Your Top Ten Games

I like to know what you guys consider to be your favorite games. That way, we all can hopefully be introduced to new and awesome games that we might not have tried before. Also, try to briefly explain why you love them.

Here is my list:

10: Quake: id's strongest game in terms of single player IMO, and the multiplayer and mods paved way to many of the shooters we have now. Plus, I love the atmosphere.

9: Resident Evil 4: I'll admit, this is the one that got me hooked on the series. To this day, I have yet to find a game that matches it's third-person horror greatness. Not even Dead Space fits. Indeed, if it weren't for this one, we wouldn't have Gears Of War or Uncharted.

8: F.E.A.R.: Still has the most satisfying gunplay I have ever experienced in an FPS, with amazing AI and suspenseful horror. Quite an underrated masterpiece in my opinion.

7: Final Fantasy VII: I know, I know, some consider it to be overrated. However, I still find it to have the most memorable cast out of any RPG, and it is one of the few RP Gs I've played where I became engrossed in the universe that it set up. Plus it has Tifa.

6: Super Mario Galaxy: The pinnacle of all platformers, in my opinion. With silky smooth controls, innovative gravity and spherical world-based gameplay, and overall the heart that was put into this game, I safely call it an example of gaming as an artform.

5: Devil May Cry 3: As far as I'm concerned, the greatest action game ever made, even surpassing greats like Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden Black. With one of the most intuitive combat models, one of the best and most unique weapon arsenals, and its style, no action game can even touch this one.

4: Bioshock: To put it mildly, one of gaming's crowning achievements from the past decade. Its though-provoking story and subversive plot are just the icing. With the Plasmid based gameplay, I can't think of many other FPS games that have such unique features.

3: Metal Gear Solid 2: I am probably alone in this opinion, but I believe 2 to be the pinnacle of the Metal Gear series story wise. It has made many frightening predictions that are slowly becoming true, and its postmodern narrative is still profound in the way it subverts and deconstructs the very essence of video games. Aside from that, I find its improvements in terms of gameplay to be much needed, and they have gone a long way to make the franchise what it is today.

2: Shadow Of The Colossus: Pure brilliance. Nuff said.

1: The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess: While some have criticized it for be too similar to Ocarina Of Time, I loved it for that very reason. OOT is still considered to be the best game ever made, and TP more than improves on every one of the assets. Couple that with some of the most memorable characters, especially Midna, and it is easily my favorite game ever.

What about you guys?

edited 15th Jul '12 1:37:34 AM by LDragon2

Still can't decide on the actual rankings, although I could put together a "Top Ten" regardless...

• Suikoden II - Arguably the best in the series, although I've only been able to play the first three...but the universe the series is set in is quite good itself, so this game doing great in such a setting is a significant success for me.
• Football Manager 2012 - It's here simply because it's the latest of its kind, and it's certainly getting better and better.
• Metro 2033 - A great post-apocalyptic game with a great story, and it looks great too.
• Final Fantasy IX - Among the three I've played (VII, VIII, IX), this was the best for me, but only by a little bit. "No cloud nor squall shall hinder us." LOL
• Battlefield 3 - Quite simply the best there is.
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - The best in the series, and the one BF 3 had to surpass to be the best overall.
• Breath of Fire IV - Great story, simply a great game. Shame it's the only one I've been able to play in the series.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Portable) - I've only been able to play this (PSP version) or Persona 4 (PS 2 version), but between the two, I prefer this.
• Lunar: Silver Star Harmony - played the PSP version and I wasn't disappointed.
• Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - An old game that I still keep on playing after all these years. Shame that a sequel is nigh impossible now...

Honorable mentions:

• Command and Conquer: Red Alert (plus Counterstrike and Aftermath)
• Neverwinter Nights (plus expansions)
• Neverwinter Nights 2 (plus expansions)
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Hearts of Iron III
• Crusader Kings II

For me, a big part of what separates a truly great game from a merely enjoyable but forgettable game is replayability. Every game I've listed I've played through at least half a dozen times, usually more, and the gameplay keeps me coming back year after year. I've played a lot of games that are initially very impressive, but fall flat after a short period of gameplay or repeated playthroughs.

10 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Still the best Elder Scrolls game with the most interesting setting and detailed world

9 Super Mario World - An improved version of Mario 3, which Nintendo never quite managed to top

8 Alundra - A Zelda clone that's better than all the 2D Zelda games, and a criminally underrated game

7 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Nailed the Zelda formula perfectly

6 Persona 4 - Possibly the best story in any game I've ever played, and definitely the best soundtrack

5 Ultima Underworld - This game is why I love exploring huge, labyrinthine dungeons

4 System Shock 2 - Basically Ultima Underword on a spaceship filled with horrible mutants

3 Fallout - Fallout 2 may be bigger, but the original has more interesting quests, a less silly, reference-filled gameworld and a better story and ending

2 Baldur's Gate II - The only game to make Real Time With Pause combat compelling, plus the world is so huge with so many quests and places to go. I've been replaying this game a few times a year since it was released in 2000 and I still find new things on each playthough.

1 Deus Ex - The best game ever made, period. Like Baldur's Gate II I'm always discovering new things on each playthrough, even if it's just something small like an ammo cache or some skill points

edited 25th Jul '12 11:47:28 PM by Talby

Ooh... this is gonna be a hard one. Can I start backwards and work my way up? On a scale of sheer awesomeness, for various reasons:

1. Silent Hill 2: Such a great, human story. The pinnacle of immersion and storytelling.

2. Castlevainia: Symphony of the Night: Best Level Ever: The Game.

3. Metal Gear Solid 3

4. Final Fantasy X: Such a sweet story, and a smooth-playing game with a lot of fun, too. No RPG has left me with such bittersweet emotional impact.

5. Kirby Super Star: Hail to the Puff. Honorable mention to Kirbys Return To Dreamland and Kirbys Epic Yarn.

6. Devil May Cry 3

7. Dead Rising

8. Bio Shock with an honorable mention to Bio Shock 2.

9. Super Smash Bros Melee; honorable mention to Brawl.

10. Tales Of Symphonia

Other honorable mentions: Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne, Persona2, Star Ocean The Second Story, Deus Ex, Dragon Age Origins, Skies Of Arcadia, GrandiaII, Gunstar Heroes, and Mass Effect 2.

Waaah, I wanna make a top 20. I don't think I represented myself well enough.

edited 25th Jul '12 11:43:27 PM by BearyScary

I might put franchises as well as individual game

Top 10:

• 10. Devil May Cry franchise: Rather low on the list, but still a fun series overall. It looses poits for being archaic and a bit too stiff with the first game, and a bit too repetitive ad unvaried with the second game. the 3rd ad 4th games are where the games really Shine. I'm not even going to reference THAT game, though.

• 9. God of War franchise: Sure it might be simpler in it's combat than other action games (At least by todays stadards, at the time, the first was considered just as revolutionary as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden 1/Black before it), and the protagonist is a pureA-hole from the second game onwards, but the real draw is the bloody gory finishing kills, that go from average, like ripping off a harpies wings to gutting fricken Chronos from the inside.

• 8. Gunstar Heroes: There's just something about this Run ad Gun game that makes me feel so happy, even if it gets hard as hell, it's still pretty fun.

• 7. God Hand: DRAGON KICK YOUR ASS TO THE MILKY WAY! ("Milky Way") Ahem, with that out of the way, this game is hard in a fun way, with may different collectable combos to increase your arsenal your arsenal, and is basically a modern day retraux of old beat em ups like Streets Of Rage ad Final Fight.

• 6. Viewtiful Joe: Another awesome frachise from Clover Studios/Platinum Games, it's this game in particular that re sparked my love with japanese action games, and it has a sese of humor ad style to boot.

• 5. Bayonetta: The sheer craziness of the game is cool, the protagoist is an awesome parody of video game fanservice, and the combat basically changed the gameplay of Action Gaming forever, ad pushed the scale of Action games into the next generation of consoles.

• 4. Mischief Makers: Shake Shake! Another game by Treasure (Who made Gunstar Heroes above), I absolutely loved this game when I was younger, I loved the action, I loved the humor, and I loved the bad guys and the intensity of the boss fights., plus, Theo constantly getting punched across the milky way.

• 3. The Pokemon franchise: This is the THE franchise that got me into gaming in the first place, and the franchise always holds a place in my heart.

• 2. a Tie between Okami (And Okamiden) and the Mother franchise: What can I say other than that both of these game series are basically heartwarming and funny at the same time, while still being different gameplay wise in every other way.

And Number 1......

• 1. Asura's Wrath (Obviously)

What can I say about the game? While it might not be a game in a traditional sense, it still manages to feel like an intense game in spite of the sheer volume of ciematics and QTE's. In fact, the sheer amount of QTE's actually will leave you sweating after trying to hit them all, ad is exactly why it still feels instense in spite of the seer volume of cinematics. The other gameplay styles are more simplistic, but in an arcade game style of simple, with the Beat 'em Up segments adhereing more to the simplicity of Final Fight the the complexity of Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta, or even God of War, ad the Rail Shooter segmeats feeling a lot like Classic Star Fox or other Treasure Rail Shooter games.

Yet at the same time, it manages to combine a unique and original unique setting ad massively story in vein of classic epics and mythological tales, with the levels being made in the format of something more of a Television series or even an Anime or Manga. Yet it manages to use the occasional quiet scenes amongst all the actions, ad what little of them all, they manage to make the scenes that much more emotionally powerful ad human in spite of the raw super powers displayed.

Sure, some might see the extra Story based DLC after the main campaign to be a dick move, but it mananges to be even more epic ad unique than the main story and the other DLC (Episodes 11.5 and 15.5 ad the Street Fighter DLC) are no slouches in that department either.

All these factors make Asura's Wrath easily amongst my all time favorite video games as the cream of the crop.

Honorable Mentions:

• Legend Of Zelda
• Super Mario Brothers
• The Naruto Ultimate Ninja series
• Dot Hack Franchise
• and several others.

edited 5th Aug '12 9:18:59 AM by Demongodofchaos2

I limited myself to one game per franchise; otherwise, this list would be nothing but Ratchet, Sly, and Jak games =P

• 10: Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Batman game that made me feel like Batman. Not only through sneaking around and taking guys out in the dark, but also with the investigative bits. The moment I was doing a dive kick on the last guy, I knew I was sold.
• 9: The World Ends With You - An awesome RPG with a cool plot, characters, and battle system. Figuring out the best pin combinations and discovering others' pin shops was great. After the first week, I knew I was sold.
• 8: Jak 3 - The grandest of the Jak games, it made the difficulty manageable, added the awesome dune buggy bits, and kept all the great platforming. When I saw that big 'ol desert, I knew I was sold.
• 7: Sly 2: Band of Thieves - It has less platforming compared to Sly 1, but it gained something else- that feeling of being a super-competent heist team. Stuff like pickpocketing, surveying the area to devise a plan, and performing small operations to put everything in place was so satisfying. While pulling off the first heist in Paris, and seeing everything come together, I knew I was sold.
• 6: Persona 4 - It took everything from Persona 3 and improved on it, in my opinion. The battles are more fun, the social links are more interesting, and the plot and characters more engaging. The first time I heard that boss battle music, I knew I was sold.
• 5: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - Just all-out amazingly exciting. The shootin' stuff was pretty standard, but the kinds of situations they put me in got my pulse pounding and hands sweating. Shooting while hanging on a sign for dear life, fighting atop trucks, and of course, the train level... oh man, what a ride. The first time I had to run from that truck, I knew I was sold.
• 4: Rock Band - One of the few games I played where it's all about teamwork. That feeling I got when I worked with my friends to get scores we never even imagined getting solo was thrilling. Also, the presentation was awesome. The grainy filter, seeing your customized characters rocking out on stage... I truly felt like a rock star with this one. The first time I heard the audience sing along to "Wanted Dead or Alive", I knew I was sold.
• 3: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - This is how a franchise revival is done. Like its predecessors, it's all about timed, deliberate movement, but it's amped up with a prince that runs on walls and scales ledges like the best of ninjas. The sands of time aspect is a cool addition, and one that is so thematically appropriate. The game looks like a storybook come alive, and is told like one to boot. The prince is a really likeable character, which they managed to varying degrees of success. The first time I died and the prince said "No, that's not how it went. May I start again?", I knew I was sold.
• 2: Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal - Once again, it's a combination of the best parts of its predecessors, and then some. The upgrades come faster, so using weapons is satisfying more quickly, and the enemies and bosses actually put up a fight this time, so using strafing and knowing your arsenal is even more necessary now. Some of the funniest moments happen in this game, like the "good with your hands" joke, and Ratchet's impression of Courtney Gears. Multiplayer is sweet icing on the cake. When that first enemy mech turned the corner, I fired the Shock Blaster, and heard that oh-so-satisfying explosion while the mech was knocked back, I knew I was sold.
• 1: Burnout 3: Takedown - The fastest, most satisfying, most exciting racing game I've played. The sense of speed is unmatched- driving at 210 mph is as exhilarating as it looks. The takedown mechanic is perhaps the best addition to the franchise, as making opponents crash by hitting them with my own car is awesome, and gives me something other than traffic to look out for. Crashed? No problem, since with aftertouch, I can attempt to steer my wreck and take my opponents with me. I'm never out of control for long. When the speed, traffic, and opposing racers are put together, the result is something that is so thrilling that words can't do it justice. There's something about screaming down the road at 200+ mph, dodging traffic while rivals try to plaster me into the guardrail that has to be played to be believed. The first time the camera cut to an opponent I just took down and I got to see my opponent crash and burn with that awesome sound, I knew I was sold.

Honorable mentions-
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Assassin's Creed II
Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Braid
Sonic Generations

edited 3rd Aug '12 9:02:02 PM by AzureSeas

Burnout 3: Takedown was sweeeet.

I can't decide on rankings, but I can put together a top ten. In no particular order:

• Modern Warfare 1: The first real gritty war game I played (besides Call of Duty 3, maybe), each and every level was awesome (Heat and Warpig were my favorites), and the level-up system made multiplayer incredibly addicting. The plot was also fairly original, especially when compared to the sequels, and had some powerful moments.

• Civilization 4: Just... one... more... turn!

• Medieval Total War 2: The battle system is amazing, the factions are diverse, the religion mechanic works, and seeing more pieces of the map gradually become orange/red/gold/whatever your color is is very satisfying.

• Mass Effect 2: The gameplay and graphics are merely pretty good, but the characters and story are of course great. This is probably the game who's campaign I've replayed the most; mostly because certain levels are really well done.

• Little Big Planet 2: The new level editor, as well as the much longer campaign, makes this game leap above the first (which I also loved). Me and my friends had so much fun either playing the 4-player campaign or playing through each other's levels.

• Fallout New Vegas: It has an interesting Black-and-Grey Morality plot, tons of secrets to find, an improved combat system, believable consequences for all your actions, and in general it is one of the most open ended RP Gs I've ever played. NCR for life!

• Team Fortress 2: This game deserves a mention for just how much fun I had with it. I've played this game for 600 hours on Steam, making it by far my most played game. The game is cartoony and run-and-gunny while also being tactical and team-based. It's probably the best game for playing with friends. No matter what you're playstyle is, Team Fortress 2 has a class for you. And more weapons are being added every day. And it's now free to play.

• Halo 2: In my opinion, the best of the series. It has everything I look for in a good FPS; mid-level on the Fackler Scale of FPS Realism, most Standard FPS Guns and Standard FPS Enemies, tons of vehicles, levels that make you feel like a literal One-Man Army *
  like driving a tank while demolishing enemy assault guns, Ghosts, Banshees, and infantry, or storming The Dragon's floating base with a small squad of marines and killing all the elite mooks who get in your way
  , regenerating health, satisfying melee and grenade kills, and fun multiplayer.

• Half Life: Duh?

• Prototype: Out of every game I've ever played, this one makes me feel the most powerful. For the love of God, you can kill dozens of infantry with one attack, decapitate tanks, take a dozen rockets before having to look for health, surf on the corpses of people you killed, kill people by throwing their friends at them, kill soldiers by making your friends shoot them, or just use the old, proven method of hijacking a tank / picking up a machine gun and open fire.

Honorable mentions:

Shogun 2

Command And Conquer Generals

Star Wars Battlefront

Mass Effect 3

Fallout 2

Serious Sam 3

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

edited 4th Aug '12 3:28:48 PM by CPFMfan

Hmmm...

1. Doom: The shooter game. Explore, dodge, shoot. The monsters, weapons and powerups are all iconic for a reason. Doom II is basically the same, but I think the level design suffered a bit for some reason. Doom 3 is a disgrace.

2. Ninja Gaiden 2: The melee game. This game has the most fantastic, buttery smooth action of any game period. It loses top spot to doom because, well, that's all there is to it but damn does it feel good to slide past a dozen enemy blows only to land a fifty-hit combo in retaliation.

3. Timesplitters Future Perfect: This is the only game I can honestly say I ever "Completed". I finished the whole game on every difficulty and gold-medal'd every single challenge. It's fast-paced fun and has plenty of variety. It's basically a party game.

4. Mega Man X4: X5 and X6 might have dropped the ball, but X4 will remain the grand king of 2D action platformers for the forseeable future. Perfect controls, two gameplay styles, an epic if poorly-voiced storyline and amazing boss fight after amazing boss fight.

5. Contra Hard Corps: Just watch (And Listen to) the opening

6. Etrian Odyssey: Dungeon crawling at its' finest. I own II and III too but I haven't finished them yet, so right now the victory goes to the original. It has a laser-focus on presenting the tightest dungeon crawl experience possible, and the variety of moves you get for all the wildly different classes go a long way in making everything about the game fun, even grinding.

7. Twisted Metal 2: Car combat? Is that a genre? Well, if it is TM 2 is the pinnacle. Even the modern game just can't get it quite right. All the cars are perfectly balanced, all the weapons feel powerful and it made Monumental Destruction the much-celebrated Paris level.

8. The World Ends With You: This game should have revolutionized the JRPG. Likeable characters, a unique setting, innovative and tactical twitch-based combat, good use of the DS's features and a great story.

9. Dungeon Fighter Online: It's a Final Fight brawler with special attacks that rival Guilty Gear and a variety of enemies that put Devil May Cry to shame while throwing more of them at you than Dynasty Warriors. And it's a freaking MMO. Hell. Yes.

10. Bayonetta: Bayonetta is pretty much every fetish I have... I mean! Uh! Gameplay! Stylish combos! Ludicrous plot! Awesome weapons! Crazy enemies! Epic bosses! Naked Dominatrix Witch Librarian! Damn!

Subject to change. Dear lord, I don't even have any Castlevania or Disgaea games up there...

edited 6th Aug '12 2:38:33 PM by ShirowShirow

This isn't in any particular order, but:

• Mass Effect 3: The best game of the series, in my opinion. It made me cry nine times. Nine times.
• Fallout New Vegas: I think this is my "Baldurs Gate II," the game I can play time after time and still discover something new and refreshing, and have just as much fun as the first time.
• Red Dead Redemption: This game is amazing. It's the only Rockstar game where they actually bother to use some of that writing talent and actually make a damn good story.
• Dragon Age Origins: One of the few RP Gs I've played that allows me to actually roleplay ("But haven't you played Baldur's Gate?" No. Shut up.) And one of the few Bio Ware games where I liked every single party member. I think Kot OR and ME 3 are the only other ones that managed that.
• Alpha Protocol: This game is severely, severely underappreciated. It's one of the few modern-day games that puts way more effort than necessary into the choices and consequences, and it's awesome. Also there's a boss fight that has a 70s rock song as the background music. Yeah.

... And I don't have anything else to put on the lis. So top 5, not top ten. Sorry.

1. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne theres not much to say, its just an all around amazing game with a wonderful battle system and a difficulty that is just right, and an interesting plot and setting. and good music, that too. must not forget the music.

2. Tales Of Symphonia a large reason for me liking this so damn much is because it was one of my earlier jrpgs where i was significantly less jaded. also because i played it before the (in my opinion) abominable Tales Of The Abyss. the characters are likable, (and overall not as cliched as ive seen people make them out to be), the humor was endearing, the battlesystem was immense fun, and the plot was fun and interesting, and the music was excellent.

3. Skyward Sword again, theres not much to say. it improves on the zelda formula and adds quite a few elements to it, the gameplay is fun and involving, several of the dungeons are amazing and the final dungeon has a wonderful twist to it, the antagonists are awesome, the graphics are vibrant and charming, the music is great, the characters are all endearing (except the water dragon) and the plot is good and filled with tons of fun callbacks/callforwards with a healthy dosing of justifying traditions, ect. while its not unusual to hear me say "___ is better than oot", in this case that applies not only technically or by design, but in charm too.

4. Suikoden V fantastic plot (even if the villains are dumbasses who dont do a single thing to help their cause no matter how you view their motivation), likable characters, neat graphics, fast battle system, wonderful character designs, a great HQ (probably the 2nd best in the series, with 4's Boat being the best), and some neat ties to other games. plus the queendom of falena is just an interesting setting.

5. Etrian Odyssey 3. its a dungeon crawler. and what a wonderful dungeon crawler it is.

6. Okami a beautiful game with a beautiful aesthetic, setting, characters and music. there are however a few issues with the gameplay, but rarely do they present that much of a problem

7. God Hand an excellent, challenging, fun 3D Beat 'em Up with amazing music.

8. Arkham City aside from the general obtuseness of some particular riddle puzzles (fucking question mark on the wall-alignment bullshit), its an amazing game.

9. The World Ends With You oh hey, a square game i genuinely like. how goddamn rare.

10. Arcanum its a top down, 2d isometric CRPG that i actually like, that has actually managed to keep my interest- thats gotta amount to something right?

Honourable mentions: Morrowind (its a fun game...with mods. not much to say other than that, besides it having shit combat and a great theme), Order Of Ecclesia (first castlevania, likely the last that i'll complete, and a whole lot of fun with an enjoyable female protagonist and an interesting (if mostly pointless) plot), Civilization4 (its fun and complex- whats not to love?), Soul Nomad And The World Eaters (a wonderful game with a fun battle system and interesting characters, although a lot of it is marred by laziness, much like Makai Kingdom), and Bastion (a beautiful game with a wonderful narrative and amazing music, and somewhat fun gameplay, though it gets tiring after a while)

edited 4th Aug '12 12:13:18 PM by Tarsen

1. Digimon World - I've probably put more hours into this game than any other console game I've ever owned. Despite all its glitches, it's one of the most addicting games I've ever played, and has nearly endless replayability.

2. Digimon World 2 - the sequel is also really good, and has just as much replayability. The only reason it's lower on my list is because it's a bit more repetitive.

3. Unreal Tournament 2004 - For 2 straight years, this was the only game I ever played. It was just that good. I remember when I used to have one of the top 3 scores on my team in almost every match, too. I've even made some maps and characters for this game before.

4. Doom I and II - Back when I was a kid, nothing was more fun than Doom. And even today, the countless user mods add even more to a game whose fast-paced gameplay is more enjoyable than the majority of modern shooters.

5. Dynasty Warriors 3 - My first PS 2 game, and also the one that left the biggest impression on me. The sequels have all improved on its gameplay, but I love the "arcade" feeling of this one the most.

6. Serious Sam 1st and 2nd Encounters - When it comes to single-player shooters, this is in my mind the best one. A game that's all about the shooting - the killing of hundreds of monsters charging at you all at once. And it does it very well.

7. Team Fortress 2 - Ever since I got Steam, this remains my game with the most hours on record. Funny thing is, at least 1/4 of those hours were "wasted" on achievement servers, and I didn't even go there for achievements, but to interact with other players. This is probably the only game whose community can make such interaction possible.

8. Zone Of The Enders the 2nd Runner - Back in its day, I thought this was the absolute best game ever. Great story, great graphics, awesome-looking Giant Mecha, and action-packed gameplay. Now I just wish Hideo Kojima would release a third installment instead of making yet another Metal Gear Solid... But...

9. Metal Gear Solid 2 - That doesn't mean I didn't love this game. Sure, it was Kojima's "fuck you" to the gaming world, but I know we'll never again see a story this weird yet intriguing.

10. Borderlands - This game is relatively recent, yet it's some of the most fun I've ever had in a modern shooter. I love the visual style, and there's nothing more fun than finding a new, powerful gun. Now I just wish the sequel would hurry up!

Honorable mentions go to Castlevania: Curse of Darkness for its beautiful soundtrack and fun gameplay, Soul Calibur 2 for its great graphics and near-flawless fighting, and Mega Man X4 and X5 for their stylish graphics, memorable music, and fun levels. Oh, and also the entire Mega Man Battle Network series, for the same reasons as the Mega Man X games . Just... don't tell anyone that I played them on an emulator...

edited 4th Aug '12 3:01:34 PM by MrPoly

People usually apply the house rule that only 1 game will be accepted from each franchise. Because I want to honour as many games as possible, I'll give a full list of top-10 without applying this rule, but I'll expand the list with additional ranks to make up for this.

I'll start by listing my favourite games before ranking them, so if there are any left over, I'll list them as "honourable mentions."

1.-4. The Metal Gear Solid series, in this order: 2, 3, 1, 4. I know, most people would say 1 is the best one and 2 the weakest, but in my book 2 wins in every category, especially replay value.

5. Hearts Of Iron II (I didn't like III because the AI was more stupid than Stalin, but if I ever try the expansions, it'll probably rank above HoI II.) I'm currently playing through my first campaign in Arsenal of Democracy and it's better than the original HoI II, but I think it shouldn't get its own entry. The very best multiplayer experiences I've ever had have been 3-way campaigns in this game.

6. Portal 2. The Portal games are fantastic, especially this one. Not only is the story and gameplay fantastic, but I played through the multiplayer campaign with Fighteer, and it was one of the best multiplayer experiences I've ever had.

7. Civilization IV. I've played V, but I didn't really like it very much, though I did like having the city-states complicating things for everyone. I played the vanilla version of V, so maybe it would be equal to IV with the expansions. I'll definitely give it another try when I can get it for cheap.

8. Red Alert 2. I grew up with Red Alert 1, but 2 is superior in every way. It's also better than 3, in my book.

9. Final Fantasy IX. I've played through all the FF games that were released or ported for the SNES, and while I enjoyed them, they didn't change my life. I've also played a couple of hours of FF VII and VIII, but again, they didn't impress me much. Maybe I stopped playing before the story really began, so the fault probably lies with me. But IX was amazing. I love everything about this game, and I'm sure I'll still be playing it years from now.

10. Fallout. I've played through this game countless times, and it never gets old.

11. Spelunky, the best game ever for casual gaming.

12. Half-Life. It doesn't need extra points to make the list, but it gets them anyway for all the mods, especially Opposing Force and Counter-Strike. I still haven't finished Half-Life 2 but so far, it might be even better than HL 1. Not gonna list it until I've gone through it at least once, though.

13. Cave Story, probably the best indie game I've ever played.

Honourable mentions:

Super Mario World 2: Yoshis Island. I've played every Mario game on the NES and some on the SNES, and this one was way better than the others. I've also played a bit of Super Mario Galaxy, and I'm sure if I played it through it'd be at least my 2nd favourite Mario game.

Zelda A Link To The Past. The only Zelda game I've played, and it's definitely a classic.

Crash Team Racing. This and Mario Kart are the only driving/racing games that I've enjoyed, and CTR is a fantastic game.

FIFA Manager 11. This is the football managing game by EA. Everyone thinks this series is inferior to Sega's Football Manager series, and now that I have the 2012 version of the latter, I must say that it does seem much better. But I've played so little of it, and so much of FIFA Manager, that EA wins this round. I'm almost certain that the balance will shift in favour of Sega's game when I'm more immersed in it.

Jurassic Park 2: The Chaos Continues. One of the games of my childhood, and I still play it every now and then. It gets undeserved points for nostalgia, I can't help it; but in my opinion it's one of the best games on the SNES.

Mega Man X is the best Mega Man game I've played. (I've played the first games in the X series.) This game gets a huge nostalgia boost from me, but I do believe it's a great game, even to those who didn't grow up with it.

edited 5th Aug '12 8:26:39 AM by BestOf