The 7 best action games ever

Whether you're running through jungles, sneaking through restricted areas of stabbing yourself through renaissance Italy, there's just something a bit special about the third-person action genre.

Okay, so you don't step behind the eyes of the protagonist and become a hero like in an FPS - you sort of follow the hero around. But that's why this genre spawns so many gaming icons so quickly: Solid Snake, Lara Croft, Nate Drake, we fell in love with them all almost over night.

Here are some of our favourite third-person action adventure games - quite the definitive Top 7, say we. But we're sure you've got your own opinions, so make sure you stick your own lists in the comment section below....


METAL GEAR SOLID
We all have our own personal favourite parts of the Metal Gear franchise - from surviving in the shrubbery of the jungle in Snake Eater to going ever so slightly loopy as a young Raiden in Sons of Liberty.

Let's not forget where it all began, though, with Solid Snake scuba-diving to Shadow Moses, crouching on one knee and picking up the call on the Codec. We'll never forget it.

1998's Metal Gear Solid is where it all began; the unruly story of conspiracy, the exclamation marks above startled henchmen's noggins, the funny neck-breaking tapping mechanic complete with odd choking noises spewing from the victim's gullet.

Metal Gear Solid spawned a series that has become absolutely legendary, as has the characters within it and the lore surrounding it. The original had a level of sophistication that we just hadn't seen in games in the '90s and for that reason it stealthily sneaks into out list.

UNCHARTED 2
It seems that Naughty Dog's treasure-hunting adventurer makes just about every list feature that finds its way on to the internet. If we're honest, we're struggling to find different ways to write about it, but write we must because it's here for a reason.

Uncharted 2 may not have blown the third-person adventure mechanics wide open or revolutionised the genre, it just did everything really well.

Not only did it look beautiful both in terms of graphical quality and design, it had fluid, impactful mechanics in a game that moved with perfect pacing thanks to a well crafted narrative and characters you could relate to.

Add to that spectacular set-pieces that spring up on you seamlessly without interrupting your control and you've got yourself an action game (and series, in fact) that's refined in every way and sets the bar for the rest of the industry.


ASSASSIN'S CREED: BROTHERHOOD
Assassin's Creed II did more than enough to remedy the slowly encroaching and ultimately engulfing disappointment of Assassin's Creed.

Assassin's Creed II offered a deeper, more entertaining protagonist than it's predecessor (sorry Altair, but you were a bit too straight and narrow) and a story with some proper narrative progression built in rather than just squashed into dialogue between repetitive missions.

But we've chosen Brotherhood because it manages to build on II taking it just that little bit further as far as action gaming is concerned. Having a group of assassins on call who've got your back at a moments notice was a neat and ultimately incredibly bad-ass feature and an improved combat system meant that killing could flow that little bit better.

Brotherhood's online suite redefined traditional multiplayer gameplay as well, bringing us a unique type of online action that was calm, collected and yet still ultimately very deadly.

SYPHON FILTER
Here's a little gem that doesn't get enough mention these days. Maybe that's because over the course of its lifetime, the Syphon Filter series suffered a steady decline but the original was a standout title in the third-person, action genre.

We'll be honest though, one of the main reasons we have a soft-spot for Syphon Filter is Gabe Logan's Taser. To put it bluntly, there hasn't been a better way to punish evil, machine gun touting henchmen before or since and a small part of us refuses to believe there ever will be.

And we know that you did exactly the same as we did over a decade ago: Clear out a room of bad guys leaving just one, snag him with the trusty Taser and repeatedly hit him with bolts of electricity every time he's about to fire (don't forget to let him cool down every now and then).

But we can't spend a whole section just talking about the Taser; that would be unfair. Syphon Filter also managed to combine a number of action gameplay elements; from stealth to puzzling to good old running and gunning, delivering a well-balanced and challenging experience overall.


DEAD SPACE
Out of all the action games on this list, none of them managed to utilise atmosphere and impose it upon the player quite like Dead Space. We knew we were in for a scary treat right from the off when, after our first unpleasant encounter with a necromorph, we actually found ourselves weighed down with apprehension as we moved forwards through the game.

Usually when a game has atmosphere at its core it goes down the Silent Hill route of being quiet, patient and eerie. Dead Space 2, on the other hand, managed to create a spine-chilling world which would explode all of a sudden into a frenzied battle that made you feel like your back was constantly up against the wall.

Aside from the perfect balance between action and anticipation, we just loved the feel of Dead Space. Isaac Clarke felt weighty with every step he took in his engineer's suit and the array of weapons he carried felt suitably sharp and devastating.

TOMB RAIDER
The very fact that Uncharted was and still is compared to early Tomb Raider games is a compliment to both franchises. In our eyes there's a sub-genre within the third-person action/adventure world that slops a healthy dollop of puzzlement into the mix as well.

In fact if you had to criticise the almighty Uncharted name in any way you'd have to say that the puzzling that it does have a stab at is somewhat simple. The original Tomb Raider allowed us to explore a world that was stunning for its time on a level that hadn't been seen before. Although your path was a linear one, you often had to have a good old rummage around to find it. It was that balance between action, adventure and exploration that made Tomb Raider so successful.

Tom Raider's main asset, however, had to be the game's heroine herself. Strong, sexy and agile, Lara Croft became a role model for many and a gaming icon to rival Sonic and Mario.

When it comes to action, there aren't many out there who managed to do it quite like Lara.


BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM
Because we've never really been completely satisfied by anything that's come out of the world of superheroes when it comes to video games, Batman: Arkham Asylum was more than a pleasant surprise.

Usually, when it comes to putting a pixel-packed hero on our screens, developers tend to take the shortcut of putting together a basic action game and then dressing the main character in whatever coloured lycra suit is needed to get away with stamping a big comic book name on the box.

Not Rocksteady. With Batman: Arkham Asylum, the London based developer started with the hero himself and built everything around him. Rocksteady geared everything towards the Dark Knight from the free-flowing hand-to-hand combat to the quick and painful, stealthy takedowns. Funnily enough, when you do things the Batman way, you end up with a pretty gripping and immensely fun action game. Who'd have thought it.

Then there was the world itself. Basing the game entirely within the dank, dingy walls of Arkham Asylum was a stroke of genius. Not only did it keep some of the most colourful rogues in the history of anything close at hand but it also meant that we were never in danger of losing the gothic atmosphere that the Bat thrives in.