Top 25 Games Of All Time (10-6)
Each Wednesday I'll be counting down my favorite 25 titles from throughout the 30 years I've been playing video games. The rankings are more personal than objective - it's not just how well-made, fun, or groundbreaking they were at the time, but also how much nostalgia they inspire for me personally.
Previous entries:
Honorable Mention
Games 25-21
Games 20-16
Games 15-11
Top 25 Games Of All Time:
Games 10 through 6
10. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision) - 1983
Nearly 10 years before Wolfenstein and nearly 20 years before Halo, this 3D role playing game for Intellivision pioneered elements that would help to create what's now known as the first person shooter genre.
It used the technology, which is impossibly primitive by today's standards, to create a convincing 3D world in which you could roam and explore at your own pace, fighting skeletons, giant scorpions, and so on with a variety of Lord of the Rings-style weapons. As you progressed, you would discover more valuable loot and more powerful and armor and weapons, which tapped into the addictive collecting vibe that would later become the lifeblood of games like Diablo and Everquest.
Looking back, you can admire it for its innovation, despite how basic it looks. But at the time it was released, it was magic - so much more than a video game. It was like entering another world.
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360) - March 2006
Quite possibly the most immersive game ever created, the scope and detail of Oblivion is just staggering.
You create a character and explore the lush fantasy world at your own pace, following the main storyline, or ignoring it altogether in favor of the hundreds upon hundreds of inventive side stories - from discovering long-lost antiques to entering a man's dreams to rescue him from his nightmares. There are hundreds of places to visit and thousands of people to meet, each with his or her own interesting and often surprising tales, mysteries, and quests to discover.
When combined with the amazingly convincing ambient audio, voice acting, and beautiful orchestral music, it creates a feeling not unlike reading a really good book. Except that here it's a more visual, visceral experience, and you can shape the story as you go.
It's also a nearly neverending experience. After 200 hours of playing, you're just starting to scratch the surface.
8. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (3D0) - 1994
It's amazing to consider all of the ways in which this epic space opera broke new ground:
-Full-motion video that featured a Hollywood cast with some serious geek cred, including Mark Hamill ("Star Wars" trilogy), John Rhys-Davies ("Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange"), Tom Wilson (Biff from the "Back to the Future" trilogy), and more.
-Actors interacting in front of a green screen, with computer-generated backgrounds added in post production... years before movies employed the same effect
-It was one of the first games ever to use 3D polygon graphics and incorporated voice work from the actors during the space action sequences
-Dialogue choices let you decide how you want Mark Hamill's character act and, through that, change the events of the story
The acting was just the right mix of camp and earnest, compelling drama, and the space combat itself was very well balanced and felt urgent because of the way it was wrapped in full motion video presentation. If someone died during a mission, there was a full-motion video funeral for that character, complete with reactions from their crewmates.
As you might expect, it felt like less than a "video game" at the time and closer to the tagline of "interactive movie." You cared about the characters and the plot, and felt like every moment was important. It says a lot about the title that 15 years later, I've still never played another game that felt that way.
7. Mass Effect (Xbox 360) - Nov. 2007
It feels in a way like a descendant of Wing Commander III, but this more recent sprawling, epic sci-fi RPG was impressive in a different way. The sheer size, depth, and cinematic production quality is just overwhelming. After some time away from the game, it's easy to forget just what an experience it is.
Each time you create a new lead character - male or female, combat or tech focused, "biotic" power-infused or a jack-of-all-trades - it feels like you have an entirely new game ahead of you. The combat mechanics play out in real time from a third-person shooter POV but allow you to pause and set strategies at your own pace, which is unfailingly satisfying.
The production quality and level of immersion create a feel of "role playing" via dialogue choices and how you form (or destroy) relationships. And people. I almost want to create every possible character type and take each one through the game so that I'll have them all on hand, with their own look, background, personality and story, for the sequel. And because this game is just so deep and so involving, I feel like it would be just as fun on the 10th play-through as it was on the second or third.
6. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) - Oct. 2008
Bethesda followed "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" with this post-apocalyptic, first-person action/RPG.
It's a world full of burnt-out shacks draped in neon and Christmas lights, where mutated humans and animals battle over food and shelter while the remnants of government wage a larger battle for control of the wasteland. Your character roams this collision of 1980s movie concepts, armed to the teeth and ready to dispense justice - or injustice.
The game's wealth of subplots and people and locations and side quests, allow you to shape not just your own character but the future of humanity in ways that are creative and involving. It's a study in contrasts: A setting that is monsterous and twisted but somehow beautiful, stories that can be bleak but can also be surprisingly uplifting.
And it's almost impossible to stop playing.
Coming next Wednesday:
The Five Best Games Of All Time
Previous entries:
Honorable Mention
Games 25-21
Games 20-16
Games 15-11
Top 25 Games Of All Time:
Games 10 through 6
10. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision) - 1983
Nearly 10 years before Wolfenstein and nearly 20 years before Halo, this 3D role playing game for Intellivision pioneered elements that would help to create what's now known as the first person shooter genre.
It used the technology, which is impossibly primitive by today's standards, to create a convincing 3D world in which you could roam and explore at your own pace, fighting skeletons, giant scorpions, and so on with a variety of Lord of the Rings-style weapons. As you progressed, you would discover more valuable loot and more powerful and armor and weapons, which tapped into the addictive collecting vibe that would later become the lifeblood of games like Diablo and Everquest.
Looking back, you can admire it for its innovation, despite how basic it looks. But at the time it was released, it was magic - so much more than a video game. It was like entering another world.
9. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360) - March 2006
Quite possibly the most immersive game ever created, the scope and detail of Oblivion is just staggering.
You create a character and explore the lush fantasy world at your own pace, following the main storyline, or ignoring it altogether in favor of the hundreds upon hundreds of inventive side stories - from discovering long-lost antiques to entering a man's dreams to rescue him from his nightmares. There are hundreds of places to visit and thousands of people to meet, each with his or her own interesting and often surprising tales, mysteries, and quests to discover.
When combined with the amazingly convincing ambient audio, voice acting, and beautiful orchestral music, it creates a feeling not unlike reading a really good book. Except that here it's a more visual, visceral experience, and you can shape the story as you go.
It's also a nearly neverending experience. After 200 hours of playing, you're just starting to scratch the surface.
8. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (3D0) - 1994
It's amazing to consider all of the ways in which this epic space opera broke new ground:
-Full-motion video that featured a Hollywood cast with some serious geek cred, including Mark Hamill ("Star Wars" trilogy), John Rhys-Davies ("Lord of the Rings" trilogy), Malcolm McDowell ("A Clockwork Orange"), Tom Wilson (Biff from the "Back to the Future" trilogy), and more.
-Actors interacting in front of a green screen, with computer-generated backgrounds added in post production... years before movies employed the same effect
-It was one of the first games ever to use 3D polygon graphics and incorporated voice work from the actors during the space action sequences
-Dialogue choices let you decide how you want Mark Hamill's character act and, through that, change the events of the story
The acting was just the right mix of camp and earnest, compelling drama, and the space combat itself was very well balanced and felt urgent because of the way it was wrapped in full motion video presentation. If someone died during a mission, there was a full-motion video funeral for that character, complete with reactions from their crewmates.
As you might expect, it felt like less than a "video game" at the time and closer to the tagline of "interactive movie." You cared about the characters and the plot, and felt like every moment was important. It says a lot about the title that 15 years later, I've still never played another game that felt that way.
7. Mass Effect (Xbox 360) - Nov. 2007
It feels in a way like a descendant of Wing Commander III, but this more recent sprawling, epic sci-fi RPG was impressive in a different way. The sheer size, depth, and cinematic production quality is just overwhelming. After some time away from the game, it's easy to forget just what an experience it is.
Each time you create a new lead character - male or female, combat or tech focused, "biotic" power-infused or a jack-of-all-trades - it feels like you have an entirely new game ahead of you. The combat mechanics play out in real time from a third-person shooter POV but allow you to pause and set strategies at your own pace, which is unfailingly satisfying.
The production quality and level of immersion create a feel of "role playing" via dialogue choices and how you form (or destroy) relationships. And people. I almost want to create every possible character type and take each one through the game so that I'll have them all on hand, with their own look, background, personality and story, for the sequel. And because this game is just so deep and so involving, I feel like it would be just as fun on the 10th play-through as it was on the second or third.
6. Fallout 3 (Xbox 360) - Oct. 2008
Bethesda followed "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" with this post-apocalyptic, first-person action/RPG.
It's a world full of burnt-out shacks draped in neon and Christmas lights, where mutated humans and animals battle over food and shelter while the remnants of government wage a larger battle for control of the wasteland. Your character roams this collision of 1980s movie concepts, armed to the teeth and ready to dispense justice - or injustice.
The game's wealth of subplots and people and locations and side quests, allow you to shape not just your own character but the future of humanity in ways that are creative and involving. It's a study in contrasts: A setting that is monsterous and twisted but somehow beautiful, stories that can be bleak but can also be surprisingly uplifting.
And it's almost impossible to stop playing.
Coming next Wednesday:
The Five Best Games Of All Time
posted by Brad at
7:00 AM
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