It’s Summer, that time of the year where you go to beach parties, travel the world, discover your true nature or play video games. Whatever you do, it’s up to you! A season like this asks for a new top 10. This month, we share our personal top 10 of Summer-themed video games.
10) Sunset Overdrive (Xbox One)
Sunset Overdrive was one of the Xbox One original launch games and was created by Insomniac Games. Today, it still stands tall as one of the console’s better exclusives that ever released. The idea behind it was pretty innovating. You had to kill zombies in sunny environments using the rails to grind over the environment like Tony Hawk would do. The fast action and great multiplayer resulted in a great game. Sunset Overdrive is extremely colorful and sunny, earning a spot on this list for sure.
9) Far Cry 3 (multiplatform)
The Far Cry franchise always had a Summer vibe over it from the start. Yet, Far Cry 3 feels the best fit for this list. The reason for this is because the story itself is all about a holiday gone wrong. We follow a cute couple on their adventures but none would have expected the insane nemesis taking them hostage, forcing them to fight back. Far Cry 3 marked the start of the crazy nemesis for the Far Cry franchise and is a memorable game without a doubt. If you took out all the violence, you’re left with a gorgeous sunny island where a lot of people would definitely like to spend their vacation.
8) Forza Horizon 3 (Windows platforms)
Forza Horizon 3 is set in the sunny Australia where you’re in charge of your own Forza Horizon Festival. It doesn’t get a lot sunnier than this! Australia was recreated with a lot of care and a lot of variation. A lot of sand, forests and road to cover in this one! The best part of the game was the randomly cruising around in the gorgeous environments. The game was created with a lot of love, resulting in amazing visuals. While you were driving across Surfers’ Paradise you simply couldn’t ignore the gorgeous sea view. Want to feel the Summer vibe? Boot up this one!
7) Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (multiplatform)
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is one of the favorite Assassin’s Creed games in the franchise for a lot of gamers. The reason? Innovation! Black Flag introduced us to the world of pirates. Our new protagonist was a fierce pirate that fought his battles on the open waters. The naval combat introduced in this game eventually led to the existence of Ubisoft’s new franchise ‘Skull and Bones’. As if pirates weren’t great enough already, Ubisoft created an open world paradise of sunny islands for you to discover. Setting sail towards another sunny location worked extremely relaxing.
6) Guild Wars: Heart of Thorns (PC)
Heart of Thorns takes you to the massive jungle of Maguuma. A place where you can enjoy hot sunny days and battle exotic monsters with the help of your new exciting masteries. After a dangerous battle against these jungle foes, there’s lots of exploring to do. Traverse through these dark places and find mysterious landscapes like massive waterfalls, refreshing water ponds surrounded by glow-in-the-dark flora. Lighten the mood with some exhilarating short games and meta events that’s the perfect place to socialize with your buddies in arms.
5) The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (GameCube)
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker originally released on GameCube and later got the HD remaster on Nintendo’s Wii U. It doesn’t matter which version you’ve played since both of them were extremely sunny and colorful. The gorgeous cel-shaded blue ocean was your home for a couple of hours in the Zelda game. The story itself was very fun to follow but just discovering every small island on your iconic boat was perhaps the best part of the game. There aren’t a lot of games capable of translating Summer this well.
4) Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 (PlayStation)
Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, a game where bikini girls play volleyball in sunny locations. Need I say more? This is the perfect Summer game right there. If you can’t visit holiday resorts this year, this virtual version of it might be able to compensate for that. To be honest, this is a game that will appeal to the manly gamer more, for obvious reasons.
3) Dead Island (multiplatform)
Man, the original Dead Island trailer still is considered as one of the best gaming related trailers ever created. The game itself turned out the be a little different but it gathered around a lot of fans over the year. In Dead Island, you’ll have to fight zombies in first person on a sunny resort. Back in the days, it was kind of innovating the create such a colorful zombie game, earning it’s spot on the list. The resort doesn’t look that good while it’s being overrun by zombies but if you can look past that, you’ll notice a sunny location worth checking out.
2) Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube)
Super Mario Sunshine is all about a sunny island and a lot of sunshine. In this game, Mario got the help of a handy device called F.L.U.D.D. which enabled him to spray water to clean the island from the dirty ink. Besides that, Mario could also use the water to hover over the platforms. It resulted in the sunniest Super Mario adventure to date and thanks to the handy tool, it’s also one of the only major Super Mario games that dared to innovate.
1) Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand (Game Boy Advance)
There can only be one game on top of the list and for this one, it’s Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand. Created by Konami for the Game Boy Advance, the game played like a traditional Castlevania whit only one big difference; you needed the actual sun to move on. Thanks to a special sensor in the gamecard, players could absorb real life sunlight to use it in the game so they could fire their gun. It’s the ultimate Summer-vibe game since it’s only playable during the Summer.
And that’s it for this month! Hope these games brought a little sunshine, be sure to check them out if you haven’t already! Don’t agree or missing a game on this list? Don’t hesitate to let us know. We’ll be back at the end of next month with another one of our lists!
