Top 10 Games... of all time. And prove why.
by Paul Zakar · in General Discussion · 05/12/2005 (12:49 am) · 111 replies
What are your choices for top 10 games of all time?
Not just what are they... what makes them great? what sets them apart from the other games in their genres and what helped them to push the envelope? Where did they go right where others have gone wrong? And did trends in the game industry at the time of release help influence their rise to power (or in some cases their failure). I'm interested to see what everyone thinks regarding this topic.
Not just what are they... what makes them great? what sets them apart from the other games in their genres and what helped them to push the envelope? Where did they go right where others have gone wrong? And did trends in the game industry at the time of release help influence their rise to power (or in some cases their failure). I'm interested to see what everyone thinks regarding this topic.
About the author
#62
But I will take the chance to mention back in the post-birth days of Electronic Arts, on the Commodore64, there was a game called Mail Order Monster that remains one of my favorite games of all time. Take two monsters, build them from pieces, skills, specials, and weapons, throw them onto your choice of battle fields, and let them tear the whole world apart getting to one another. Everything from pitchforks to ICBM-style weaponry was available. Simple, graphics were of course nothing special, but the gameplay when playing with friends was mysteriously addicting like Phantasy Star Online ... terribly simple but impossible-to-get-bored-with fun.
08/13/2005 (6:26 am)
No way I could pin down the top ten games of all time ... not even top ten series of games, it is simply too much, too broad, too much passion about games and gaming ... no ... possible .... way .... period.But I will take the chance to mention back in the post-birth days of Electronic Arts, on the Commodore64, there was a game called Mail Order Monster that remains one of my favorite games of all time. Take two monsters, build them from pieces, skills, specials, and weapons, throw them onto your choice of battle fields, and let them tear the whole world apart getting to one another. Everything from pitchforks to ICBM-style weaponry was available. Simple, graphics were of course nothing special, but the gameplay when playing with friends was mysteriously addicting like Phantasy Star Online ... terribly simple but impossible-to-get-bored-with fun.
#63
08/13/2005 (6:51 am)
Mail Order Monsters... ah, my first addiction! I too enjoyed that game tremendously on my old C64. Memories...
#64
1) Mancala (or the various names and types thereof) - Has literally been around since the dawn of man
2) Go
3) Chess (roots in Chaturanga)
4) Mahjong
5) Checkers/Draughts
6) Backgammon/Tric-Trac
7) Monopoly
8) Risk(and variations)
9) Twister
10) Sid Meir's Civilization Series
Play good or great at all of these games, and your game design understanding increases, your math skills and strategic thinking increases, your understanding of the world improves.
In my opinion, knowing these games are critical to working in the game industry.
Enjoy ;)
08/13/2005 (11:04 am)
Top 10 games of all time... (Based on my opinion. Based on age of game, estimated number of people that play it, and what I believe is the best) 1) Mancala (or the various names and types thereof) - Has literally been around since the dawn of man
2) Go
3) Chess (roots in Chaturanga)
4) Mahjong
5) Checkers/Draughts
6) Backgammon/Tric-Trac
7) Monopoly
8) Risk(and variations)
9) Twister
10) Sid Meir's Civilization Series
Play good or great at all of these games, and your game design understanding increases, your math skills and strategic thinking increases, your understanding of the world improves.
In my opinion, knowing these games are critical to working in the game industry.
Enjoy ;)
#65
08/13/2005 (11:13 am)
Starcraft along with Super Mario Brothers are the best games of all time in my oppinion. Starcraft has inspired my game, im sure when it hits alpha people will notice.
#66
edit: And yes, Mail Order Monsters was awesome... and is the only reason why I have trouble hating EA.
08/16/2005 (1:55 pm)
Super Mario Brothers 3 was really good... and I'd also have to say that Warcraft/Starcraft revolutionized the concept of the strategy game. Tactics Ogre helped to build the Strategy RPG genre which Final Fantasy Tactics then popularized. Gunstar Heroes was a great game, if mainly for amazing bosses to fight and really amusing exagerations of the base engine. Dynamite Heady also follows suit there while playing in a completely different style. M.U.L.E. was pretty awesome and likely inspired a great deal of the civilization and city building games. Beach Head and its sequel were pretty revolutionary at the time, and virtually gave birth to the concept of variety in playing styles in a single game. Jumpman was one of the first great platformers (and I don't mean the Nintendo one... think C64). Another amusing C64 game called Sammy Lightfoot was very addictive to me. Then the platformer/puzzle genre basically came out of a game called Load Runner... very addictive.edit: And yes, Mail Order Monsters was awesome... and is the only reason why I have trouble hating EA.
#67
Holy cow... talk about a blast from the past.
Played that on my Commodore 64! Woohoo!
I'd have to say, yeh, that'd be my number one.
If you're too young to remember this being a "new" game, then you just wouldn't understand. =P
08/16/2005 (2:20 pm)
Quote:Maniac Mansion
Holy cow... talk about a blast from the past.
Played that on my Commodore 64! Woohoo!
I'd have to say, yeh, that'd be my number one.
If you're too young to remember this being a "new" game, then you just wouldn't understand. =P
#68
08/16/2005 (3:23 pm)
I think I have a review for it in an old RUN magazine somewhere :P
#69
In alphabetical order:
Civilization - Man, the hours this series has sucked up.. Inspiring and addictive gameplay. Great turn-based strategy.
Doom - The first complete FPS package; kickstarted the FPS genre
Final Fantasy - Square Enix does things right, and they truly put a tremendous amount of thought, spirit, effort and artistry into these games, and deserve their fanboys.
Grim Fandango - The Crown Jewel of Adventure games. 'Nuff Said.
Mario - Basically created the video-game character's role mascot and icon. Beloved as well as pivotal.
Morrowind - IMHO, I think we've only seen the beginning of Massively-Single Player RPG's. Interactive worlds may well become a huge area.
Populous - Wonderful strategy, edge-cutter in God games and RTS
SimCity - Laid the groundwork for micro-management and tycoon games for years to come.
Tetris - Seriously, how could this not be on here? It was an epiphany to gamers everywhere, and has been cloned, modified and imitated ever since.
Ultima Online - Screw Everquest, this is the MMORPG that started it all.
After I ma
09/18/2005 (4:46 pm)
I kinda picked my games by which ones really set the standard. Pesonally, my favorite games include a lot that I don't have on here. (Thief, Deus Ex, WarioWare, Soul Calibur, Bushido Blade, Shenmue, etc.) Of course, that doesn't mean my list isn't at least a little bit subjective.In alphabetical order:
Civilization - Man, the hours this series has sucked up.. Inspiring and addictive gameplay. Great turn-based strategy.
Doom - The first complete FPS package; kickstarted the FPS genre
Final Fantasy - Square Enix does things right, and they truly put a tremendous amount of thought, spirit, effort and artistry into these games, and deserve their fanboys.
Grim Fandango - The Crown Jewel of Adventure games. 'Nuff Said.
Mario - Basically created the video-game character's role mascot and icon. Beloved as well as pivotal.
Morrowind - IMHO, I think we've only seen the beginning of Massively-Single Player RPG's. Interactive worlds may well become a huge area.
Populous - Wonderful strategy, edge-cutter in God games and RTS
SimCity - Laid the groundwork for micro-management and tycoon games for years to come.
Tetris - Seriously, how could this not be on here? It was an epiphany to gamers everywhere, and has been cloned, modified and imitated ever since.
Ultima Online - Screw Everquest, this is the MMORPG that started it all.
After I ma
#70
Mario Bros. - without it, what would console gaming be like today? I've even made my own small tributes to Mario Bros. for UT2004.
Street Fighter - certainly not the first fighting game, but I believe that Street Fighter II in many ways helped pioneer fighting games into what they are today. It's the most copied fighting game ever. The 1990's was a golden age for 2D fighting games, and I think we owe a lot of that to Street Fighter. And after 15 years, I still enjoy playing it as much as I did back then.
Mortal Kombat - not the first game to use digitized graphics, but probably the first to do it on the level that they did. The MK series has played a lagre part in desensitizing us to violence in video games with their realistic-like (but exaggerated) violence and exessively bloody fatalities. Although it was around the same time as Street Fighter II, I believe MK served a different purpose to the fighting genre with its unique and mortifying ideas. Although some people may think this is a bad thing.
Final Fantasy - I was in love with Final Fantasy since I played the first one. As a teenager, I always dreamed of what things I would add to the next Final Fantasy title. I'm sure that any RPG geek can easily come up with a list of "better" games I've never heard of, but I think squaresoft is ingenious for developing such an epic series that appeals to geeks, semi-geeks, closet-geeks, and non-geeks alike.
Zelda - I'm sure nearly everybody in my age range (give or take 5 years or so) has fond memories of playing at least one of the great Zelda adventures when growing up. I don't think the feel of Zelda can be reproduced very easily in other games.
Tetris - not exactly a series, but it has been duplicated so many times, and many of the remakes have evolved far from te original, yet keeping the general idea. One of the, if not the, most popular puzzle games out there. Also highly addictive. Many people that don't even like to play video games, will make an exception with Tetris. It's probably hard to find someone under the age of 50 that hasn't played Tetris at one point in their life. You probably have a clone of it on your cellular phone.
Gran Turismo - many people can probably think of better racing games, but GT is not just a racer, it is a racing simulator. The author used as much realistic physics and real parts for car modding and customization (even specific to each car) as possible. An awesome thing was the licensing of all the brand names, to make it feel even more realistic because you are putting real brand name parts on cars that exist in real life. Since the first and second GT came out, many racing games have tried making their customization system as realistic and in-depth as the GT series. This has created a new wave of games for all those car modders out there.
Unreal - the Unreal series' games may be arguably not the best FPS's (depending on your taste), but are very highly regarded. Shipping all the development tools you need (minus the license) with their titles has created a large community of modders, many producing high quality total (and partial) conversion mods which are all available for free as long as you own a copy of the game. It's like buying a game and getting a dozen more for free.
Spank the Monkey - one of my classic internet favorites. Not a series at all, but I thought I'd add this in the list for fun. I remember spanking the monkey all day at work is one of the only things that kept me sane at the time. It is very simple, yet highly addictive. Especially if you want to beat my score of 848 MPH.
I need to finsih writing this later...
10/03/2005 (6:08 pm)
Here's a list of video game series that I think are the best. I chose series, because I can list several games from just one of the series as all time best (in no particular order).Mario Bros. - without it, what would console gaming be like today? I've even made my own small tributes to Mario Bros. for UT2004.
Street Fighter - certainly not the first fighting game, but I believe that Street Fighter II in many ways helped pioneer fighting games into what they are today. It's the most copied fighting game ever. The 1990's was a golden age for 2D fighting games, and I think we owe a lot of that to Street Fighter. And after 15 years, I still enjoy playing it as much as I did back then.
Mortal Kombat - not the first game to use digitized graphics, but probably the first to do it on the level that they did. The MK series has played a lagre part in desensitizing us to violence in video games with their realistic-like (but exaggerated) violence and exessively bloody fatalities. Although it was around the same time as Street Fighter II, I believe MK served a different purpose to the fighting genre with its unique and mortifying ideas. Although some people may think this is a bad thing.
Final Fantasy - I was in love with Final Fantasy since I played the first one. As a teenager, I always dreamed of what things I would add to the next Final Fantasy title. I'm sure that any RPG geek can easily come up with a list of "better" games I've never heard of, but I think squaresoft is ingenious for developing such an epic series that appeals to geeks, semi-geeks, closet-geeks, and non-geeks alike.
Zelda - I'm sure nearly everybody in my age range (give or take 5 years or so) has fond memories of playing at least one of the great Zelda adventures when growing up. I don't think the feel of Zelda can be reproduced very easily in other games.
Tetris - not exactly a series, but it has been duplicated so many times, and many of the remakes have evolved far from te original, yet keeping the general idea. One of the, if not the, most popular puzzle games out there. Also highly addictive. Many people that don't even like to play video games, will make an exception with Tetris. It's probably hard to find someone under the age of 50 that hasn't played Tetris at one point in their life. You probably have a clone of it on your cellular phone.
Gran Turismo - many people can probably think of better racing games, but GT is not just a racer, it is a racing simulator. The author used as much realistic physics and real parts for car modding and customization (even specific to each car) as possible. An awesome thing was the licensing of all the brand names, to make it feel even more realistic because you are putting real brand name parts on cars that exist in real life. Since the first and second GT came out, many racing games have tried making their customization system as realistic and in-depth as the GT series. This has created a new wave of games for all those car modders out there.
Unreal - the Unreal series' games may be arguably not the best FPS's (depending on your taste), but are very highly regarded. Shipping all the development tools you need (minus the license) with their titles has created a large community of modders, many producing high quality total (and partial) conversion mods which are all available for free as long as you own a copy of the game. It's like buying a game and getting a dozen more for free.
Spank the Monkey - one of my classic internet favorites. Not a series at all, but I thought I'd add this in the list for fun. I remember spanking the monkey all day at work is one of the only things that kept me sane at the time. It is very simple, yet highly addictive. Especially if you want to beat my score of 848 MPH.
I need to finsih writing this later...
#71
RolePlaying - Alternate Reality, The City - Was my first RPG, and was damn hard, had enviromental effects, which the newer games didn't have, sure it was the move forward turn left 90' move forward...etc.etc but was fun. Wasteland - is a very close 2nd.
Action Shootem UP- Raid Over Bungling Bay - fast paced, very simple and very deep.
Flight Sim - Falcon 3.0 - Had lots of features, a really chunky manual, with specs and combat tips, seemed to 'feel' right.
RTS - M.A.X - while not technically an RTS, it had alot going for it, upgrades, suppy and logistics, construction.
Adventure - Zac Macraken and the Alien Mindbenders - funny, alot of puzzles made sense.
Puzzle - Tetris - no need to explain. OK maybe I do. it is was one of the few games where you can play it without reading amanual, women play it just as much if not more then men (how many other games are like that?)
Beat em Up - Double Dragon - Didn't need super uber unrealistic moves, just a baseball bat and a couple of elbows to the head to make its point.
Platformer - I don't really want to say but I think ' Donkey Kong' started it all off.
uniquely intuitive controls - Karate Champ, 2 joysticks, logical controls. fed many coins into that thing.
Now for my sucking up points, Games made by Indi developers and made with Torque :)
10/03/2005 (6:32 pm)
Here is my list, not in any order just the best in each catagory.RolePlaying - Alternate Reality, The City - Was my first RPG, and was damn hard, had enviromental effects, which the newer games didn't have, sure it was the move forward turn left 90' move forward...etc.etc but was fun. Wasteland - is a very close 2nd.
Action Shootem UP- Raid Over Bungling Bay - fast paced, very simple and very deep.
Flight Sim - Falcon 3.0 - Had lots of features, a really chunky manual, with specs and combat tips, seemed to 'feel' right.
RTS - M.A.X - while not technically an RTS, it had alot going for it, upgrades, suppy and logistics, construction.
Adventure - Zac Macraken and the Alien Mindbenders - funny, alot of puzzles made sense.
Puzzle - Tetris - no need to explain. OK maybe I do. it is was one of the few games where you can play it without reading amanual, women play it just as much if not more then men (how many other games are like that?)
Beat em Up - Double Dragon - Didn't need super uber unrealistic moves, just a baseball bat and a couple of elbows to the head to make its point.
Platformer - I don't really want to say but I think ' Donkey Kong' started it all off.
uniquely intuitive controls - Karate Champ, 2 joysticks, logical controls. fed many coins into that thing.
Now for my sucking up points, Games made by Indi developers and made with Torque :)
#73
1 Maniac Mansion 2: Day o' da Tentacle - For its humor
2 Curse of Monkey Island - For its humor (the only good one)
3 Grim Fandango - For its humor (never beat it)
4 Full Throttle - For its humor
5 Call of Duty - Best war game of all time
6 Burnout 3: Takedown - Best racin' game
7 Jak 1-3 - Best trilogy
8 Unreal - Best FPS (Doom still sucks eggs)
9 Thief - Behold...a great game
10 Thief - Still.....behold...a great game
10/26/2005 (12:24 pm)
Respect 1 Maniac Mansion 2: Day o' da Tentacle - For its humor
2 Curse of Monkey Island - For its humor (the only good one)
3 Grim Fandango - For its humor (never beat it)
4 Full Throttle - For its humor
5 Call of Duty - Best war game of all time
6 Burnout 3: Takedown - Best racin' game
7 Jak 1-3 - Best trilogy
8 Unreal - Best FPS (Doom still sucks eggs)
9 Thief - Behold...a great game
10 Thief - Still.....behold...a great game
#74
10/26/2005 (12:57 pm)
I've never been able to find Grim Fandango. I've looked around and no one sells it. :[
#75
Noone should be denied.
33 bucks at Amazon. T'aint cheap, but it's a worthwhile purchase, in my opinion.
11/02/2005 (11:13 pm)
Quote:I've never been able to find Grim Fandango. I've looked around and no one sells it. :[
Noone should be denied.
33 bucks at Amazon. T'aint cheap, but it's a worthwhile purchase, in my opinion.
#76
(Top 10 PC based games)
1) StarCraft -- ok the single player was what it was, but online this game shined.. how many games from like what.. 1998?.. are still being played today? I still fire up Battlenet everyonce in a while between newer stuff.
2) DeusEx -- Great great game all around.
3) HalfLife 1 & 2 -- The first changed FPSers. HalfLife2 was to HalfLife what Aliens was to Alien.
4) Starflight -- I played this one my parents amber/monochrome Zennith pc clone. It was awesome. Blowing up spemin and stealing their endurium? Good times, good times.
5) Dark Forces: Jedi Knight -- Huge game. Looking down into some of the standard Star Wars bottomless "pits" gave me the coolest sense of vertigo. The game was big. And lightsabers.. what's cooler than light sabers?
6) KingsQuest 3 / SpaceQuest 2 -- Loved these. I'd play them again if I wasn't to lazy to figure out how to get them and how to run them.
7) Leather Goddesses of Phobos -- I'll never forget my friend and I trying to guess the answers to questions in the beginning that would allow you to play "lewed" mode. Also honorable mention to my other Infocom favs Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Wish Bringer and of course Zork.
8) Adventure (collossal cave or whatever you call it) -- My first computer game experience. So !@#$ing cool. Being on the forefront of computer game programming must have rocked. (I was pretty young then)
9) Free Space 2-- The pinnacle and sadly the last as far as I know of the great Space Sims... Free Space "felt" like you were flying a big heavy fighter. And the first time your dog fighting and in the back ground you see the capital ship cutting each other up with beam weapon fire...
10) Abes Oddesy -- I dunno.. I just like this game. Funny, original, looked good.
04/04/2006 (11:47 am)
Ok, Little late to the party, but wtf... here's mine.(Top 10 PC based games)
1) StarCraft -- ok the single player was what it was, but online this game shined.. how many games from like what.. 1998?.. are still being played today? I still fire up Battlenet everyonce in a while between newer stuff.
2) DeusEx -- Great great game all around.
3) HalfLife 1 & 2 -- The first changed FPSers. HalfLife2 was to HalfLife what Aliens was to Alien.
4) Starflight -- I played this one my parents amber/monochrome Zennith pc clone. It was awesome. Blowing up spemin and stealing their endurium? Good times, good times.
5) Dark Forces: Jedi Knight -- Huge game. Looking down into some of the standard Star Wars bottomless "pits" gave me the coolest sense of vertigo. The game was big. And lightsabers.. what's cooler than light sabers?
6) KingsQuest 3 / SpaceQuest 2 -- Loved these. I'd play them again if I wasn't to lazy to figure out how to get them and how to run them.
7) Leather Goddesses of Phobos -- I'll never forget my friend and I trying to guess the answers to questions in the beginning that would allow you to play "lewed" mode. Also honorable mention to my other Infocom favs Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, Wish Bringer and of course Zork.
8) Adventure (collossal cave or whatever you call it) -- My first computer game experience. So !@#$ing cool. Being on the forefront of computer game programming must have rocked. (I was pretty young then)
9) Free Space 2-- The pinnacle and sadly the last as far as I know of the great Space Sims... Free Space "felt" like you were flying a big heavy fighter. And the first time your dog fighting and in the back ground you see the capital ship cutting each other up with beam weapon fire...
10) Abes Oddesy -- I dunno.. I just like this game. Funny, original, looked good.
#77
1) Hitman Blood Money
What makes it great? - Visually spectaculare. Traditional first person shooter it has a comic book style and I would say the emphasis is on artwork. Having said that it requires bains to play and figure stuff out. It is kind of James Bond spy themed and is violent. It's dark and the music is awsome. Most artwork appeard totally original and the story seams very cinamatic. As games go it's more movie than game.
What makes it weak? - The Game play is not that adictive and the use of the menu system is poorly implimented.
2) The Sims 2 Small Business Expansion Pack
What makes it great? - The Sims is the number one female game and trys to emulate real life. In the small Business Expansion pack you are a small business owner and have to run a business. Everything is configurable buts what makes this game strong is it's community. The empahsis is on moding the game and interacting with other players. I would say humor is a strong part as well.
What makes it weak? - The graphics are logo - styled. This is ok and fits with the game but does not give a wow factor like hitman.
3) Star wars - Empire
What makes it great - Definitly being able to role play as Darth Vader and win. The Imperial Star Destroyer Simulations are unbeleviablably good.
What makes it poor - Graphics could be better on the land battles and it's got that Dune 2 limited world arcade gameplay. You basically have a small area to play the game and it becomes very boardgamish.
4) Home world 2
What makes it great? - Visually stunning you build spaceships and fight it out. Very addictive and has a strategy element.
What makes it weak- The story is under developed and the game does get boring quickly. There is no puzzle element like hitman.
5) Half Life 2
What makes it great? - Visually stunning it kinda has a war of the worlds theme. It's not all that violent but has addictive game play.
What makes it weak. In the middle you break into a hovercraft simulation that makes you car sick and the story is poor.
6) Tom Clanceys Splinter Cell Counter Strike.
What makes it great ? A really good online version where you play against others.
What makes it weak? Game cheats - This game is very old and there are a lot of hacks out there that makes it unfun when your computeris hacked via the game.
7) Call of duty 2.
What makes it great - The wow factor with graphics and its fun to kill nazi's
What makes it weak - There is no puzzle element and the graphics are weak at times.
8) Godfather
What makes it great - The sound
What makes it weak - Too much driving
9) Doom 3
What makes it great - Graphics
What makes it weak - Same old Game play
10) Grand Theft Auto
What makes it great - City Graphics
What makes it weak - Too much driving, Annoying to play
So I would say that a good game needs to have
All are James Bond, Military and Assassin Based.
All are graphics & sound intensive emphasis and differentiation. A graphical wow factor, like raytracing rendering
All are graphically dark and have comic book style themes
All are Movie related and reflect scenes of movies.(James Bond, The professional The transporter) even if it is unoffically so.
All have similar AI and are first person shooters, using the Doom or Quake style software engines.
All are masculine focused with central characters usually male.
All are violence focused.
All have Levels. (Usually the first level is available as a free demo)
All have a maze type quality. The best games have puzzle or detective type mysterys
All have a selection of weapons.
All have a selection of Locations.
All have a selection of Sounds.
All have a Theme Background.
All have a selection of characters.
All have websites that are an extension of the games graphics.
All have forums and communities screen savers.
All have making of documentaries by the programmers.
All are storyboarded.
All have instruction books
All have box & cd artwork
07/29/2006 (5:31 am)
Ok this thread asn't been updated since april so I thought I would1) Hitman Blood Money
What makes it great? - Visually spectaculare. Traditional first person shooter it has a comic book style and I would say the emphasis is on artwork. Having said that it requires bains to play and figure stuff out. It is kind of James Bond spy themed and is violent. It's dark and the music is awsome. Most artwork appeard totally original and the story seams very cinamatic. As games go it's more movie than game.
What makes it weak? - The Game play is not that adictive and the use of the menu system is poorly implimented.
2) The Sims 2 Small Business Expansion Pack
What makes it great? - The Sims is the number one female game and trys to emulate real life. In the small Business Expansion pack you are a small business owner and have to run a business. Everything is configurable buts what makes this game strong is it's community. The empahsis is on moding the game and interacting with other players. I would say humor is a strong part as well.
What makes it weak? - The graphics are logo - styled. This is ok and fits with the game but does not give a wow factor like hitman.
3) Star wars - Empire
What makes it great - Definitly being able to role play as Darth Vader and win. The Imperial Star Destroyer Simulations are unbeleviablably good.
What makes it poor - Graphics could be better on the land battles and it's got that Dune 2 limited world arcade gameplay. You basically have a small area to play the game and it becomes very boardgamish.
4) Home world 2
What makes it great? - Visually stunning you build spaceships and fight it out. Very addictive and has a strategy element.
What makes it weak- The story is under developed and the game does get boring quickly. There is no puzzle element like hitman.
5) Half Life 2
What makes it great? - Visually stunning it kinda has a war of the worlds theme. It's not all that violent but has addictive game play.
What makes it weak. In the middle you break into a hovercraft simulation that makes you car sick and the story is poor.
6) Tom Clanceys Splinter Cell Counter Strike.
What makes it great ? A really good online version where you play against others.
What makes it weak? Game cheats - This game is very old and there are a lot of hacks out there that makes it unfun when your computeris hacked via the game.
7) Call of duty 2.
What makes it great - The wow factor with graphics and its fun to kill nazi's
What makes it weak - There is no puzzle element and the graphics are weak at times.
8) Godfather
What makes it great - The sound
What makes it weak - Too much driving
9) Doom 3
What makes it great - Graphics
What makes it weak - Same old Game play
10) Grand Theft Auto
What makes it great - City Graphics
What makes it weak - Too much driving, Annoying to play
So I would say that a good game needs to have
All are James Bond, Military and Assassin Based.
All are graphics & sound intensive emphasis and differentiation. A graphical wow factor, like raytracing rendering
All are graphically dark and have comic book style themes
All are Movie related and reflect scenes of movies.(James Bond, The professional The transporter) even if it is unoffically so.
All have similar AI and are first person shooters, using the Doom or Quake style software engines.
All are masculine focused with central characters usually male.
All are violence focused.
All have Levels. (Usually the first level is available as a free demo)
All have a maze type quality. The best games have puzzle or detective type mysterys
All have a selection of weapons.
All have a selection of Locations.
All have a selection of Sounds.
All have a Theme Background.
All have a selection of characters.
All have websites that are an extension of the games graphics.
All have forums and communities screen savers.
All have making of documentaries by the programmers.
All are storyboarded.
All have instruction books
All have box & cd artwork
#78
1. Deus Ex
Warren Spector + Unreal Engine = Very Awesome
2. System Shock
Developed in-house by Looking Glass, this was their (arguably) best game, a great mix of survival-horror, shooter and RPG in a time when Doom 2 was king of all games, while this was defining a new genre.
3. System Shock 2
Same as it predessesor, Looking Glasses last game together is another perfect mix of RPG/Action/Survival-horror.
4. Thief Trilogy
Excellent stealth-based gameplay, great graphics and occasioanally scary as all hell, a very immersive game that completely made up for Invisible war.
5. Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines
Visually Stunning, extremely open-ended, totally immersive and deep, dark storyine spanning the midwest US in the alleyways with a perfect mix of action, stealth and RPG gameplay.
6. Hitman 2 - Silent Assasin
My favorite hitman game, Open ended, hidden objectives, always lots of unknown areas to explore, makes your victims real peopple, with real lives and real actions that make you hesitant to perform your acts, as you feel for the characters making 47 a perception of yourself.
7. Knights of the Old Republic
A very easy to understand, well written and all-purpous RPG. I found that I could very easioly sit and play through without strain or frustration. Half the time I didn't even realis I was playing a star wars game, it just felt like playing a really really good RPG without any link to another movie/game/book.
8. Riven/Myst IV/Myst5
My favorite myst games, all very challenging and in-depth, where exploration and comprehension is your key to sucess, with beatiful pre-rendered graphics (except myst 5) and great immersive environments that teach you about the characters, story, worlds and cultures in the Myst series.
9. Uru/Uru Live Prologue
Same as above, but playing in a multiplayer environemnt in realtime 3d exploring the fabled Dn'i Cavern and seeing it through your own eyes is an amazing, mind-bending experience especially for those familliar with the Myst novels.
10. The chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay
large, nonlinear gaming world made in the manner of Thief with cutting edge graphical technology and environments and NPC's that pull you into the world of Riddick in a very immersive and challenging stealth adventure.
07/29/2006 (5:58 am)
My list of Modern games. My classics list is a mile long ;)1. Deus Ex
Warren Spector + Unreal Engine = Very Awesome
2. System Shock
Developed in-house by Looking Glass, this was their (arguably) best game, a great mix of survival-horror, shooter and RPG in a time when Doom 2 was king of all games, while this was defining a new genre.
3. System Shock 2
Same as it predessesor, Looking Glasses last game together is another perfect mix of RPG/Action/Survival-horror.
4. Thief Trilogy
Excellent stealth-based gameplay, great graphics and occasioanally scary as all hell, a very immersive game that completely made up for Invisible war.
5. Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines
Visually Stunning, extremely open-ended, totally immersive and deep, dark storyine spanning the midwest US in the alleyways with a perfect mix of action, stealth and RPG gameplay.
6. Hitman 2 - Silent Assasin
My favorite hitman game, Open ended, hidden objectives, always lots of unknown areas to explore, makes your victims real peopple, with real lives and real actions that make you hesitant to perform your acts, as you feel for the characters making 47 a perception of yourself.
7. Knights of the Old Republic
A very easy to understand, well written and all-purpous RPG. I found that I could very easioly sit and play through without strain or frustration. Half the time I didn't even realis I was playing a star wars game, it just felt like playing a really really good RPG without any link to another movie/game/book.
8. Riven/Myst IV/Myst5
My favorite myst games, all very challenging and in-depth, where exploration and comprehension is your key to sucess, with beatiful pre-rendered graphics (except myst 5) and great immersive environments that teach you about the characters, story, worlds and cultures in the Myst series.
9. Uru/Uru Live Prologue
Same as above, but playing in a multiplayer environemnt in realtime 3d exploring the fabled Dn'i Cavern and seeing it through your own eyes is an amazing, mind-bending experience especially for those familliar with the Myst novels.
10. The chronicles of Riddick - Escape from Butcher Bay
large, nonlinear gaming world made in the manner of Thief with cutting edge graphical technology and environments and NPC's that pull you into the world of Riddick in a very immersive and challenging stealth adventure.
#79
populous - the first (that I know of) god game and the best. To be honest it was the first and last god game I enjoyed.
Diablo - perfect. Diablo 2 was solid. Fate was a nice fun Diablo clone and Titan Quest is good. But Diablo is the game I played to death..sold my copy, picked it up again a few months later..sold then picked up again! I crave Diablo style games, Titan Quest is probably the first to satisfy me that maybe someone has improved on Diablo..but I am not 100% sure yet.
Doom - It drove the concept of shareware forward in a huge way. I can still remember sitting down and playing through the entire sharware game in one sitting. It moved games into a new realm. Yes there are better fps games now but none that have the impact that Doom did. Not even Halflife.
Wasteland - this is one game that I should have never gone back to play again, man the interface sucked but for its day this was an amazing RPG. I think Fallout was based on Wasteland.
Prince of Persia (the original). Amazing game, excelent in every way.
Everquest - I hate it, oh how I hate it. Yet it somehow pulled me in like no other game ever has. I have more "wow" moments from EQ than any other game. The first run to a new city, getting on the boat to Kunark or running through a high level zone after getting a port. WoW is a better game, DDO is a better game, hell most new mmorpgs are better games yet I think Everquest takes the prize.
System Shock 2 - Some parts of that game are burned into my brain. Don't remember that much about it other than it has stuck in my mind for years.
Alien vs Predator - nothing has ever come close to the fear that game generated. Playing as humans on hard with the radar starting to blip..you know Aliens are on the way but will they be in front, or up the walls..or maybe in the ventalation..blip blip blip...AHHHHHHHHH alient charges ALONG the wall down onto the floor and up the next wall all the while you have the guns going non stop..then from above another one... oh man that was the stuff.
Capture the flag mod for Quake - at least I think it was quake. FPS is team play is just so much better. I think (my memory of that time is a bit foggy - drinking etc age) it was also the first game I played with a 3d card (Voodoo2!!!), amazing stuff. Sure better fps games have come out since but its still those early games that stick with you.
Zork - yay for text adventures, Zork was my first so its the one I remember. Parts of that game just stay with you for ever.
Rogue (and any one of the many similar ascii rpgs) - One must wonder exactly how many hours I played for. Something about it kept you playing for hours, so simple yet so much fun.
07/31/2006 (6:57 pm)
Not in order, my current mood would probably change the order anyway.populous - the first (that I know of) god game and the best. To be honest it was the first and last god game I enjoyed.
Diablo - perfect. Diablo 2 was solid. Fate was a nice fun Diablo clone and Titan Quest is good. But Diablo is the game I played to death..sold my copy, picked it up again a few months later..sold then picked up again! I crave Diablo style games, Titan Quest is probably the first to satisfy me that maybe someone has improved on Diablo..but I am not 100% sure yet.
Doom - It drove the concept of shareware forward in a huge way. I can still remember sitting down and playing through the entire sharware game in one sitting. It moved games into a new realm. Yes there are better fps games now but none that have the impact that Doom did. Not even Halflife.
Wasteland - this is one game that I should have never gone back to play again, man the interface sucked but for its day this was an amazing RPG. I think Fallout was based on Wasteland.
Prince of Persia (the original). Amazing game, excelent in every way.
Everquest - I hate it, oh how I hate it. Yet it somehow pulled me in like no other game ever has. I have more "wow" moments from EQ than any other game. The first run to a new city, getting on the boat to Kunark or running through a high level zone after getting a port. WoW is a better game, DDO is a better game, hell most new mmorpgs are better games yet I think Everquest takes the prize.
System Shock 2 - Some parts of that game are burned into my brain. Don't remember that much about it other than it has stuck in my mind for years.
Alien vs Predator - nothing has ever come close to the fear that game generated. Playing as humans on hard with the radar starting to blip..you know Aliens are on the way but will they be in front, or up the walls..or maybe in the ventalation..blip blip blip...AHHHHHHHHH alient charges ALONG the wall down onto the floor and up the next wall all the while you have the guns going non stop..then from above another one... oh man that was the stuff.
Capture the flag mod for Quake - at least I think it was quake. FPS is team play is just so much better. I think (my memory of that time is a bit foggy - drinking etc age) it was also the first game I played with a 3d card (Voodoo2!!!), amazing stuff. Sure better fps games have come out since but its still those early games that stick with you.
Zork - yay for text adventures, Zork was my first so its the one I remember. Parts of that game just stay with you for ever.
Rogue (and any one of the many similar ascii rpgs) - One must wonder exactly how many hours I played for. Something about it kept you playing for hours, so simple yet so much fun.
#80
1. Zork. Pioneering title in the text adventure genre that drew millions into the world of computer games.
2. Gauntlet. Demonstrated how much fun co-op gameplay could be.
3. Fallout. Massive, branching storyline gave players a huge amount of control over their character's destiny. The hilarious sense of humor and 50's retro feel of the game turned a huge 2D turn-based RPG into one of my all-time favorite games. I actually reinstalled this a few months ago to play it again, 10 years after its debut. How many games can you say that about?
4. Sim City. Pushed the boundaries of what we call a "game". Helped launch the sim genre into the public view.
5. Archon. Screw Battle Chess... this game was actually fun to play!
6. Tetris. Proved that you don't need cutting edge graphics to create an utterly addictive game. My joystick blister scars say it all.
7. M.U.L.E. Long before Sim City, this non-violent sim game was devouring my spare time on the Commodore 64. And you've got to love the addictive theme song.
8. Sanitarium. One of the most innovative storylines and some of the most memorable puzzles I've ever seen in an adventure game. Didn't make a huge splash in the marketplace, but if you see it lying in the bargain bin or a shovelware collection, GRAB IT!
9. Lemmings. What a great game concept! Tremendously fun and frustrating at the same time. (Admit it, you deliberately drove the little buggers to their deaths on occasion, didn't you? Just like Disney!) Actually, I'd make this a tie with another Psygnosis game for the Amiga, Shadow of the Beast, one of the prettiest pieces of eye candy I've ever seen -- and this came out in 1989.
10. Everquest. I hate to admit it, but EQ broke new ground in psychological manipulation. The designers had players glued to their keyboards for hours at a time, performing mind-numbing, repetitive tasks -- and paying for the privilege. Tobacco companies could learn a lot from EQ.
Well, that's my list. It's a bit heavy on the classics, partly because they were pioneers in their fields, and partly because some of my happiest video game memories stem from these masterpieces. If any of these games are unfamiliar, you definitely should look them up -- they all contain valuable lessons for game designers.
07/31/2006 (10:01 pm)
I'll take Top Ten computer games, in no particular order:1. Zork. Pioneering title in the text adventure genre that drew millions into the world of computer games.
2. Gauntlet. Demonstrated how much fun co-op gameplay could be.
3. Fallout. Massive, branching storyline gave players a huge amount of control over their character's destiny. The hilarious sense of humor and 50's retro feel of the game turned a huge 2D turn-based RPG into one of my all-time favorite games. I actually reinstalled this a few months ago to play it again, 10 years after its debut. How many games can you say that about?
4. Sim City. Pushed the boundaries of what we call a "game". Helped launch the sim genre into the public view.
5. Archon. Screw Battle Chess... this game was actually fun to play!
6. Tetris. Proved that you don't need cutting edge graphics to create an utterly addictive game. My joystick blister scars say it all.
7. M.U.L.E. Long before Sim City, this non-violent sim game was devouring my spare time on the Commodore 64. And you've got to love the addictive theme song.
8. Sanitarium. One of the most innovative storylines and some of the most memorable puzzles I've ever seen in an adventure game. Didn't make a huge splash in the marketplace, but if you see it lying in the bargain bin or a shovelware collection, GRAB IT!
9. Lemmings. What a great game concept! Tremendously fun and frustrating at the same time. (Admit it, you deliberately drove the little buggers to their deaths on occasion, didn't you? Just like Disney!) Actually, I'd make this a tie with another Psygnosis game for the Amiga, Shadow of the Beast, one of the prettiest pieces of eye candy I've ever seen -- and this came out in 1989.
10. Everquest. I hate to admit it, but EQ broke new ground in psychological manipulation. The designers had players glued to their keyboards for hours at a time, performing mind-numbing, repetitive tasks -- and paying for the privilege. Tobacco companies could learn a lot from EQ.
Well, that's my list. It's a bit heavy on the classics, partly because they were pioneers in their fields, and partly because some of my happiest video game memories stem from these masterpieces. If any of these games are unfamiliar, you definitely should look them up -- they all contain valuable lessons for game designers.
Torque Owner Anton Bursch
Prince of Persia Series
Thief Series
Mask of Eternity
Blade of Darkness
Neverwinter Nights
Icewind Dale Series
Baldur's Gate Series
Disciples Series
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Runners Up
Enclave
Rune
Fable
Legacy of Kain Series
Lionheart
Demon Stone
Wheel of Time
Lord of the Rings Series (FOTR, TTT, ROTK)
The Longest Journey
The Bards Tale
Do I seem to have a medieval game thing going on? I think I do.