Swan Starling – Google

My favorite game of all time. 17 years and still playing. The setup is like a game of chess; it's different every time. Between the six levels and two variations on those levels, plus the four types of mechs you can control, there are 48 possible setups, some of them very hard to complete. The best setup is with the Type-9, Machine guns, either the MG3 or PMG, and MSB's as the alternate weapons. The MSB's blow up when an enemy is near, and on the Egypt level is the only practical way to win within the 12-minute time limit. Very fast, very responsive controls and different settings make it fun to try new setups with weaker tanks and still win.

Depending on the platform, this game gets much harder with each level. Some levels are so overwhelming with enemy fire you cannot hope to win without an active cheat, namely, infinite shields. After you beat the last level, there is a short video, but it will not let you save after that so you can go back and replay the levels with the ship you have built up. Disappointing. Very hard to control at first. It's no wonder why it didn't do very well.

This is a very challenging and realistic video game. There is no 1-player mode where you can start without creating a profile and just play the time-trials. These online games now are marketing genius, but bad for consumers, in that once, before online gaming, all the features, bonuses and easter eggs were already on the disc and you simply had to reach a certain point to unlock them. Now, you have to have a Playstation account, and they have you by the hairs, because in order to use all the features, they nickel and dime you to about $500 or so, $1.99 or $2.49 at a time. You don't get all the fun with the initial price, you have to keep on paying, which is why I surrendered the PS4 system and returned to the PS2 level, where you don't have to pay ten times what the game costs to get all the fun out of it.