Games that are Undeniably Great

[Rastien]

Cultural impact: leads to the birth of machinima via redvsblue, has a active and strong fanbase, and has lead to many changes within the fps genre.

It'll take a lot to convice me that Halo: Combat Evolved is not a undeniably great game.

I would contest that statement but its defintly one of the most well known ones.

Anyways on topic, Bastion narrative told through gameplay gorgeous enviroments and a very fun combat system.

 

[Kizi]

I disagree with Half Life and Portal. They're good; Half Life is a good action blockbuster, Portal is good clever puzzle gimmick. But going back to them now... It's not the same. Those formulas have been taken and improved.

Of all the billion thousand trillion FPS games these days, none of them have even come close to improving Half Life 2, save for maybe the gameplay mechanics in episode 1 and 2.

 

[Zac Smith]

I disagree with there being any games that are undeniably great. I personally can't stand zelda, games, none have ever appealed to me in my life, therefore I would deny they are great. Regardless of how many people say a game is great, there will always be a fair few that say it isn't

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Braid might come to be considered a kind of seminal artistic achievement in games comparable to Citizen Kane. It certainly jump started the art game scene and got people talking about the artistic merits of video games (well, that and Roger Ebert).I think it also fits because, while a lot of games have been mentioned that were fantastic, few if any aspired to be anything more than pure entertainment (even if it could be argued that they were). Furthermore, it really was a different approach to the design of games, not because of some cool gameplay features or a great story, but because everything in that game is relevant to the "meaning" of the work.

 

[VeneratedWulfen93]

Is there something wrong with me? I class myself as a gamer but I can't bring myself to like portal it's...just...so....boring.

But all across the internet its apparently a flawless gem of a game but I can't find any appeal in the game...Help!?

 

[Freaky Lou]

Portal 2 but seriously, you have a point. I guess I misspoke, Half Life is what I was thinking of when I wrote that. Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4 are good choices. I would add Metal Gear Solid 3.

Half-Life has definitely suffered from the many, many games who've taken its ideas and played with them. Some would argue, however, that HL gets points for inventing a lot of this stuff and for how well its AI holds up. I wouldn't know, personally. Still haven't played Half-Life.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

Portal 2 but seriously, you have a point. I guess I misspoke, Half Life is what I was thinking of when I wrote that. Metroid Prime and Resident Evil 4 are good choices. I would add Metal Gear Solid 3.

Half-Life has definitely suffered from the many, many games who've taken its ideas and played with them. Some would argue, however, that HL gets points for inventing a lot of this stuff and for how well its AI holds up. I wouldn't know, personally. Still haven't played Half-Life.

I agree, and I give Valve huge amounts of points for being innovators as well as putting out exquisitely polished products. But I doubt many people will be playing Half Life 1&2 in 10 or 20 years.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

fable the lost chapters, got problems with that you know where to find me.

hahahahahahahaha.

 

[northeast rower]

I'll throw in a name.

Burnout 3: Takedown.

As a (FUN) racing game i feel it is nearly impossible to find flaws.

Yes. Yes. YEEESS. yesyesyes. I miss this game so fucking much.

OT: Red Dead Redemption gets my vote. Does it have flaws? Yes. I still consider it the best game of all time.

 

[Terminate421]

People, what we have here is a game that is perfect at what it does.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

I'll throw in a name.

Burnout 3: Takedown.

As a (FUN) racing game i feel it is nearly impossible to find flaws.

Yes. Yes. YEEESS. yesyesyes. I miss this game so fucking much.

OT: Red Dead Redemption gets my vote. Does it have flaws? Yes. I still consider it the best game of all time.

im glad somebody agrees

 

[weker]

Every game has flaws, especially after a year for the graphics to go out of date.

 

[lacktheknack]

Pong.

Am I doing this wrong?

I would personally put forward DEFCON, but it's too divisive.

 

[SpaceBat]

Let's see:

Planescape: Torment
Chrono Trigger
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Super Mario Bros. 3
Shadow of the Colossus

Seriously, I have yet to see someone who hates any one of these games. Most people just say that they're overrated, because these are often regarded as one of the best games of all time.

 

[I-Protest-I]

I would agree with Portal. Half life was good, but I wouldn't say near-flawless.
Dark Souls I would put on that list though. It had a few problems, none of which took from my experience in any way at all.

Edit: Going back a bit here. But Crash Team Racing goes on that list too.
That game was perfect.

Completely agree with Crash Team Racing, I loved that game.

 

[Keava]

If I'd to follow the rules in the OP I'd have to say none... with maybe the exception of first Pong because there wasn't really much more to achieve with the available technology so there wasn't really a way to improve the gameplay in any way back then.

Now as far as games that did impact the gaming world there could be plenty of examples. Actually i'd try to list them, but it would take me well over day to include every significant tile that moved the medium forward, especially with so many titles being more of a chain reaction (Moria->Rogue->(...)->Diablo->Baldur's Gate->(...)->Mass Effect).

Generally the newer the game the more flaws it has as the core of game-play is often weaker, but made less noticeable thanks to more engaging visuals and more interactive possibilities that come along with technology.

 

[6_Qubed]

I would like to suggest an older title for the PS2, God Hand. The dialogue is laughably terrible, the game itself is ass-ugly, and the plot is just an excuse to travel to more terrible-looking locals and punch people to death.

And it is for these reasons that it is one of the single greatest games ever made.

You are not playing this game for the plot or the dialogue. You are playing this game because you like beat-em-ups and you want a challenge. Even on the easiest setting, it's possible to die in the first minute to the first enemy you come across. However, the game also rewards you for rising to the challenge that even the mooks present. And remember how I used the term "laughable" earlier? This game does not take itself seriously, and thank Godhand for that. This game and everyone in it knows full well that the plot is just an excuse, and it serves to make the usual "quality" of Capcom's writing not only forgivable, but even enjoyable.

And finally, you can do the "Fist of the North Star" punch flurry on people. And it's not even a special attack.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Deus ex.

No seriously. Yeah, the interface can get clunky, and the vioce acting is....kinda laughable at times. But it has a great story, great core gameplay, and great level design. It has so many possibilities.

So yeah, no matter which way you slice it, it's a fantastic game. A little dated, yes. But still a milestone in gaming history.

And for JRPGs, I'd have to say Crono trigger. DAMN that game was awesome. Great story, great characters, great gameplay....that game is one of the few "perfect" games that exist.

 

[franconbean]

UFO: Enemy Unknown is as close as it comes...

UFO is awesome. The game gives you loose parameters and a premise, and you pretty much fill in the story from there. Rarely has a strategy game made me actually feel a pang of loss for a grunt that I hired for a few thousand dollars a few ingame days before hand. ITs a very old and arguably basic game, but its good enough that it has been remade many times (with a new remake out soon!).

Fire Emblem.

Oh god yes, fire emblem is brilliant. Endless replay value, (mostly) interesting characters... I Spent more time on the fire emblem series than any other franchise available on handhelds.

I'll throw in a name.

Burnout 3: Takedown.

As a (FUN) racing game i feel it is nearly impossible to find flaws.

Yes. Yes. YEEESS. yesyesyes. I miss this game so fucking much.

OT: Red Dead Redemption gets my vote. Does it have flaws? Yes. I still consider it the best game of all time.

My god... I usually hate racing games, but Burnout 3... Thankyou sir, you have brought a tear to my eye with the memories. It isn't a perfect game, but I would call it undeniably great because it enticed me out of my genre comfort zone and actually made me enjoy myself. A lot.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Tetris, that game was absolutely perfect, well the 1989 Original GameBoy version was anyway.

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Spyro and Crash were my childhood games XD

Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash are two of my favourite games ever. So much time spent on both. Spyro was also pretty fun, but it never came close to Crash Bandicoot for me.