My Picks For The Top 20 Games of All-Time
By William on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 11:05 PM PST In Gamer Life, Sony, Square Enix
Without a doubt in my mind, the greatest game of all time is Final Fantasy VII which was released in 1997 for the PlayStation. FFVII gave turn-based gameplay new meaning and pushed the boundaries of console RPG games. 10 years later, it’s still fun to play and was an obvious influence on numerous games over the years. Extremeley fun gameplay combined with an awesome story, Final Fantasy 7 will always remain a top favorite of many gamers including myself. Feel free to debate my list in the comments. My top 20 follows the break.
I do love Final Fantasy 7, it’s what got me into the series and unfortuneately, where my expectations lied. 8 couldn’t do it as much for me, especially with an annoyingly shorter game-span even though there was an additional disc. 9 I thought was decent as it had a bit more story to it and who can’t like the Vivi/Steiner combo. Made using Doomsday as a spell awesome. 10 and 10-2 were such disappointments. Rarely do I feel embarrassed for a game, but, that did it for me.
Going from what I’ve personally played though, which sufficed to say won’t be as much as a gaming news poster, here’s what I think in no particular order:
- Ocarina of Time – N64 – Nothing wrong with ths game bar the words ‘Water Temple’. Hard is cool, but, wow, that was hard, but obviously fun.
- Halo – PC/XBox – I don’t think it deserves as much hype as it got by any means, but that doesn’t change the fact that it really was something a little bit difference, something kick-ass.
- Dark Chronicle (aka Dark Cloud 2) – PS2 – Amazing story line, graphics that worked, cool gameplay and over a 100 hundred hours gameplay. Awesome.
- A Link to the Past – SNES – Obviously depth of a game now is semi-dependant on what system it came out on (that being said, someone tipped the balance of graphics/gameplay the wrong way) but this was a very brilliant game and the satisfaction of getting every item was something definitely good.
- Super Mario Kart – SNES – I didn’t like the N64 one over this, I thought it had lost something. Anyhow, very fun, especially in battle mode and had some fun-power ups. The maps were cool, whereas in N64’s one the maps lost a bit of oomph.
- Pong – Pong – Errm, I’m not just saying this because it was the first home video game. I’m saying it becuase in its simplicity came a huge amount of fun. I even bought the PS1 game of the same name which had loads of different varities. All very fun and amusing, nothing like a bit of the super-quick build-up that is the original Pong.
- Sim City – SNES – Torn between this and Theme Park, Sim City allowed you to very easily pick up and put-down a game that allowed you to construct a city and with careful management, could last a long time. That was of course if the game pak decided not to reset all its data in it! My dad got the furthest out of all of us though at 104 years. The fountains looked nice.
- Sonic (early games and as a series) – Genesis/Megadrive – I don’t think I could break my will and put down each Sonic game individually, although the combined Sonic 3 and Knuckles would win the day, all 3(4) games are so entirely playable, even today. You know what’s gonna happen next. After time, you know where the enemies are gonna be. Yet you go back for more and more and more and more. Such a bloody awesome game, truly.
- Super Mario Bros. 3 – NES – I’ll have to admit I played this a lot. The Hammer -Brother suit was just awesome fun to play with whilst all the other abilities were cool aswell. I used to save a few up and use them all in the last world. Besides, GIANT WORLD. So. Frickin’. Awesome.
- Star Trek: Invasion – PS1 – Forget the Star Trek prefix, as a fighter game this completely ruled. Weapons everywhere, small ones big ones, different fighters, a fun 2-player attachment. A non-sensical story line (essential for a fighter game) and graphics that were pretty nice, even by todays standards (yeah not great, but still nice). Played very well to, with intuitive controls.
- Metal Gear Solid (+ VR Mission Pack) – PS1 – Unlimited Bandana. Cloak Device. Tomato Sauce. Need I go on?
- Super Smash Brothers – N64/GC/Wii – Whoever had the idea to do this is a genius. A fun beat’em-up with lots of Nintendo characters. Good stuff. Obviously this got better with the subsequent console and I’m sure the Wii version will be great fun too.
- Medieval: Total War – PC – Taking the brilliant elements of Shogun:TW it kept it basic yet complicated and expanded the game oh-so much. Fun, challenging but the right level of strategic depth. Rome and M2 added graphics and a bit more depth, but I don’t believe they worked as well. M2 has been collecting more dust than M1 has, unfortuneately.
- Freelancer – PC – There are two types of fighter games. The simulator and the throw-you-all-in type. Star Trek: Invasion was the latter, while this superb game was the first. Stunning graphics, realised gameplay, so much variety and difficulty. Very enjoyable replayable and moddable experience.
- Rollcage – PS1 – Racing games done fun can be very fun. This was an example. Cars that defied the logics of gravity, good speed, nice lighting. Works well.
- Wipeout 3: Special Edition – PS1 – Racing at its best. W: Fusion added graphics and more tracks, but the graphics from 1 already showed a bit of cartoony doesn’t matter. 1 was a little too simple, although extremely fun, 2097 had the music and 3 had the combination, but with SE you had the Prototype Tracks. These were stupidly twisting and turning and loop-de-loop tracks that made no sense but were so much fun. As in, when you unlocked them, you PLAYED on them. I doubt you could ever do a perfect lap on them, but it wasn’t the point. How the track was presented too was cool.
That’s all I can think of at the mo, I’m sure there are a few more.
Well, I might as well throw my two cents in here.
First off, you should realize that I am a big proponent of PC gaming, so my list will obviously reflect that. That said, here’s the top games IMHO (in no particular order).
Tribes (PC) – Tribes was, and still is, the best team based shooter ever made. Period. Nothing else even comes close. Hopefully, Vivendi will get the IP to someone who will make a game that hearkens back to the first one.
Wolfenstein 3d (PC) – Did everything that Doom did, but did it first.
Baldur’s Gate (PC) – Anyone who played this one knows why this one was awesome. Think of Oblivion without all the pointless content.
Battlefield 1942 (PC) – A genre-busting, mind-blowing mega hit. 1942 and its assorted mods (Go, go, Forgotten Hope!)ate up years of my life.
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (PC) – Took the C&C series to its pinnacle, and laid the foundation for the excellent C&C 3 we have now.
Vietcong (PC) – Until F.E.A.R. was released, Vietcong had the best AI of any game in existence. Even today, it’s still some of the best ever. Plus, the Coop gaming was just great.
LoZ: Ocarina of Time (N64) – Best game of the Zelda series, and definitely worth a mention here.
WOrld of Warcraft (PC) – Anyone who’s played WoW will tell you that it is unbelievable. The content in game, and the new content that is constantly added, is amazingly fun to play. WoW’s the game you decide to try out at 7:00 one night, and you look up a little while later, and it’s time to go to work the next day.
This list is of course incomplete, but these are the biggies.
great lists so far.
I’m definitely a console guy. Part of that has to do with the fact I am an Apple Mac kinda computer person. I do of course have a PC as well for various things. I do enjoy PC games from time to time, but I’m not hardcore when it comes to that.
Final Fantasy VII would be in my top 5 but, I played Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy IX before I played VII. I may have not been overwhelmingly impressed as some other people may have been. I think Halo C.E is probably the best game for me. Halo 2 left me off on a sour note. My basic run down is this: Halo, Halo 2, Gears of War, FF IX,VIII,VII, and Kingdom Hearts Series.
FF 7 is my top really because I loved the story.
It’s not a top 20 but here are the games I love the most:
Gran Turismo 3 (PS2)
Battlefield 2 (PC)
Sonic The Hedgehog (Megadrive)
Football Manager (PC)
Rome:Total War (PC)
Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
Grand Theft Auto 3 (PS2)
Goldeneye (N64)