I was thinking of top games of all time, but it's rather hard to tell with new games coming out, and Y2K seems like a good cut off point, as 10 years is long enough to see if the game has stood the test of time.
My top 5
#1 - Half-Life: Before Half-Life (as far as I remember), there weren't game of the year edition re-releases. Now if a game gets one GotY award it gets a rerelease, but Half-Life got over 40! It really set the standard for a single player FPS, being far more immersive than anything before it, having good gameplay, and within certain limits believability. Opposing force and Blue Shift added a whole bunch to it as well, as did the modding.
#2 - Super Mario Land: People always talk about Tetris as the GameBoy's killer title, and while it's still fun it was always Super Mario Land for me (and if all the other kids in 1989 and 1990 were an indication, everyone else!). I find that Gunpei Yokoi was Shigeru Miyamoto's mentor really shows, as the level design and gameplay in Super Mario Land far exceeds that of any other Super Mario game. The levels are immediately recognisable - Egypt, Future Water World, Easter Island, China - and the enemies interesting, and having the fireball bounce around to collect coins was a really nice touch. 20 years later I still like playing it all the way through, and the fun never wears off, while Super Mario Bros 1 and 3, and Super Mario World just don't hold the appeal for me.
#3 - Desent 2: Descent 2 wasn't much different from Descent, but it was a marked improvement in every way without having any drawbacks. What really makes it stand out is the gameplay. 3 axis slide, pitch, yaw and roll - all combined however you want to to pull off crazy moves. Descent 3 was good too, but I liked the Descent and Descent 2 level design better. Descent was all about the gameplay, and didn't concern itself with realism at the expense of fun.
#4 - Civilization II: I can kill time in almost any Sid Meier strategy game, and Alpha Centauri was a good candidate for this spot too, but the appeal of reliving various historical battles, and getting nukes while the year is still BC is hard to beat. Also, while Civilization 3 certainly got more realistic with longer turns at the beginning and shorter at the end, it takes out some of the fun and satisfaction of getting space age flight ridiculously early in the game. Random maps also make for pretty endless replay value.
#5 - Escape Velocity: Escape Velocity Override and Nova were also pretty good, but I like the original EV just a bit better. It's a clone of previous games, but I find it does it better than anything before or since. Wing Commander Privateer was very enjoyable and had an excellent storyline, but it was too short, and I felt the same for Freelancer. EV has endless replay value, some good campaigns, plenty of mods, and a great variety of ships and upgrades to really add depth to the game. While strictly not an RPG (as Deus Ex isn't either), it has RPG like elements in money being like XP and ship upgrades being like increasing stats, so there's strong crossover appeal for me there too.
What are yours?
My top 5
#1 - Half-Life: Before Half-Life (as far as I remember), there weren't game of the year edition re-releases. Now if a game gets one GotY award it gets a rerelease, but Half-Life got over 40! It really set the standard for a single player FPS, being far more immersive than anything before it, having good gameplay, and within certain limits believability. Opposing force and Blue Shift added a whole bunch to it as well, as did the modding.
#2 - Super Mario Land: People always talk about Tetris as the GameBoy's killer title, and while it's still fun it was always Super Mario Land for me (and if all the other kids in 1989 and 1990 were an indication, everyone else!). I find that Gunpei Yokoi was Shigeru Miyamoto's mentor really shows, as the level design and gameplay in Super Mario Land far exceeds that of any other Super Mario game. The levels are immediately recognisable - Egypt, Future Water World, Easter Island, China - and the enemies interesting, and having the fireball bounce around to collect coins was a really nice touch. 20 years later I still like playing it all the way through, and the fun never wears off, while Super Mario Bros 1 and 3, and Super Mario World just don't hold the appeal for me.
#3 - Desent 2: Descent 2 wasn't much different from Descent, but it was a marked improvement in every way without having any drawbacks. What really makes it stand out is the gameplay. 3 axis slide, pitch, yaw and roll - all combined however you want to to pull off crazy moves. Descent 3 was good too, but I liked the Descent and Descent 2 level design better. Descent was all about the gameplay, and didn't concern itself with realism at the expense of fun.
#4 - Civilization II: I can kill time in almost any Sid Meier strategy game, and Alpha Centauri was a good candidate for this spot too, but the appeal of reliving various historical battles, and getting nukes while the year is still BC is hard to beat. Also, while Civilization 3 certainly got more realistic with longer turns at the beginning and shorter at the end, it takes out some of the fun and satisfaction of getting space age flight ridiculously early in the game. Random maps also make for pretty endless replay value.
#5 - Escape Velocity: Escape Velocity Override and Nova were also pretty good, but I like the original EV just a bit better. It's a clone of previous games, but I find it does it better than anything before or since. Wing Commander Privateer was very enjoyable and had an excellent storyline, but it was too short, and I felt the same for Freelancer. EV has endless replay value, some good campaigns, plenty of mods, and a great variety of ships and upgrades to really add depth to the game. While strictly not an RPG (as Deus Ex isn't either), it has RPG like elements in money being like XP and ship upgrades being like increasing stats, so there's strong crossover appeal for me there too.
What are yours?
