Number 5: God of War
# of Games: 7
The God of War franchise began with the title of the same name. A hack-and-slash/action game set in ancient Greece, God of War introduced the protagonist Kratos as a vengeful Spartan looking to exact revenge on his previous master, Ares, who is now waging war against the gods. Since its release, the highly successful game received two direct sequels: one on PS2 and one on PS3, two side story titles on the PSP and one small game on mobile phones entitled "Betrayal." In addition, this coming March the franchise will receive its seventh entry, Ascension, which will be set before all the other games and introduce multiplayer into the series. One of the reasons God of War is on this list is because of its appeal and compelling story. There were points in the game where I did not want to keep playing, but did because I was curious about what was going to happen next. The game also redefines many ancient Greek figures and beasts, giving a whole new take on characters such as Hades, who appears as a Big Daddy like executioner. The game is also quite difficult, which can go either way for the player, but in my case, I quite enjoyed it. For all these reasons, God of War deserves the number five spot on this list.
Number Four: Spyro the Dragon
# of Games: 10
Spyro, the dragon you now see featured in Skylanders, was once a Playstation-exclusive franchise created by Insomniac Games for the PS1. Due to Spyro becoming multiplatform after the first three games, this article is mostly going to refer to those three games, although there are some elements from Enter the Dragonfly and A Hero's Tail that could apply. Spyro the Dragon is a platformer about a purple dragon of the same name and his companion Sparx who constantly try to save different worlds from different evils. The first game's gameplay was centered around saving trapped dragons to stop Gnasty Gnorc from conquering the different realms. The second and third games introduced more characters such as Hunter and Sgt. Penguin who became fan favorites, and even became playable in the third installment. All the worlds in the Spyro series were very colorful and well-designed and had tons to do, whether it be collecting gems or finding dragon eggs. The way the player could progress through the levels was also memorable, as you could either do a little in each world or do alot in one world and skip another world entirely if you so please, although there were extra rewards for players who completed them all. Spyro the Dragon will always remain as one of the greatest franchises in my heart before it was sold to Activision and utterly destroyed.
Number Three: Jak & Daxter
# of Games: 5
Jak & Daxter was first introduced on PS2 by Crash Bandicoot developer Naughty Dog. The franchise so far includes five games: the three main series titles on PS2 and two spin-offs on PSP, one being a game entirely about Daxter. A fourth main series game was originally planned for the PS3, but Naughty Dog found trouble in creating a realistic Jak & Daxter game so dropped it in favor of other projects. The first Jak & Daxter game is significantly different from its sequels. It was more similar to the previous franchise Naughty Dog had worked on, Crash Bandicoot, and had players going through a variety of different worlds to collect "power cells." It was similar to Spyro in the sense where not all the power cells needed to be collected, leaving the player the option to skip entire worlds should they choose. The first game's gameplay was centered around a substance known as Eco, with different colors giving the player different abilities for a certain amount of time. The second and third games, on the other hand, introduced a different style of gameplay, scrapping the Eco concept entirely, except for in the story, and replacing it with the Morph Gun, a device that had many different weaponized functions. In addition, these games saw a more linear "mission" system where the player was given missions to progress the story, although the world did increase significantly. Jak & Daxter also tended to have a somewhat good story, with very memorable villains and characters, as well as Daxter always providing some charm. Jak & Daxter easily makes this list as one of the best Playstation franchises of all time.
Number Two: Ratchet & Clank
# of Games: 11
Ratchet & Clank was developed by the same developer as Spyro the Dragon, Insomniac Games, and was the developer's major franchise throughout the PS2 and PS3 era. Currently, the series contains eleven entries, four main entries on PS2 and five on PS3, with two being downloadable titles and the latest two being multiplayer co-op, and two spin-offs on PSP, one being solely on Clank. Ratchet and Clank was a big move from Spyro the Dragon. While still being a platformer, Ratchet & Clank's gameplay is based entirely on weapons. There are hundreds of different weapons and gadgets featured in the Ratchet & Clank series, all of which are upgradable the more they are used to the point where some of them become different weapons. Most of the R&C games have tons to do and collect, while the primary story is usually mission based, but there is tons of room to go back to previous levels and find collectables should the player choose. Unlike Spyro, the player does not have the option to play the levels in different orders or skip levels entirely, as the story requires the levels to be played in a linear fashion, but it is not limited to this. The story is usually wacky, although the PS3 "Future" trilogy attempted to make story a more integral part of the series, having a more deep and intense story than the previous titles. The games also have tons of memorable characters ranging from Captain Qwark to the evil Dr. Nefarious. If you haven't played a Ratchet & Clank game, I urge you to get on that, as this is easily a must-have franchise for any Playstation fan.
Number One: inFamous
# of Games: 3
Coming in at #1, it is the infamous inFamous franchise (yes yes, I intended that). Infamous was a franchise introduced in the PS3 era by Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch wanted to make a comic-book story kind of game that had a high emphasis on moral choices and the resulthe result was inFamous. While the franchise only has three titles, and one being a downloadable spin-off, it still has some of the most innovative, unique, and fun gameplay of any series ever created. In infamous, you take on the role of Cole Macgrath, a bike courier who gained the ability to manipulate electricity after he survived a radioactive explosion. The entire gameplay is centered around electricity. In a third-person shooter/action type way, Cole is able to shoot electric bolts, grenades, rockets and even do some pretty crazy stuff like create shields or fly. The player must always pay attention to their health or energy levels, and if they are running low on either, can draw electricity from any nearby source of power. The tricky part is, sometimes there is no source of power nearby or the power is out, causing dilemmas for the player. The world is in a sand-box style similar to Grand Theft Auto, and missions are given on the map by various important characters, although there are also tons of side-missions available. There are also moral choices in many of the missions that will begin to change Cole's karma, as well as any little thing you do resulting in a change. For instance, if you kill civilians, you will gain evil karma, but if you heal civilians, you will gain good karma. Depending on Cole's karmic alliance, his look and powers will begin to change. In inFamous 2, the difference between Evil and Good Cole is especially different with one gaining fire powers and the other ice. In addition to the amazing gameplay, inFamous also has a very good story with alot of complicated, yet graspable plot-points. Easily, inFamous is the greatest Playstation franchises and probably one of the top 5 best franchises of all time.
Honourable Mentions:
LittleBigPlanet
Crash Bandicoot
Sly Cooper
Uncharted
Giuliano V.
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