So, as you may know I’ve been playing through Metal Gear Solid 2 lately (well, I’ve pretty much played through the whole series now during 2021) and I’m just in awe of what an achievement it must’ve been back 20 years ago on the ole’ trusty PS2.
I’m surprised to say that it’s gone right into my Top 10 Games ever… and I scratched about looking for a thread to enter my personal top 10 but they’re all closed-for-business (archived), so I thought ‘what the hell’ let’s start yet another one!
Notable mention 1: Assassins Creed: Odyssey - I’ve always loved an open-world, ever since I first booted up GTA3 and what an open world this had. Absolutely huge, varied and draped in an Ancient Greek skin. Doesn’t play as well as I’d have liked and many people feel it’s overly-long but I thoroughly enjoyed playing out my Greek myth fantasy.
Noteable mention 2: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - GTA3 got me back into gaming after pretty much dropping it entirely for a few years… but San Andreas perfected the formula… at least for me. Played through it at least three times and will play through it again if the rumoured remaster ever materialises.
10. Ghost of Tsushima - This blew me away earlier in the year. I had real doubts whether it would ‘hit’ for me, as I can be quite particular about how games handle their combat. The combat worked though, as did pretty much everything else.
9. Death Stranding - my first Kojima game and I loved pretty much everything about it. A couple of the journeys (both to the same destination but vastly different routes) will live with me always. Looking forward to doing it all again some time with the Director’s Cut on PS5.
8. Metal Gear Solid 2 - If I had played this back when it released, I can only imagine that it would place even higher. My favourite of the more traditional Metal Gear Solid games.
7. Remnant from the Ashes - A really attractive aesthetic, some absolutely top-tier boss fights, an ever changing level-design… and just some of the tightest 3rd Person shooting I have ever played. The best multiplayer experience I have had.
6. Demons Souls - I just couldn’t get my head around this for ages. I’d visit a friend for a gaming sesh most Fridays back in 2010… and my mate was playing this for months. He tried to get me into it but it just seemed far too much like hard work. Then around a year later as I was waiting for the release of Skyrim and had nothing to play I grabbed this from my mates to bide the time. I struggled through it just in time for Skyrim and blocked the experience entirely from my mind. I would have no idea how far From Soft had got its hooks into me for another 4 or 5 years.
5. Nier: Automata - Just beautiful! Beautiful art design, beautiful OST and beautiful story. Plays like an absolute banger too… had withdrawals after getting the platinum and struggled to find anything that could ‘replicate’ it.
4. The Last of Us part 2 - I’m just not drawn to linear narrative-driven games. Naughty Dog’s output just never really appeals to me… and I only end up playing them out of some kind of strange obligation in the end. I always end up quite enjoying them though… no more so than this. Unrivalled story-telling, best graphics I have ever seen, best performances by actors in a game that I have ever seen… and plays very nicely too.
3. Metal Gear Solid V - my first MGS and still my favourite. Two amazing open worlds with some of my favourite ‘base’-designs of any game. Plays like a dream and still looks an absolute stunner even though it was cross-gen with the PS3. What I would give for a PS5 remaster that includes the content cut from Act 2.
2. God of War 2018 - my first GoW… and what an introduction. Gorgeous to look at, an outstanding OST, Christopher Judge as Kratos just rocks my world… and it plays incredibly. A lovely 3D metroidvania style semi-open world with combat that at first seems simple but as you peel it back layer-by-layer holds a helluva lot of depth. I also really enjoyed the story, loved the twist at the end… and even a Marvel-esque post credit scene!
1. Bloodborne - picked this up not knowing anything about it. About 5 minutes in I had flashbacks to a game I played in 2011… one that I had blocked out of my memory due to the sheer struggle. Did I switch it off and uninstall… hell no! I was surprised to find out that for all the pain I felt during my first From Soft foray in 2011, I had been missing it ever since… and Bloodborne distilled the formula to perfection. Runs like crap, mucho frame-lag, choppy frame-rate… but is the best game I’ve ever played!
Obviously loads of PS4 games there… but for me it’s the best generation of gaming by a country mile. I’m so hoping the PS5 gen will swamp this list by the PS6!
@colonelkilgore Solid list there. If memory serves, the last time we had one of these topics was indeed a while back, and I think I approached it as some kind of 'Desert Island Discs' thought experiment. I also remember that we could list a lot more than ten games, so that, coupled with the fact that I've played a heck of a lot of incredible stuff since, means I'm gonna have to give this some proper thought.
"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."
@RogerRoger I look forward to reading your list bud… hopefully there’ll be one or two games on there which I’ve not yet considered and can be added to ‘the list’ 😉
@colonelkilgore Great list there buddy. Remnant from the Ashes is the only surprise, and I remember your praise for it while you played it recently, but didn’t realize it was top 10 all-time material.
I’ll have to think it over to get mg list going. I do think I have a list somewhere on one of those old threads, but it’s surely changed by now.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Nice list! I want to do a list but it would be so hard to choose a specific game from the MGS series. I'd have to list the series as a single entry as it is a sum of all its parts. Like it's easy for me to say which specific 2D Mario is my favourite but I couldn't do the same for Zelda or MGS. I'll have a think and do a list for sure but it might not be to spec.
@Th3solution I think every top 10 list needs an ‘outlier’… a game that wouldn’t turn up on the vast majority of other peoples lists but just meshed perfectly with the likes of the lister. I guess Remnant… is that for me. So playable, so fresh, so intriguing… and just the Goldilocks-zone of challenging.
@colonelkilgore 😂. Also I see your new tag line, nice! For some reason I feel like la li Lu le lo could be a good lyric in an old garage song. Something by DJ luck and MC Neat. Would probably slot nicely into something like A Little Bit of Luck
Anyway, here's my list (breaking all the rules here because I won't even rank them as they are all brilliant)
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled - I lost 6 months of my life to this game. It starts off rock hard but it's incredibly addictive and with the amount of time it keeps you glued to the screen, you go from n00b skills to god tier in a matter of months. Tons to unlock in this game too, skins, karts, characters. Good job the game is good enough to keep you playing long enough to unlock it all! Easily my favourite Kart racer as it just edges out my second favourite...
Mario Kart Wii - Again, just tons to unlock in this one. I remember not being hugely impressed on release but a couple years later I played it at a friend's house and she had all these extra characters. I was like wtf and went home and spend the next few months 100%ing the game. Absolutely brilliant. I do love Super Mario Kart on SNES and also Double Dash but I think the sheer replayability of Wii makes it my favourite of the series.
The Metal Gear Series (including spin offs) - just bonkers from beginning to end. Easily my favourite game series that I am compelled to play in its entirety every 3-6 years. I can't say any more about this series that I haven't already said in other threads.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1-4 (and possibly THUG 1&2 (& 2: Remix)) - I loved these games as a kid and lost (or gained) a lot of my childhood playing them. Just unbelievably addictive and so many memorable stages. Great music too. The series began to fall off for me around the THUG era but those games were still decent, unfortunately I lost interest in the direction that the series went after that.
Sonic 3 & Knuckles - the complete package on offer here was a Mario tier platforming game. Sonic 1&2 are brilliant (especially 2) but the fact that Sonic 3 & Knuckles has a save system and is way more user friendly to actually complete without replaying a ton of it makes it the best of the series for me.
Donkey Kong Country Returns - this has probably ended up being my favourite Donkey Kong game. It takes the difficulty of the originals but gives it a "groove" to play along to. Somehow the music in each stage helps you blitz the level if you play along to it. If I had to say a top ten games and not cheat by including series, DKCR on Wii would easily be in there.
The Legend of Zelda Series (including spin offs) - every mainline Zelda game I've played has been amazing, both 2D and 3D. Impossible to choose a favourite because they are all good. I've included spin offs because why not, they might not be as good as the main games but they definitely add to the flavour of the franchise.
GTA2 - I much prefer the top down Grand Theft Autos and I could never really get into the 3D ones after the fact (I had a GameCube during the PS2 era). As much as I love the original and GTA: London, I think GTA 2 is the pinnacle of the top down GTA games. It has everything that's good about the first game and it's (eventually standalone) expansions and weaves an additional level of complexity into it. This edges it out for me as my favourite GTA game.
Forza Horizon 3/4 - I completely fell off racing games in both my teenage years and my 20s. Horizon 4 came with my Xbox One and it freaking blew me away. I always (well for two decades at least) thought that (non kart) racing games were boring. Not this one, it's absolutely ridiculous. Tearing it up across the British country side open world is a dream that I never knew I had. There's so much to do in this game that I still boot it up every now and then and find something new to do. I later picked up Horizon 3 which is just a good a game but in the less familiar Australian locale so 4 edges it out as my favourite.
Doom 2016/Doom Eternal - a ridiculous update to an already amazing series. I think the lore added into Doom Eternal makes it my favourite of the two but both of them are absolutely bonkers shooting games and easily the best modern FPSs I've ever played. Doom Eternal is one of my favourite games of the generation. Just amazing.
Sim City 2000/Theme Hospital - I think ive already gone past ten games so I'm bundling these two sim games into one entry. Both great and I played both a lot as a kid. This was a turning point where Sim games were still simple enough for me to understand so I massively enjoyed both. I loved getting to the endgame in 2000 and having all my Arcos blast off into space. Nobody would even move into my residential zones in the sequel 3000 😭 so I never played the series past that!
Command & Conquer/Command & Conquer: Red Alert - "From God, to Kane, to Seth". I loved both these games as a kid and again, simple enough for me to understand and would run on my PC. I've since tried playing the series again but I rarely get past the masterpieces that are these first two entries.
Super Mario World - it's gotta be in there hasn't it? It's my favourite 2D Mario game. So many levels and so much to do. I loved getting to Star Road and the SNES special stages and having all those colourful Yoshis knocking about!
Super Mario 64 DS - I actually much preferred this DS update with its additional 30 stars to collect. My favourite 3D Mario and it's thumbstrap touch screen solution to the lack of an analog stick was brilliant in my opinion (even if others think it's rubbish!)
The Talos Principle - Easily my favourite first person puzzle game. It had such a profound effect on me when I played it for the first time last year. It's like Portal but turned up to 11. Absolutely brain bending and completely mind boggling, I loved solving puzzles in this and 100%ing it (with a few tactical saves so I could see all 3 endings!) This and it's expansion also just had the weirdest and most existential backstory if you cared to dig around enough in the game to find it. The music just had me on edge throughout the whole thing too. Barely anything could hurt you in the game but I had this constant sense of overwhelming fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of being in the dark as to what exactly is going on, fear of an apparently omnipotent creator and their potential status as a false god. Easily the best game I've played in the last couple years and contender for the best game I've ever played in my life.
Tales from the Borderlands - (sorry, I had to edit in a 16th game!) Easily the funniest game I've ever played in my life. I've since played the first Borderlands game and found it really boring unfortunately. Tales is just brilliant though, great laughs and a great soundtrack to boot.
The Uncharted Series - yeesh, I forgot about these somehow. Brilliant buddy comedy from beginning to end. Love every game in this series!
So that's my er, Top 15 (17!) games ever! In no particular order. Here are my honourable mentions:
The Splinter Cell Series - this was what I had instead of MGS2&3 because I had a GameCube. I loved it and it grew into its own thing. The friendly rivalry between and reciprocated mentions of both series was greatly appreciated too. I avoided Blacklist due to the new casting but having now played it, I actually think it is the peak of the series and would love more Splinter Cells in the style of this effective modern update as it blends the best of the cinematic later entries with the stealthy gameplay of the first 3 games very well.
Street Fighter 2 - Just unbelievable, I love this game so much. I love all the characters so much and I absolutely adore the music. So much so that I'll rack up a playlist on YouTube every now and then and just listen to it!
Resident Evil 4 - my first resident evil game and the only one I've completely loved. This was in my top 5 games for a long time but having replayed it in HD in the last couple of years, I'd say that it's lost some of its charm unfortunately.
Aladdin (SNES) I actually love this game but I didn't think about it until my honourable mentions so I'm sticking it here instead of the main list. Brilliant game and really fun to complete. In this same entry, I'd like to mention some other SNES platformers that I loved as a kid such as Tiny Toons Adventures and Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse. I loved both of these games too.
Duke Nukem 3D - again, I just loved this game as a kid but unfortunately my top 15 is so jam packed that this one has been bumped down to an honourable mention!
Ori and the Blind Forest - people think Xbox is all Gears and Halo (yawn) and I don't blame them. I bought my Xbox to finally try those games and see what all the fuss is about. It was about nothing, they are as bland and generic as the era of games they influenced. But along with Forza Horizon, Xbox had this charming little platformer up its sleeve. It's also a metroidvania and it was the first metroidvania game I'd ever played and finished. Easily one of my favourite Xbox games ever. If you are a fan of tough platformers then I highly recommend this one.
VVVVVV - a surprise from PS Plus, an actually brilliant indie platformer with a cool gimmick. Smooth as butter, great music and psychedelic visuals. Brilliant game and brilliant surprise! Tough as nails too if you go for all the collectibles!
Pixel Puzzle Collection - Best Android game ever in my opinion. It's Picross and Konami themed. Amazing music, unobtrusive ads, completely addictive and completely free.
Crash 3: Warped - gotta stick this in as I played it loads on PS1. Brilliant game, loved it. I'd wake up early before school and play it for a couple of hours before walking in!
SmashTV - omg I keep remembering amazing games. Tough choice as to whether this gets an honourable mention or goes in the main list. I loved this tongue in cheek Running Man aesthetic as a kid, even if I couldn't put it so eloquently back then. I don't know how I actually ever played it on the Mega Drives 3 button controller but this one only got better with age and console controllers added two analog sticks! 😂
The Orange Box - Portal + Half Life 2 + HL: Episode 1&2. All brilliant games make this collection an essential combination.
Dishonourable Mention:
Mortal Kombat 9/XL/11 Ultimate - I love these games. I've loved everything Mortal Kombat since I was a kid and played most entries in the series. 9 was an amazing and brave reimagining of the series. Packed with so many characters. I loved the direction the series went in X too. I loved all of the new characters they introduced and the way the story jumped into the future. One of my favourite PS4 games. 11 was great too. The reason why it's dishonourable? Penny pinching, blood sucking microtransactions (and/or a literal human lifetime of grinding). Such a poor direction for this series to take. If the unlock conditions for all the extra content were reasonable then this series would be in my top 15(/16), I wouldn't even mind buying the "Komplete" editions (which I have done) but they seem to get less and less Komplete with every iteration. Skins that would take decades of playtime to unlock spoil this amazing series of games.
1. Left4Dead 2 - Absolute creativity and innovative multiplayer at its finest . ridiculous amount of replayability , amazing characters and voice actors , music is spot-on . its gaming at its best in terms of a game made by gamers for gamers with fun first and competitive second .
2. Super Street Fighter 4 - SFV just pales in comparison to this game , with SFV favoring esports and shady business practices over making a fun , exciting , adrenaline rushing video game with appeal of flashiness and pizzazz , that SF5 just lacks. granted it was my first SF game and first real fighter i invested in , it really left an impression on me .
3. Super Smash Bros Brawl - I always liked smash bros since i first played it on my big brothers 64 back in 02 , but after the 3rd entry on the wii it just hasn't been the same to me because i know there will never be another nintendo game like this again. some call it the black sheep of the franchise and i look at that in a good way , its a nintendo game thats so different aesthetically with a dark & badass theme to it , that i love it. thats my style of games.
Im sorry i couldn't give a full 10 list , but its a lot of video games that i like ; and then theres those that took so many hours of my life , that the amount of time i invested in those 3 games could extend an elderly persons life to live past 100 years .
@colonelkilgore Yeah, I was wondering about this being the ‘69th Annual’ listing. Didn’t realize we have had this series going back to 1952. The 50’s wasn’t a very good decade for gaming. 😜
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
For interest, I think you might like to see what the forum community came up with a couple years ago (like maybe 2019 Megapoll?) as the greatest games of all time. I found the list as I’d saved it for my own curiosity as a fascinating view of what we came up with democratically (the list goes 50 deep, but here’s the top 20):
1 Horizon Zero Dawn
2 Shadow of the Colossus
3 The Witcher 3
4 Final Fantasy 7
5 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
6 The Last Of Us
7 Persona 4 Golden
8 Uncharted 2
9 Bloodborne
10 Mass Effect 2
11 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
12 Batman: Arkham Asylum
13 Knights of the Old Republic
14 Sonic the Hedgehog 2
15 Resident Evil 4
16 Super Mario World
17 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
18 Uncharted 4
19 Street Fighter II
20 Tomb Raider 2
There was probably some recency bias there with Horizon, despite it being a fabulous game.
For some reason, I have another top 50 list saved and I’m not sure where it came from; maybe another similar poll around the time? Or maybe one of the list was the semifinal seeding and the other is the final outcome after voting? I’m not sure, but there is slight differences between the two lists:
1 Horizon Zero Dawn
2 Persona 5
3 Uncharted 2
4 The Last Of Us
5 Shadow of the Colossus
6 Persona 4 Golden
7 Super Mario World
8 Bloodborne
9 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
10 Mass Effect 2
11 Final Fantasy 7
12 Resident Evil 4
13 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
14 Chrono Trigger
15 Metal Gear Solid
16 The Witcher 3
17 Uncharted 4
18 Final Fantasy 6
19 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
20 Batman Arkham Asylum
Anyways, not my personal lists, but something to chew on. I’ve got a old list I submitted, but I’ve played some great games since then so I’ve got to update it. More to come…. 😄
———
Edit: the absence of God of War would suggest we did this poll pre-2018, actually. Can’t imagine it wouldn’t have made the list.
@Th3solution super interesting to be fair… and I do think that any ‘Best of’ lists are always in some-kind of flux depending on recency-bias and just how someone might be feeling on that particular day.
Very surprised by the number 1 (on both lists)! As you stated, it’s a great game and I enjoyed immensely… but it’s just one which I would never have thought that a general consensus would’ve arrived at.
@colonelkilgore Yeah, it was in the zeitgeist of 2017-2018 and so it’s natural to feel the HZD experience so superlative. Also Persona 5, which was hot at the time.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
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