Doldrums of Summer: The 10 Best Games To Finally Get Around To

Out of the plethora of games you've undoubtedly left in your back log, here are a few you should get to this summer.

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Hoo, boy. You know it’s August when you look at the gaming calendar and see games that you might get - not because you really want them, but because you’re bored. Well, stop right there! What are you doing? You have a whole bunch of games that you promised to get back to and still haven’t sold back to Gamestop yet, including ever more titles that you haven’t even played. These are the top ten games that you should finally play, finish and beat instead of wasting your money on the sleepier games of summer. Take a look.

10. Demon’s Souls (PS3)

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Okay, yeah, we get it. Demon’s Souls was an unforgiving, “rip your heart out and make you look at it” kind of difficult game. But seriously, you know it was a great game. You just didn’t have the patience to deal with its steep difficulty. Regardless, you KNOW you’re going to want to play its spiritual successor, Dark Souls when it comes out. And before you play THAT, you should definitely pull this fascinating and dark (and - seriously we can’t stress this enough - difficult) action RPG out of the drawer and try it again. Come on, it’s not THAT hard. Okay, you’re right. It is. But it’s also great. 

9. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360, PS3)

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Unlike the previous game on this list, we’re sure that you really DID take a crack at this epic action RPG at some point. You probably really wanted to get far in it but, well, did we mention that it’s epic? Being so open-ended, there’s just so much to do here that there’s a high likelihood that you didn’t finish everything possible in this expansive title before you moved on to the next game in your sights. But what IS like the previous game on this list is that it ALSO has a new game coming out: Skyrim. We’re going to venture a guess and say that you’ll undoubtedly feel like quite the schlub picking it up if you haven’t at least gotten a third of the way through Oblivion. Go back to it. It’s still a great game that deserves your time. 

8. Okami (PS2, Wii)

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Man, Okami was such a great game. It was like one part Jet Grind Radio and two parts The Legend of Zelda. After playing as Amaterasu in MvC3, you know you want to play it, too. So what’s stopping you? This sorely underappreciated title was just as inventive and as ingenious as it looked, with the game itself literally being a canvas. But for some reason, you might’ve missed it probably a symptom of its poor sales. That said, you can get it for a mere pittance now, you cheap bastard you.

4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC)

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You like scary games? No, you don’t. You wuss. If you did, then you would have already played the scariest video game ever made: Amneisa: The Dark Descent. Relying more on atmosphere and the fact that you HAVE NO WEAPONS, this title scared the hell out of us upon release, and we’re sure it’d scare the hell out of you, even in the heat of August. Play it in the dark. 

6. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)

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How Uncharted isn’t Sony’s most popular franchise is beyond us. It’s seriously the best series that the PS3 has to offer. Sales have shown that this second title had an audience but we still feel it hasn’t gotten the appreciation it deserves in assuming that you still haven’t either A. beaten it yet, or B. bought it yet. Why is that?  The third game in the adventure franchise looks incredible, and we can’t wait to get our hands on it. Before we do that, why not dip back—or for the very first time— into the world of Nathan Drake. Yes, it’s as good as you remember it being. And if you haven’t played it yet, shame on you. You’re missing out. 

5. MadWorld (Wii)

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Now that the Wii is on its last legs, it’s safe to say that the Nintendo console sucked when it came to third-party titles. And you know why? Because of YOU. MadWorld is undoubtedly the best third party release for the console and it sold diddly dick. That’s a shame beyond shames. If Sega’s MadWorld HAD done well, we might have seen a plethora of other creative, bloody, and awesome titles for the system where the Wiimote is used for something BESIDES serving a Volleyball. Like ripping ninjas to pieces with a chainsaw. We actually saw this game in a local game shop recently for ten dollars. TEN dollars. Please, do yourself a favor and play this game. Now that you have the time, you need to. 

4. Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)

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Wow, another great title that you TOTALLY missed out on for the Wii. Muramasa: The Demon Blade looked great in stills and played even better. It was an action game that had a fairly enriching storyline, stellar graphics and easy (but intense) pick-up-and-play mechanics. We’re sure your otaku friend talked the hell out of this title, but you just brushed them off. Go back to it, though. It’s one of the best Wii games made, even up there with first-party releases like Super Mario Galaxy, and Donkey Kong Country Returns. We’re serious. 

3. Chrono Trigger (SNES, Nintendo DS, Virtual Console)

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Okay, this one is reaching into the past, but some classics just need to be replayed. Fortunately, this title graced the Virtual Console with its presence a few months back. Upon buying it, we fell in love with it all over again. Lucca, Frog, Magus - they’re all here! We might be a bit ashamed to admit it, but even though we beat it back in the day, we didn’t get ALL of the endings. So what better way to blow through this last month of summer than with a game that pretty much ALL gamers revere as one of the greatest titles of all time? You certainly could do worse. 

2. Battletoads (NES)

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Speaking of reaching back, you mean to tell me you never beat Battletoads? If you haven’t gotten around to it yet, we’ll warn you that Battletoads is pretty much impossible. But we said PRETTY much, didn’t we? Like all games, it can be beaten. This is one title that we’ve had on our bucket list since childhood. So whip out (or go hunting for) the ‘ol NES, slam this killer in and beat it. Oh, and make sure you pause the game to hear that glorious beat. God, that never gets old. 

1. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Gamecube, Wii)

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We really don’t know how it happened, but somehow, we never finished this game. We’ve gotten similar impressions from friends that a lot of other people haven’t finished it, either. This is really strange because completing Zelda games is usually a top priority. Don’t get us wrong; it’s a great title and we were all pining for it when it initially came out (after that long wait, and all). But somewhere along the line, we just stopped one day and promised to get back to it and never did. Well, no matter, as that’s what summer is all about. Instead of going outside on our days off, we’re going to finish Twilight Princess. We really are. But don’t hold us to it. September is coming up pretty soon, after all.

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