VG247's The Best Games Ever Podcast – Ep.5: Best game you got for an odd reason
Sometimes we seek out games. Other times they seek out us. It's another brilliant VG247 podcast.
Hello again readers. I won’t lie. As I attempt to write some general blurb about this podcast for the fifth time and not make it the dullest thing imaginable, I’m struggling. But hey, ho, the VG247 The Best Games Ever Podcast returns, with episode 5. This week I worried we’d end up talking about how Steve from over the road lent a copy of Advance Wars on the GBA, but instead we soon became a blip on the radar of the local constabulary. That’s right, it’s time for the Best game you got for an odd reason. Not the best title, I admit, but stick with it.
“What is VG247’s Best Games Ever Podcast?” you ask, presumably because you read the words I’d written and not because you really wanted to ask. It's really quite simple, so listen up and please don’t ask again: Each week three of us must present our choice for the best game ever that fits the title of the show (this week it must be a game that we reckon is great but came into our possession through odd means). Then our host/judge, Jim Trinca, will use his complete lack of objectivity to declare a winner and annoy at least one of us – most likely me.
Each episode of the Best Games Ever Podcast skirts around the 30-minute mark. We’ve got a small number of things to talk about, and we don’t go on random tangents about the latest video game news (unless it’s somehow relevant to the games and stories being discussed). We feel 30 minutes is the perfect length. If we were doing this live and asked you to pay for a ticket, of course we’d make it longer, but we’d likely take the easy option and deviously put multiple Best Games into one show. Smart.
Hopefully you can find room in your podcast-listening schedule for 30 minutes. If not, just cut one of the dull ones. Do you really need 12 shows about decluttering, or that one about talking to the artists that paint all the knock-off art onto funfair rides? Fair enough, that one sounds great. But you can get rid of one of the others.
That is it. Check out VG247's The Best Games Ever Podcast on Apple Podcasts and subscribe. Or listen on Spotify. It's even on YouTube if that's your thing. Please do let us know what you think of the show – and if this is your first time listening, do go back to listen to the previous episodes. They’re not topical in the least, so go wild.
We’ve got some details on the show’s content below (if you want to get a refresher before heading to the comments to make a wonderful, considered post), so if you want to avoid spoilers, don’t scroll past this rather suggestively posing man (Support friends of VG247, People Make Games, on Patreon).
Best game you got for an odd reason – Crimestoppers Edition
This is the topic of Episode five of VG247’s Best Games Ever Podcast. Here’s a rundown of who picked what.
Tom – Sam and Max Hit the Road (1993)
The Point and Clink adventure game was all the rage back in the early ‘90s. LucasArts was at the very top of its craft, knocking out classic after classic, and this wacky adventure featuring the “Freelance Police” duo was another slam dunk. As not only one of the best games of its genre, but also with a strong case for being one of the best games ever made, surely this piece of video game history has got the competition sewn up?
Alex – Perfect Dark (2000)
It’s hard to believe Perfect Dark released in 2000. By that time the Dreamcast was on its way to failure (sad eyes), and the PS2 was just around the corner. Nintendo was still happy to release Rare’s classic sci-fi FPS on the N64, though, even with its own follow-up console, the GameCube due the following year. As the successor to the much-loved GoldenEye, Perfect Dark had a lot to live up to, and for the most part developer Rare absolutely smashed it.
James – Metal Gear Solid 2 (2001)
Who can forget that first look at Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty? It was a big moment for the PS2 and pretty much cemented Kojima as the top-tier creator he is known as today. The game itself held quite a few surprises, of course, some that didn’t go down well with fans, but generally MGS2 is held in very high esteem as one of the greatest games of all time.
Let us know what game you’d pick and if you agree that Jim has completely gone off the rails. If you like the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review saying how wonderful it is, and tell all your friends. Do a tweet about it, post on Facebook, leave the podcast page open on the laptop screen in your local tech store.
Come back in a week for The Best Game someone now in the know would think you’d made up.
If you want more podcasts, you could do worse than checking out our friends at Rock Paper Shotgun who have the Electronic Wireless Show. Eurogamer has two shows (greedy!), Digital Foundry has DF Direct, Dicebreaker covers the world of tabletop gaming, and the Outside Xbox lot has Oxventure - A Dungeons & Dragons Podcast.