5. Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkf2cVLPOoU As far as good 'ol twist endings go, there are far better ones than that, and Star Ocean: Till the End of Time manages to make one that's both extremely weird and insanely, fiendishly clever. Basically, this Star Ocean title, an unsung gem of the PS2 era, weaves together a complicated narrative with addictive, highly entertaining gameplay. It all gets weird once the game nears its climax, which finds the protagonist travelling to another dimension. Here we find out that the entities attacking your own dimension are in fact computer programs deployed to destroy viruses, and what's more, you are one of those viruses. It certainly qualifies as a mind-blowing ending, but one which cleverly re-asserts the relationship between player and game, delivering a smart reinterpretation of the reality presented to us, and marking one of gaming's first forays into the meta-sphere.
Shaun Munro
Contributor
Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.
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