As part of the 5 year retrospective of the PS3, it’s only fitting that we have a listing of the top 10 titles that helped the PS3 out along the way. The next 5 years of coming games should prove to be  just as exciting, if not even more…

• #10 — Resident Evil 5 (Capcom)

Chris Redfield, a former STARS member and now part of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is dispatched to Kijuju, Africa to work with Sheva Alomar to apprehend Ricardo Irving before he can sell a bio-organic weapon (BOW) on the black market. Upon arriving, they discover the locals have been converted by parasites into Majini, and that the members of the BSAA’s Alpha team have been killed. Chris and Sheva are rescued by BSAA’s Delta team, whose membership includes Sheva’s mentor Josh Stone. In the data provided by Josh, Chris sees a photograph of Jill Valentine, his old partner, presumed dead after a confrontation with Albert Wesker. Chris, Sheva, and Delta team close in on Irving, but he manages to escape with the help of a hooded figure, leaving behind documents that lead Chris and Sheva to oil fields in the marshlands where Irving’s deal is to occur. They soon discover this was a diversion created by Irving to allow the deal to take place. Chris and Sheva attempt to regroup with Delta team, but at the rendezvous, find the team slaughtered by a BOW; Sheva cannot find Josh among the bodies. Chris refuses to report to headquarters, revealing his determination to learn if Jill is still alive.

The chickens literally come home to roost in the next major story arc for the Resident Evil series. Capcom reunites gamers with fan favorite characters Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker and put on a damn good show in the process.

• #9 – Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream|SCE)

Ethan Mars is a father who is trying to save his son from being the next victim, while investigative journalist Madison Paige, FBI profiler Norman Jayden, and private detective Scott Shelby are each trying to track down clues to the Origami Killer’s identity. The player interacts with the game by performing actions highlighted on screen related to motions on the controller, and in some cases, performing a series of quick time events during fast-paced action sequences. The player’s decisions and actions during the game will affect the narrative; the main characters can be killed, and certain actions may lead to different scenes and endings.

Gaming gets a true moviegoer interactive experience from Quantic Dream’s follow up to Indigo Prophecy. Not only do you become Ethan Mars, you also control the fate of not 1, but 5 different characters and get plugged in to one of the best mystery games on any console.

• #8 — Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Insomniac Games|SCE)

In the midst of working on a hoverbike on the planet Kerwan in Metropolis, Ratchet and Clank receive a desperate call for help from Captain Quark, which they respond to. They find that a large army of robotic commandos have laid a full-scale assault on the capital city, led by Emperor Tachyon, crown prince of the Cragmites. Tachyon reveals that he is after Ratchet, the last Lombax in the galaxy; outnumbered and overpowered, Ratchet and Clank flee. The two decide they must learn more about Tachyon and begin to search the Polaris galaxy for answers. During their investigation, Clank is visited by small robots called the Zoni that only he can see; the Zoni upgrade Clank and tell him that he is special, and that he must help Ratchet make a difficult choice in their current adventure. The duo also acquire the aid of Talwyn Apogee, the daughter of Max Apogee, a famous explorer who collected artifacts from the Lombax culture before he mysteriously disappeared.

Tools of Destruction is single-handedly one of PS3′s most underrated titles. Carrying over the strong legacy established by the PS2 releases in the series, it is still among one of the strongest titles in the PS3 library.

• #7 — Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal|Ubisoft)

Assassin’s Creed II begins immediately after the events of the first game in 2012; Desmond Miles is still trapped by Abstergo Industries (the modern-day face of the Knights Templar) after being forced to use the Animus device to revisit genetic memories of the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad, and has discovered prophetic warnings from Subject 16 (a previous captive) describing the end of the world. He is soon rescued by Lucy Stillman, a mole for the Assassins within Abstergo, who takes him to meet two other Assassins, historian Shaun Hastings and computer expert Rebecca Crane. They request that Desmond use their version of the Animus, the Animus 2.0, to relive memories of another Assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, to train Desmond in the ways of the Assassins through the “Bleeding Effect” of the Animus. During his exposure, Desmond finds himself briefly struck by a puzzling memory of Altaïr and his lover, a former Templar named Maria who became pregnant with his child. It is also revealed that apart from training Desmond as an Assassin, the Assassins also wish to find out more information about the foretold Vault. Desmond also finds various glyphs left by Subject 16 in the Animus, which, when decoded and assembled, form a brief video of a man and woman, “Adam” and “Eve”, running through a futuristic setting called “Eden”. The video ends with the binary for “Eden”.

It’s arguable that sequels are never as good as the originals but with Assassin’s Creed II, it was better. Ubisoft Montreal went back to the drawing board and freed the series from a lot of the tediousness that made a lot of gamers cry out how boring Assassin’s Creed was.

• #6 — Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward|Activision)

Developer Infinity Ward returns with its third full installment in the Call of Duty series with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Eschewing the traditional WWII setting that has been the hallmark of the series, Call of Duty 4 takes on the more nebulous world of modern warfare. Nazi storm troopers and kamikaze pilots have been replaced by a patchwork group of terrorists and insurgents, and traditional WWII weapons have been jettisoned in favor of more than 70 modern armaments. Though the story is a departure from the previous games, Call of Duty 4 still features intense mission-based first-person shooter gameplay that should be familiar to fans.

The face of war on consoles received a true revision when Infinity Ward stepped up and brought it to the here and now. In the process of doing so, they grabbed the attention of gamers everywhere that hated first-person shooters based on historic battles and looking form something more streamlined, more intuitive, more modern.

• #5 — God of War III (Santa Monica Studio|SCE)

Kratos wants to do one thing: kill Zeus. It’s the only goal that the “Ghost of Sparta” has in the entirety of God of War III, and everything from the epic beginning moments to the final credits serves to make that happen.

This is how it ends! Kratos grew to become a legend in video gaming history and Santa Monica Studio delivers one hell of closing to the series.

• #4 — Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital|SCE)

To a racing gamer it comes down to one of 2 things: simulation or arcade. If you are of the former group, then you probably bought your PS3 just to get Gran Turismo 5. The game is pure perfection!

• #3 — Little Big Planet (Media Molecule|SCEE)

Little Big Planet is a world full of creations made by the eight Creator Curators. However, the eighth Creator, a rogue Creator called “the Collector” is stealing the other Creators’ creations and not sharing them with the world (sharing is one of the core elements of LittleBigPlanet), and later, the Creators themselves.

Literally the closest thing PS3 has to an actual Super Mario title, Little Big Planet is platforming genius on both a big and small scale. It also introduced the world to Sackboy, the cutest mascot in all of gamedom.

• #2 — Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Naughty Dog|SCE)

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is the story of Nathan Drake, a fortune-hunter with a shady reputation and an even shadier past who is lured back into the treacherous world of thieves and mercenary treasure-seekers. The tenth game by premier Playstation 3 developer Naughty Dog, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves allows players to take control of Drake and embark on a journey that will push him to his physical, emotional and intellectual limits to discover the real truth behind the lost fleet of Marco Polo and the legendary Himalayan valley of Shambhala.

With a tradition for taking the best features from different genres of gaming, Naughty Dog pushed so many boundaries and set the bar so high forUncharted 2, that what you had in you system was one thing: perfection.

• #1 — Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots (Kojima Productions|Konami)

Set in 2014, nine years after the plot of Metal Gear Solid and five years after Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. The world economy relies on continuous war, fought by PMCs, which outnumber government military forces. PMC soldiers are outfitted with nanomachines that enhance their abilities on the battlefield. The control network created through these nanomachines is called Sons of the Patriots (SOP), and Liquid Ocelot is preparing to hijack the system. Snake, meanwhile, is experiencing accelerated aging due to his status as a clone, and has less than a year to live. When his former commanding officer Roy Campbell approaches him with one last mission – to terminate Liquid – Snake accepts and is dropped into the Middle Eastern war zone where Liquid is believed to be hiding.

MGS4 literally sold systems worldwide. Marking the end (!) of the Sons of Big Boss story, we finally get to see how decades of conspiracies and counter-intelligence culminates into a masterpiece that’ll not soon be forgotten.

There’s quite a few more games deserving to be on this list, but we could only list 10. Feel like a game you love should have been on this list? Leave a comment below and let’s talk it over.

Where do all our dreams go? Straight to a place called Little Big Planet?

The traditional platformer goes simple on the Playstation 3 Computer Entertainment System. At first glance, this really cute and basic game created from the minds of Media Molecule looks like many others in the platform genre before it’s time. Little Big Planet changes that entirely when you are introduced to the ever-loveable hero, Sack Boy.

In Little Big Planet, the player runs, jumps, swings and even skateboards through highly innovative and imaginative levels. Perils do lurk about and you and your Sack Boy are always a skip away from the dreaded “Game Over”. Spanning eight stages which are made up of 4-5 levels, our little Sack Boy is set to go on one big adventure. Media Molecule delivers a fantastic game with well thought out stages that are beautifully artistic and fun on the eyes as well as an uplifting soundtrack that plugs you into the game. Staying true to tradition with recent platforming games, up to 4 players can join in on the action allowing for truly fun gaming. Besides being cute and bouncy, mischief is in high spirits as Sack Boy catches rides on flying birds, uses giraffes like elevators, braves stampedes of buffalo for new accessories, and even swings from the tails of monkeys to reach his goals. The gameplay is clever and really amusing with stories uniquely disguised throughout the levels.

Adding to the cuteness factor, players are able to dress up and fully customize their Sack Boy with really awesome items and clothing. You can customize everything, from his hair, to his eyes and mouth and even his expressions. This is done through use of an in-game tool called the Pop-It. The Pop-It doesn’t just allow you to make fashion choices for Sack Boy, it’s also your main interface to the game and the community of Little Big Planet.

Utilizing the PlayStation Network, Little Big Planet puts players in touch with their very own planet through multiplayer gaming. You can challenge players from all over through levels and even compete for ranking in the game’s stages via the leaderboards. As an added bonus, PS3 owners that have a PlayStation Eye camera can take pictures of themselves and plug the photos into the game as well.

If you’ve never heard anything about this game, Little Big Planet really makes its mark on the gaming community by giving the player the power to design their own stages. After you’ve learned the ropes of how to play the game, head over to the MyMoon area, and get started creating. It is here where your imagination takes over. By selecting various templates or simply starting from scratch with a completely blank level, off you go on your own platforming journey. Preset limits govern how big your created stage can be and the game itself does a noteworthy job of keeping areas from becoming overcrowded with obstacles. For those who are extremely obsessive-compulsive, this game provides the challenge of making stages that are both well-balanced and fun. Whether you’re a casual gamer who wants to dabble a little bit or a hardcore gamer with the heart of a modder, who wants to spend 40 hours on a level, the choice is yours. Once finished, your created stages can be plugged onto the PlayStation Network and shared with everyone.

With all this gaming goodness, Little Big Planet has a few hindrances. The physics of the game can be slippery at times and jumping around can lead to more trouble than it’s worth in some cases. Also, pesky camera issues tend to foul up multiplayer games which can result in unanticipated deaths of teammates. Overall, the level design of the original game content that ships with the game makes for a really fun time and the replay value of the game will lead to hours of gameplay with our little hero Sack Boy. Play, create and share is the motto for the game, and it’s one the Little Big Planet does a fantastic job of for everyone from the hardcore to the uber-casual.

SCEA is taking action to rectify the situation and will be shipping the game to retail the week of October 27th rather than next week’s release. The interesting thing about the whole situation though? Retail stores have a Little Big Stash of the game on hand already.

We’ll have more as well as our Little Big Planet review on PopCultureShock shortly.