Your All-Time Favorite Games?

[Jean-Luc]

I'm curious as to what everyone's favorite games are.
I only have two "guidelines" (I'm not a moderator, so I can't enforce that, but it'd be appreciated if you guys stuck to them to keep things manageable and purposeful).
1) Use proper spelling and grammar
2) Don't just list the games, say why you liked the game/series so much. Full sentences please, not like "graphix rox dude."

That said, here we go.
1) Half-Life series: I always found the story incredibly satisfying and intelligent, but where the games really hit home (at least in Half-Life 2 onwards), is the quality of the characters. The amount of believability and depth to their personalities astounded me.

2) Unreal Tournament 2004: This is, and always will be my ultimate definitive multiplayer experience. I have never found a game that offered smoother, faster paced gameplay in an awesome array of gametypes and environments. Just fantastic.

3) Crysis/Crysis Warhead: Putting aside the graphics, the game is definitely one of those that deserves to be on the shelf. Whether it's the ever-changing gameplay, to the wickedly intelligent A.I., this game was completely what it was cracked up to be in my opinion. I could not find a better excuse for my money than these two when it came to recent PC games.

4) Spyro/Ripto's Rage/Year of the Dragon: There is no doubt in my mind (as I still occasionally play them) that Spyro was Sony's flagship mascot back on the Playstation, along with Crash Bandicoot. Something about the gameplay and levels was always awe-inspiring or innovative.

5) Mass Effect: Everything about this game just shines. The storyline is unparalled to most sci-fi adventures (I'm looking at you Halo 2/3) and the level of character interaction and intelligence was fantastic. The gameplay left some to be desired as it was occasionally repetitive, but it was still an immersive experience.

6) Halo Series: Well, had to list this one as it has been the obvious inspiration for many of my CGI projects and just a general source for many many hours of enjoyment. The storyline wasn't always the best imo, but the general high quality of the graphics and the addictive gameplay kept it interesting.

7) Gears of War: Definitely one of my favorite games on the Xbox 360, Gears of War really defined for me the level of graphical fidelity availiable on the X360 (and GoW2 looks to top it...vastly). But it wasn't just the graphics that impressed me. The characters, while somewhat shallow, were very entertaining (who doesn't love Bender?) and the gameplay was interesting enough to provide a fun experience the whole way through. While I didn't care for the actual VS multiplayer mode, Coop was some of the best I had ever played. Looking forward to Gears of War 2 and the much talked about Horde mode.

8) Call of Duty 1 and 4: Definitely the definitive games for their respective historical periods I have found, both games emanated polish and thought in graphics, level design, character, and gameplay. Completely addicting, it was difficult for me to stop playing either.

9) Final Fantasy Series: By far some of the best storylines in gaming, the FF series has provided with me hundreds of hours of enjoyment, whether it was searching for new weapons, or just enjoying the story.

10) F.E.A.R.: First off, I would like to thank Creative X-Fi soundcards for allowing me the honor of shitting my pants while playing this game. In all seriousness, this is by far one of the most immersive gameplay experiences I've ever played, and by far one of the scariest.


That's my current list, I'll edit if I can think of more.

[JunkfoodMan]

Super Smash Bros Series: Always fun, great game to just jump into, alot of variety, tons of content.

Pokemon Games: Best games ever for long car journeys.

Pikmin 1/2: Amazingly inventive and innovative strategic gameplay. I still play it to this day.

Portal: Amazingly innovative, great style of gameplay, opened gateways to various new ways of playing games through the source engine. Amazing writing, great music, brilliant interactivity with the storyline (As with all of Valve's games).

TF2: Best multiplayer game I have ever played. The ease of jumping in to it first time is amazing. Could do without the updates though.

And pretty much everything you said, Jean-Luc.

[Hotrod]

Pokemon series : They never got boring, no matter what. I always enjoyed raising my pokemon, and watching them grow stronger.

Total Annihilation : The first real game I ever played. The gameplay was great, and the massive amount of user-created mods/units/maps/factions added hundreds of hours of replayablility. I also loved creating my own maps, and watching the AI be able to use it with no problems. I also love fucking huge war machines.

Supreme Commander : Great graphics aside, there are many great aspects in the game that I love, such as the strategic zoom (being able to zoom in quite close, and as far out so all the units are little icons, and you can see the whole map). The Single Player was fun, but the story line could have used a bit more work. Again, the modding community adds a nice amount of replayability as well. Like in TA, I love fucking huge war machines.

Halo series : I love the storyline, and I really like how Bungie created a whole universe filled with stuff not put into the games. They have details on many things in the Universe that no other games have, and that's what really makes Halo stand out.

Crysis/Warhead : Amazing graphics as well, yes, but I really enjoy the AI and the features that the game has to offer due to the nanosuit. I like how you have to think statigecly while figuring out what suit ability to use in which situations. The story line was great too, and I like the weapon customization.

[ExAm]

I can't stop playing Far Cry 2 :gonk:
Definitely goes on my favorite games list. It's expansive, and between missions you can just go off someplace and do side missions to unlock weapons or just blow shit up because you can.

[Roostervier]

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time :
Great game, had an epic feel to it. It lasted me for 6 years and I played it all the time with my friends.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask :
Another great game. Didn't feel as epic, but it was fun as hell.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past :
One of my very first games that I owned. This puppy took a while to finish because my SNES was crappy and the save data kept getting erased.

Super Smash Bros. :
Played this all the time with my friends, it was really fun.

Super Mario World :
Another one of the first games that I owned. Took me a while to beat it as well, because I was a noob.

Super Mario 64 :
After I saved up and bought my Nintendo 64, my parents were impressed with my handling of money (I was around 8 at the time, cost a hundred hard earned dollars from raking leaves and shoveling snow), and decided to buy me Banjo Kazooie and this. I played it a lot, and my sister liked this game too.

The Halo series :
I've always loved Halo since the moment I played the first one at a friend's house.

Call of Duty 1 :
I used to play this all the time. It was hella fun. Later, a bunch of mods came out for it, making it even more fun. This and CoD2 are the two quality CoD games (but, I didn't like CoD2's MP as much), IMO.

[Pooky]

These are pretty much my favorites, in vaguely chronological order. I chose only to include games that I still play to this day, and that I enjoy significantly more than similar or more recent games. There are lots of other games that I regard highly, but these are the ones that will always be classics in my eyes.

Metroid - NES

There are going to be a few Metroid games on this list, and for good reason. Up until the massive fail-bombs that were Metroid Prime 2 and 3, this series consisted of wholly the most immersive and entertaining games I'd ever played. I could spend hours on Metroid just exploring the map, finding all the hidden items. This was back before the luxury of automaps, so I actually drew out a map on graph paper as I went along, marking all the missile tanks and special items. The music was moody, the graphics were simple but highly appropriate, and the big WTF moment at the end was a suitable climax to everything leading up to it. I still play Metroid and its many high quality mods (Metroid X (http://ragegames.classicgaming.gamespy.com/metroidx.html), Project Ridien (http://projectridien.4t.com/)) to this day, which is a testament to how well it stands the test of time.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles - Genesis

Actually a combination of two cartridges, this is the one I'd come closest to labeling my all time favorite game. Brilliant high speed gameplay, Surprisingly smooth framerate, slick graphics and art direction. Great variety in the huge maps and a surprising amount of depth and secrets to find, many a part of the "figure it out yourself" storyline so highly praised in the later Half-Life. Excellent co-op mode, awesome debug mode that let you basically add anything to the maps in a similar way to Forge in Halo 3.

Super Metroid - SNES

Take everything good I said about Metroid, multiply it by about 4x, and you have Super Metroid. The maps are even more intricate and fun to explore, the graphics are even more dark and appropriate, the music is way more moody and atmospheric. Everything Metroid did, Super Metroid did on a grander scale. Incredible game.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Playstation

Here we take everything that was awesome about Super Metroid, and translate it to a gothic medieval environment. The shoddy voice acting aside, the art style and visuals are incredible for a 2D game, and it still stands as the best looking 2D game I've ever played. The map is enormous, and every single room (loading halls and save points etc. excepted) is unique and interesting. The music is incredible, and sets the tone very well. The storyline is even surprisingly good, though you might want to turn the volume down so the poor acting doesn't spoil it. Also, the game adds an interesting RPG style element of leveling up and becoming more powerful. You can find all sorts of strange equipment, learn button combo powered spells, and generally kick ass.

Metroid Prime - Gamecube

You can start to see that I really like this sort of game. Metroid Prime is essentially Super Metroid in 3D. Everything good about Super Metroid is made even better with a fantastic new 3D map. The storyline aspect is greatly expanded from previous games with the innovative scan visor, that lets you get detailed information on virtually any object in the game. From the materials making up a specific rock, to the biology of every enemy, to the history of an extinct people, your Log Book will soon become a sci-fi encyclopedia full of interesting information. It's also worth pointing out that when it was first released Metroid Prime had probably the best graphics seen on any console.

Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast - PC

The gameplay of this unusual title starts off as standard FPS fare and transforms into something wholly different. You start off as badass mercenary Kyle Katarn, gunning down stormtroopers in some pretty decent action gameplay. As you progress however, Kyle aquires a lightsaber and starts developing force powers, eventually transforming the game into some sort of a hybrid of Zelda and Quake, with Kyle flinging around force powers and pulling off surprisingly deep lightsaber moves. The impressive visuals, mature storyline, and fantastic multiplayer round out the experience into a hell of a package.

Knights of the Old Republic - PC

Pfft, another Star Wars game?

Well, yes. And this one is as different from the last as it could possibly be. Some of the best computer roleplaying ever created combined with some kickass animations that almost make the d20 system fun. Many, many different endings and a storyline that can go hundreds of different ways. Excellent music that strays surprisingly far from standard Star Wars fare while still maintaining that distinctive atmosphere.

Halo - Xbox

I don't really need to say anything here.

Oblivion - PC

A game that starts off as merely good, but when combined with its modding community becomes amazing.

[Warsaw]

1. Half-Life 2 and Episodes (PC)-Looked extremely good for its time (and still manages to wow even today), excellent game play, good mod support, and the game universe is jaw-dropping awesome. It dazzles and stuns without needing huge machines and battles of epic proportions.

2. Battlezone (Plus Expansions) and Battlezone II: Combat Commander (PC)-First strategy game I ever played. It is unique in the sense that it is a full RTS like any other, but with the added elements of an FPS. You are an actual commander in the field, able to drive tanks, snipe enemy pilots, order bombings, artillery etc. It (BZ2) has a larger mod community than even Halo CE, and has a mod (Forgotten Enemies) that makes pretty much every CE mod I've ever seen and/or played look only half-finished, with another blockbuster on the way. Graphics are not dazzling, but the gameplay and plot more than make up for that; it is richer than even Halo or Mass Effect.

3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (and Expansions) (PC)-Hands down the most addicting RTS I've ever played. The attrition warfare that pervades the game just makes me want to keep on going, and the number of playable factions adds a lot of replay value. The game is so perfectly balanced, that I have no complaints about any of the sides.

4. Halo: Combat Evolved (XBOX/PC)-And I mean just this one. This is the one that kept me hooked for five years straight, had a compelling mystique about its story, and had addicting gameplay. The sequels are mere shadows compared to this one. Even the multiplayer is superior in my opinion, despite the wankage of the M6D Magnum.

5. Golden Sun: The Lost Age (Gameboy Advanced)-This one kept and still keeps me hooked. Graphics are most definitely not this game's strong point, but the mechanics and story are superb. I still haven't beaten it after owning it for more than six years. This game is the basis by which I judge all other RPGs. None have touched it thus far, not even Oblivion, and not even KotOR (though KotOR comes close).

[Pooky]

3. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (and Expansions) (PC)-Hands down the most addicting RTS I've ever played. The attrition warfare that pervades the game just makes me want to keep on going, and the number of playable factions adds a lot of replay value. The game is so perfectly balanced, that I have no complaints about any of the sides.

I love DoW too, but I have to dispute this claim. Eldar Howling Banshee spam and Necron Warrior spam are still way too hard to deal with :\

[Warsaw]

Banshees are easily dealt with using Heavy Bolters and Necron Warriors are nothing in the face of Tau plasma. Rockets are also effective for their knockdown effect. Also, mines. The most challenging thing to deal with is an all-out Space Marine attack. Once they gain momentum, they are insanely hard to stop.

[Pooky]

Banshees are easily dealt with using Heavy Bolters and Necron Warriors are nothing in the face of Tau plasma. Rockets are also effective for their knockdown effect. Also, mines.

All those things take a while to get setup while banshee/warrior rushes are quickly and easily done in T1 :\

[Sel]

Archon for the NES

UT2004

Crysis series

AoE 2 + Conquerors expansion

Need for Speed 3

[LinkandKvel]

3 words
Legend Of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time - Epic game within itself. Still has replay value to this very day.

[deathret]

In order of all time favorites:
Halo PC/CE
Ocarina of time
California games (on apple with monochromatic screen)
Everquest 2
Lineage 2
StarWar Battlefront

[Sargent_Hawk]

My favorite games:

Half Life 2(episodes+deathmatch), even though I do not have the original Hl2, the episodes are great, characher deph is awesome, and the chalange modes are true, there is no easy=very easy hard= normal crap.

Legend of Zelda series, I have allmost every LoZ game except for the protable ones (DS GBA ect) and their all very fun to play.

Pokemon series, great games, I've been playing them for as long as I can remember, infact their allmost as old as me, but what makes them alot more fun is using a Gameshark/action replay to go past game boundries and sneak into areas no one would imagine.

Halo, a great game with skilled players online, but enough noobs to own makes a normal player feel good when he plays(lol).

Red Orshestra, A good game with an awesome community, there are no players that feel like winning is life,(atleast I havin't met any of them) and when someone dies they never complain, they just keep on playing.

Socom: combined assualt(Ps2), a great navy seal tps/fps, you could start playing and choose to play in first person view or in third person, a good story line, and a huge community, infact, it was rates Sonys biggist online community for the Ps2 system as of 2007.

Sonic series, a fast paced game, boss battles where lame, but the speed is what kept me in, some bosses on Sonic adventure 2 battle that made you use speed and timing intead of patterns where my favorite levels to play.

Garry's mod, a great mod(but so big most people consider it a game) where anythign is possible, make things fly, jump ect(but sadly due to the fact I don't have CS:S I have to use gmod 7).

Need for speed underground 2, a great racing game, but the customazation is what keeps me playing, sadly EA cut off its online play quite some time ago(wich they should update their NFSU2 website stating that there are still online torunaments).

Super smash brothers series, a great game that anyone can become great at, and with the online play of Brawl you can play with your friends no matter where they are, but lag is a big problem, one player with a bad connection brings everyone down, but once that player is dead the games speed kicks up.

Grand theft auto series, a good game to kill anyone in, walk down the street and shoot a few people and run from the cops, or fight them, and with a few external programs you can make tons of mods or just use a trainer to get the army after you in the press of a button.

E; Wow, I didin't know my list was so big...

[adumass]

1. Battlezone 1(pc) First game I ever owned. It was a mix of fps and rts, played it for years and still play it now. My current avatar is of a soviet(CCA in game) tank from this game.:downs:
2. Starcraft and Broodwar expansion(pc) First rts game I ever played, got introduced to it by a friend from school. Really good story, gameplay and multiplayer.
3. Halo Combat Evolved(xbox/pc) For some reason all I saw of this game was a commercial and I wanted it. My first console was going to be a ps2 but this was the real reason I got an xbox instead.
4. Half Life 1(pc) Loved the story, the gameplay, the mods, and everything else about it. I spent a lot of time replaying the single player levels.
5. Dark Reign(pc) Another rts game, gameplay was a lot different that starcraft. It was fast paced and rescource collection was really easy. I really liked the units from this game.

[Phobias]

1. Battlezone 1(pc) First game I ever owned. It was a mix of fps and rts, played it for years and still play it now. My current avatar is of a soviet(CCA in game) tank from this game.:downs:


Holy fucking shit I love you.

^ first game I ever owned for pc.

(In no particular order >__>)

1. Pokemon. Got me through primary school.
2. Metal Gear Solid 1. My third PS1 game, best of its series. The rest are just shit.
3. Portal. Just wow. The story was good, the puzzles were amazing.
4. Team Fortress 2. MEDIC? I live to heal.
5. Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2, XII. Some brilliant games, and I still haven't finished them all. I'm a sucker for a tear jerker D:
6. Half-life 2. I shouldn't really say that, I'm only a quarter of the way through, but it's sucked me in. Fuck Ravenholme and it's zombies, though.
7. Silent Hill. One of the most immirsive games I've ever played. Not once have I ever played a Silent Hill game and not had the shakes for a good 2 weeks afterwards.
8. F.E.A.R, scary as FUCK, but an awesome FPS. I remember chasing a rat because it spooked me the first time I played it. That rat got smeered all over the wall :|.
9. and finally: Halo 1, PC-CE. I just love killing grunts.

[Warsaw]

1. Battlezone 1(pc) First game I ever owned. It was a mix of fps and rts, played it for years and still play it now. My current avatar is of a soviet(CCA in game) tank from this game.:downs:
2. Starcraft and Broodwar expansion(pc) First rts game I ever played, got introduced to it by a friend from school. Really good story, gameplay and multiplayer.
3. Halo Combat Evolved(xbox/pc) For some reason all I saw of this game was a commercial and I wanted it. My first console was going to be a ps2 but this was the real reason I got an xbox instead.
4. Half Life 1(pc) Loved the story, the gameplay, the mods, and everything else about it. I spent a lot of time replaying the single player levels.
5. Dark Reign(pc) Another rts game, gameplay was a lot different that starcraft. It was fast paced and rescource collection was really easy. I really liked the units from this game.

Were I a cup holding a beverage derived from leaves, you know what I would do to you...:p

Also, Bobcat > Czar > Grizzly > Stoli

And Togran FTW. Best of both worlds. You ever try Dark Reign 2? Great game. Doesn't quite play like the original, but 'tis much merrymaking.

[Jean-Luc]

I would like to add two games to my list.

Star Wars Republic Commando first. This is, by far, one of the best Star Wars games I have ever experienced. From the graphics, the gameplay (squad tactics), to the characters, everything about this game is pure fun.

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War. Well, like many of you, I have found this to be one of the single greatest RTS games out there. The storyline is good, the acting is fun, the gameplay is wonderfully balanced, and the battles are intense. Couldn't ask for a finer RTS.

[Timo]

The Neverhood: One of my all time favourites. It's funny, somewhat challenging and is entirely made out of clay. An old windows 95 game, i've got the install disk around here somewhere still.
Civilization 2: This is the only strategy type game i've really gotten into. It's old, but even now still fun and challenging.
Halo on Xbox: First game I ever played on the xbox, and I must've logged hundreds and hundreds of hours killing the covenant on AotCR.
Metal Arms: Glitch in the System: Game is kind of like Halo, but different enough to be fun.
Call of Duty 4: I thought halo 3 was all I needed for multiplayer until I played this, and I can't get enough of it. The level of replayability is awesome.
Peggle Extreme: Awesomest flash game i've ever played, all thanks to CN - you're the man.
Portal: I lol every time I play.

The list is probably a lot longer, but I can't think of anything else right now.

[klange]

Goldeneye (64)
Starfox (64)
Ocarina of Time
Halo (Xbox)

[Donut]

no love for final fantasy 6? i thought it was a huge improvement over 5. the graphics are alot better than 5, and the characters are alot better developed
not to mention how theres like 20 characters and multiparty exploring

as with just about everyone else, i love the zelda series. zelda ocarina of time was the first n64 and 3d game i played.

super mario brothers: the original 1985 version. i started playing this when i was like... 2 years old.

legend of zelda 2 links adventure: some people hate it, i loved it. i had it on the nes, but i could never beat it because the saves got all messed up all the time. i located the final castle one time on the nes, but i couldnt do anything in it since that barrier thing was up. i got the rom of it last summer and finally beat it. i feel good about myself

Pikmin 1 and 2: iv never played a game quite like this. iv never liked real time stretegy games such as star craft. if pikmin can be considered an rts, its the only rts iv ever played without throwing something (yes age of mythology, you can go rot, k?)

elder scrolls 3 morrowind: i have oblivion too, but i love morrowind so much more. iv got it on the pc, and the amount of mods i have for this game surpasses the hard drive space the original game took up by about 3 times. oblivion made me angry because 1) i get 15 fps in any open field 2) you cannot wear clothes and armor 3) the only enchanted item i have so far does not recharge its enchantment like weapons do in morrowind

[Rook]

Halo 1 (PC)

Unreal Tournament series (PC)

Zelda series

[itszutak]

The Marathon series is quickly becoming my favorite series of all time.

Between Durandal and GLaDOS (from portal :downs:) I'm not sure who's better.

[PopeAK49]

Pokemon was my favorite when i was a kid. I have to say Gears of War, and Dead Space.

[Trinx]

Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Stadium/Stadium 2/etc etc: I've played and enjoyed almost every game that was made, and I still play some of them today.
Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask: Classic games, and they still kick ass.
Megaman X: Played it a lot as a kid.
Megaman Battle Network: Addicting to me for some reason, even though the storyline is...average.
Doom: This was basically my first FPS.
Halo 1 (I guess): Halo got me a bit further into the FPS genre.
Final Fantasy 6: This is just my favorite Final Fantasy, really.
Super Metroid: Anyone who says this was a bad game is fucked up in the head, man.
Team Fortress 2: TF2 is my favorite multiplayer FPS at the moment, and my favorite class is the Scout.
Everquest: I played it for seven or so years, and it's still stuck with me somewhat to this day.
Diablo II: Well, this is just awesome.
and probably some others I'm forgetting.

[adumass]

Were I a cup holding a beverage derived from leaves, you know what I would do to you...:p

Also, Bobcat > Czar > Grizzly > Stoli

And Togran FTW. Best of both worlds. You ever try Dark Reign 2? Great game. Doesn't quite play like the original, but 'tis much merrymaking.

Ive got Dark Reign 2 and 1 but I don't like the sequel as much. Also a full, updated version of battlezone that works on xp is available for dl here: http://www.battlezoneclub.org/
The dl link is on the forums..:http://bzfiles.net/BZinstall/

[Warsaw]

Really? I always found spamming the enemy with Rumblers or Guardians (with artillery support, of course) entertaining.

Also, I keep forgetting about BZClub. I run across the site a couple times a year, and always forget to do something with it...thanks.

[p0lar_bear]

Team Fortress 2 (PC)
Came for the art styles and characters, stayed for the hours of fun gameplay. That and the game is usually laid-back compared to other games like Halo 3 and Counter-Strike, except for the couple times when you have one of those "drill sergeant" types yelling out commands in the voice chat, or supapros shitting up the chat with trash talk (nothing a votekick can't fix).

Earthbound (SNES)
Seriously. Any RPG where, instead of slaying dragons as a knight wielding Excalibur, you're beating the shit out of hippies as a kid with a Louisville Slugger is an automatic win. Its own brand of humor and storytelling make it a game worth playing, even if the graphics were dated for its time. This same thing goes for Mother 3 (GBA).

WinBack (N64 and PS2)
Maybe it wasn't that great of a game, and the PS2 version's voice acting was horrible, but by friends and I had a blast trying to master this, beating each level with a perfect 1000 (no damage, all enemies killed, handgun only [on the N64 version]).

Earthworm Jim
COW LAUNCHED.

'Nuff said.

Goldeneye 007 (N64)
Needs no introduction.

Halo (PC)
Also needs no introduction.

[legionaire45]

CSS, TF2, Halo CE, Halo PC, Oblivion, BF2, etc.

Check my xfire. If I've played more then 20 hours of it I probably like it.