The best
My favourite 50 games of all time
List items
-
List under construction
-
Here's the Gold/Silver formula in a nutshell: you take one of the most popular games of all time, fix all of its (many) issues, improve graphics and add colour, double the amount of stuff to do, add 100 new characters, add terrific new systems such as Pokémon breeding and the day/night cycle and a few more that will keep players going for hundreds of hours. With over a 1000 hours spent playing this game, and adding nostalgia to the equation, do I need to go into further detail as to why this game is one of my top favourites? I thought not. If you want to complain about something, you could argue this is what the first game should've been - and sure enough, Red/Blue seems like nothing more than a test run in retrospect. But then it's hard to argue with Pokémon Gold/Silver being the best sequel of all time, and the biggest system seller (for GBC, though it was also playable on the regular GB) in videogame history. When I remember being a kid, this is what I remember. And by the nature of this game, that doesn't even mean I spent my childhood alone, locked up in my room Surfing Gravelers. Well, okay, that was also a big part of it.
-
-
-
-
-
FFV is my preferred SNES Final Fantasy, simply for what it is. First off, the job system in FFV is uber: it's simple, yet allows for a lot of creativity (though is best played using a guide). It lets you decide how to upgrade your characters, yet encourages you to assign roles to keep characters unique and not have them become disposable jacks of all trades (I'm looking at you VII/VIII/XII). The game's also plenty challenging, has a good amount of secrets, and a quality soundtrack - but that goes for every FF. What hits me most about the game, is that it embodies everything I want out of a Final Fantasy, and what has been lost in recent editions. Hironobu Sakaguchi has gone on record saying FFIX is closest to his image of what a Final Fantasy game should be. Well, maybe out of the 3D games. But the last game where Sakaguchi acted as the director was Final Fantasy V, and I think he perfected his formula right then and there. A fated battle between a clearly defined good and evil, a lighthearted atmosphere despite attempts to tug at your 16-bit heartstrings, a world created for adventure, perfect jRPG gameplay and a sense of control throughout. That's all that was ever necessary. I doubt there will ever be a jRPG to beat FFV at its own game. Perhaps a new Dragon Quest, but only if they make the character progression more interesting.
-
-
-
-
-
If there's one thing Mega Man fans cannot agree on it's if Mega Man 2 or Mega Man 3 is the better game. If anyone asked me, for the longest time I would've flipped a coin, but recently I feel that Mega Man 2 is, after all, the superior game. Mega Man 3 has some great additions to gameplay, like Rush the robodog and most importantly the slide. What's telling though, is that Capcom decided to omit these additions in Mega Man 9, effectively telling us Mega Man is all about simplicity and can be just as great or even better without "advanced" gameplay options. So, Mega Man 3 may be more evolved than Mega Man 2, but what's important is that the latter doesn't suffer from the fact at all. I personally prefer MM2's levels to MM3's and the soundtrack is arguably a tiny bit better (okay I'm lying, I just flipped another coin). Considering it improved more on MM1 than MM3 improved on MM2, and MM2 is obviously older, I consider it to be the greatest achievement in the franchise. But really, this spot is for both games.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The lesson Mario Tennis taught me long ago is that being good at a game might just help you enjoy it more. And that's exactly the reason why I enjoyed this game. I have no pretentions of being an exceptionally skilled gamer and rarely reach a level of skill where I can hardly imagine losing at a certain game, but in Mario Tennis, I was invincible. Now, though very fun to play, Mario Tennis isn't an interesting game to discuss, so instead I'll give you an anecdote of me being awesome. After playing the game for a year with friends coming over to challenge me almost every single day, I had only once lost a set. I was so confident it would take "the fatal1ty of Mario Tennis" to defeat me, my friends, with my permission, put up a poster in highschool which promised 100 euros in cash to any player who could defeat me in a game of Mario Tennis. Sure enough, a few people asked around and challenged me, but in the end I never lost another set, got bored, and finally sold my N64. To this day I believe I was close to perfect at this game, which obviously lands it a place among favourites.
-
-
-
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is probably my favourite of the two Uncharted games released. Now, don't get me wrong, Uncharted 2 is a better game in almost every way. In fact, I objectively consider it to be one of the finest titles ever produced. But Drake's Fortune still has some sort of edge on the celebrated blockbuster sequel. It mostly comes down to character. The globetrotting nature of Uncharted 2 made sure the player would always have something new to be amazed at and give it some of the variety the first game lacked, but Drake's adventures on the secluded Caribbean island will always be infinitely more memorable than what happens or will happen in later games. I just like to have a sense of place in my games, and the (at the time graphically jaw-dropping) jungle was a good place to be. The convergence of nazi's, Spanish colonists, inca's, modern-day adventurers, crimelords and zombies also made it an amazingly interesting place with more to discover than one would expect. Finally, it helps that this game was my first introduction to Uncharted's cast of characters, while the gameplay was great to boot. But, yeah, okay, Uncharted 2 is still the better game.
-
The fact this is the only 360 exclusive on my list may be explained by the fact I don't own a 360 myself. Because, as every gamer knows, not owning a game yourself usually doesn't give you much opportunity to grow attached to that particular game. Still, rushing through the Gears of War 2 campaign with a buddy remains as one of my most enjoyable gaming experiences period. I played the original the same way, but the gameplay in 2 is so much more fluid and satisfactory and the events are so much bigger and badder, it's easy for me to decide which one I liked more. That doesn't mean I thought the story added anything to the experience. Rather, through playing Gears of War 1 I learned what to expect from this franchise and learned to appreciate its meathead characters and awful melodrama by keeping a smile on my face from start to finish. Who cares what happens to Maria? My bud just threw a grenade my way and after this cutscene I'm going to get him back for it! It's not often I act like a hyperactive fratboy in games, but when it does happen it truly is an experience that knows no equal.
-
-
An unexpectedly popular game which has been discussed time and time again, which leads me to the reason this game isn't higher on my list: by the time I finally got to play it I knew every single detail about this game. And that kinda kills the experience when a game relies heavily on innovation and surprises in gameplay and storytelling. I'll keep this short: Portal didn't have quite the same effect on me as most others who played it, but because I know the game cannot be blamed for that and I can see why people consider it to be one of the most brilliant titles in recent memory, I'll still rank it. And also because I still enjoyed it.
-
-
-
-
By this point you may have noticed I'm not much of a PC gamer. If it's a game like Simcity though, there's no platform I'd rather use.
-
-
-
-
I first played Heavy Rain at Gamescom 2009 and never in my whole life had I been so sure a game would win every possible GOTY contest. This first hands-on experience came after a year of being amazed by what was promised in this game. So, perhaps I was expecting a bit much. Then the game came out, and the rest is history. Technical issues, atrocious voice-acting, a nonsensical plot, choices that hardly influence the game's story; reviewers worldwide had a field day with this one. And yet, Heavy Rain is one of the most amazing games this generation. Consider for example how the game deals with life and death. In just about every game in existence, there's nothing more trivial than murder. And here we have Ethan Mars, crying like a baby while holding an anonymous drug dealer at gunpoint, because to reach his (and the game's) goal he has little choice but to shoot him. The fact I chose not to only goes to show how, despite its hiccups, Heavy Rain still accomplishes what it set out to do: developing an emotional connection between the player and the characters on-screen. It's just one of the many moments in Heavy Rain that make it a game like no other. If nothing else, I feel I should at least commend David Cage and his team for trying, and I sincerely hope other developers and publishers will continue developing this "interactive drama" genre.
-
Just to get something out of the way first: Donkey Kong Country is one of the most overrated games of all time and a prime example of graphicswhoring. Even DKC2 isn't quite a Mario-killer, but Rare sure as hell tried. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (geddit?) at its core is a great platforming game, which uses one of the most clever distributions of secrets in all the games I have played, improving the lifespan of an already sufficiently lengthy game (Rare may not be in the same shape now as they were back then, but they're still the kings of collectathon). The fact it looks great, sounds spectacular and can be played in co-op is just a bonus, which cements its place among the Super Nintendo's finest games.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Pokémon is my favourite franchise of all time and I've poured more hours into these games than any other. Though I started out with Red/Blue, it's far from my favourite Pokémon game. I'd even go as far as to say it's a broken mess of an RPG. The inventory system is screwed, you can't see which move does what, there are a million ways to encounter a glitch and kill your cartridge, and saying the game is unbalanced would be too kind (hello Psychics). Of course, when you're 8 and you don't even know what an RPG is, that's all perfectly fine. That cartoon on television was the only reason you bought it, anyway. And glitches? Don't they just serve to make the game more interesting? Like several games on this list, Red/Blue is a game which I may have ranked much higher in the past, but recently I have come to realize that it just isn't a very good game - it's possibly the worst on my list. The basic formula and the Pokémon themselves are still appealing in some way however, not least because I have a huge amount of nostalgia attached to it. And hey, it IS the game that gave birth to my favourite franchise, so a list of my favourite games wouldn't be complete without it. But don't let anyone tell you everything went downhill after the first 151 critters.
-
The most recent game on my list, this game was released for the 30th anniversary of Namco's mascot Pacman, arguably the first named character in videogame history. Three years before, the original Pacman-formula had already received its long overdue update in the form of Pacman Championship Edition on Xbox Live. It featured a map that would continue to change as play moved on and added a time limit, which means the game was more about setting highscores than surviving. Then Namco updated the formula once more, adding dozens of Ghosts for Pacman to eat. Maybe you can't tell from the description, but these changes make the game infinitely more fun than the 1980 original, or rather, they turn it into a completely different one. I never even liked Pacman myself, but I quickly found myself in the middle of the night trying to add just a few more points to my top scores. And sometimes, that is really all I want from a downloadable title.
-
Rayman 2 was the first 3D game I played. I know. Stop bugging me about it. I remember asking Rayman (PC verion) for christmas without really knowing what it was, and by the time I had figured out what the game looked like it was christmas eve and I got Rayman... 2! Needless to say, the discovery this was in fact a threedimensional game had a profound effect on me. The year before I had been more than happy with my SNES and Super Mario All-stars, and now I entered a world that couldn't be compared to anything I'd played before. So, can I judge this game objectively? Absolutely not. But in retrospect I think it's still fair to say Rayman 2 was one of the best platform titles around at the time, so lucky me!
-
It's worth pointing out I played this on PS2. That version actually looked worse than the DreamCast version, but the graphics were still an important reason I loved Dead or Alive 2 so much back in the day. It wasn't just pretty though: as far as gameplay went, DoA2 was also one of the best in the PS2's early days. Sure, every fighter basically fought the same way and countering was perhaps made a bit too easy. But forming a Jann Lee/Ein tag team with my 10-year old cousin (I was 12) and dishing out heavy kicks and punches that resonated through the bedroom, made these issues the least of my concerns. With his judo/karate style, Ein (Hayate) remains as my favourite fighting game character to play as.
DoA2 isn't just for casual fun though. Subsequent versions for the Xbox and Xbox 360 became very popular at e-sports events - even if in my opinion these games never managed to add much to the golden formula of DoA2 (some design decisions even made the game less fun). A re-release of DoA2 for Xbox which added online functionality even after DoA3 was already out, proves even Tecmo would agree that the second game is the franchise's high point.
-
-
I can't honestly say I enjoyed playing this game as much as others on this list. You see, I dislike point and click. Comedy titles like Secret of Monkey Island which can only rely on their sense of humor start to bore me after a while, I dislike not being able to move around freely, I don't find the gameplay appealing and I usually end up looking for a guide because I'm not on the same page of logic as the developer was. But of course, it's not that most point and click enthusiasts consider the gameplay to be riveting when compared to other genres. The strength of point and click is in the characters, game world, story, quirks, originality - all things which I greatly value in other games.
Machinarium is the first game that actually managed to have so much of these qualities that I still consider it to be one of my favourites. Yes, it still has all the issues I just mentioned. It's also slow, short, and though most puzzles are clever and not too hard to figure out, you'll still have to rely on the in-game walkthrough in some cases. But the good easily outweighs the bad. Machinarium is all about setting the stage: it shapes a terrific, beautiful world populated with comical, non-descript characters, supported by (and I don't say this lightly) one of the best videogame soundtracks of all time. Throughout the game I experienced a child-like sense of wonder I hadn't felt in years of being a gamer. Much like my #1 on this list, Machinarium is a game that makes you want to just stand around, look at the pre-rendered 2D world you know nothing about, listen to the music, let your mind wander and enjoy its peacefulness. It's certainly more than I expected of a point and click staged in a robotic dystopia.
Load Comments