Holey's Top 10 Games of the Decade (10-8)

So, I'll be doing something similar to what our cleaner did. Being a huge gamer myself, I figured it'd be pretty interesting to type out a list of my top 10 games of the decade. So, here it is.

10) Project Diva 2nd

 I'm a big fan of Vocaloid anything, so naturally I loved playing this game. This wonderful PSP game has a lot of popular Vocaloid songs for you to play with, such as Meltdown, Melt, The World is Mine, Just Be Friends, Saihate, etc. There's also a lot of unlockables, such as costumes for your Vocaloids. Not to mention, there's also this little mode where you can watch a Vocaloid play around in their room, kind of like a virtual pet. You can buy them gifts and whatnot, and they'll interact with their surroundings in different ways. It's pretty interesting to watch. The graphics are top notch as well, for a PSP game at least. The PV's they made for each song are all very well done, and you can watch them in Theater Mode anytime you want. The game also has a custom song option, where you can make your own beats to a song, so there's a lot of options to choose from.

As for the actual gameplay, it's a simple rhythm game. You press the buttons according to what shows up on the screen and to the rhythm. As basic as it is, playing to your favorite songs is always a blast.

Pictured: My waifu

 9) Sengoku Rance

Having been recently translated into English, I took it upon myself to try this out. What greeted me was...a lot of sex. And rape. And awesome, addicting and strategical gameplay. The gameplay is pretty simple; you have six commanders on your side vs. another six commanders on the opposing sides, and through a turn-based system you both trade blows. The goal is to overwhelm the enemy bar before the end of the battle, which will result in a victory. As simple as this sounds, there's a surprising large amount of strategy involved in this, as each commander has different stats and abilities, and there are classes as well. Mikos are good for healing, Archers are back-line units, Footsoldiers are your tanks, and your Warriors will be dealing the most damage. There are other classes too, such as the Musketeers and Ninjas, and a few other special classes. The other game mode of the game is the Conquering aspect. Basically, your goal is to conquer all of Japan with your army. What this entails is a lot of carefully planned time management and trade-offs. Money is quite scarce, so you want to handle your units and resources carefully. There are several difficulties to this game, so if you're up for a challenge you can always try the 5 Star Challenge.

The best part of Rance is the characters and the crude humor. There are a lot of characters you can recruit and choose from, all based off of real historical figures such as Uesugi Kenshin, who happened to be the only female heroine of an eroge to dethrone Saber from the #1 spot.

Pictured: A female Uesugi Kenshin.

There are a lot of other historical figures as well, such as Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu (who is hilariously depicted as a giant raccoon), Date Masamune (who is a round eyeball. No, seriously.) and his trusty sidekick Kojuro (who is depicted as a tiny mobile car that looks like something out of Toy Story.), among several others. All these unique characters can be recruited and used in battle. The characters are all designed to be a complete opposite of their real life figures, such as the four Shimazu brothers being depicted as young playboys, and Mouri Motonari being depicted as a barbarian warrior. The humor and dialogue in the game are great, with plenty of sex jokes and funny interactions between characters. If you have the time, definitely give this game a go. Warning: This game is for people over the age of 18. Not that will probably stop any of you.

8)  Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

 No matter what you may say about Mario, this was a great game. Nintendo mixed traditional RPG gameplay with the unique characteristics of Mario, which resulted in this Gamecube masterpiece. The characters in your party are all quirky with unique personalities, and the setting and world itself is beautiful to look at. As the title suggests, everything looks like paper. Despite that, the world is very colorful and interactive, and the paper aspect of the game is a integral part of the gameplay. There are tons of things to do in this game even after you beat it, such as sidequests and minigames.

To get around the world of Paper Mario, there are a lot of special power up abilities that Mario will gain throughout this journey. He can transform himself into a paper airplane even, among other things. The game itself, admittedly, is nothing too challenging, but challenging enough to be enjoyable. The music is also top notch as well, along with the graphics and animations. This game serves to me as a reminder that games don't have to be all brown 'n bloom to be considered good, and that there is still a creative side to the gaming industry. Props to you, Nintendo.

And if you're wondering why I didn't put the third Paper Mario game down as number 8, I didn't like it at all.