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JasonPresents7

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My Top 100 Games (October 2014)

My top 100 games ever. This is obviously a very personal list, and by no means objectively the top 100 games ever made (if such a thing even exists, despite what Metacritic would have you believe..). All of these games have meant something to me growing up, and still do, otherwise they would not be on this list. They provided me with countless hours of entertainment, some of them before the internet, and some of them continuing to do so well into the broadband age. I am not attempting to have a catch all policy for the sake of variety with the list; in other words if I think 20 Zelda or Mario games are better than all the other games I've played then they're all going in there. All feedback appreciated.

List items

  • 100. Single handedly cemented the success of the Gameboy. It is regularly described as a perfect game and ranked much higher in lists. It's true that it is simple perfection, but simple nonetheless. This is probably the only game I had to argue with my mother over who was going to get to use the Gameboy...

  • 99. Gameboy games have a well deserved reputation of churning out poor ports of NES and SNES franchises; however this one really stands on its own, and although short, has really great level design with multiple routes and exits to levels. My cousin downloaded this recently for a two hour bus journey to Dublin; he practically had it finished before we reached the halfway point...

  • 90. The best game in the Burnout franchise. I thoroughly enjoyed the second one, but the third improved upon it in every way. Executing takedowns was always thrilling, the races were rarely dull, and the new crash mode where you had to cause as much damage as possible during a set piece was genius. I think this game single handedly kept my friend Paddy Niland on the dole for an extra three months...

  • 87. The best game in the Project Gotham franchise and the best racing game on the original Xbox (sorry Forza). The first one had the novelty of custom soundtracks on a console, the third had HD, and the fourth had bikes, but the second is the sweet spot gameplay wise. It somehow manages to find middle ground between the arcade style of Ridge Racer and the driving simulation of Gran Turismo or GT-R, carving out it's own legitimate place among the racing franchises...

  • 88. A breath of fresh air and a lesson in tranquillity amidst a plethora of First Person Shooters. I personally prefer this to Journey, as although Journey is also a beautiful game, there is something much more unique about controlling the wind. The games experience is a short lived one, but it will stay with you long after...

  • 89. I understand this may be a bit low down for some, and although it is a fantastic game (it is on the list after all), it just didn't grab me like the first one did. Everything is more finely tuned, the different gels are fun to mess around with, it's longer, and the comedy from Steve Merchant is hilarious; however it just doesn't have the spectacle of the first one, and that's because rather than introducing you to all the fun things you can do with portals, like the second game did, the first game introduces you to the portal itself...

  • 91. This game completely took me by surprise, the bad guy from Six Golden Coins as the main protagonist?!? Little did I know it would actually turn out to be a better game than Mario's strongest outing on the Gameboy. Collecting treasures in each level to get a better home in the ending was immensely satisfying, with 3 different hats adding to the variety of his skill set. Sequels would go on to add more colour and variety, but the original will always be the best, besides it has that train level in the woods, and who doesn't love trains...

  • 92. This is the Street Fighter game I spent the most amount of time with as a kid, no other fighting game could compare for a long time, and some argue they still don't. Back then there was no internet, no way to look up special moves in the pause menu; If you were able to pull off some of the more elaborate moves like Zangief's throw, you were a God amongst friends (not to mention when you took credit for that glitchy fire Hadouken...)...

  • 93. Half platformer, half rhythm action, this game is as addictive as it is fun. It's got a crazy adult swim graphical style, with the crude humour to boot. Getting one hundred percent of the items in all the levels and hitting a bullseye at the end is no easy task, but very satisfying when you pull it off. There were a lot of penis jokes though, like that forest level; morning wood...

  • 94. The Ridge Racer game to grace the PlayStation in place of the Rave Racer arcade unit. This game improves on Ridge Racer and Ridge Racer Revolution in every way; more tracks, more cars, and more overall longevity while still possessing that crazy arcade racer tone that could only have existed in the early to mid-90's...

  • 95. One of the very few games I bought in my life based on the strength of box art ( as well as the fact that it had multiple discs). I was looking for a Resident Evilish type game with a good story and I was not disappointed. Even today there is something strangely unique about this game. Its graphics and tone are seedy without going completely over the top like the sequel did. The story is absolutely bananas, but as a massive anime fan I'm well used to that...

  • 96. One of the few great games on the original Xbox (sorry). The game was ludicrously fast, ludicrously difficult, and ludicrously satisfying to master. Friends will watch you skilfully play this game with the same expression on their faces that they usually reserve for bullet hell games. It was difficult before the likes of Demon Souls and Dark Souls brought difficult games back into vogue.

  • 97. It may not have aged too gracefully, but when I first played this, I had never played anything like it. A game like this was just not possible on my SNES. Solid puzzles, great exploration and ropey shooting mechanics combined to create a game that would spawn a huge franchise and some terrible movies to boot. Right, now I better get out of these wet clothes...

  • 98. This game was my introduction to HD gaming. The graphics were mesmerising, built on top of solid racing gameplay. This game also introduced me to the in-car view, the absolute best and only way to play a racing game these days. It also had this virtual garage where you could walk around and view the exterior of the cars. Almost made me feel better about the grand and a half I forked out for my Sony Bravia...

  • 86. Quite possibly the first racing adventure hybrid game, released back in the golden age of Rare. Any other second party publisher would just spurn out a cheap Mario Kart clone for profit during the holiday season, but not Rare. They announced it out of nowhere not long after unleashing Goldeneye on the world; the amount to do in the game was huge, with races to win, bosses to beat and coins to collect in three different vehicles, and when you were finished it completely, the game doubled in size with a reverse mode. A sequel would grace the DS years later but the original still holds true as best version of the game. One of the few games my Dad enjoyed playing; particularly the time trial mode. I got this on Xmas day along with Goldeneye and Lylat Wars, it was a good day...

  • 85. A launch title for the SNES, with the ability to ride Yoshi for the first time. For many people this is the pinnacle of 2D Mario games, and as a stand alone I tend to agree. The graphics had this chunky aesthetic with rich colours that I found highly appealing, and although I know many people prefer the sequel Yoshi's Island, the original Super Mario World is where it's at for me! Except for those ghost houses, fuck them...

  • 84. There is not much between them but as a kid this is the Mario game I spent the most amount of time with on the SNES. It was my introduction to Super Mario Bros. 3 and ultimately the version I prefer since it's the first one I played, and the fact that you can save helps! Throw in (an admittedly inferior version of) Super Mario Bros. along with Super Mario Bros. 2 and the Lost Levels and you have a serious bang for your buck! I think the official Nintendo magazine gave this 99 percent, mad bastards...

  • 83. The original, and for some the best Mario Kart. It really came out of nowhere and almost single handedly legitimised the idea that a spin off franchise could be good. It's spawned a plethora of imitators and influenced games as far reaching as Wipeout; still going strong today with high praise bestowed upon the recent Wii U release. It all started here, this was Mario Kart in an age devoid of blue shells...

  • 81. Another classic example of Rare magic. In some respects the sequel improves on the original in almost every way with more variety to the gameplay. I did always love that roller-coaster level with the fireworks, which was the spiritual successor to the mine cart level...

  • 77. Easily the best portable GTA game, the PSP version has superior graphics, but the DS version is the one I played. The missions were short, fun, and often made novel use of the touchscreen; the game also did a fair job at letting you play the role of a drug dealer! I think I began to average 3 shites a day at work, just to go out and play this game in the jacks...

  • 78. Not only my introduction to the Metroid universe but also the first game I ever completed. The game is far from straight-forward but to be young with next to no games and an infinite amount of spare time is a wondrous thing. I couldn't even work out the mechanics of defeating metroids to lower the lava to progress further, I had no idea what that counter was in the corner, I was that young. I just bumbled my way to the ending eventually...

  • 79. Red was the version I played. Collecting all 150 was a joy, and trading Pokemon back and forth was the most legitimate reason yet to fork out for one of those link cables if you didn't have one already, in a time before all this fancy wireless nonsense! Other Pokemon games may have gone on to do more but the original will always be the one I cherish the most. Just stay away from the fit inducing anime, and also, fuck you Tauros! I don't care if you ran away again, I'm glad I hit you with that rock...

  • 80. Better than any of the Project Gotham series and the best racer on the Dreamcast. It introduced the idea of radio stations into 3D car based games well before GTAIII, and was just loads of fun to play at the time, and still is. I remember convincing my friend that they had mapped out every city in the world and the radio stations you were listening to were from the actual locations. He was always like "When are we gonna do Galway?!" to which I would always respond "Tomorrow". He wasn't very bright...

  • 76. Quite simply the best Street Fighter game out there for me. It reignited my interest in fighting games after the genre went stale in recent years. The character trials damn near broke me, but there was a sweet sweet satisfaction in finally pulling them off; I'm looking at you, C. Viper and El Fuerte...

  • 75. This game always reminds me of Christmas beside a warm fire. There is something very relaxing about this game, as you make your way through the village solving puzzles and unravelling the mystery therein. I enjoyed most of the sequels but the original still remains a firm favourite for me. Simpler times when a grown man could travel around with a small boy unquestioned...

  • 74. This is the first real tennis game I played and remains my favourite tennis game of all time. I do love Virtua Tennis on the Dreamcast, especially when my friends endlessly try and beat me at it to no avail, but there is a certain charm to this game that keeps me coming back. Having Anna Kournikova in it doesn't exactly do it any harm either...

  • 73. Known as Lylat Wars in these parts, it introduced the world to the Rumble Pack, and gave me quite a fright the first time I played it (I thought that N64 controller was unusually heavy. Apparently the guy in Smyths had been laughing at people all day). I was a fan of Star Wing on the SNES (the first game with polygons I believe) and this improved upon it in every way. Unashamedly borrowing from the likes of Independence Day etc. it was a roller-coaster from start to finish. Getting gold on Aquas expert mode nearly broke my thumb...

  • 72. I actually wasn't a big fan of the original so I didn't hold my breath for this. I was wrong however, very wrong. The game has some fantastic level design and completing all the time trials to get the platinum sapphires is a challenging but rewarding task; and of course there is always the Tomb Wader level...

  • 71. Many of the sequels would go on to do more but the original on the PC remains my favourite. You could literally play it for hours, renaming your four worms to whatever you like was a great touch, actively going after the names of people you didn't like; and of course there was the bazooka only matches we organised ourselves. God love you when someone got a banana bomb though...

  • 67. This is my favourite game on the Wii, and also the only game on this list I have yet to finish; however the 60 odd hours I put into it are enough to earn it this place on the list. For my sins I have yet to play Xenogears, the spiritual predecessor to this game, but I'm sure I'll get around to it as some point. It also has a strong localisation to its credit too. I really must cop on and finish this game...

  • 59. I sunk a serious amount of time into this game to unlock Hunk and Tofu. Having two different perspectives on the same event was introduced in the first game, but really shines through in this one. It's also more action orientated than the first one a la Alien/Aliens. Those lickers were nasty bastards. Does anyone know what version of events they went with for the sequels? Was it Claire A/B or Leon A/B? Also just for heads up, I consider this to be the best Resident Evil game with Leon in it...

  • 60. Coming off the back of the likes of Cool Boarders and 1080 Snowboarding, I was not ready for this. The game is much closer to Wipeout in aesthetic with its pumping soundtrack and futuristic track design, for me it was the best launch title on the PS2. I first played it on the demo disc I got on launch with the PS2, and that was enough to convince me to part ways with my money...

  • 61. A launch title for the PS2, this game showed off the graphical prowess of a new generation while adding a tag element to the Tekken template. It was also probably the last great Tekken game. It was one of the two games my cousin got on launch with his PS2; I eventually got SSX, which I consider the better end of the deal! Speaking of which...

  • 62. The only Dragon Quest game I've played, it enjoyed a wonderful localisation with great voice acting. The art style is great, as is the system and the story, the only minor criticism is it's a small bit grindy, but otherwise it's a fantastic RPG. I was off sick one day from work before a day off, I think I played this for about 17 hours straight, shaking in my bed from a bad cold. Best two days ever!...

  • 63. Recently given a HD update on the Wii U, the original still looks beautiful 12 years on. The level design and the character animations are fantastic, as is the soundtrack and side-quests. The only thing that lets this game down slightly is the amount of time spent sailing; despite this though, the game is still better than most. Kaboom! Spliiiiish...

  • 64. This was one of the first games I played on the PlayStation and radically different to the Street Fighter franchise I was used to. It mapped a limb onto each face button which made pulling off combos really satisfying. I first played it on a demo disc that came with most second wave PlayStations in my friends house; it had two characters; Jun and Lei, who became my favourites for years because those were the two I mastered...

  • 65. I grew up with International Superstar Soccer franchise and also played most of the Pro Evolution games up until about 2008 when Fifa finally became the better football game. This is the football game I spent the most amount of time with and therefore, my favourite football game of all time. I do not like watching football in real life, but the game was a different story. I think it was the Master League mode that did it for me, building up your team from scratch and progressing from the bottom division to the top; it was more like an RPG than anything else really...

  • 66. The pinnacle of the Crash Bandicoot series, improving on the already impressive second game. More variety as well as better level design make this the best Bandicoot to play. I'll always remember playing this in my cousin's room more so than any other game, as she owned a copy and I didn't...

  • 68. I still remember seeing this on television when I was a kid. It was some guy playing through tree top town village. I didn't think games could look like that. Originally designed for the N64 it came out instead towards the end of the SNES's life. It is the best Donkey Kong Country game and my favourite 2D platformer of all time. I'll never forget the level where it started snowing in the background and gradually got heavier and heavier until the whole screen was engulfed in snow...

  • 69. Remember when launch titles instantly cemented a consoles worth on the day it came out? Pilotwings remembers. As if the analogue stick wasn't already legitimised by Super Mario 64, Nintendo had this as a back up. I spent endless hours flying around taking photographs in a miniature USA, launching out of cannons, and skydiving. Fantastic stuff, it had a lovely subdued soundtrack that suited it perfectly...

  • 70. For me not only is this the best game on the original Xbox, but also the best game Bioware have ever made; not to mention the best Star Wars game to boot. I enjoyed the sequel and the first two Mass Effect games were OK, but this is where it's at. Having you play almost 5 hours without any force powers or lightsaber makes it all the sweeter when you finally get your hands on them. Also the story 'got me' just like it got practically everyone else...

  • 53. The best Ridge Racer game in my opinion. They traded in the mad 90's soundtrack for something a little bit more jazzy, which has aged better to be honest. There was an insane amount to unlock (although quite repetitious) and also had its own peripheral, the jogcon. It was like this controller with a wheel in the middle of it containing this small hollow nub for your thumb. We thought it was great. It was much easier with the controller...

  • 52. More Namco, this time its what I consider to be the peak of the Tekken franchise. It improved upon the second one in every way, with more fluidity, better graphics, more characters and added mini games. Also people who couldn't play videogames just picked Eddy Gordo and mashed all the buttons, pulling off mad combos. "I meant to do that!" Sure ya did, sure...

  • 51. For me this is the best SSX game, and also the best snowboarding game ever made. They took everything that made the original great, and improved upon it in every way. Nothing like a score challenge at the Tokyo Megaplex! Plus you could play as a snowboarder voiced by Macy Gray and spend all day smashing her into shit! Choke on that ya stupid bitch...

  • 50. One of Rare's last great games, a refined Goldeneye engine in a Sci-fi setting with savage missions and weapons; you had to buy extra memory for the N64 just to be able to play the single player campaign! It also had an alien named Elvis, and the sheer variety of weapons (laptop gun anyone?) was savage. It was also hard, very fucking hard; no regenerating health in them days...

  • 55. This is the first game I played on the 360 that I really felt could not have been brought out on the last generation of consoles. I must have sunk 200 hours into this game, and although the main story is weak, it only accounts for about 5 percent of the game anyway. (I haven't played Skyrim yet in case you're wondering). Everyone remembers leaving that sewer drainpipe and having the whole world unveiled before you; you just pick a direction and walk. I remember showing it to my flatmates, they said the grass and flowers looked like grass and flowers; high praise indeed!...

  • 56. Known as Wipeout 2097 in these parts. It is superior to the original, but only just; about a Wave Race worth of difference between the two. I suppose it's like that second pill, the first gets ya nice and toasty, but the second one fucking floors you...

  • 57. A borderline launch title for the N64, it is easily the best Jet Ski game ever made. Tides go in and out, waves create short-cuts, and the soundtrack and overall aesthetic of the game is sublime; and you get to ride a dolphin. Also you gotta love that over the top commentator that keeps shouting MAXIMUM POWER and EVERYBODY'S BEHIND YOU! The first racing game I played with analogue controls...

  • 58. The game that made gaming 'cool', or so they say anyway. One of the first games I played on the PlayStation, the futuristic setting and pumping tunes from the likes of Orbital and Cold Storage had me instantly hooked. It put those new fangled CDs to good use. The first game to be sold with a bag of yokes...

  • 54. Easily the best of the TOCA games, better than all of the Colin McRae's, and my favourite racing game from Codemasters. There was a massive amount of tracks and events to get through and it had the most advanced driving AI at the time by far. I remember the bastards actively trying to shove me off the track! You just didn't get that back then...

  • 44. The original and best Resident Evil game for me. I remember thinking it was practically photo realistic! It has some truly terrifying moments, that mansion is a fantastic setting, unveiling the mystery through diary entries. And who could forget those dogs. I played it in my local Smyths store and had the shite frightened out of me, only to have some guy from behind the counter busting his hole laughing at me. Said he'd been doing that all day. Could it possibly have been the same guy with the rumble pack?...

  • 45. My all time favourite Mario Kart game, and the best racing game on the N64. Exquisite track design and multiplayer, I dread to think of the amount of hours I've spent with this game mastering short cuts and perfecting racing lines. Toads Turnpike is an absolute classic, those heavy characters were fucking useless though; oh they could shove you around the track. When? When you were lapping them was it?...

  • 46. I spent a lot of time with Guitar Hero. Call me ignorant but it was the first time in my life I began to understand how difficult it must be to play guitar, and I was using a controller with 5 plastic buttons. It almost made me want to become a member of Boston, just for a minute or two...

  • 47. A revolution in racing game design. This was the first racing game that taught me to brake! Also at its core it was actually an RPG designed around cars, something that had never been done before. It was also the first racing game I used the first person view in for extra precision...

  • 48. Rare does it again. The game has fantastic level design and loads to do. One world in particular has 4 versions of it depending on what season you choose to enter in. They would go on to make more Banjo games but the first was never equalled. It's actually a testament to how great the game is considering the main character plays a banjo; I personally believe all banjo players should be shot on sight, at least until every tree in the woods has a rape whistle installed...

  • 49. Truly a breath of fresh air, the game oozes personality through Glados and of course your trusty companion cube. Clever puzzles and an infamous end section make this one of the true greats. Some of the speedruns of this game are insane. Very satisfying to sit back and listen to the end credits, preferably with cake...

  • 27. My favourite racing game of all time, a rock hard platinum but immensely satisfying to achieve. I believe I beat Zico's lap time around lap 250 or something; it was a moment to say the least; and then I went and beat it again on my friends PS3, just to prove a point! Easily the best Wipeout game ever made, it let you use custom soundtracks; therefore I just created a custom playlist of all other Wipeout soundtracks to be enjoyed in the one game...

  • 26. This shouldn't have worked, but it just did. The entire game oozes atmosphere and the soundtrack is fantastic. Great use of 3D space and exploration; this is my favourite Gamecube game. I can still hear the haunting music as I explored Phendrana Drifts, and the remix of the classic Norfair tune as you travelled around the planets core...

  • 28. Give it back, give me back my life Wasteland! Hundreds of hours spent roaming the Wasteland and I still feel there's more to be explored; huge and exquisitely detailed, the game is a masterpiece. It's also hands down the best game I played on the Xbox 360. Bring on Fallout 4...

  • 29. This is simply the best Indiana Jones Sunday matinee movie game that was never made. Its how you imagined a next generation Pitfall game would be, only better. The shooting is a little rough around the edges but the overall experience is still incredible. It singlehandedly made the whole Tomb Raider franchise redundant, which is no small feat...

  • 30. Its safe to say that no other game looks like this, the water colour style is sublime. The only thing that hinders this game is its slow start, but when it gets going it rivals the best of Zelda games for quality, and its also well over 70 hours long. Clover Studios best game. I got this on the same day I bought Twilight Princess on the Wii, and I think it's this games fault that I didn't enjoy Twilight Princess as much as I should have. This was so much better...

  • 31. A beautiful game, a relationship between two characters that transcends language boundaries. The whole game is one big giant escape puzzle beautifully realised. Why does his lightsaber get so big when he holds her hand?..

  • 32. It shouldn't have worked. It shouldn't have but it just did. You genuinely felt like you could do anything. I had a broken leg when this game was released and was told to move as little as possible but when my cousin picked up a copy I hobbled over to his and ignored the pain just to play this...

  • 33. Very different to what came before it, having to apply camo to increase your camo index and doing away with the soliton radar. My fondest memory will be watching my cousin play it as he escapes the torture chamber, running around topless with one eye and a cigar hanging out of his mouth, stabbing attacker dogs to death with a fork...

  • 34. What an absolute gem of a game. It may only be 3 hours long but it's a perfect example of quality over quantity. The game really stayed with me for a few days after I played it, and as one of the newest entries on the list I'm curious to see how it ages. I won't discuss any of the amazing moments here to avoid spoilers...

  • 36. The best Gran Turismo game and the best racing game on the PS2 full stop. It had around a thousand cars and graphics like no one had ever seen at the time. In the shop I worked in they played the intro on loop all day on about 12 televisions, so if I never hear Feeder ever again I'll die a happy man...

  • 37. This completely took me by surprise, thinking it was just going to be another breakout clone. Although gameplay wise it's closer to breakout, tonally it's much closer to the likes of super metroid, with huge boss battles and a pumping soundtrack that just gets more and more intense the further into the game you get. One of my favourite memories is watching my friend Pat play it from start to finish, he was so impressed by it he contacted the developers the next day and told them they restored his faith in videogames...

  • 38. As traditional first person shooters go, for me this is the best one ever made, and Rare's finest moment. My cousin tried to convince me to buy this when it came out, but I bought Killer Instinct Gold instead. I was wrong, very wrong, but I got it for Christmas in the end! We initially finished 007 mode between us. He took care of the Jungle level I wasn't fond of, and I dealt with Control Room and Bunker 2. Bunker fucking 2. I remember spending almost an hour carefully going around the level shooting people in doorways. There was no fucking end to the guards. In the end after I completed all of the objectives I made a break for the exit, up the stairs, activated the final door and got shot in the back of the head as the door raised up in front of me. I remember watching the blood slowly trickle down the screen thinking, if it was my own controller in my own home, they'd be picking bits of it out of the television for the next week or so. We did it in the end though!...

  • 39. A wonderful combination of RPG and shooter, and my favourite JRPG on the PS3. The story and gameplay mechanics are solid, with the option to play it in Japanese with subtitles a huge bonus. Honestly every JRPG with spoken dialogue should have this option. I never played the sequel and it's probably best if you steer clear of the anime, it's weak as fuck...

  • 40. The game Harmonix sold the Guitar Hero franchise to make. I imported mine from the states to play it before everyone else. I dread to think how much I spent on dlc for the game, I think its safe to say I was obsessed. Easily has the best track listing of all the music based peripheral games and is my favourite rhythm action game of all time. I waited for weeks for it to arrive, I remember the morning it finally came. The postman was standing outside with this massive box, he told me there was 40 euro tax to be paid on it. i didn't have any money on me so I had to watch him wheel it away and wait for him to come back the next day...

  • 41. This is the best Wipeout game on the PlayStation, and also my favourite racing game on the system. The soundtrack is compiled by Sasha and is probably the best of any Wipeout game, and the amount of content to get through is insane. I remember I went out to stay in my cousins for a week once, which almost never happened, and this was the game we played the most. We hooked up two playstations with two copies of the game on two televisions so we could play multiplayer without splitscreen! Kids don't know how good they have it these days...

  • 42. The first Zelda game I ever played and my favourite Gameboy game of all time. Collecting the 8 instruments to wake the wind fish was an amazing experience, and the ending still gets me choked up inside. I love that scene with Marin on the beach, and I'm pretty sure my cousin knows the intricacies of the trading game off by heart, and more than likely the location of all the seashells as well...

  • 43. A massive amount of cars, races and tracks make this better than the original in every way. It even came on two discs with one of the discs scented to smell like tyres. I must have ploughed over 150 hours into this game. Getting all gold on the licenses damn near broke me...

  • 35. Good God give me fucking closure on this story! I played the Japanese version on the Dreamcast, to say the story ends on a cliffhanger would be putting it mildly. The game is beautiful, traversing from Hong Kong to Kowloon and up into the Gui Lin mountains. They actually mapped the areas from the late 80's to make it more realistic. I'm sure the third one is coming any day now...

  • 24. This game is bananas in the most incredible way. The soundtrack is amazingly bonkers but suits it perfectly. There really is no other game like it and nothing beats the satisfaction of progressing from rolling up hairpins to rolling up cities. Save the pandas!

  • 21. Probably still the most terrifying game I have played. I was expecting survival and scares, what I got instead was an onslaught of psychological terror through unsettling imagery and an incredible use of sound. The original will always be the best for me. The first time I played it I had rented it from Xtra-Vision and my parents were heading away for the weekend, leaving me alone in the house with this game. It was fucking awesome, and terrifying...

  • 22. My all time favourite DS game, both the story and soundtrack are exceptional, and the game has some of the finest puzzles you'll come across in a game. I spent a Christmas with this game and it blew away, I just could not stop playing it. I was in my girlfriends home house, I would pretend to get tired early so I could stay in my room playing it till about 6 in the morning!..

  • 23. What a load of shite that Scarface game was, thank god we have this. Probably still has the best soundtrack of any GTA game, they really nailed that 80's aesthetic and for many this is a firm favourite. I'll never forget hopping into that car with Bilie Jean blaring out as I began to plough through rollerblading pedestrians. Fantastic stuff...

  • 25. A perfect example of how to build a relationship between two characters, your choices mattered and you genuinely cared about the characters on screen. It topped a lot of end of year lists and showcased the potential for good episodic gaming. Personally I prefer to wait and just play the whole thing from start to finish; the same philosophy I apply to TV shows. Shame about the second season, and don't even talk to me about The Shite Among Us...

  • 17. My all time favourite Dreamcast game. I also love Outrun, Hang On and Space Harrier, but there's no need for them on the list because they're all in the arcade in Shenmue. I honestly never played anything like it, the introduction of QTE's, training in the yard to make your moves faster and stronger, and all those collectibles. Love it. My cousin introduced me to this and considered it repayment for introducing him to FFVII. Not quite, but close enough...

  • 09. Those three Metal Gear games are bunched up quite close on the list, but for me there is very little between them. This one is my favourite however. It was going to take something monumental to top the first one, but this pulled it off. One of the earlier releases on the PS3 it still looks incredible today. The game is one of the purest examples of fan service you can get. If you haven't played the other ones the game doesn't want to know you. It is for the fans who relish every codec call to find out as much about the MGS universe as possible; therefore in a way it owes how great it is to the success of the previous games. For devout MGS fans, this game is their ultimate reward...

  • 10. The game you will regularly see top most publications lists; and deservedly so. It is the best Zelda game ever made and the best game on the N64 as well. Infinitely delayed, I still remember that day it finally came out. I was still a few years too young to be telling my parents I wasn't going to school, so my dad went in to collect it before he went to work as I went in to my officially longest day at school, checking my watch about once ever thirteen seconds. After my hour twenty bus ride home I finally arrive in the door to have my two parents standing there with the facial expressions reserved for people at wakes. The guy in Smyths had told my dad it was sold out by the time he got there, that he had never seen anything like it. I sat there eating my dinner, fighting back the tears, only for my dad to whip it out when I was finished. 'ONLY JOKING!! We knew if we gave it to ya straight away you wouldn't eat your dinner...' They had a sick sense of humour aright...

  • 11. For me there isn't much between the first and second games, but the first is better. I remember being wowed by the fact that I was playing the beginning of the game but the credits were still coming up in the bottom corner of the screen. I thought that was the most cinematic thing I had ever seen; little did I know what I was in store for. I remember renting the game from my local rental store only for Colonel Campbell to tell me to look for the code on the back of the CD case. Of course Xtra-Vision didn't give out the original cases, and with no internet, we spent close to two hours cycling through all the codes ringing them one by one. I remember we danced around the room when the bitch finally answered and we could get on with the game. 140.15; I'll never forget it. Still holds up even today, it has been remade on the Gamecube, but the original is the definitive version...

  • 12. A masterpiece in storytelling, sound design, puzzle design, and game design. It improves upon 999 in every way, introducing the flow chart and voice acting in Japanese. The game clocks in well over 70 hours but even after all that you'll still be hungry for more. The number one reason to own a Vita...

  • 13. I think I've finished this over fifteen times. Five for PS2, five for Vita, and five for PS3. I can safely say I'm done with this game, but it will always be one of my absolute favourite games. I took the day off school the day it came out and suffered one of the longest cab journeys home looking at the back of the box; then pretty much played it from start to finish. My mind was well and truly blown as the end credits rolled; I remember just staring at my parents across the kitchen table thinking 'they don't know, they would never understand what I just experienced!'...

  • 14. This game hospitalized me!(OK probably a coincidence...) I played it from start to finish, it was amazing. Like the game you dreamed David Fincher would make on one of his best days. It was all about that first playthrough where nothing was off limits, anyone could die at any moment. Later upon replaying you would learn that some of this was a falsehood, but that's akin to watching the extras on some of your favourite movies; it's just never as impressive when you know how the magic trick works. It's all about that first playthrough. What the fuck happened with Beyond Two Souls?...

  • 15. The best Mario game ever made in my opinion. I still remember looking at it in amazement on my cousins brand new N64, and subsequently running into walls for 20 minutes while I tried to get the hang of the analogue. People will talk about the twitch precision of the classic 2D Mario games and that's fair enough, but take a look at some of the speed runs available for this game before you make up your mind...

  • 16. It was HUGE! I can't even begin to recall all there was to do in it, it was so big. Vice City had the soundtrack but this had pretty much everything else. Some day I'll go back and play it but not right now, I gots to check in on some shit...

  • 18. I didn't appreciate this when it first came out as we were into the next generation of consoles and I was much more graphically inclined back then; however when I went back to play it a year or two later and judged it on its own merits I realised what a fantastic game it is. Hironobu Sakaguchi's personal favourite of the franchise and a great tribute to the pre VII era...

  • 19. I think I was stuck on the Ice dungeon for about six months. You had to push this block half away around the dungeon and down a hole to the next floor! Normally puzzles are self contained in a room, this game says otherwise. I remember seeing the rain at the start of the game thinking it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. This was the first game I ever played on the SNES along with another game my cousin got at the same time...

  • 20. The original argument for games being art. What else would they be? The only boss that drove me nuts was that bastard with the fireballs you had to coax towards you. What the fuck like?! He just stood there firing projectiles at me for about 20 minutes. Other than that the game was perfect...

  • 08. I still can't get 'Shuffle or Boogie', the theme tune to triple triad out of my head. That card game was worth the asking price alone. FFIX's tetra master game was overly complicated, they should have just continued on with triple triad and new cards. And that's just one mini game. The graphics, the story, the soundtrack, and the trains, dear lord those trains; the game is a masterpiece. I rang Smyths on Thursday evening to make sure my copy was there for the morning, only to be told the game was on sale for the last hour! My only transport in was my dad visiting my granny, which he did every Thursday, so in I went. I liked visiting my granny but the main activities up there were eating cake and listening to the clock tick; needless to say with the game in my hands I was a little restless! I thought I would probably have been better off sending my dad in but in retrospect after the Zelda incident it was probably better I went with him. When I finally got home I played it well into the night, got about five hours sleep and played it well into the next night. I've finished it between five and ten times. I will always love that game...

  • 07. I didn't like GTA IV. The city was a technical marvel, but the game was sooooo boring. Does anyone remember the mission where you had to throw a brick through the window?? For fuck sake... I didn't give a fuck about Nico Bellic long before hating Russian people was made cool by America. (FYI I don't hate Russians, just Nico and his retarded cousin) So along comes GTAV, the game I had in my head after San Andreas. It is everything I could ever want a GTA game to be. The map is amazing, the missions are insanely fun and varied, and having three characters was a stroke of genius, instantly switching between them if you go too far in one direction. I doubt I've seen even half of what this game has to offer, and I haven't even gone online with it yet, I'm waiting for the PS4 version. What I have seen however is more than enough to place it in my top ten. The best Grand Theft Auto game ever made. Roll on the PS4 version. I cannot wait...

  • 06. Recently re-released in HD, this was the first final fantasy with voice acting, for its sins. The ropey voice acting however could not detract from an amazing universe, much more mature themes (religion vs. machines, self sacrifice for the good of the whole etc.) and another beautiful soundtrack from Uematsu. Tidus is quite frankly a knob when you first start your adventure, but it is the personal growth of this character that is one of the highlights of any final fantasy story. I convinced the morons in Golden Discs to sell it to me before street date because they didn't know the first thing about it. Even to this day when I think about this game I still get lost in nostalgic reverie; the last great final fantasy game...

  • 05. I love the first game, but this one! Jesus they almost went overboard! It is balls to the wall action and pure entertainment from 5 seconds in as you find yourself dangling from a train. I remember my friend Matt called around early one afternoon and I suggested he play the first Uncharted; he played it from start to finish and with a tired but satisfied look on his face told me how great he thought it was. I had finished Uncharted 2 by this stage and began to tell him that if he thought the first one was good he was in for a special treat with the next one. He decided to take a look at the intro before he went home, and ended up playing Uncharted 2 from start to finish there and then. Sounds crazy; but Uncharted 2 will do that to you. What the fuck happened with the third one...

  • 04. My introduction to the Persona franchise; it is my favourite PS2 game of all time. For anyone who hasn't played it pick up a Vita and play the Golden version, the best version of the game; however this is the one I played first and therefore closest to my heart. The story, the characters, the English voice acting, the system, the soundtrack, all incredible. I honestly didn't think a game would knock FFX off its top spot on the PS2 list, but there ya go! I worked in a game shop at the time it came out and we only got one copy in that was booked by a customer. I had heard the hype and wanted to try it so I brought it home and didn't bring it back. That customer wasn't happy; sorry man, best decision I ever made...

  • 03. I still honestly can't believe Naughty Dog brought out a game to top the Uncharted series on the same platform. The absolute best reason to own a PS3 over an Xbox 360 if you do not have the ability to finance both, and hands down the best game on the PS3 full stop. You may notice Resident Evil 4 is not on this list; I enjoyed that game immensely, but not as much as everyone else. The way they talked about it I was expecting something more like this game, that is not what I got. When I went to play this game I was expecting something more like Resident Evil 4, that is definitely not what I got! It's funny how things work out sometimes...

  • 02. Gunpei Yokoi RIP. It still baffles me to this day how such a small team of developers could get it so right. The atmosphere of this game has no equal. It tells you one of the most amazing stories in any game without telling you anything at all. The sound design, the level design, the powerups, every single thing about this game is perfect. I remember myself and my cousin obsessing over this move we seen Samus perform on one of the title screen videos where her suit transforms into an oval of light engulfing Samus and draining her missiles and power bombs to recover energy; known as The Crystal Flash, it would be years later before we found out how to do it. Just another excuse to go back and play it so...

  • 01. Like many this was the first proper JRPG I ever played (Mystic Quest was the first). I play this at least once a year and still find out new things about this game, even this year. Many people say the first final fantasy game you play, within reason, will always be your favourite, and personally I can see why. It is no secret that most JRPG's, especially final fantasies, follow certain tropes. You will start out with a small amount of characters and expand your party, your world view will always go from micro to macro - often involving the acquisition of vehicles and an airship, a main character may often but not always be killed, the main antagonist is usually not revealed until a good few hours in, I could go on and on but the way we gauge a good RPG these days is often how well they adapt their story and universe to these tropes. The advantage Final Fantasy VII had for most people including myself, is that we had no idea these tropes existed. Everything was a profound surprise; I honestly thought we were going to go around, blow up all the reactors and finish the game, because that was more or less how straightforward all the games I had played were up to that point; your objective was always clearly laid out to you very quickly. So Final Fantasy VII has the advantage of not only being the introductory RPG for most of the Western world, but having one of the strongest interpretations of RPG tropes out there; as well as this Squaresoft filled the game with FMV sequences, the likes of which had never been seen before on a scale like that, going so far as to abandon cartridges and Nintendo along with them; most certainly the correct move at the time in retrospect. The story, the system, the characters, the soundtrack, everything about this game is perfect. I could write about this game all day but the bottom line is the reasons above are why it is my favourite game of all time, and I suspect many other peoples as well. There are many people who call this the most overrated game of all time, and that's fair enough, but I guarantee you an overwhelming majority of those people do not match the criteria I outlined above when they played it for the first time; and of course some people just don't like RPG's. My favourite PlayStation game of all time, my favourite RPG of all time, and quite simply, my favourite game of all time...
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