What game is your gold standard?

[MulticolorCharizard]

FPS- Deus Ex
JRPG- FFVI
USRPG- Morrowind
RTS- Total Annihilation,
Adventure- Monkey Island
Third Person Shooter- Uncharted 2
Sandbox- San Andreas

 

[Turbulenssi]

Depends on genre.

RTS: Dawn Of War: Dark Crusade or Dawn Of War 2(both are awesome games, can't decide which is better)
RPG: Fallout 2 or Baldurs Gate 2(same here)
FPS: Rainbow Six: Las Vegas

 

[OceanRunner]

With RPGs I'd say Breath Of Fire IV's tag and spell combo combat systems, and it's spectacular soundtrack hold top rank with me, with an honourable mention to Grandia with it's own time-bar system.
With adventure games I'm tied between Shenmue and Okami, both having a beautiful soundtrack, well developed characters, and compelling gameplay.

 

[VanillaBean]

God of War- Terrific mix of action, adventure, and story.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare- Great FPS that definitly had the best multiplayer in the series.
Mario Galaxy- Best Wii game ever.
Link to the Past- Just a plain old amazing game that never gets old.
Bioshock- Proof that games can be art.
Portal-Its just too brilliant.

 

[Simmo8591]

FFX

I know many people will disagree with me on this but I still judge every game on how it compares to Final fantasy 10, sure i love other games but never was i so utterly devoted to one title

 

[warm slurm]

Shenmue.

 

[Kevonovitch]

-for racing games: onroad-GRiD offroad: DIRT2
-for FPS: infantry only-CoD4 all out warfare: BFBC2
-for RPG: Oblivion/The Witcher/FF7/ME1+2
-For Platforming: Asscreed 2 XD (ty yahtzee XP)

 

[Geekosaurus]

Either Hitman Blood Money or Splinter Cell Chaos Theory. It's been a while since I played Chaos Theory, I'm not sure if it'll have aged well. On that basis - Hitman.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I judge games on their own merit. Having a gold standard is basically faulting every other game for being something other than the gold standard, basing your opinion of something on how it stacks up to somthing it isn't is kind of stupid, I wouldn't like Ted Cazinsky because he wasn't as bad as Adolf Hitler, and I wouldn't dislike Oprah because she isn't as nice as Mother Theresa (although Oprah does seem like a really nice person).

 

[Griphphin]

It's pretty genre/category specific, but one thing that jumps to the top of my nostalgia-tainted mind would be the cutscenes for FFX. Dear God, those were amazing <3
Not to mention Kimahri and Auron as my gold standards for badassery.

 

[Wayneguard]

Morrowind.

 

[thereverend7]

There are lots of games I hold dear to me, and would probably say they are all my "gold standards" but out of all of them, whenever I hear or read the words "Favorite Video game" The first thing that pops into my head is Resident Evil 4.

That game is perfection to me. It never gets old, and i've 100%'d it multiple times. I don't think I can say that about any other game, no matter how much time I spent playing it or loved it.

 

[Smokej]

Strategy:

Squad Tactics - Jagged Alliance 2
TBS - RoTK VIII
4X - Civ 2
Hybrid - Medieval 2 TW
RTS - Warcraft 2

Adventure / RPG:

Point&Click - Monkey 2
cRPG - BG 2
JRPG - FF VII
Action RPG - Diablo
Online - DAoC (for the PvP/RvR) UO (for the Rest)

Shooter:

FPS (allround package) - Half Life (including its best addon ever -> TFC)
Multiplayer - Quakeworld
Hybrid - Deus Ex (Mass Effect is a good contender as well)
Military - Operation Flashpoint
Sandbox - GTA Vice City

Simulations:

Racing - Gran Turismo 3
Space - Privateer 2
Mech - Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries
Sports - NFL Headcoach 09 (real depth for a console game here)
Flight - Janes AH-64D Longbow

if i had to choose one for a desert-island it would be BG2 hm... maybe JA2 for replay value, hm close call here

 

[FernandoV]

Shooters: CoD:MW (the original) RPGs: Used to be Bioshock, now it's Mass Effect 2 Gimmick games: Mirror's Edge