Hmmm. I have many that I'd consider the benchmark of their individual genres, but I'll just list a few here:

Forza 3/4 - For me, these games changed everything about sim racers due to their accessibility. Having the rewind feature, autobraking, and the brake guide all helped me overcome low vision problems I typically have with games like these. It doesn't hurt that they're a hell of a lot of fun.

Quest for Glroy 1 & 4 - Quest for Glory 1 introduced me to the fantasy genre across all mediums, something I still deeply enjoy today. It was also among my first PC games, and along with Leisure Suit Larry 2, would come to define the adventure genre for me in a lot of ways. Quest for Glory IV took the premise and the promise of the first few games, and blew them out of the water. It was buggy as hell, but it became the shining example of the adventure RPG for me.

Elder Scrolls III - Although far surpassed in regards to quality and fun, this was my first Bethesda game and I've been in love with their take on the RPG ever since.

Final Fantasy VII - Although I believe the game to have been mechanically surpassed by now, it is still the benchmark I hold all JRPG's up against. This game changed me from a mild, occasional gamer to a full-blown addict almost literally overnight.

F-19 Stealth Fighter - My first flight sim, and still one of my favorites. If my Tandy ran, I'd probably still play this even today.

Pirates! - The original was my introduction to a sandbox-type game. I was given little information to go on besides, "Here's who you're allied with, here's the last sighting of X, here's a ship, go have fun!" And that's precisely what I did. I think it was essentially surpassed by its remake on the Xbox and other platforms, but the addition of cartoony mini-games didn't help it much.

Now, I'm no gaming expert... but, see, that's kind of the idea here, I guess. An Average Joe giving his opinion. And this post, my first, is simply going to be about the top games I ever played. I'll start with the first one I ever played, or remember playing at least, Tetris. EVERYONE knows Tetris. If you don't, Google it, play a flash game of it, then come back and continue reading. Tetris was, and there's little denying this, amazing. You could be eight or you could be eighty and you'd love it. It wasn't this big fancy game, in fact it was very simple. You drop some funny shaped blocks and make lines. Repeat. How ever, they way they did this made it quite fun, or at least addicting. And that's what a game should do. Draw you in. It didn't need a plot or story.

Another game that hits my list of life changers is Pokemon Yellow. I say Yellow because it was the first one I played, followed by gold. Pokemon was, and still is, my favourite handheld game series. It's amazing, and while it's debatable with the newer releases, I still love it. I just bought White earlier today in fact. Pokemon is a very enthralling game. Even now I can pick up my Gold, start a new game, and just sit there for hours playing it. While, like all games, it has it's issues, I feel it's done very well. Better then most games on handheld systems.

The next game that makes my list of life changers is Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. I loved this game to bits. And it wasn't even mine, I've never owned it. I played it on my mothers ex-boyfriends PS2. I would not put it down. Without a memory card I got half way through it and watched playthroughs of the rest. The story is amazing, the game play is amazing... The game is, in my eyes, just amazing. It's the game that made me a fan of flight simulators and kept me there. While this section is the shortest, it is by far the most important to me. Ace Combat was the one game that really got me into all the other games I play now, with the exclusion of Pokemon. Moving on.

Next comes Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. These two are the only CoD games I can truly enjoy. The MW series, as well as the original series, simply don't strike me well enough to interest me. I feel these two are the best in the franchise. While on the topic of shooters I will make mention of Halo, as a series. The Halo games are beautiful, very much so. I feel they could be better, but they're still very very good, and very enjoyable story wise.

On the topic of story games, Metal Gear Solid. Specifically, 4. The story in this game is amazing. While many people complain of the cut scenes, and the fact that it's effectively an interactive movie, I greatly enjoy the effect. And the story telling is amazing, and I'm still figuring out things from it every time I play it.

So there it is, my little synopsis of games. Note how I avoided any terribly new games, since there is a difference between making an impact and just being enjoyable right now. I would, otherwise, have very much liked to put Battlefield 3 on here. But I'll refrain. Let me know what you think. And remember, I'm no expert. In fact the only consoles I've ever owned are, in order of obtainment, a Gameboy Colour, a Gameboy Advanced, a Nintendo DS lite, and I shall soon be getting a Nintendo 3DS. All other games mentioned here were played on other peoples systems, and most likely owned by other people as well.