Boards.ie Top 50 Games of All Time

Randall Floyd

1. Red Dead Redemption
2. Silent Hill 2
3. Ocarina of Time
4. Metal Gear Solid 3
5. Devil May Cry 3
6. Skyrim
7. Fallout 3
8. Resident Evil 2
9. Bioshock
10. Batman Arkham Asylum

Honorable mention: NHL '94 on the megadrive.

James74

Holy Jaysus this is tough. These are the games most important to me, although ask me in an hour and I’d probably have swapped a few in and out. I’ve tried to limit myself to one game in a series / franchise.

Half Life – objectively HL2 is probably better, but HL kept me gaming for years. I played it, replayed it, and then played its endless free mods. Never will I have more bitter gaming enemies than “The Claw” (tap, tap, tap, TAP! TAP!) and that feckin helicopter. We don’t talk about Xen.
Super Mario Kart – split screen racing perfection. MarioKart was the Judge Judy of my time at uni. Whose turn to do the dishes? Race you for it. Go to the shop? Race you for it. Every decision was made on Rainbow Road, Donut Plains and Koopa Beach.
Super Mario World – the SNES was my first Nintendo console and this was my first proper Mario game (ignoring Gameboy, Game&Watch and DK coin-op). There is simply no way I could guess how many times I’ve played this game, deleted the save and played it again. I still have my SNES to play this.
X Wing – most people rate Tie Fighter higher, but you simply never felt more like Luke Skywalker in any game than when you first take your X Wing down into the trench. Obviously laser power went to the engines, but did you sacrifice your shields for a bit of extra speed?
Mario 64 – to be fair I really could have the Galaxy games here as well but I’m going to pick Mario 64 for its inventiveness, charm, originality and the fact that it stole more hours from me than is strictly healthy for a man of my age.
Counterstike – the game that introduced me to clan culture... and I loved it. Practicing, friendlies, matches, ladders, leagues, cups, but especially drunk Saturdays. Know your map, know what you have to do for the team, aim for the head or f*ck off, you die you’re out. It was fast, brutal, a lot of the folks playing were dicks and playing on 56k dial up was a pain (if your ping was <200 you were doing well); but I can follow my online gaming lineage from Counterstike to Day of Defeat to MoH:AA to BF:1942 to CoD 1&2 etc.
Burnout Paradise – if MarioKart was split screen multiplayer perfection, Burnout Paradise is the ultimate online social racer. Yet to be bettered even by pseudo-sequel NFS: Most Wanted.
Deus Ex – it's a cliché to have it here, but there you go. Great feckin’ game.
Battlefield 1942 – my first online gaming experience with classes, vehicles, control points, teamwork and 64 player servers. Over a decade ago! Modded up with Desert Combat and you have the direct daddy of both current BF and CoD franchises.
The Walking Dead – I am still in a bit of a debate with myself whether this should be strictly classed as a “game” at all rather than interactive story telling. I have it on my list because this game gave me more of an emotional workout than any other game I’ve played. In fact I’m struggling to think of any other single piece of entertainment in any media format that has left me as wrung out as the climax of TWD

Notable mentions that on another day might have made the list: Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Zelda: Ocarina of Time (how the hell did this not make my top 10, ask me tomorrow and this might be No.1), Slap Fight (aka Alcon) – Coin-op, Doom, System Shock 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Day of Defeat, Call of Duty 2, Ratchet & Clank – Crack In Time (my personal peak for single player PS3 gaming), Portal 2, Arma 2 (for the Domination mod), Freespace 2, Medal of Honour – Allied Assault, Red Alert 2, Magic Carpet, Bomberman, Company of Heros, Uncharted 2, Super Probotector, Lemmings, Tetris, Strike Commander, Arkanoid.

TL;DR
1. Half Life
2. Super Mario Kart
3. Super Mario World
4. X Wing
5. Mario 64
6. Counterstrike
7. Burnout Paradise
8. Deus Ex
9. Battlefield 1942
10. The Walking Dead

Psychedelic

1. GTA: San Andreas
2. Lemmings
3. GTA V
4. Far Cry 3
5. Tomb Raider 2
6. Resident Evil
7. The Last Of Us
8. Pro Evolution Soccer 2
9. Sonic the Hedgehog
10. Streets of Rage 2

MadYaker

nuxxx wrote: »

Agree, more opinions the better!

Not if you're the person who has to do the counting and compiling the final list!

NedNoodles

1. Grand Theft Auto - San Andreas
2. Call of Duty - World at War
3. Gran Turismo 2
4. Goldeneye - N64
5. Pro Evolution Soccer 5
6. Age of Empires 2 - The age of Kings
7. Call of Duty - MW2
8. Batman Arkham Asylum
9. Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega mega drive
10. Destruction derby PS1

I'm sure I'm forgetting something that I really loved, oh well.

Taylor365

Ah yes Destruction Derby 2....such a great game back then.

2Mad2BeMad

Going to be a hard list, top 3 are not in any order of preference simply because I can't choose a 1st 2nd 3rd place between them

1- Dark Souls
2- Counter Strike
3- Abes Oddessy
4- Age of Empires
5- Star wars Battlefront 2 ( loved every minute of this game)
6- Red Dead redemption
7- Cod 4 ( the best of the best) only cod game I would actually call COD
8- Rome Total War
9- GTA 5
10- Far Cry 3 ( loved the story so much )

Theirs so many more I could put in this top 10 just if only I could have them all haha a top 50 list is not enough for me to pick let alone a top 10

martineatworld

1. FF7
2. Super Mario World
3. Tales of Symphonia
4. Hotline Miami
5. MGS 3
6. FFX
7. Far Cry
8. Age of Empires 2
9. Half Life 2
10. Shadow Hearts

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

1) Stalker shadow of chernobyl
2) deus ex
3) dark souls
4) system shock 2
5) Severance: blade of darkness
6) Mario Kart double dash
7) Super Meat Boy
8) Micro machines
9) Super Mario World
10) Age of Empires

Pac1Man

This is a very personal selection: games that have impacted me greater than maybe so-called 'better' games.

1 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Henry Hill, Scarface, that soundtrack, motorbikes, lines and lines of coke, Fernando Martinez,...)
2 - Company of Heroes
3 - Oblivion
4 - Die Hard Trilogy (has windscreen wipers ever been the same since?)
5 - Destruction Derby 2
6 - Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (6 was the cause of my average leaving cert but 5 was the game changer)
7 - Forza 4 (everything you could ever want from a racing game)
8 - Sid Meier's Pirates (2004 edition - Wasted so many hours I can't even explain why!)
9 - IL2 Sturmovik 1946 (a combat flight sim which put function above form - still ridiculously satisfying)
10 - Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising (my first proper entry into a realistic online warzone)

zero19

1. Metal Gear Solid 3
2. Half Life
3. Deus Ex
4. Final Fantasy 7
5. Fallout 3
6. Call of Duty 4
7. GTA San Andreas
8. Gran Turismo
9. The Walking Dead
10. Command and Conquer: Red Alert

Tougher than I thought it would be to make a list!

cailinardthair

1) Kingdom Hearts 2
2) FF9
3) Age of Empires 1
4) Kingdom Hearts 1
5) Pokemon Blue
6) Doom
7) Deus Ex
8) Sypro 2
9) Wii Sport
10) Deus Ex 3

Conbhar

1. Super Mario Bros 3
2. Mega Man 2
3. Shadow of the Colossus
4. Elder Scrolls Oblivion
5. Final Fantasy 8
6. Zelda A link to the Past (Nes)
7. Sonic The Hedgehog
8. GTA San Andreas
9. Micro Machines (Nes)
10. Pro Evolution Soccer 6

Dave_The_Sheep

From my own PC only experience...

1. Civilization 2
2. Deus Ex
3. Medieval 2: Total War
4. Doom/Doom 2
5. Half-Life
6. Frontier: Elite 2
7. Mass Effect
8. GTA: Vice City
9. Oblivion
10. Planetside 2

Jet Black

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Fallout 3
3. Super Mario 3
4. GTA: San Andreas
5. Half Life
6. Zelda OOT
7. Metal Gear Solid
8. C&C Red Alert
9. Faster than Light
10. BF: Bad company

Keitho6190

This is my top games

1.Grand theft auto V
2.Grand theft auto:san andreas
3.batman arkham city
4.WWE 2k14
5.Injustice:gods among us
6.Call of duty franchise(Black ops,modern warfare , ghosts etc)
7.Assassins creed franchise
8.Batman arkham orgins
9.spiderman(pS one)
10.Family guy(PS2)

All on the best console ever PLAYSTATION!!!

tok9

So..... should there be a minimum post count to vote on this :P

mikom

1. GTA Vice City (pc and ps2)

2 Timesplitters series (ps2)

3. GTA3 (ps2)

4. Super Mario kart

5. Double Dragon (arcade and Megadrive)

6. Streets of rage series

7. Super Mario Bros

8. Castlevania (Nes)

9. Batman (sunsoft on NES)

10. Street fighter 2 (arcade and Snes)

Special mention goes to battlefield heroes (online ftp) and Snow Bros (arcade and Megadrive)

Timmyctc

tok9 wrote: »

So..... should there be a minimum post count to vote on this :P

or minimum age?

Pac1Man

Actually this thread is great. It has given me a new shortlist of games to research which may have passed me by, once I finish with my current crop.

Balmed Out

1. Civilization 1 - blew me away at the time. 2,4 could be in list too but will ignore
2. monkey island cant remember which was best but think 2
3. medal of honour allied assault
4. frontier elite 2 - old space trading game massive scope for the time
5. Premier manager 3 - my fave football mgmt game
6. call of duty series
7. wii sports
8. Age of empires 2
9. populous
10. red baron - fun old flight sim

T L

1. Star Wars Galaxies
2. Final Fantasy X
3. Pokemon Red/Blue
4. Metal Gear Solid 2 - Sons of Liberty
5. Deus Ex
6. Pokemon Crystal
7. Final Fantasy 8
8. Crash Team Racing
9. Kingdom Hearts
10. Unreal Tournament

K.O.Kiki

1. Shadow of the Colossus
2. Ico
3. Final Fantasy IX
4. Donkey Kong Country 2
5. Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
6. Pokemon Crystal
7. Star Wars: TIE Fighter
8. Secret of Mana
9. Persona 4
10. Devil May Cry 3

I originally put Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen at 8, but I think I have to change my mind.

Kiith

Ugh...so many games to choose, so little space to use.

1. Half Life 2 - Not much needs to be said about this one to be honest. Some people play it today and don't see what the big deal is, but when it came out, it blew every other FPS out of the water. Fantastic game, and still holds up really well imo.
2. Baldurs Gate 2 - The pinnacle of isometric RPG's, on the best engine ever made for them (Infinity). Brilliant story, with excellent combat and some of my favourite companions of all time. A true classic that gets replayed far too often :P
3. System Shock 2 - While it wasn't the first FPS/RPG hybrid, it was the first to master the genre imo. Add to that an excellent story, creepy and brilliant soundtrack, the twist to end all twists, and the best antagonist of all time...and you have one amazing game.
4. Homeworld - Space opera at it's finest. The first truly 3D RTS, with an amazing soundtrack. Basic enough story, but still packed a punch when it needed to (Return to Kharak )
5. Zelda OOT - I still remember playing this all Christmas Day when it was released. Amazing world, with a charm that is hard to recapture. Also...**** the Water Dungeon :P
6. Deus Ex - Like System Shock 2, had the perfect blend of FPS and RPG. Probably even better then System Shock 2 actually. Great story, with choices that actually change the game in a significant way.
7. The Last of Us - The most recent addition to the list is this masterpiece. One of the most cinematic games i've ever played, with an excelllent story and really believable characters.
8. Morrowind - Before Skyrim and Oblivion, Morrowind showed us how to do a massively open Elder Scrolls game (i know, i know, Arena and Daggerfall, but i'm not that old). Absolutely massive game, with an endless supply of things to do and see. Hasn't been matched with the later games, but is kind of let down by it's combat system (which is pretty awful these days).
9. Freespace 2 - The best space sim ever made, by a mile. Huge campaign, with an excellent story, and the best dogfighting i've ever come across. Really showed the sheer scale of the conflict, and of the ships. Plus..."DIVE DIVE DIVE!! Hit your burners pilot!!"
10. Dark Souls - I'm not sure if i love this, or hate it, but it definitely deserves a spot here. Most 'joypad smashing' and 'fist pump' moments than any game in recent memory.


TL;DR

1. Half Life 2
2. Baldurs Gate 2
3. System Shock 2
4. Homeworld
5. Zelda OOT
6. Deus Ex
7. The Last of Us
8. Morrowind
9. Dark Souls
10. Freespace 2

Honourable mentions for the Mass Effect series, Fallout 3, Portlal 1/2, Final Fantasy 7, Skies of Arcadia, Shenmue and The Walking Dead.

Vojera

1. Tomb Raider 1 (PS)
2. Project Zero 2 (PS2)
3. Final Fantasy 7 (PS)
4. Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of CORTEX (PS)
5. Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor (DS)
6. Mickey and Donald's World of Illusion (Mega Drive)
7. Theresia: Dear Emile (DS)
8. Kingdom Hearts (PS2)
9. Broken Sword (PC)
10. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (DS)

I could probably do this again and get a totally different list every time. But this will have to do.

Skerries

1. Chaos: Battle of the Wizards (Spectrum)
2. Laser Squad (Spectrum)
3. Dune 2 (Amiga)
4. Metal Gear Solid (PS1)
5 Half Life (PC)
6. Oblivion (PC)
7. Team Fortress 2 (PC)
8. The Walking Dead (PC)
9. Resident Evil 2 (PS2)
10. Silent Hill 2 (PS3)

Xenji

Seiken Densetsu 3
Diablo 2
Final Fantasy V
Chrono Trigger
Skies of Arcadia
Dark Souls
Age of Empires 2
Devil Survivor SMT
Neverwinter Nights
Shenmue

shruikan2553

1. Mass Effect 2 - Could probably ignore it and still understand the ME trilogy but that game had me actually caring about characters in ME3
2. World of Warcraft - 9 years on and it still probably has more players than several of its competitors
3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - kotor 2 added a lot but the story of kotor was nicely finished up
4. Minecraft - Kept me busy for hours emptying out a cave I found and then my friend building a moat inside the wall
5. Skyrim - Fixed he horrible leveling system in oblivion and updated the graphics. Spent 100+ hours on it in a week.
6. Portal - A completely different game, fun trying to use momentum and making portals while jumping on a laptop.
7. Pokemon X/Y - Finally got to a point of where pokemon games should be, GBA felt like a tiny upgrade to GB and the DS versions weren't much better
8. Demon's Souls - A hard game that doesn't feel like a cheap shot killed me.
9. Half Life 2 - Find the lack of explanation of events annoying at times but still an excellent game.
10. Age of Empires - wololo wololo

thebostoncrab

1) Super Mario Brothers 3
2) Pokemon Gold & Silver
3) Metal Gear Solid
4) Skyrim
5) Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask
6) Resident Evil 2
7) Grand Theft Auto Vice City
8) Grim Fandango
9) Oddworld: Abe's Exodus
10) Street Fighter II

johndoe99

01. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
02. Sonic The Hedgehog
03. Chakan: The Forever Man
04. Uncharted 3
05. Modern Warfare 2
06. Heavy Rain
07. Grand Theft Auto V
08. Silent Hill 4: The Room
09. Resistance: Fall of Man
10. Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun