[Persiflage]

In no particular order, off the top of my head:

1. Civilization
The classic, though I considered Cilization II an even better game. I'm looking forward to playing the fourth in the series once I get my new computer built.

2. Final Fantasy 7
The finest console-style RPG.

3. Planescape: Torment
Incredible atmostphere and writing. This game, was based on the Baldur's Gate engine, but in my opinion surpassed BG, BGII, and both Icewind Dale games. It's a smaller, more intimate game, but the retains a

4. Star Control II
The melee itself is addictive, and then you add in an incredible space-exploration adventure game. Funny to the end of the closing credits.

5. Master of Magic
Civilization in a fantasy setting. With magic. With a choice of race, different types of magic, and different abilities for your wizard, this Master of Magic has tons of replayability. It was developed by Simtex, developers of the original Masters of Orion.

6. Starcraft
Still does real-time strategy better than almost everything else out there.

7. X-Com
Squad-based tactical game that I still haven't seen bettered.

8. Street Fighter II

9. Tie Fighter
The pinnacle of the early space sims.

10. Chronotrigger
The, uh, other finest console-style RPG. Whimsical, imaginative, and tons of fun.

I'm really looking forward to playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played TESIII: Morrowind, and it sounds like Oblivion fixes so much of what was wrong with Morrowind, while still leaving an incredible world to explore.

One of these days I'll have to try World of Warcraft, just to see what a modern MMORPG is like.

[Persiflage]

Whoops, made a mistake. Simtex (the developer of Master of Magic) devloped both Master of Orion 1 and 2.

[mcrespo71]

It's funny how people prefer Ms. Pac Man vs Pac Man.  I always thought it was more charming, but I guess it does have different maps.  I can't recall if the mazes in Pac Man changed or not?  Also, for it's time, Asteroids was freaking awesome.  In terms of most hours logged in, Starcraft blows away all the other games I listed combined.  I literally spent hundreds of hours playing that game online.  The addiction was so great I actually gave the game away- it was affecting my life adversely.

Micheal

[ooheadsoo]

Brings back some old memories.

Starsiege Tribes
Star Control 2
Masters of Orion 2
Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X
Jagged Alliance 2
Chrono Trigger
Victorious Boxers (Hajime no Ippo)
Gran Turismo 2/3

[Bemopti123]

It's funny how people prefer Ms. Pac Man vs Pac Man.  I always thought it was more charming, but I guess it does have different maps.  I can't recall if the mazes in Pac Man changed or not?  Also, for it's time, Asteroids was freaking awesome.  In terms of most hours logged in, Starcraft blows away all the other games I listed combined.  I literally spent hundreds of hours playing that game online.  The addiction was so great I actually gave the game away- it was affecting my life adversely.

Micheal

 

Have you have you heard about a South Korean student who played the game 72 hours straight and dropped dead from fatigue?

In my home country, there are a good 2-4 million copies sold of the Starcraft, that is almost 1 out of 10 people in Korea have or are still playing it.

PS:  Common, did you give it away and decided to play something else instead?  It is almost like you have unhooked from something super addictive (Starcraft) for light, non alcoholic beer!  Common, you know that Starcraft is calling you....calling you.....

Not to be pushy about it, but there is not a game that is worth $19.99 for both the version 1 and the expansion pack that can give you soooo much action as SCraft does.  

See addiction?  Check this link....

http://search.hankooki.com/times/times_view.php?term=starcraft+english++&path=hankooki3/times/lpage/plaza/200602/kt2006020915301955090.htm&media=kt

[mcrespo71]

I can't play SC again.  It's undoubtedly the greatest videogame I've ever played- hands down.  However, I don't want my life in the gutter.  SC is the closest I've been to being addicted to drugs.  I literally would sleep and dream about SC.  Great game, but not healthy for me.

[nathan_klassen]

4. Star Control II
The melee itself is addictive, and then you add in an incredible space-exploration adventure game. Funny to the end of the closing credits.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who loves this game The developers actually opened up the source to the 3DO port of the game and there is an active project that has ported it back to the PC.
http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

6. Starcraft
Still does real-time strategy better than almost everything else out there.

Although much time in dorms was spent playing Starcraft, and it is a spectacular RTS, I have to give the edge to Total Annihilation. In my opinion the only RTS to actually have the 'scale' to justify being called a 'Strategy' game.  Cavedog went under, as some may know, but a group has been porting TA to a fully 3D engine that is available for download and supports multiplayer over the Internet. Well worth a look @
http://taspring.clan-sy.com/

Chris Taylor's 'spiritual' successor to Total Annihilation, Supreme Commander, is due out later this year early next. Details @ http://www.gaspoweredgames.com

7. X-Com
Squad-based tactical game that I still haven't seen bettered.

Doh! Forgot about X-Com, I'll never live that down Several projects have sprung up remaking / adapting the game.  Links can be found from:
http://www.xcomufo.com/links.html

One of these days I'll have to try World of Warcraft, just to see what a modern MMORPG is like.

MMOs are... an acquired taste and require a huge time committment and are staggeringly addictive.  WoW is, arguably, the best implemented MMO on the market, but that doesn't mean that there aren't considerable problems, which plague the genre as a whole at the moment. Such as...

Lots of time spent grinding, incredibly repetitive gameplay, lack of narrative, inability to impact the world you interact with in a tangible way (no the recent events to unlock the Ahn'Quiraj areas don't count - it was mindnumbing and one time --- although other games like Shadowbane and Dark Age of Camelot do this better). There is grinding in every aspect of WoW. You want those new enchanting recipes from the Timbermaw Faction? Be prepared to kill a couple thousand of their enemies, I'm not exagerating. Want that nice gear out of Zul'Gurub? Be prepared to raid for a few months, bugs excluded, to get your reputation to revered to qualify for the best gear. Want the nice PVP armor and weapon rewards when you hit High Warlord (Rank 14)? After a month or two 4-6 hours per day of and you get to Rank 8 - 12, you'll need 2 weeks to 2 months of about 12 hours per day of PVP to hit rank 14... its just insane. And because the 'ranking system' is a rolling average, week to week, you never have a 'good' idea of where you are in the rankings nor how much you actually need to do to secure your top position.

Perhaps most significantly is that once you hit the level cap, 60 at the moment but raised to 70 in the forthcoming expansion, the game changes radically.  It goes from a 1-5 player on individual quests to a 40 player 'co-operative' dungoen raiding mechanism, which requires a lot of time, co-ordination and discipline. Its true that there is a Player vs Player component in World of Warcraft as well but it is relatively shallow incredibly time consuming and rewards are linked only to time invested, not necessarily skill, although some skill is required.

WoW like all the other MMOs out there are still 'essentially' 1st generation - in that they all have similar types of gameplay, objectives, and rewards. There are a few exceptions like Eve, SecondLife and a few others.  What tends to happen is that Blizzard seems to always make the most 'refined' game of a specific genre - at that point almost everything that can be done with that 'phase' of a genre is normally exhausted which forces game developers to actually revolutionize instead of just evolve.  Here's hoping the next wave of MMOs start to address this sort of thing.

If anyone happens to play WoW on Alleria (Horde) or Thunderlord (Horde) send me a PM and perhaps we can get together virtually sometime

- Nathan Klassen

[Papajin]

Having spent some time in both WoW and Everquest, I still can't say across the board that WoW is better.  WoW is still somewhat lacking in raidable content.  EQ has gobs of it in comparison.  This impacts the long-term playability.  Still, there's a lot of things that Blizzard did right on WoW, and I do find it enjoyable to play overall.  I just wonder if it'll manage to keep my interest for 6+ years like EQ has.

[ooheadsoo]

Xcom? Try Jagged Alliance 2, if you can find it.  I actually bought this game 3 times in addition to the expansion for various reasons.  Much better tactical game, better control.

[Woodsea]

I loved StarCraft as well.  It should have been on my top ten, but DNF took that spot.  Have your read the Ghost is indefinetly delayed.   Damn!!

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/698/698466p1.html

We should get an AC clan going for Supreme Commander.  This game is going to rock.  After reading thru this thread, I see alot of people like RTS games.

[bhiggins]

These are ranked based on the number of hours missing from my life:

. Unreal Tournament (PC) - I played this one so much, I used to have UT dreams
. Diablo 1/2 (PC)
. Warcraft 1/2/3 (PC)
. DOOM (PC)
. Wizardry (Apple][)
. Defender (Arcade)
. Gauntlet (Arcade)

[PhilNYC]

Top 10 Arcade games:

10. Spy Hunter
9. Centipede
8. Punch-Out
7. Pac-Man
6. Donkey Kong
5. Pole Position
4. Defender
3. Battlezone
2. Asteroids
1. Space Invaders


Special mentions go to:
- Missle Command
- Joust
- NBA Jam

[kfr01]

Doom 2 - Greatest Game of All Time
Quake
Quake III
Dark Age of Camelot
Street Fighter
Madden NFL
Super Mario 3

[tull skull]

4 pages of this stuff and only one mention of the Descent series?  
 
Are you guys all under 20 years old or something? The orig. Descent used to scare me so bad that I would push myself away from the monitor so far and fast that I would knock the joystick out of my hands!

Plus the online players are insane. They make the top skilled halo jocks seem like little kids. (well I guess most of them are, but you know what I mean!)

One of the best of all time and it's fans are just as devoted to the game today as they were when they first came out.

[PhilNYC]

4 pages of this stuff and only one mention of the Descent series?  
 
Are you guys all under 20 years old or something?

You're asking this of a guy who just listed Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Battlezone as the top 3 arcade games of all time?  

The orig. Descent used to scare me so bad that I would push myself away from the monitor so far and fast that I would knock the joystick out of my hands!.

Wasn't Descent a Mac-only game for a long time?  And the eventual PC port wasn't all that good?

[Bemopti123]

Tull Skull, if you read each post carefully, you will see references to games that are at least 15 years old (Civilization I) as well as older, arcade games that throw you back to the 1970s....unless I was 1 or something when I played these games, I must have been a prodigy.

Most of the games that I cannot forget are at least 16+ years old....only wish that my years stopped ticking back then!


This list of 10 best is not enough, I add the following to the batch:

DIABLO II
STAR WARS, TIDE FIGHTER (arcade, 1980?)

[tull skull]

I know, I know... just had to talk a little trash! It was all in jest!

I don't know the history of the orig. descent's release, but Phil, you kinda sound like a typical game snob that poo poos a release because it doesn't fit your credentials, or it doesn't have the pedigree.  All I can tell you is that I played it on p.c. Also sounds like you never played it. I dare you to get Descent III. They are cheap on ebay. You get back to me when you see the quality of the graphics and note it's release date.

The first week I played it, I could barely fly and would somehow end up upside down in the top corner of a room while being pounded to oblivion and not knowing what to do or what I did to get in that situation!

I will readily admit I am not a great gamer, but I've worked with my share of game snobs and game geeks and they still sing descent's praises. Also I do know that the origional Descent was on Sony PS, and the orig and Descent III were considered benchmarks.

[nathanm]

ATARI
Pitfall
Seaquest

PC
Leisure Suit Larry - Looking For Love
Monkey Island I & II
Doom I
Quake I (creepiest soundtrack too!)
American McGee's Alice
Abe's Oddysee

XBOX
Munch's Oddysee
Stranger's Wrath

[PhilNYC]

I don't know the history of the orig. descent's release, but Phil, you kinda sound like a typical game snob that poo poos a release because it doesn't fit your credentials, or it doesn't have the pedigree.  All I can tell you is that I played it on p.c. Also sounds like you never played it. I dare you to get Descent III. They are cheap on ebay. You get back to me when you see the quality of the graphics and note it's release date.

 ...

On the contrary, I loved Descent!  My snobbery comes from the fact that I was a Macintosh guy and thought it was much better than the PC version...

(fwiw, I also worked in the video game industry for 3 years, producing one game in the 3D shooter genre.  Descent was graphically one of the most advanced games out there and a heck of a lot of fun!)...

[PhilNYC]

Also I do know that the origional Descent was on Sony PS, and the orig and Descent III were considered benchmarks....

Btw - the original Descent was definitely a Mac game that came out years before the original Playstation was introduced...