Welcome to Respawning’s Games Club! The purpose of this is to get a bunch of us together once a week, to allow us the chance to chat shit about whatever takes our fancy in the world of video games and discuss what we’re currently playing.
With Lego The Incredibles launching, we took to our old, stored away toys, left in our dusty attics and damp garages to bring you our favourite games based off of toys!
- Note, for this list, games must be based off of the concept of toys, or be actual, physical toys. For instance, any games based off of Toy Story count, interactive toys like Disney Infinity or Skylanders count, any Lego games count, and yes, surprisingly, Warhammer counts by extension.
Chris
Converting the Tamagotchi-like Digimon virtual pet franchise into both an anime and series of games was genius, and Digimon World on the PlayStation remains one of my favourites to this very day. You’re a typical kid in Japan, fighting others with your Digi Device, until one day, you’re sucked into it, and discover the world of Digimon is real – Jujimon, the Digimon that finds you, tasks you with recruiting others to help rebuild his city, and to help uncover the nefarious plot of a real-world programmer slowly taking advantage of the Digital World.
Taking the virtual pet idea to the next level, Digimon World puts let’s raise their Digimon from egg to Ultimate in a 3D environment, taking their friend with them as they explore the vast File Isle setting. The game is set up like a light-RPG, with your Digimon battling wild ones as you roam, and using items and training to refine its stats. There’s card collecting, arenas, store management…this game really has it all.
I’d wholly recommend picking it up, but unfortunately, the game also had a bug per region: In one region, the game crashed whenever you played the Jukebox; and in another, a story event failed to trigger (though there are, apparently, workarounds for it). But PS4’s Digimon World: Next Order is essentially a spiritual remake, so that could be worth considering, too.
Javier
Hands down it’s ‘Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue’. This is still one of my favorite PlayStation games and it’s just really fucking great. There’s a high level of sandbox fun when you’re tiny and the world is big; essentially you’ve got to run around collecting things and killing things. I don’t know what it is about this game but when I think of it there is joy in my heart! I bloody love this game.
Also any Micro Machines game but particularly the Gameboy release for me. I spent a lot of time racing around mini tracks trying to unlock new vehicles and beat the fastest laps.
William
You’ve got to go a long way to beat the original LEGO Star Wars. I remember sinking so many hours into that game. In fact, I nearly missed my History GCSE because I was slacking off at my friend’s house playing! This was the first REALLY good LEGO game, and was released before voice acting became prevalent in the franchise… And you know what? I miss the old school LEGO games that relied on telling the story with a funny, silent, slapstick style! With a fun co-op jump in jump out style and some awesome vehicle levels, there is plenty in this game to keep you amused regardless of your age.
Salman
Man, if you did not play ANY of the Yu-Gi-Oh games on the GBA then you certainly missed out. You see, I love Yu-Gi-Oh, and I especially love collecting cards… But the thing is, that collecting cards is very expensive, and almost impossible where I live. I have a very small collection from when it was possible when I was younger but that was about it. So, when I got Eternal Duelists Soul and Sacred Cards it was like having a giant virtual collection! It still scratched that itch of having a huge collection, and in a way, it felt a lot nicer because it wasn’t taking up space. It was just in a neat little cartridge!
Ben
Hmmm, the model game player’s hardon, hand-built models to play war with. Unfortunately, physical figures are also very expensive, especially if you start looking at the Space Marines for Warhammer 40k. So, the alternative is to play a computer game of it. For me, it’s a game that’s now 11 years old and was on the PSP (Oh how I miss that thing). Warhammer 40,000: Squad Command was a turn-based tacticle shooter. Imagine XCOM but with Warhammer.
The game not only featured a single player campaign where you play with the Imperium’s Ultramarines across 15 missions, but it also had a multiplayer mode that worked either locally with Ad-Hoc connection, or globally with WiFi… So if you have a PSP still (Like me), don’t have any money (… Again, like me), and still like Warhammer (… Seeing a trend here?), this is definitely worth the £7.99 asking price off the PSN Store, or if you can find one in a CEX, they’re only about £1.
Joe
Bounding off of Ben’s comments on Warhammer 40k: Squad Command, I feel a bit of an obligation to shout to the heavens about my all-time-favorite Strategy game – Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War – Dark Crusade – The inclusion of the brand new, and terrifying Necrons was triumphantly signaled with the release of this masterclass in strategy titles – Allowing you to control either the Space Marines, Eldars, Dark Eldars, Chaos Legion, Imperial Guard, Necrons, Orcs or Tau lead to some extremely long, satisfying and entertaining wars.
Seeing the very battles you would play out on the desks at your local school or game center, fit with punchy gunshots, booming explosions and impressive units of colossal scale just can’t be beat – Combine this with a 6+ hour main campaign, and a well balanced roster of units, and you have yourself a masterpiece.
…Now if only Dawn of War IV would arrive, and not suck.