1. Elite 2 : Frontier (Amiga 500) - Best damn game ever created period!
2. Metal Gear Solid (GameCube / Playstation) - Awesome storyline, provides a number of ways to play. Just one of those must play games.
3. Street Fighter 2 (SNES) - No fighting game has ever matched up since, nor have it's ports really done the SNES controller system for it done it justice. Although it was tough to pick as Soul Calibur also rates damn high with me!
4. Gears of War (Xbox 360) - Sweet storyline, graphics, and frankly just damn easy to pick up and play. This game is what the Unreal Tournaments should've been like, both multiplayer and storyline depth.
5. Resident Evil Zero (GameCube) - Where it all began. Many slant this title because it's much easier than every other game in the series (although I'd argue against that with RE4 given my FPS/TPS backgrond made that game ridiculously easy. Still what people seem to miss is the fact that this game has a storyline that works on so many levels.. you have the gloss over for those who just run through games and just want to complete it. Then you have the huge background story that covers most of the key characters as well as lots of the history behind the T-Virus, Nemesis (which if you play RE4 after playing RE0 you begin to understand how that game is actually still heavily soaked in the storyline of the other games!) as well as umbrella on the whole.
6. Perfect Dark (Nintendo 64) - This game pioneered how FPS are suppose to play, while yeah Goldeneye was good. I personally found that only the multiplayer in that to be alright. They took what they'd done with that game, added a fantastic storyline, such a creative array of weapons and added the ability to use two controllers at once!
Quite frankly the features in the game were seriously ahead of it's time, and only really let down by the graphical capability of the N64. You had the ability to watch the entire story after you completed the game, as a movie rather than playing through just to see it. There were Single player, Co-operative, Counter-operative, and Multiplayer modes of play. Enemies weren't stupid, they would run, duck, hide, surrender, act brave! You could do damage to sections of people, like shoot guns out of their hands or shoot their limbs which ment they couldn't use them and in the cases of the legs limp!! There was vehicle and object physics. Graphically, you had Depth of Field, Bloom, Realtime Reflections, Simple Tone Mapping, all of the graphics that are just now becoming standard in games were in this title 7 years ago! There was a built-in achievement system.
So many aspects of this game, just made it truely remarkable; and if it was remade identical today with current graphics quality. It would still stand head and shoulders above any current FPS being released!
7. Killzone (Playstation 2) - Phenominal storyline. Sorry, but it's one of the few games that actually made me feel for the characters and made me believe they had history and personalities. While the game itself was fairly bog-standard FPS with not a huge amount of overall content. This was made up for with possibly the most stunning graphics for the Playstation 2, what's more it was so well balanced which made the multiplayer actually fun!
8. Tomb Raider (Playstation) - The mother of all 3D platformer (action adventure) games. Anyone who hasn't played this, do so now. As you're seriously missing gaming history that should not be missed.
9. Half-Life (Windows) - Yes, I have Half-Life 1 not 2 on here. Why? Because Half-Life 2 was Half-Life 1 with updated graphics and physics. On the whole, I found the story and level design in Half-Life 1 far better. At the time it probably was because it was a new way of doing an FPS; so the gloss from that probably faded with Half-Life 2, but that said it might be because I expected more from the 2nd game after what Valve had said about it.
They both use basically the exact same technology though, which after 7years of development was a serious disappointment. Focus was made too much on the new tech that had been added (aka Physics) which obviously distracted them from what made the original so great. The atomsphere!
To me there was nothing better that the whole atmosphere of the original, although it really began to show it was rushed near the end when you enter Xen.. on the whole it was great.
10. Beyond Good & Evil (GameCube) - A very under-rated title. It brought action adventure games in to the last console generation in a way I believe they should've been from the start. Yes, Prince of Persia was good and fun. Still they never had the story or real atmosphere that Beyond Good & Evil did. It wasn't all about running around some dusty old tomb either, which I felt was refreshing. The whole fact you had to discover this small world bit by bit, uncovering dark secrets of everyone, while cataloging the wildlife. Just made it all challenging and enjoyable.. there is a cut-scene near the end of the game, that quite honestly almost brought me to tears on how well it was done where Jade is talking to Woof about what has happened. Just leaves you sitting there thinking how brutally honest it all was, and how close to real-life you can get when all the crap is on your shoulders.
Best cut-scene for a game EVER
11. Oni (Windows) - Fighting games, and 3D tend to go hand in hand like chocolate fireguards and a fireplace. This is one of those rare games that really pulls it all off. Something that tends to put many off is it is a very strong anime influence (plus the PS2 version from Rockstar was crap). Still despite the difficulty level that seems to be a freaking mountain (i'm the only person i know who actually completed it heh) it was an extremely intinuative fighting system. A shame Bungie never made a sequal or a game based around the same system, as I would've loved to have seen some improvements made to make it more gamer friendly; and expand on the storyline.
12. Halo 2 (Xbox) - One thing people know about Halo games, is how basic they are. Seriously they're not design as hyper-realistic games with a storyline that will have you just awestruck. That said the storyline was done in a way that fit this game extremely well. The gameplay is fun.. you know that thing you can have while playing games rather than being a constant challenge between sections. Halo has been one of those games where I can happily die several times and actually be laughing afterward because I've just done something retarded just for the heck of it.
This is what makes the game so appealing to me. It isn't something to be taken seriously, but something you can just kick-back with your mates and have some fun. As far as a single player game goes, it kinda blows.. it only gets fun when playing with mates imo; but that is down to the game feeling like it has very very little depth. That all aside, the game on the whole is just crazy fun.. simply because it's well balanced and the lack of realism makes it so much fun it's stupid.
13. Knights of the Old Republic 2 (Windows / Xbox) - I'm not going to bore you with why this game is awesome, all I'm going to say is if you have Windows or an Xbox GET THIS GAME!
14. The Wild Bunch (Amstrad CPC 464) - Alright, so it's old. REALLY OLD. Still it is one of those games that becomes highly addictive. The game on the whole just can't be pigeon holed into any particular type of game, as well it's a genre of its own. That is probably why I still play it. Never completed it mind.. I'm sure it's impossible to. The aim is really just to wander from town to town looking for the guys who framed you and getting them locked up or shooting them dead, without the Sheriff catching up to you. That said nothing is as simple as it sounds heh.
You're constantly running out of health, and your only means of survival is drinking yourself until you get tipsy. You get drunk and you'll end up getting in to a fight and having some of that precious health go. Moving between towns you'll end up i fights and more often than not this means LOTS of health gone. You're only form of money is playing poker and winning it. There's a telegram station in each town to try to keep one step ahead of the law, plus you can grab supplies to try to help limit how much health you loose. For such a simple game, there is quite a bit of depth.
At some point I would love to remake it, perhaps not as difficult but still keep true to the original.
15. Final Fantasy XII (Playstation 2) - One of the most in-depth and longest Final Fantasy games yet. Although really the storyline still doesn't come close to 7s, it does however make more sense and feel more polished. There is more movie like quality to the game as a whole. At this point I'd probably be disappointed if this wasn't true. Still with the exception of 9, this was the first FF game that I could play and understand the whole leveling system. Given I'm not great with RPGs this was something I loved. The world also is far more free, in-fact being able to travel around it freely is something I really liked. The control system also was more like a TP Adventure title than traditional RPGs. With the whole world finally a free roaming 3D, not just a 2D scene in 3D. Made the world just come alive. Definately well worth playing if you have a spare 120hrs+ to complete it.
16. Final Fantasy XI (Windows) - This was obviously the inspiration for FFXII, and if it had much of a storyline then XII wouldn't be on this list; but this is an MMO game. Something to note is that i'm bad with rpgs, even worse with MMOs. In-fact this is the ONLY mmo game that I actually enjoy. Reason is because it plays alot like a single player full 3D rpg/action adventure, only you have real people in there too. On the whole it makes this game just awesome. You feel less like you're playing an mmo, and more like you're playing an offline rpg; that your mates join in with.
17. System Shock 2 (Windows) - FPS & RPG in my books never really worked. Although there is always an exception to the rule and SS2 is it. Many have played Bioshock recently, and well that game is an easier spiritual sequal to this game. Difference in my mind though is storyline and atmosphere, which SS2 has oozing from everywhere.
First thing to note is this game is terrifying.. I don't mean scary, or will make you jump.. I mean Silent Hill style TERRIFYING! Monsters attack completely at random most of the time, sometimes they'll seemingly appear from nowhere. That said, there are only a set number of monsters in the game, well unless an alarm goes off.
Also there is a fairly indepth storyline. I mean you have several all over the place and it is difficult to keep track really, and you'll end up replaying just for that aspect alone.
What is more interesting is the leveling system is fairly simplistic, but there are so many opitions that you literally can't make yourself some super character.. you have a limited amount of upgrade points and they have to be used VERY intelligently; otherwise you'll find the game ridiculously difficult as it goes on. You're forced to specialise, in order to survive. This again makes it interesting in it's replayability because the world is completely free form. You can go where you want, when you want provided you have the skills and access level.
Much of Doom 3 obviously took some of it's game aspects from System Shock 2, but trust me. They didn't even get it close to the same atmosphere or gameplay. If you want to play an alright game with pretty graphics get Bioshock, if you want the real experience though play this!
18. Forza Motorsport (Xbox) - Racing Sims on the whole tend to suck, they're either too realistic or not realistic enough. Control issues haunt them, as does realistic damage and tweaking. None of them seem to get the balance right for the game to work well. Except Forza!
The second is quite a bit more technical than the first, but improves on what they started.
Don't expect to master this game within an evening either.. you basically end up having to learn to drive (although if you have a steering wheel and actually drive, then it should come alot easier to you). On the whole while it doesn't really excel at any particular area; they balance the game to give you quite a bit of everything and throw in a dash of arcade-ness just to keep the game actually enjoyable. That's not to say driving isn't enjoyable in real-life, but when you take out the whole fear of crashing into a wall at 120mph and possibly dying, then it has to be replaced with something
19. Need for Speed Underground 2 (Playstation 2) - Why the newer NFSU games ended up becoming glorified arcade racers is beyond me. This game imo though was their finest work. You have huge selection of upgrades, cars, tracks all within a fairly large city and a decent storyline to boot that honestly didnt' matter cause the tracks and gameplay were so awesome it just kept you coming back for more.
I did like some of the features they added in Most Wanted and Carbon, but for some reason when they added them; they started to loose the spirit of what made 2 so freaking awesome. ProStreet really doesn't make me feel it'll be much better in that respect. Still if you want some great unrealistic driving where you can just kick back and have fun on or offline. This is definately a racing title to check out.
20. Silent Hill 3 (Windows) - This game gets in your head. I mean you can say much about the Silent Hill series without spoiling storyline.. but these games are real psychological fear inducing games than the run'n'gun of Resident Evil. It relies more on the player becoming part of the story than just going to point A to solve puzzle B in order to get through door C and oh there are demons along the way. No, there is actually more of a methodical and investigative way of playing the Silent Hill games. This is never more true than the 3rd one, that has you returning to the town as someone whos life it has affected since the accident there. You get more in-depth story with this game, and the town has become more vicious and seductive in it's means to destory the soul of those who enter it.
If you want to be terrified to sleep at night, this is one of the best in the series to really put the fear of god in you.
