My friends and I started a podcast called the Left Behind Game Club three months ago. You can check it out on iTunes and Google Play. On the show, we talk about the games we may have missed, play them and try to re-create the feeling of picking it up on the first day and talking about it with your friends.
Selections for the Left Behind Game Club?
On the show, we take turns picking the games we play and I had a great time with my first two picks: Gone Home and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. I’ve thought long and hard and picked 10 more games that I would really like to play for the podcast. While selecting the games, I tried to focus on games from Gen 7 that are easily obtained. In addition, I tried to pick games that are either very important to me or games that I haven’t played that were very popular at the time of their release. Let’s get on with the list!
Ghost Trick (DS, iOS)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
I’m a fan of the Phoenix Wright series. The team behind those games also made Ghost Trick – a game where you take control of inanimate objects in order to solve puzzles. As a ghost. Since I would never be able to convince Moe to play Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (999), this is the closest that I will get to that.
Brutal Legend (X360, PS3, PC, MacOS and Linux)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
Psychonauts is one of my ten favourite games. No doubt. Double Fine, the developer of the game made two really big games before they started to develop smaller games: Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. I have no interest in heavy metal musically or ecstatically, but as a big fan of Double Fine’s titles like Broken Age and Costume Quest, I want to play Brutal Legend. Part real-time strategy and part action-adventure, it should be a lot of fun. Plus, Jack Black.
Spec Ops: The Line (X360, PS3, PC, MacOS and Linux)
Played It?
Yes.
Why should we play?
Spec Ops: The Line may be one of the biggest surprises in video games. From a mechanical perspective, it’s a very competent third person shooter. However, the game’s magic lies within the narrative. I don’t want to spoil anything – but it builds to a very satisfying ending.
Virginia (PS4, Xbox One, PC and MacOS)
Played It?
Yes.
Why should we play?
Virginia is a very succinct experience, has a beautiful soundtrack and contains the best sequence in a game from the past five years. Fight me on that. Plus, after the conclusion of the sub-two-hour game, it stuck with me for weeks.
Still thinking about some of the scenes from Virginia. Especially with @lyndonholland‘s b… https://t.co/RVyzRxSqvb pic.twitter.com/06ygFBmxk2
— Jacob McCourt (@JacobMcCourt) March 9, 2017
It’s been a week… and I’m still thinking about parts of Virginia. Love atmosphere in “Sojourner’s Truth”. https://t.co/zb6kalm0un
— Jacob McCourt (@JacobMcCourt) March 17, 2017
Advance Wars (GBA, Wii U)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
Intelligent Systems makes so pretty great games (WarioWare, Cubivore, Paper Mario) and I adore the Fire Emblem series. My younger brother liked the Advance Wars games a lot, but I could never get into them. Smart strategy that you can even play on the Wii U. Let’s do it.
Valiant Hearts (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Android, Xbox One and PS4)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
Valiant Hearts came out of the UbiArt initiative at Ubisoft. A puzzle game with an incredibly unique aesthetic and a dog that could rip a man’s heart out. Can we take Valiant Hearts home with us…? Please?
To The Moon (PC, Mac and Linux)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
I really like love stories and when reading the critical response about “To The Moon”, the players of the game often talk about how meaningful the story was to them. The two sentence plot is explained by Free Bird Games as follows.
“This particular story follows Dr. Rosalene and Dr. Watts’ attempt to fulfill the dream of the dying elderly man, Johnny. In their mission to do so, they traverse backwards through the man’s memories, unfolding his curious life story before their eyes.”
I want to have a good video game cry like I did when we played through Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.
Splinter Cell: Conviction (Xbox 360, PC, Mac)
Played It?
Yes.
Why should we play?
People always talk about Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow or Chaos Theory. While I think those are phenomenal games (especially the multiplayer), I think that Splinter Cell: Conviction with its focus on action-stealth instead of stealth-action made for a way funner game to play. If you screw up, improvise and see if you can get out of the situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TszuTgFx93U
The Wolf Among Us (PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Mac, PC, iOS and Android)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
I really like Telltale’s The Walking Dead and with the announcement of the second season of The Wolf Among Us, I want to dive into this dark video game adaptation of Bill Willingham’s Fables graphic novels. Plus, I bought this game on two different platforms and tried to start it twice. Third time is the charm.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (GC)
Played It?
No.
Why should we play?
I love the idea of this game so much that I own two copies of the game (my adoration of Intelligent Systems is shining through once again). After playing through Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64 and most of Super Paper Mario on the Wii, I need to give this one a shot. This game was never re-launched for any system besides the Gamecube, so if this game is too hard to find, I may settle for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga.
There you have it! Ten games that we should play for the Left Behind Game Club. It was hard to get down to ten – but I did.
If you made it this far, you should definitely check out our podcast, The Left Behind Game Club on iTunes and Google Play. For more nonsense just like this, you can follow me on Twitter @JacobMcCourt. Let me know what you thought of my list.
If you’re looking for a review of a game that we did play on the podcast, check out my review of Hitman!
Jacob is a creator marketing professional, and a fan of video games. He produces the Left Behind Game Club and Cutscenes podcasts as well as Video Game Trivia on YouTube.
