I guess the original Bioshock would have to take the cake.
My top 6 in no particular order:
-Dishonoured, An excellently balanced stealth game that differed in length depending on how you played and offered high replay value
-Kingdom Hearts 2, The odd blend of Final fantasy and Disney, while novel and nonsensical at times, worked really well and was an enjoyable experience, while the first game was wonderful, 2 expanded upon it in many ways.
-Skyrim, How can you not love the open world adventure that is Skyrim, a masterpiece of gaming and the peak of what a fantasy game should be, I’ve been playing Skyrim since it came out and still go back to it for fun, the addition of mods to console versions was wonderful and gave me many more hours of enjoyment through easy to access additions to an already superb game.
-Red Dead Redemption, The Western was a market of untapped potential when it came to gaming, sure you had the ‘Call of Juarez’ games, but that was really about it when it came to AAA western epics, then came Red Dead Redemption, with its excellent gameplay and engrossing characters & storyline
-Portal 2, The first Portal game was always special and wonderful, but Portal 2 was in a word, Genius, it took the vague, yet intriguing cast of Portal and morphed them into sympathetic and complex characters, the prime example being GLaDOS, coupled with the physics puzzles that were ell designed and the funny script, it made a wonderful game
-Star Wars Battlefront 2 (PS2), This game was my childhood, I have fond memories of waking up my brother, just so I could play this game with him, as a multiplayer experience, it was just wonderful, the ability to actually fly ships around in an attempt to sway the galaxy’s battles in your favour, my chosen side was always the Sith and I loved every moment spent playing that game, It’s a shame EA had to cock up its return.
These are my favourite games and some justifications as to why I enjoy them so much.
My top 5 favorite games are:
- ghost trick: I LOVE that game’s story.
- civilisation 5: So many memories of me playing that game with my dad.
- pokemon moon: the best (according to me) pokemon game in the franchise
- RPG maker MV: introduced me to my love of creating games.
- Axiom Verge: ( thanks to Chrono.gg for that one) I am currently playing this game and it is quickly becoming one of my favorites.
My Top 5 in no specific order
- Overwatch
- Super Smash Brothers for Wii U/3DS
- Pokemon Platinum
- Zelda BOTW
- Sonic Colors
I’ll try to go by system. My favorites shift like crazy but I’ll try to go by what held my attention the most for each.
Atari 2600: SeaQuest
Nothing special, save divers and shoot submarines and sharks while managing air. Had good graphics for the time and I remember pouring a lot of time into it.
NES: River City Ransom
These systems will be hard picks, there’s so much on these I spent time with, but the brawler game with adventure and RPG mechanics blew my mind back in the day.
SNES: Shadowrun
Too much to pick from but I still have my copy, I love the setting and the story. Anything that lets me battle Orcs with a mini-gun is okay by me.
Genesis: Sonic 2
Again, so much to choose from. I didn’t really play much Genesis when it was current, most of my time came much later, but the few Sega kids I knew back then were all about Sonic 2 races. Dat soundtrack too.
PS1: Castlevania SOTN
This one is no question one of my favorites not just on the system but of all time. I can’t gush enough about this game and we’ll be here all day. I run this game at least once a year and imported the soundtrack on CD. Can’t get enough.
Nintendo 64: Star Fox 64
Has to be Star Fox 64. So many hours sunk, so many runs to medal every planet and route. Another of my all time favorites, I’m always ready for a run at this game.
Dreamcast: Crazy Taxi
This was the game that friends and I spent the most time with. Everybody was getting to that point in life where you set out on your own and time becomes scarce for socializing, so this was the last real contest for alot of us to engage in. I’ll always remember the pain of the crazy box just for that stupid rickshaw bike. Bragging rights, dude.
PS2: Katamari Damacy
What can I say? IT was very different, has a great soundtrack, came at me at a time where I was starting to search for new experiences when it came to video games. So dung beetle simulator caught my attention and kept it.
Xbox: Elder Scrolls 3 Morrowind
Okay, I know this was a PC game first, and I’m sure it’s far better on a PC. But I only bought my first laptop a little over a year ago, and the last PC I had access to before that was the family 486 way back. So I had an Xbox, and the game that stole the most of my life was this one. I wonder if my save still exists somewhere?
Gamecube: tLoZ Wind Waker
I liked the style and was into the sailing, everything friends complained about. Another unpopular opinion is that this is my favorite 3D Zelda title COME AT ME
…I just realized I forgot about handheld systems…so
Gameboy: Final Fantasy Adventure
Or Sword of Mana if you like. The story stuck with me, I still remember some of the sad bits, and the ending. Played like old school Zelda games with partner characters, so good.
GBA: Metroid Zero Mission
Kept me company at a low point in my life where I did nothing but work to stay broke. Would end up waiting to work for 2 hours a night because of public transportation and this was what kept me sane. Ending bit was more epic than any GBA game had any business being.
DS: tLoZ Phantom Hourglass
Sequel to my favorite 3D Zelda (COME AT ME)? Yes please. It was very gimmicky but I liked that, fresh mechanics that worked well. Even had a coworker that would play multiplayer with me, that was a good time.
PSP: Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles
Portable version of my favorite game? Again, yes please. Rondo of Blood is pretty sweet too.
Okay, let me wrap up the last few.
Xbox 360: Earth Defense Force 2025
Okay I have over 700 games for this system, and there are plenty of games with better everything, but EDF lets you mow down giant robots and insects with rockets and giant knives? So I’m picking this right now.
PS4: Diablo 3
This carries over from 2 editions on the 360, so I’m choosing it for PS4. I can always get down on some Diablo 3, it’s so relaxing I’ve had it lull me to sleep on occasion, it’s the game I’m closest to getting my first Platinum trophy for. And they keep updating it so there’s always something new to get into when I go back to it.
PC: Terraria
I own 3 copies on 3 systems, PC being the best for content. Got the PC version last to play with friends and I’m glad I did.
Thats it. Sorry if that got a bit long to go through but I was on a roll.
Wow! That is very impressive! And some very nice choices too!
If I was stuck on a desert island there are a few games that I’d love to have to keep me company. Now, I am wayyyyy behind on modern games so excuse any omissions that might seem odd…
The Secret of Monkey Island - People might argue that the second one is better, but TSOMI is one of the most magical point and click adventures I’ve ever played. From the humour to the music to the magical story and characters, it’s a charming example of breathing life into a game and conveying so much more than merely swiping the screen for objects.
Ninja Gaiden Black - Part of me loves this game because I’ve had friends who quit before beating the first boss. Part of me loves it because you’re a Ninja. But most of me loves it because it’s a hard but fair third person combat adventure that relies on skill and patience.
Devil May Cry 3 - See above.
Final Fantasy Tactics - I love a good SRPG. And Final Fantasy Tactics is a great SRPG. I’ve always intended to try Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together but never had the time so that could possibly depose this one but the array of characters, intriguing plot and brutal difficulty makes me love this adventure in the land of Ivalice.
Vagrant Story - Reinforcements? I am the reinforcements…
Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Job System - It’s great, despite the fact that the developers bottled it with choosing the main character.
Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence - There’s a giant ladder inside all of us.
Dragon Quest VIII Journey of the Cursed King - Because snow crunch is a sound that just can’t be imitated.
Dead Space - Dismemberment with extreme prejudice whilst fixing stuff, with a protagonist named after two legendary sci-fi authors.
Valkyrie Profile Silmeria - Norse mythology rocks. Combat which involves skill and juggling for rewards is ace. And it looks pretty. Plus there’s an evil sorcerer in it.
The World Ends with You - Possibly the best game on the DS. If your brain can’t handle dual screen action then grow another one. For tips see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Maybe that’s it…maybe it’s not. Star Ocean 3 til the End of Time also might feature…
Borderlands (PS3) - love it…gameplay, graphics, story, ease of playability
Last of Us (PS3) - story, gameplay, controls, progression…did I say story!?
Uncharted Waters (SNES) - I used to sneak out of bed and go down into the basement where I had a secret SNES hooked up just to play this game. I can’t count the number of hours I poured into roaming around the world in my little boats.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (XBOX) - this was the first XBOX game I played (even before Halo…was late to that party), and I had to watch a friend’s house and he said I could play it. Hooked. KOTOR 2 was not as good, and I’ve despised Obsidian ever since for taking what could have been a wonderful game and breaking it.
Castle Crashers (XBOX and then PS3 and then XBOX One) - side-scrolling beat 'em up that anyone could play. Used to have it running when friends would come over, and everyone could just grab a character and play. Some crass humor, but I wish they had made a sequel.
Uncharted (PS3) - this was my first platinum trophy on the PlayStation. I played this game until my hands cramped up, and I got everything in there…Uncharted 2 as well.
(All console games).
Crazy Taxi - The best time waster on any platform (except steam, never play it on steam).
100% Orange Juice - I may hate it half the time, but I still love it. Sounds like a bad marriage.
Kingdom Hearts II - KH is as dumb as ever and I love it.
Trine 2 - It’s a shame we never got a sequel eh?
Chrono Trigger - It’s good.ツ
No particular order and I’m probably forgetting my actual favorites, I’m really bad at listing stuff.
I see what you did there… >_>
Sad to say that I own Trine and Trine 3…never experienced the middle game.
no Stardew Valley?
@xist Both 1 & 2 are awesome, you should definitely grab it.
@Gnuffi I was going to ask how you knew I was thinking about adding it before you edited your post (those mind readers man). Yeah it’s a dope game but it’s probably not in my top 5.
I wrote this a while back, but never actually posted it… here goes nothing.
Keep in mind, it’s an old list. If I did it today, BAM VR would definitely be there-- it’s absolutely exceptional as an online shooter.
POST:
Not too many threads on Chrono, sadly, so even if I’m late… might as well drop something.
Now, I’m going to sound like a broken record here, because a lot of these were listed last time I was trusted with a “Top 1 Underrated” list (falsely placed trust, as I put down at least five -_-).
That said… Psychonauts. Just… Psychonauts. Pretty much everything I said that was positive about Grim Fandango, minus some of the more frustrating puzzles (looking at you, Rubacava Cat-racers), and add some very solid platforming with impressive physics tech. It’s such a hidden gem, that enough people told their friends about it to make it… an unhidden gem.
Hard to call close favorites, but Killing Floor 2 comes pretty close. I don’t feel great about putting such a new game here, but after >100 hrs I think I can safely say it’s awesome in every way. Way better mod support (audio and material crashing needs to be fixed though), more satisfying gunplay, streamlined gameplay without losing the original idea, awesome use of lighting tech for a mechanical purpose in-game, impressive visuals, it basically takes KF1’s shortcomings and turns them into the strong points. There’s very little I can knock it for, except kf_blackforest. !@$% that map.
Quake Live is also worth mentioning here, with a MASSIVE asterisk. I have a lot of nostalgia for it-- as my first Quake MP game (ET QW for Xbox doesn’t really count and I didn’t play Q4 PvP), I played it because there was nothing else to play on an already-slow Vista laptop that SecuROM tore to shreds. I got my ass handed to me. I wore my participation award with pride. I passed every single lowest-rank test with flying gibs. AND IT WAS GREAT. I do like the Steam version, and while player count is low, there’s enough to play.
Burnout 3: Revenge and Takedown both score equally, the original Xbox versions that is (never played the 360 port of Revenge but it seems alright judging by the demo). When I was younger I played a fair amount of NFS3 on my dad’s PC, but that poor game didn’t stand a chance against the absolute sensory assault that Burnout had. Everything was extremely fast, cars were everywhere to take you out (or in the latter, BE taken out), and every second felt like it actually counted. Taking a step back from cars, SSX Tricky and 3 need a remaster ASAP. They put Steep to shame, not because Steep is bad, but because the peak of the mountain has already been reached. 3 was especially fun with the kind of open-worldy singleplayer campaign, like SkiFree with more stuff to do and without the barbaric yeti-monster.
Metroid Prime 3 is also an old favorite, and I might buy a Wii-U just so I can play the entire trilogy at some point. There’s little I can really describe MP3 as, just the perfect Metroidvania with excellent pacing and level design that nails the balance between simple and overwhelming. If you have the old Wii lying around, maybe even a Wii-U that you regret buying, go get the Trilogy as soon as you can find it for a sub-$100 price.
Rollercoaster Tycoon is probably the only other thing I can undisputably put down on this list. It’s the perfect sim game, the undisputed crown. As a theme park builder, it has well-aged isometric visuals, plays nice with modern Windows (most of the time), and offers a ridiculous amount of content. Take it from me, I’ve been playing it for at least 14 years now. It really is perfect, and I never even played half the scenarios. I just kept replaying Forest Frontiers and seeing how ridiculous I could get.
Oh, and Halo 2/3. Of course those belong here, they’re perfect in every way. Go buy the MCC for Xbox One, it really does the originals justice. Stay away from the crappy new control scheme, play with the original setups and press the Back button to get the real audio/visuals back. My sole complaint with MCC is some of the new art direction, especially the perfect energy sword sound being replaced, but this can be fixed at the flip of a button.
One last entry that I almost forgot to put down: Gears of War 3. Really, it should be 2, but 3 knocked it so far out of the park that I can’t even play the older ones anymore. It gets a lot of flack as a third person cover-based shooter because so many people tried to copy its one-touch cover mechanics (usually with a clunky mess of unintuitive animation locks and crappy feeling), but GoW 1 had a great concept and 2 got it right. GoW 3 is a genuine step up in every sense of the word, it feels way more refined than the others in every field I can think of. The combat is perfectly paced, movement feels smoother, the level design is worthy of the Epic Games label, Horde 2.0 is absolutely insane, and… yeah, I’ll stop now.
Now, I’m really tired of textwalling here, so I’m going to go ahead and just namedrop a crapload of great ones you should all play at some point if possible:
- FEAR
- SSX Tricky
- Zelda N64 (either one’s great)
- Rogue Trooper
- Star Wars: Dark Forces: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (consistently awesome games, horribly inconsistent subheaders )
- Alan Wake/Max Payne 1
- OpenXcom (X-COM UFO Defense modded for native Windows 7+ support and streamlined)
- XCOM Enemy Unknown (my first X-COM game and a split tie for my favorite with the original)
- Prison Architect (still my favorite modern builder, though RimWorld may be tough competition)
Sorry most of these are console games, but SecuROM really ruined everything a decade ago.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent. A stupendously amazingly atmospheric game! Also mods/full story mods available, so game will last forever.
Magicka: Wizard Wars. Really great game. Can fight with & against enemy/team mates. High learning curve, but when you got it, you could rule the maps. I remember being 1v4 at times against others & they couldn’t kill me, unless I messed up or they got their timing perfect. Made more in game cronies in this than any other game.
Magicka. Spent just as much time “accidentally” killing each other, as we did the mobs
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat (with SoC & CS close behind). First time played this, died a lot! Was so used to run & gun games, but that doesn’t work in these games. But not only are the npcs (several factions) out to kill you, so is the weather
DOOM(2016). Shocked at how well optimised this game is. Even on my antique (i7-860/RX480) I can run this at 110-170fps on max settings. Great atmosphere, with a little bit of backtracking. And that music, wow!
F.E.A.R. Amazingly atmospheric, with a case of “wth’s going on!?”
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that top 10 is so confusing when accidentally reading your forum bio at the same time
welcome to the chrono forum gg2
This is too funny. It’s not like years (or even months) have passed and gg2 had time to reflect and amend her list of favorite games. It was literally right after she created her account and wrote her bio
And what is Thief 2 Slotty Vegas? Some kind of gambling expansion for Thief II?
turns out, it’s an actual gambling site/link
i didn’t even realize it “mixed” in with thief like that (i thought it might just be some weird low hanging steam fruit)
mighty strange place to put an ad, and if “it’s not”, -still pretty strange to have as favourite
I don’t mean to point any fingers, but the screenshot is for posterity sake… somewhat contradictory to the list provided…
I think the Vegas link is an advertisement…
EDIT:
I really need to read what other people have written before I write my commentary… Sorry, @Gnuffi, I seem to be doing a lot of echoing of you these days…
I don’t know how true it is, but I’ve heard it said: “the more time you spend on the Chrono forum, the more Gnuffi-like you become.” Perhaps that explains why there are so many of them damn Gnuffi “alts” around here. Fortunately, I’ve been able to resist… but it’s getting harder with each passing day.