An A-Z of great PlayStation games - Part 1: A, B, and C.

Pretty much my favourite format of short form writing, the ‘A-Z’ - where I pick the single best game for a given console for each letter alphabet - usually means that games often overshadowed in more standard ‘listicles’ get a chance to shine.

The PlayStation is the earliest console that has been a constant in my collection since it was new. I’ve had games machines in my life going back to the mid eighties but would always sell, trade, or otherwise move on from them. 

However, I experienced so much regret soon after trading my Super Nintendo, that I resolved never to sell or trade a game or console I enjoyed ever again. So while it was technically the SNES that made me a 'collector', the PlayStation was the first game of that collection.

Which is all preamble to explain how hard it is going to be for me to pick just one game for each later for most of the alphabet with this machine. My collection has grown slowly over years to well over 120 games and while I do, and in fact just did, call it a ‘collection’, every one of my games was bought to be played and kept because it was enjoyed.

With this in mind I may mention one or two other games as I go. I’m basically opening myself up to the concept of honourable mentions - something I’ve always resisted before.

I’m going to split these up into easily digestible bite-sized chunks of three or four at a time, so let's begin, as is traditional in these matters, with the letter A, and continue on to C.

The Ace Combat series has grown into a sprawling, quasi-futuristic, melodramatic behemoth since the first game, renamed from Ace Combat to Air Combat in the west, was released 26 years ago. As you might imagine this first game is simpler and, while there is a plot, it is much more straightforward than those in the sequels, spin-offs, and it’s appearances in various other media.

There are fifteen or so real-world aircraft to choose from with performance more-or-less in line with what you’d expect from machines of their size and power but, fortunately, the attempts at realism end there.

Air Combat started out as Arcade game and, while the PlayStation version is not really a ‘port’ of its coin-op namesake, it very much keeps gameplay toward the fun and exciting end of the spectrum. I can’t remember if the missiles are infinite or so vast in number that they might as well be, but that should be indication enough that this is arcade action from start - via to death-defying canyon runs, high speed interceptions, and love-em-or-hate-em escort missions - to finish.

It has to be said that the first sequel adds a level of scale and polish to the original that should see it comfortably chosen to represent the series here, and it was a close run thing, but Air Combat includes a two player dog-fight mode that is brilliant in its simplicity and in which, with two decent pilots, battles can go on for a very long time time and take on a highly strategic structure.

Despite a direct sequel and many attempts over the years to create a ‘spiritual successor’, there has never been anything quite like the utter brilliance of Bushido Blade.

The developers, Light Weight, never made another game that even approached it’s quality, so Bushido Blade remains lightning in a bottle, a miraculous one-off who’s legacy has endured long after those of lesser polygon fighters has faded.

The game is most often celebrated for tense and brutal one-on-one battles that can be won with a single thrust or slice of your chosen weapon, and during which the tiniest mistake can leave you wounded, hobbled, or very very dead.

But beyond this headline there is a level of complexity and attention to detail that is often forgotten. Chief among which is the balance of characters when paired with one of the 8 weapons, each with it's own distinct characteristics and effects upon the combatants.

Often, pairing particular weapons and characters will open up new moves and combinations, but, additionally, making an poor selection can have negative effects.

I remember in particular that arming the young warrior Tatsumi with the enormous sledgehammer opened up a few moves particular to that combination - at least one of which ended with him falling under the weight of the weapon.

Another that sticks in my mind is the pairing of female fighter Mikado with the long Nodachi sword that resulted in an overhead swing that caused the character to stumble forward under the inertia.

Add to all this the ability to run away from fights, 2 endings for each character, link cable support, and the ‘Code of Bushido’; a set of rules of engagement, for which the punishment for conduct unbecoming a samurai was the immediate end of your game - and you have yourself a genuine, spectacular, one-of-a-kind masterpiece.

A two horse race here, with CT Special Forces just beating out idiosyncratic strategy RPG Carnage Heart for the honour of representing the letter C.

If Carnage Heart focused more on the strategy and less on the RPG we would probably have a different result here as it’s logic-gate programming of the mech-army is an absolute joy, but it spends a little too long on other elements for my tastes.

CT Special Forces, on the other hand, doesn’t waste a moment at any point during your play time with it.

On first appearances everything about the game screams cheap ‘Metal Slug’ knock-off; from the unknown developer to the obviously GBA port graphics, this is not a game that would leap from the shelf at anyone - nor, to be honest, does it fill one with inspiration when it first loads up. 

Real world pictures of military vehicles and stock marching music clashes with the cartoon character art from the very beginning and, once you start playing, you’ll find slow moving sprites and aiming that is limited to left, right, and straight up. 

As far the prerequisites for quality run and gun action goes, the first impressions are not exactly inspiring.

But as you ascend the first three level’s ‘Snowy Mountain’, the assumption that the straight upwards aiming is fairly limited is belied as it really comes into its own in the structure of the levels; as much you can progress in the usual style of this kind of game, it’s safer and more effective to clear a path from below before progressing upwards.

And more diversity from the run-and-gun norm is revealed the more you play. In the second level, for example, there is a great looking base-jump intermission whereby you must use the direction and altitude meters to know where and when to pull your chute. 

There’s also sniper sections, where you see only a small scope-view on a otherwise black screen and have to search for, and save, hostages. There’s even ‘Twin Cobra’ style vertical shooter levels in which you pilot a helicopter and attack air and ground targets.

All in all CT Special Forces is an unassuming gem which is highly recommended for any genre fan.