City 16

I have my list. It would have been a lot easier if I’d allowed myself 12 games instead of 10 but, for now, this is the one. One other condition I limited myself to, that I don’t expect anyone else to follow, is only one game per series. The order isn’t particularly important with the exception of positions 1 and 10 so, in reverse order:

10. World of Goo (PC) – The newest game on the list. Generally I shied away from more modern games as I’ve no idea how much they’ll resonate with me in the future. WoG, however, is easily my favourite puzzle game and deserves inclusion.

9. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (PS1) – Dark, charming and funny the two Abe’s Oddworld games were a great mix of puzzling and platforming. I’ve been captivated ever since, as a child, I possessed a slig and ran him into a mincing machine.

8. Hitman: Blood Money (PS2/PC) – I’ve loved the Hitman games since Silent Assassin, but it was Blood Money that really took the formula to its logical conclusion. The primary improvement is levels now allow you to mingle in amongst the public in certain areas allowing for a greater degree of planning before moving into restricted areas.

7. Metal Gear Solid (PS1) – I’ve enjoyed all the games of the series, at times despite the crazy shit Kojima feels he needs to include. The original one out because at teh time it was genuinely new and exciting, as well as featuring a great nuclear proliferation inspired plot realised before the the series went completely batshit insane.

6. Primal (PS2) – Probably the least deserving game on this list in terms of technical achievement and delivery. It nevertheless features a dark atmosphere, a balance between the forces of chaos and order and a soundtrack by 16 Volt. Basically it was laser-targeted for my tastes.

5. The Longest Journey (PC) – I came so close to putting Dreamfall instead of TLJ but, despite preferring Dreamfall’s story, TLJ is clearly the better game. Also Crow sounds weird in Dreamfall.

4. Final Fantasy VII (PS1) – I stand by my comment that FFX is technically a more accomplished game, but I love FFVII unreservedly from the train arriving at the mako reactor to Red XIII looking out over a decaying Midgar. It’s such an obvious choice, but it’s also the honest one.

3. Half-Life 2 (PC) – It took me ages to get round to playing this, mostly because throughout a large period of my life I assumed I didn’t like any first person shooters that weren’t Timesplitters 2. The great thing about the second Half-Life is Valve’s talent at creating set pieces and set ups that give a level an individual personality while still retaining their place in the overarching world.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega-Drive) – The best of the 2D Sonic games and, therefore, the best platformer of all time. StH2 is such a tight game throughout that its hard to pick faults with. It also features this song which is a clear indication that it’s brilliant.

1. Baldur’s Gate 2 (PC) – I spent an entire summer playing this game almost exclusively. Unlike Baldur’s Gate 1, BG2 actually starts you in a huge city filled with sidequests and characters to interact with. I can’t think of anything to date that rivals it for sheer scale of content.

Alright, let’s try this. Note that I will most likely disagree with myself if I re-read this list a few months. “What are the best games ever?” is like the most difficult question a man can be asked, with the possible exception of “How do I look in this dress?”

Anyways. Here goes nothing:

1. Riven: The Sequel to Myst
Pretty sure this is an unconventional choice for THE best game ever, but Riven is the only game that ever drew me in so deep. On the surface it’s a slow-paced, fiendishly difficult point-and click puzzler. It’s also old by now. But Riven also a gorgeous, lonely place that somehow makes sense. If you give it a chance to draw you in, it will never let you go. On one condition, though. Do NOT use a walkthrough, no matter how difficult it gets. Just keep examining, researching, thinking. (You might eventually even learn to read and write D’ni, the franchise’s fictional language.) The best part about Riven is that feeling of achievement when you finally figure out how things work and the machinery starts up with a satisfying clang… No game since has ever been as immersive and satisfying since, though maybe that’s because I’ve grown less patient and more demanding over the years.

2. Little Big Adventure 2: Twinsen’s Odyssey
You may doubt if my choice for first place was tainted by nostalgia. I’m not sure myself. However, there’s no doubt about this one: it most definitely is tainted by nostalgia.
LBA2 was the first game I ever bought. Not the first game I played (that was Price of Persia. No wait, TETRIS!) but the first game I bought with my own savings. It is also the game that established me as a gamer of good taste, because seriously, you can’t do much better than LBA2 as a first purchase, amirite?
For those of you who never played it, LBA2 is the second (and last) episode in a series of action-adventurey isometric 3D games, made by the guy who made the original Alone in the Dark. It has a brilliantly fun and coherent world, a great story, great characters, GREAT music, and it’s just a blast to play through. A more objective critic might point out the awkward controls and the shaky physics, but I won’t. This game is just perfect. I must have finished it half a dozen times and I still discover tiny details.

3. Portal/The Orange Box
Finally a more recent game. Portal’s puzzles are pretty great, but it’s really the setting and story that makes it so awesome. Who’d have thought that anyone would ever be able to make me feel for a damn cube? Just for that it deserves a spot in the top five.
If you add the excellent Episode One and the fun TF2 (which were both included with Portal in The Orange Box), there’s no doubt it deserves the third spot.

4. Psychonauts
There aren’t that many fun 3D platformers available for PC compared to the consoles. But with Psychonauts, I think we got the best of the best. Immensely fun and quirky gameplay, but the best part is the inventiveness and sheer genius of the level design. Tim Schafer is awesome (and as much as I like his other work, it might not make it to this top 10.)

5. The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
A sadly often overlooked game, Riddick is the perfect mix between action, stealth and awesomeness. It’s also VASTLY superior to the movies. There’s a new Riddick game out, called Assault on Dark Athena, which contains a revamped version of Butcher’s Bay, so that’s probably the one to get. I didn’t try the Dark Athena part myself, but I hear it’s a bit of a letdown.

6. Call of Duty 4
Oh God a mainstream AAA FPS game D: It just so happens that this one is perfectly executed and dares to go where no FPSes have gone before. It actually manages to draw you in emotionally, while still delivering the best FPS experience I’ve ever had. If you haven’t played this one becaue “it’s another of those damn war shooters”, you owe it to yourself to give it a try anyway. I usually don’t like the genre, but this one is truly excellent.

7. Dreamfall and Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy
I lump these two together because they’re both Interactive Stories, in a way, and because they both have similar flaws and strong points. Both games have pretty horrible gameplay mechanics, though. Fahrenheit has silly quicktime events which can get tiresome and frustrating. Dreamfall has wonky action and stealth scenes, and the rest of the game is basically spent running from one cutscene to the next. Despite these huge glaring flaws, both games manage somthing which few other games do: tell a truly engaging story. Dreamfall has a gorgeous story with a huge emotional impact. Fahrenheit’s emotional impact may be even greater, though its story falls to pieces about two thirds through.
So I guess these games are in the top 10 because of what they so obviously could have been, more than because of what they truly are. Fingers crossed for Dreamfall Chapters and Heavy Rain.

8. Beyond Good and Evil
Another excellent light action-adventure game. I’m a sucker for good stories and coherent worlds.

9. Dungeon Keeper
I had so much fun with this game. Building dungeons, spanking minions, exploring the maps, taking over minions… I don’t think I ever managed to finish it though, that last level was always a bit too hard. I wish they’d make a DK3 that keeps all the cool stuff from the first and and improves on the less cool stuff.

10. Neverwinter Nights
I never really understood why people kept saying this game was crap compared to the other Forgotten Realms games. I for one enjoyed it more than the Baldur’s Gate series.

Very Honorable Mentions:
Inidiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Max Payne, Dungeon Keeper, Braid, World of Goo, The Witcher, Far Cry, Warcraft III, Final Fantasy VIII, Grim Famdamgo, and probably a whole bunch of other games I’m forgetting.

So there you have it. I might just copy-paste this to my blog later, it’s a pretty cool overview.

I forgot to put the Oddworld games in my Very Honorable Mentions list! How could I? D:

Also, I played LBA2 again not so long ago, and I still enjoyed it a lot. Of course as a more experienced player you see its imperfections, but I still liked it. Which made me happy :3

Huh, so Neverwinter Nights is actually good? I’d always been put off by the naysayers.

I weighed up both Pshychonauts and Beyond Good & Evil, but both games had moments frustrating enough that they tainted my view of the whole experience. I was also tempted by LBA2 (or even 1) but I’ve not played either since they were released and, more than most games I remember fondly, have a sneaking suspicion they won’t hold up.