Top (5 to 25) Computer Games of Your Time

Games
21

Civilisation 1& 2
Romance of the three Kingdom 2&3
Nobunaga’s Ambition 6
StarControl 2
Diabo 2
Magic Candle 2
Wingcommader 2 & 4
HOMM 2
Jagged Alliance 2
Dune 2
MOO 1 & 2
Warcraft 2
Ultima 6 & 7
Ultima Underworld 1 & 2
Wizardry 7
Might & Magic 4 & 5 (world of Xeen)
Crusader : No remorse
Starcraft
TIE fighter
Fallout 1 & 2
Master of Magic
XCOM
Half Life
Deus Ex
Planescape : Torment
Bandit Kings of Ancient China

22

Sea Battle (Intellivision)
Utopia (Intellivision)
Triple Action - Biplanes (Intellivision)
Phoenix (Arcade)
Temples of Doom (TI 99)
Ultima 2 (C64)
Seven Cities of Gold (C64)
Mule (C64)
CyberBall (Arcade)
Empire (Text Mode, MS DOS)
Curse of the Azure Bonds (DOS)
Pirates
Phantasy Star (Sega Master System)
Railroad Tycoon 1 (Inspired me to spend roughly one-quarter of my net worth at the time on a VGA monitor, up from CGA)
Civ 1
Sim City
X-COM
MOM
Panzer General 1 and 2
Colonization (didn’t like it when it came out, tried again 4 years later and got seriously hooked)
Red Baron
Quake 2
Fallout 1 and 2
Total Annihilation
Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast)
Age of Wonders 2 (and now Shadow Magic)

23

It’s old as the hills, circa 1988/89 I think, if memory serves. I put it down first because, although I played everything from Pong and arcade games on up and jumped into PC adventures in the early 80s, that first Laura Bow Sierra adventure (there were two) was the first game to totally turn me sideways. The pixelated graphics and text parser conversations would probably drive many adventure gamers crazy today, though. It’s a murder mystery set in the deep south of the 1920s, and five minutes into the story, everybody has a motive for killing everybody else. Five minutes later, bodies are dropping like flies… It was a clasic third-person, inventory-driven adventure game that set me up for a permanent love of thriller/mystery adventure games. :)

24
  1. Half-Life
  2. SimCity
  3. Duke Nukem 3D
  4. Wasteland
  5. Doom
  6. Wizardry 1
  7. Archon
  8. Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
  9. Warcraft II
  10. Tomb Raider
25

My full list would take way too much time and duplicate a lot of what’s been already typed here, So I’ll just put up the ones that didn’t get (much) notice so far:

F19 Stealth Fighter
Ultima 4
Harpoon
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Nobunaga’s Ambition

And it would certainly be Civ 1, not Civ 2, that had the bigger impact for me 8)

26

Ah, lists. Gotta love the lists. A Top Five would have been a little quicker, though, Denny…

  1. Thief: The Dark Project
  2. Fallout
  3. Fantasy General
  4. Myth: The Fallen Lords
  5. Myst
  6. Ultima Underworld
  7. DOOM
  8. Civilization
  9. Morrowind
  10. Amber: Journeys Beyond
  11. Half-Life
  12. Interstate '76
  13. Starflight
  14. Autoduel
  15. Heroes of Might and Magic II
  16. Wing Commander
  17. Planetfall
  18. Master of Magic
  19. Diablo
  20. Wishbringer
  21. Stonekeep
  22. Mission Critical
  23. The Longest Journey
  24. Arcanum
  25. Outlaws

Wow, this is tough. I’m sure I forgot some stuff.

(edited to add Amber to the list)

27

These aren’t in any particular order…

M.U.L.E.
Zork
Lode Runner
Bard’s Tale
Impossible Mission
Civilization
Master of Magic
Master of Orion
Privateer
VGA Planets
Betrayal at Krondor
Heroes of Might and Magic
Morrowind

28

Top 6 rather than 5 because I’m not sure which one to boot to get down to 5. The order here is just arbitrary, the numbers could be reversed and I wouldn’t object, all of them are that close together in terms of gaming goodness.

  1. MOO 2
  2. Fallout 2
  3. Planescape: Torment
  4. HoMM series*
  5. SMAC(+SMAC/AC)**
  6. Sundog***

*I like different elements in the several different versions.

**I prefer SMAC to Civ II, which I prefer to Civ I and Civ III.

*** Old 80s game from FTL, I played it on an Atari ST.

29

I’ve liked a lot of games in my day, but a top 25 list is a bit much. I’ll just list the games that I’ve played that I consider “revolutionary.”

Doom
TFC/HL
Deus Ex
BG2
GTA3

30

See, for me, it’d have taken longer to narrow down which 5 to keep…

31

Total Annihilation
Wing Commander I-V
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon (Atari 800XL)
EverQuest
Star Contol 2
X-Wing
Tie Fighter
Ultima Underworld
Diablo
WarCraft II
Day of the Tentacle
System Shock I and II
Full Throttle
Duke Nukem 3D
MechWarrior 2
Star Trek: Judgement Rites
Battlefield: 1942 (Desert Combat)
Rescue on Fractulas (Atari 800XL)
F-19 Stealth Fighter/F-15 Strike Eagle II
FreeSpace 2
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Half-Life
Morrowind
Wishbringer (Atari 800XL)

32

I dunno… the first few are pretty easy, I think. After that you have to really think about it.

And wouldn’t you know it, I did forget one. Amber: Journeys Beyond. One of my favorite adventure games ever. It deserves to be in my top ten, at least.

33

Oh yeah-- Amber! Doh! And NOLF, too. 8)

34

1.Star Control II (1992)
2.Ultima VII – The Black Gate (1992)
3.FreeSpace 2 (1999)
4.Ultima IV – The Quest for the Avatar (1984)
5.Ultima II - Revenge of the Enchantress (1982)
6.Wing Commander III – Heart of the Tiger (1994)
7.Myth – The Fallen Lords (1997)
8.Ultima VI - The False Profit (1990)
9. Ultima V - Warriors of Destiny (1988)
10. Ultima III: Exodus
11. Fallout (1997)
12. Morrowind (2002)
13. Diablo (1996)
14. Wing Commander IV: Price of Freedom (1996)
15. Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
16. Half-Life (1998)
17. Ultima VII, Part 2 - Serpent’s Isle (1993)
18. X-wing vs. TIE Fighter (only with Balance of Power expansion) 1997-8
19. Quake (1996)
20. Pool of Radiance (1988)
21. Wing Commander (1990)
22. StarCraft (1998)
23. Doom (1993)
24. Fallout 2 (1998)
25. Combat Mission: Barbarosa to Berlin (2002)

Close runners-up Myth II - Soulblighter (1998), X-COM: UFO Defense (1994), Baldur’s Gate (1998); Ultima Underworld (1991); Independence War II - Edge of Chaos (2001), Jagged Alliance 2 (1999), Dungeon Master (1989), Powermonger (1990), Planescape Torment (1998), Icewind Dale (2000).

35

Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil 2
Final Fantasy VII
GTA Vice City
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2

:P

36

Whoops, me too. And I76. Both good calls. I’d probably add Dark Fall, as well–that game really grabbed me, although it fell apart at the end.

37

No particular order:

Zork 1-3
Enchanter
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Ultima 4
Wasteland
Baldur’s Gate

Geoff

38

No particular order:

Dungeon Master
The Bard’s Tale
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Questron
Full Throttle
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
Dark Forces
Doom
Baldur’s Gate II
Wizard’s Crown
Populous
Warcraft II
Empire
Karateka
X-COM: UFO Defense
Eye of the Beholder
Half-Life
Jedi Knight
Starcraft
Diablo II
Wizardy 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge
Might and Magic 4
Might and Magic 5
Ultima 4
Magic Carpet

39

Dissatisfied with the imprecise nature of the lists, Desslock tried to raise the level of discourse by attaching publication dates to every game, not just to avoid confusion, but to protect himself should his post become a legal matter. Unable to stop at 25 games, he added a further unranked category unmentioned in the original thread spec, and then edited the whole thing twice. What he really wished, though, was that he could have found a way to include some Tolkien names and birthdays.

40
  1. Civilization II
  2. Ultima IV
  3. Half-Life
  4. TIE FIghter
  5. Pirates
    …

I don’t have the energy to go beyond 5. GTA3, BG2, Age of Mythology, Combat Mission, Madden 2003, Sid Meier’s Gettysburg, SMAC, and a few more would be in there though.