Top 5 Science Fiction Games

#5 Front Mission 4

Front Mission 4 was released in America in 2004.  People that are new to gaming know the Front Mission series as a giant robot action game.  This, however was not the case all those years ago.  Front Mission 4 is a turn based strategy game.  The player follows two storylines, that of Darril and Elsa, commanding the two and their companions as they try to stop a destructive plot.

Before battle, the player is able to look at the pilots they control and can equip them with skills or teach them techniques using experience the pilot gains.  Each pilot has their own strengths and weaknesses, but that works nicely with the fact that each Wanzer (the giant robots) can be self customized from parts found in the Wanzer Shop.  Battle takes place on a grid, each Wanzer having a certain amount of movement, which takes the Pilot’s action points for every space moved.  Then, the Wanzer’s attack range depends on what weapons it has equipped.  Once link battles and more advanced things like backpacks come into the picture, along with armor type and tech skills, this game can be incredibly satisfying to any strategy fan.  I personally logged over 150 hours on it.  Why?  Because after you beat the game you can start over with all of the money you had at the end of the game, allowing you to buy better parts and upgrade your pilots much more than you could originally.  This added quite a bit of replay value.

#4 Star Wars Battlefront

Star Wars Battlefront was also released in America in 2004.  This game honestly made me fall in love with Star Wars all over again.  It presented a good third person shooter with the concept of command posts.  Capturing command posts allowed you to spawn there, and if you captured enough of the enemy command posts their reinforcements (number of respawns) would decrease.  The grand scale of the game added a really original and interesting feel to it, with you being just another soldier joining the ranks.  There are four factions, each one having the four main classes (Soldier, Heavy Weapons, Engineer, Sniper) and one unit that is unique to that faction.  I logged hundreds of hours on this game, which provided plenty of game modes and maps plus multiplayer capabilities to have infinite replay value.

If there is a game that deserves another sequel (There is a Star Wars Battlefront 2, that was released in 2005) then this is it.  The shooting genre has evolved considerably since this game came out, for instance these games don’t have a melee attack.  If Star Wars Battlefront’s incredible concept was given a combat system and AIs as well planned and executed as something like Gears of War…

#3 Naval Ops Commander

Naval Ops Commander was also released in America in 2004.  This game was a naval simulation game that pitted the player against entire enemy fleets, most notably the enemy Superships.  Before a mission, the player is given a chance to prep their ship, outfitting it with weaponry, engines, armor, and more.  After customizing your ship you would enter the battle.  This game also has a great soundtrack, for example Wirbelwind’s theme.

There really is a sense of accomplishment when your little ship that you built from scratch takes on and sinks a supership ten times its own size.  The combat system is simple and easy to use, with absolutely no flaws in the controls.  This game takes a simple formula and gives it plenty of replay value by allowing the player to redo all of the missions on a higher difficulty, even adding a few new superships to the mix, including the incredibly hard to kill Silfubor Negla.  I’ve logged over a hundred hours on this game and I had a great time every single time I played.  Most of the fun for me was in building a ship and cramming the deck with as much firepower as I could and then unleashing it and seeing how well it works out.  Add to that the fact that you can find special parts, such as the terrifyingly powerful wave guns and the awesome Dual-Hulled Battleship and you’ll have quite a time completing everything.  By all means, try, you won’t regret it.

#2 Fallout 3

Fallout 3 did not come out in 2004.  It was released in America in 2008.  This game is part of a newer genre that combines a shooter and an rpg.  The Player is gains experience from kills and is able to gain levels and outfit themselves with perks and increase different skill levels completely of their own choice depending on how they want their character to play.  For instance, I was a hoarder in that game, which means that if something wasn’t nailed down, I would take it, even if I had no use for it, and then I would store it somewhere, which until I had a house, was a mailbox.  Following that frame of mind, I upped my Lockpick skill very early so that I could get into otherwise locked doors or chests.

The game is a first person shooter that has an interesting addition in the V.A.T.S. combat system.  This allows the player to pause the game and assign shots from a gun or hits from a melee weapon along with choosing a part of the enemy’s body.  An enemy with crippled legs would move slower, an enemy with a crippled arm would drop his weapon and have worse aim.  I found that this system to be extremely helpful, though if you think it makes things too easy, you don’t even have to use it.

This game has an expansive world.  After I beat the game, (Make sure you get the broken steel expansion) I would take a knife and a pair of coveralls and just travel across the wastes in a random direction, taking whatever I could find back to my house.  I have explored every single location on the map, though there are many small places that aren’t marked.  I’m sure I haven’t found all of them.  I have well over a hundred hours on this game due to the fact that there was always something new for me to do in it.

 #1 Bioshock

Bioshock was released in America in 2007.  It is a first person shooter following a man who finds himself at an underwater city called Rapture after he survives a plane crash.  There he follows directions given to him by a man named Atlas over a small radio.  The landscape is what really makes this game.  The destroyed city is home to people called splicers that have altered their own DNA to try and make themselves stronger using ADAM.  The source of this?  Little girls known as Little Sisters, who are guarded by the lumbering beasts known as Big Daddies.  The player is given a choice of either destroying the little girl, or saving her.  These elements and the lack of any real face to face interaction makes you feel like you’re all alone, not even having shopkeepers, you instead have to rely on vending machines for any items you need.  The ruined city is creepy and amazingly fun to explore.  I played through this game over five times, despite the fact that it is rather linear.

Everything I know about games tells me that a single player game  with a mostly linear line of events to the story doesn’t have much replay value.  However, this game has well made battle mechanics along with a great atmosphere and the best video game writing and plot I have ever seen.  The audio diaries are actually interesting to listen to and I recommend picking them up.  Andrew Ryan is a fascinating character, and his famous speech is an incredible plot twist.  It’s no surprise that this game received multiple ten out of ten ratings from game review sites and magazines.

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