Since Top 5 lists are all the rage in the Movies & Music category, I figured I’d start one in the games category. But when I started my list, I realized I needed 25 entries, not just 5. :)
This is for your top XX personal favorite computer games over the time you’ve been gaming – looked at from the perspective of how good the games were at the time, and how they hooked you in the day. IE: Civ II may be a better game than Civilization, but which one had the most impact on you at the time of its release? So think back and list the games that truly enthralled you and made you write those “suddenly it was 4 am” reviews… If you haven’t been gaming that long, feel free to just list your five faves. But if you’ve been around a while, reach back into the past…
Summer Games (C64)
Red Storm Rising (Amiga)
Raid on Bungeling Bay (C64)
Suspended (C64)
Wings (Amiga)
SimCity (Amiga)
Warbirds (PC)
[color=red]TIE:[/color] US Navy Fighters (PC) and CYAC (PC)
Deus Ex (Hi Tom!)
Archon (C64/Amiga)
M.U.L.E. (C64)
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (C64)
BattleMech/BattleFort (Amiga, shareware by Ralph Reed)
Pirates (Amiga)
F-14 Fleet Defender (PC)
Populous (Amiga)
Age of Empires (PC)
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain (PC)
Star Control II (PC/Amiga)
F/A-18 Interceptor (Amiga)
Half-Life (PC) (and Team Fortress Classic)
Empire (Amiga)
Civilization (PC)
Starcraft (PC)
Aces of the Pacific (PC)
[size=2][color=darkred](Feel free to start a separate list for your kiddie video games… This is for computer games. :twisted: )[/color][/size]]
As I was putting this together, I realized how many great games there have been. I could have made this “Top 100,” but nobody would read anyone’s messages then.
The order is very rough, and I had to leave a lot of games off. Very sad.
Civilization
SimCity
Baldur’s Gate
X-Com
Red Baron
Harpoon
Populous
Europa Universalis
688 Attack Sub
European Air War
Darklands
12.Space Quest
DOOM
Age of Empires
Railroad Tycoon
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Pirates
Neverwinter Nights
Prince of Persia
Starflight II
Out of the Park Baseball
Championship Manager
F-19 Stealth Fighter
Alpha Centauri
Annals of Rome
A major dearth of action games and shooters. Largely because I sucked at them and could never really get hooked. DOOM was huge exception - it was a revelation at the time and cost me a lot of time better spent on my honors thesis.
Tie Fighter
Full Throttle
Master of Magic
Master of Orion II
Crusader: No Regret
Syndicate Wars
Baldur’s Gate II
Planescape: Torment
(Crap! Forgot Panzer General. And Fallout I/II.)
That’s it, really. Surely it’s not coincidental that these are largely old games…
Laura Bow: The Colonel’s Bequest
Tex Murphy: Under a Killing Moon
Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
The Curse of Monkey Island
Tomb Raider
Broken Sword: Circle of Blood
The Last Express
Byzantine: The Betrayal
System Shock 2
The Longest Journey
Diablo II w/LOD
Anachronox
And last but not least, my current addiction (crashes aside), Morrowind
My list reflects which games grabbed me and wouldn’t let go the most–i.e. not necessarily the games I’ve spent the most hours with, but the ones that really made me go “whoa…”
16-25. Various Infocom titles released between the years '79 and '90. Infocom text adventures are basically all I played during the '80’s. “Videogames” were beneath my contempt back then.
15. DOOM
14. Alone in the Dark
13. Vietcong
12. Black Dahlia
11. Front Page Sports Football Pro
10. Civilization
9. M.A.X.
8. Carnivores 2
7. Shogun: Total War
6. Thief
5. European Air War
4. Mafia
3. X-Com
2. System Shock 2
Recently we put up framed screenshots of some of these classics’s around the office. Its awesome to walk in every day and see a screen shot of Bruce Lee (Atari 800) on the way to the bathroom :)
Sundog
Steel panthers
Elite
Miner 2049er
Airwarrior
Medieval Lords
Archon
MULE
RoadWar2000
Wizards Crown
Bruce Lee
Shamus
Alternate Reality
Fantasy General
Planetfall
Wingman
The Secret of Monkey Island 1/2
Wing Commander 1/2
Privateer
Ultima 7
Master of Magic
Crusader: No Remorse
Command and Conquer
Fallout 1/2
Starcraft
Half-Life
Rollercoaster Tycoon
System Shock 2
Deus Ex
No One Lives Forever 1/2
Grand Theft Auto 3
Railroad Tycoon 1 & 2
Civilization 1 & 2
Wizardry 6 & 7
Jagged Alliance
Command & Conquer
Red Alert
Starcraft
Baldur’s Gate 2
Torment
Icewind Dale 1 & 2
Quest for Glory 1 & 2
X-Com
Warlords 1 & 3
Warlords Battlecry 2
Leisure Suit Larry - All of em - yes I was an immature teen at the time
Full Throttle
Eye of the Beholder
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Original Neverwinter Nights
NWN
Gemstone III
The problem with this list is I have a very warped sense of the games I played in my formative years.
e.g. I remember loving (playing through several times) a game called Legacy of the Ancients on the C-64, but I’m not sure I can tell you it’s a great game. Or Mail Order Monsters. The game I probably played most in that time was “Adventure Construction Set”. Going even further back (apple 2 with a cassette drive), I played the hell out of, say, Temple of Apshai, but I’ll be damned if I can accurately compare that to modern games.
But here’s my top 17 off the top of my head and pulling memories from others above:
1.Half Life
2. Civilization 2
3. Pirates
4. The Bards Tale (could just as easily be wizardry here)
5. Fallout
6. Star Control 2
7. NOLF
8. Nethack
9. Planescape: Torment
10. System Shock 2
11. Warlords 3 (best of the series, best TBS multiplayer yet)
12. Ultima 4
13. Elite
14. X-Com
15. Allegiance (a horribly underrated and underappreciated game)
16. BF1942 (despite tragic unpatched missed opportunities)
17. Wing Commander (they all blend together, sadly)
I’ve played quite a few of the adventure games on this list but have never heard of Laura Bow. Is it on top of your list as #1 or is your list non-ordered? If it is #1 what makes it so great? Is it an ancient game or merely a few years old?
Fallout 1 and 2
Diablo 2 w/ LoD
Sentinels 1: Future Magic
Megatraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients
Civilization II
System Shock 1 and 2
Doom
Half-Life
Max Payne
GTA 3
Need for Speed SE
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Privateer
Deus Ex
Alpha Centauri
Kung Fu Master
Contra
Secret of Monkey Island
Daggerfall
Morrowind
Wolfenstein 3D
Team Fortress Classic (for Half Life)
edit: In my enthusiasm to list my favorite games, I overlooked the fact that not all of these are computer games. But the NES and PS One are kinda computers–right, guys? …Guys? Hellooooo?