Hello WordPress, today I want to talk about playing video games growing up. In case you haven’t heard, Borderlands 3 came out this weekend and its a large part of the reason why I did not post on this blog last week. I’ve been playing that game a lot in my free time and now I want to talk about some other nostalgic titles that I have placed within my top 5.
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Rocket League
- Gladius
- Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Sly Cooper
Super Mario Odyssey
First off, lets talk about Super Mario Odyssey. This game is so incredibly easy for me to talk about because I still play it to this day. It’s less of a nostalgia factor and more so the aesthetic beauty of the 3D Mario game itself. The game is similar to other Mario titles in the since that you are trying to save Peach from the fiery giant turtle named Bowser. I have always loved the vast amount of imagination that can be found within the Nintendo Universe. Surely enough, their is no shortage of such imagination within Super Mario Odyssey. There are a variety of planets that can be visited and each stage and world is created with pure creativity and cultural appreciation. Super Mario Odyssey knows how to place me into a sublime feeling of wonderment that makes me want to come back over and over and over again.
Rocket League
Now, Rocket League is the first competitive game that made me feel like I genuinely needed to practice to keep up with my friends. I truly feel like some of my friends are apex gamers and they are extremely quick learners. I specifically remember practicing aerials and then jumping into a friendly game and getting straight dunked on…on repeat. Whenever I asked my friends how they flew through the air so effortlessly they told me that they just practice a lot. I have two friends that currently play for collegiate teams and two friends that are ranked grand champion. Unfortunately, I never quite caught up to their level but I am significantly better than most people that I talk to and that feeds my gamer ego a little more than when I got dunked on daily. I still play Rocket League weekly and I don’t plan on putting it down anytime soon.
Gladius
This pick is almost exclusively nostalgic. The basis of Gladius is to recruit a variety gladiators to your gladiator school and conquer the arenas. Gladius is a turn-based strategy game that came out on Xbox, Gamecube, and Playstation 2 in 2003. I played this game with my dad and he absolutely loved it. There was so much to do and so many different options for recruiting gladiators. Every gladiator could be customized and had certain experience levels. It was my first introduction into team building and I think about how fantastic it would be to get a remake on the daily.
Star Wars Battlefront 2
Talk about great games that can be played locally. I think that my friends and I put more hours into this title than any other game I have ever played. This game is an action shooter that places you straight into the middle of a battle on one of the many planets that populate the Star Wars Universe. My favorite mode is called “Hero Assault” I think, and it allows you to play as some of the Jedi and heroes from the movie trilogy. I loved to jump around as Yoda while my friends were playing a hero with a gun because it just seemed unfair to fight without a lightsaber at that point. One more aspect of Star Wars Battlefront 2 that sets it apart from the rest of video games is its interactive space battles. There are game modes that allow you to fight your friends in space by either invading their ship or destroying their fleet. All in all, I have many fond memories of playing this wonderful game with my friends and getting way to heated whenever I would lose.
Sly Cooper
Finally, the source of my all-time favorite character, Sly Cooper. The second game, Sly Cooper 2 Band Of Thieves, was probably my favorite game from the series and I remember specific story mode missions that give me chills just thinking about them. I also remember a mode where you could play mini-games against your friends that would provide us with hours of entertainment. The characters were well created and the stages were crafted with creativity and a sense of stealth that helped make the series so great to play. Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful time pursuing anything that fascinates you. Mindfulness. Empathy. Creativity.
Semi-Poetic 