Our 10/10 games for 10/10 day
In honor of today being 10/10 (ten out of ten days) and because I love a good list. I wanted to hop on the trend and give a quick rundown of games I personally would give a 10/10 review to. Since nothing is truly perfect or could always be improved, that doesn't mean these titles aren't the definition of perfection, but more or less titles I personally love playing and spending time with, even with their flaws. Games I'd recommend to others getting into gaming or trying to find something new to fall in love with without further ado in no particular order.
1. Sea of Thieves
This couldn't have happened on a better day, as I literally posted earlier today gushing about Sea of Thieves. I won't go on too long, as you should definitely go check that out, but Sea of Thieves has everything I could want from a game. Beautiful art style, endless exploration, the unique charm only a Rare game has, and solid gameplay that cements the player in its world Rare has and forever will be one of my favorite developers.
2. Psychonauts 2
I remember the night Psychonauts 2 was initially announced, and my world was shaken to its core. One of the few announcements that made me jump out of my seat with excitement After years of anticipation, it was finally released in 2021 and was everything I could've hoped for. A wide variety of vibrant worlds, all unique and different, work as a backdrop to different mental illnesses and the thoughts in people's minds. A solid 3D platformer that doesn't do too much to revolutionize the genre but nails every part of what makes them great. I immediately started a second playthrough after beating it the first time.
3. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den
Bioshock 2 by itself is a solid game and my personal favorite of the main trilogy, which is wildly looked down upon online. Bioshock has always had mediocre gameplay that is heavily carried along by the game's story. While Bioshock 2 did a ton to fix the gunplay and combat by expanding plasmid usage and being able to combine them, which was a massive step forward, the story fell back a bit. Minerva's Den continues to do this, picking up the lacking parts and chucking them ahead by a mile to create a beautiful story. I don't want to spoil it here, but for as dark and brooding as the original Bioshocks were, Minerva's Den almost left me in tears by the end of it. They got a little more creative with some of the weapons and plasmids as well, which were a fun treat to play around with and opened up a ton of new gameplay styles to use. If Bioshock is somehow something you haven't experienced yet, I highly suggest Minerva's Den as being at the top of that list.
4. Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare
Oh boy, here we are with the unexpected wildcard pick. I'm serious, though the original Garden Warfare was a masterpiece and what I'd consider the most balanced third-person shooter of the entire console generation. I'm normally not one to play object gamemodes and stick with a TDM or Team Slayer, but Garden Warfare had me hunting down objectives, pushing and defusing bombs, and looking every which way for potential threats. The game was bursting at the seams with charm and style that turned your normal shooter into a chaotic playground. With a wide cast of playable characters all with distinct variations that change how you use them, you could have an average gunner peashooted turned into a rapid-fire style turret gun or make it have a slower heavy shot that takes time to reload in the vein of a revolver. I sunk countless hours into this on the Xbox One and was sadly met with disappointment with each later installment.
5. Halo 3
Everyone who knows me should've seen this coming. Everyone who's a fan of Xbox knows this was going to be here, as it was truly the turning point for the 360 into the juggernaut it became. Halo 3 was THE reason to have an Xbox 360 at the time. Sure, Gears of War was starting up, but it didn't have the history behind it to be a landmark title like Halo 3 was. 16 years later, I'm still playing Halo 3 online almost daily. 16 years later, I'm still returning to doing playthroughs of levels. 16 years later, I'm still trying to find the next game that captures the chokehold Halo 3 had on me. Being my first official Halo game (I had dabbled in 2 at friends houses), I was addicted after jumping onto Halo 3 multi-player for the first time. From my very first match, going 2/15 on Construct, to reaching max rank in Team Doubles towards the end of the game, Halo 3 will forever be my most cherished experience and the thing I hold the most nostalgia for.
And there's your list, folks. We focused on only five here but could keep going with a ton of honorable mentions. Let us know your own personal 10/10 games down below! Be sure to check out our other content on the site. As mentioned earlier, we have a new piece about Sea of Thieves, a roundup of the recent Xbox leaks, and a review of Final Fantasy XVI.
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