Not the best, but my favorite. I'll try to add my reasons for picking these games as I can get those thoughts into writing. Usually, these are games I can come back to every year, or even after many years, and still absolutely get hooked all over again. Sometimes, however, these games have been updated with sequels or patches and my time with them is forever in my memory.
Streets of Rage 2 has the best music. It is also a lot of fun to play. This is a game that I have played with almost everyone I play games with in my area. I could beat this game once a year and probably never get tired of it. It's just a ton of fun. Skate is my bro!
Counter-strike 1.5 sucked up more time than any other game when I was younger - very addicting! I used to go to a cyber cafe down this big hill I used to live on, and spend $12 a day just to play this game all day. This may have been the first game I was unquestionably addicted to playing. This game caused me to get to know a lot of people, and actually make a name for myself in my small community. Yeah, I was pretty good! Haha!
I'll always have a soft spot for the original Halo. This game caused me to run and sell my PS2 for an Xbox almost immediately. My step-dad was pissed, but I never really regretted it. I spent a lot of time playing this game with my friends, family, and fully engrossing myself into the Xbox ecosystem, I suppose. No regrets!
I almost skipped Bioshock, because I thought it was just another jump-scare heavy horror game that I would absolutely hate. Turns out, I'm a big scaredy-cat and I found it really creepy. Still, I loved it. I don't remember another game that I really appreciated atmosphere before playing this. This game changed the way I approach and look at games now, and I still think about it to this day.
This is most certainly one of, if not my all-time, favorite multiplayer shooter of all time. Elaboration coming soon!
I've completed at least 3 playthroughs of this game, and I like it every time I play it. Shepard's story is a good one, but the character work is what really makes this a great game. This was the first game I played that relied so heavily on player choice. No game in the franchise would combine Star Wars and Star Trek so well.
The best stealth game I've ever played. This is the stealth game that convinced me that these games could not only be fun, but also be completely engrossing. Chaos Theory has everything a stealth game should have: accessibility, detection meters, a neat story, and good level design.
The light and sound meters are still unmatched by recent stealth games. When playing a stealth game, I need to know how close I am to being spotted by sound and sight. The graphics were the best of its time, and probably still hold up. This is just an excellent game all around.
Life is Strange took me by surprise. I did not think any studio could take what Telltale had accomplished with The Walking Dead Season 1 and succeed in changing it in any meaningful ways. DontNod did just that. They created a story-based, adventure game that had emotional, impactful moments like those in Telltale games, but used elements of time manipulation. More than that, however, Life is Strange offers a narrative of many great characters.
What surprised me the most was how Life is Strange humanized a bunch of characters that I did not think I would like. By the second episode, I was beginning to empathize with characters that I normally would not give a second glance to. Life is Strange did not create a fantasy world or use an existing license and work with those characters. It created a place that seemingly already exists and characters that would exist in that place. Then it twists and turns and creates drama that feels earned and impactful.
Before The Walking Dead Season 1, I never truly felt sad due to the events in video games. I was not crushed when Aeris died in Final Fantasy VII, nor was I affected in any meaningful way at the end of games like Half Life 2 ep.2 or Shadow of the Colossus. The Walking Dead was more like a good book or movie. The only difference was that events in the story adapted to the choices I made. Not only were these moments truly affecting, but I had more agency than I thought I would.
Lee and Clementine's story is probably the most memorable story I can think of when it comes to video games. That is not something I would ever say lightly, but this game truly deserves all of the praise it receives.
I have completed 2-3 playthroughs of this game. The combat has just enough strategy and agency to make each battle exciting and terrifying. The changes in story depending on the chosen race/class/gender are all excellent and varied enough to warrant more than one save file. Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the only games that I can play through and feel like I am getting a different and great experience every time.
Bioware, again, shines in their ability to create memorable characters to fully explore their tried and true formula of "there is an ultimate evil that must be stopped". The world that they created in Dragon Age: Origins is so detailed that it warranted further exploration in games, books, and movies. Normally, I would shy away from additional material, but I always want to know more about the world of Dragon Age due to Bioware's ability to create such compelling worlds.
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