Best of The Bunch

Howdy readers and welcome to the latest feature that looks deep into our gaming habits of the writers here at Otakugamers UK.  This week we have been looking at some long running gaming franchises that we enjoy and picking the one title that really stands out above the rest.  The rules are simple with this one; the franchise can either be long dead or still running and has been running for over five years.

Des Mayer

I adore a good adventure game especially ones that place you in a role that you may never get to experience in your own life.  The genre is not short of games, especially franchises but this time I will be looking at Assassin’s Creed.  It is a series that has been around since 2007, contains 9 main games, seventeen spin offs and one rocky history.  The franchises has more ups and downs than an average week at the stock market.  If this topic comes up, gamers will always state that the second entry is the best.  I will agree that it a great game and the changes made were great but I have been playing Freedom Cry this month and it reminded me that Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is my favourite in the series (so far).  It has a good story, the setting is stunning & you get to be a pirate!  As my first game on my PS4 I was blown away by this title and there has not been an entry in the series to top it.  I have put a few hours into Syndicate and it is a lot of fun but it is still missing what made Black Flag so special to me.

The franchise has lost its way in recent time and I believe this break is going to do some good.  Origins does look like it is going to be a great adventure game plus it is being developed by the same team that created the master piece that is Black Flag.

JayJay Davies

Much like most of my fellow writers, picking not only one a series but our favourite in said series was somewhat a daunting task considering the library of titles that have spawned series at our disposal but ultimately it can only come down to one. *DRUM ROLL PLEASE* …… Anyone that knows me, knows that I’m going with Final Fantasy. It was the first game series I “owned” a title of and has been a constant ever since. Though the first I owned was in fact Final Fantasy 7 it’s not the one I’m going for here despite it been widely regarded as the best by most fans (followed closely by  Six then Nine).  Instead I’m going with Final Fantasy X.   In all ways its a classic and Tidus’ laugh just makes it perfec….. yeah, no. Not a soul will believe that.  Final Fantasy 8 however IS my all time Final Fantasy (at least at this moment I hope to see many more) and admittedly it is not for the cast or “the orphanage thing”. I came to love most of the story and the world, not to mention at the time the game looked bloody sweet and had a genuine feel of threat with the more militant vibe it had. Final Fantasy 8 focusedmore on how a single person in a position of power and how a dark will can cause many to do there biding causing destruction and horror on a grand scale. After all who needs magic when you have weapons and puppets to do it for you. (also despite lack of best girl it has best ship!! so all arguments are mute)

Geoff Wright

When this idea came forward I only really had two options, Onechanbara or EDF – so I obviously went Onechanbara. To be honest its a series I’ve enjoyed since the days of Ps2 and always look forward to the next installment, Z II Chaos was a damn good release (tho a little short) but it’s not going to be my choice here. Funnily enough I’m going with Onechanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers on the Wii. There’s two main reasons really – (a) It followed Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad on X360 and (b) Glorious Saki. To be honest the X360 release in the series has always been a low point for me. It had less characters & seemed to lose a bit of the series swagger, which the Wii release brought back. Bikina Zombie Slayers felt more like the Ps2 releases, waggle controls aside, and put some colour back into the franchise after a drab showing. The best tho was Saki. There’s just something awesome about a loli punching zombie heads off that was lacking on the X360. Sure it looks cooler slicing & dicing the zombies, but its more gratifying putting your dukes up and going toe to toe instead. The subsequent Z releases brought some welcomed improvements to the gameplay for the series alongside some strawberries & bananas, Saki is better than ever in ZII Chaos and packs a punch (tho the gothic lolita getup ain’t so good), so I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next. There’s still the School Girl Zombie Hunter game for me test out yet….

Andi Camac

So if you know me then you’ll have an educated guess at what mine is, for those of you who don’t, in the words of Adam Tensta “Welcome to the world of Street Fighter III”. For those of you uninformed, Street Fighter III – Third Strike in my honest opinion is joint first for best fighting game ever, the other being Garou – Mark of the Wolves which ironically is considered the “Third Strike” of Fatal Fury. I remember first seeing Street Fighter III in Gamesmaster Magazine and being blown away with the sprite details and how interesting the new roster looked. It wasn’t until years later when I got my grubby mits on the Dreamcast that I got to experience Street Fighter III and it was the Third Strike version, sheer perfection. The crazy cast that had caught my eye years prior had gotten even bigger and better, it included more familiar faces too! the levels looked amazing as did the fantastic sprite animation. I fell quickly in love with the soundtrack and still have it on my phone for when I’m at the gym to this day!.

I’d drifted away from Street Fighter halfway through the Alpha series and much like the mob, this drew me back in!, I had gotten hooked on learning the best ways to parry, the best match ups and just wondering how the series could get even better!. I have owned the game several times since, on the original X Box as part of the Anniversary Collection and then later on with the Third Strike Online Edition for the X Box 360. I’m still hoping Capcom put this beast of a title onto the Playstation 4 so I can quit Street Fighter V like the bad habit it is and bask once again in Street Fighter’s finest hour!.

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Geoffrey Wright

Rocking the world of gaming since the Atari 2600, has now settled down to bask in the warmth of moe. Moe is life for a moe connoisseur.

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