Topic: The Definitive Best Game of All Time Forum Megapoll!

@Th3solution For me who has played 1000's of games over 40yrs, as far I am concerned, a modern game with story, depth etc would beat a game like SM64 that has no story, poor camera, repetitive game-play with each world needing to be beaten or visited multiple times. However that modern game won't necessarily be as memorable because that's the 'standard' we expect today but SM64 changed the gaming landscape and was very influential. Halo:CE is not the best FPS either - not its campaign or MP but its influence and impact is felt in basically all current FPS games on console. It made Xbox the name it is today - I know the console was also revolutionary too with its internal HDD etc but whether that would have become the brand it has without Halo is debatable. Point is, virtually every game has been improved on over time and if these were released today, they would be seen very differently - assuming they offered the same controls, performance etc that they did then. I know the more cartoon visuals stand up better over time than the evolution of realistic graphics but that's normal.

If gaming hasn't improved - not just visually either - then something is wrong! That's why I think modern games are generally better BUT our expectation is different as well as the competition is offering similar. As a result they don't have the impact but technically are superior in so many ways. This is why I focussed on the games that changed gaming - not necessarily the 'best' in each genre but they were the first or most influential games.

SoulBlade/SoulEdge - PS1
Okami - PS2
Valkyria Chronicles -PS3
Red Dead Redemption - PS3
GTA V - Multi
Nier: Automata - PS4

At first I couldn't get a list together with only 6 titles, looking back on 35 years of gaming.
Which sort of concept should I follow... most enjoyment, most emotional impact/thought-provoking and/or highest score, technical achievement?
What about really old titles... how I felt about them at their times, how they would hold up today, their relevance/influence (for me, the medium, the genre)?
Nothing worked quite right and I just couldn't boil it down to the limit.
So I went away from 'all times', left everything behind I'm not interested in anymore and only considered if I replayed a game more than once, spent more than 100hrs gaming and if it feels like I could still enjoy it today.
But still feeling bad about leaving out dozens of (maybe more deserving) titles...

@0ld_boy Thanks for voting. I forgot to vote Soul Calibur 2 OMG!

@JJ-Firl Thank you. It will get interesting in a few weeks.

@Bamozzy Thats a great way to look at this competition me thinks! At EGX playing Goldeneye with @kyroki @triplegk (get voting lads) it was pretty bad tbh. Still fun in a weird way, just not up to todays or even yesterdays standards. But its still a classic!

@get2sammyb @shogunRok @quintumply @simon_fitzgerald @johncalmc @alexstinton @anchorsam_9 Do any of you staffers fancy dropping 6 games in for old times sake? Its the very last best game of all time cup Im gonna run so feel free to drop some games in!

@themcnoisy Goldeneye hasn't aged well because of the visual style and the fact that FPS games have come on so much since that game released. However, few (if any) recapture that experience that Goldeneye had - partly because it was so revolutionary on console and its that game that really set FPS on the road to its popularity. It may not have been the first with Wolfenstein beating them to the punch but Wolfenstein was more a 'maze' game with added shooting - like 2D platformers went on to add 'shooting' as a mechanic. It was also one of the first to have a strong campaign with story and natural progression where others were virtually the same throughout with gradually increasing difficulty as you progressed through each new Maze/level. It also added the ability to aim - although that feels very clumsy by modern standards. If you were to consider this as one of the best games you 'could' play today, it wouldn't stand up against the modern day FPS games. Even those that may have been criticised - like the recent Advance Movement CoD's as the control schemes, unique story, even Zombies, etc blows it away but you can't deny that Goldeneye set the gaming world in a new direction. Halo:CE for example set the standard for the modern day shooter but CoD4 is obviously better - even if it feels more restrictive and limited to other CoD games that came after. Point is though, is that these games changed the landscape. The impact they had was also because they were the 'first' and felt 'new', unique and fresh but as with most things, new technology etc as enabled games to greatly improve on the ground rules they set. Much better camera angles for example, the ability to hear characters speak and feel the emotion and intonation in their dialogue , Stories written by heavyweights of the movie industry and top quality actors portraying characters in games - its no wonder that games are improved but also have more competition in genres, not much opportunity to deliver something totally unique in gaming etc...

Switch- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+
PS4- Horizon Zero Dawn, Rocket League
3DS- Pokemon Sun/Moon
Mega drive- Toejam and Earl

Half-Life 2 (PC)
Crash 3 (PS1)
Kingdom Hearts 2 (PS2)
Jak 3 (PS2)
Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4)
Uncharted 4 (PS4)

The 2 game limit definitely made it alittle harder but this is still a good list of games I love

@themcnoisy Sure thing!

PS2 - Star Wars Battlefront II (the good one)
PS2 - Bully
PS4 - Yakuza 0
PS4 - GTA V
PS1 - Crash Bandicoot
Xbox - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

@themcnoisy

SNES - Super Street Fighter II
PS - Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII
PS Vita - Persona 4 Golden
PS3/360 - Mass Effect 2, BioShock Infinite

This was actually really hard because of the two per generation limit. The original PlayStation is my favourite ever console and would probably have racked up five of the six on its own.

@johncalmc Final Fantasy VII is already through to Round 2 as a previous winner, so you could get another one in instead .

Man, this is tough. As soon as I think I’m ready to submit my nominations, I second guess myself. Trying to decide whether to avoid repeating games that have been mentioned that are probably already going to make it to the next round.
I’m probably taking this way to seriously. Lol. Thanks a lot @themcnoisy for the insomnia you have cause me.

@Th3solution Two things to remember:

1) any niche titles you pick will get blasted out immediately, so don't sweat it really. I know no one else is going to vote for Ultima Online or Counter-Strike, for example
2) as fun as these votes are, it's not actually of any real importance, so don't sweat it haha

@themcnoisy Here are my choices.

These are the games I've spent the most time playing, or found myself coming back to repeatedly. Some aren't the most important video games, or the most influential, but they were really important to me and that's why they're the best. They were intrinsically linked to certain periods of my life - both good and bad - and one even managed to make me love Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne. Indeed, they were truly special. .

Half Life 2 (PC)
SMITE (PS4)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)
GTA V (PS4)
Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3)

Doubtful to be top rated in the end. But these are either just personal favourites, or in the case of Warhawk - something that changed the way I gamed and viewed gaming.

Megadrive - Thunderforce IV
Megadrive - Streets of Rage 2
PlayStation - Tomb Raider 2
PlayStation 2 - Gradius V
Playstation 2 - Shadow of the Colossus
PlayStation 3 - Warhawk

Special mention goes to Dariusburst: Chronicle Saviours on Vita - for being perfect.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Oh lovely. Confusing, but lovely. I'm changing that vote to Final Fantasy IX then, which it was originally before I changed it on a whim. @themcnoisy

@AlexStinton Good old Halflife 2. I've been having some serious HL urges these recent months. Still holding out hope for HL3. The day that's announced is the day I start considering which components to buy for a new gaming PC.

@kyleforrester87 You can't go wrong with Half-Life 2. Back then I played games primarily on PC and I remember spending an offensive amount of money on a video card so I could play it on the best settings.

Unfortunately, I've come to accept that Half Life 3 is never going to happen. The weight of expectation is far too much for anyone at Valve to want to take it on willingly, unless they have a truly revolutionary idea to sit at it's centre. The only other reason it could happen is if Valve need the money, and that certainly won't be the case any time soon.

@AlexStinton I don't really have huge expectations myself, I never really found HL1 and HL2 to be mind blowing, just always felt effortlessly fun to play throughout. I've never really considered that they could get HL3 wrong. I do think we'll see it one day, or at least HL return in some form. But I'm not killing myself either lol.

@AlexStinton I think Half Life 3 is one of those 'damned if they do, damned if they don't' games. There will be purists who want it to be like the originals - albeit with a modern day look, and those that want it to do enough to stand out amongst the other games in the genre - maybe even be a genre defining game. You know that some will ultimately be disappointed but if they try to keep both sides happy, it will end up disappointing both.

A way round it could be to 'reboot' the franchise so that they can almost start from a fresh slate and get away with making the game they want rather than trying to make a game for the fans. Tomb Raider for example managed to do this very well. The fact that we have a lot more FPS games and you could argue that the market has become a little tired of the genre, especially those with a 'sci-fi' background and that its not the right time for a new 'Half Life'. We have seen a shift to more historic based shooters - perhaps because of the 'sci-fi' shooter saturation - although I consider the 'CoD's' to be futuristic more than Sci-Fi but that's splitting hairs I guess.

Sony has dropped 2 of its sci-fi first person shooters (at least for the moment) with Killzone and Resistance and MS's Halo has split the fanbase. I know Titanfall 2 was up against it with its release window and Destiny seems to be losing its battle to keep its fans - although it was similar to Destiny 1 at the same point in that games life cycle too. SW:BF2 has other issues but it seems that overall, the Sci-Fi shooter is on the decline. I guess Half Life 3 'could' reverse the trend but it could also end up missing the mark too...

I've really enjoyed reading people's replies thusfar, whilst I've wrestled with my own list.

With huge respect to everybody's unique approach to this megapoll, I'm afraid I can't be the bigger man and make choices based upon wider cultural impact; I simply don't feel qualified enough to be the judge for all gaming. I know what I like, and I know why I'm here. The titles below are therefore my personal favourites and, since my opinions always seem to be a little out-of-sync with everybody else, they're likely to be quite random and perhaps even disagreeable (I'm really not trolling, honest).

Anyway, nervous rambling aside, here are the games that mean the most to me, the games I find most enjoyable to play, and the games I therefore consider to be the best.

• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (PSone)
• James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (PlayStation2)
• Batman: Arkham Origins (PlayStation3)
• Mass Effect 3 (PlayStation3)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (PlayStation4)
• Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PlayStation4)

Games that didn't quite make the cut, but I still wanna mention, include Star Trek Invasion (PSone), Tomb Raider III: The Adventures of Lara Croft (PSone), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (PlayStation2), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PlayStation3), Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PlayStation3) and Batman: Arkham Knight (PlayStation4).