20. Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Silicon Knights | Konami | 2004

A slick remake of the revolutionary spy drama that's still considered by many to be the best entry in the Metal Gear saga

What made it so great?
Take the single greatest game of the PSone generation, inject a fresh graphical update and all the cool new gameplay features from its PS2 sequel, and you've got an instant classic. Developed by Canadian developer Silicon Knights and filled with new cutscenes by Japanese film director Ryuhei Kitamura (Versus, Godzilla: Final Wars), Twin Snakes packed in enough cool new stuff to wow newcomers and keep the series' faithful riveted.

Underneath all the new stuff is the same enduring story of war, death, love and betrayal that made Metal Gear Solid an international phenomenon. Solid Snake is just as likable, Meryl is just as tragic and the bosses are still human enough that you'll actually feel kinda bad after you kill them - even if you desperately wanted to while fighting them. Some of the Matrix-inspired cutscenes come off as more laughable than exciting, but Twin Snakes' sneaky-shooty gameplay is some of the best you'll find on the Cube or any other system.

Get ready to play
As with all Metal Gears, try to stay out of sight. If you've played the original Metal Gear Solid, there are a few new things to get used to - like first-person aiming and the ability to drag and hide bodies. And make sure you're playing with a wired, rumble-enabled controller, too - otherwise, it just won't be quite as cool when you meet up with floating mind-reader Psycho Mantis.

Been there, done that?
No game gets critics weepy quite like Beyond Good & Evil, and with good reason: it's one of the best adventures of the past five years, and nobody bought it. Maybe it was the photojournalist-fighting-oppression storyline that turned people off, or maybe 2004 was just a really crowded year; whatever the reason, this badass sci-fi mash-up of Zelda and Grand Theft Auto gameplay styles went practically unnoticed. The good news? You can pick it up used for around $10.