Tell Us Your Top 5 Video Games You Have Ever Played

Kuta

Staff member
I just came accross this article which goes through the top 5 video games each person has experienced;

http://www.trustedreviews.com/gaming/review/2006/09/12/TrustedReviews-Top-5-Games-Of-All-Time/p1

I thought most of them make sense, although there are a few there that I can't really understand. I think these guys should playing a few more video games.

Anyway, while I am knocking someone elses taste in video gaming I thought I may as well comile my own top 5 list so here it goes;

#5 - TY 2: The Tasmanian Tiger (Xbox)

This game is great because it places great emphasis on adventure and exploration. Another reason could be that it is based in Australia and being Australian myself, I found that a lot of the sights and sounds do very well at making you feel like you are in the Australian bush.

#4 - Snatcher (Mega CD)

I couldn't really understand why this game sells for so much on Ebay until I actaully managed to get a copy myself and play it. It is a futuristic adventure game with influences from great 80's sci-fi flicks such as Blade Runner and The Terminator. It is a very emersive story which makes you want to finish it just to see whats will happen. The only problems I had with this game was that it seemed a little short and sometimes I didn't know what I was meant to do which was really annoying. You usually know a game is good when you keep getting images if the game in your head long after you have finished palying.

#3 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mega Drive)

Easily the best Sonic game released. The first one was good but when it came time for making the second, they must've had a huge amount of money and resources to spend after the huge success of the first one because it really delivered. I also loved the huge buildup to Sonic 2sday, the release day of the game. Graphics were brilliant, gameplay awsome. Even today I still pick it up to play it again. It just never wears off.

#2 - Quake (PC)

I know a lot of people would prefer Doom as their favourate rather than Quake but I feel that Quake filled in all that Doom was missing simply because the technology available was superiour. Quake is ok as a single player game but I mostly only played it in multi player mode. In my finalyear in tech college all I can remeber is spending the entire year playing this game with about 10 other people and it was just an awsome experience. It seemed that no matter how much you thought you knew every strategy the was to try, someone would come along with a new idea and kick your ass. The levels were clearly specifically designed for multiplayer in mind and they did a very good job of it.

#1 - Riven (PC)

I know a lot of people hate this game but that is probably because it was beyond their ability. After persisting with this game for god know show long and finally completing it, I havenever had the same sense of acheivment after having completed a game before. The graphics were excellent, the effects were excellent, the story was brilliant. It is a clear number 1. I just hate it when I hear someone complain that it is too hard and they don't seem to realise that is the whole point of the game. It is supposed to challenge you and make you use your brain.

Well that is my top 5 so it would be great if everyone could post and let us all know what you favorates are. It doesn't matter if you think they are silly because there is bound to be someone out there with even stranger taste than you. And feel free to give me crap about my selection.
 
I'm more of an RPG/strategy fan.

#5 Myst - yeah it's not an RPG/strategy game. However, it is the first PC game I played. And man, was I hooked. I bought this on some console, I think the Saturn, and had to finish it.

#4 Dragon Force - this game sold me on how awesome the Saturn was. I played it at a Funco and immediately bought the console and game.

#3 Starcraft - this is the game that really got me into PC games.

#2 FF VI - my all time favorite console RPG. Hell maybe my all time favorite game, period.

#1 PS1 and Y's - when NES ruled the world, I had a SMS. I rented both of these games and they got me hooked on the RPG genre. I don't remember which I rented first. But I do remember alternating between the two, as someone else was renting them as well. It was kind of a race to see who could finish them first.
 
My choices don't necessarily relate to game quality, I just like the below games quite a bit:

#5 1/2 - Heroes of Might and Magic 3 & 4 - Loved this game/series, could play for many hours. Needed at least a mention.

#5 Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Loved this RTS, could actually hold my attention for over 30 minutes unlike most games.

#4 Sega Rally (Saturn) -- My brother and I would play for hours, often getting 00:00:00 time difference at check points. That rocked.

#3 Return Fire (3do version) -- Nothing like "flight of the bumble bee" when cruising away with the flag. Rocked.

#2 Quest for Glory I VGA & IV -- One of my favorite old adventure game series, I still have the boxes for these from when they came out. I still fire up dosbox from time to time to play them. Damn I miss AGI games. I still have the Space Quest I (VGA) box too.

#1 Sam & Max Hit the Road -- One of my favorite games of all time. Still sits above my computer with the others (including full throttle, monkey island, and grim fandango), thank god for ScummVM. I have the box some where, not sure where. Should still be around. I think it's with my chess maniac 5 billion and 1 box and x-wing etc etc. Games were so much better back then for the most part. I miss my point and click adventure games, never got in to the graphical text interpreter ones (Kings Quest 1 etc), pure text adventures were fun though.
 
#5 Speedball 2 (PC) : brutal sport with players upgrades, the Bitmap Brothers are gods !

#4 Super Mario World (SNES) : best plateform game ever

#3 Half Life (PC) : great storyline, immersive, a new approach of the FPS genra

#2 Shenmue 2 (DC) : everything that was a little annoying in the first volume is fixed, it's just an epic masterpiece ...

#1 Day of the Tentacle (PC) : the best adventure game by Lucasarts, full of humor, completely wacky, the game I'll bring with me on a desert island :)

Five is too few, I could add (in no particular order :

- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (PC) and every Lucasarts adventure games

- Bubble Bobble (Arcade)

- Final Fight (Arcade)

- Double Dragon (Arcade)

- Shinobi (Arcade)

- Elite 1 & 2 (PC)

- Kick Off 2 (PC)

- Xenon 2 (PC)

- Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)

- Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn)

- Fallout 1 & 2 (PC)

- Money Idol Exchanger (Neogeo)

- Dodonpachi (Arcade)

And many more ...
 
schi0249 said:
#5 Myst - yeah it's not an RPG/strategy game. However, it is the first PC game I played. And man, was I hooked. I bought this on some console, I think the Saturn, and had to finish it.

Just out of curiousity, did you ever try playing Riven (My #1)? I thought it was a far improvement on Myst.
 
I really like Riven too... very difficult and all the clues needed were SOMEWHERE in the game. Finding them was the issue. I remember when it came out, it took almost a year for me to beat.

Anyways:

5.) Lunar 1 and 2 (sega CD)

4.) Sonic 3 and Knuckles (Genesis)

3.) Sonic CD (Sega CD)

2.) Bangai-O (Dreamcast)

1.) Quarantine (PC)

Actually, no particular order there. And the list would probably change if I was asked again in the future. But this games stick out greatly at this moment. I also enjoyed a lot of games already listed like Dragonforce, but I didn't want to list games already listed.

The last one there, Quarantine, was important for me to list though as I played that FOR HOURS. I remember I thought it was cool how you could fully install the game and then put a music CD and play music IN GAME and the Car had a stereo receiver in it that displayed the track number. Heh! Also the security key for it was bizarre, the purple piece of paper with a bunch of key codes on it, you were asked a question at the beginning of the game every time you started playing, and you had to match it to the correct number code answer.

I spent like 1 hour before installing it just to clear up 15 more MB of free space on my tiny little 400 MB HDD just to fully install it! I think it was a total of 60 megs installed... today I download 50 meg pdf files with out a thought in mind!
 
Ah, I can't resist when one of these threads comes along.

I like all of your opinions on the "best" 5 games of all time.

Seeing Snatcher and Bangai-O on there makes my day. :)

So here, I'll try to avoid the "best" in terms of quality and units sold and go with a more unique approach, focusing on influence to culture and just overall revolutionary and unique approaches to making games.

[In no particular order]:

- Rez (with or without Trance Vibrator)

- Jet Set Radio

- Seaman

- Metal Gear Solid - more specifically Kojima's magnum opus

- Castlevania

Rez was a truly unique game, developing a playable version of a theory, Synesthesia. Using the popular Panzer Dragoon rail-shooter engine, and flawlessly combining it with musically evolving level progression, all wrapped up in a fantastic vector-based world similar to that of Tron.

Jet Set Radio single-handedly started the great Cel-Shading fad of the early 21st century, and was well above - in terms of story and gameplay elements - any other "extreme" sports game [coughTonyHawk'sProSkatercough]. Needless to say the graffiti element could be considered quite controversial too; not to mention it was all done in the name of underground against a mega-corporation.

Seaman... I don't think I need to explain this to anyone who has played this, but for those that haven't, go play it...now. :p

What's this? A non-Sega game, and on the Playstation to boot? Oh, the agony! Actually, I can't speak much for MGS as much as the other games on my list because I haven't personally played it through, I've only seen it played through on a second-hand basis. But needless to say, many games have tried to copy the stealth element of MGS and failed. Kojima (Snatcher!) is also one of my favorite creator/visionaries/self-proclaimed video game artists and MGS and it's gameplay elements are perfect examples of a unique game.

Lastly I picked Castlevania because I couldn't think of much more to put on the list that wasn't tained by my fanboyish bais. ;) You can fill in the last spot with whichever game you can think of that fits the bill in my best (unique) game collective. (I chose to leave out Gunstar Heroes, Shining Force, Warcraft II, Final Fantasy II(US) and Super Mario Bros. 3 for that reason)
 
Kuta said:
Just out of curiousity, did you ever try playing Riven (My #1)? I thought it was a far improvement on Myst.

Yeah, I did play Riven. I loved the game. The best of the series. Though, I never played the last couple that came out.
 
Lunar 2: eternal blue (sega cd), Dark Wizard (sega cd), Ys book 1 & 2 (tg16), Final Fight (arcade, sega cd), and Joust (arcade, atari, you name it) - those are my top 5 pics as far as I can remember currently...

Ys didn't have the best graphics nor gameplay, but it was a very very long game with challenging gameplay. For about two whole weeks, when my friends would come over, they would say "damn, are you still playing that game?" and "shit, that's a long game." - I beat it, after getting stuck a time or two, and then liked the game so much that I started all over again, just to see how long it would take to beat it, knowing exactly what to do and where to go. It's one game that I'll probably never play again, but it'll always have a place in my heart.

Joust is just an all-out classic. I've played the arcade and atari versions many times.

Dark Wizard - Part RPG, part war simulation, Part strategy, extremely long battles, the ability to hire out mercenaries and/or summon creatures that have the ability to evolve as they get experience... what more can I say? Not very well known game but one of my favorites.

Lunar 2: eternal blue - very long and challenging rpg that keeps you coming back for more. No, it may not be all bright and cheery as Lunar Silver Star, nor does it have a very appealing beginning, but it is a very involved game that you can't beat in 12-14 hours like the first one.

Final Fight - another game I use to play all of the time in arcades, and even today, it doesn't feel "old" or "worn out." I've owned the SNES version and sega cd version, and the sega cd version is definately the closest to the arcade... One game I never regretted buying!
 
I tried to think of five games that I absolutely loved that I could say were the top five of all time. Quite a difficult thing, but here goes.

Grim Fandango

One Must Fall 2097

Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition

Streets of Rage 2

Deus Ex

Grim Fandango was the last of the point and click adventures, even though it was 3D and didn't involve the mouse. It's one of those games that, had it come out sooner, would've sold millions of copies. Instead, it came out at the end of the craze and its poor sales not only killed the genre but Lucas Arts stopped making those types of games. With Sam and Max making a comeback, I have hope.

One Must Fall 2097 - I did spend and continue to spend way too many hours playing this beat 'em up. I think it's the first fighter with RPG elements (building up your character, and your bot). It had an interesting storyline and championships were actually quite hard. The game is horribly unbalanced in some respects, but I never used anything but the Jaguar so it always made for a great challenge.

Street Fighter 2: CE There was a water ice place in Upper Darby (I think it's still there) that had SF2 for only $.25. Literally, the line went out the door to play it. Imagine my excitement when it finally hit the Genesis (I always preferred the genesis 6 button over the SNES' layout). This to me is the pinnacle of fighting games.

Streets of Rage 2: The greatest beat'em up ever. I've played every Capcom beat'em up imagineable, and while AvP is amazing, I still will take SoR2 any day. Sega nailed the increased difficulty throughout levels perfectly. It was hard, but nothing that made you frustrated. Had it been four players, I could see it being the ultimate party game. Two players on Mania mode is something to behold in and of itself. Makes you wonder why SoR3 was so bad, comparatively speaking.

Deus Ex - There's something appealing about a game that gives you choice. It was loosely linear, and I throughly enjoyed how affecting small details in the beginning of the game could have a ripple effect through the rest of the game (including the cut scenes). Even though it was an FPS, you really only had to kill one person in the whole game to beat it. The game was so engaging (for me) that I played it three times through, back to back to back, after having beaten it twice prior.

Games that I wanted to include but didn't have room were GTA3, Shinobi 3, GTA:SA, Day of the Tentacle, Sonic 2, Shining Force. The main criteria was the experience of playing it the first time through, and the desire to play it again after I completed it.
 
Yeah, limiting it to 5 is very hard. I only picked Sam & Max over Grim Fandango since I played SM first -- has a little higher place in my memories for that. Although they sit right next to each other on my shelf, heh.
 
schi0249 said:
Yeah, I did play Riven. I loved the game. The best of the series. Though, I never played the last couple that came out.

I have played Exile (Myst 3) all the way through. It was the one where the quality began to drop. The visuals and atmosphere were awsome but the puzzles, story, and acting was terrible.

I always found it funny how they designed the game to respond to everyone's complaints on how difficult the first two games were and it is the same game where the popularity began to drop. It would seem that gamers don't actually know what they want from a game.
 
I'd have to go with a top 5 in no significant order:

Shenmue II (DC) - The game that killed Sega, a sacrifice I would gladly make again for Shenmue III to appear some time this millenium. Excels in every aspect and I loved the "day in a life" and then some that it delivers.

Grandia II (DC) - Aside from having the greatest combat system in any RPG ever this beauty had spanky graphics, wry humour, an entertaining array of characters and <gasp> no random battles.

Super Mario Sunshine (GC) - I don't know what I liked more about this game, the difference afforded by the jetpack or those hanging in space with no jetpack levels. Either way, it's a winner.

Outrun2 (Xbox) - Sega got it right here....Recreating the old Outrun - Not the way it used to look and sound but the way it looked and sounded in your head. PSP version is mucho recommended too although avoid C2C on the Xbox as it is soulless.

Gabriel Knight 3 (PC) - Point and clickery at its mouse throwing finest. What an excellent game this was with a very intutive and innovative control method, noodle scratching puzzles and a laugh out loud script. Highly recommended.

Seeing as I've just picked up a Saturn primarily for Nights (which I'm just managing to get the hang of - Grade C on the first stage woooooo) I get the feeling this may end up somewhere on a list that I may possibily make in the future :)
 
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