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50 Most Important Games of All Time (GamesRadar)
- Thread starter inm8num2
- Start date
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Deleted member 125677
Unconfirmed Member
This list is pretty accurate. I would also swap some placements, though.
i just see a lot more talking about how important angry birds is than anything else. i never see the game suggested to another, discussed, or have ever seen anyone proudly playing it. the entire popularity of angry birds just sounds like successful marketing to me more than anything else. i don't see it influencing much either, unless you want to assign the global success of smartphone gaming on it (which i would argue against).
Before HL, the FPS genre was basically made up of games where the point was to get through a level killing as many enemies as possible, and maybe finding a key. This would then get you to the next level to do the exact same thing.
HL introduced the "story" and the "set piece" components that you pretty much see in all FPS games these days.
J
Jotamide
Unconfirmed Member
Ctrl + F "Chrono Trigger"
No results.
List is invalid.
No results.
List is invalid.
I thought this as well until I saw ET on there, at which point their intent became much clearer.
A bit confused about using Halo 2 instead of Halo, but a solid list otherwise. Unless they meant Halo 2 negatively for the ending? Furling my eyebrows at that.
Heart of Black
Member
No beat 'em ups ahead of Street Fighter II? It wouldn't exist without them.
Yeah, I remember all the praise it was getting for it's story, only for me to end up underwhelmed. But then I was playing loads of JRPGs, had been playing graphic adventures, and I had even spent some time with Fallout before I got to play through HL1 to the end, and mainly wanted a good STORY not just good presentation, so even though those JRPGs really weren't exactly fine literature or anything they WERE meaty and more interesting to me than what HL1 had. HL2 at least brough distinct characters in beyond Gordon and the G-Man, even if they were more or less salvaged from what HL1 had.
Well, Zork was a kind of clone of Colossal Cave, but it was much larger and more involved. Not only that, but it essentially started Infocom, which was the LucasArts/Blizzard before there was a LucasArts/Blizzard. Infocom was VERY important during the early days of personal computing, and the many games they created basically set the ground rules for the adventure game genre - not to mention having some of the very best examples of games as art, even today. And let's not forget that it is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Zork was important for a variety of reasons, but Infocom was REALLY important and Zork = Infocom, basically.
Meh. SF2 was based off fighting games like Karate Champ and stuff like that. SF2 was really the first one that went full tilt competitive, with the special moves you input on the control. Plus, the whole SF2 Turbo Plus Alpha thing accurately predicts the industry's sad attempts at milking consumers.
Also, what beat'em up would you put down? Final Fight? Streets of Rage? River City Ransom?
Halo had LAN multiplayer, but Halo 2 had online. Their argument is that XBox Live wouldn't exist without Halo 2, which is probably true, but I'm not sure how important Xbox Live is in the grand scheme of things. I'd put the first Halo down for regenerating shields and the two weapon limit fucking up FPS games forever, but even that seems a bit limited to me. There's a bunch of FPS games I'd put above Halo (like Duke Nukem 3D, System Shock/Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament).
revolverjgw
Member
One of my favorite game, but what is its influence? The only innovation I can think of is dual/triple techs, which aren't much.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Yeah, I was thinking it should be higher. I'd probably find a spot for it in the top 25
There are some good suggestions, but more prominently shown in this thread is a giant lack of perspective. I can almost guarantee any such list would end up worse than the list that started this thread.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Yeah, Chrono Trigger wasn't even very influential with its own sequel, much less other games.
Hazzard4life
Member
No Virtua Fighter on that list, what's wrong with these people
DeaconKnowledge
Member
There's some redundancy on the list, particularly amongst Blizzard games, they got the wrong Metroid on there - the original was pretty unremarkable aside from the twist ending, and sorry, but Gears is just a footnote in gaming's history, as are the games it spawned, but otherwise it's a good list.
Personally, I really don't see the importance of the Legend of Zelda. OoT deserves the spot for lock-on targeting alone, but most of the credit they give to the original Zelda really belongs to Ultima, I think.
I don't think the Sims should be so high, either. Wildly successful, yes, but I don't think gaming would be very different today without it.
Not a bad list overall, though.
I don't think the Sims should be so high, either. Wildly successful, yes, but I don't think gaming would be very different today without it.
Not a bad list overall, though.
Ah yeah, fair. I forgot about online multi being a huge deal for Halo 2. Didn't get Live 'till the 360 came out so I never experienced it for myself.
revolverjgw
Member
It wasn't a great game but it was the standard setter, and very popular. SM didn't really do anything that the original didn't do first, and didn't set the genre on fire. There were plenty of Metroidvania style games in the interim. Just being more polished than any of them didn't really make SM all that important.
Blake'sGrave
Member
very good list
TalesOfWin
Banned
lol at CoD being higher on the list than FFVII...wtf.
toddhunter
Member
Without a single ultima game? Not even ultima underworld?
Me-thinks not. I call fundamentally flawed.
TalesOfWin
Banned
it's not a good list. Where is super smash bros?
Playstation All Stars and the fact it didn't put GC way over everyone else proves that wasn't really all that important.
TalesOfWin
Banned
huh SSBM had incredible legs on gamecube and I had several friends who bought a wii just for SSBB. You cant really compare the half-assed PAS to the real thing.
Also Battlefield 2 should be on the list before CoD4 as it did "Modern Warefare" before CoD.
Look at the other game on that list that came out within the same time frame though, GTAIII. it sold millions, and established/popularized a new genre that'd start growing in that generation and went further this generation. Smash Bros is great, but it simply didn't have that kind of impact. If it had many imitators or pushed the GC to be the most successful console (or damn near it) then yeah, that'd be a very different story, but it's neither the most important or most influential, though on a list of the 50 best games it probably should be there.
Blake'sGrave
Member
I didn't say it was perfect
Clearly the Mac was the platform to be on in the mid-90's, as those guys were enjoying FPS games with rich storytelling throughout the mid-90's, starting in 1993. Poor content-starved PC gamers had to wait an extra half decade to get in on the fun.
cartman414
Member
Here's what they said in their Diablo summary:
Not sure what passes off for the genre or any of its offshoots in their book.
That rationale may well explain it all really, annoyingly enough. Especially as when played alone I usually find these dungeon crawling loot focused games to be the ones that are boring.
Though strictly speaking of action RPGs: errr, what came before anyway? Stuff like Secret of Mana counts I'd imagine, maybe Zelda, but neither seem to really register as "boring" to me. Then we have Ys, but that was pretty niche and the newer entries (VI through Origin) play like they're hopped up on crack relative to other action RPGs.
Kageshinzo
Member
Good list; I could get behind it. I would re-arrange some, and possible add at least VF/BAT for the 3D fighters, and maybe a flying sim. Possible Wing Com for the whole movie digital cutscenes + awesome gameplay.
Also, some people here who go "Why is blah blah on that list" should go read the fucking article first instead of knee-jerking on the list. And it's "influential", not "your favorite games" list.
Also, some people here who go "Why is blah blah on that list" should go read the fucking article first instead of knee-jerking on the list. And it's "influential", not "your favorite games" list.
Oh my bad, I thought you might have thought Myst was too high (or didn't belong at all). I agree it's more top 25 material.
I always look at these lists not so much as definitive rankings, but just a pool of good choices with some general hierarchy. I wonder what a GAF top 50 would look like?
Kageshinzo
Member
An utter mess.
Lord Panda
The Sea is Always Right
Ultima is one of gaming's most influential series. If you've got some time, have a read of this excellent article:http://joystiq.com/2012/01/26/ultima-most-important-game-series-ever/
Kageshinzo
Member
Yeah, I forgot to add, they should also add either Wizardry or Ultima there somewhere.
Yeah, while games like SSB or Chrono Trigger don't really belong, Ultima was one of the primordial RPGs that frequently set standards the rest of the genre followed, whether it was Ultima 1-5's world system, Ultima VII's open world, Ultima Underworld for first person action RPGs (it's an admitted influence for Elder Scrolls), or Ultima Online helping MMOs break out, the series on a whole really is one of the most important out there. Admittedly I'm not sure just how well they sold, but it must've been enough given Richard Garriott got rich enough to get a trip to space (or he just got great deals from EA/NCSoft.)
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Halo > Final Fantasy
It's not a "top games" list, it's a "most important" list. And as big of an impact FFVII had it's hard to deny Halo 2 was ground breaking for console multiplayer.
Half Life also spawned Counter strike which is just as important as half life itself.
BradleyLove
Member
No Elite is surprising for me but the biggest omission is Defender.
One of the first, if not the first to have the concept of a game world. Events also happened off-screen in Defender, whereas previous games had everything in the game world happen on one screen. Massively important step and one I find difficult to believe had been omitted.
One of the first, if not the first to have the concept of a game world. Events also happened off-screen in Defender, whereas previous games had everything in the game world happen on one screen. Massively important step and one I find difficult to believe had been omitted.
SolidSnakex
Member
Yeah, but that isn't even the biggest gripe with how racing games are presented on this list. I don't see how you can make a list of important games and not include Pole Position.
HocusPocus
Member
Everquest way too high and World of Warcraft way too low. Ultima series also needs to be on there, especially Ultima Online.