#105-#103

105. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
Gamecube, 2002, Neversoft/Activison

I really, really, really, really suck at Tony Hawk’s games, but I still love playing them. It does mean, however, that I’ve only ever bothered to actually buy one, and it wound up being this one purely because it was the version out at the time. So, it’s great, you skate round, you jump stuff, you know the drill.


104. Psycho Pinball
Mega Drive, 1994, Codemasters

Basically all the fondness I have for pinball tables stretches back to this game. Four tables (the above-pictured Psycho table led to the other three) a few minigames (top marks to the one where you’re in a whale’s belly popping its ulcers with crabs) and a armadillo called Psycho curled up to make the ball. Plus, if you bought it in Woolworths you got a free CD. Lovely.

103. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
PC, 1997, LucasArts

I think this was actually the first Star Wars game I ever played, so obviously there was excitement in whirling a lightsaber around while the music pounded away in the background, but it didn’t hurt that this was pretty damn ace. Super-hard FPS ak-shun with fantastic levels, brilliant weapons, sophisticated Force system (I believe this was the first game to let you choose between Light and Dark side) the ability to beat up robots, and fully filmed cut scenes featuring various Z-list actors getting excited because they could pretend they were in a Star Wars movie. Also, this is arguably the best game I’ve come across to convey a real sense of height (the level where you’re scurrying along the underside of a power station mounted over a vast canyon is real vertigo-inducing stuff). Fantastic.