Top 10 PS3 Exclusives

IT’S CHRISTMAS!!! And you know what that means don’t you? It’s time to whip out your wallet and hand over your hard-earned cash for some seriously good games. In this special series of VideoGamer.com Top 10s, we list the best exclusive games for each of the seven major platforms. Here, we cast a critical eye over Sony’s powerful PS3. Where does your favourite PS3 game figure? Has it, perish the thought, not made the cut? Read on, find out, and go mental.

10. Valkyria Chronicles – 2008

Valkyria Chronicles was one of those games that somehow slipped under the public’s radar, despite picking up an abundance of rave reviews. Lots of people will tell you that this is the best strategy RPG since Final Fantasy Tactics, and to be honest we find it hard to disagree. Battles ditch the genre’s long-established grid system in favour of a more flexible “limited command point” setup, a design choice that still feels like a breath of fresh air; the plot is equally unconventional, set against the background of a global East versus West war – think WWII as viewed through a distinctly Japanese filter. You may also spot a few familiar faces from Skies of Arcadia – another gem that made our Top 10 PS2 Exclusives list.

9. MotorStorm Pacific Rift – 2008

If you were offered the chance to visit a lush, tropical island, what would you do when you got there? Would you lie on the beach and sunbathe, frolic about in the crystal clear waters… or would you climb aboard a motorbike and race against a monster truck, tearing across the land until you fly into a ravine and die? Pacific Rift is as brutally unforgiving as its predecessor, the kind of racer where a single slip-up can lead to total disaster, but if you can handle the challenge you may find this vulnerability adds to the thrill. It’s a handsome racer, as speedy as it is beautiful, and with a choice of everything from quad bikes to big rig trucks, you’re sure to find a ride that suits your tastes.

8. WipEout HD: Fury – 2009

WipEout, it could be argued, did more to trend-up brand PlayStation than any other game. The game’s soundtrack, which included tracks by Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers, and Orbital, helped make WipEout’s sci-fi arcade racing almost worth using to get parties started. While times have changed, WipeEout is still kicking it, and HD: Fury, developed by Sony Liverpool, is perhaps the best of the series. It’s also one of the slickest games on PS3, rendering at up to 1080p and at 60 frames per second. The tracks are highly detailed (although it’s often hard to tell as they whizz past), with loads of loop the loops and boosts to keep you occupied. And the female announcer’s sultry voice is dribble-tastic. WipEout HD is a perfect example of how to make a classic game “next-gen”.

7. inFamous – 2009

Open world superhero games are like buses – you wait around for ages, and then two show up at once. At any rate, that was the way things went down in 2009. But while Radical Entertainment’s Prototype was a multiplatform release, Sucker Punch’s inFamous was a PS3 exclusive – a state of affairs that caused quite a few 360 owners to turn green around the gills. Meanwhile, inFamous’ hero, Cole MacGrath, was going through a few changes of his own, discovering his new-found electrical powers amid the oppressed ruins of Empire City. It’s fair to say that the game takes a while to get going, but once it hits its stride there’s loads to enjoy, and it’s hard to beat the feeling you get when you surf down a power cable, leap down to the ground and fry a gang of hoodies. Electrocution is so much more effective than an ASBO, don’t you think?

6. Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time – 2009

Never judge a book by its cover. Insomniac’s Ratchet and Clank might look like a Pixar movie, but it’s a seriously good third-person shooter. Perhaps that’s why it’s often overlooked by the “hardcore” – nothing this warm and colourful could possibly be good enough for proper gamers. The series’ most recent release, A Crack in Time, is also the best. It might not offer much that the series hasn’t offered in the past, and Ratchet’s levels are once again best, but its platforming, puzzle-solving and shooting is executed so superbly that it’s impossible to dislike. It’s also worth pointing out that it wraps up the current story arc with enough fan service to satisfy even the most demanding Ratchet and Clank obsessive.

5. Uncharted – 2007

Uncharted 2 might have improved upon its predecessor in almost every way, but Drake’s virginal adventure is still one of the best PS3-exclusives. Like in the sequel, the graphics are amazing. The jungle settings are gorgeous and make use of some stunning lighting, while the indoor settings are detailed and moody. Character animation is also great. The musical score by Greg Edmondson is also deserving of praise, fitting the setting perfectly and evoking memories of all the great adventure movies down the years. If Among Thieves is your first toe-dip into Uncharted 2’s glorious waters, make sure you find the time to have a swim in the game that started the series off. You won’t regret it.

4. Killzone 2 – 2009

Killzone 2 looks incredible. Everything, from the backgrounds to the weapon reloads, from the enemy hit animations to the bleak, war-torn setting, makes your jaw drop so hard it tears through the floor. But it’s more than just a pretty face. Killzone 2 is a relentless, brutal slog of a first-person shooter that never lets up. It makes you sweat, pumps you with adrenaline and pounds your heart from start to finish. And when you’re done, it’ll grab you by the scruff of the neck and chuck you headfirst into its superb competitive multiplayer. Perhaps it could have done with a co-op campaign, and the slight lag between controller command and on-screen movement will annoy fans of more quick fire, responsive shooters, but bar these trifle annoyances, everything about the game screams “next-gen”. Killzone 2 proves what the PS3 is capable off. Kill, or be killed.

3. LittleBigPlanet – 2008

Stephen Fry had us at “hello”. This glorious, heart-warming platformer is for many the perfect Sony PlayStation game. It’s accessible, fun, trendy, interesting and seminal. But what, really, is LittleBigPlanet? It’s a 2.5D, four-player platformer that challenges you to create and share everything – user-generated content is LBP’s heart. There are some quite stupendous creations available to download and play, some riffs on famous video game levels of old, some bizarre oddities, some as good as, if not better than, the Media Molecule-created levels that come on the disc. Some are, of course, rubbish, but that’s the way it goes these days. LBP gives us the tools to express ourselves, the video game version of a blank canvas. Mind-blowingly innovative.

2. Metal Gear Solid 4 – 2008

Ah, Hideo Kojima. It’s clear you’re a closet filmmaker. If you were to combine Metal Gear Solid 4’s cutscenes into one long stretch of stylised goodness, you’d get… what… about four feature films? We jest. We love Kojima and his mental stealth video games. And we love Metal Gear Solid 4, one of the most grossly overblown games of all time. When you get to play the damn thing, it’s an utter joy. Creeping on your belly through bushes, sneaking up behind gormless guards, shooting two-legged mechs as they holler like crying whales – it’s all just what we want from a Metal Gear Solid game. And the cutscenes, while often way too long, are the best around. Some of the choreographed fight scenes put the likes of The Matrix to shame. As preposterous as it is pleasing, MGS4 is Solid Snake’s grandest adventure.

1. Uncharted 2 – 2009

Uncharted 2 redefines the blockbuster video game. Beautiful, exciting, engaging, Naughty Dog’s masterpiece is a quite astonishing accomplishment. It does Indiana Jones better than Indiana Jones. It does acrobatic freeform climbing better than Assassin’s Creed. It does storytelling better than Shakespeare (that one might not be true). Whatever it does, it does it with a confidence and attention to detail that makes it one of the greatest games of all time. Like the best albums, each time you revisit Uncharted 2’s thieving innards, you notice something new, be it an item of furniture cleverly placed to add warmth to a room, or a line of wonderfully-voice-acted banter between the human punch bag that is Nathan Drake and one of Uncharted’s hot vixens. And what about the multiplayer, a mode so well put together it’s up there with the best? There can be no doubt: Uncharted 2 is the PS3’s best game, and one of the greatest action adventures ever.

Check back tomorrow for our run down of the Top 10 Xbox 360 Exclusives.