Time magazine's All-TIME Top 100 games

[HellsingerAngel]

First and foremost, it's obvious that the list isn't about what games people find the most amusing but rather what games were most influential at the time. That being said, I'm surprised there aren't games like Dragon Warrior, League of Legends or FarmVille. While there are certainly games I question on that list, like Oblivion instead of Morrowind and Flower instead of Journey, I think the list is pretty darn solid. I see a lot of games that turned into huge franchises, influenced their respective franchises heavily, are the pinnacle (at the time) of their respective fields or created entirely new genres of games. Overall, excellent list and I agree with about 95% of it.

 

[Breywood]

No TIE Fighter?
No Wasteland or Fallout?
No Last Ninja?
No Baldur's Gate?

Still, I did find many other games that I thoroughly enjoyed, so the list isn't totally rotten.

As far as Command and Conquer goes, it was just Dune II with a different skin, group select and lousy cutscenes.

** flees for a bunker before the C&C fans order airstrikes **

 

[lacktheknack]

No "Riven", King Of Adventure Games?

No "Day of the Tentacle", Tim Schafer's greatest achievement?

I feel saddish... At least they remembered that Myst was a thing.

 

[lunavixen]

I've never even heard of a lot of those games, and why isn't the original final fantasy in the 1980s section, it was what saved Squaresoft, and why isn't minecraft on there? TBH i'm surprised Pokemon isn't on there either.


Half of these games i've never even heard of and a proportion of the ones i have are not "all time top 100 games" material, some of them yes, but not all of them.

Captcha: Vocal minority, yeah, that's for sure captcha.

 

[Xdeser2]

I would personally add:

Rome Total war

Fallout New Vegas

Dragon Age: Origins

Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings

Halo 2
___________________________________
But hey its all opinion in the end, Im just glad they left off any trace of CoD after 4

 

[Woodsey]

Eh, it's OK. Most are console things I've never played - and way before my time at that. Can't for the life of me understand why Splinter Cell is there but Chaos Theory isn't, though.

 

[SomeLameStuff]

No Persona on the list?

It's wrong. It's so, so wrong.

 

[lithiumvocals]

Silent Hill, but not Silent Hill 2? I would've changed that. I'd also like to make a case for Spec Ops: The Line for the 2010 era. Other than that, a fairly well thought out and solid list.

 

[Daveman]

No Timesplitters, No NEW Prince of Persias, No Psychonauts, No Fallout games, No Rome: Total War, No Ocarina of Time, No Pokémon, No Monkey Island, No Tony Hawks Pro Skater.

This list is just rubbish.

I'd cut at least half of the pre 90s ones and that's not just because I was born then.

Edit: HOLY FUCK! NO MINECRAFT?!

 

[Dead Seerius]

It's a shame the list didn't keep more consistency with its picks. Quality games or groundbreaking games - one or the other.

If they were going for quality, there were plenty of games listed that had far superior sequels and, well... pong?

Anyway, if they were going for groundbreaking, Minecraft and possibly Spec Ops: The Line should have made an appearance. And Ocarina of Time. What the hell was that about?

Good list, anyway.

 

[Lunar Templar]

good list i say. personal preferences aside i can see why the ast majority of those games are there (cept Leisure Suit Larry, wtf.)

 

[DoPo]

Dragon Age: Origins

To be fair, I don't think it belongs in the list anyway. Gameplay-wise it's nothing that hasn't been done, story-wise it's not really that original, either. It's put together well, but not list material. Note that I don't hate DA:O. Cuz I'm sure people will think I do, since I, like, said something negative, or rather not-positive, about the game.

 

[Guffe]

So wait...
Solitaire and Wii Sports are on the list but games like WarcraftIII and Ocarina of Time are not?
I know they mentioned The Legend of Zelda but they also mentioned Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 64...

This is not the kind of list you would get from an actual gamer. This is the kind list you would get if you kidnapped a 54 year old investment baker, tied him to chair, and told him you would kill him AND his family if he couldn't name 100 different video games.

This made me laugh and is true at the same time xD

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

...but why are titles like Mortal Kombat, Doom, Splinter Cell, etc. on their instead of their clearly superior sequels?

I was wondering the same thing about a couple of them. I figured it was because those sequels wouldn't have existed at all without the groundbreaking originals...

...but then Mass Effect 3, among other sequels.

I liked ME3, don't get me wrong... but I certainly don't think it's more important than its predecessors. I'm mildly suspicious that it was only included because of brand recognition and need for something to put under the 2010's instead of the already-bloated 90's and 2000's.

The sad thing is, if they stuck to only putting groundbreaking originals, that'd exclude more than half of the games released during the 2000's/2010's since freakin' everything is a sequel these days.

 

[viranimus]

My only real problem is Arkham city.

Asylum > City

So if Asylum couldnt compete in the prior bracket.. doesnt make sense to give a nod to the inferior version out of respect to the previous version simply because of release date.

 

[aguspal]

Um...


most games there are indifferent to me.

Oh well at least theres no game that I personally hated, so I think... this is an ok list... certainly better than expected.

I would add MW2 thougt, personally. But really, this list is nothing to complain about!

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Spoiler

1970s
The Oregon Trail
Hunt the Wumpus
Pong
Breakout
Space Invaders
Adventure
Asteroids

Actually, this is really accurate

1980s
Battlezone
Defender
Pac-Man
Zork
Castle Wolfenstein
Centipede
Donkey Kong
Frogger
Galaga
Tempest
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
Joust
Pitfall!
King's Quest
Lode Runner
M.U.L.E.
Paperboy
Tetris
Super Mario Bros.
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Castlevania
The Legend of Zelda
Metroid
OutRun
Contra
Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
Mega Man
NetHack
Punch-Out!!
Tecmo Bowl
Prince of Persia

I can think of a few to add or remove, but I will not be picky. The main issue is that Solitaire was up and running on PC and Mac in the 80s, so why put it in the 90s?

1990s
Solitaire
Wing Commander
Civilization
Sonic the Hedgehog
Street Fighter II
Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
Mortal Kombat
Doom
Myst
NBA Jam
Madden NFL 95
Marathon
SimCity 2000
Chrono Trigger
Quake
Resident Evil
Super Mario 64
Tomb Raider
Final Fantasy VII
Goldeneye 007
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Ultima Online
Final Fantasy Tactics
Grim Fandango
Metal Gear Solid
StarCraft
Thief: The Dark Project
EverQuest
Silent Hill

ADD:
Suikoden II / Act Raiser / Castlevania: Symphony of the Night or Castlevania IV / System Shock 2 / Planescape: Tounement / Half-Life

2000s
Deus Ex
Diablo II
The Sims
Animal Crossing
Grand Theft Auto III
Halo: Combat Evolved
Ico
Rez
Counter-Strike
Splinter Cell
Metroid Prime
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Cave Story
Half-Life 2
[/s]Katamari Damacy
World of Warcraft
Guitar Hero[/s]
Shadow of the Colossus
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Gears of War
Ōkami
Wii Sports
BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Desktop Tower Defense
Portal
Rock Band
Braid
[/s]Angry Birds[/s]
Demon's Souls
Flower

I do not even know what to say. . . I left Demon's Souls and Braid on there, good games, but not perhaps top 100 in my opinion. . . Simply put, few of these games have stood the test of time like the 90s games have, and even the writer of this list will be ashamed of putting CoD 4: MW on there ten years from now.

2010s
Batman: Arkham City
Mass Effect 3

 

[Spoonius]

Kind of surprised that CoH (the highest rated RTS of all time) isn't up there...

 

[Xdeser2]

Dragon Age: Origins

To be fair, I don't think it belongs in the list anyway. Gameplay-wise it's nothing that hasn't been done, story-wise it's not really that original, either. It's put together well, but not list material. Note that I don't hate DA:O. Cuz I'm sure people will think I do, since I, like, said something negative, or rather not-positive, about the game.

Ya I see what you mean there, The characters were the main reason for me putting there anyway