10. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy
Developer: Midway Games There are certain game companies whose mere mentioning of their name brings back warm feelings of nostalgia to gamers of a certain age, and Midway is one of those. If you are old enough (read, fortunate enough) to have had the opportunity to spend a significant amount of time in video arcades in the 1980's and early 1990's, chances are you spent a good amount of time pushing coins into a Midway arcade game. From seminal early releases such as Ms. Pac Man and Rampage, to early 90's staples such as NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat, as well as the many games it licensed and distributed from other developers, Midway's cabinets were fixtures in video arcades worldwide. It is this presence in the video arcade scene that has given Midway its most enduring legacy. A less-known tidbit of gaming history, however, that Midway took numerous stabs at software development for home consoles as well. While few of their games managed to make any substantial impact, they did release a gem of a game in 2004 in the form of Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, a third person shooter for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. Psi Ops was a game that started off seemingly as dull and run-of-the-mill as you can get. The story was cliched, and the shooting seemed sluggish and somewhat antiquated by the standards of the day. But it wasn't before long before the game's magic trick was revealed in the form of the amazing "PSI" powers wielded by the game's protagonist, Nick Scryer. A series of ever increasing and evolving psychic powers, combined with tight controls, revealed what was not only one of the most immensely gratifying gameplay experiences of its day, but a stellar showcase for creative use of physics in console games, a rarity at the time. The telekinesis power you received first was the most fun and useful, allowing you to pick up objects from across the environment and hurl them with precision accuracy at enemies with ease. Eventually, you gained several other powers such as mind control and pyrokinesis (yes, you could hurl walls of flames at people with your mind). The ease at which these powers could be combined with one another, as well as how smoothly they were integrated into the gameplay mechanics, made Psi Ops a memorable adventure for those who played it, and one that still stands out today. Any developer looking to create a good Star Wars game (RIP LucasArts) in the future that involves Force powers should look towards Psi Ops as a starting point. Its playground of physics-based powers is still really fun to play today. If you can find a copy of this at your local used game store, and still have a working sixth generation console in your home, don't pass this one up!