Over the years games come and go, but few stick around with you long after you've moved them to the attic. I wanted to make a list of games here that may not necessarily be "The Best Games of All Time," but the games that I simply feel incredible fondness for. This list is in no particular order.
This is a work in progress.
If it weren't for this brilliant city builder, I probably would have never gotten so heavily into PC gaming. I remember being ~11 years old, sitting on the floor of my local Barnes & Noble, reading strategy guides for this.
porntipsguzzardo - I will never forget.
My father was a Mac guy, so my computer game library was limited when I was young. Legend of Kyrandia was one of the few adventure games I had available to me. The sequel was never ported to Mac, but Malcom's Revenge was. I was so jealous that I couldn't play that middle game...
I loved SimCity 2000 so much, I naturally ventured into the other Sim titles Maxis had. SimTower was easily the best. I poured hundreds of hours meticulously laying out elevators, staircases, hotel rooms, offices, condos, restaurants, etc. I was thrilled when Yoot Tower came out a few years later. I heard Yoot Tower might be coming to the iPad someday...
By far and away the best LucasArts adventure game of its time. Sadly the nostalgia is being ever so spoiled by all the games Telltale has been making lately.
Alpha Centauri is significantly better than any Civilization game has ever been, and for one reason: quotes. The quotes attached to everything in this game are *so fucking good*, it takes the game to another level. I get lost in the world this game creates. Listen for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S1N8_Lkeps
Deadlock and Deadlock 2 might have been the first games I ever played online. It was a really fun mix of base building and turn based strategy. The alien races in this game I've seen copied over and over in other games. The Quarians from Mass Effect are such a close ripoff of The Maug from this game, if Accolade still existed, they could sue.
On top of just being a great dogfighter, Freespace's story is best in class. The campaign is simply better than most sci-fi television and movies.
100% pure love for this game. I must have played it a dozen times. Even after all these years, the soundtrack sticks with me.
Flammie Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwVR2ZQqJFI
Chrono Trigger goes without much need of explanation. I played the poop out of it when I was a kid. Frog's Theme is the best part of the entire game.
I collected every last gem.
Zelda for the NES was alright, but this is the one that perfected the formula. OoT was LttP in 3D with a horse.
This was the first game that started the downward spiral for MK. The 3D in MK4 sucked. I could never figure out how to pick up the weapons. A lot of the new characters were unlikable (Reiko? Kai? Horrible). This is however the MK game I played the most. I got good enough at MK4 to play it on the hardest difficulty setting. The game sucked, but I just love MK anyway.
Split-screen multiplayer with friends. Laptop gun.
What made this game extra special for me was my complete lack of expectations. I had no idea what I was getting into. As I was escaping Shadow Moses during the finale, I was 100% convinced I had just played the greatest game ever made.
While I enjoy Metroid Prime, nothing will ever touch Super. Super Metroid is a masterpiece.
The early Turok games were decent fun mixed with some of the best guns ever put in a FPS. The Cerebral Bore continues to this day of being one of my favorites.
I vividly remember the summer day this game launched. I showed up to Best Buy in the wee morning hours, they had a special display just for Diablo, taking the game home and loading it up on my old Dell computer... and the game didn't disappoint. My Hydra Sorc w/ full Tal'rasha gear was a god. Diablo 3 can't come soon enough.
EverQuest is the worst game I ever loved. This was my first MMO and I quickly became badly addicted to it. I read my Ruins of Kunark strategy guide so heavily that the pages started falling out. When I wasn't playing, I was thinking about it. The only way I was able to quit was when I went to boarding school.
I didn't think I'd get into another MMO after I was finally free of EverQuest, but I couldn't let a Blizzard game go by without trying it. While my relationship with WoW is definitely love/hate, I can't help but respect it. Even when I quit, each new expansion adds so much to the game that I always end up jumping back in. It's an endless treadmill of character progression, but regardless, it's polished as all hell.
My 2010 Game of the Year, and would easily make my short list of the best games ever made. Mass Effect 2 sets the bar for cinematic storytelling in video games, combined with just being a fantastic shooter to boot.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is the best role playing game ever made. So much to see, so much to do, all without some giant arrow in the sky telling you where to go. Its your character, it's your story, go explore. Oblivion is why JRPGs like Final Fantasy XIII are now largely considered awful for their linearity.
Unraveling this murder mystery made my summer of 2009. Over the course of 100 hours, I feel closer to this cast of characters than in any other game. I don't know if I'd ever been so sad to have a game end.
I had only heard of this game because it was being localized by Atlus, the same people who had localized Persona 4. I couldn't have been more skeptical however that I'd enjoy the game. Word of its unforgiving difficulty preceded its US release. The first time I died and had to restart the whole level, I fully rage quit and put the game on the shelf. A week later I came back, beat that level, and was consumed by the game. Demon's Souls carved a niche of its own, and I have an unbelievable amount of respect for its balls.
Besides being one of my first computer games, Myst sticks out in my memory for how immersive it was. The graphics were obviously technically stunning, but they were also amazing artistically. While you were alone the majority of the game, you learned so much about the game's characters by exploring the worlds they created. It was an absolutely brilliant method of storytelling.
I've been a huge Pokemon fan since it started back on the GameBoy. It has always simply been a fantastic RPG. Collecting Pokemon, building a team, and leveling up has been a winning formula for this franchise for years. I'll always be happy to buy the latest game and prove again that I have what it takes to beat the Elite Four.
I simply couldn't enjoy more how I had leveled up Ross into an invincible Berserker. I could solo the entire ending of the game with just him. I also got all my WoW character names from this game: Gerik, Cormag, Dozla, Forde...
This is the one game that I bought for my PSP that got me to spend any serious amount of time with the system. The PSP's controls feel awful in my hands (both my 1000 and Go), and I can't stand spending much time with it. Jeanne d'Arc was so good, I was willing to deal with some hand cramping. That says a lot.
I doubt Relic will ever make a better RTS than DoW: Dark Crusade. The Risk-style campaign that you could play from the perspective of any of the game's seven races was almost endless fun.
The greatness of a Red Alert game is measured by the kind of crazy units you can make by sending a Spy into your opponent's base.
Easily one of the best third-person, tactical shooters ever made. I must have played through this a dozen times.
They had this game in my elementary school computer lab. I eventually became so good at it and earned so much money, I got the counter to bug out. The key to the game is just basically buying a parking lot as soon as possible.
I like Mass Effect, I like FreeSpace, so I clearly liked Homeworld too. It's a crime this franchise is sitting on the shelf while Relic makes Space Marine games.
LucasArts will never top this one. The campaign was fun, the mechanics of fighting with a lightsaber were incredibly solid, but cheat codes sent this over the top. Besides the fantastic dismemberment cheat, a lot of fun could be had with just spawning NPCs. How many Landos does it take to kill Luke Skywalker? With this game you can find out.
Blizzard's change of focus from large armies to smaller, hero-focused armies paid off well. The campaign was excellent, I dabbled with the ladder, played tons of tower defense, but my bread and butter was map editing. I simply loved opening the editor and messing around. I'm sure I wasted away hundreds of hours with my dumb custom made maps.
Despite my efforts to see what all the fuss was about, I found Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights to be completely impenetrable. Maybe I was too young, but I never played those games for more than a few hours before losing all interest. Dragon Age: Origins, the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate, was the first of these types of games that I was able to immerse myself in and really enjoy. Strategically controlling four team members made for some incredibly satisfying RPG action I hadn't experienced before.
My 2009 GotY. Another example of a game that got its hooks in me with a spectacular soundtrack and memorable characters.
Nonstop stupid fun. I couldn't put it down till it was beat.
I collected Magic cards in the 5th grade. It was a huge craze in my school, where owning a Jester's Cap card was akin to owning a car in high school. Most kids were just jumping on the fad, but I genuinely enjoyed the *game* aspect of it. The fad quickly fizzled out after 5th grade, and I never had anyone to play against... until Micropose came out with the definitive, best MotG software that has ever been made. Unlike today's DotPW games, this game allows you to ***BUILD YOUR OWN DECKS***. Even today, 14 years later, building decks and playing the computer remains fun. I have this installed and play it regularly when I have time to kill.
0 Comments