Your Top 5 Video Games of All Time!!

[YouBecame]

1) Doom. This game was phenomenal in its time and it still is remarkably playable. An all time classic.

2) Final Fantasy 6. I don't have the lexicon to describe this game, beyond sublime. One of the best villains ever? Yup. Some of the most awesome characters ever? Yup. Fun & immersive? Yup. Every box ticked for me. Yeah sure it looks like crap but seriously.... it's too much fun.

3) Homeworld. This is a game worthy of so much more recognition than it received. Critically the game was lauded as an all time great game, but it never quite realised commercial success. A true 3D space RTS, where sustained and deliberate stratagem is the only way to win. No super-weapons. No cheap tricks. Just your fleet, your mothership and your wits to keep you alive.

4)System Shock 2. This is one of the few games that have scared me shitless. It's got an atmosphere that most games can only dream of. It...just..... wins. Lets put it like this. Bioshock was made as a spiritual successor to this. As in System Shock was the inspiration for Bioshock.... That should say enough about how awesome SS2 was that it could influence Bioshock into the exceptional game it was.

5) Crysis. I love feeling like a superhero in that suit. I love how the graphics are so phenomenal that one can double take in the game environment. I love how Delta mode was done: Taking away gameplay helps, not artificially upping enemy strength. Your enemies now only talking in Korean, so that you don't understand what they're doing. It feels like a game built to maximise its set pieces, and it is a game that succeeds in building some of the most exciting sequences you can play.
Except for that ship level. I fucking hated that: that is the one slip up in level design in an otherwise sublime game.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Now this is tough, because my list tends to change over time as I re-examine a lot of old games in a new light.

But the games that work on their own merits...

5: Chrono Cross (previously Secret of Mana, and Legend of Mana is right there in a near 3-way tie, but I digress.
If you want to do a time travel plot, this is how you do it. The game is epic in scale from start to finish...which is ironically its biggest flaw. It's too damn long! You know a story is great when it actually makes you stop and think about how it all came together, rather than how idiotic the plot is with most time travel games.)

4: Metroid Prime (The Platinum Standard for Atmosphere and exploration. It has excellent gameplay tacked on top of it. In my opinion, Nintendo isn't ever going to give us a game this excellent again. I walked into this back in 2002 thinking it would be naught but a shameless 3D exploitation of Samus, and walked out pleased that it not only wasn't, but it had its own identity, yet it still felt like Metroid.)

3: Baldur's Gate 2 (Easily Bioware's best RPG. Better than KOTOR by miles. Better characters and plot than Mass Effect. Variable combat and classes that can change how you approach situations and it's just fucking HUGE to boot. While I love most of Bioware's other major titles, this is the game that defined them.)

2: Suikoden 2 (Suikodens 1-3, really, but 2 clearly had the most effort put into it, and it's a damn good game in its own right. This only beat Baldur's Gate 2 because of its brevity. I can beat the entire game in under 20 hours and still feel satisfied with it, or I could break out to explore and collect everything.)

1: Deus Ex (I love cyberpunk. I love spy games. So few games get those right, and Deus Ex is like a harmony of those two. Really, the only problem I have with the game is some minor pacing issues towards the end. Otherwise, it's a smart spy-conspiracy game with excellent characters, great dialogue, and flexible continuity. People can die in this game as a result of your actions (or inaction), and so few games pull that off well. What else is there to say? It's Deus Ex!)

 

[MrJKapowey]

1. Oblivion
2. Legend of Mana

These will NEVER change. EVER.

3. Bayonetta
4. Saint's Row 2.
5. Vanquish

Oh Thank GOD! Yeah, I love Oblivion. Yeah it has dialogue issues. No they're not anything above mildly amusing/slightly grating.

Let's see who I piss off with this list,

6. Fallout NV
I loved this game. It made Fallout 3 look like a student collage film standing next to a blockbuster. Not only did it FEEL right, I was more immersed than I think I have ever been in a video game.
5. 007 Nightfire
Added to the roster for fine memories and an amazing play time of over one hundred hours.
4. TES III (Subject to change until all TES are released. TES III Includes the two expansion packs.)
The same as NV, basically.
3. GTA III
Banned from playing since 7 years old, I was amazed at what I could do in a game when I got to play this at a friends house. Literally played for 24 hours then and there, two copies snuck in and a book later I am free to enjoy the best GTA besides SA.
2. Crash Bandicoot 3 Warped
Forever in my heart will reside the furry marsupial named Crash. His death in....whenever Naughty Dog sold him crushed me. The clones the grave desicrators have spawned will rot in videogame hell for all eternity. Playing this with my father in the mornings before school, I will chalk this one up to nostalgia.

1. None.
I will never be able to crown one game better than all the rest, NEVER.

Honerable mention goes to Crash Nitro Cart, while dreaming a year before it was developed, I had a dream that I was playing one of the clockwork levels that actually made it into the game. After noticing that that level was exactly like my dream I put the controller down, and started crying. (This was about age 12 so I could still cry.)

Wouldn't your Number 2 be the best game then? That would be better than ALL other games, just it isn't called #1.

Mine is

5-Battlefield Bad Company 2 (I have never raged at the ENEMY on this game)*
4-Age of Empires 3 (classic and I kick can kick 8 shades of sh*t out of people on it with my friend)

Spoiler: Yes I know...

...They've only discovered 7 so far

3-Assassins Creed Brotherhood (the mp was the stilletto to the 'bastard' sword of CoD)
2-HALO Reach (So what? I'm a fanboy.)
1-Oblivion (waiting for Skyrim!)

*My team mates are often shit so I rage at them continually.

 

[Blitzwarp]

01. Pokémon Crystal. First introduced the concept of hero gender into the Pokémon games, and I still consider Kanto to be the best region. I remember playing it after I'd finished yet another run-through of Blue and marvelling at the Pokémon animations and all of the colour. XD Perhaps I'm just easily amused.
02. Heroes of Might and Magic II. The graphics improved with III, but II will always have a special place in my heart.
03. Unreal Tournament (I, II, III). I loved the idea of the respawner, and how it had been integrated into a gladiatoresque tournament full of tough guys and gals. Plus I want me a Link Gun.
04. Space Invaders. I'm playing it again on my PSP, and even though the idea is elementary - like Tetris's - it's also timeless. Just keep updating the graphics and anybody will play it.
05. Tetris. Duh, it's Tetris. The game that practically self-propelled the original GameBoy into the best-seller spot. Plus it's addictive as hell.

 

[Geo88]

Tough call, especially at the #5 spot. Honorable mentions go out to World of Warcraft, Saints Row, Perfect Dark 64, Golden Eye 64, and Super C for the NES.

#5: Command & Conquer 3 (standalone game as well as Kane's Wrath)

I've been a huge fan of the series from the first game, and I really like where they took C&C 3. What's more amazing was that EA was behind it and didn't completely fuck it up. EA bought out the original developer (Westwood Studios) and most of the game's creators and talent instead opted to form their own company (Petroglyph). The sheer amount of new information and lore really connected with me, and while the game(s) were a bit buggy and it took around 2 minutes to save, I had a ton of fun playing through the three separate intertwining campaigns. Kane's Wrath was also probably the best adaptation of a RTS game to a console I've ever seen. This is really also tied with Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion Firestorm. Too bad Command & Conquer 4 was a travesty to the RTS genre.

#4: Assassin's Creed 2/Brotherhood

Since Brotherhood is just a direct continuation of AC2 (a huge continuation, but a continuation nonetheless), I'm counting it as one game. I thought AC1 was great. The idea of going back to the past via computers and DNA, the global conspiracy, and the sheer amount of research that had to be done to link together unconnected events that took place hundreds of years ago were incredible. However, AC1 was also extremely repetitive. You did the same few quests and killed a leader over and over and over again. AC2 brought back the things I loved, but took away the grind. And Brotherhood brought in communication-dependent multiplayer types and a new, very interesting story (and sidestory with the glyphs). That doesn't even touch on how huge Rome is and how fun it is to explore.

#3: SOCOM III: US Navy SEALs

I loved SOCOM III. To date, it's probably my favorite online-capable shooter of all time. Combined Assault (the game that came after it) was excellent, and I was very good at both games, but SOCOM III just brought so many new things to the table. Huge maps, new game types, more players, and a fun campaign made III fun to play for the entire year. I still wish I could go back and play it over again at times with my friends. It was a source of some of my best gaming memories.

#2: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 was phenomenal. The only complaints I have are that BioWare took some of the diplomacy out (though you can't really negotiate with a hoard of evil machines intent on enslaving or killing off every sentient in the galaxy), the mineral-gathering system (though at least getting them actually helps you rather than just completing a quest), and the removal of infinite ammo, which I thought was a really cool and extremely well-done aspect of the original game. I liked meeting up with old friends and making new comrades. To this day, Mordin singing "A Scientist Salarian" is one of my favorite moments in gaming. The story was taken to new heights with new lore, and many important decisions from the last game changed how ME2 played out. The idea that there are thousands of variables being tracked for ME3 is giving me goosebumps, and I can't wait to play it. Oh, and they got rid of 30-minute elevator rides.

And #1....

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

I used to hate Star Wars. I hated it, hated it, hated it. I thought the old films were grainy, I never understood why the Empire was considered so evil, the lightsaber combat sucked, which I still maintain is true, and the scale of the conflict was never really put into perspective for me. That all changed with KotOR. Seeing the power of a Jedi or a Sith and witnessing what even a single one could do in the Star Wars universe really made me understand what the big deal was about lifting a ruddy X-Wing out of a swamp. It introduced the lore to me in a way I thoroughly enjoyed, and the moral choice system wasn't always black and white, which was refreshing. To top it off, the game has changed my life in other ways. It reignited a long-lost love of creative writing, encouraging me to make multiple characters on a roleplaying board. Through that, I've met people who have become some of my closest friends in real life. It's expanded my gaming repertoire, leading me to play great games like Empire at War and the Rogue Squadron series. If I still had my N64, you can bet your ass I'd hunt down a copy of Shadows of the Empire. Disregarding all of the changes it made to my life, the truly epic scale of the game, with the entire galaxy at stake, the different paths you could choose, the different conversations and results and the sheer replayability of KotOR has made it my favorite game of all time.

Oh, and I'm apparently the only person in existence that the twist caught off-guard. So that helped.

 

[Yoder13]

5: Final Fantasy Tactics
4: Colonization by Sid Meiers
3: Morrowwind
2: Legend of Dragoon
1: X-COM UFO Defense

 

[Mr. Omega]

Upon retrospect, it surprises me how many of these are Nintendo games. Also, my favorite games are my favorites mostly because of the experiences I had with them.

honorable mentions: God of War, Red Dead Redemption, The ENTIRE Zelda series, Marvel Ultimate Allience, Metroid Prime, Team Fortress 2.

5: Pokemon Platinum. Honestly, I'm probably going to give this spot to White once it comes out, but for now, I'll stick with Platinum. Nothing against Heartgold or Souldsilver, but they were just remakes with the new Pokemon. It was here that I first got into the metagame. And Pokemone started to seem less like Pokemon and more like World of Warcraft. That's both a compliment (why it's on my top 5) and an insult (why it just barely makes my top 5)

4: Saints Row 2. Honestly, this game took everything that was awesome about the GTA series and made it the prime focus. Yes, the story is good, and has some of gaming's most awesome cutscene moments, but even more awesome moments are the ones you cause yourself. Infinite possibilities and near infinite replayability, Saint's Row 2 is everything a good sandbox game should be.

3: Super Smash Bros. Brawl. People say Melee is the better game, but you know what? Brawl is the more FUN game. Remember what 'fun' was? Before you learned what the tiers were, what stages were "too gimmicky", and thought to yourself 'items make it too random', you played Smash Bros to have FUN. And that's what Brawl is: pure, concentrated, OMGWTFBBQ, random, awesome fun.

2: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. Assassin's Creed is the first franchise in a long time I have gotten excited about, and Brotherhood contains all the reason why I feel that way. Breathtaking locations, an interesting story, if you're willing to look for the truth, good characters (for the most part), and all sorts of ways to mess around. Combine that with a fun and original multiplayer (I'm saying it now: AC BRO MULTIPLAYER IS BETTER THAN BLACK OPS MULTUIPLAYER!), and you have my second favorite game of all time.

1: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. THIS is how an RPG should be made! Yes, the story isn't exactly the ultimate epic, but all the reason you need to keep going is the game itself. From wonderful locations never before seen in a Mario world, to epic boss battle, to a kickass soundtrack, to a battle system that requires more skillful input than button mashing, to the dozens of secrets in the game giving you reason to explore, Mario RPG is, in my mind, the best RPG ever made.

 

[badgersprite]

1. Abe's Exoddus. The same frequently quite challenging platforming puzzles and quirky, darkly funny world as the first Oddworld game, but this time with even more creative ways to fuck around. Taking control of a Glukkon general, commanding a pair of sligs to shoot it out until one dies, then forcing the survivor to run headlong into a mine, then walking the Glukkon straight into a meat grinder will never stop being fun.

2. MediEvil. It's simply one of the funniest and most creatively premised games I have ever seen. And the execution is great. If I could pick a game that sums up me having fun as a kid, it's this. It's probably the game that got me interested in the kinds of games I like today.

3. Goldeneye for N64. Quite simply, this is the only game that I have ever been able to play in four player splitscreen that hasn't suffered for it, and even on the crappy TVs of the day it looked great. This game is rightly remembered as a classic, both for it's campaign and for it's multiplayer. I think we wouldn't have online multiplayer for shooters without this game right here.

4. Star Wars: Dark Forces. Another classic shooter. Basically, it did everything the FPSs of the day did but with a solid story, cooler guns and lasers, and freaking space monsters. What more can you ask for, really?

The last spot is strangely enough the hardest for me to pick. Only made harder because I couldn't remember the name of what I wanted to put on the #5 spot until a friendly escapist helped me out. Now that I know what it is...

5. TOMBA! also known as Tombi! This game was funny, creative, clever, and I'd say it was the absolute peak of side scrolling gameplay, because it did so much so well, and used the medium really creatively. The only reason I rank this lower than the similar Oddworld plat former is the absence of the ability to possess people and get schadenfreude from doing awful things to them.

Spyro 2 still gets pan honourable mention as runner up.

 

[ShakesZX]

It's impossible for me to create one of these kinds of lists. My opinion of games and what my top "favorites" are changes on a daily basis depending on a lot of things. I would assume that most of them are RPGs and RTSs if I could accurately remember exactly every game that I've ever played.

 

[SimuLord]

OK, time to fire up the copy pasta machine for another "top 5" thread:

1) Rome: Total War. Not my first Total War game (that was the original Medieval), but the game that even six years after its release I still go back to and play through from time to time. A game that got so many things dead-on, spot-perfect RIGHT that its minor flaws are easily overlooked. Absolutely never gets old, masterfully executed, I love this game.

2) Fallout: New Vegas. I played through Fallout 3 again before making this decision, but New Vegas is so immersive, so well written, and so chock-full of pure, balls-out FUN that I've already put 172 hours into it and still have so much more left to do.

3) Fallout 3. Not to say that Fallout 3 isn't a masterpiece itself. New Vegas just improves upon it in so many meaningful ways that now that it's been patched to an acceptably playable state it deserves its place in the sun.

4) Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. It is not a point in Firaxis's favor that they've had three good whacks at improving on this game and haven't managed to. Alpha Centauri remains the pinnacle of turn-based 4X gaming.

5) Tropico. City-building done right. Still by far the best small-scale (as in individual people have needs that the player must create the environment to fulfill) city-builder ever made. Comparing it to a large scale city builder (like SimCity or Cities XL) is apples-to-oranges.

Also receiving votes: Rise of Nations, Oblivion, Mount&Blade, Victoria, Hearts of Iron 2.

 

[teh_Canape]

5- Call of Duty and the United Offensive expansion

4- Jazz JackRabbit 2

3- TimeSplitters 3

2- Team Fortress 2

this is a tough one, I have it between Maken X, Jet Grind Radio, Tyrian 2000, Abuse, Quake 2...

1- I'll go with Comix Zone

 

[Palademon]

5) Perfect Dark

4) Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

3) Resident Evil 4

2) Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

1) Final Fantasy VI

Honourable mentions go out to Killer 7, Final Fantasy IX and Conkers Bad Fur Day

I'm not trying to offend, but why did you choose Perfect Dark above Goldeneye? It was a spiritual sequel. I would imagine it's because you don't like the relation to James Bond and you prefer an original universe?

 

[Extasii]

Oooohhh boy

1. Kirby Super Star (SNES/DS)
2. Starcraft 2 (PC)
3. Rock Band [any of em] (360)
4. Halo: Reach (360)
5. Super Street Fighter 4, Oblivion (360)

 

[Palademon]

I'm not trying to offend, but why did you choose Perfect Dark above Goldeneye? It was a spiritual sequel. I would imagine it's because you don't like the relation to James Bond and you prefer an original universe?

To me, Perfect Dark was a considerably better game. All the missions in Goldeneye were tied together by a very loose thread that only really made sense if you watched the film, while Perfect Dark had an actual decent story. Nowadays, the story and characters are dated as hell, but back then I found it a revolution. Plus, it just felt better than Goldeneye. The level design was improved, the guns were cooler, the multiplayer was far more advanced and more fun to play around with and the whole thing had a sheen of polish Goldeneye never had.

I played and completed Goldeneye before Perfect Dark, and I found it to be enjoyable if not mind-blowing, but when I played Perfect Dark my eight/nine year old brain exploded with the awesomeness.

I guess you can't go wrong with a heat detecting sniper rifle that fires through walls.

I got Perfect Dark on XBLA, and had a little fun in multiplayer, but it proved a bit too challenging for me to get very far in singleplayer, and so far I have not relived the nostalgia.

Anyway, I find it hard trying to decide on favourites of anything. I guess the games that stand out to me are: Banjo Kazooie, Ocarina of Time(probably mostly hype), Shadow of the colossus(bought it but was too scared by the colossi's eyes so I watched my brother complete it (yes, I said eyes)), Super Smash Bros. Melee, because hardcore or casual, it was easy fun at every party and playing games round my friends' houses now literally means "Let's play some Brawl". And TimeSplitters 2, Future Perfect, The Star Wars Battlefront games, and maybe Goldeneye. In no particular order. And all these things are probably hype combined with nostalgia more than anything else. TimeSplitters being the only thing I'm really begging for a sequel (although I'd like to see super smash bros. on DS).

 

[Palademon]

I bought the XBLA port too, and it's quite odd coming from more streamlined shooters that are made nowadays to something like that, especially on the higher difficulties. It makes me wonder if my younger self was actually considerably smarter than me. <.<

I feel the same way about TimeSplitters 2. I consider it to have the better multiplayer, but Future Perfect has better accessability. My younger self must have been a secret badass to find so much fun in a game that doesn't even give you a target reticule. A game I have failed to get past the first level of due to difficulty when I retry it lately. Whereas in the past I have casually completed several times just becuase I felt like playing it.