied suburban neighborhood on the streets of Virginia, broke barriers for 13-year-old Myles, as up to that point, no other shooter I had experienced dared to bring the fight home in this way. Just as daring and even more epic was the multiplayer experience -- propped up by what I still consider to be the best feeling gunplay to date, paired with a legendary suite of maps whose quality has yet to be surpassed. I cut my teeth in Rust, learned how to check corners in Favela, and fought in countless corridor firefights in Terminal. In my opinion, there's no greater proof of MW2's legendary status in the pantheon of multiplayer shooters than Activision's efforts to recreate that magic in the 2022 reboot. Like I said, you just had to be there.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

After taking a long break from gaming in my teens, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the one that reeled me back in. Its breathtaking open world, combined with its unique zen and solitary atmosphere, was unlike anything I had experienced before, and I've yet to experience anything like it since. For a long time, this WAS my all-time favorite game, and one that I would constantly recommend to both passionate and casual gamers alike with obsessive fervor. It boasts the open world, which to me felt like a truly limitless playground for adventuring. I can still recall the feeling of genuine wonder I felt when arriving at the vast Gerudo Desert for the first time, or the feeling of shock I would feel discovering a hidden area that I had yet to stumble across, even after 100 hours of playing. The combat was challenging yet rewarding, and featured a weapon degradation system that always kept me on my toes. Quite frankly, I could go on and on discussing the reasons why I feel that Breath of the Wild is the perfect game, but there are other games to get to!

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth

Introducing the game that dethroned Breath of the Wild as my favorite game of all-time after a powerful six-year run: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. A few years ago, I asked a friend how one even goes about getting into a series featuring 16 main-line entries. His answer was simple: Start with FF7. Following his advice, I kicked off my first-ever Final Fantasy adventure with FF7 Remake. The game didn't blow me away, but I still enjoyed it enough to feel excited about jumping into FF7: Rebirth. What began as a somewhat cautious foray into part two of this remake trilogy turned into an obsessive 300-hour adventure that would spur me into chasing my first platinum trophy. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that Rebirth is a fairly bloated experience, but I saw that bloat as remarkable ambition. Its open-world design, despite borrowing from Ubisoft's infamous tower-based formula, was deeply engaging, wonderfully varied, and felt lovingly hand-crafted. The game's characters feature some of the most diverse, interesting, and well-written casts I've ever had the privilege of adventuring with, and it boasts the deepest, most well-thought-out combat system I've contended with. From the hours-long quest line devoted just to Queen's Blood, to the relentlessly tough battle simulator, and everything in between, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth is a game that just feels endless in the best way possible. The question now is this: how can the trilogy's finale follow up on this masterpiece?

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

How did a game that I had no prior touch points for, and no history with its genre, go on to be my 2023 game of the year? The answer is simple: the game is just so cool. I actually didn't like the game at first, as its kinetic, fast-paced combat and cold, distant style of storytelling felt overly obtuse. But once its formula finally clicked with me, I went from nearly writing the game off entirely to creating spreadsheets to plan out my favorite builds in excruciating detail. The most impressive thing about AC6 is its unrivaled depth of customization. From custom decals that allow you to make your mech uniquely your own, to the nearly endless combinations of weapons you can equip, the only limits that exist in the game are the ones created by your own imagination. AC6 also features two of my favorite characters in all of video games: Rusty and Handler Walter. Rusty always felt like a big brother, swooping in during pivotal moments to fight by your side and give you the confidence boost you needed to take down imposing enemies. Patrick Seitz, who happens to be my favorite voice actor, delivers a commanding and captivating performance as Handler Walter that elevates the game to great heights. What really cemented this game as one of my all-time favorites was its thematic structure. In AC6, you play as a morally ambiguous mercenary who must decide whether to support the establishment corporations or fight with the resistance to save Rubicon. Regardless of the decisions you make, you'll be faced with consequences that force you to come to terms with your path in a deep and impactful way. Two years later, I'm still reeling from the fallout of some of my choices.

PowerWash Simulator

Most people wouldn't consider a game about power washing dirt to be a system seller, but for me, it almost was. When PowerWash Simulator launched in 2022 as an Xbox and PC exclusive, the PS5 was my main and only console, and for a while, I found myself tempted to buy an Xbox just so I could play this game. Eventually, though, I got my hands on it and became just as obsessed as I thought I would be. In fact, it's one of the few games I own on every system I have. PowerWash Simulator never tried to be a game about showing you what it's like to live a day in the life of a professional power washer. Instead, it's just a game about chillin’ out and cleaning some dirt. That's it. The sound of the washer mixed with the visual splendor of neatly erasing dirt from the game's variety of landscapes created a flow state experience that is a genuine struggle to break away from. One of my favorite things about this game is that it features a hilarious amount of dirt to clean. Whether it be a small car or an entire playground, these areas look like a dirt tornado ran through and dumped every ounce of its waste on them for you to clean. As imposing as some of these jobs were, the game was always a fun and relaxing experience. I love a good podcast game, and I struggle to find a better one than this.

Octopath Traveler

Before playing Octopath Traveler, the only turn-based pixel-art JRPG I had played was Sea of Stars, and while I enjoyed that game, it didn't necessarily inspire me to explore the genre further. However, by the time I rolled the final credits on the Octopath Traveler, I felt ready to become a full-on JRPG snob. Octopath Traveler features some of the best vocal performances (shoutout again to Patrick Seitz as Olberic), best art direction, best music, and best combat I've ever experienced in a video game. I'll admit, the game has its issues, such as story and dialogue structure that at times hurt the game more than they help it, but those things are easily forgiven thanks to just how remarkable the rest of the package is. It's a game that rewards you for immersing yourself in its deep, complex systems, while also remaining approachable for those new to the genre. I absolutely adore this game, and will forever scream from the rooftops about just how wonderful it is. For me, this game is the start of my JRPG journey, and I implore you to start yours here as well.