Top 5 games of all time

[Johnny Novgorod]

I tend to notice a lot of people choose to completely ignore a large chunk of gaming in favor of their favorite games, while ignoring a good percentage of gaming that includes fighting, racing, simulation or simply something very old and timeless like Pong, Pac-Man or Tetris. I'm suspicious whenever the "best games of all time" all came out in the past 10 years or so. Or maybe it's just me. I can't pick up just 5.

Well, a lot of people just aren't into certain genres, and it's impossible for someone to play every game ever, particularly if the required consoles are no longer widely available. Same goes for people who didn't grow up with gaming or who are younger and never got into the classics. People can hardly be expected to include games they've never played.

Personally I see no problem with people going for their favourites anyway (and that's exactly what I did) - it's not like there's some objective standard for a game's quality. Broadly speaking, a good game should be fun, and that's a pretty subjective criterion. I've played a fair few "classic" games that I didn't enjoy at all, and I don't personally feel that "it was really good/groundbreaking at the time" should give something a free pass if it hasn't aged well.

The thing is people usually equate "my 5 favorite games" with "the 5 best games", concepts that are hardly analogous no matter which 5 games we're talking about. Obviously everyone has their opinion. But for instance while I personally find Tetris very boring, I have to concede that its timelessness and the way it has constantly bypassed the demographical boundaries of age, race and gender makes it a pretty handsome contender to Best Game Ever title.

 

[verdant monkai]

1. Pokemon Red
The first game I properly played/finished. And what kick started my life long obsession with pocket monsters.

2. Final Fantasy X
I love VII and appreciate that in many ways its superior... but I love the aquatic world of X and Tidus is a lot more fun that Cloud.

3. Mass Effect 2
My favourite western RPG and what made me interested in Sci Fi and I'm a hardcore fantasy type. I love nearly all the characters and they inhabit an interesting creative universe which I want to explore. The writing is just superb.

4. Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time
I've been a Zelda fan since my gaming origins on the gameboy colour. Ocarina is great because the art is lovley, the enemies and characters are all great to look at, the dungeon puzzles are more fun than infuriating, and it feels like a fantastic adventure really making you feel like the hero.

5. Metal Gear Solid 3
I've studied the cold war and world war 2 and playing a game CREATIVELY themed around them really resonated with me. Snake is one of my favourite characters, and when the credits rolled I felt like I'd just been on a cracking Spy adventure.

 

[V4Viewtiful]

1: Xenoblade Chronicles - Great combat system, interesting story, an unreal huge environment, great music, diverse customisation, Fun characters.
This game may have ben the most fun RPG i've ever played, I expected nothing even with the hype and it gave me so much more.

2: FF6 absolutely solid - Chrono Trigger might be better but this entry just suited me.
I Played the GBA version first and the rest later, it felt so much better than the modern FF games, the combat system was overly simple bet it worked well and every character felt real.

3: Guilty Gear XX/Street Fighter Alpha 3 - blocking in the air!
There needs to be an Alpha 4 now GG Xrd is coming. I first played A3 in the arcade and GG through word of mouth.

4: Batman Arkham City - The Best Batman game EVER MADE!
I'm a comicbook reader and Batman is one of my favourite characters, this game made me feel like the bat the game was soo daring. Batman might be too chunky but the overall athletic works

5: TLoZ: Majora's Mask - A deep story line many characters with stories, some you don't need to complete, great music, the most "RPG" like in the series, a very different tone.
The first game in the series I ever finished but this felt less like the typical games, it felt fresh, new and mature and at the same time magical.

 

[Eamar]

The thing is people usually equate "my 5 favorite games" with "the 5 best games", concepts that are hardly analogous no matter which 5 games we're talking about. Obviously everyone has their opinion. But for instance while I personally find Tetris very boring, I have to concede that its timelessness and the way it has constantly bypassed the demographical boundaries of age, race and gender makes it a pretty handsome contender to Best Game Ever title.

I hear what you're saying, but at the same time I don't really see why there has to be a huge difference in every case. I mean, the OP for this thread asked for "the best of the best... for you." A personal "best games ever" list is going to be a list of the games that seem "best" to the individual, however they choose to define that. It makes perfect sense that they'd consider their favourites to be the best - we choose our favourites because they best fit our personal criteria for what makes a game really good.

As for the Tetris thing, again I see what you're saying, but I disagree. You could argue that it's timeless and bypasses demographic boundaries because it's incredibly simple and there's just not much to it. Kind of like how the blandest pop music often sells best: there's nothing particularly great about it, but there's nothing to really deter people either. The simplest, least offensive thing is not automatically the "best" (not by my standards, anyway).

 

[thatonedude11]

My personal top 5, in no particular order:

Half-Life 2: Not a particularly controversial choice, but I do honestly believe it is the best single player FPS to have been released. Well designed firefights, incredible pacing, and the right amount of variety make it stand the test of time.

Psychonauts: This game has pretty mediocre gameplay. But it doesn't matter because everything else is so unique and funny that it more then makes up for it. Incredibly creative and unique levels, hilarious dialogue, memorable characters, and so much little stuff packed into the game that I'm still finding new things when I play through it.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: Best Elder Scrolls game, bar none. The distinct and memorable world would be enough for me, but coupled with a compelling reason to explore it makes it one of my favorites. You never know when you're going to come across a hidden quest giver or a unique item. Tie it all together with interesting quests that don't hold your hand, and you have a winner in my book.

The Binding of Isaac: How could such a creepy little rouge-lite eat up so much of my time? Despite being only $5, this small title keeps me coming back for the atmosphere, the item variety, and the fact that you never know what's around the corner. I highly recommend trying this game out, because what do you have to loose?

Spec Ops: The Line: I only have one thing to say about this game: Holy Shit.

 

[gammazuma]

1. Depression Quest. This game had more of an affect on me than any other game I've played.
2. Morrowind. I've spent so many hours playing this game; it's the reason I love games so much.
3. Dark Cloud 2. Excellence. I loved everything about this game except how hard it was to level up the monsters for Monica. This is how to make a sequel.
4. Radiata Stories. This game doesn't have anywhere near the polish of the other games on this list but it's so rare to find a game that has a good sense of humor that I came back and back to this game for many playthroughs.
5. Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves. I've beat this game 100% at least 6 times. It's got stealth and humor and fun.

 

[Amaror]

1. Dragon Age Origins: Just such a good Rpg. Fun, challenging combat. Engaging World. Fantastic Story and Prasentation. Really the whole package.

2. The Wichter 2: Another amazing Rpg. Fun combat, incredible world building and the best choices in any rpg ever.

3. Mount and Blade Warband: This Game is Sandbox done right. Big World, big battles and a lot of ways to play. Merchant, Bandit, Mercenary, Lord or even King. There's nothing you can't become in this game.

4. Paradox Grand Strategy: I know these are multiple games, but i just count them as one. And they are all fantastic. Big, deep strategy games like there are no others.

5. Spellforce 2: Basically the ultimate fusion of Rpg and Strategy game combining the best of the two genres. Battles with big armies and strategic management from strategy games. Customization and GREAT story form Rpg games. Just awesome!

 

[Radeonx]

1. KotOR 1 - The best RPG ever made, + Star Wars. I've played this game so fucking much that it probably wins solely on the amount of time sunk into it.

2. Fire Emblem - I love strategy games, and the Fire Emblem series is a great example of the genre with a solid story and a lot of great characters. I'd say Rekka no Ken is probably my favorite, though Awakening is a close second despite the really shitty overall story it has.

3. KotOR 2 - Same as KotOR 1, but slightly worse. It is still a top 5 game for me without the restoration mod, and the restoration mod makes it so much better.

4. Capcom vs. SnK 2 - I'm a HUGE fan of fighting games, and while there are always new ones that creep up the list, for some reason CvS always remains at the top. I don't really know why, but I just fell in love with a lot of the mechanics and the groove system allowed for quite a bit variation in the meta game, at least moreso than a lot of other fighters. With that said, though, there is no real competitive scene for it anymore, so I can't really go back to it that much. SFIV: AE 2012 is a game that comes close to it though.

5. Hearthstone - This game is on my list now also because of the amount of time in it, but I love it because it is a very approachable card game with a surprising amount of depth. Once I hit around rank 3, the game became completely different, and I immediately fell in love with the huge amount of strategy and mind games required to excel in it.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

The thing is people usually equate "my 5 favorite games" with "the 5 best games", concepts that are hardly analogous no matter which 5 games we're talking about. Obviously everyone has their opinion. But for instance while I personally find Tetris very boring, I have to concede that its timelessness and the way it has constantly bypassed the demographical boundaries of age, race and gender makes it a pretty handsome contender to Best Game Ever title.

C'mon, everyone knows these lists are a) meaningless fun, and b) all about personal favourites.

And whilst yeah, a lot of people are listing very recent games, that's understandable for two reasons. Firstly, as someone else pointed out, they might just be too young to remember back a whole bunch of gens. And secondly, because videogames are deeply iterative things; so much has changed in the last decade, and there's been such progress across the spectrum. The medium now is a very different thing than it was in the '80's or even early/mid '90's.

I remember back to the mid '80's, but I think the last gen has brought about the very best we've ever had.
So these lists can go a number of ways. Option 1 would be Top 5 Faves, 2 might be 'Objective' Best (hah!), and 3, Top 5 Most Influential Games In The Hsitory Of Gaming.

I'm pretty sure 99% of people posting in this thread are rocking option 1. 'Objective' Best would be an exercise in futility, and Most Influential really only matters if you're studying the history of the industry and/or medium.

2. Street Fighter II

In the year SF2 was released, one of the video game magazine held their annual competition for top 10 best new characters in video games, something like 8 of them were from SF2. Ironically for a sequel, you could say it basically created the fighting game genre, but more than that it has the most character of any video game ever.

3. Geoff Crammond's Formula 1 Grand Prix

The first real game I ever played that could be described as a racing simulation. Before it we had games like Outrun and Super Hang-on, after it Forza and Gran Tourismo.

Kudos for the GC F1 mention. I played the feck out of that thing on the Amiga 500+. It'll always be one of my fondest racing memories in gaming.

Ditto SFII (minus the racing bit.. ), but I went for SFIV because--- well, I think it's just about perfect; an update that fostered the beautifully simple spirit of the original [sequel], married to some truly stunning artwork and animation.

 

[stroopwafel]

1. Dark Souls - My absolute favorite game of all time. No other game ever drew me into its world like this one. It's not by any means 'perfect' but it is the most memorable and that is all that eventually matters. I played Demon's Souls at around launch and I never would have thought this game would made me realize I was missing something about games I didn't even know I was missing. It's entire design is in complete juxtaposition of its contemporaries, a trend I think started with Metal Gear Solid when games strived to be 'more like movies'. While DkS, or rather Demon's Souls, was classic game design re-imagined in the modern era. And as such is a mix of the best of both the old and the new.

2. Resident Evil 4 - Shinji Mikami's magnum opus that basically laid the template for every third person cover shooter to this day(from Gears of War to Last of Us). Just amazingly fun to play and this is one of those rare games that remain fresh no matter how many times I played it. There is a reason why Mikami is revered as one of the best game designers of all time, and this game is it.

3. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - One of my favorite games from my childhood so more nostalgia than anything else, though its still a fantastic game that aged really, really well. This game just made such an impression on me as a child that it really cemented my love for videogames in ways older games on the original NES never did.

4. Street Fighter 2 - Another one for the warm, fuzzy childhood memories. Absolutely loved this game in the arcade and being able to play it at home was just amazing. My days would basically consists of morning cartoons, going to school and rushing home to play Street Fighter and sometimes skipping school to play Street Fighter. Or sometimes to watch horror movies on VHS when no one was home.

5. Super Mario Kart/Super Metroid - Really can't choose between the two. Both just delivered such unique and new experiences at the time. This is the Nintendo I will always love.

Honorable mentions go to: Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 2 and Remake, Metal Gear Solid 1&2, Silent Hill 2 and probably some others I forgot.

 

[LaoJim]

And secondly, because videogames are deeply iterative things; so much has changed in the last decade, and there's been such progress across the spectrum. The medium now is a very different thing than it was in the '80's or even early/mid '90's.

Ditto SFII (minus the racing bit.. ), but I went for SFIV because--- well, I think it's just about perfect; an update that fostered the beautifully simple spirit of the original [sequel], married to some truly stunning artwork and animation.

This is the thing right, Rayman Origins is in nearly every way a better game than Super Mario Brothers, but in five/ten years time there'll be another game out that is even better than Rayman but SMB will always be special. If you're doing the top 5 'best games out now' you can choose the latest greatest iterations of each genre, if you're doing top 5 'all time' then you have to put the games in the context in which they were released. I'd agree these days there's not a lot of point going back to SF2 when SF4 does the same thing only more polished, but SF4 is a safe (albeit excellent) title whereas SF2 was revolutionary.

I remember back to the mid '80's, but I think the last gen has brought about the very best we've ever had.

I'd agree with this, while some people complain about how stale the industry is as a whole, there have been a hell of of a lot of games out this/last generation that I've loved.

The other thing about this list is you realise how many games you haven't played. I'd put Dragon Age Origins in as one of the greatest games of all time, but I don't want to get in to a debate about how it stacks up against Baldur's Gate when I haven't played the thing. (And I'm not a big one for playing previous generation games when there are so many current gen ones I don't have time for.)

Kudos for the GC F1 mention. I played the feck out of that thing on the Amiga 500+. It'll always be one of my fondest racing memories in gaming.

Me too, in those days I had the time and patience to regularly do 100% length Grand Prix on hard with damage. It'd be past one at night I'd have done 70 laps, nod off for a second and crash on the final lap.

Incidentally, is Force Unleashed really that good? I've heard mixed things about it, but may pick it up cheaply. How do you feel about FU2. (actually that's a pretty unfortunate abbreviation)

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

I'm gonna go for it.

1)TES IV: Oblivion: - This was my first 'proper' RPG back in 2006. Since then I've gone on to play loads, but Oblivion will always have a special place in my heart. I have the soundtrack on my ipod, and it instantly calms me down and makes me feel at home. I played through it multiple time on Xbox 360 before switching to PC, and I didn't even have to do anything; just wondering around, soaking in the atmosphere was enough for me. It could be wacky, tense, funny, dark, the experience was what you made it. Not the best game from a technical point of view, but definitely still my favourite.

2)Dragon Age: Origins: - You might think I'm kidding when I say I've lost count of the amount of times I've played through this game, but I really have. I loved the characters more than anything, but I also loved the relationship between companions, the story (even though it was cliché, I still found it awesome), and the world was wonderful.

3)Red Dead Redemption: - I just... love cowboys

4)Dark Souls/Dark Souls 2: - I'm counting these as the same game, because I do what I want. No games have ever made me feel a sense of progression like these games. Exactly how RPGs should be. They are tense, full of lore if you really look and experience the world, and they're just really exciting to me. Not to mention the memorable bosses.

5)Rainbow Six Vegas 2: - This made the list because of the sheer amount of fun I've had with it over the years. Terrorist Hunt with friends is literally the best co-op I've played, and we've come back for the tactical teamwork time and time again.

 

[Siyano_v1legacy]

1) Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Gold Edition
I still play it to this day!

2) World of Warcraft, if it wasn't for the "reset to zero" every expansion I consider this game one of the best

3) Diablo 2 Was quite a great hit back then and I think I spent more than 2 years playing

4) Half life 1 and 2
I can't put them seperatly

5) It not really a game but, User created content / Mods,
Half life with Portal, Team Fortress Classic
"Arcade Mode" in Starcraft 2 or User map setting with the first SC
Elder Scrolls Series
Diablo 2 Mods
Etc!
What will we will never do without mods?!

Honorable mention to City of Heroes, still one of the great non WoW style MMO played to this day

 

[lacktheknack]

1) Mirror's Edge
People say it's flawed, but the only flaw I could find was that it was too short. Also, the Boat level, but let's pretend that one doesn't exist. The DLC is amazing, too.

2) Myst Online
The only MMO I play, partly because it's so insanely unique, and it's also the only adventure game I've replayed more than 5 times. Plus, the community is delightful to the point of being Stepfordian (and yes, I consider that a plus). You're stars, Cyan Worlds. Good luck with Obduction.

3) Dwarf Fortress
A total programmer's nightmare, and an absolutely fascinating study of completionism. I wonder if Toady will finish it before he dies.

4) Tomb Raider III
While the Core Design Tomb Raiders weren't particularly pretty, holy wow were they epic, and none were quite as epic and varied as the globe-spanning Tomb Raider III, which improved the formula in every single way.

5) Beyond Atlantis (Atlantis II)
Uhhhhhhhhhhh... I'll put it this way: The game is on my top AND bottom five games of all time lists. I'd explain why, but I can't. You have to play it yourself to understand.

The runner-up is Daggerfall, but Atlantis II just barely edged it out because of the sheer entertainment value that comes from watching a friend play it.

 

[Slenn]

Top 5?

#1 Starcraft Brood War. This game has always sat at the top spot of this list ever since I played it when I was 13. The different maps, the campaigns, the fun multiplayer custom games... it still is a great game. I've grown up with it and I've always gone back to it to try out strategies. Starcraft 2's got nothing on this.

#2 Touhou 7. The previous game may have set the grounds for what the series would be like on the Windows machine, but this one made the bullet hell genre more accessible to new players. The music, the backgrounds, the pacing, the vertical pointer to the boss, the hit-box indicator, the boss fights, and even the design of the bullets has been refined.

#3 Metroid Prime. First game that I ever got for the Gamecube. I've completed it many times, but its colors and gameplay always beckon to me.

#4 Armored Core 3 and its expansion Silent Line. It has giant robots that you can customize with lots of weapons and different parts. Every stat is calculated to 4 or so digits. And each mission makes you think about what to prepare for.

#5 Riven. Myst may have begun the franchise, but Riven is really where everything hit its stride. The previous game looked like plastic. Riven looked real long before realMYST came out. Every single pre-rendered shot looked like it was a part of a world that was falling apart and had seen better days (And perhaps those days were not so good if you read the journals). Plus the soundtrack. I guarantee you, you will never find an eerie ambient soundtrack like it in any other game.

 

[Astoria]

1) Fallout 3
It might just be because it was the first 'hardcore' game I played but I adore this game. Everything was just about perfect IMO, the gameplay, the atmosphere and yes even the story line (though I admit New Vegas' was better). I've played well over 300 hours of it and will probably play more as I seem to go back to it whenever I've been disappointed by a game. Very easily takes top spot for me

2) Assassin's Creed II
This game blew my mind when I first played it and I can't recall playing a game with a more flushed out main character. the main story is great and its really good how there are always multiple ways to approach a mission. It may just be my love for Italy but the setting was perfect and I love the philosophies the game explores. It's a shame the series has lost it's way.

3) Portal 2
It's just fun, plain and simple. None of the puzzles are too easy that you're bored but they're not too hard that you give up either. Plus it's hilarious. Some people didn't get any replay value out of it but I thought the humor was so good it was still funny a second time. My sister and I probably quote this game more than any sane person would.

4) Batman Arkham Asylum
Apart from it being by definition cool because it's Batman, I thought the game was really good at showing off lesser known characters and it also showed Batman more as the worlds greatest detective rather than 'I hit stuff' like in the Nolan movies. The learning curve was perfectly done and the Riddler trophies were a more interesting way of doing collectibles.

5) The Walking Dead Season 1
Although your choices didn't really have an impact on the story I still felt they gave a good flavor to the game. Plus it goes without say that Clementine is the best child character in a game ever and you legitimately care about her. Each of the moral choices you have to make are really hard and the game makes you feel bad no matter what you do. And the ending...I won't even go there.

Probably not the most original top 5 ever but there's still a crap load of games I've gotta play yet and so little spare time to play them.

 

[Ieyke]

This is a extra tough one. You can't even begin to cover half the spectrum of game types or settings in 5 choices.
Not to mention how it completely depends on what sense you're approaching "best" or "top".

Mine is a Top 18, because this list is stupid-hard to narrow down.

So here's by Top 5 18....roughly in order...maybe:

• - MegaMan X4 - Like MegaMan X, except better....mostly.
  - MegaMan X - Actually perfect.
  - Suikoden II - Epic tale. Awesome characters. Awesome game. Awesome castle. Awesome everything.
  - Donkey Kong Country 2iddy's Kong Quest - Just sooo sooooo good in every way.
  - Okami - Okami knocked all Zelda games off the list. Because it's the best Zelda game.
  - Assassin's Creed 2 - It's sad how none of its sequels have come at all close to matching it.
  - Arcanum:Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura - It's Fallout, but better. If Arcanum were translated to 3D the way Fallout was, no one would give any shits about The Elder Scrolls.
  - Portal - Essentially perfect. The sequel failed to improve on or even match the original. Portal is hilarious, has amazing gameplay, super clever puzzles, and it's tight as a drum. Portal never misses a beat. Every second is well used from beginning to end.
  - Diablo 2:Lord Of Destruction - This is the reason people hate Diablo 3. On its own, D3 is a fairly okay game. Nothing real special. Nothing worthy of hate. But when you factor in the epicness of Diablo 2:LoD and what that means in terms of EPIC-SCALE wasted potential....it causes hate. Gameplay, atmosphere, settings, art direction, storytelling....it did everything better than Diablo 3 with the exception of the impossible - outright game resolution and graphical quality.
  - Super Mario RPG:Legend Of The Seven Stars - Everything great about Mario's world opened up through the lens of a perfectly crafted RPG. Back before "JRPG's" became a thing. Back before Square-Enix started making endless shitty Final Fantasy games. The most pure FUN this style of RPG has ever been. Great new characters (there's a reason Geno is the most requested character for inclusion in Super Smash Bros.), great world, simple but great adventure. And HOLY BALLS the soundtrack.
  - Super Mario Allstars+Super Mario World - It's a single SNES cartridge. DEAL WITH IT.
  - Pokemon Gold/Silver (I'll take it on faith that HeartGold/SoulSilver are superior versions of the same thing)
  - Super Mario 64
  - Castlevania:Symphony Of The Night
  - Dishonored
  - Left 4 Dead 2
  - Team Fortress 2
  - Final Fantasy Tactics:War Of The Lions

Honorable mention:

• - Shadow Of The Colossus
  - Minecraft
  - Portal 2 - Like Portal with some extraneous bits, slightly worse pacing, and not quite as clever puzzles. Still extremely good, but the developers seem to have overextended both themselves and the game.
  - Batman:Arkham City
  - Mario Kartouble Dash - Thus far, it's still the best entry in an iconic series.
  - The Legend Of Zelda:Link's Awakening DX
  - The Legend Of Zelda:Wind Waker HD

 

[TheMadDoctorsCat]

Ok, I'll bite. I love lists too, so... here's one from a guy who grew up with a C64, graduated onto Master System, then Megadrive, then stayed with PC gaming up until the present day. And now makes them, or at least tries to!

Now I'm going to totally cheat and throw out some "alternative choices" for each spot that I've chosen. So with that in mind, here's my top five (with an alternative top five that might well have been my actual top five on a different day):

*

5) "Half-Life 2" (PC). If the "System Shock" games fully immersed me in a perfectly self-contained world, "Half-Life 2" made me feel completely part of a larger, more vast experience - which is fairly ironic considering that the "Shock" games were open-world, and "Half-Life 2" is not. Nonetheless, "Half-Life 2" managed the rare feat of having a linear storyline and yet constantly making me feel as though my actions were driving the plot, as though I was truly the hero. It has fantastic FPS gameplay and some great characters (my favorite being the mad preacher of Ravenholm).

My alternative choice for fifth place would be "Bastion", another game of a very different genre but that manages to succeed for exactly the same reasons that "Half-Life 2" did - the gameplay is fantastic and the story, even though it's fixed, is totally immersive. I always felt that I was driving the action in "Bastion".

*

4) "Eternal Champions CD" (Mega-CD). Yeah, this is going to be the "out-there" choice. But looking back... this game either predicted or perfected so much of what's popular in fighting games today. The massive lineup of fighters (I think it was, at the time, the largest lineup by far); several secret characters; multiple special moves, death moves, even "cine-kills" that used full-motion video for the kill animations... all grounded in an immensely playable and well-balanced game. The Megadrive version of this game was sadly inferior in every way, with unbalanced characters, a decent but kinda pointless "training mode", and mechanics that just didn't feel as fluid as the CD version. Plus only the CD version had finishing moves that involved your opponent (or you, if you were unlucky) being stepped on by Godzilla, eaten by lions, or crushed by a car full of evil clowns. (Yeah, that one was terrifying even if you WEREN'T the guy being killed.) This was a combination of "Street Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat", taking the best elements from each and improving on them. It's a crying shame how little recognition it gets today.

Alternative choice: "Street Fighter 2". Look, do I even have to explain this one? Everybody over the age of twenty knows this game, everyone's played it, everyone loved it. I had so much fun with my friends trying to sucker them into a dragon punch or spinning piledriver. I grew up with this game.

*

3) "Fallout New Vegas" (PC). If you could combine Fallout 3's world with Fallout New Vegas' main questline, characters and core mechanics, you would quite possibly have the perfect open-world game. Separately they're just fantastic. I love the "Fallout" world - the music, the lore, the humour, the fact that the game fully immersed me in the struggles of the present while always keeping a regretful eye on the past. Don't get me wrong, "The Elder Scrolls" series is a personal favorite, but its characters are one-note and its various factions and mechanics barely seem to co-exist in the same universe. "The Elder Scrolls" games never quite gave me the feeling of being part of a single unified "world" in the same way that "Fallout" did.

My alternative for this spot would, of course, be "Fallout 3". The main quest, the skills balancing, and the random encounters system are all huge negatives. But even they can't take away from the impact this game's world and characters made on me.

*

2) "Jungle Strike" (Sega Megadrive). The gameplay of this - except for that damn stealth fighter section - was just perfect. "Jungle Strike" was one of the first truly open-world games that I played; and while it doesn't have the interactivity or the randomness of a "System Shock", it doesn't really need it. This game took what the Megadrive could do and pushed it to its limits, delivering a game that I played through many times over. It's also one of the first games that taught me how compulsive it could be to really WORK at a game, to try and find different ways of doing things, and to look for every secret. Of course the reason it taught me that was because it was just so much damn fun.

Honorable Mention for this spot would be "Warcraft 2" (PC). Another compulsively addictive game where I just had to try and find the best ways to complete each mission. It was also one of the first games I played with a "level editor" and I had enormous fun with this.

*

1) "System Shock" (PC).

"System Shock" was the game that taught me that videogames could be an experience, not just a challenge to be overcome. To this day the world of Citadel Station has immersed me more completely in its own story - which became MY story, because this more than any other was a game in which you made your own story and have experiences that are unique to you. This is the nearest thing to a perfect game for its time that I've ever played, which is why I'd put it at #1.

Honorable mention for first place "System Shock 2".

"System Shock 2" was just as immersive, and to this day I've never heard a game with better sound design. I've completed it at least twenty times, and will probably keep coming back to it when I'm seventy years old. It still has the power to suck me in every single time. As much as I really like the original Bioshock (especially the first two-thirds), the two "System Shock" games were Ken Levine's masterpieces. I'm hoping he outdoes himself some day, but I don't see how he can, given how extraordinarily high he set the bar with these two games.

 

[TristanBelmont]

1. Saints Row IV
2. Ocarina of Time
3. Half-Life 2
4. Assassin's Creed 2
5. Mass Effect 3

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

If you're doing the top 5 'best games out now' you can choose the latest greatest iterations of each genre, if you're doing top 5 'all time' then you have to put the games in the context in which they were released. I'd agree these days there's not a lot of point going back to SF2 when SF4 does the same thing only more polished, but SF4 is a safe (albeit excellent) title whereas SF2 was revolutionary.

As I said in my previous post, though, my lists are always an amorphous 'fave' - I don't care about the history of gaming where my own tastes are concerned.

SFIV's main influence was in allowing the world to again remember how inferior all the other fighters were were... (I [mostly] jest) SFII, however, changed the face of gaming. But if we're talking fondest playing memories back in the day, I'd have to put SF2 Turbo - not II or IV - on the SNES (as the first version of SF I owned was II - on the Amiga, and it was an appalling version).

SFIV rekindled my early teens love of fighters, and it launched when I was a smartypants grownup, able to ramble about ludonarrative dissonance and why, for example, Spec Ops The Line might be teh best thing evar. I appreciated it more. Plus, it's the best hit of gaming nostalgia I've ever had; it played like I 'remembered' II did - but much, much better (also I learnt to be a far better player). Ergo, IV makes the cut!

I'd agree with this, while some people complain about how stale the industry is as a whole, there have been a hell of of a lot of games out this/last generation that I've loved.

Absolutely. I can be a right cynical git sometimes - and the industry often deserves our cynicism and mistrust - but the sheer range and quality of games in the last couple of gens has been incredible. The medium's practically unrecognisable in its scope and potential depth, compared to how it was in the mid to late'80's.

Me too, in those days I had the time and patience to regularly do 100% length Grand Prix on hard with damage. It'd be past one at night I'd have done 70 laps, nod off for a second and crash on the final lap.

Heh, ditto'd. I did the same again on my other favourite F1 game, F1 '97 on the PS1. That had some serious issues with the A.I., but I probably played it more than Crammond's game. GP was a classic, sure, but it didn't have commentary from Murray Walker and Brundle, or [kinda] look like TV coverage... It's those two games which has always left me underwhelmed with most console racers (re the time and effort you put into qualifying, let alone the race itself).

(I'll PM re TFU)