[Top 5] My Top 5 Favorite DS Games

I'm having a little bit of writer's block, and I don't want to have 4 game reviews in a row, so I'm doing a short little blog about my 5 all time favorite DS games. Also, it seems appropriate to do this in celebration of the new Professor Layton. By the time you're reading this, I'll be playing it.

5. Pokemon Pearl Version
Recorded Game Time: 214 Hrs. 03 Min. Honestly, I barely have any recollection of this game at all. When I first saw this I was more surprised than you probably are right now.

This slot could easily have been taken by a few other games. The only reason I picked this one is because of the obscene amount of time I spent playing it. 214 Hours spent playing it seems like a pretty reasonable tie-breaker. I'm not going to bother explaining a pokemon game, though. Everyone should already know what to expect, aside from a few new features included and online battling/trading with voice speak(on the DS fuck yeah!)

4. Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Recorded Game Time: 137 Hrs. 07 Min. A lot but not surprising. One match of Advance Wars can easily take over an hour. Damn turn based strategy games.

Advance Wars is just one of those franchises that seems to take the same game and reinvent it every few years. Not that this is a bad thing, of course. If you haven't played an Advance Wars game, it's a turn based strategy game on a grid(similar to chess), and you have different units that can move different lengths and use different attacks. All in all, it's a very complicated game with a lot of depth and strategy.

3. Geometry Wars Galaxies
Estimated Game Time: There is no actual counter in the game that keeps track of how long you've played, so I'm just going to have to make a real vague guess of about 40-60 hours. With this game, it's just too easy to lose track of time.

I've often referred to this game as Asteroids on crack. Check out my review of it here.

2. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Recorded Game Time: 17 Hrs. 04 Min. (w/ 2 extra puzzles left) Granted I haven't spend as much time playing Professor Layton as these other games, I feel it just has so much to offer in the time it takes to play it.

I just reviewed this game here.

1. Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Recorded Game Time: 212 Hrs. 25 Min. This is actually 1 1/2 playthroughs of the game. My first playthrough was 159 Hrs. 32 Min. and the one I've been lazily working on for the past year is at 52 Hrs. 53 Min. Once again, another damn turn based strategy game.

I love this game so much. Even the story(which is often complained about). Another turn based strategy on a grid here, except this game is an RPG making it more like Fire Emblem than Advance Wars. Part of why I love this game so much is because it is by far the most immersive game I've ever played, with the highest quality of content throughout the entire game. In terms of immersion and quality, it feels like a high budget MMO only it's not an MMO. I would compare it to Oblivion more than anything in this aspect. Deep gameplay and immersion with hundreds of hours of gameplay to be had, only on a grid. And I dig grids. There is a good chance I will review this game in the future and when/if that day comes I'll add the link here.

Making this only a top 5 list was kind of hard, and there were some games that really just barely fell off the edge for me. Mario Kart DS, Yoshi's Island DS and Phantom Hourglass come to mind, but honestly you should try all these games if you have a DS. Also, I didn't want to put Kirby Super Star Ultra on here because it's just a remake with some new content.

Please keep in mind that this was written July 24, 2009, meaning Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Phantasy Star Zero, Mario & Luigi 3, Golden Sun DS and many other future hits haven't come out yet. These are all games that have a good shot at making this list, and I might even make a second list sometime in the future.