This Old Neon Forum

Welcome to the "BEST GAME EVER!!!" Project's fourth Side-Event: Franchise Firsts!

You can vote for 1 game in this tie-breaker. Vote carefully—you can't change your vote after submitting it. The top game will advance to the next round.

2002 - Ratchet & Clank - PS2
2005 - God of War - PS2
2007 - Rock Band - Multiplatform

You are encouraged to discuss your choices and your reasons for selecting the game you did.

I voted for God of War in this one. All three franchises are quite nice, but God of War gets my vote because the original is still probably the best game in the series. It was such an oddly refreshing and unexpected game at the time, a mix of combo-based combat, 3D adventure/platforming, and puzzles, with an interesting upgrade system and a brutal setting based on Greek mythology. It became pretty formulaic after this, but damn the first game was good.

While I voted for Ratchet and Clank, it was a hard decision against God of War. I remember when the series first got popular, I immediately dismissed them as shallow violent beat 'em ups. When the Saga collection was released on PS3, I picked it up and am glad I did. Terrific games, with interesting puzzles and action sequences. I wasn't too keen on the battle system, but everything else made up for it.

This is a hard bracket admittedly but Ratchet & Clank is such a good game. It's wacky and fun and basically the successor to PS1 greats like Spyro and Crash, imo, while still also doing unique things of its own. Out of all the furry mascots of a bygone age, R&C survived the longest because the core gameplay is pretty much perfect, the characters are enjoyable and the games are just fun. That began with the first R&C, which despite being improved upon in two PS2 sequels, is still a great game in its own right. R&C is up there with Mario for me, personally.