8. Red Dead Redemption (PS3, 360)
Have you ever wanted to be a cowboy? Well, if no was your answer, then you were thinking the same thing that I was before I played this game. Man, does Rockstar know how to make a great game or what? Even though Red Dead is not exactly everyone's cup of tea, it is a really great game and its reviews reflect this. Set on the American-Mexican border in the early 1900s, Red Dead Redemption is the greatest Grand Theft Auto game to date (GTA V may change that though). Okay, that was a wee bit confusing, I'll explain. The open-world setting, the game mechanics, and even parts of the story, all greatly resemble the GTA games. It has even been confirmed by Rockstar that Red Dead takes place around 100 years prior to GTA IV and is, in some ways, a prequel. When it comes down to fun, there's plenty to be had in RDR. Saddling up on your favorite horse and hunting deer in the mountains never gets old, and after a hard day's work, you can sit down to play poker or have a drink. The world, though huge, never feels empty, and the characters are some of the best in recent games. Also, once the trains start rolling through town, the game starts to get even better. Jumping from a moving train onto your horse is nearly impossible, but it can be done - I dare you to try. Speaking of trains, ever seen a western movie where the beautiful damsel is tied up and left on the railroad tracks? Yeah, I'm sure you have. Well, I've spent a few hours doing that in-game. It's great, except the train is usually faster than me and I can't always save her...
Best Part: The multiplayer. Even though RDR has a great story and its single-player is rather rewarding, there is nothing quite as good as reaching level fifty online and earning the zebra-donkey mount for your character. If you've played the game, then you know what I mean. If you haven't, I must sound crazy right now.
7. Star Wars: Battlefront II (PS2, Xbox)
This game ruled over my PS2's memory card. That's right, all 8MB of it. Every time a pal would stop by, I would create a new game-save for them, thusly taking up plenty of room on a memory card. It's actually quite hard to imagine I had that many friends. All of that aside, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was an amazing game; from taking control of your favorite characters, to piloting the most iconic of vehicles, BF2 provided players with days of fun. The best part about it: you didn't have to be a fan of Star Wars to enjoy it. The game was universal, meaning really anyone could have a blast playing it, or at least have no problem plugging in a second controller and joining the fun. Speaking of that, playing this game alone was maddening! There really was only one way to play BF2, and it was by way of some split-screen action. Now, that's not to say that the single-player fell short in any way, but the matter of fact is that the instant action maps were the reason to keep coming back to this game. Even today, I'll call some friends and dust off the old PS2 for a day of gaming fun. Players could also start a match in space and zip between ships while blasting all who got in their way. One time, a friend and I boarded the same X-Wing; he made the mistake of letting me pilot. I crashed. It was recently announced that we're going to get a Battlefront 3 on next-gen consoles, and while we haven't seen any real footage, or anything that wasn't a ten second teaser for that matter, I cannot wait. To make matters even better, this game is running on the DICE engine, and for those of you who don't know, that's what Battlefield 3 and 4 are on.
Best Part: Playing as your favorite characters. They were all there (in certain maps), all you had to do was choose. Also, playing in the Death Star wasn't so bad either.