1. Rock Band 3
2. Star Control II
3. Heroes of Might and Magic 3
4. UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka Xcom)
5. Elder Scrolls: Morrowind
6. Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction
7. Dwarf Fortress
8. Out of the Park Baseball 11
9. Rome: Total War
10. Alpha Centauri
1: Chrono Trigger
2: Final Fantasy VII
3: Final Fantasy X
4: Final Fantasy XII
5: Super Mario 64
6: SSX Tricky
7: Guardian Heroes
8: Zelda Ocarina of Time
9: Pokemon Red/Blue
10: Solitaire
Short Explanations:
Chrono Trigger
My favorite game of all time and an RPG that I feel was way ahead of its time. No random battles, multiple story paths/endings, well developed and likable characters, ect. really made this game stand out from others at the time. Even something as simple as having the visual appearance of your weapons change is something that some RPGs today still don't do. I think that this was a "lightning in a bottle" game and as much as people want a "proper sequel" to the game, I don't think it could ever live up to the expectations. That said, I really loved Chrono Cross as well, despite a lot of the hate it gets.
Final Fantasy VII
The same reasons everyone else loves VII. It's easy to look back now and ding it for a lot of things but as a product of its time, I think it was one of the greatest games to come out in the 90's. Even now, I think the game still holds up pretty darn well.
Final Fantasy X
My personal favorite in the FF series. From the story, to the characters, to the battle and leveling systems, and even the blitzball mini-game, I just really loved this game. I bought a PS2 (had to mow a lot of lawns and shovel a lot of driveways) for the sole purpose of playing this game and I wasn't disappointed. I even liked X-2 for that matter.
Final Fantasy XII
My second favorite FF game for pretty much the same reasons as FFX. I liked that the scope of the story was scaled down to political strife between kingdoms as opposed to the usual preventing the destruction of mankind. I liked the characters and how they were developed over the course of the story, even Penelo and Vaan, though I wished that had taken more of a backseat role. Had the games story been more focused on Ashe and Basch as originally intended, I think it would have taken the top spot over FFX as my favorite FF.
Super Mario 64
The only mainline Mario game I like. Yeah I said it. The 2D Mario's were never of any interest to me and the 3D Mario's since really don't have that "Wow" factor that 64 had. I think half of the appeal was it being my first experience in a 3D world and the other half was just the competition I had with my friends at the time to be the first to collect 120 stars. I've pretty much completely lost interest in platformers since.
SSX Tricky
In a similar vain as Mario 64, Tricky is one of the very few "sports" games I actually like and is my favorite of the ones I do (The others being Mario Kart 64, Tony Hawk 2, Snowboard Kids, NBA Jam, Loony Toons B-Ball, and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2).
Guardian Heroes
I'm not even sure if this game was even that good and I doubt it holds up well but me and my friends used to adore this game and it was the sole justification for owning a Sega Saturn.
Zelda Ocarina of Time
I'm honestly not sure why I really enjoy this game. I don't know if it's the dark tone or what but this is far and away my favorite Zelda game. The original 2D games I enjoyed but they wouldn't even make my top 20 and other than Oracle of Seasons/Ages, I haven't been that invested in any of the Zelda releases since. I haven't played this game in years and yet I still remember all of the ocarina tunes, the basic layout of all the temples (and the world in general), and all the bosses and how to beat them. That's saying a lot for me seeing as there's only about 3 other games from the N64 I can do that with. I really don't have many fond memories of that console.
Pokemon Red/Blue
Not only was I there at the start of the Pokemania, I was a part of the target demographic. Pokemon was my first video game obsession and the video games drew me into the TCG, the TV show, and all the pokemon rip-offs (including, but not limited to, Digimon, Monster Rancher, and Tamagatchi's). Those games simply had the perfect mixture of simplicity and addictive gameplay (gotta catch em all) on top of being game kids could play competitively with on school just made it an instant success with me.
Solitaire
I've sunk more hours into this game than any other game, almost combined probably. It's my go to time waster game and is available on just about any electronic device at this point.
1: Final Fantasy Tactics
2: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
3: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
4: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
5: Shadow of the Colossus
6: Okami
7: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
8: Mega Man 9
9: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
10: Final Fantasy X
1: Majora's Mask
2: Super Mario Bros 3
3: Homeworld
4: Ocarina of Time
5: Pharaoh
6: Heretic
7: Thief 2: the metal age
8: Super Metroid
9: Metroid Prime
10: Freespace 2
Some games have been talked about, so I think is best to talk about the most unknown or underrated.
Starting with Homeworld, is painful how this game gets ignored despite being having raving positive reviews, the most epic space battles I've ever witnessed were with this game, and the story is absolutely fantastic.
Pharaoh was one of those games that consume me to the point of forgetting the sun was already rising. Just amazing, I really love to build things, to let them grow naturally, city builders are a very unappreciated genre.
Heretic was awesome, fantasy FPS are scarce which is a shame, I greatly enjoyed Dark Messiah, but I can't think of many other fantasy games of the same vein made in this century, most modern FPS are only on realistic military settings, it's boring.
Honorable mentions: Oh so many, I really wanted to get the Incredible Machine in the top 10, but I simply couldn't take off any of the top 10 down. Also the whole Mario, Zelda and Metroid series (with the exception of Other M), Doom series of course, and Quake, PilotWings, I remember not sleeping trying to get all worlds unlocked, and so many more that scape me right now.
1: Metal Gear Solid
2: Uncharted 2
3: Halo CE
4: Gran Turismo
5: Zelda LTTP
6: Mass Effect 2
7: Super Mario World
8: Street Fighter 2
9: Warcraft 2
10: Mass Effect
1: Resident Evil 4
2: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
3: Marvel vs. Capcom 2
4: Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix Korean v2
5: Super Street Fighter II Turbo
6: Space Channel 5 Part 2
7: Super Mario World
8: Chu Chu Rocket
9: Rhythm Tengoku
10: Tetris
I'm sure I left off a ton of stuff. And I was predominantly a Nintendo/Arcade person up until pretty recently, so I'm just plowing through PS/Xbox stuff now.
1: Resident Evil 4 (Wii/GameCube/PS2)
2: Super Mario 64 (N64/DS)
3: Resident Evil Code: Veronica (GC/PS2/DC)
4: Super Mario World (SNES/GBA)
5: Shenmue (DC)
6: Resident Evil (GC/Wii Remake)
7: Silent Hill (PS)
8: Final Fantasy IV (SNES/PS/GBA/WSC original)
9: Pokemon Red Version and Blue Version (GB)
10: Star Fox 64 (N64)
1: Super Metroid
2: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
3: The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past
4: Super Mario Kart
5: Super Mario World
6: Super Mario Bros 3
7: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
8: Super Mario Galaxy 2
9: Super Mario Galaxy
10: Waverace 64
01. Halo: Combat Evolved
02. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
03. Okami
04. Starcraft
05. Devil May Cry
06. Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition
07. Super Smash Bros. Melee
08. Shadow of the Colossus
09. Bayonetta
10. Mario 64
No room left for Tekken Tag Tournament, Portal, Mario Kart 64, FFX, Sonic 2, or a GTA game. ;_; Wish we could list our top 20 instead.
1: Half-Life
2: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
3: Resident Evil
4: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
5: Half Life 2
6: Resident Evil 2
7: Resident Evil 4
8: Mass Effect
9: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
10: Metal Gear Solid 2
1. Grim Fandango
2. Link's Awakening DX
3. Planescape: Torment
4. Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines
5. Psychonauts
6. Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
7. Chrono Trigger
8. Deus Ex
9. Portal
10. 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
I had a really hard time deciding between 999, NOLF and Arcanum for my last spot but when I figured out what was going on in 999 I don't think I've ever had a better WOW moment. It might be off the list in a year or so, but for now I'm comfortable listing it in my top 10.
1: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
2: Final Fantasy Tactics
3: Chrono Trigger
4: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
5: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
6: Super Castlevania IV
7: Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
8: Halo: Combat Evolved
9: Final Fantasy IX
10: Metal Gear Solid
I'm going to do this before I forget (like I did for GOTY 2010)
It's incredibly difficult listing only 10 games, and getting the ordering right but here goes:
1: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
2: Super Mario World
3: Resident Evil 4
4: Secret of Mana
5: Half Life 2
6: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
7: Metroid Prime
8: Knights of the Old Republic
9: Bioshock
10: Red Dead Redemption
I cannot believe I don't have room for Super Metroid, Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, Final Fantasy IV, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario Galaxy 1/2, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, Xenogears, a Phoenix Wright game, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (love Metroidvania, and this is my favourite), Eternal Darkness, Mass Effect, God of War II, Skies of Arcadia, Metal Gear Solid, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Civilisation, Sim City, Chinatown Wars (my favourite GTA) or countless other games.
I kept it to one entry per series. I am very sorry to various Mario, Zelda and Metroid games which I could have easily filled a top 10 with.
1: Metroid Prime
I really don't like breaking down why I love Prime so much because I feel everything is cohesive and nothing particularly stands out for me in the same way it does for most other games. Sure, the bosses are brilliant, the music is great, the atmosphere haunting, the visuals stunning etc but I never thought: I love this game because it does this and that right. I just realised when I finished it that the game was wonderful, beyond what I had experienced before and it wasn't really down to some peculiar aspects so much as what those aspects formed as a cohesive whole. Something vast and magical.
2: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
A bit like Prime, I like this for the abstract experience it provides, the way it breaks the usual videogame moulds to create a special vibe. These two games would probably never leave my Top 2.
3: Super Mario Bros 3
To be honest, this one is partly here because of nostalgia. But it is hard to ignore. This game was essentially my childhood.
4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
I have this one bumped up because now I know it isn't easy to top even after all these years (just look at TP failing at it). Still easily the most epic game I've experienced. Sure, I prefer Majora's achievements in many ways, but even that game wouldn't exist without Ocarina.
5: Yoshi's Island
Love the long meaty levels with intricate platforming to boot. The first experience was mind blowing and I was way late to the party which means a ton.
6: Resident Evil 4
If you lose sleep over a game, well, you must know it is special.
7: Final Fantasy VI
Still the FF game with my favourite...well...everything
8: Super Mario Galaxy
It is like joy on a disc.
9: Secret of Mana
My first RPG experience, and the nostalgia combined with the actual brilliance of the game makes it extremely memorable for me.
10: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
This spot always has either Super Metroid, Wind Waker or well...this. Today, I favour this. I don't know why but next week it could be one of the other two.
Can't believe how many games I've left out (especially if I had kept to one franchise only).
1: EarthBound (SNES)
2: Super Metroid (SNES)
3: Animal Crossing (GCN)
4: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (SNES)
5: Rhythm Tengoku (GBA)
6: Ōkami (PS2)
7: Pokémon Gold and Silver (GBC)
8: Mass Effect (Xbox 360)
9: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (N64)
10: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (DS)
That was incredibly tough! Sorry F-Zero GX, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Mass Effect 2, Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Pokémon Diamond (and everyone else!).
1: Mega Man X
2: System Shock 2
3: Deus Ex
4: Metal Gear Solid 2
5: Resident Evil 4
6: Tekken 6
7: Garou: Mark of the Wolves
8: Batman (NES)
9: Yakuza 2
10: Hitman: Codename 47
Damn impossible to list this without missing some major titles I absolutely adore.
My feeble attempt:
1: Super Mario Galaxy 2
2: Metal Gear Solid 3
3: Oddworld Stranger's Wrath
4: Chrono Trigger
5: Beyond Good and Evil
6: Speedball 2
7: Resident Evil 4
8: Half Life 2
9: Rez
10: Streets of Rage 2
I dont think Ill ever be happy with a list like that. Worms, Super Monkey Ball, Animal Crossing, PGR2, Halo, Sonic 3, Advance Wars, Golden Axe, NSMB Wii, SMG1, Sega Rally and many others could all go in there.
The only rule I imposed on myself was not listing multiple games from the same series.
01. Full Throttle
02. Another World
03. Sam and Max: Beyond Time and Space
04. Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
05. Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
06. Grand Theft Auto 4: Complete
07. Red Dead Redemption
08. Battlefield Bad Company 2
09. Battlefield Bad Company 1
10. Silent Hill 2
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2: Super Mario World
3: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
4: Resident Evil
5: Okami
6: Shenmue
7: BioShock
8: Street Fighter 2: Turbo
9: Super Metroid
10: Goldeneye 007
1. Team Fortress 2
2. Chrono Trigger
3. Shadow of the Colossus
4. Xenogears
5. Final Fantasy VII
6. Half-Life 2
7. The World Ends With You
8. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
10. Final Fantasy IX
1: Shenmue
2: Shenmue II
3: Final Fantasy VII
4: Ico
5: Persona 4
6: Chrono Trigger
7: Halo: Combat Evolved
8: Skies of Arcadia
9: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
10: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
1: Final Fantasy VII
2: Uncharted 2
3: Half-life 2
4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5: Donkey Kong Country
6: Metal gear Solid
7: Tomb Raider
8: Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament
9: Psychonauts
10: Bubble Bobble
1: Final Fantasy VII
This simply astonished me back at the time.Replayed this lots of time. Great story, in this exact moment i'm listening to its OST. 2:Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Naughty Dog Raised the bar.What you see and hear will pleasure you, story is funny, characters are alive, gameplay mechanics are varoius.It's the only shooter that managed to make me shoot online.
Simple magic 3: Half-life 2
"First time you use the g gun, you will shit bricks" 4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
So many epic moments. Nothing could compare to OoT back then, and only a few can now. 5: Donkey Kong Country
First time i saw this, i couldn't believe my eyes. Still giving it a go every now and then. Never played 2&3, which seemes to be better, so my vote goes to this. 6: Metal gear Solid
IMHO, the first game that truly makes you feel like you are watching a movie. An absurd amount of memorable moments, clever gameplay. And sconnectable controllers of course. 7: Tomb Raider
God what an athmosphere!At that time i didn't had money for a ps1, so me and a mate hired the console and the game in the weekend. We got to a good 3\4 of the game. Without a memory card; simple madness. 8: Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament
So many hours spent on creating new ways to offend human opponents. 8 players on 4 pads regularly became a viking war. A couple of time we had cop problems for being too noisy in late hours. Pure fun on silicium. 9: Psychonauts
So many geniusly defined characters in only one game, and gameplay is good too. 10: Bubble Bobble
I wanted to reserve the 10th position to a classic from the past, and my choice went on BB.Very challenging game, played a lot with my brother.The tune never tires you.
Went to the party not caring they weren't invited:
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Xenogears
re4
God of War II
Duke Nukem
Little Big Planet
Skate
1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Super Metroid
3. Gran Turismo 3
4. Halo: CE
5. Uncharted 2
6. Super Mario World
7. Batman: Arkham Asylum
8. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
9. Final Fantasy IV
10. Xenogears
1. Chrono Trigger
2. Half-Life 2 series
3. Yoshi's Island
4. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
5. Shadow of the Colossus
6. Final Fantasy IX
7. Starcraft
8. Mass Effect 2
9. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations
10. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
While my top 5 was easy, 6-10 took a lot of thought.
1: shadow of the colossus
2: half-life
3: metal gear solid 3
4: rez
5: pac-man championship edition
6: yoshi's island
7: outrun 2
8: monster hunter portable 3rd
9: bangai-o spirits
10: super metroid
"sorry" list: another world, resi 4, phoenix wright 3, crackdown, uncharted 1 and 2, chrono trigger, metroid prime, fate of atlantis and the entire ridge racer series
1. The Legend Of Zelda
2. Super Mario Brothers 3
3. The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
4. Dragon Quest VIII
5. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past
6. Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night
7. Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
8. Super Mario Galaxy
9. Mass Effect 2
10. Snatcher
1: Half-Life
2: Deus Ex
3: Super Mario World
4: Burnout 3: Takedown
5: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
6: Resident Evil 4
7: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
8: SimCity 2000
9: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
10: NHL 96
1. Metal Gear Solid 2
2. Final Fantasy X
3. Metal Gear Solid 3
4. Zone of the Enders 2
5. Grand Theft Auto 3
6. Resident Evil 4
7. Metal Gear Solid
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Star Fox 64
10. Perfect Dark
These are kind of the games that I look back and can say they really had a big impact on me. They all kind of showed me what games could be and all are examples of what I look for in games.
1. Metal Gear Solid
2. Super Mario World
3. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
4. Metal Gear Solid 3
5. Final Fantasy VII
6. Castlevania Symphony of the Night
7. Ridge Racer
8. Contra
9. Air Warrior
10. Crimson Skies
Very personal choices (obviously)... Air Warrior was my first "social" gaming experience; back in '92-'93, before the WWW, flying in enormous air battles on Compuserve was just incredible...
1. Shadow of the Colossus
2. Final Fantasy VI
3. Chrono Trigger
4. Planescape: Torment
5. Space Harrier
6. Dragon Quest V
7. Final Fantasy IV
8. Metal Gear Solid
9. Super Mario Galaxy
10. Half-Life 2
I'm sure I'll look back on this and remember 10 other games that should've been on this list. Can't wait to see the results!
1: Super Mario Bros.
2: Half-Life 2
3: Tetris
4: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5: Mario 64
6: Super Metroid
7: Metal Gear Solid
8: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
9: Goldeneye 007
10: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
1: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
2: Shenmue
3: Super Metroid
4: Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master
5: Resident Evil 4
6: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
7: BioShock
8: Virtua Fighter 5
9: Street Fighter III 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future
10: Devil May Cry
1: Chrono Trigger
2: Final Fantasy 6
3: Xenogears
4: Street Fighter Zero 2
5: Metal Gear Solid
6: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
7: Final Fantasy 7
8: Guardian Heroes
9: Ninja Gaiden Black
10: Super Street Fighter 4
1. Chronotrigger
2. Super Mario World
3. Metal Gear Solid 3
4. God of War 2
5. Super Mario Galaxy
6. Yoshi Island
7. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
8. Super Mario 3
9. Star Fox 64
10. NBA 2k11
1: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2: Super Mario Galaxy
3: Half-Life 2
4: Super Mario Galaxy 2
5: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
6: Super Metroid
7: Super Mario Bros. 3
8: Portal
9: FreeSpace 2
10: World of Warcraft
1. TIE Fighter
TIE Fighter is the best game ever made despite being in a genre I don't even ordinarily enjoy. Obviously it's a space / dogfighting sim. It was released at a time where Star Wars video games weren't quite so annualized or unambitious, and it set a standard that I don't think any game has met since. Not that a game can be measured by quantity of hours, but we're talking thirteen campaigns of 5-7 missions each, and many can easily last 30+ minutes!
I think the beauty of TIE Fighter is probably in its flexibility. Every mission in the incredibly meaty campaign has a number of relatively easy primary objectives. It also has a number of secondary objectives, which generally involve going above and beyond the call of duty--if the primary objective is to inspect a crate, the secondary objective might be to inspect all the crates. But then it take it a little bit deeper, most missions have hidden bonus objectives which are not listed anywhere and require on-the-fly analysis to figure out and complete. This in and of itself makes for a very flexible, deep campaign but what makes it so notable is the spectacularly good job they did at integrating this flexibility into the theme and story.
As a pilot in the Imperial Navy (yes, you're a bad guy!), you take deployments in various campaigns, some of which integrate into the movie stories and some of which are standalone. Flying next to Darth Vader provides ample fanservice and a sense of gravitas. But what's really cool is that when you are about to enter a mission, you are greeted with a mission briefing by a superior officer. He'll brief you on the primary objectives. But off to the side, you'll see a cloaked figure, representing the Emperor's Interests, to tell you about what's going on behind the scenes and provide a plot impetus to do secondary and bonus objectives. Want to play as a grunt who just does his job? Great. Want to work your way into the Emperor's Inner Circle? The game also accommodates this.
Almost every mission will allow you to destroy opponent ships or disable their computer systems and capture them, and the delicate touch required to do the latter will often pay dividends. The flexibility isn't just in the mission design though. There are multiple difficulty levels, but more importantly there are built-in cheats. Want unlimited missiles so you can take down a Star Destroyer? Have 'em. Want to turn off clipping? Go ahead. God mode? You betcha. This allows for emergent playstyles as well as making the game as challenging or simple as you want.
The mission design is truly excellent. Expect to confront pirates, expose weapons research, hunt down traitors to the empire (and maybe end up hunted yourself), defend Darth Vader, fight Rebels, secure defectors, escort, inspect, bomb, dogfight, and hyperspace your way through the campaigns. The campaigns are also bookended by great cinematic sequences which ooze with a distinctly early-LucasArts visual style (as a kid I was reminded of Loom and the Dig but I'm not sure those are the best comparisons).
The sheer variety of available ships make different missions play differently; while the Missile Boat and TIE Bomber are excellent for going up against capital ships and space stations, expect to want to use a TIE Fighter, TIE Advance, or TIE Defender for dogfighting and maximum speed. Likewise, your ability to engage enemies is going to depend a lot on the ship you choose--the A-Wings in particular are so agile that it's unlikely you'll be able to shoot one down without having a fast ship yourself.
Every mission features in depth 2d and 3d tactical maps as well as extensive squad commands. Dynamic cameras allow you to play in several different views as well as checking out the viewpoint of other ships. Tell your squad members to go after your target, or save the kill for yourself. Dogfighting is similarly rich, with controls design to be able to match or exceed your opponent's velocity as necessary.
Outside of the campaigns you can train in an arcade style time attack obstacle course race mode, replay cinematics, look at the game's assets through a model viewer, or otherwise amuse yourself. Local profile support adds a leaderboard / score attack aspect to the game.
Despite the relatively early release date, the game is beautiful in every release thanks to the fact that space is pretty empty and the ships you encounter make use of pretty flat textures and relatively simple geometry. The music in the original release is spectacular, although the later CD release trades this for generic Star Wars pap.
There's one last thing I want to say and I'm debating about how to say it. About half-way through the game, there is one particular mission which is, in my opinion, the single best level or mission in any game ever. I can't describe it without spoiling it. People who have played the game will know what I'm talking about. You enter the mission thinking "boy, this seems so simple". There are no primary mission objectives at all. The Cloaked Figure warns you that he has no goals for you in specific, but to be alert in case something funny happens. You're filled with dread. You set about the seemingly simple goal--clear a minefield while flying an unshielded craft.
Suddenly, a voice bellows, calling you "the Emperor's stool pidgeon". It's a trap! Harkin is a traitor! Your wingmen are firing on you! What is the meaning of this? Reinforcements! I'm screwed!
If you want to spoil the mission, here's a Youtube playthrough. Just mindblowing. Please don't spoil yourself, buy and play this game.
You can get the game for about $15 on eBay; your best bet is the CD edition. The original floppy edition has a manual text-based copy protection system, so if you buy the floppies, make sure to secure the manual and the expansions.
Whether you like Star Wars or not, whether you like space games or not, whether you like easy games or hard games, whether you're looking for quick arcade gameplay or deep involved strategy, buy and play this game. It has yet to be topped!
---
2. Legend of Mana
I wrote a detailed post about Legend of Mana a few months ago in response to someone calling it garbage so I will copy/paste some highlights and link the original post:
Legend of Mana is the best game Squaresoft made on the PS1, the pinnacle of the Mana series, and probably their best game ever made.
...
Combat: Legend of Mana has truly excellent combat...
What kind of combat and combat-related mechanics do you have?
- You can discover at least 30 different combat moves (the game calls them abilities), largely by using existing combinations of other moves. This is really cool because it encourages experimentation and switching up your abilities. You start with a few basic skills; let's say Jumping and Retreating. Press jump, your character jumps. Press retreat, your character retreats. Press them together and s/he does a back-roll handspring. Combine high-jump with back-roll and you get a full backflip. Combine back-roll with back-flip and you've got flip-kick. At first you sort of intuit how skills come together, and you're generally rewarded with an ability that makes total sense. The best part is that this isn't grindy at all, doing this simply a few times will unlock the more advanced moves for use on your character.
- There are maybe 10 different classes of weapons. Battleaxe? We've got that. Bow and Arrows? We've got that. Just like that other Mana games, you've got an extraordinary leeway in how you want to play the game... Weapons bring with them techniques; techniques are special weapon moves which combine the unique attributes of the weapon you're using with the unique attributes of the abilities you've unlocked above. The game is excellent at integrating its manifold systems together and letting you use as few or as many as you'd like to use.
...
- I would be amiss if I didn't mention that the game has the best New Game+ mode of any game ever made... There are two additional difficulty levels. I should warn you, it will take you 15+ minutes to kill the basic beginning of game enemies in the highest difficulty if you don't have an optimal crafted weapon. These modes really put your mastery of all the games mechanics to a test.
Story and Quest Design: Legend of Mana doesn't have one storyline, it has three. You can do any of them or all of them. Each storyline consists of about ten quests taking you across as many locations, and they're pretty involved and require you to get to know several characters and follow them.
...
The quest design here is excellent. Some quests are your typical explore, combat, boss combat, story scene layout. There's nothing wrong with that, since virtually everything in all the rest of the Mana series let alone every other RPG does this. But some quests are truly unique. Consider the Dudbear language--at one quest, you agree to sell a bunch of lamps as a travelling salesman to help a guy impress the woman he thinks he's in love with (his romantic misadventures are a whole quest chain in the game and it's genuinely hilarious stuff). To do this, you need to learn the Dudbear language! Dub duba duda dubba! Dubba dadda? Dada dadda! ...
Or have you ever went on an archaeological dig with some students to help find parts of a bone? You'll have to do it in this game, and once you've assembled the bone, place it on the world map to create the next dungeon you'll be going into.
Have you ever let a stoned fortune teller trap you in a dream world? Noticed your pet cactus ran away? Helped a positively terrible merchant sell overpriced junk to unsuspecting citizens? Composed poems to help a guy get hooked up? The quest design here is varied, filled with developed characters, and engaging.
Overall: Legend of Mana holds up better than any other game on a technical level from the PS1 era. The graphics and music are legendary. The game can be as simple or as complicated as you make it, that every combat and crafting system integrates with one another very well, and that the game is rewarding and deep if you choose to make it so... Despite major changes to the Mana formula, it keeps intact the spirit and far moreso than the later much worse games in the series, provides a blueprint for how to modernize some of the Mana gameplay beyond the 16-bit era.
Sim Tower is a slight game. It's not as deep as most of the Sim games. It's not as hard as most of the Sim games. It's not as long as most of the Sim games. But that's okay. A game doesn't need to be the deepest game to be one of the best games. That's the case here--SimTower is a wonderful, blissful, perfect distraction.
In SimTower, you are charged with building a hybrid shopping center-condominium-office tower-hotel skyscraper. Condos have a high upfront price but make you no recurring income, offices pay rent but cost a lot to build and might not pay off for many years. Restaurants can make or lose money, but need people to come to your building first. Hotels require maids to keep them clean so that cockroaches don't infest them. Terrorists might plant a bomb in your skyscraper, forcing security to hunt it down lest a part of your wonderful tower be turned to ruin. Movie theaters make money based on the popularity of the movie, but buying newer fresher movies costs a big upfront. The bigger your tower, the more services people expect--garbage removal and an underground subway line are quite expensive. VIPs might show up, demanding perfect treatment and no inconveniences.
The deepest component, strategically, is transportation. Don't expect people to walk up 80 flights of stairs to get to their office. You'll need to manage your elevators carefully. Of course, elevators can only stretch so far, so you'll need sky lobbies. No one wants to wait too long for the elevator either, so you'll have to manage the optimum balance of stop delays, manage which floors elevator cars default to, and schedule elevators to reflect the 9-5 schedule of businesses versus a different schedule for weekend visitors. Being able to literally see citizens get stressed if transportation is suboptimal is awesome, and being able to name and assign individual identities to citizens reminds you that they really do have a certain life rhythm. You get attached to the little guys.
The cool thing about SimTower is that you can start a new game and bang out an interesting, fun to manage, medium sized tower during your lunch break. The day/night/week/year cycle is quite brisk and it feels like time is passing very quickly, which is a good thing. This was a bit of a trend in the mid-90s actually; LucasArts released the Desktop Adventures games, tons of companies made Windows 95 desktop widgets or semi-interactive screensavers, and Maxis published SimTower (from Yoot Saito, who later did Seaman). Unlike modern day cell phone one-and-done disposable five minute games, though, SimTower is engaging enough to encourage longer sessions if you have the time.
Once you've cracked the simulation model, which you will after bringing a few towers all the way to 100 storeys, you begin to appreciate that the game is incredibly deep considering the simplicity of the model. Just a few choices and factors lead to a fun, engaging game.
SimTower is available on iPad (bad port), DS (Japanese only), GBA (OK port), and PC. The PC version might not run on 64-bit operating systems and will set you back about $10 on eBay, although the company that made it is defunct and the company that published it got swallowed up by EA and sold.
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4. Actraiser
How do you combine a clunky, simple platformer with a clunky, simple simulation game and get one of the best games of all time? I can't answer that, but Actraiser is proof that it can be done.
Actraiser is a game made up of two halves; the platforming half is stiff, and features a statue-come-to-life who can run, jump, swing his sword... and that's about it. Level designs are generally flat although some make use of interesting verticality. Collectibles can be found to earn extra points, restore health, or obliterate on-screen enemies, but nothing is hidden in the level designs and there are relatively few branching paths. Each stage has a large, visually interesting boss. Following the completion of a stage, players must take control of a little cherub angel, and play a city-building simulation game. In this half, you guide the road development of a city. Houses are automatically built and your population increases. Monsters scattered around the map attack these houses and kidnap or kill citizens, so the angel has a bow with which to shoot them. Directing citizens to the location of the monster lair will "seal" the lair, making things easier for you and them. Godly powers of rain, lightning, wind, sun, and earthquakes can be used to trigger events or make the terrain more habitable. After sealing all the lairs in an area, it's back to another platforming stage to banish demons once and for all. Population growth in the simulation areas causes you to "level up", giving you more health--scoring high in the platforming areas helps drive population growth. Spells can be found in the simulation areas that are used in the platforming areas, and so the two halves are linked.
This description is intentionally a little bit bland. There's nothing about the premise or depth of Actraiser that should make it a great game. But it is thanks to incredible, mindblowing audiovisual components, a very strong theme, and fun factor.
The score is a notable high point, one of the best ever. Here's a symphonic example, but the in-game renditions use excellent samples and are a pleasure to listen to. I'm not a classical expert, but Koshiro's work draws heavily from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" suite (which you might know from Mars, the Bringer of War). The visuals are bright, crisp, colourful, with good spritework in a sort of colourful gothic style. The game uses Mode7 and other advanced SNES tricks very well given that it was a launch-era title.
But I think the theme is what does it. You play as God. You have been asleep for a long time, and in your absence, the world has been overrun with Demons. In the Japanese version, your enemy is literally Satan, although Nintendo's censorship policies at the time resulted in the secularizing of the game. Each area of the world that you liberate represents a return to the human dominance (and stewardship) of nature. The simulation mode allows you to interact with the human citizens of your world, who give you offerings, share with you their knowledge (the production of wheat, the use of sheep's wool, and learning to build bridges are three great examples), and act selflishly as humans do. One area's leaders beg you to save their son from being a Demon Sacrifice. An explorer in the desert area is dying from exposure and dehydration and begs for a cleansing rain to send him on to the afterlife. Civil war breaks out in one area, and only by introducing the calming gift of music to the culture can you calm the warfare. One area engages in idolatry, worshiping a false island God. Although the game is very clearly Christian in origin, there are some elements--implied reincarnation of the humans, for example--that show eastern influence. There's also an element of bizarre imperialism; the first few areas that are civilized are clearly inspired by Europe, the least civilized nation is clearly South-East Asian or African.
The most touching moment is at the end of the game. Having rendered the world peaceful, you learn what became of your people. Some lived, some died. The Angel remarks to you that despite your role as God, you could not avoid an emotional connection to certain key people. In the end, the people abandon their shrines to you--since they no longer need a master, they are their own master. This is one of the most succinct and wonderful existential explorations ever laid out in a video game. In fact, it's Nietzsche boiled down into just a few sentences. If you liked the questions Groundhog Day made you ask, I think you'd like Actraiser.
This is a game that is far greater than the sum of its parts, and it is positively blissful to play. Play it. Available for $8 on VC or a similar price for a cart copy on SNES.
5. Final Fantasy VI:
FF6 is exceptionally well paced, probably second only to Chrono Trigger in this regard. You're constantly on the move, constantly going somewhere new, and constantly working your way towards your ultimate objective. Even in the World of Ruin where the game opens up a little bit more, each party member recollected makes you feel more ready to take on Kefka. In particular, the first 3-5 hours of the game (leading up to the group battle at Narshe) is probably the best paced segment of any narrative-driven game in history. This is in very distinct contrast to many of Square's recent offerings which have suffered from incredibly poor pacing either because of cutscene and dialog speed (FF13) or because of environment scope (FF12).
Tension and release is another element that I feel is very well done here. Consider the end of the World of Balance -- a ticking time bomb signals certain death for your party, the game climaxes, the Emperor is murdered, Kefka is a madman, you've fought the Atma Weapon, surely this is the end!!! -- and when you awake, calmness. No battles. The main character has changed. You're in such a small, irrelevant space. The stakes are more personal, but still urgent. The game is really good at mixing this stuff up so you never feel overextended or exhausted.
I think these two factors make FF6 one of the most eminently playable games ever released. It's no problem to sit down and whack through a playthrough, or maybe just play a few hours. You'll never feel tired or burnt out.
The battle system is basically the triumph of illusion over design. Let's be real, this is a very basic battle system. Buffs and nerfs are almost useless and certainly never necessary. Elemental affinities are simple. Enemy AI is non-existent. There are rarely strategic choices to be made. The character-specific abilities are useless by the end game. It's simple to grind out stat boosts and learn every spell on every character. Mog's Dances are totally useless, and Sketches and Rages are useless unless you master them and really learn the game system. There are clear balance issues with certain Relics and Weapons. And yet if you ask virtually anyone who has played it, it has an excellent battle system. You feel like you have a choice, even though you don't. You feel like the character-specific abilities matter, even if they don't (the strong thematic connection between the character and their ability helps reinforce this). You feel like the desperation attacks matter even if you'll play the game another 5 times before you see one. You feel like Atma Weapon/Goddess/the Dragons are menacing, even if you can beat them. Even Kefka--a final boss who can be one-shotted with Genji Glove + Offering + Atma Weapon + Illumina--feels threatening.
The story isn't anything original. It borrows heavily and randomly from existing tropes, but it executes them in a way that feels archetypal rather than derivative. Characters are flat and frequently just spout cliche summaries of their personalities, but unlike FF13 where it is infuriating, here it is endearing. The visual simplicity and lack of voice acting cause your mind to fill in the details, making the world feel a lot larger and more real than it actually is. I still feel that FF6 remains the best "evil empire" plot in any media, even though it clearly borrows from many novels and films. Bannon's speech about Pandora's Box remains memorable to me--the timing and execution here are great. The story of writing letters to the soldier's girlfriend while he recovers in bed is one of the best little sub-plots in an FF game. The Serpent Trench, and to a lesser extent, the Mine Cart sequence, as well as the use of "plot battles" (Locke stealing the soldier's clothes, Leo vs Kefka, the Esper Gate, the Airship fights) make the game feel epic in scope in a way that today's towering 3d boss fights never have for me.
1: Super Mario Bros. 3 - Still my favorite 2D platformer of all time
2: Civilization IV - I have loved the last four Civ games and am using this one as a stand-in for the series
3: Final Fantasy Tactics - My favourite PS1 game. Wins out over Tactics Ogre for nostalgic reasons
4: Chrono Trigger - Chrono Trigger is the perfect jrpg. It has an interesting setting/characters/story, a quick and responsive combat system, and no bloat. Wish more jrpgs were a solid 20-25 hours with no filler.
5: Super Mario Galaxy - I have loved all of the 3D Mario platformers, but the first Mario Galaxy is the best of the bunch.
6: Tetris - Modern puzzle games may be flashier, but it is hard to top the brilliant simplicity (and addictiveness) of classic Tetris.
7: Uncharted 2 - I wanted to include a game to represent the current HD generation, and I think Uncharted 2 is as good a pick as any.
8: Suikoden 2 - In my opinion, the PS1 had the best library of jrpgs ever, and Suikoden 2 was my favourite traditional jrpg released on the system.
9: Baldur's Gate 2 - The best western Rpg I have ever played. The might and magic games hold a special place in my heart, but this game is more deserving of the title of "greatest ever".
10: Fire Emblem (GBA) - You can probably see from my list that my three favourite genres are strategy games, Rpgs, and platformers. All of the Fire Emblem games are extremely addictive strategy titles. It was hard to pick a single title from the series as almost all of the games are outstanding, but I am going to go with the Fire Emblem (GBA)/Fire Emblem 7 as it was my introduction to the series.
System Shock 2 (I'm not a huge fan of the first!) figured out FPS-RPG before anyone else. If you liked BioShock, you'll love this game. if you liked Deus Ex, you'll love this game. If you like the rich worlds of Bioware or Bethesda games, you'll love this game. If you like Amnesia for scaring you, you'll love this game. This is the full meal deal.
I want to make a few specific points:
- Deus Ex gets open mission design right, but does it at the expense of actual character customization mechanics. Biomods and stats in Deus Ex are actually kind of lame. System Shock 2 is the exact opposite; while the level/mission design are linear and not really subject to any player choices, player customization is deep and rewarding. Playing the game as a gunslinger is totally and utterly different experience than playing as a psychic. So much so that many people who play the game won't even experience the bulk of what there is to offer in terms of gameplay style.
- System Shock 2 features an extensive "log" system, where the diaries of dead crew members can be read. This might seem common now after BioShock and I guess Doom 3, but when System Shock did it, it was new and it was spectacular. I've always been fascinated by games that stick you in the middle of a dead world and challenge you to figure out what happened. It was spectacular in Myst, it was spectacular in Zork: Nemesis, it's spectacular in BioShock, but it's perhaps most spectacular here. The diaries range from humourous to informative to scary to emotional and are very well written.
- The level architecture in about the first half of the game is unparalleled within the genre. Did you find yourself enjoying how BioShock introduced sort of "themed" areas of the city? System Shock 2 does it much better. The Hydroponics deck, deck 3, in particular is gorgeous and very believable. Something that always bothered me about sci-fi TV shows was that their ships never had much in the way of plant life. Why not? Besides the obvious psychological and scientific benefits of plant life, it is aesthetically interesting. The Hydroponics deck is very visually interesting because of this, but it also plays on the universal creepiness of watching nature reclaim human structures (which is something you see in real life pictures of Chernobyl or in many video games, most recently Enslaved).
- Finally, research. In BioShock, you use a camera to research enemy splicers in order to do more damage. This is mechanically very fun, but thematically makes little to no sense; you don't actually do the research and there's no reason your photos would make you better at killing enemies. Yeah, yeah, it's a video game, the mechanics don't have to make sense, but when there's a ludonarrative consonance (story and mechanics connect), that's a big bonus. In System Shock 2 you use lab research chemicals and dead enemy's organs to research them. There's a severe economy of research chemicals and the actual process of doing the research often takes a little bit of time. This whole mechanic is really well implemented and the envy of subsequent games.
- You see the plot twist coming from a mile away, and it still scares the unholy shit out of you when it happens. Video game villains are generally pretty one-dimensional, they're either misunderstood well meaning goons or detached psychopaths who want to watch the world burn. SHODAN is no exception, but if you accept this constraint, her character (and more specifically the delivery of her dialogue) makes her one of the best.
System Shock 2 inspired so many games that appear in these threads and Game of the Year threads. Anyone who has ever liked an FPS-RPG will like this. Anyone who has ever liked a scary game will like this. Anyone who yearns for a time where things were more deep even if a little more frustrating (weapon decay and breaking, inventory tetris) will like this. It's a must play.
System Shock 2 is not available on any DD service, will set you back about $30 on eBay, and is one of the most pain in the ass games to get working on a modern computer. It had pretty serious compatibility issues with XP, let alone anything more modern. Although there are modern texture patches, I can't vouch for any of them.
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7. Super Mario Bros 3
It's tough to come up with something to say about a game that everyone has already played fifteen billion times. More unfortunately, I don't think anyone has ever written about this game in a way that nails it--the GameSpite article on SMB3 is one of the weaker ones.
I think that series of game design articles a few months ago comes close. They focus on the idea that Mario 3 is probably the most intuitive game ever made. New mechanics are introduced, iterated on, and then discarded while feeling completely organic. Every time you're asked to do something, you immediately get it. Maybe you die once, but normally you just get it right away. The auto-scrolling levels are immediately obvious. If I don't run, I'll die. The angry sun swoops at you that first time and you know "if that hits me, I'm toast". The baby para-goombas get attached to Mario and you think "I've got to wiggle to get them off me". The first trail of coins in 1-1 makes it clear you can fly. This mechanical intuition is actually true of most Mario games, but it's probably most true of SMB3. It's helped by the short level length--which I know is a big subject of complaints about the game and one of the main reasons some prefer SMW.
Two other things; first, SMB3's worlds are more strongly themed than any other in the series. SMW attempts to have themed worlds, sort of (the Chocolate Island succeeds the best), but they don't feel so archetypal as they do here. Grass, Desert, Water, Giant, Sky, Ice, Pipe, Dark. Everyone remembers that order. Each world fully explores its potential. There's a bright eyed feeling of discovery when you move from world to world. The game feels huge because each world is so different. Warp Zones make it feel even bigger!
Finally, the single most epic moment on the NES is in SMB3. It's very understated, but if you can go back in time to the first moment you had it happen, I'm sure you'll remember that your jaw dropped. You enter world 5, and it seems a little small, and the theme seems a little weak. You go through a few levels--and yeah, you hop in Kuribo's Shoe holy shit--until you enter the spiral tower.
The level is short. You're climbing and climbing and climbing. In the last screen you emerge and you're literally walking on clouds. You climb up the blue vine you enter the top pipe...
... ...
oh my god
$8 on VC, on GBA as Super Mario Advance 4, on Wii in Super Mario Allstars CE, on SNES as Super Mario Allstars.
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8. Theme Hospital
Theme Hospital is the most inviting simulation game of all time. I think that causes some people to overlook it as being insufficiently deep, which is a fair criticism, but the point is that like Theme Park before it, a new player sitting down to Theme Hospital will grasp concepts and end up getting to the end of the game, on the last scenario, before they know it. Your first little hospitals will have little floor space, few diagnostic areas, relatively few employees, and relatively few patients
But later on things get considerably bigger. Even in the biggest levels, the basic iteration will be the same; build a receptionist, get a few doctors, get basic diagnostic equipment, build more advanced stuff as increasingly absurd patients come in. What the game does at this point to make up for the relative lack of freedom in terms of how you progress through a level is to introduce time management elements that might be more typical of something like Diner Dash or Root Beer Tapper than a traditional sim game. Again, Theme Park is an instructive blueprint here--expect to be placing plants in front of mouse holes, dealing with disgruntled staff, and juggling dozens of patients at once, and keeping an eye on your goal for the level. It also takes a lot of elements that we'd see later in the Sims in terms of how you actually design your hospital, place decorative and functional objects, make sure paths are not obstructed, etc. Very Feng Shui, and I mean that in the Oprah sense not the traditional Chinese sense.
This game is funny. Don't expect to be treating Lupus or Brain Cancer, your patients are more likely to suffer from Jellyitis (turns them into blobs), Slack Tongue (no problem, cut their tongues off in the slicer), King Complex (thank you, thank you very much), Bloaty Head (pop 'em with a pin and reinflate them to standard pressure), or Spare Ribs (removed in an operation, given in a take-home doggy bag to the patient). Both on a textual and a visual level the game will maintain you in a zen-like chuckle trance.
The multiplayer mode is kind of ancillary but provides a good opportunity to screw your opponent by dropping garbage bombs in the middle of their hospital. The main campaign is maybe 15 levels, so you'll get 10+ hours out of the game, although it's eminently replayable and I normally give it a run through every few years.
Theme Hospital is out of print and the developer, Bullfrog, was dissolved by EA. Most of the bigwigs at Bullfrog have moved on to other things, Peter Molyneux notably is with MS. Theme Hospital got a European DVD reprint a few years ago which sells on eBay for <$10 or in stores in Europe for about 5 euro. The game is also available on PS1 but let's get real, you're not going to play it on PS1.
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9. Tomba!
Tomba! is a platformer RPG where you play as a caveman who fights pigs and bites their heads. In a sense, I feel like it has a lot to do with the Metroidvania games; world exploration and unlocking new areas and loot with new abilities are the main components of the game. How it differs from the Metroidvania games is that it takes inspiration from light-hearted, colourful, cartoony, and comical mascot platformers rather than pattern memorization action games. The result is, I think, a far better mix--while it's easy in every Metroidvania except probably OOE to simply grind your way through a challenging area, with Tomba! your skill at traversal is always going to be key. Unlike the Paper Mario Series, though, the RPG elements in Tomba are not relegated to menus or separate battle scenes, they're built in to the platforming. So in that sense, there are many games on many lists in this thread that I feel like are basically inferior versions of what Tomba! does.
Cutscenes are told in a very pretty anime style, and the game itself looks good even played on an HDTV today. Bright, crisp colours and very detailed environments go a long way.
Besides being a splendid platformer and a pretty meaty one (you're looking at 75+ quests, some of which require exploring the entire world, many of which are in quest chains, some of which require inventory shenanigans, lots of items to get, etc), it's also a very dryly comical game. The game opens with Tomba meeting a 100 Year Old Man, who looks positively ancient--expect this to be a running gag until by the end of the game you're listening to a 1,000,000 Year Old Man tell you fables of times gone by.
One quest I enjoyed in particular was Yan's Lunch; throughout the game a kid called Yan is found hiding in the most unlikely places. Eventually you stumble on his home village and are given his lunch by his father. Of course you'll have to track it down and give it to him. The quest rewards exploration and has some funny dialogue.
Tomba! is out of print and developer has closed. While there have been some rumblings about it showing up on PSN and it is published by Sony, it hasn't happened yet. On eBay, the game will set you back a pretty steep $35+ which I think makes it the most expensive game on my list by far.
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10. Mass Effect
When people who are more critical of Mass Effect talk about it, they generally saying something like "it would be an amazing game, but x, y, and z are wrong with it." It's not that those problems don't exist, they do. Load times are iffy, texture pop-in after loads is terrible, lol identical warehouses across the universe, menu UI, paladin/psychopath dichotomy, biotics are kind of broken, the Mako sucks on the random worlds. All very real problems.
But it doesn't stop the game from being a resounding success. Name a science fiction game that so thoroughly nails the sense of scale of space, that handles galactic politics and intrigue and inter-species relations. MOO1/2 and Star Control and Freespace and TIE Fighter and the rest of the classics all handle certain elements well, but Mass Effect is just a totally grand sci-fi adventure without compare.
ME doesn't just ape the greats in terms of its sci-fi theme, it's also in the cinematography. The introduction alone oozes polish and professional presentation, which I guess is kind of funny given how rough around the edges some of the technical elements of the game are. In media res, Shepard flying towards Eden Prime, just about to be briefed of his mission. Immediately you get feedback that's tailored to your character's back-story. A small and ultimately irrelevant touch from a gameplay point of view, but it does a lot to anchor you inside Shepard's character. One other cinematography aspect; the entire finale and ending of the game, right down to the credit roll with Faunts' M4 Part II playing over the credits is excellent. Mass Effect 2 was a significant step back in terms of the care that was put into these elements.
The level designs for the core campaign are spectacular. The Citadel itself is great, but when you revisit it for the finale, it becomes transcendent. The game establishes an excellent balance between traversal / combat missions and character/dialogue-driven missions and short of the "comb the universe for useless trinkets" collectathon side missions, all of the side missions are interesting.
So for me it wasn't a case of what was wrong with Mass Effect, but more that the story, pacing, cinematography, theme, world, and level design were so great that they wiped away any of the wonkier, more technical issues.
Mass Effect is widely available for $10-20 and is on PC and 360. It's my "Game of the Generation".
Full list for the voting count
1: TIE Fighter
2: Legend of Mana
3: SimTower
4: Actraiser
5: Final Fantasy VI
6: System Shock 2
7: Super Mario Bros 3
8: Theme Hospital
9: Tomba!
10: Mass Effect
1: Super Mario 64- Mario 64 has aged, and to anyone that didn't play it when it came out, it might not look all that special. But it's the only game that can bring a smile to my face no matter what is going on around me. It's a beautifully creative world that offers both linear direction and lauds exploration. It is a gem of design, and I can't see anyone knocking it from its place in my heart.
2: Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness- This is the only game that could knock Mario 64 from its perch as the greatest game ever made, and the only reason that it can't is that it has a game breaking bug or. If your computer does not run at the exact right speed, the game will crash on the entrance to a certain screen rendering it impossible to complete the game. However, the 90% that game does let you play, is the best combination of a point and click action rpg that has ever been made. The art style is gorgeous, the world colorfully bleak, and the characters infectious and well realized. I adore this game, and used to start every summer playing through the series, sometimes playing this one twice.
3: Shining Force 2- This is my first real RPG, and to me, it remains one of the best. It may be simple, but that's why I like it. It's a charming game with lovely sprite work, fun characters, and fantastic music.
4: Super Mario World- Perhaps it is a little easy, but this gorgeous 2D platforming game is, to me, the best that the genre has to offer. For better or for worse, it is the game against which all 2D platformers are judged.
5: Curse of Monkey Island
6: Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines
7: Zelda 1
8: Doom
9: Flashback: The Quest for Identity
10: Alundra
Dang, after Stumpokapow's lovely contribution I feel like I should do a real list. Remind me to copy this to notepad and save it for next year. Anyways:
1. Deus Ex
OST
I'm 20+ hours into a replay and I have no doubt that Deus Ex is the greatest game of all time. Even 11 years after release, it still hasn't been topped in terms of pure, beautiful game design. 'Choice' in videogames is more popular than ever, but most of the time it's binary and superficial - just the choice of making your character act good or evil in a cutscene. Choice in Deus Ex is about letting the player approach the game in any way they want. You can just blast through with guns and rocket launchers and reach the goal, you can hack a path and turn bots and turrets against the enemy, you can just sneak through passage ways and avoid bloodshed all together. The beauty of it is that these options are never laid out in front of you in a blatant way, it's all up to you.
If the fuckawesome gameplay wasn't enough, Deus Ex also has one of the most fascinating narrative and setting in gaming history. The world is controlling by shadowy organizations and corrupt governments, it's packed full of conspiracy and intrigue. It's a dark vision of the future, humans are dying from epidemics like grey death and the organisations that hold it are keeping it for themselves. The story leads to a lot of tough choices, and there are plenty of opportunities to try and do a good deed in a terrible place, or to just be a selfish, sadistic dick (my favorite). The narrative holds together well considering all the different paths the player can take, and I'm still finding something new every time I play.
It's a goddamn masterpiece and the greatest videogame ever made.
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
OST
An all new Star Wars saga with the best characters and plot since the original trilogy, and a player driven narrative? FUCK YES. As someone who grew up on Star Wars, this was my dream game and Bioware delivered. I still consider it to be the best Star Wars tale outside of the main trilogy. It nailed one thing that the new trilogy failed at: awesome characters. HK-47, the snide, evil droid is one of the all time greats, Bastilla was a lovable and charming bitch, Mission was endearing and cute, Canderous was the ultimate crusty badass and Zaalbar was one hell of a wookie. Carth sucked, though. The plot didn't break any new ground, but it had a very memorable twist and many small but great moments like infiltrating the Sandpeople's lair.
The Star Wars license was enough for me to love KOTOR, but it had a solid foundation of accessible but engaging RPG gameplay. Becoming a Jedi made the combat a blast with light saber duels and delightfully overpowered force abilities like lightning. It didn't just look and sound like Star Wars, it played like Star Wars. KOTOR is Bioware's crowning achivement, one of the best things to grace the Star Wars universe, and it's among the greatest games ever made.
3. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
OST
In all my billions of hours of gaming, very few moments compare to opening of Morrowind. You step off the ship, enter Seyda Need and realize that you have entered a massive, beautiful world. As a lifelong console gamer, the massive scale and freedom of Morrowind was a revelation. I stayed up till dawn exploring Vvardenfell - from the disease ridden Red Mountain, the terrifying Daedric Temples, the alien and bizarre Telvanni towns like Sadrith Mora, the grand and massive city of Vivec - and that's just a few of many amazing places to find. Morrowind was an enchanting world with a great, distinct lore and it's still the greatest open world game ever made.
Fuck, now I gotta reinstall it...
4. Demon's Souls
OST
Demon's Souls is the single most rewarding and satisfying game that I have played. Just about every moment was a goddamn thrill, and seeing the credits roll was tremendously gratifying. Some boss fights, like Maneater or Penetrater had my hands trembling and my eyes dry from a lack of blinking. It was worth the pain of repeated failure, slaying those massive and terrifying demons had me fist pumping and dancing like an idiot in my living room. In Demon's Souls, greatness is earned and it feels really fucking good when you get there.
It's not all about the challenge, though. Demon's Souls is also an incredible and deep RPG with an intense and tactical combat system. The tremendously designed levels are packed full of secret areas and hidden items. You have a good amount of freedom when it comes to building characters, and the variety of weapons allow for many different play styles. On top of all that, it has a fantastically memorable art style and setting. Boletaria is a bleak and melancholy place, and you truly feel alone as you crawl through it's dark catacombs and ruined castles.
It may be soul crushing and complex, but it's also dangerously addictive and entrancing. Demon's Souls is not just the greatest of the current generation, but a game that will go down with the all-time greats.
5. Metal Gear Solid 2
OST
Story and characters are nucking futs, just how I like my Metal Gear Solid games. It's the pinaccle of MGS gameplay. The fixed camera angles add a slick, cinematic style to the visuals and the excellent soundtrack sets the mood. Unlike the wide open MGS3, the tight, closed levels are well suited for the fixed camera angles. The controls, once you grasp them, become second nature and clearing a room of bad guys without making a peep never fails to satisfy.
6. LittleBigPlanet
One of my favorite co-op games, it's good, lighthearted fun. It may not be the most exceptionally tight platformer, but it has a rare sandbox appeal to the gameplay. Sackboy's silly emotes and blunders are always good for a laugh, and the endless amount of levels have kept it in my PS3 longer than any other game. Above all else, though, it embraces creativity. Anyone with an active imagination can loose a lot of time just tinkering around and experimenting in create mode.
7. Mass Effect
OST
I was bummed that Bioware was making this instead of KOTOR3, but I was sold the moment I hit the Citadel. Both games have some flaws in the gameplay department, but it's worth the price of admission for the Mass Effect universe alone.
8. Peggle
So simple, but so addictive. The bright colors, zany characters and gratuitous use of Ode to Joy make for an immensely light hearted and fun experience. The complete lack of learning curve and the unpredictability make it the perfect party game. Anyone can join in, gamer or not, and have a blast.
9. Max Payne
A solid and stylish 3rd person shooter with a compelling, surreal and sometimes ridiculous narrative. Love it for the little details like the TV shows.
10. Wipeout HD
Who needs drugs when you have Wipeout HD. It's the best audio/visual experience you can find on consoles, and an intense as shit battle racing game. Fuck Gran Turismo, this is the best Playstation racing franchise.
1. Deus Ex
2. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
3. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
4. Demon's Souls
5. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
6. LittleBigPlanet
7. Mass Effect
8. Peggle
9. Max Payne
10. Wipeout HD
1: Metal Gear Solid
2: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
3: Super Mario Galaxy
4: Goldeneye 007
5: Pikmin
6: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
7: Metroid Prime
8: Resident Evil 4
9: Super Mario World
10: Halo: Combat Evolved
