The best games ever.

[Minionman]

I also feel this thread has gone crazy with sub-par games.  I meant games that were simply AWESOME for their time.  While d2 was an awesome game for me, diablo was so much better.  D2 was simply a remake of d1 with a whole lot more options, but the classes were still not balanced.  Doesn't change the fact that it's still an addictive game, but not one of my "greatests".
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Which games are "awsome" will depend on the person, so while there may be a lot of, to you, "sub-par" games, we all won't agree. To some people, civilization three is a major improvement on civilization two, but I think of three as a step down, played it a little, and lost interest.

[jahcs]

Two games that I played whenever I could in the arcade were TimePilot and Star Wars (the Atari one where the Empire's blasters fired psychadelic asterisks and everything was made of neon line drawings.) Karate Champ and Galaga were also fun. Most any pinball table, as long as it wasn't too crazy or too bland. Tekken always had a line to play it.

[Bolty]

(And, thanks once again for opening my eyes to Star Control 2... that really is the best game ever, isn't it?)[right][snapback]89701[/snapback][/right]

You're welcome, Jester!

I'm going to play Broken Record here and repeat to anyone who has not yet tried this game, which you can download for absolutely free nowadays: If you have not played Star Control II, you have not played one of the best games of all time and you are MISSING OUT! This game will make you a better person for playing it!

Sorry. :) I get carried away - I just wish more gamers I knew would try this one out, because unless you're an old-school gamer from back when Playing Games Wasn't At All Socially Acceptable Like It Sorta Is Now, you missed this one.

I noticed recently on Home of the Underdogs that they finally got around to giving Star Control II its props:

Arguably the best PC game ever made, Toys for Bob's Star Control 2 is an epic "space adventure" that combines the best elements of action, adventure, and RPG genres to create a thoroughly compelling game that remains a blast to play more than a decade after its release. After acquiring copyrights to the game (everything but the "Star Control" name) from the now-defunct publisher Accolade, Toys for Bob generously released the partially ported source code of the game's 3DO version to the fan community (largely because much of the PC source has been lost) in 2002. After years of work by a number of dedicated fans, the game, re-christened "The Ur-Quan Masters," is now available for download free of charge from the official website. Despite the low version number (0.4.0 as of June 2005), The Ur-Quan Masters is already a very stable, 100%-complete game that is even better than either the official PC or 3DO release of the original game, thanks to the ingenious combination of hilarious voice-overs and excellent graphics from the 3DO version with the cleaner and more intuitive user interface of the PC version.

If you have never played the original Star Control 2 (and you'd have to either be living under a rock or start gaming quite recently for that), let me try to convince you why this is a must-play computer game no matter what your genre preferences are. Consider some statistics for starters: over 30 unique alien races to interact with, 19 different ships to control and customize, virtually countless star systems based on real astronomical data - each containing planets that can be explored, hyperspace and quasispace travel, plenty of non-linear quests, attractive VGA graphics that look great even 10 years later, and a cool soundtrack. Add to that a well-crafted plot and backstory (the "big foozle" in the game, the Ur-Quans, consistently win votes as all-time best computer game villains), hilarious dialogues, and a truly 'epic' length, and you will begin to realize there is nothing wrong with this gem. Your goal as captain of the mighty Precursor vessel is to rescue the entire universe from the Ur-quan and inevitable enslavement. You have to do this in four years in game time - a very long time in real life that you will enjoy every minute of.

What makes Star Control 2 so endearing to gamers across all camps is its unprecedented success of melding different genres by offering several different "modes" that are tightly integrated. In exploration mode, you travel among the planets of a star system. When you touch a planet with your ship, you go into planet mode, where you scan for minerals, life, and so on. You can launch a planet lander onto the surface of the planet if your scan turns up anything of value. Planets have different hostile elements in the form of flora and fauna, intense heat, earthquakes and lightning. In the dialogue mode - most people's favorite - you get to talk to a wide range of unique and funny aliens with names like Umgah, Druuge, Spathi and so on. This often leads to the combat mode, which is one of the most fun parts of the game - especially after you amass a huge fleet in the course of the game.

In combat, the game puts your ships and your enemy's ships in random places on the screen, simulating a hyperjump into the ring of battle. You only have to fight one ship at a time: other ships wait their turn. Blowing up enemy ships get you RUs, or Resource Units (the unit of money in the game), and sometimes vital plot-related clues. If you don't feel like to play the whole game just to get to combat, you can choose "Super Melee" option from the game's main menu: a two-player melee mode offering a quick combat fix.

Technologically, the game was years ahead of its time: it featured very smooth VGA graphics and digitized music (in the form of MOD files).... on a 12-mhz 286 computer.

To summarize, The Ur-Quan Masters is the best version of one of the the best games ever created. I would have gladly paid for this version that is now being distributed for free thanks to the generosity of Toys for Bob and dedication of die-hard fans. If you have played Star Control 2 before, the funny voices and cool beginning and ending sequences from the 3DO version make it all worthwhile to jump back into the Precursor's captain chair and experience the addiction all over again. A must-have.

I'd also like to mention that Home of the Underdogs has a listing for Sacrifice as well, one of the other games I mentioned. They provide a link to a place where you can grab it for $11, although I bet you can beat that price elsewhere. Not an all-time great like Star Control II, but probably one of the best games you might have never heard of.

-Bolty

[Savingsupertokyo]

civilization 2

gg

[Tommi]

I second people here on the greatest games ever. This is my list:

Nethack
Elite
Ultima IV: Quest for the Avatar
Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
Commando
Master of Orion
Star Control II: The Urquan Masters
Civilization
Archon

[Refrigerator]

Ogre Battle 64. Man that game has some AWESOME memories. I first rented it 4 years ago I think, and played it with my best friend and his brother on weekends. We each handpicked and named our characters to make up our super elite units, and rented it every chance we got. I named one of my characters after the leader of one of the toughest unit I ever fought. Do you ever get that, in games, where you're actually impressed with the bloody resilience of a computer opponent? It was actually really impressive.

The first time we played through it, our Chaos Frame was, I think 0 (if you've played it, you'll get it) and the epilogue ended with everyone forgetting about us after we saved the world. Sigh. It was so horrible. Oh man, I'm smiling just thinking about it. We still play it from time to time, actually. What a fun game. Really good, long, involved plot too.

Anyways, Ogre Battle 64. Not amazing by yourself, but get a likeminded friend with a sense of humour and it can be some great fun.

(Sorry, one more memory. We decided to look for dragons to recruit, after deciding that stone golems would be too hard to find. So we enter this region with 'common sightings of baby dragons, fairies, and gremlins, and rumours of golems'. I think I said something about it being funny if we found a golem instead of a dragon.
Literally, less than FIVE SECONDS into the stage we fought a Stone Golem! The frigging irony of it all was just hilarious. )

[DeeBye]

Has anyone said Mario Golf for the N64 yet?

[[wcip]Angel]

Has anyone said Mario Golf for the N64 yet?
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No. And why do you think that is? :)

[Walkiry]

Let's see, I'll chime in with...

Atic Atac.
Firelord.
Army Moves.
Jet Set Willy.
Head Over Heels. (Play it or die a horrible death!)
Skool Daze (oh come on, you had to be a pest at school to succeed in tis game!)
Pyjamarama.
Rana Rama.

I may be forgetting something, but I still play some of those.

[Leshy]

I recently happened to compile a list of my favourite games for some no good reason, as if I were anticipating this thread :ph34r:

1. Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
2. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
3. Thief 2: The Metal Age
4. Quest for Glory: So you want to be a Hero
5. Baldur's Gate
6. Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
7. Mafia
8. Thief: The Dark Project
9. King's Quest 6: To Heir is Human
10. The Black Dahlia

[Fragbait]

Hi!

Figured I might as well jump in here, too: :shuriken:

#1: Diablo I and all things that make it special: Hellfire, Jarulfs Guide, Soul Toucher's Experience Table, THE DARK etc. Not much left to say here - many of you will probably have heard of that one...

#2: Quake III Arena. I have had so much fun in multiplayer with this one for YEARS literally. No good LAN should miss out on that one. Pretty and Fast. Played 'em all: Blood, Half Life, Counter Strike, Doom 3, Quake 1 & 2, Unreal Tournament, Sin etc, etc, etc. Nothing can compare in multiplayer.

#3: Starcraft. The Best realtime strategy game ever. Period. Broodwar made it even better. Used to play it a lot back in the days, but it's rather time intensive...


- This is what you call a pretty huge gap -


I'm finding it hard to place other games after these milestones. But let me take a look: There were other very good games that I've played:

*Diablo II and LoD: tied me to my pc pretty much for several years. I've got enough now, I guess.

*Daikatana: Came out a little late at that time - Unreal and its engine took care that it got a commercial flop. But it's a huge, great game.

*Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. A fun game, even in multiplayer. Definitely fun.

*Virtua Fighter I & II: Great Beat Em Up games. There were (are still ?) not too many options for pc gamers in that genre.

Sure there were many more. Tried others, liked them, too. Then, after a while, I deleted them. The games above, I played longer. Diablo II, Diablo I and Quake III Arena are STILL on my laptop, and I play them every now and then. Can't hurt to train a bit Q3A for half an hour every 3 days or so / take out my rogue for a spin once each month or so ... ;)

Oh, and I second the one who named Magic: The Gathering. Great Game, although being a TCG. I got re-addicted lately... ;)


Anyways, I think that is it. As always, I was stating my opinion. Not the universal truth. Don't forget to read the whole article description, neh?
Greetings, Fragbait

[Magicbag]

I'm surprised no one mentioned wasteland.. one of the best RPGs ever.
http://wasteland.rockdud.net/wasteland.html

I also enjoyed Might and Magic (III was very fun)
as well as a lesser known game called Dark Heart of Uukrul.
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=274

-MB

[--Pete]

Hi,

I recently happened to compile a list of my favourite games for some no good reason, as if I were anticipating this thread  :ph34r:

1.  Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
2.  Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
3.  Thief 2: The Metal Age
4.  Quest for Glory: So you want to be a Hero
5.  Baldur's Gate
6.  Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within
7.  Mafia
8.  Thief: The Dark Project
9.  King's Quest 6: To Heir is Human
10.  The Black Dahlia
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You don't, by any chance, like role playing games, do you? :whistling:

--Pete

[Kruxx06]

Personally I look to the Old School sierra RPG's such as Space Quest, and Heros Quest.


I would also have to give a nod to The Summoning, and the original Civilization game.
Both of these games were ahead of their time.

[Icebird]

Cool games that I remember:

World of Warcraft
Diablo II

Both for sucking years out of my life.

Final Fantasy VIII (the only one I've played so don't hate me if other instalments are better)
Half Life (the storyline sucked me in in a way Doom didn't)
Lemmings 2 ("oh no!")
Paradroid (the game play was unique)
Sim City
Legacy of the Ancients (old school RPG but still quite playable)
Jumpman (Commodore 64 jumping puzzle platform game)

Chris

[DeeBye]

No. And why do you think that is? :)
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Shut up :angry: Mario Golf was awesome :wub:

[ima_nerd]

Most game for the buck:

Lords of the Realm II
Warcraft II B.Net Edition

For $10 apiece, those entertained me for years and LotRII makes a comeback every few months.

Other games:

TES III: Morrowind
Warcraft III ROC/TFT
WoW
Diablo I/II

Soon* to be:

Vanguard
TES IV: Oblivion

*By "soon", I mean somewhere in the next 1-12 years :P

[NiteFox]

Shut up  :angry:  Mario Golf was awesome  :wub:
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Gotta admit, I was quite addicted to Mario Golf on the GBA for a while.

Another fine game from the Nintendo stable.

[Premezilla]

Marathon.
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This was the first computer game (it might have been game, period) I ever played. My uncle introduced me to it at the school where he worked. Got me hooked on games for life.

I also second the Monkey Island series. Curse was the most entertaining game I have ever played, hands down. The in-game easter eggs were hilarious! The singing barbers bit on the ship was the funniest moment I've ever seen. Escape was a little less fun; I guess the new perspective threw me off a bit.

The game I've logged the most man-hours into would definitely be Civ II. Been playing that game ever since I got it (off and on in recent times) way back in '96. That makes 11 years; over a decade. Still fun even till today.

The one RTS game I really enjoyed was Total Annihilation. If I ever get a new computer (please, Santa?) I might be able to snag the new game Chris Taylor is busy developing.

And of course, the Metal Gears and the Marios and the ANIMAL CROSSINGS and the SSB and the Goldeneye and the Harvest Moons and the Storybook Weaver Deluxe.

Oh! And Math for the Real World, Legend of the Zoombinis, and Mario Teaches Typing. (From my younger years).

Ok, and Final Fight and Super Ghouls and Ghosts. And the TMNT beat 'em up on the SNES. And the Simpson's arcade game. And Halo multiplayer. And Winning Eleven.

As you can see, I am a videogame addict. Please help me. :)

[Jarulf]

Yay, an old thread and one I missed :)

First off, I don't agree in that games get better, they might have better graphics and sound but for game play, don't agree. Actually, many modern games have horrible game play and little to do, relying on multiplayer to provide lastability for example. A typical example is the Delta Force series, I recently saw some later release of it and it boosted some 10-20 single player missions, the original had if I don't recall bad some 40-50, and you see that type of thing in almost all games.

So what games do I think are the "best"? Obviously those that I kept playing a lot, or those that are of the one time sort, all the way to the end by myself and not just reading a "play through guide". Since my computer playing experience predate computers and my first game machine was one that had this interesting games of tennis (two white lines moving up and down and a dot moving in-between) which could be altered to be squash (both lines on the same side with a wall on the opposite) and the highly complex ice hockey (were both players had two lines), some of these might be quite old. I was also a Spectrum owner and never a C64 owner, which might also be noted. I then moved on to the Amiga. The games are somewhat in time order.



Ant Attack
My very first computer game and it turned out to be a 3D game, way ahead of any other 3D games I would say. It was fun to boot and you ran around in 3D town rescuing a princess while avoiding the spiders.

Jet Set Willy
Wow, what a game, never finished it, but it sure was fun, a good platform game.

Knight Lore
Perhaps not because it was good in the other sense, but I include it as a "good game" for what it did. It basically was the game that started the whole 3D isomeric game boom. Back then, a game release by Ultimate Play the Game was something huge and usually took game playing to a new level and everyone was amazed what one could squeeze out of the Spectrum. My favourite Ultimate game was probably Attic Attack though. Still, no "greatest game" list for Spectrum games is complete unless there is some Ultimate game on it.

Lords of Midnight
One of the first game that boosted a first person view world (although tile based and not real time based and you moved tile by tile and redrew the screen in-between), but it had a world of over 8000 tiles if I recall correctly, were you recruited Lords with armies you then moved around turned based, and in-between the evil opponent moved hordes of his own armies and battles were fought (during night, you had to wait until dawn to see the outcome). A tile was basically a mountain, a town, fortress or whatever. Multiple ways to win and incredibly fun. All this in 48kb of memory including the graphic memory.

The Hobbit
A classic text "adventure" game. Back then, the parser engine was as vital as the graphics engine is today as you typed in commands with normal language and it was amazing what they handled. This game of course had the famous "stuck in the dungeon with Torin" that probably generated more question to computer magazine hint sections than any other problem/game (there was no internet back then to check for solution). The way to get out was of course to have Torin carry you while he climbed out of the window!!!

Elite
Space game with almost to much freedom and those pesky aliens. And the joy when one could finally buy that docking computer to avoid docking by hand!


Moving on to the Amiga......


Arkanoid
Classic arcade game conversion, it was excellent, it was amazing but most of all, had superb music, in my opinion!

Pinball Fantasies (or was it wizard?)
Great pinball game, never found such a good pinball game ever again. I think there are PC versions of it, but they were never equally good, something was missing.

Bard's Tale
The first RPG game, you played it, and played it and played it and it was tricky and it was fun and it was great. Then you moved on to number 2 and then number 3. Talk about value for your money.

Populous
So simple, yet so easy to get hooked, and a quite original game concept and one of the earlier "god" games. I like them, but then, who doesn't like to play god.

Faery Tale Adventure
Great RPG game. It had a huge world, and very little linear plot, you basically could go around and do stuff as you pleased. More of this would be fun in today's games.



Unfortunately my memory of the Amiga period and the games I played is bad, so that is it. I moved to a PC quite early and thus many games I ended up playing there, also existed on the Amiga, although I played them on the PC.


Civilization
What can one say, classic game, no more comments needed.

Sim City
I have always liked this type of game, no "winning" and you can both replay and play for as long as you want and doing as you want. This mentioning actually applies to all the versions of it up to the latest Sim City 4. All great ones.

Doom
Played them all, loved them, but perhaps not my favourite, although they were great. This entry probably has to include the variants of Heretic which I probably liked even more as well as the first Hexen.

Duke Nukem
A true classic, my first multiplayer game, we played it a lot and we loved it. There was a TC with Vietnam theme we played even more. What memories, yay!

Panzer General
Excellent strategy game, yet not over complex), and better than any I have ever found afterwards. To bad these are not made any more

The Secret of Monkey Island
Who doesn't want to be a pirate! An extremely fun and entertaining game which I managed to complete (almost) all by myself after countless nights in front of the computer. Again, this type of game is rare to see today, or has one yet tired of them and they were so good because they were the first ones?

Tie Fighter
A very good space game, and sort of a much more fun to play Elite, although different in story and style (with specific missions to progress through). Yet excellent and allowed you to play on the "evil" side so to speak.

Might and Magic 6
A game I spent far to much time in, but one of the few rpg games I have actually played all the way to the end.

Ultima Underworld
Combine the typical rpg game with first person view and you get this excellent pearl! You get thrown into a cave, that has a surprisingly large amount of communities, worlds and content. Don’t ask how they can all live there but you have huge freedom and it is a very good story unfolding. Way ahead of other games in 3D I would say. The follow up, although good was not as enjoyable I would say.

Diablo
What can I say........



Probably forgotten many, but these are some of the game pearls through my life!