The List of Great Games

Okay….I’ve been getting kinda tired of all of the threads asking for good games to play so I guess I might as well compile a list of great games that anyone may be interested in. They will be divided into genres and I will arrange the games within each genre by the year they were released to provided relevancy regarding how demanding they may be.

Feel free to give any other suggestions that I may have missed. Not really a sports or driving game player here so I didn’t put any down so probably would need your help with those genres. Please give me GOOD games that most people would like, not some obscure game as well as ones that are still playable (don’t have to use an emulator, graphics aren’t that horrendously bad). Also, give ones that were decent PC, ie don't say Halo 2 because the XBOX version was good.

I’m not going to list expansions and such because its generally pretty easy to find out if a given game actually has an expansion or not. Also, I won't list MMORPGs because well....I don't want to and everyone knows of WoW already...

First Person Shooter

America’s Army 3 - 2009
Battlefield Heroes - 2009
Farcry 2 – 2008
Crysis Warhead – 2008
Left 4 Dead - 2008
Dead Space – 2008
S.T.A.L.K.E.R – Clear Sky - 2008
Call of DUty 4: Modern Warfare - 2007
S.T.A.L.K.E.R – 2007
F.E.A.R Project Origin – 2007
Team Fortress 2 - 2007
Crysis – 2007
F.E.A.R - 2005
Battlefield 2 - 2005
Unreal Tournament 2004
Farcry – 2004
Half Life 2 – 2004
Counterstrike Source - 2004
Battlefield 1942 – 2002
Counterstrike 1.6 - 1999
Half Life - 1998

Role Playing Games

Fallout 3 - 2008
The Witcher - 2007
Mass Effect - 2007
Bioshock - 2007
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – 2006
Neverwinter Nights 2 - 2006
Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords - 2005
Knights of the Old Republic - 2003
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – 2002
Neverwinter Nights - 2002
Diablo 2 - 2000
Icewind Dale – 2000
Baldur’s Gate 2 – 2000
Deus Ex - 2000
Planescape Torment - 1999
Baldur’s Gate – 1998
Diablo - 1996

Real Time Strategy

Dawn of War 2 - 2009
Empire Total War – 2009
Red Alert 3 – 2008
Sins of a Solar Empire - 2008
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars – 2007
Supreme Commander – 2007
World in Conflict - 2007
Medieval 2 Total War – 2006
Company of Heroes - 2006
Rome Total War – 2004
Dawn of War – 2004
Command & Conquer: Generals - 2003
Homeworld 2 – 2003
Rise of Nations - 2003
Warcraft III - 2002
Red Alert 2 - 2000
Homeworld – 1999
Starcraft - 1998

Action Games

Prototype – 2009
GTA IV - 2009
Mirror’s Edge - 2008
Assassin’s Creed – 2008
GTA San Andreas - 2004
GTA Vice City - 2002

Space Shooters

Freelancer – 2003
Freespace 2 - 1999
Descent: Freespace - 1998

Misc

Demigod - 2009
Sims 3 - 2009
Spore – 2008
Portal - 2007
Sims 2 - 2004

Puzzle Games

Portal - 2007

Turn Based Strategy

Civilization 4 - 2005
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords - 2006
Battle for Wesnoth - 2003 (Free)
Civilization 2 - 1996

Simulation

ARMA II – 2009
Microsoft Flight Simulator X – 2006
IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 - 2006 (Compilation Pack)
Falcon 4.0: Allied Force - 2005
Flight Simulator 2004

Racing

Race Driver: GRID - 2008
Need for Speed Most Wanted – 2005

 

It's all about personal taste in games.

Example - I have tried most of these games here and only found Oblivion and Fallout 3 to be playable, everything else is mediocre crap.
Also, there are quite a few MMORPG's better than WoW. ; )

 

Well...I do agree that its all about personal taste, but there are generally some games that most people would agree that is pretty good and perhaps enjoyable by a large portion of the gaming population.

 

Civilization series
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum
Diablo...I know you have 2 in there, but this started it. Plays on Win7

 

I think Bioshock should fall into the First Person Shooter Category.
Also, all the games in 'Action' are sandbox with the exception of Mirror's Edge.

You should also make a puzzle category
-Portal would belong in here

-Battle for Wesnoth (Turn Based Strategy)
-Galactic Civilizations II (Turn Based Strategy)

 

I cant believe the call of duty series is not on this list. Probably the best FPS series, ever.

 

lol for me its the exact opposite, ive played about 75% of those games and the ones i really hated were oblivion and fallout 3 .

anyway, you definitely need to add the call of duty series.

 

Then why should we care about contributing to your "list"? You are discriminating against a specific demographic based on the fact that you "don't want to".

To add insult to injury, you stereotype all MMO gamers by insinuating that any gamer that plays MMO's plays WoW for nothing more than because it is the current juggernaut on the MMO scene.

 

Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress (real-time strategy).

This game is the most complex strategy game I have ever played. Plus it's a sandbox so your free to do what ever you want. Plenty of mods. This is by far one of the greatest indie games out there, and it's free.

 

Portal should be up there. Absolutely amazing game.

 

Will be added.

Edit: Which ones from Civilization?

Well....I don't really know how to classify those games so I threw them into action.

Will add your suggested categories and games.

I would agree that Call of Duty should be put on there, but which specific games? IIRC, not all of them are great.

Well....I have to go pretty soon. I have a decent explanation for it, but will post it later.

Hmm....I don't know whether the game is considered well known enough to be justified to be put on the list....My idea is to have the list have very well known games.....I'll do some research on it and perhaps put it on.

 

RTS:
- Sins of a Solar Empire
- Command & Conquer Generals + Zero Hour

Space Shooter:
- Independence War 1 & 2

 

There is no 'decent' explanation at all. Electing to disregard (any) MMO as being a great game in your list is simply ridiculous. Your explanation better border on the "because God hates MMOs" line of reasoning, because any other explanation is complete BS.

 

Nice attempt of compiling a list but it's full of fail already.


'Best' is highly subjective as many have pointed out already. And excluding certain genres such as MMOs is kind of being biased.

 

Well I somewhat agree with him. He's making a list of "Great" games and IMO there have not been any "Great" MMO's released, ever. In order for an MMO to be great it should be the game that makes it so and not the community. The only reason so many people stick to WOW is because of the player base. If it wasn't for the community I would have stopped playing after an hour or 2 and never looked back.

There are no MMO's out right now that I would ever consider playing "solo" therefore it isn't the game that's so great, but the community that makes it great. This is coming from someone who appreciates multiplayer games much more than single player games.

If a game is to be considered great, it either needs to be an Amazing single player only game, or have good multiplayer and good single player support.

 

New Section:Racing

My Picks:

NFS: Undercover
NFS: Most Wanted

 

This list is based purely off games that people think are worthy of being great. Thus, it matters not if you think that there have not been any worthy MMO's released, because someone else may think otherwise. This list is subjective, nothing more, and is based on personal opinion, not hard data.

Epic fail. Is it not the people at this site (read community) the same ones that are asking for certain games to be added to the list because they feel that they are great?

You're being hypocritical. First you say that for an MMO to be great, it should be based on the merit that its a great game, not based on the community. Then you say that if it wasn't for the community, WoW wouldn't be where it is today. I mean seriously, WoW has a community of millions of players worldwide, a community that games like Half Life, CoD, etc. could only dream about.

That's fine. It's your opinion, yet that should not prevent people who do think MMO's are great from making the list. Again, you want a game to stand on its own merit, yet you are passing judgement on a genre because you feel there are no worthy contenders.

 

i believe that ARMA 2 should belong in a Simulation category along with FSX and FS2004... those are good games but i would think ARMA 2 is a simulation game rather than an FPS

 

I'm not being hypocritical at all actually. I'm saying that what makes WoW "great" is the community, and people play it because of the community. I'm also saying the game itself is crap. WoW would not be fun at all to play without the interaction of millions of other people. I played WoW for a year on and off, and when I wasn't playing with friends it was just mind-numbing grinding, not enjoyable at all.

 

thats the whole basis that mmo's are built around.

thats like saying darts is a crappy sport because if you took away the dartboard you would just be throwing darts around aimlessly.

 

Deus Ex needs to be on that list. It's one of the best games I've played to date.

And please stop the arguing about MMOs. There was plenty of it in another thread and it doesn't need to spread here.

 

Where's Call of Duty 4? >:0

-Riots-

 

Exactly!

Who's arguing? We're simply discussing why MMO's aren't allowed to be added to this nonsensical list of "great games".

 

Gawd, drama... If you don't like a thread, and it doesn't hurt you, just make the choice not to view it.

Like Crash said, Deus Ex 1, and I'd like to see Dark Messiah of Might and Magic up there - that game was so much fun, though I now have to restrain some pretty evil urges whenever I see a person and some stairs =/

 

i still think there should be a simulation section with arma 2, and flight simulators in there...

 

Good intentions OP but it was bound to be highly contentious...and you did lay down very specific ground rules for your thread...and I suppose that if we don't like the ground rules, we don't need to post on the thread...but just rename the thread ' A List of Great Games' vs 'The...'

Here's what Gamespot has for its all-time highest rated PC games (which is their opinion...I included WoW despite your rules because it really was high up on their list...and I did it just to fan the flames of the debate...I luvs differences of opinion...but the review on Gamespot was out long before the community became fully established...in fact, all of Gamespot's positives regarded the game itself and one of the few negatives regarded the online component: incomplete PvP elements...I played WoW for 2 months and couldn't stand it, but you have to give props to garetjax [Wishsong?] for defending his turf...but the OP's rules are the OP's rules)...you'll notice that I have issues with some of the listed games...of course, to be fair I've never actually tried those games...all of the others, I actually have installed on my XP machine and play periodically...my list would be quite different from Gamespot's...isn't individuality great?

Diablo (1996)
Crysis (2007)
Orange Box (2007)
World in Conflict (2007)
World of Warcraft (2004)
Unreal Tournament (1999)
Red Alert (1996) …probably not without DosBox unless you buy one of the EA collections
Grand Prix 2 (1996) …good luck
Civilization 4 (2005)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)
Freespace 2 (1999)
NASCAR Racing 3 (1999)
Half-Life (1998)
Battlezone (1998) …troublesome to run under XP…who knows about Vista?
Chessmaster 5500 (1997) …I would recommend a newer version…Puzzle category?
Oblivion (2006)
Battlefield 2 (2005)
Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (2004)
Freedom Fighters (2003) …blech from me
GTA: Vice City (2003) …another blech
Rise of Nations (2003)
No One Lives Forever 2 (2002)
Mafia (2002) …and a third blech from me (do you get the impression that I’m not a big fan of gang-type games?)
Warcraft 3 (2002)

 

Right on the head! =)

 

I think that's my second all-time favorite character from a book (check me out...I've, um, accidentally hijacked the thread...I promise I'll give it back in just a second and that no one will get hurt)...at least for the good guys...

Fingolfin, in the Silmarillion, is my all-time favorite good guy...the dude took on Morgoth...making Gandalf's little squabble with Sauron seem trivial...

But Terry Brooks gets my nod for all-time best bad guy...The Reaper from Elfstones...

And back to the thread...sorry OP...

 

Okay…I’ve done some editing and added some games. Quick question: which genre should Deus Ex be under? I put it under RPG, but it is really a hybrid of many….

As to the subjective part: yes, a list of like this is very subjective, but I think that there are a lot of games out there who MOST people would agree with is great. I, personally, don’t care for a lot of the games that I put on the list myself, but a lot of people really enjoy them.

My goal wasn’t to think of games that I personally like, since that would probably contain quite a bit of obscure games that most people never heard of or cared about, but games that other people may be interested in or have fun with.

Again, like some other people said, if you don’t like the list or some of my rules, no one is forcing you to read this thread nor is anyone making this the definitive list. That being said, I do welcome constructive criticism.

Anyways, now onto the reason why I didn’t put MMORPGs out there. I do not hate MMORPGs, in fact theres quite a few that I’ve played for extended periods of time and loved, but:

1.Most people don’t come here and ask what MMORPG is recommended.

2.I feel that MMORPGs are even more subjective when it comes to rankings. For every popular MMORPG out there, I bet there is a ton of people who absolutely hates it.

That means that either no games should be put on there due to the fact that all of them have some really negative qualities or that all of them should be on the list which will make it extremely bloated and unwieldy.

You also really can't say that oh, just throw in the really popular ones (subscriber wise) since I really don't think subscriber numbers necessarily determine how good the game is. WOW is the juggernaut here, but Runescape has 8.5 million active accounts and Maplestory has something like 50 million accounts. Now while I may hesitantly recommended something like WOW, Runescape and Maplestory are very famous for making the grinding in other games seem like pure fun.

3.The biggest reason against the inclusion of WOW is that I personally don't go off and ask random strangers what MMORPGs are good. Most people like to play the MMORPGs that their friends are playing - thats a main reason why they are fun. I bet that most people will stop playing WOW right now if all of their friends on there dissapeared. While it may be somewhat helpful to see what good MMORPGs are out there critically, I believe that it ultimately means nothing if you don't got a bunch of friends who will play with you alot and you can have fun with. Because of this, I really think people start playing MMORPGs because a bunch of their friends are doing so, not because of some random list on an Internet forum.

 

need for speed hot pursuit was prettyt awesome.

Nice list though. ;x

 

Race Driver: GRID -amazing racing game, fun gameplay and amazing graphics.

 

Simulations:

Falcon 4 Allied Force
IL-2 1946 (compilation of all IL-2's, hundreds of planes, great online combat).

 

That is not entirely accurate. There is plenty of discussion about the MMO's that are currently available... and which ones are worth playing.

And this same line of thinking cannot be applied to non-MMO games? You know, like Daikatana?

How is this any different than asking random strangers what FPS are good? Especially multiplayer games like BF2 and CoD where, suprise, "you play because your friends are playing them"? I'm also enjoying the fact that you're still stereotyping the MMO community based on your limited experience in playing MMO's.

Pure conjecture with no substantial evidence to support this claim. Using this as an argument to not add an MMO category to the list is ludicrous.

You're right. THIS LIST and THIS ONE look to be totally random.

 

the average age of mmorpg player is said to be igh 20's to low 30's. most plalyers aren't sitting around at recess discussing which game for them and their buddies to play after school. they are joined solo, and friends found in game or maybe the game forum, if your one who doesn't trust your ability to make friends and joins a pre-formed guild of strangers.

 

Metacritic's 'Best PC games of all time' link

You can even search by genre (go to advanced search).

You can use this to supplement the list

 

its rediculous call of duty isnt up there yet. at least put up call of duty 4.

 

Alas....my workplace has a filter and so....no gaming related sites...

Will do so....any other of the series that you think should be up there?

 

Definitely COD 1 and 2. Fantastic games as well.

 

Battlefield Heroes isn't a first person shooter It's a Third Person Shooter a.k.a a cartoon shooter

 

CoD2 should also be on the list.

full specturm warriors is also a great game, unlike WC3 and the like you deal with the tactics than strategies

 

Empire Earth (2001) and Empire Earth II (2005) They're kinda old but they're games I still play today.
Empire Earth III sucked.

 

SimCity4 is such a timeless game for me. Still playing it up to now.

 

Don't know if anyone mentioned the two Sid Meirs Civil War games-


Gettysburg and Antietam.


They do not work on modern OS's with out tweaking which is really sad. They had so much more strategy than many RTS's of later years.

 

A few thoughts I have about the games on the list -

FPS:
Why not put CODs 1 and 2 on the list, too? And everyone has to at least give Doom a try, even if the game is horribly dated by now.

I also think Bioshock really belongs here. It's not really very RPG-ish at all.

And hey! Quake!

Ah, and I loved quite a few Star Wars FPSes. JK2, Jedi Outcast, Battlefront, and most of all Republic Commando.

RPG:
Fallouts 1 and 2 stand up very well to the test of time, and you don't even need an emulator to play 'em.

Sacred was a good effort as far as Diablo clones go, and I thought Titan Quest was, as well. Good while waiting for D3, perhaps?

I looooooved Betrayal At Krondor. But maybe it's too old to make the cut. And I loved Return To Krondor, too.

RTS:
Sins is not really very much of an RTS. A really slow, ponderous one, perhaps. Maybe you should put it in the TBS section.

Populous series goes here, as does the Age Of Empires series.

Action:
Max Payne? Prince of Persia, most certainly. I've been playing through The Two Thrones, of late. Great stuff.

The Thief series was excellently made, too.

Lode Runner... hehehehehehe.

Mafia was quite popular, in its day.

Misc:
A good number of casual/indie games that are excellent fun, too. Plants vs Zombies, Peggle, World Of Goo, Braid... uhm, Tetris?

TBS:
Civilization: Colonization deserves a spot here, I guess. Probably because it's just the original Colonization, but given a makeover. And who can argue with that, really? I -still- play the original Colonization, on occasion.

Does SimCity belong here? If that goes in, then Theme Park and Theme Hospital should join the list, too.

Heroes Of Might & Magic. In order from best to worst: 3, 2/5, 1, 4.

Hella old, but again, I think it's still a great game - X-Com: UFO Defence.

Sims:
I don't play 'em myself, but I hear that the latest in the Tiger Woods series of golf games is an excellent simulation of real-life golf.

Does Guitar Hero count as a sim game?

Survival Horror:
Yes, I know you didn't have a section for these games. But hey, why not? Anyways, my favourites are all pretty much typical choices. Biohazard series, Silent Hill series, Alone In The Dark series, Fatal Frame series. Dead Space... mehhh, whatever.

Adventure:
Another missing genre. King's Quest and Space Quest series both belong here. I'd also most definitely put The Longest Journey in. And we couldn't possibly forget Grim Fandango.

Right, that's all I can think of for the moment, so now let's go on to some...

Good ole-fashioned pedantry:
Typos/missing colons on Crysis: Warhead, all of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and F.E.A.R., COD4, Far Cry and Far Cry 2, HL and HL2, CS: Source, PS:T, Total War series, C&C (arguable, but w/e), GTA: SA and VC.

Also, the first Stalker was subtitled Shadow Of Chernobyl, and WC3 is subtitled Reign Of Chaos.

I probably missed more than a few, but again... w/e

Oh, I just couldn't resist; Tevash is actually quite likely to be correct here.

Y'see, I think it's fair to say that most people who play WoW have friends there. Possible exceptions are serious loners, and gold farmers.

Now, let's say you're a WoW player. And let's have you always playing WoW with your wife. Let's call her... Bob. So, assuming that things are alright at home, then I'd say it's alright to call you friends with Bob, right? So having all your WoW friends disappear is equivalent to having Bob disappear, no? And yet, you're a friend of Bob's, too, which means that you too would disappear.

Leaving... only people with no friends. There we go! Tevash is absolutely right!

 

Huh??? *scratching head* I definitely can't argue with that...I can't understand it...

 

You've got to be kidding, you haven't added the best game of all. I believe it's called The New Tetris (N64). I forgot when it came out

 

Since you spoke specifically to WoW, I will do the same. The fact of the matter is that regardless of what you think, the truth is that WoW has evolved into a game that allows players to play on their own. Quests, battlegrounds, PvP... if they never want to interact with other players they can do so. If they don't want to make friends, they can do so. If they want to be loners, they can do that too.

The point is that MMO's have evolved from forcing you to play with other people into a genre that offers players the option to play by themselves and still have a relevant and fun gaming experience. I honestly do not see the difference of a loner playing WoW by themselves versus someone that plays Battlefield 2 or CoD by themselves.

In any case, I have not seen one logical reason/explanation/excuse why MMO's should not be on the list.

 

def throw burnout paradise on there for the pc

 

as mentioned above

Med Total War I and any of the countless mods for it,

 

Oh man I keep remembering some good games.

Racing - Test Drive Unlimited - March 29, 2007