What game is your gold standard?

[Not G. Ivingname]

We all have that one game. That game we always compare all other games to. No matter the genre, no matter the gameplay, we compare it. Weather that comparison is worthy, right, or even logical we do it. For me it is the Orange box, with basically unmatched amount of content between five games, endless replayability (Half-Life 2), ever changing multiplayer (TF2) one of the best written pieces of work ever (Portal).

What is your's?

 

[pharaoh malik]

It really depends on Genre, but I suppose I could say... out of all the RPG's I've played, the best of the best has been Persona 4.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I hold them up to three games depending on genre.

RPG - SMT Persona 3 Fes

Shooter - Tied between CoD MW2 (online) and Star Wars Battlefront 2 (compaign and single player options)

Action/Adventure - Shadow of the Colossus

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I don't really have a universal gold standard. All games pertaining to the pilot of walking combat tanks must be compared to Mechwarrior 4. All multiplayer first person shooters must be compared to Team Fortress (Not 2 or Classic, the original mod for Quake). All tactical RPGs must be compared to Icewind Dale.

 

[someotherguy]

Mass effect 2, half life 2, and well, minecraft for replayability.

 

[theevilsanta]

Counter-Strike. Nothing's beat it yet.

 

[SimuLord]

It depends on the genre. Calling Rome: Total War my gold standard for all of gaming tends to feel a bit apples-to-oranges when contrasted against, say...Fallout 3 (my favorite RPG), Tropico (favorite city-builder), or even Alpha Centauri or Rise of Nations (favorite straightforward turn-based and real-time strategy games, respectively---even though Total War combines both sub-genres into a genre that is truly all its own.)

The five games mentioned above are (though not in order) my five favorite games of all-time and I wouldn't compare one to any of the other four because the comparison wouldn't be inherently valid. But to compare, say, Rome to Medieval 2 and Empire and Napoleon, or Fallout 3 to New Vegas and The Witcher and Morrowind and Mass Effect, or Rise of Nations to Age of Empires or Starcraft...you get the idea.

Hell, even Tropico as "city builder" is a comparison that breaks down if the game's compared to SimCity 4 as opposed to, say, Children of the Nile or Caesar 4 (which are much more like Tropico than is SC4.)

 

[Christopher Roberts]

No one game to judge the rest by for me, sorry. The genre/gameplay matters into all my comparing.

EDIT: Aww snap, first guy replying to thread must answer!

NHL 10.

It met or exceeded every expectation and want I had. I wish another game let me say so as well.

You, sir, sadden me deeply.

OT: Mass Effect 2

 

[Zedayen]

Last year, Arkham Asylum was that game for me. That game was so polished, so well designed, so...Batman. Nothing felt repetitive, everything felt awesome. The thing that really, really stood out to me was the combat, in most action/adventure games your character repeats the same combo over and over and over and over again, something that initially looks cool loses its flair pretty quick, but Batman: AA did it so well I could sit there and play the combat challenges over and over without getting tired of the Bat-ness.

 

[Christopher Roberts]

No one game to judge the rest by for me, sorry. The genre/gameplay matters into all my comparing.

EDIT: Aww snap, first guy replying to thread must answer!

NHL 10.

It met or exceeded every expectation and want I had. I wish another game let me say so as well.

You, sir, sadden me deeply.

OT: Mass Effect 2

Why is that? Because I didn't say Mass Effect 2?

No, because you picked a sports game as your favorite title. Come on, there's no story! You can't get invested in a game like NHL.

And no, you didn't have to pick Mass Effect. There's also Fallout and Assassins Creed to think about.

 

[Roganwilson]

I guess it really depends on the genre. For RTS, it's Age of Empires 2. For TBS, it's Civilization 4. For shooters, Star Wars: Battlefront 2. RPG is Fallout 1.

 

[velcrokidneyz]

im so ADD with games its hard to say

 

[infohippie]

Hard to say, but it would have to come down to Mass Effect, Crysis, or Portal.

 

[Pecoros7]

Breath of Fire 4. The execution of classic jrpg "stand-in-a-line" combat was as good as it will ever get. Every character had a unique place to fill in the combat mechanics. The hero's abilities were appropriately god-like to fit the story while being balanced enough to fit neatly into the gameplay and were just plain fun to use.

The story was compelling and the characters were interesting. None of the characters were too young to go to the local bar (with one possible exception, and even then not by much). No one had to save the universe from Space-Satan or even ordinary Earth-Satan.

Most importantly, it was everything I expected and wanted it to be. While it wasn't a perfect game, every aspect of it was well executed and nothing about it disappointed me.

 

[Lullabye]

Oblivion. No game has beat the experience I've gotten from that game.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Like most everyone else here, it depends on the genre.
Single Player FPS: Stalker:SOC
Multiplayer FPS for Console: CoD 4
Multiplayer FPS for PC: Day of Defeat: Source
RPG: Mass Effect (1 or 2, doesn't really matter, but 1 had more rpg elements in it)
RTS: Company of Heroes (Edit Also Rise of Nations, that was a great game.

Don't really play any other types of games, but I really feel myself gravitating towards RPG's. So I guess the "gold standard" for my most played genre would be Mass Effect.

 

[fluffybunny937]

KOTOR

 

[KarumaK]

Solitaire, keeping you occupied for hours without your knowledge since it's inception.

If a game can hit that Solitaire sweet spot, it will never disappear.

 

[Christopher Roberts]

No one game to judge the rest by for me, sorry. The genre/gameplay matters into all my comparing.

No, because you picked a sports game as your favorite title. Come on, there's no story! You can't get invested in a game like NHL.

I get what you mean, but I didn't think this was about favorites, more about a game that didn't let you down in any way shape or form. I only later added NHL 10 because I felt bad posting first without giving a game...

But NHL 10 did everyhting right by me. I have had more of my friends pick up another controler and dive in than any other, cept maybe Super Gerbil Physics (The sequal is out BTW!!!). It played smooth, the controls felt good, tons of teams and leagues to try, long seasons worth of striving for the top. You hold grudges against other teams you've already played in the season....

Sorry, hockey rant... but it's an rpg, you make the stories as you play. Sure no dialog or plot development outside the rink, but anyways...

The point is, if I could feel as great about other games, as I did about a simple Hockey game, I would really be impressed.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not sure if I want Mass Effect 2 or Assassins Creed Brotherhood to be my game of the year, but both are fucking awesome! But both have some lesser points about them that makes me shy from picking them as "That game we/I always compare all other games to."

Hope I didn't bore you tho.

CHEERS!

Fair enough, to each their own. And I suppose I didn't think through what the question was asking prior to responding. To me, Mass Effect is what I hold above all others story-wise. CoD for replayability and Fallout 3 for the gigantic scope of the universe. I leaned towards Mass Effect, though, because to me story matters alot to me.

But I can understand a little more now why you picked NHL, so I guess that counts for something. I'm also not much of a sports fan, so I suppose that makes me a bit biased.

 

[Matrixbeast]

It's usually Okami for me...