Top 10 Favorite PC Games of All-time, by category

Fellow notebook gurus: I didn't find anything like this in recent threads (EDIT: found one but it's been almost 1 1/2 yrs) and I love to rank things, so I thought I'd use my sudden burst (flood) of inspiration below and chime in on my favorite PC games in my favorite categories: role-playing, strategy, shooters, and overall (no expansion packs, for simplicity). I know that how I'm listing them is not as easy to read, but I'm trying to shorten my post since I have 19823 lists.

Please join the fun and rank your FAVORITES for PC (I specifically did not say "best" because people define it quite subjectively and not everyone has played the same games). YOU CAN JUST RANK OVERALL if you don't have as much time on your hands, or FEEL FREE TO ADD OTHER CATEGORIES that I did not cover. Hopefully this will give ideas about great games from past and present to get and maybe also generate some discussion. Some people will probably remind me of great games long-forgotten and then I'll have to revise these ?!@#$%^& things. I know that I tend to be 'old-school'; I was away from gaming for awhile and have only picked up a few recent titles so far, so maybe I can get some good suggestions from others' lists. And let me know if you have any questions about anything on my lists - I assure you that they are all incredible games. Thanks for reading!

ROLE-PLAYING: (not-yet-released-but-WILL-be-on-this-list: Dragon Age)
(I've purposely never played an MMORPG - life would be over for me as I know it!)
1. Baldur's Gate II, 2. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, 3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, 4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, 5. Neverwinter Nights, 6. Jade Empire, 7. Diablo II, 8. Fallout II, 9. Divine Divinity, 10. Sacred

STRATEGY: (not-yet-released-but-WILL-be-on-this-list: Starcraft II)
(can you tell that I have a decidedly huge bias towards RTS?)
1. Starcraft, 2. Warlords Battlecry II, 3. MechCommander II, 4. Command and Conquer: Red Alert II, 5. Rise of Nations, 6. Spellforce II, 7. Civilization IV, 8. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War, 9. Warcraft III, 10. Supreme Commander

SHOOTERS: (not-yet-released-but-WILL-be-on-this-list: Bioshock)
(ok, don't laugh too hard; I haven't played a lot of the newer FPS)
1. Mechwarrior IV: Mercenaries, 2. System Shock II, 3. Half-Life II, 4. Max Payne II, 5. Aliens vs. Predator, 6. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 7. F.E.A.R., 8. No One Lives Forever II, 9. Deus Ex, 10. Unreal Tournament 2004

OVERALL:
1. Baldur's Gate II, 2. Starcraft, 3. Warlords Battlecry II, 4. MechCommander II, 5. Oblivion, 6. SW: KOTOR, 7. SW: KOTOR II, 8. MWIV: Mercenaries, 9. Neverwinter Nights, 10. Red Alert II

 

For strategy, what about Warcraft 2 or 3???

 

too many, i will just do overall, you will find that most of them are rts's anyway.

1 - M2 Total war 2 - Oblivion 3 - AoE2 4 - MOHAA 5 - CoH 6 - Patrician 3 7 - Empire Earth 8 - Civ 4 9 - Warcraft 3 10 - CoD

 

Doh, vast oversight! Thanks! OK, my first edit coming up...

 

what i find amusing is that i haven't played half of the games you've listed.

 

AoE2 is by far the best Strategy / LAN game out there (although Rainbow Six is a damn close second... I miss those LAN days..)

 

"Amusing" - how so (or maybe I shouldn't ask)? Well, I figured I'd be more 'old school' than a lot of folks on here, but that's fine. If it leads to some people picking up these amazing games, then great! If it leads to some people thinking WTF and they have to post their own, 'better' lists, then that's great as well.

Ah... that's why I didn't use the word "best" in my original post - because how do people define it, anyway? I personally was never a huge fan of the AoE series, but more power to you if you love it.

 

Ill do overall as well I suppose

1. Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings (And the expansion was tops as well)
2. Rune ( The Greatest Game never to have a sequel)
3. Half Life (The Original of course)
4. Falcon 4.0
6. The Sims (Don’t judge me)
7. Any Fifa game... (But especially 2001)
8. Rise of Nations
9. Medieval Total War (The Original)
10. Delta Force: Black Hawk Down (the multiplayer community was top notch in its day)

Forgot to include in top10 somewhere: Age of Wonders. I loved that game.

Honorable Mention: Counter Strike, Starcraft, Warcraft II, Call of Duty and Rome: Total War… I’ve never been one for RPG’s but Diablo II: Lord of Destruction has to be up there as well

 

amusing as in suprised. i have actually only played 6 games from youre first three sections

 

Overall

1. Morrowind
2. Half-Life
3. Halo
4. Quake III
5. Oblivion
6. Starcraft
7. Warcraft III
8. Battlefield 1942
9. Neverwinter Nights
10. Max Payne 2

 

RTS

1. Empire Earth
2. M2TW
3. Supreme Commander
4. AoE3
5. AoE2
6. Stronghold 2
7. Stronghold Crusader
8. Rome: Total War
9. Warlords Battlecry 3
10. Civ 4

Empire Earth 3 will for sure be on this list and spore (if its RTS)

not too sure of world in conflict tho

 

Best games:

Role Playing: Diablo II LoD
Shooter: Red Faction
Strategy: Starcraft
Overall: Tie: Red Faction and Diablo II LoD

 

The Sims, WTF?!?!?!??!! Just kidding! It's not the best-selling PC game of all-time for nothing. And hey, you know how many people I expect to flame me for some of my unpopular choices, or for putting a Mechwarrior game 1st in shooters? No worries, mate.

And yeah, Age of Wonders II: Shadow Magic just got cut from my top 10 strategy when I had to put in Warcraft 3 after I forgot it! One of the best turn-based strategy games ever!

Wow, how is that possible? I know that I may have some older games, but certainly when they came out, most of them were very popular. Of course, I've only played 5 of the 10 on your list, so I know I'm behind on stuff too.

Yes!! Another Battlecry fan! I figured that most people won't know what this series is about, it was so underrated!

 

Ill just do overall as well

1. Starcraft/Brood wars
2. Red alert II
3. Half life II
4. Half life
5. Red alert I
6. Halo
7. Tiberian dawn
8. GTA Vice city
9. Tiberian sun
10. Soldiers: Heroes of world war II

 

It's a really fun game, just when i am overly analytical, i dont like it because the maps arent bright they're dark and gloomy. And i hate those goddamn daemons

 

In no particular order...

NeverWinter Nights (or as my gf called it.. never see my boyfriend at night)
Rise Of Nations
MechCommander II (nice to see someone else appreciates this game)
Simcity 3000
Falcon 4.0
Age of Empires
Duex ex (awesome game!)
M1 Tank Platoon

 

neverwinter nights, that game was fun

number 11 on my list: Praetorians

 

Yeah, I actually liked the rendering in WBC2 more - brighter and a bit easier to see things. I love daemons... when I'm playing as them that is! Tough as hell, literally!!

You are the man as well - MC2 in da house! That game is as underrated as WBC2!! Love your gf's nick for NWN!

 

No kidding. In the campaign, you can go and attack them, but it's impossible to win. they encircle this rift thing and you're f**ked because they come and attack you and regenerate. i never beat that one.

 

Wow company of heroes is being hailed one of the best games of all time forget considering categories and yet no mention of it?

 

Man, it's been 3 yrs since I played that and I remember that mission a little bit, but I don't remember what I did! I'm sure there are faqs or guides around the net somewhere if you're interested...?

Yes, I've read this. Again, I'm behind in my games so I haven't played it yet. Also not a huge fan of games set in that era, but if it's that good, I definitely will give it a shot.

 

i gave up on it

 

Too much post 2000 not enough classic PC gaming

These games you list were awesome though

 

^^^ Thanks. I thought people would bag on me for too much PRE-2000 games, lol. Yeah, that's a tricky thing, because my current faves are just from memory or current gaming experiences, which means that I may have forgotten HOW much I liked really old games back-in-the-day. For example, I remember loving stuff like Ancient Art of War (oh yeah, really dating myself now!), Ultima IV, Might and Magic I, F-19, Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Hexen, and many others I'm forgetting, but now looking back they don't hold as much charm simply because of short-term memory and technological advances I suppose. Which is too bad, there was a treasure trove of amazing stuff back then. But it's all relative, eh?

 

awesome another EE fan. do you play online?

It made my top 10.

 

Now, I am upgrading from a PIII @ 800 Mhz, 256Mb RAM, and Matrox G450 Dualhead to my (hopefully) soon arriving NP2090. So, obviously, my game experience is very, very limited to older games and console ports. For that reason, I'm starting with overall:
(Note: There are 11 because halfway through I remembered that I had forgotten Unreal Tournament.)

Overall
1. Unreal Tournament. Old, but that never stopped me before. Excellent bots, excellent balance, fast, ridiculous multiplayer and enough of a single player game to make me ignore the lack.

2. Morrowind. Simply amazing. The depth of the game is staggering. I could never imagine the patience required to experience everything this game has to offer- making potions, anyone?- but even my (relatively) brief forays into this world lead this game up into my top 10.
3. Empire Earth and Empire Earth: The Art of Conquest. Hours spent on this game in Random map. If the campaigns weren't so brutally hard, I probably would have spent hours more.
4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Open ended,looks surprisingly good on my dated hardware, and fun whether slaving through missions or just rampaging around. I love it.
5. Halo 1 & 2. I grouped them because I owned Halo, so I only ever played the single player, while I never bought Halo 2 but played the multiplayer mass and LOVED it. Didn't play the Halo 2 single player enough to hate it, otherwise Halo 2 probably wouldn't be on this list.
6. Age of Empires II. Never got over the rush of massacring charging calvary with hordes of Elite Longbowmen. Fun singleplayer or multiplayer. Loved it.
7. Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri. I personally do not have the patience for Civilization. I DO NOT want to spend 4 hours building cavemen before I can actually get around to buying cannons and what not. Alpha Centauri is basically Civilization on steriods- faster paced, and you start in the future. Perhaps my favorite part of the game is the story line- while you fight your opposing factions, you also deal with the rebellious planet and there are a number of sub-plot interludes that draw you towards the conclusion. Great game.
8. Return to Castle Wolfenstien: Enemy Territory. One of the best online multiplayer games I have ever played. It is so simple on the surface, yet the teamwork and cooperation required give this game an unique depth.
9. Starcraft and Starcraft: Brood War. Would be higher, but I am absolutely dreadful at both rushing and resisting rushing. AoE or EE are more my style, where you can bide your time and build a crushing army instead of waves after waves of weak units. Still, hours and hours were spent playing this at LAN and even my lack of skills cannot make up for the fact that this game simply rocks.
10. Half-Life. Sometimes spooky, sometimes action-packed, some puzzle-solving, some desperate run-and-gun moments (still remember running through the missle silo dodging giant tentacles)- all around good FPS.
11. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. This game is probably only up here cause I love Star Wars so much, but it is still undoubtably a good game. Lots of puzzle solving, but never too far from frenzied action.


Console Games that would be on the list:
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (Xbox)
Star Wars Battlefront 1 and 2 (Xbox)
Super Smash Brothers (N64)
Star Fox (N64)
Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64) **Note this would probably have been 1 or 2**
Mario Kart (N64)

Games that didn't quite make the list, but I still have to mention:
ALL the Rainbow Six games.
Rogue Squadron games.
Ghost Recon games.
Star Wars: Empire at War.

Games I don't have yet because my computer sucks, but I am desperately looking forward to playing:
Company of Heroes
Rise of Nations
FEAR
Battlefield 2
**Not Yet Released**
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Crysis
Assasin's Creed

There. Wow what a trip down memory lane for some of these games.

EDIT: WTF I forgot Mechwarrior 3!!! Put that in somewhere. like 4.5.

 

Overall

1. Guild Wars: Nightfall
2. Guild Wars: Factions
3. Guild Wars: Prophecies
4. Warcraft 2
5. Age of Mythology
6. Age of Empires 2
7. Diablo II
8. Halo
9. Populous
10. Sid Meyer’s Alpha Centauri

--
Future favorites/haven't come out yet:

1. Guild Wars 2
2. Spore


Strategy: Age of Empires II, Warcraft 2, Warcraft 3:TFT
RPG: Guild Wars: Prophecies, Guild Wars: Nightfall, Guild Wars: Factions

 

In my book.

Overall

1.Counterstrike-Source
2.Battlefield 2
3.Call of Duty 2

 

Well I don't see how you can have an FPS list without Doom but go figure I'm an old Apogee gamer at heart, I loved the early 90s era PC games - they were so far beyond anything on consoles at the time it was ridiculous

Also, Planescape: Torment should have made the RPG list

 

Played it for about a year at the same time as a mate from school. probably would have come around 11th or 12th on my list.

The only campaign i couldn't finish was the english. i could show screen shots if no body believes. did you ever play multi player? i still do but the games take about a day (6 or 7 hours) on 2 vs 2.

this one seems to be a common one. i still play multiplayer and even still find myself downloading the occassional scenario to have a shot at

 

Ummm.... yeah i'm a total Need For Speed freak. So I would have to put NFS: Most Wanted at the top of my list. Other than that, the only other games I have really played were Halo 1 and The Sims. I'm not a huge PC gamer... but every once in awhile I boot up the Dell and play my NFS!!!

 

Ugh. I didn't have the patience for alot of the missions. I guess I was never very good at the whole lead a single character through an RTS type game. The first German mission, where you lead the German pilots out, was terrible for me. Don't know why; in hindsight, it isn't too bad.

I don't really play multiplayer because of the length, like you mentioned. Although I love playing over LAN. My friends and I have had some epic battles. We lost the last one (2 of us vs 3 computers) on the Space-Satellites map (Art of Conquest) because he decided to build a wonder and the enemies' spacecraft decided to blow up my colony on the main planet, as well as most of the defenses on my main base, on the way to go kill my friend.

 

Well, even without battle.net and rushing, how about just for the incredible single player experience or skirmishes vs. computer? And hey, excellent list, love the commentary for each!

Is Guild Wars still free? I thought about getting it, but again for me it's more the aspect of MMORPGs taking over my life rather than the cost. Nice RPG and strategy flavored list, my 2 fave genres! Although WC2 but no Starcraft? You're more of a medieval/fantasy person I guess? But then again you have AC in there, hmm...

Yes! Another old schooler! Wow, I forgot about the Apogee games! Raptor and Stargunner, woo hoo!! I was playing those as recently as a couple of yrs ago! That is true about early 90s; Wing Commanders and Star Wars X-Wing/Tie Fighter games, Ultimas...

Yes, Doom. I said in another post that I loved it when it came out but now have the 'recent history bias' going on. Although I don't know if I've enjoyed many games that much more when initially released than that one. And, I did consider Planescape Torment, absolutely, especially since we're talking the ole Black Isle Studios, right? But it was just slightly too quirky to crack the top 10, but definitely a good one. As far as the *should have*s go, the great thing is that this is a FAVES list, so you and I can agree to disagree and we're both right!

 

the german ones do get better. i especially like the last one. invading england. sending over wave after wave of bombers is just fun.

i don't like playing against the computer much. they just cheat for reasources, and upgrade when you do. plus they have one major weakness in that their strategy is to build counter units for your most common unit. a flaw that is quite easily overcome.

I never got art of conquest. the whole space thing was a turn off to me.

i have a recorded game of a 3 vs 3 that goes for 14 hours 26 minutes. during the holidays, me and my mates went on a huge lan game camping trip. and this was 14 hours straight, we continued playing even when someone went to the loo, grabbed a drink or a bite to eat sad the things that you do.

 

Yeah mine too definitely. Maybe I am biased because big buff on WWII. Band of brothers anyone?

 

yeah, i do, i am not very good. I read your campaign one, the english is pretty fun, and hard, i beat it, but i never beat the pacific one.

 

computer, easy? hah, try two on hard on the same team on a gigantic map and try to beat em. that is not easy

Sh!t i double posted

 

Hey, for all of you AoE and EE fans:

What do you think about Rise of Nations? Do you find it somewhat similar? I loved that it's the truest to a real-time Civ (Brian Reynolds being lead designer on it, also Mr. Civ II - my fave in that series after Civ IV). I also liked RoN over those two because I saw it as an improved version of EE and it covers more time periods than AoE - I know, I'm into modern and future toys (except for medieval/fantasy).

I hope I'm not offending anyone - I think that the AoE and EE series are good, I've played them, just my personal preference.

 

Good to know- I might just boot it up for some pre-new computer old gaming bliss.

That's probaby one of my few complaints about the game. In AoE II, my strategy is usually to secure my base, then advance to the futhest age possible as quickly as possible, at the expense of my army. Then when enemies come knocking with like 50 men at arms, I can chase them away with my cavaliers . The first time I tried that in EE, the computer was spamming weak units so I thought, "hey, that means he's wasting his resources!" Much to my chagrin, he advanced at the same rate as me, within moments (I soon found out that's how the games AI is scripted, %^&%ing cheaters).

I kind of liked the space thing. It was a take it or leave it type of thing. However, I did notice the AI was a little better. Instead of flat out cheating like in the original EE by having unlimited resources, EE:AoC subtly cheats by placing a advancement barrier two ages above the most advanced AI. It's not perfect by any means, but its certainly an improvement now that the dynamic of lots and lots of crappy units vs few strong units finally somewhat come into play.

Good times.

 

I need to get an external floppy drive. I've still got most of my old Apogee diskettes. I had them installed on my VAIO but I lost the external I had for it =( The cool thing about Apogee is that they still sell a lot of their games through their website (They only send out the diskettes though :/)

 

to tell you the truth, RoN, i really didn't like, i thought it sucked.

 

i didn't say they are easy. for that matter i'm yet to beat one on hard on a small map but i can beat 2 on medium easily enough.

the thing i don't like about it is that it cheats. in AoE2, the comp only cheats on hardest. not on easy.

 

i liked the world domination thing. but the whole resourse idea, and the fact it progressed too quickely for my liking, was a turn off. in EE, you spend 20 minutes in each age, where as in RoN, its more like 5 minutes.

 

yeah, it is.

I want to play world domination in EE3 SOOOOOO bad, it looks so fun

 

i think ee3 might be like ee2 in that it is an awesome idea, but they will somehow stuff it up. the whole region thing is a good idea, but the wierd units and "fantasy" elements will be a big turn off.

 

yeah, they shortened the epochs to 5 instead of 15 or whatever. its like CnC3a little bit.

does anyone play Stronghold, Crusader or 2

 

yep all 3

but i'm stuck on the crusader trail. it really pisses me off.

 

I have spent hours upon hours upon hours in rise of nations... its an awesome game though I do agree that civilizations progress way to rapidly through tech levels.

I usually make technology research "slow and expensive: though this benefits the Greeks. Frequently I'll also play in one particular tech level... enlightenment or industrial...

I hate it when the nukes start flying...

Another interesting variation is to put all 8 nations on the tiny map.....

 

i like doing that in AoE2 makes for a quick savage game.

 

Reasons?

Do you mean too many resources? As for progression, I see what you mean. I remember an interview where they said that they wanted to design it where you can advance through all of the Ages in an hour or so. It would have been nice to tweak time-of-Age settings for single player, although they probably would really screw up the balance.

Holy crap...! Reminds me of the 'bloodbath' map in Starcraft. 4 starting points, 64x64 map, smallest possible.

I love RoN myself. There are a ton of customization options for multiplayer and skirmishes, love that.