The greatest game ever.

Some might think this is stupid to ask, but I'm curious to know how this community responds to this question. As this place represents a somewhat unique niche of gamers.

What is your forever favorite fallback game that just sort of... brings you home, makes you feel warm and fuzzy. Everything satisfied, that nothing else can seem to quite top. That you go back and replay the same way you'd go back and relisten to an old favorite song.

For me, Sonic 3 and Knuckles. I don't think any game has ever topped it's brilliance. The gameplay design, the metaphor about life it presented, the flow of the game, the music, the visual stimulation it provided, the whole thing... perfect from a design point of view, aesthetic point of view and a philosophical point of view.

 

For me it's, without any doubt, XCOM-UFO!!

 

Hmmm for me this is tough. I have about three total games that I love.

Burnout 2: Point of Impact on the Gamecube. Last time I checked the time counter in the game I have logged over 182 hours in it. However, I can't say I have played it much lately.

Megaman 6 is my all time favorite classic game. I don't think I ever beat it but the combination of power ups and classic side scrolling action make it one of the games I revisit every now and again. Speaking of which, I haven't in a while might be time to fire that back up.
-On a Megaman note, anyone get Megaman 9 and 10 on the Live/PSN/Virtual Console? Why don't they have Rush able to turn into Jet and Power Megaman! Those are my favorite powerups in the series! Also, there is no charge ability for the buster, which was in every game since Megaman 2.

Lastly, I guess the other game I hold dear to me is Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Do I really need to explain why? It's massive, its detailed. It's the best Action/Adventure game to date.

 

Psychonauts.

An underappreciated masterpiece.

 

Dance Dance Revolution.

 

Another underappreciated masterpeice is Metal Arms: Glitch in the System. Best third person shooter hands down in my book. On Gamecube, Xbox and PS2. It had so much humor packed into its story and the action was so well planned out by the level designers I would have to add this as the fourth title that is my all time favorite. If anyone gets a chance, I recommend playing it!

 

Carmagedon 1

 

Hard to say, but Titan Quest is up there for me.

 

Portal is probably my favorite game, I've played through it so many times now, it just never gets old, even though I know every puzzle by heart.

Uncharted 2 is right up there though. Even though I haven't replayed it even once yet, it just floored me the entire time with its amazing art, gameplay, and writing.

 

I really like turok evolution

 

I have very found memories of the old puzzlegame sanitarium and Escape from Colditz if we are going old school

 

Open Transport Tycoon

--
oxl

 

Showing my age ... Manic Miner - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZYuGUCrkoU&feature=related

 

Haha Manic Miner was quality but best game ever might be a stretch.
Jet Set Willy perhaps?!

 

For me, it was that or PacMan ... but I love the man-eating toilets in Manic Miner more than the ghosts

 

Mail Order Monsters and Archon

 

Riven, as it was THE game that got me started with 3D and also made me love MentalRay.

 

The only answer to this question is

Super Metroid

 

Mechwarrior 2
Starcraft Brood wars
Civilization 2

 

the MYST-series !!! ("forced" me to 3D, great atmosphere, storytelling environements)
SCUMM-Bar rules !!! (if irony and optimistic humor is a respectable attitude, they have proven it!)

also on the top ten: new Prince of Persia parts, Heavenly Sword, TombRaider

cheers siggi

 

Final Fantasy VII

However, before then it would have been Elite, then before then Arkanoid, Guardian and Space Invaders... then before then Pong. Strangely nothing so far since FFVII for me has beaten it to take top spot, though there have been some excellent games just nothing with that overall impact.

 

Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters would probably be my favorite game of all time.

 

Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time. It is my all time favorite and I am pretty sure its because the music is just so great. The story, pretty good, graphics epic for there time. But the music is the winner over all games I have ever played.

 

Age of Empires (The first one)
That had me going for years...

 

Super Smash Brothers 64, and Super Mario World




Best games ever.

 

I really used to love z. I think it was my first rts that I ever played.

 

I say Thief 2, but it's actually more like a draw between Thief 2, Deus Ex, Half-Life 2, Fallout 3, Super Mario Bros. 3 and StarCraft.

 

Motor City Online (Pc)
Rez (Dreamcast)
Speed Devils Online Racing (Dreamcast)
Twisted Metal 1 (Playstation)

 

The MYST series is definitely what got me wanting to make games and anyone who sees my all-consuming work (for the last 10 months and counting) will most likely be able to tell.
I've gotten the most play out of Battlefield 2 online (over 600 hours I think, it's been a while), I really enjoyed Thief 1 and 2 and Fallout 3.

 

In no particular order.
->Metal Gear Solid (FOR Playstation). I did not like the next games in the series.

->Max Payne: I cant believ that Remedy gave it up to Rockstar. I hear good things about Alan Wake but have yet to play it.

->Arkham Asylum: You just cant beat it, god damn Mark Hamil as the Joker.

 

Deus Ex

also Buried in Time but thats an old one.

 

me too. I don't play as often anymore but I'll hook it up every now and then. The thing still works after 5 years of jumping on it too.

 

Favorite series: Soul Reaver and Space Quest.

Favorite game at the moment: Uncharted 2.

 

Hard to isolate 1, but the following have all been fantastic to play :
monkey island 1 2, sim city 2000 , civilization 2, Indiana jones and the fate of atlantis , deus ex, follout, Spaceship warlock, journeyman project 2, rise of the dragon, K.O.T.O.R. , gta San Andreas.

Now I'm quite astonished by Red Dead Redemption....

 

ops... sorry, double post...

 

To be honest, I find it hard to rank games because many different games have completely different gameplay and are pretty much impossible to compare. However, if I was to say my number one game, I might say Riven, if not only as a gameplay experience but also as an inspiration. However, just saying that leaves so many great games unmentioned, so I'm going to list my favorite games of certain genres:

First Person: Besides Riven, Bioshock. In my opinion this game took everything good from half life and made it ten times better. The game is also oozing with atmosphere and is one of the few games I feel the developers actually tried to make a good, thought provoking story. Runner-ups include Half Life 2 and the old-school shooters like Duke Nukem and Marathon. Half Life 2 was before Bioshock so I have to give it credit for paving the way, but it felt weaker in all departments in comparison to Bioshock. Of course, it's still better then the majority of games out there. As for the old school shooters, I really liked how smooth and simple they were. With video game's obsession with regenerating health and realism nowadays, I miss the old school system of being able to run really fast and carry 20 weapons at once.

Third Person: Soul Reaver. Especially considering how early it was made, it had a great story and very good gameplay. It felt a lot like a 3d Super Metroid, which is one of my all time favorite games. Some Runner-ups include Tomb Raider and Assassins' Creed.

Sidescroller: Super Metroid, which is probably my second favorite game of all time. The game was well about perfect in every department. It's non-linear structure in particular has yet to be replicated, in my opinion (besides maybe by the new castlevania games, but I haven't played them, so...) Some runner-ups include Super Mario 3, Cave story (which is free, btw, so download it if you've never played it), and Super Castlevania 4.
Sorry for the shameless plug
Puzzle: Braid. Not only did it have some of the most well thought out puzzles I've seen in gaming, but it also had an incredible story that will keep you thinking for weeks after you've completed it. Some people disliked the text-only story, but I definitely didn't. My runnerup is Portal.

Multiplayer: Probably a tie between Warcraft 3 and Team Fortress 2, both games I can't get enough of, the former mainly due to the modding community.

 

i downloaded cave story and am finding it awesome so far. Enjoying it much more than gran theft auto 4, devil may cry 4 and bioshock 2... somehow he seems to of combined alot of my favorite aspects from both super metroid and zelda. Something about the simplicity of old style games made them so enjoyable and relaxing... So many new game just stress you out more

 

Dungeon Master from 1987. Still play it today.

 

Super Alest on super Famicom

First for gameplay and music.
Pixel art are cool too ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIFkFQjTAg0

 

I just love deep, involving, hardcore games - not the pussy carebear crap we get these days. So my top games would probably be:

Ultima 7, buggy as hell, but easily one of the best rpg games to date. The living world is better than in any rpg that has come after it.

Asheron's Call, my first MMO and easily the one I consider the best of all time. Probably my greatest game ever.

Baldur's Gate 2, so deep and involving it will make anyone cry for mercy.

X-COM Enemy Unknown, best strategy game ever.

Diablo 2, the game I've spent the most time playing.

Halo 2, the greatest in the Halo series. A series where every single game has been completetly mind blowing. Probably one of the best first person shooters of all time.

I replay all these games from time to time, with the exception of Asheron's Call. I'm currently playing Ultima 7 again.

They hold up so amazingly well today with superior gameplay and graphics that still look amazing.

 

There are numerous titles that I call classics and that I look at with nostalgia flooding over me and make me excitedly recall stories of my playing videos games to anyone who happens to be nearby, stranger or not... But a lot of those, if I get it in my hands I will look at it, go "Ohhhhhhhhh" and then put it down and go do something else.

When I read your question, I thought about classifying it as: "From those games, games I would love to sit back down and actually play again"

In that respect, there are only 3 games (well, 3 sort of...) that meet that criteria as "Best ever game":
1. Castlevania 1
2. Rockman (all of them were excellent in my eyes)
3. Tetris. The original 8 bit arcade version

I loved Tetris so much, I started the game in two player mode and played with both controllers and still managed to get into the 800 lines...

Ahhh.... Tetris...

 

I can't really narrow down to a single game, various games had good parts to them for different reasons. I really played Datastorm and Deluxe Galaga a lot (Amiga games), but I also loved many platform games. I would also say that, due to their differences, no game is perfect, ever.

 

Its is hard to name only one game but here are games that really shocked/impact me:

Shatter Hands
Ultimate Stuntman
Batman, return of joker.
Contra-Force.
Metroid
Zelda
--------------------------
Doom (PC) This game with a better
story-telling could be
one of the best games ever made.
--------------------------
Zelda Snes
Illusion of Gaia (i used even to cry sometimes playing this game, lol do no why )
Super Mario RPG (dint remember if i cry playing this one lol.
Super Mario All Stars Snes
Mortal Kombat 1,2 Arcade/Snes
Super Metroid (my favourite Snes game ever)
Donkey Kong Country 1,2,3 Snes
Killer Instinct Arcade/Snes
Clock Towers Snes
--------------------------
Golden Eye 007 (N64)
Perfect Dark (N64)
Mario 64
Silent Hill 1
Resident Evil 1,2,3(PS)
Clock Towers
Final Fantasy XII
--------------------------
Well, i will not list the rest, as they are in the same lines as the ones named (remakes, series, parts, etc) up to recent consoles/platforms. But i recently played, Alan Wake and really loved it.

Peace out. ^^

 

A mix of MW2 and BFBC 2. Only, the disk has unlimited storage for unlimited graphics.

 

Yes! I actually bought a PowerComputing Power Tower Pro and upgraded it to a G3 using one of those $1300 newertech upgrades before Apple officially launched the official PowerMac G3 line, just to play it... and I even ordered it direct from the UK before it was localized for the US. (Needless to say, I liked the game...)

That game also has incredible support from 3rd party modders, well beyond what was normally heard of at the time.

Even I got into the act and released a utility for the Mac version that "ported" the PC only "Splat Pack" add-on so Mac users could play it.

The only problem was that the final track, "Figure of Hate" (aka, the "Hell track"), in the add on wasn't playable under non-3Dfx versions of the game. Other than that, all the new cars and levels were readily available to everyone and made network play a real blast!

 

For Nintendo 64-

Turok 3 or The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

 

Urbon Terror Booyah!

 

Rating a top is almost impossible for me... as I liked different games for different reasons; this one had great gameplay, while that one had an amazing story-line, etc.

If I had to make a list of games that had a lasting impression, though...

Final Fantasy VI: The story-line was epic, and the character development was spot-on. So much happening, but they managed to keep it tight and interesting. I still consider those some of my favorite characters out of any game.

E.V.O.: Kind of a lost gem of the SNES age. Very unique style and game-logic... kind of a mash-up of RPG/side-scroller. Interesting and unique story-line to go along with it.

Fallout (Any): Great sense of humor, very interesting and expansive world. This was my first open-ended, go-anywhere game. The ability to just randomly do anything, kill anyone, go anywhere, interact in interesting/unexpected ways was very refreshing at the time.

Little Big Planet: Surprised, in a forum devoted to game designers, this one was not listed more. The reasons should be fairly obvious.

Front Mission (the first one): Excellent unit customization, great turn-based strategy game, and an interesting story-line. The rest in the series were... quite a bit of a let-down.

 

The game I fell in love with was Wing Commander Privateer.

It was right after I had purchased my first (3X mind you) CDROM drive and I was looking for some action - game action that is!

Above all else, I wanted SPEECH in the game!

I saw the futuristic spaceships on the Privateer box cover, it said "voice" etc., and I was sold!

That game single handedly made me switch from electronics engineering to software - I always had a thing for computer graphics and trying to recreate this game became my soul passion!

After that, Wing Commander III, IV, Prophecy.

I also loved Starcraft and especially Diablo II multiplayer with 3-4 computer networked in the house. The wifey and I used to hack monsters for hours with that game when we first met...

-Will