Top 50 Games - #10

10. Super Smash Bros. Melee

Developer: HAL Laboratory

Publisher: Nintendo

Format: GameCube

Year: 2002

Top 50 Games - #11

11. Jet Set Radio

Developer: Smilebit

Publisher: Sega

Format: Dreamcast

Year: 2000

Top 50 Games - #12

12. Animal Crossing: Wild World

Developer: Nintendo EAD Group 2

Publisher: Nintendo

Year: 2006

Format: DS

The least gamey game on this list by a long chalk.  Nintendo’s Animal Crossing doesn’t care about high scores or developing skills or solving puzzles or interactive narratives.  It cares about relaxing and having fun in a little virtual town.

   Describing AC to someone who’s never played it makes it sound terrible.  “You move into this little village, yeah?  And you get a mortgage.  And you pay the mortgage off.  Then you make your house bigger and you get another mortgage.  This goes on for a while.  When you’re not trying to pay off your mortgage, you can wander around a bit, um...talk to the other villagers.  Do a bit of fishing.  Plant a garden?  Dig up fossils.  Maybe design a dress.  Stargaze.  Just...stuff.  There’s no real goal.  No end.  Just...enjoy yourself.”

   It’s joy.  I played it at least once a day for well over a year, and still pop in occasionally.  Apparently the 3DS version, New Leaf, is the one to get, but Wild World will always be my Animal Crossing.  To switch to another version feels like betrayal, frankly.

MAGIC MOMENT: Blathers, the jolly-good-old-chap-wot-wot type owl that runs the museum.  He’s an endless bundle of delight.

Top 50 Games - #13

13. Portal

Developer: Valve

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Year: 2007

Format: Xbox 360, Mac, PC, PlayStation 3

Top 50 Games - #14

14. Half-Life

Developer: Valve

Publisher: Sierra

Year: 1998

Format: PC, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 2, Xbox

Top 50 Games - #15

No videos any more, every damn YouTube gameplay video out there has some numpty blathering over the top of it.

15. BioShock

Developer: Irrational Games (as 2K Boston)

Publisher: 2K Games

Year: 2007

Format: Xbox 360, Mac, PC, PlayStation 3

Let it Go

Well, it may be two months too late but I've found my favourite movie sequence of 2013.  In my defence, I only saw the supplying film, Disney's Frozen, yesterday.

The sequence, as anyone who's already seen Frozen may have guessed, is the "Let it Go" musical number.  It's up on Youtube - I was going to post it here, but it really needs to be seen a) in the context of the whole film and b) on the biggest screen possible (and probably in 3D, unfortunately I could only get to a 2D screening).  It's basically a perfect storm - great song, stunning vocal performance (both technically and emotionally) from Idina Menzel, and some utterly astonishing animation.  And by astonishing animation I don't mean the ice powers (although they're great) - I mean the actions, reactions and emotions of the character Elsa.  Rarely if ever have I seen such a jawdropping example of animated acting.  The moment where she throws her crown away and lets her hair down is just incredible.

The rest of the film has a few flaws (the script feels underdeveloped in places, some of the songs are notably weaker than others) but overall it comes recommended.  Even if you just watch it for that four-minute sequence.