But not all games have that luxury. In fact, the only way to appreciate games with truly great beginnings, is to play games that struggled to get started. If you’re looking for some suggestions, here are some of the greatest games of all time, that took a while to really get good.

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

One of the top 5 Star Wars games, and one of the most underrated games period, “Jedi Outcast” was an absolutely brilliant tale that saw retired Jedi Kyle Katarn (who went through some absolute hell in the earlier game to want to give up being a friggin Jedi), wrapped up in the newest plot to take over the galaxy, and forced to go back into the Jedi life to solve it, while taking a little vengeance along the way. Sound pretty bad ass? Oh yeah, it is.

However, before you even get to use the force young padawan, you must slog through the game’s first few missions using nothing but guns, as the early moments are nothing but a first person shooter set in the Star Wars universe. This is actually a trademark of the series, since the second game, but you see the thing is that at its design worst, “Jedi Outcast” features horrible flip switching puzzles, bad jumping sections, and aimless wandering. The first half of the game exemplifies all of these flaws, and doesn’t even give you a lightsaber or force powers to help ease the pain. It’s not like it’s the worst first person shooter ever, but it’s fairly far from the best and takes some time, and patience, to get through.

But here’s the thing. Without the dullness of that first half, that moment you meet Luke Skywalker, grab your lightsaber, use the force, and hear that beautiful “Star Wars” music swell wouldn’t be near as sweet. Earning the right to that moment is what makes it, and the game in general, so incredible. Even on subsequent playthroughs though, when you know the reward, it is still difficult to force yourself through that first half.

Deus Ex

I hate to admit this, but embarrassingly I never found the words to adequately describe “Deus Ex.” Instead, I’d refer you to the mounds of accolades and awards it accumulated, and confirm with you that it was indeed a revolutionary breath of fresh air that’s influences wouldn’t be properly noticed for years to come, as even leading developers seemingly couldn’t appreciate exactly what it was.

The average gamer may have never gotten the chance to experience that though. “Deus Ex” was a first person game, but it wasn’t really a first person shooter, and trying to play the game like that, as many at the time surely did, only led to a swift demise. That’s because while you can play the game guns blazing, in that first mission you’re forced to take a more stealthy, very careful approach as you worked though what was essentially a tutorial of the game. What hurt is that it lacked many of the character enhancement options and various tactics that made “Deus Ex” so much of what it would be. Your methodical approach towards liberating the terrorist controlled statue of liberty is the game’s lowpoint, and doesn’t lend much encouragement to seeing the rest of the game through.

Even after that lengthy intro, it takes a mission or two for the game, and plot, to find its groove and for the series RPG and strategy elements to kick in properly. Once it all comes together though (which occurs around the time of a major plot twist), its inescapable brilliance is a constant onslaught to your senses. You can retrospectively laugh at gamers that didn’t stick through the beginning of “Deus Ex”, but really the game did itself no favors in immediately making itself welcome.

Assassin’s Creed II

There’s a reason the first “Assassin’s Creed” didn’t set the world on fire. Well…actually there are several good reasons, and to find them out, please just refer to the first half of “Assassin’s Creed II” where you’re required to re-learn the games basics via fetch quests, and other meaningless tasks before you are even allowed to don the Assassin’s gear.

Even then the game’s tutorial isn’t done, as there are still one or two tricks for you to learn, and the developers aren’t afraid to show them via large on-screen prompts and exposition dialogue. I never even played the first game and I found it to be an unbearable exercise in tedium, so I can’t imagine how someone who gave the first a shot must have felt having to re-learn several lessons. It takes even the most dedicated gamer several start and stop attempts to get to the point where you are allowed to go out on your own and truly enjoy everything the title has to offer.

It’s not a cardinal sin to put a tutorial level in a game, but “Assassin’s Creed 2’s” problem is that it shows you all the ways to play the game, without giving you much incentive to do so due to a segment that takes up such an inexcusable amount of the beginning.

Shenmue Series

The “Shenmue” series is the ‘love it or hate it’ poster child for video games. The first game came in with unprecedented hype when it premiered on the Dreamcast, and alienated gamers with its tedious missions, bad dialogue (and equally atrocious voice acting), and endless backtracking. It was marketed as a game about freedom, but didn’t give gamers the type of wall to wall thrills they thought would come with that.

It’s an odd addition to this list, as honestly both games never really break from their formula of wandering, waiting, working monotonous jobs, and investigating in the vain hopes for clues to finding your father’s murderer. Yet in both games, it’s around the halfway point that something incredible happens that compels you to keep going. Maybe it’s a break in the story, a newfound friend, a mind-blowing sequence, or something that suddenly makes you disregard every bit of tedium that led up to that point, where you realize you are in the hands of a storytelling mastermind, who knows exactly when to reel you in.

Actually, to tell you the truth, I’m still unable to tell if Yu Suziki’s designing the games to not really get going until mid-way through was a conscience one, or rather a fortunate by-product of otherwise bad decisions. In any case, to this day I recommend playing both games if you can find a way, as they still represent highlights in moment based storytelling creating a strong overall narrative. Just be sure to stick with them until that first great moment occurs.

Mafia

“Mafia” is the greatest prohibition gangster video game ever made, and was unfairly dismissed as a GTA clone when it was released. Instead, it is a character driven drama, with a creative sense of mission design and timing, and some truly outstanding writing and pacing. But to anyone who’s played it, let me say the three words that will make you shiver.

The racing mission.

About halfway through the game you are tasked with winning a race in substitution for a driver who was a lock for the mob’s bets. The problem is that the racecars of this era weren’t entirely capable of performance racing, and you are driving a rigged one that is the most dangerous of them all. For any gamer that was too stubborn to use the glitch cheat (me), and actually tried to win this race legitimately, they found a mission that is impossibly difficult, frustratingly long, and can take an absurd amount of  attempts to complete (I believe I got it around the 50th try my first time…no joke).

The real gag is that all of the missions leading up to that race are ok at best, but consists mostly of driving a cab around. After that race though, the game enters a new level of creativity where each level is better than the one before, and from there “Mafia” becomes that all time great game that it is generally remembered as. To this day I don’t know why the developers chose to put a mission seemingly designed to make the player give up on the game at the point they did, but like the other titles on this list…I’m almost glad that’s how it happened. Because on the other end of the struggle, is a reward that is its equal.

Part 1

Part 2

As Halloween draws near, here are the final 10 greatest horror games of all time, any of which would be more than worthy for a Halloween night marathon.

10. Alien vs Predator 2 – A couple funny things about this game being on this list. One, its actually more of a sci-fi shooter than a full on horror game. Two, there are three main stories to play through and two of them (that have you playing as the alien and the predator) are entertaining, but far from scary. What gets it on the list is the 5-8 hour colonial marine campaign. If the best aspect of horror games is how they make you feel like you’re not ready for what’s next, then this may be the best example of it.

Around every corner waits a new threat, and the tension of awaiting it is only outmatched by the fright itself. It may be a sci-fi game but it’s also one of the best examples of the “haunted house” effect I can think of. You would think that the heavy arsenal at your disposal would help, but it only leads you into a false sense of security. The “Alien vs Predator” movies may have been abominations, but if you never played this game, I can’t begin to adequately describe the terror you are denying yourself.

9. Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth – An almost impossibly underrated title, where as most horror games take elements of the works of H.P. Lovecraft for their scares, this is a direct adaptation of several of those titles. What I love about the game is how much it feels like a love letter to the genre, as so many elements present in the game are horror conventions that are effectively implemented so that they sure to give any fright fan an impossible to shake ear to ear grin. Well, until it’s replaced with a look of cold fear that is. As much as “Call of Cthulu” is a fun experience, it is an even greater trip through pure terror. The monsters design is superb, the ammo is appropriately sparse, the sound is a highlight reel of bumps in the night, and the game features some of the best set piece moments you’ll see in the genre.

Particular mention here must go to the escape scene in the town of Innsmouth, where your early investigations lead you to conclude that everyone in the town is incredibly indifferent, and even hostile. That instinct would turn out to be dead on as the entire populace starts chasing you with the intention to kill. It’s a flawless escape sequence that puts you into the game like few other titles can even hope to do, and is a perfect example of the brilliance of this title.

8. Dead Space – Picking up “Dead Space” originally for a quick play through, I didn’t understand the hype. After all, at the time it was being heralded as the savior of the survival horror genre and one of the most terrifying games ever made to boot. My mistake was only playing the game for a short burst though.

“Dead Space” is a game that begs you, even dares you, to immerse yourself in it. Turn off the lights, shut down the phone, crank up the volume, and see how far you can make it before the sheer terror overwhelms you. The brilliance of “Dead Space” is in the collection of all the little things it does well, like removing a lot of the traditional HUD elements on the screen and subtly putting them on your characters back, or how almost all of your weapons are mining tools re-purposed for your current slaughter needs. There’s also the bolder elements like the horrific creature design, and the emptiness of the space station setting making you feel like you are truly fighting your way out of hell and into the unknown. I was gravely mistaken for thinking “Dead Space” was anything less than one of the greatest horror games of all time, and I now recognize it as perhaps the prime example of effective atmosphere in gaming.

7. Left 4 Dead 2 – The greatest zombie game ever made? Well…not quite but it is certainly the most entertaining. Valve struck horror gold when they devised the idea of allowing 4 players to fight their way through the zombie apocalypse in the original “Left 4 Dead.” With the sequel, they perfected the experience by incorporating more enemies, more characters, better levels, and more modes.

The entire game works because of its intense level design which is open enough to make you feel like you’re not boxed in, but still linear enough to make the choke point moments work. Even better is the community aspect, as “Left 4 Dead” perfectly allows you to live out those conversations you have with your friends about what you all would do in a zombie apocalypse. That’s not to say the game is entirely about fun, as the scares are plentiful and often come in the form of the sheer overwhelming numbers you face, and the special zombies that complicate your survival intentions with their unique abilities (especially the Witches, which are essentially the nuclear weapons of the zombie horde). “Left 4 Dead 2” is a simple idea executed to absolute perfection.

6. System Shock 2 – Remember earlier when I mentioned that “Dead Space” is perhaps the prime example of atmosphere in gaming? Well, that’s because there are a couple of other contenders on this list, with “System Shock 2” being chief among them. The theme of the game is isolation, as you are sent to investigate the sudden stoppage of the world’s most advanced ship. One it becomes clear that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong on board, your only companion is a surviving analyst who guides you to her location, and your only goal is to survive and hope that by reaching her you can regain a sense of perspective about what is going on around you. In your path is a host of mechanical and organic enemies as well as a very real sense of hopelessness that threatens your progress more than any in-game element.

“System Shock” is the spiritual pre-cursor to “Bioshock” and many of its elements were highly influential on the “Deus Ex” series. While that gives you an idea of how revolutionary it was at the time, I’m happy to say I can do no real justice to the game’s atmosphere. You are truly alone in this world. While it’s a world filled with incredible amounts of backstory and political intrigue if you go looking for it, that doesn’t make it feel any less unwelcoming. Capped off by one of the greatest plot twists in video game history, “System Shock 2” is one of the few great entrants of the horror genre in the games are art debate.

5. Fallout 3 – I could write a million different words, about a million of the different incredible things in “Fallout 3.” However, for the purposes of this list, I’ll stick to the horror aspects.

You start “Fallout 3” as a true stranger in a strange land, and any hopes of survival are dependent on your wits and a lot of luck. Scrounge what you can, and steal what you must, as this is a world filled with murders, cannibals, and ghouls (and those are just the humans). As you are not limited in where you may go in “Fallout 3,” you can easily find yourself facing a host of heavily armed super mutants, or even worse a group of deathclaws armed with nothing more than a helmet and baton. Death is around every corner, and unspeakable atrocities are everywhere else. Even late in the game, when you are theoretically equipped for anything, your life can end in a horrible instant.

The only reason you wouldn’t find “Fallout 3” to be one of the scariest games ever made, is if you’re cheating. As intriguing, and deep as the entire world is, it is twice as horrifying.

4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent – While the first “official” horror title may have been called “Alone in the Dark,” no game really captured that feeling until 2010’s  “Amnesia,” from the same developers of the “Penumbra” series. Even the scariest games tend to give you a lifesaver of sorts in the form of a powerful weapon, or safe room. There are no such luxuries in “Amnesia,” which is perhaps the most concentrated level of fear ever forced upon a player in a video game.

Your only means of survival is stealth, as you are forced to outmaneuver and outwit the atrocities that fill your dungeon surroundings. This is made even more difficult by the fact that darkness makes your character plunge deeper into insanity, and light is your scarcest resource. Also, you may find it difficult to outwit anything, when this game spends its entire existence removing said wits from your body. The game also uses the same brilliant physics based puzzles as “Penumbra,” which means that the gameplay always feels fresh. As a testament to “Amnesia’s” skills, even though you encounter a variety of enemies, objectives, and tasks, the only thing that feels like it shouldn’t belong in this game is you. This is driven home by your main characters amnesia, which goes from tired cliché to unnerving plot device.

You may only play “Amnesia” once, but it’s not due to a lack of quality. The things you experience in this game will never leave you, and if this list was entirely based off of how scary a game was, you’d be looking at number one without contest.

3. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly – From here, you can consider these three titles interchangeable, with the rankings reflecting slight degrees of difference.

“Fatal Frame II,” much in the same vein of films like “The Ring” and “Ju-On” is an unadulterated trip down the dark road of Japanese horror. In a sense, then, it helps for you to be scared by such things as creepy Japanese children to get the full effect. In a greater sense, it is hard to imagine the person who wouldn’t be scared by the things in this game, even if the onslaught of horror movies from the far east would have theoretically diminished the effect of some of those scares.

The entire experience in “Fatal Frame 2” is based around the use of your camera. It’s your only weapon, as capturing these ghost’s images is the only way to defeat them. It’s like a possessed “Pokemon Snap” and remains one of the most brilliant innovations in the genre. The only way to progress is to, quite literally, face your fears and look them right in the eyes. It can’ be understated the effectiveness of having your only weapon be the thing that makes you feel the most vulnerable.

“Fatal Frame 2” has the style and sound quality needed for a good horror game (the sound is actually the leading contributor to the scares), but you may also be surprised to find some good voice acting, a gripping story, and some truly ingenious ghost designs. In fact, the entire game revolves around catching you off guard, and in that regard is an unquestionable success.

2. Resident Evil: Remake – In the world of horror films, it seems like a remake either leads to one of the worst movies you will ever see (“Friday the 13th“) or an unquestioned masterpiece (“The Thing“…err..the 80’s one). There seems to be little middle ground on the issue, and “Resident Evil: Remake” (known as REmake) is definitely an example of the latter.

Capcom realized that the first game in the “Resident Evil” series was still by far the most terrifying, and also understood that its gameplay and graphics aged like a banana. It cannot be understated then how effectively they managed to make the experience playable once more, and completely modified the game without losing any of the original title’s appeal. More than just a new paint job, this remake completely re-imagines the game’s style and updates the graphics appropriately to fit it. It’s still, in fact, one of the most beautiful games of all time. Similarly, they maintained much of the original control scheme, but made enough minor tweaks so that you never feel frustrated with the title, and it still feels like a “Resident Evil” game, as it should.

Of course, none of this would matter if the original “Resident Evil” wasn’t as good as it is. The original is still the definitive title in the survival horror genre, for the simple reason that every horror game that would follow it (even if they made improvements) owes some element of its style to that title. It’s a testament then that almost none of them could top it, even with the innovations along the way.

In terms of how this title managed to please both hardcore fans of the original, people who never played the original, and people who never played a “Resident Evil” game period on the same level, this may be Capcom’s biggest success.  As much as this is an entry for the original title, it’s more of a tribute to the remake which renders that original almost irrelevant with its quality. In the video game horror hall of fame, this title should be the first entrant.

1. Silent Hill 2 – When Konami released the first “Silent Hill” on the original Playstation, it was viewed as an incredibly terrifying game, with more pure frights than almost any other title available at the time. Yet, it still couldn’t shake that dreaded “Resident Evil” clone tag, even if it was entirely undeserved.

With the sequel, Konami came out with a vengeance to make sure that no one would draw that comparison again, and that when you spoke of the great horror games with a group of friends, this would be the first one out of someone’s mouth. It’s the story of James Sutherland, who receives a letter from his dead wife that draws him to the town of “Silent Hill”, with the hopes of finding answers. Instead he finds the same fog-ridden town of the first title, only the horrors have shifted to reflect his own deranged psyche.

I don’t even like playing “Silent Hill 2” in the same way that I don’t particularly enjoy watching “Last House on the Left” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” regularly. It’s a game that just feels wrong and gets under your skin in a very real way. More or less, “Silent Hill 2” is a journey through a fragile psyche, and the world is appropriately threatening to break under your feet at all times. From the moment you step into “Silent Hill 2”, it’s clear that you will experience no victories or traditional gaming successes. The only accomplishment to find in this game is having lived through it. This is best shown through the game’s iconic  pyramid head character. Your first encounter with this creature is disturbing on levels ranging from violent to sexual, and as memorable as it is you also wish you could instantly forget it.

It’s not often that something so ugly can be so beautiful, but such is the case with “Silent Hill 2”. There are scripted moments in this game that will scare everyone identically, but there are also unique experiences that everyone who plays it will have. I doubt there will ever be a survival horror game as complete as “Silent Hill 2”, and among some tough competition, in the end that is why it sits atop.

Maybe it was watching “Blade Runner” over and over in high school, or maybe it was beating “Deus Ex” about 20 times, but somewhere along the way I acquired a taste for cyberpunk worlds. Often cited as being full of “high tech and low lifes,” there is something immensely appealing about a world where technology has made anything possible, and yet, in many instances, all hope is lost.

I couldn’t be more thrilled then to hear that CD Projekt Red (developers of the brilliant “Witcher 2”) have officially announced their much hyped new title will be called “Cyberpunk 2077.” Unless the game is just going for complete misdirection, it looks to be an RPG set in my beloved world of gears and fears.

Outside of that, the only thing we really know about the game is that it has an official website, a facebook page, and looks to be set in the fictional town of Night City (on the west coast, in between LA and San Francisco) which means it will essentially be the video game adaptation of the tabletop classic “Cyberpunk 2020,” which, according to the press release, is going to be a major source of inspiration for this title, right down to gameplay concepts.

Oh, and there may or may not be a half naked, half robot girl with scythe implants if you are to believe the promotional image. I’m going to bet may on that one, however.

Is it too early to get excited for a game we know virtually nothing about? Well, considering that you’ve got an immensely talented developer working off of a deep and well aged source material in a universe that is still relatively fresh in video games, I’m going to say the odds are long that this isn’t going to at least be an intriguing title. Even with games like “GTA V,” “Bioshock Infinite,” “The Last of Us,” “Watch Dogs,” and so many more on the horizon, I’ve still got this one pretty high on my most wanted list.

If you head over to Adult Swim’s website right now, you’ll find an interesting teaser. Apparently, next week Valve and Adult Swim are going to be revealing a collaboration that they describe as “their video game peanut butter… our network chocolate” and “something that you’ll probably enjoy.” The picture accompanying the announcement makes it pretty clear that this is something “Team Fortress 2“-related, and speculation everywhere has it at everything from the long-awaited “Meet the Pyro” episode of the “Meet the Team” series, to a full-on new TV series based on the insanely popular online shooter.

Considering that “Team Fortress 2” is one of the most purely entertaining games of all time, with a comic style and personality that is unmatched in its medium, and that those “Meet the Team” videos are some of the funniest things ever produced in relation to a video game, whatever comes of this announcement is sure be a bonafide success.

Personally, I’m hoping for a “Red vs Blue” style online miniseries.

It is odd, though, that video games and television shows are two mediums that don’t have much of a celebrated history, or anticipated future of collaboration. Video games made into movies have been a popular subject of discussion for years, but for some reason very few people ever consider the potential for games as TV shows. While “Team Fortress 2” might be the strongest argument for the games to series transition in the history of video games, the truth is that I think there are at least five other titles that would do very well in an episodic format.

“Fallout”

How It Would Work: Three letters. H-B-O. The world of the “Fallout” series is one of the most brutal, bleak and terrifying of all time. Around every corner waits a new horror and atrocity, and just about every person left has become a hardened bastard because it’s the only thing that’s allowed them to survive.

It’s the perfect world for HBO’s no limit programming.

More than the violence, though, this show would need HBO’s creative freedom to really showcase the  “Fallout” series’ biggest success, and that’s the world it takes place in. The 50s style atmosphere, mixed with the total apocalypse, is the thing that made the series stand out above all others, and it leads to some of the greatest dark humor in any medium. From the always gleeful “Fallout Boy” mascot to the incredibly inappropriate yet oddly fitting classic soundtrack, there is so much in this series that you wouldn’t have to change a bit of to make it shine as something truly unique and incredible.

What’s better is that you wouldn’t be stuck with the parameters of the series story either. There are so many tales waiting to be told that you could just borrow ideas from the established parts of the series and have more than enough foundation for even a mediocre script writer to build something truly compelling with.

In fact, with the possible exception of “Team Fortress 2,” “Fallout” is the series perhaps most primed for television. Just please… no Deathclaws. They scared me enough in the game already when I accidentally found Old Oney too early, and I certainly don’t need any more of them.

“Earthbound”

How It Would Work: I may never get another chance to say this, so here it goes. “Earthbound” is hands down, 100% my favorite video game of all time.

This is entirely due to the game’s style. Some series are technically sound in just about every way, but are missing a certain X-factor that makes them truly stand out. “Earthbound” is made up entirely of these X-factors. The population of characters range from “New Age Retro Hippies,” and “Angry Old Party Men,” to “Paint Cultists,” and that’s just the game’s enemies. Everything else from the great music, to the multiple environments, to a world that is just as much rooted in surrealism as it is in real world aspects exhibits these intangibles.

As you can tell, this would create an interesting challenge.

However, if you found the right showrunner and writers to accompany him, you could end up with a truly classic Saturday morning cartoon. I’m not saying there are no good cartoon series for kids at the moment, but there are very few that capture the same feel of the “good old days” of the late 80s and early 90s. An “Earthbound” series put into the right hands would be off beat enough (like shooting bottle rockets at dinosaurs and trapping zombies with flypaper) to revive the feel of Nickelodeon classics like “Ren and Stimpy,” while containing a cohesive enough narrative to warrant tuning in next week. Plus, from a marketing perspective, the game’s diverse cast of players could warrant a very successful toy line and other product opportunities that the ice cold reception to “Earthbound’s” release (at the time) did not get.

As I said, there would be challenges here, ot the least of which is the tricky legal status of the game’s license, which is a large part of the reason it’s not on the Wii’s virtual console (though there are other theories), and a legit fully loaded copy of the original game on eBay is going to run you about $500. Then, as I mentioned, you would need the right people in the right places to make it come together.

But if all the stars could align, this would be a more than worthy cartoon series.

“Psychonauts”

How It Would Work: How couldn’t it work? It’s the story of a group of kids (though through their cartoony deformed nature, they may actually be preteens) who all share psychic abilities and come to a U.S. government training facility posing as a summer camp called The Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. Throughout the main character Raz’s time there, he, among many other activities, is able to enter the minds of some of his cohorts and explore their psyches. This leads him to some truly bizarre and ingeniously designed levels that are built around the person’s subconscious in amazing and inventive ways.

“Psychonaut’s” release reception was red hot with critics, and subzero with consumers. Games as unique and creatively challenging as “Psychonauts” commonly suffer this plight, but since it appears that it will never get that sequel that those lucky enough to play through it the first time are begging for, then a TV show would be a more than adequate substitute.

The concept is entirely laid out by the game already. Each week, Raz would enter a different mind and explore a crazy, psychedelic new world, while the environment of the summer camp serves as a housing for the series regulars and the grounds for any continuing plot threads that the showrunners can lay out.

As much as I loved “Psychonauts,” its hard to deny that outside of all the game’s ingenious concepts and layouts, the core gameplay of the series is little more than basic platforming and a series of fetch quests and collection challenges similar to the “Banjo-Kazooie” series. It’s greatest aspects were too often hidden under its monotonous nature. Theoretically, a TV show would allow them to accentuate the positives and bury the negatives.

Perfect for a Saturday morning series, or a slightly raunchier, edgier Adult Swim lineup addition, there is an almost unlimited amount of potential for “Psychonauts” to thrive on the small screen.

“Evil Genius”

How It Would Work: This is the most obscure game on my list, so allow me a bit of product description.

Released in 2004, Elixir Studio’s “Evil Genius” was billed as a “World Domination Simulator,” Similar in design to the “Dungeon Keeper” series, “Evil Genius” has you selecting a criminal mastermind avatar and building a supervillain fortress complete with henchmen, death traps, meeting rooms, vaults of gold bullion, and all of the other things you’ve associated with the great James Bond villains. The rest of the game revolves around committing criminal acts worldwide using your various agents of nefarious means to steal valuable artifacts, blow up Nashville to end country music (seriously) and more

As you probably gathered from that description, and the game’s cover, this is a game that has a really solid foundation rooted in some dead-on parodies of its source material. No other game before or since has allowed you to take the role of a supervillain in such a meticulous way. While the game’s ultimate goal is to construct a super weapon, it’s all the little villain acts along the way that makes it such a memorable experience. Originally, “Evil Genius” was somewhat panned by critics for the extreme levels of micromanagement it required (as well as some other shaky features), but there’s no denying that the level of appreciation the developers put into all of the aspects that this concept could possibly cover is impressive.

For the show, I’m thinking of an “Archer”-type series, but from the other perspective. Following a villain as he starts a grass roots organization of evil, the show could use the same agents the game employs to build a cast of characters that include voodoo priests, samurais, military leaders, scientists and good old fashioned henchmen. Think a mix of  “Archer” and the aspects of “The Venture Brothers” that included the show’s villain The Monarch all tied together by a 60s spy movie setting, and maybe you can see the same potential that I do for this show.

Much like “Psychonauts,” “Evil Genius” is a title that simply had too many flaws to make the appropriate impact as a game relase. But as a show? It could be a sensation.

“Deus Ex”

How It Would Work” Sci-fi shows on television are filled with sad stories of ending before their time. From “Star Trek” to “Firefly,” it’s a long history of “ahead of their time series” leading to unfortunate cancellations. It’s considered something akin to tempting the fates to dare to release a sci-fi show and hope for the best. However, the few runaway successes in the genre (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Lost,” and the close enough for our purposes “Game of Thrones”) have all shared one thing that made them stand out: They treated their audience with respect and gave them complex developing stories that even most “serious dramas” couldn’t match.

That’s not to say it’s the be-all and end-all formula for sci-fi success, but it’s a healthy start. That’s why “Deus Ex” would have a fighting chance. Although over three titles the game’s plot has continued to develop and evolve to a level that I can’t cover in full, concentrating just on the first title of the series, “Deus Ex” is filled with intriguing conspiracy theories involving multiple factions and different agendas. The game’s cyberpunk world of technological human enhancement, mixed with absolute poverty and decay, is essentially unseen in the history of television and could serve to be immediately engrossing. Not to mention that a wealth of fictional material such as books and reports were created as in-game content (similar to the “Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout” series) that would provide a depth of content that exists well beyond a surface level.

Plus, in sticking just with the first title, you have a “CSI” / “NCIS”-type government investigation organization that handles “Fringe”-like scenarios. That’s not a very good description of the series at all, but it does show that there are some prior successes from TV land that you can tie into the promotion of the show, and from there, the intrigue and fascinating amount of ass-kicking stealth and action will surely cause even the most criminally jaded viewer to tune in for that first addictive fix.

As a related aside, Steam is offering an almost unbelievable 75% off the “Deus Ex” series right now for their weekend deal. While you can skip “Invisible War” safely, “Deus Ex” and “Human Revolution” are necessities to any gamer’s collection and serves to show how well this series would do in just about any format it decided to venture into.

Deus Ex was a huge part of my upbringing in video games. Needless to say, I was thrilled when Eidos announced Deus Ex 2. Even though the game was a bit of a letdown, I have high hopes for Deus Ex 3. The game could be incredible if Eidos just returns to the roots of the original. Honestly, I would take Deus Ex with updated graphics.

Eidos leaked two screenshots this week that have me more than a little concerned. The first shot is just a lighter. The second, that same lighter…wait for it…lighting a cigarette! How cool is that? You’re right, it’s not. Not at all. This is about the worst screenshot leak I’ve seen. Does the lighting look good? Of course it does, but there are hundreds of ways to show off cool lighting. Remember the first trailer for Black? That thing rocked, at a time when graphics on the Xbox were just starting to get decent.

The one saving grace is that the Eidos Community Guy that posted the screens said, “I can’t say a darn thing about this other than people who like to go into details will shortly have some new material to dissect.” Let’s hope it’s something good.