Clearly, with such a vast pedigree, we had to cull the list as best as possible, keeping the list to games released since 2005. While we did have to restrict our choices, the large list of great action titles (not to mention the hordes of incredibly bad ones) only speaks to how influential and important the genre is. So take a trip down memory lane with the great hits and tragic misses for every action fan around.
Players had to wait more than two decades for a sequel to Bionic Commando, the classic title that cast a bionically enhanced one man army against seemingly impossible odds. Named Bionic Commando as well, the story throws Nathan Spencer back into action to stop a terrorist organization known as Bio-Reign, which has destroyed Ascension City with a new weapon. The sequel doled out various abilities with Spencer's bionic arm, and gave a better sense of momentum and traversing large distances with the help of your enhancements. It also gave players a set of challenges that they could complete for bonuses that would help you accomplish your missions. Plus, tying in gameplay to the excellent Bionic Commando Rearmed remake is a huge score.
A mix of puzzles and platforming, Braid tests your brain at the same time that it tells an engrossing story. You play as Tim, a young man that accidentally loses a princess because of one of his mistakes. To get her back, you have to travel through different worlds, rewinding and manipulating time to solve puzzles in front of you. A visually striking game that also tests your mental abilities and your sense of timing, Braid is one of those games that harkens back to older classics like Super Mario Brothers to create a unique experience.
Tim Schafer delivered one of the most underrated games in 2005 when he released Psychonauts, a mind-bending exploration of psychic abilities though incredibly unique worlds. As Raz, the gifted boy as Psychic Camp that badly wants to become a Psychonaut, you explore the neuroses of characters, defeat their demons and solve puzzles. All the while, you're constantly amused by the humor that is liberally spread throughout the entire game. Take a little time and go on this psychedelic and psychic trip, and you'll come back with a great experience that'll stay fresh in your mind for years.
With all of the Splinter Cell games that have been released, one thing has stood out above all other things: don't cross Sam Fisher. Double Agent gave Sam perhaps the largest amount of leeway ever to get his job done by allowing him to infiltrate a terrorist organization and accomplish his mission by traditional or criminal means. Stealthy infiltration or going in guns blazing? The choice is up to you, and every decision you make impacts the plot and how the ending takes place. This is perhaps the biggest exploration of what it means to be an agent walking the tightrope between good and evil to date.
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Some of Lara Croft's past games might have been somewhat clunky and unimpressive, but the most recent title, Tomb Raider Underworld, did a good job of living up to the high standards of Tomb Raider: Legend. Underworld throws in a nice balance of combat and puzzle solving, with an added emphasis on helping players that are stuck with a field assistance feature to reduce frustration. The extra "What Would Lara Do" system provided for some of the most natural movement by Ms. Croft to date, and the adrenaline system allows you to perform some excellent moves, as well as avoid potentially deadly traps.
How could a scantily clad woman wielding swords that are also pistols possibly be a bad thing? In the case of X-Blades, the reasons are vast. Mindless arena styled battles are just one portion of the problem, with gameplay that will give you repetitive stress injuries from hitting the same button over and over again to create combos. Retreading the same areas with the same enemies with only a minor day and night cycle added is another reason. Toss in mindless AI, a horrible script and unimpressive voice acting, and you can see that even if the developers provided a naked main character, this title was without hope.
There are some games that are so bad that it's criminal that they were even released. Then there are felonies that are committed against the industry that are completely unforgivable. 25 To Life falls in the latter category. You take on the role of a criminal trying to get out of the hood life that gets pulled back in and forced to kill dozens upon dozens of police officers. Not only are the controls horrendous, the graphics are poor and the multiplayer is only tolerable. You know you're in trouble when the soundtrack is the best thing going for the game, which would be fine if this was a music title, but it's not.
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There's a longstanding belief that any superhero video game is automatically going to be horrible, and Iron Man doesn't do anything to discredit this belief. The PC version of Iron Man was a shoddy port of the PS2 version of the game, with a substandard visual presentation that puts monitors to shame. Blocky models, visual glitches and tons of flicker are only some of the issues with this game. What's worse is the fact that the game isn't even close to challenging, making this not worth a fan's time or money. If you want an Iron Man experience, you're better off with the movie than you are with this piece of coded detritus.
If you are old enough to remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when they first came out, you probably have fond memories of the turtles using their skills to defeat the Foot Clan, Shredder and his band of misfits. Sadly, TMNT takes just about every element that could've been engaging or fun about the game and destroys it. From virtual invincibility because your health can easily be restored with a button press to a lack of complexity to extremely simplistic combat, TMNT is a shell of the gameplay of older titles (pun not intended). These turtles could have saved everyone time if they walked back into the ooze and mutated into amoeba.
Battlestar Galactica is one of those games that puts fans of a franchise in an uproar. While missions are based on episodes of the show, gameplay is simplistic, you instantly respawn with infinite lives and there's no reason to use stealth within the game at all. The full experience can be savored in a handful of hours as well, without any option to improve or expand on the challenge to be found. Clunky controls don't particularly help the game, and limited multiplayer options don't extend the fun. You almost wish the Cylons had destroyed this game instead of letting it be released.
