411 Games Top 5 Week 47 01.21.10: Our Favorite Weapons

Posted by Todd Vote on 01.21.2010

From the Gravity Gun to the Blades of Chaos. All the majestic weapons of Target Terror down to simple things like the golden gun. This week the games staff breaks down our favorite video game weapons.

As the dude in the commercial used to say... Time to make the donuts.


Comment Time with Toddo!

Not ONE PS3 exclusive in anyone's top 5? Are you insane?

Ratchet and Clank.
Uncharted 2.
Motorstorm.
Posted By: LAMER EVERY WEEK (Guest) on January 13, 2010 at 11:23 PM

Yeah motorstorm would be a great introduction to gaming. Here kid lets play a racing game... oh no wait its single player. Fun.
Posted By: JBL (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 01:34 AM

Not ONE PS3 exclusive in anyone's top 5? Are you insane?

Ratchet and Clank.
Uncharted 2.
Motorstorm.
---
I wonder if the PS3 fanboys even READ the topic before Control+Fing to find any PS3 exclusives. It's about introducing EARLY CHILDHOOD AGED KIDS to gaming. I am sure a 6 year old is going to be able to grasp shit like Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank and Motorstorm. Read or Die.
Posted By: Silly PS3 Fanboys (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 02:31 AM

JBL - that's odd, because I could have sworn Shining Force and the Pokemon series were also single player games. But don't let that get in your way, eh?

Not as terrible as some weeks, but once again incredibly biased towards Nintendo and against Sony. My only surprise is that nobody nominated GTA 3, since you all seem to orgasm every time you get a chance to mention this badly-aged primitive sandbox grandfather.
Posted By: Cun\' (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 07:52 AM

I'm thinking you kind of missed the point of the column dude. If you are trying to turn on new gamers, system exclusivity should be the furthest thing from your mind, don't you think? If I feel Crash Bandicoot is going to be a good game to show someone, I'm not going to give a shit which system it is on. Introduce them to gaming, get them acquainted with all the great things they can do and enjoy. Then once they are engaged in gaming, they will pick their own system. My guess is if they are between 6 and 10 years old, as we stated in the opening last week, I'm not so sure a PS3 is for them, regardless of game quality. Besides all of that, how exactly is Uncharted an appropriate title for a 6-10 year old gamer?

JBL, we didn't discriminate against single player or multiplayer, if it would be fun for kids, they were allowed to be on the lists. Aside from the fanboy rant to counter a supposed fanboy rant, Silly makes a good point. Uncharted is definitely not a game for kids.

Last but not least, I can only assume that Lamer, and Cun\' are the same person, and for the purpose of what I am about to say, I'll do just that. Where have you gotten that we ignore the Sony products in this column? I may shun the occasional RPG, but if there is one thing I have made known, I love the Playstation brand, and want it to succeed, regardless of my frustration with their handling of the PS3. Hell, just two weeks ago, a PS3 was on my 2010 most anticipated list, so I can get GOWIII, and Heavy Rain. I know that Armando loves his PS3, and when he is around to participate you better believe his list is full of PS3 love, same thing for Salms, and Drew Robbins. I don't get where you say that we are all biased towards Nintendo and hate on Sony. I don't even own a frickin Wii, nor do I really want one.

As for your feelings on the supposed lameness of the column week after week. Who the hell is twisting your arm and forcing you to read the 411 Games Top 5 each week? There is plenty of other quality columns on the site for you to enjoy. If you don't like the Top 5, or feel it is lame, it's as simple as not clicking on the link. Problem solved.

That Maro Kart movie needs to come out ASAP!
Posted By: SmartShooter (Guest) on January 13, 2010 at 11:24 PM

I was hoping someone would enjoy that video. What did you think of the bonus vid? Thanks for reading.

See the thing is, I tried to get the missus into gaming using some of the titles listed above. She still found them too complicated and is currently becoming less and less enthused by my attempts for her to try gaming.

It's not that she doesn't like gaming. Heck, she loves to watch while I play PS3 or Wii. Still, it would be a more rewarding experience if both of us could share a gaming experience, right?

Super Mario she found too intimidating. Ditto for Mario Kart. She's a Star Wars fan (tried the "her favorite franchise" approach as well) so I got her Lego Star Wars. Guess who now has to play it while she watches?

I think finding "starter" games is a more a matter of accessibility. Skills and concepts that might come naturally to us gamers tend to be a steep mountain to climb for some would-be gamers.

And yes, she really wants to learn to play games. She just finds majority of them too hard or too complicated to enjoy. Strange thing is, us gamers have a different concept on what non-gamers "might" like versus what they actually like. Tried RPGs as well. She said there were too many things to keep track of (stats, items, etc) that she ultimately gave up. What did the trick for her? Rock Band 2 and Phoenix Wright. I'm still looking for other "starter games" to help ease her into the other genres.
Posted By: Gamer Hubby (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 12:30 AM

Dude, is your wife 6-10 years old? That's just wrong.... In all seriousness, Gamer Hubby brings up some good points, and they are points that we have to stress nearly every week in the Top 5. Every gamer is different. What tickles the fancy of one gamer isn't going to necessarily work with the next. That being said we were not saying that these lists would in fact turn on new gamers, they are simply the first shot, as in they would be our first choices to show off how fun, yet challenging gaming could be. There is no guarantee that someone showing an interest in gaming would all the sudden be fully converted after playing any of the games on our list.

For your missus, if she is finding some of the games to be a little to challenging for her liking, perhaps a look to the Xbox Arcade, or the PSN is in order. Try some of the amazingly addictive puzzle games featured. Maybe those would be more to her liking. Possibly one of the TMNT titles, which are essentially just button mashers would be a good start for her. Hope that helps a bit.

"Mass Effect, or Fallout 3? "

Mass Effect.
The galaxy is so immersive, the characters are more interesting and the story is better.

Fallout 3 is incredible - so much to explore, the cool VATS system, and you can easily spend 60-100 hours on it, but Mass Effect is just plain fun - plus one character has Deanna Troi's voice.

And Prince of Persia is superb to an experienced gamer, but the finer points of wall running may be too hard for a newbie, especially a child. I've known 2 guys in their early twenties who had to stop playing Warrior Withing because they couldn't chase the Crowmaster - although in fairness, they were idiots.
Posted By: Mr E (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 08:10 AM

Mass Effect vs Fallout 3. Grinded out the max G in both, and can honestly say i had more fun with Mass Effect. The setting, story and the characters were just more entertaining. Fallout 3 is still amazing, but not quite on the same level.

Starter games? Personally I started on the Sonic megadrive games, which i then started my nephew on.
Posted By: Jak (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 02:03 PM

Thanks for the help guys, you pretty much echoed what my buddy said. He seems to think with my previous history of gaming that I would enjoy the story of Mass Effect much more. Can anyone verify the similarities he claims the game shares with Advent Rising?

I know this won't sit well with Toddo, or the other writers for 411's games section for that matter, but Salms and his unhealthy Target Terror relationship is simply awesome
Posted By: nic (Guest) on January 15, 2010 at 03:38 AM

Sits fine with me. The only reason I ever asked Mark to curb TT talk was because there was a small but vocal group that didn't care for it. So I asked him to turn it down a bit. I have no problem with the Target Terror love Mark shows. I love to flip him shit about it, but it doesn't bother me. (Check out his list this week, you'll love it!)

LISTS!!!
Honorable mentions- Street Fighter Series, Smash Brother, Rock Band/Guitar Hero, Tetris, Nintendogs, and all of the various Wii games.

5. Mario Party- Combining something new (videogames) with something familar (board games) makes a good beginner game. The somewhat luck based structure also helps newer players feel like they still have a chance to win even if they suck at games.

4. The Legend of Starfy (DS)- Highly similar to the Kirby series this game features simple but polished gameplay with a gentle learning curve.

3. New Super Mario Bros Wii- The gameplay is simple enough for anybody to grasp and is fun whether you're 5 or 50. The DS game is easier but in the Wii version the 2p mode can be used to aid younger gamers.

2. Pokemon- The cute creatures sell themselves. The gameplay is solid and has great depth to it, but is simple enough that a child could plow through it with brute force. Fire Red and Leaf Grean are the best for their simplicity (and not looking as ancient as Red and Blue).

1. Kirby's Dream Land- A sad omission from all the lists. The game that got me started, and the game I used to introduce my little brother to gaming. Kirby is the pinnacle of beginner gaming. It features an obscenely cute mascot and a difficulty level that is easy for a younger gamer without being patronizing. Kirby's Adventure and Superstar are also great beginners games.
Posted By: Justin (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 12:57 AM

5) Tekken

As fighting games go this is probably one of the simplest to play to a decent level of skill

4) Mario Kart
Colourful and still insanely fun

3) Sonic the Hedgehog
simple platformer still rock in 2d

2) Rayman
Again wide variety of levels and pretty good story for kids

1) Crash Bandicoot
C'mon, cant believe no one mentioned crash!
Posted By:jaxorz90 (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 04:27 AM

games I've seen work for this purpose (not necessarily ones I've used for this purpose):

1- Warioware
2- Wii Sports (especially Bowling & Tennis)
3- Any of the "classic" games they may have played years ago off Virtual Console or PSN (Sorry, XBLA doesn't do much from what I've seen...)
4- Doom. Years ago when this came out on 32X I saw a whole bunch of people (including my own father) start gaming even though they'd never cared before (or since)
5- GTA. Causing chaos s awesome.
Posted By: Madcapunlimited (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 07:46 AM

5. Super Mario 64
4. Animal Crossing
3. Final Fantasy VII
2. Mario Kart
1. Journeyman Project Turbo- This game kicked more ass than New Kids on the Block.
Posted By: MikeyP (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 09:20 AM

I'm going to go with experience as my son is 5 yrs old and has begun gaming with the following games:
-Lego Batman (Star Wars and Indy too) - you can't die.
-Super Mario Bros series (specifically SMB1,SMB3 and NSMB Wii) Surprisingly my son is pretty good at NSMB as challenging as it can be - the Luigi guide in game helps too. Unfortunately, he also learned how to copy and erase files so it has been twice now he deleted my World 8 files with 100+ lives
-Disney Cars - easy racing
Posted By: Guest#7868 (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 09:31 AM

mini ninjas
lego star wars saga
castle crashers
up
super mario bros
My 6 and 3 year old play these the most.
Posted By: DH (Guest) on January 14, 2010 at 10:50 AM

I've actually been having this issue for the longest time. I want my son to be a gamer, but don't want to push too hard, because if it isn't for him, then we will find something that is. That being said, Super Mario Bros Wii, never worked that well, at least not for my brood in a multiplayer situation. They end up feeling bored because they have to bubble up on the harder stages.

Little Big Planet was a much better choice, simply because you could create a stage that offered a challenge, featured material they are interested in, and they could customize their characters.

At the same time, The New Super Mario Bros. on DS was awesome for a single player experience. We made the kids trade the DS around and that worked well for a Mario game.

I'm totally looking forward to ModNation Racers, for the same reasons that LBP was so awesome. They've shown interest in Mario Kart, and they were all about the MNR Beta, but without a local multiplayer, a lot gets lost.

When they first started playing they LOVED Go! Diego! Go! Dinosaur Rescue. It is a single player game, featuring a bit of collecting, and some button tapping & analog stick movement. It isn't difficult by any means, but the parts that might be harder allow a second player to come in and help with the button mashing. The kid feels like he's accomplished something and it works well. There is also a Dora version of the same game, but we didn't get that one. Easily number 1.

My top 5 would be
5. Mod Nation Racers
4. Mario Kart Wii
3. New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
2. Little Big Planet
1. Go! Diego! Go! Dinosaur Rescue!
Posted By: Dude (Guest) on January 15, 2010 at 03:13 PM

Thanks everyone. I hope this gives people at the very least some starting point, and proof that a game doesn't have to be rated M for it to be fun.


This column is approved by Christina Hendricks


You see this? This is my Boomstick!!! Maybe the Torque Bow is more your speed. Better yet, you might prefer the more up close and personal feeling you get by attacking using the Dragon Sword from Ninja Gaiden. No matter what genre you draw your gaming joy from, there is one thing that is nearly universal in the fact that it is required in nearly every game. Of course I'm talking about your weapon of choice in any game. not only have their been some pretty powerful weapons (BFG!!) throughout the history of video games, there have been some very creative weapons as well(Mohawk Grenade, Ostrich hammer).

So the games staff once again set out on a trek to bring you our favorites on a subject that is sure to meet with severe scrutiny from the readers. While you may not like the same weapons as us, I implore you to let us know your favorites down in the comments section. Enjoy this week, as we have plenty of diversity.

Adam LarckHONORABLE MENTIONS

Cerebral Bore - From Turok 2, it was always interesting seeing a small drill go into the enemies head before blowing it up a few seconds later. Definitely a creative death.

Buster Sword - Whether you love or hate Final Fantasy, the huge sword from FF VII is still a great sword and good weapon.

5.Energy Sword - While many people hated this addition in Halo 2, it actually made for some fun custom game types with my group that I played with. The sword may have been a one hit kill, but was still fairly balanced so that a sword wielder could be taken down easy. Still, taking the blue blade into the middle of a skirmish and cleaning house was a satisfying feeling.

4.Fat Man - What's better than being able to use a nuke? Being able to use a handheld nuke launcher whenever you want to. The Fat Man in Fallout 3 offered just that. Watching the destruction and the radiated aftermath happen in the game was enjoyable, and could help a player get out of the stickiest of situations.

3.Gravity Gun - The Half Life series has always had great weaponry. However, nothing sticks with me like the Gravity Gun did. Being able to pick up most anything you found and launch it at an enemy was always comical, and often deadly. Plus, when the gun gets accidentally upgraded, the ability to launch enemies at their teammates was great to do. Definitely a great gun that I hope sees more use in Half Life 3, whenever it's released.



2.BFG-9000 - Where would a list of weapons be without the BFG-9000? This Doom weapon could destroy anything it touched in a huge radius. It was fun to see to the big green blob fill the screen and just evaporate everything in sight. With how big multiplayer is today, it's nice that this hugely overpowered gun isn't still around in games. Still, it's nice to go back and wield this gun from time to time.

1.Blades of Chaos - Kratos wields these blades with ease, and why shouldn't he? They're attached to his arm, after all. The blades look cool, handle great and increase the kill count huge. The Blades of Chaos are always fun to use, and should be just as fun in God of War 3 in a few months.

Your Local Director of Fun - The SalmsHONORABLE MENTIONS

The pistol from Target Terror - Why the hell not? It has unlimited ammo. Besides, no enemy in the game besides the helicopter boss takes more than one bullet to kill anyways. But it's all about the after-kill when you shoot their glitched corpses that makes the game so much fun.

5.The machine gun from Target Terror - As I stated above one of the best parts about Target Terror is how you can glitch the enemy into its death animation. As long as you keep shooting the enemy it will keep making the same dying motion. Meaning you can make every enemy in the game dance a glorious bloody dance as you unload clip after clip into him/her. The record so far is a 254 hit combo onto one unsuspecting hooker. She definitely had enough of my magic stick.



4.The freeze gun/shocker gun from Target Terror - Take your pick here. Cause your enemy to frozen forever in ice, or shock the testicles of every man, woman, and child you see. Yes, you read that right.

3.The flamethrower from Target Terror - I love the scream that each and every individual cries out as you light their sorry ass on fire. 12 year old Asian girl? Crispy. Hooker wearing leather? Molten. Generic robber dude? Fried. Pissed off Asian dude? Black.

2.The grenade launcher from Target Terror - The grenade launcher and the RPG from Target Terror are the best weapons ever for one simple reason. They're fucking automatics. I'll pause to let it set in... FUCKING AUTOMATIC! If you mash the shoot button 5 times you will shoot 5 grenades/rpgs right at the enemy's face. Not even an act of god can clean up that mess.

1.The RPG from Target Terror - It's a fucking automatic RPG!

Lee PriceHONORABLE MENTIONS

Torque Bow (Gears of War) - I love this bow and bomb combo. Granted its pretty much ripped from Zelda, but blasting through Gears of War with this has been much fun.

5.Gravity Gun (Half Life 2) - There are few weapons that offer as much scope for severely messing with the enemy as the Gravity Gun. An inspired choice of weapon from Valve, who I'm pretty sure only put the thing into Half Life to show off their fancy physics engine. Its just an absolute blast to play with. Chucking stuff at other stuff has never been so much fun.



4.Sniper Rifle (Goldeneye 007) - This could probably go for most Sniper Rifles in terms of enjoyment, but Goldeneye was my first real hands on with the weapon in a game. The scope was perfect and taking down unsuspecting enemies with a crotch shot never got old. The fact that Goldeneye had a specific crotch shot death animation is probably what made me fall in love with this thing in the first place. Unsuspecting testicular based death from afar has never been so good.

3.Nevan (Devil May Cry 3) - I love Nevan. Whoever thought of putting a guitar and scythe combo as a weapon in the DMC series is a genius to me. Granted it is far and away the least useful weapon of anything on offer in the game, but it has so much style that you can forgive it that. Plus it fires bats sometimes. That's always cool.

2.Funk Vac (Toejam and Earl 2) - Ah I love the Funk Vac. So many happy childhood memories of finally taking out those pesky tourist humanoids and that son of a bitch in the cardboard box that sang opera with this thing. When a glass jar won't do the trick, whip of the Funk Vac to take care of all of your human jarring needs.

1.BFG (Doom Series) - Probably one of the first really iconic bits of weaponry in a game, the BFG is exactly what it says on the tin. Granted its pretty much useless other than for showing off some serious firepower, but what a shot it delivers. Pretty much every FPS game for a very long time after Doom had some variant of the BFG, but the original is always the best.

Armando Rodriguez

5.The Chainsaw (Burn Zombie Burn) - This classic PSN shooter features the ability to wield a chainsaw and cut your way through hundreds of zombies, preferably those covered in flames. Limbs and heads will fly as the game's comical protagonist yields macho phrases ripped off the Evil Dead series. Awesome!

4.The Chaos Breaker (Shining Force) - Ok, we have a bad-ass sword that looks like a lightsaber, was made from the combination of the Sword of Light and Sword of Darkness, allows you to cast Freeze Level 3 an infinite number of times (it is one of only two weapons in the whole game that never breaks for excessive magic usage) and is the only weapon capable of killing a 3-headed dragon-demon monstrosity. If that is not awesome, I don't know what is!

3.The Golden Gun (Golden Eye 007) - Ok, what else can be said about a golden PP7 that can kill opponents with one shot? Really, only one shot! Better than a rocket launcher or a sniper rifle, it did not matter if the opponent was a room's length away, one shot and he is done. It did not matter if the bullet just graced his shoulder or big toe, he was going down!


See the Blades of Chaos are orange.

2.The Blades of Chaos (God of War) - Yeah, they are attached to Kratos, but he wields them like a natural extension of his arms, easily cutting limbs of demons and impaling minotaurs, among other things. The fact that they are chained to him (and thus, can be extended) allows him to use them like spears, impaling an airborne foe and dragging them back face first into the ground. If Kratos is the biggest badass in gaming, it is only logical that his weapons where equally awesome.

1.The Fat Man (Fallout 3) - Fallout has a ton of awesome weapons, five of which deserve a shot at being on this list, especially the Alien Blaster and the Gauss Rifle. But when we talk Fat Man, we talk about a Rocket Launcher that shoots Mini-nuclear warheads! Yes, portable nuke bombs! It still took 2 or 3 good shots from this beast to put down a Super Mutant Behemoth, but it would have taken thousands of hits from other weapons. Still, portable nukes!! What else needs to be said?

Todd Vote

5.Torque Bow - The Torque Bow was awesome to look at and awesome to use if you could manage to aim the damn thing properly. There was a certain thrill to be had by nailing that torque bow headshot.

4.Ash's new Chainsaw - In Evil Dead Regeneration, Ash comes across a bigger, more bad ass chainsaw to use. Given my love of the films, I was as giddy as a school girl.


Notice the different colors?

3. Blades of Athena - Why the blades of Athena? Because someone else had the blades of chaos, and these are virtually the same weapon, with a different color hue to them.

2.Golden Gun - One shot one kill. Does it get any better?

1.Portal Maker from Portal - This weapon was awesome. It required some strategy to use it to elimnate enemies, but it could be done. Who didn't have fun toying with this game?


Bonus Video:
Pants on the ground.... Minnesota style. Heres to beating the Saints this weekend.



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Well that brings a close to another week. Sorry its another short one. Maybe it's time to throw it back out to you readers? Anybody have an interest in becoming our reader's voice each week? Shoot me an email and let me know. You would get an email with the subject each week, and jsut shoot me over a list. In the meantime, we hope you enjoyed looking at some of our favorite weapons. What are yours? Let us know in the comments section, and we will see you back here in seven.