Top 20 Greatest Games Ever

Posted on 05. Jan, 2010 by Darkman in Entertainment, Games & Technology

How do you define what makes a game ‘the best ever’?

Is it determined by how much it was adored by critics, or by how many units it shifted at retail?

Based on preference, sales and contribution to the gaming industry as we know it today I decided to attempt the impossible and present the top 20 games of all time.

20: Half-Life

On its release Half-Life sent a shock through the game industry with its combination of pounding action and continuous, immersive storytelling. Valve’s debut title won more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named “Best PC Game Ever” by PC Gamer, and launched a franchise with more than 20 million retail units sold worldwide.

19: Pac- Man

The easy-to-spot brilliance of Ms. Pac-Man lies in the simple gameplay and extraordinary accessibility. Anybody can play this arcade game right from the get-go, yet mastering the increased speeds and changing enemy patterns, and navigating the tricky maps with skill, is another thing entirely. Ms. Pac-Man was indeed a sequel, but along with its familiarity came cut-scenes, traveling food, more aggressive AI, and a complexity that built on the first without ruining it. Play this game today and you’ll find it just as charming, enticing, and deep as it was in 1981.

18: Tomb Raider

Since the release of the original Tomb Raider in 1996, the series developed into a lucrative franchise of related media, and Lara went on to become a major icon of the video game industry. The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Lara Croft as the “Most Successful Human Videogame Heroine” in 2006. The Tomb Raider video games have together sold over 35 million units, making it one of the best-selling video game series of all time.

Based partly on attitude and skill set, but mostly on physique, this female equivalent to Indiana Jones has transcended the games created by Core Design and fueled the fantasies of millions of gamers worldwide.

17: Doom

Doom is a landmark 1993 first-person shooter computer game by id Software. It is widely recognized for having popularized the first person shooter genre, pioneering immersive 3D graphics as well as true third dimension spatiality, networked multiplayer gaming, and support for customized additions and modifications. Doom is widely regarded as one of the most important titles in gaming history. It was voted the “#1 game of all time” in a poll among over 100 game developers and journalists conducted in July 2001.

16: Metal Gear Solid

While loads of other games were chasing the goal of a cinematic experience with cutscenes set between regular action, Metal Gear Solid was a landmark: a game that truly felt like a movie with its expert mix of storytelling and gameplay. Attention to detail was lavished on several different aspects from the conspiracy theory storyline to the environment, but most notably on the unique and innovative fights that stand out several years later. As the founder of the stealth genre, the original experience is still the benchmark against which the followers are measured.

15: Championship Manager/ Football Manager

If there was a game that could be compared to a drug this was the one. So many times you wanted to give up and go to bed but you couldn’t do it. Minutes turned into hours and sometimes hours turned into days. After the release of CM3 stories began to emerge of the debilitating effects of its addictiveness. People sacrificed their education, lost their jobs, and in more extreme case, their wives, with the game cited in at least three divorce cases. I myself fell under its spell, reduced to a shambolic husk of a man, the mirror image of those I once mocked, a hollow-eyed nocturnal ghoul with a head full of stats and sink full of plates.

14: Pro Evolution Soccer

On the 23rd of November 2001, the game which would destroy relationships was released. After years of FIFA dominating without any real rival Pro Evo was a breath of fresh air for gamers. Despite not boasting the lucrative licensing prowess of its rival FIFA, the game play was excellent. Matches would ebb and flow with intensity and speed, leading to some thrilling end-to-end encounters. It just all felt so natural, the arcade style never letting realism get in the way of some good old-fashioned fun.

However over the last 3 years Konami has got lazy, relying on past achievement and has been lost its crown to FIFA.

13: World OF Warcraft

World of Warcraft, often referred to as WoW, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. With more than 11.5 million (December 2008) monthly subscriptions, World of Warcraft is currently the world’s most-subscribed MMORPG and holds the Guinness World Record for the most popular MMORPG by subscribers. In April 2008, World of Warcraft was estimated to hold 62 percent of the massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) subscription market.

12: Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog was released on June 23, 1991, and set the world on fire. Here was a character that made Mario look old and slow, while at the same time defining “cool” to a new generation of gamers. The basic but brilliant platform game that made the Megadrive console a multi-million-selling hit. You steered Sonic across a horizontally scrolling landscape, collecting rings and bashing badniks. The real hook was how gravity affected Sonic, so he’d accelerate down slopes and need momentum going up ramps. The skill was in trying not to lose all of your rings while still flying along at top speed for a record-breaking time.

11: Grand Theft Auto

Ever since 2001, the Grand Theft Auto series has been a gargantuan success, both critically and financially. It has generated perfect or near perfect reviews and scores on almost all of the games, and has sold over 80 million copies worldwide, as of March 2009.

With its mixture of action, adventure, driving, and occasional role-playing, stealth and racing elements it has gained controversy for its adult nature and violent themes.

10: Call of Duty

Call of Duty is a first person and third-person shooter video game series franchise. The series began on the PC, and later expanded to consoles and handhelds, and several spin-off games have also been released alongside the main series. As of November 27, 2009, total sales for the Call Of Duty series have surpassed 55 million units worldwide, taking $3 billion in retail sales in the process

9: FIFA

The FIFA series started in 1993 and has never looked back since. it was notable for being the first to have an official license from FIFA, the world governing body of football. The latest installments in the series contain many exclusively-licensed leagues and teams from around the world.
Despite being around for 16 years FIFA has come into its own over the last 3 years, after years of criticism from fans over the game play and rival Pro Evo claiming market share, with FIFA 08 the game improved and has not looked back since with licenses, graphics, commentary and a system where you can now run in 360 different directions. Every possible angle has been mapped so you can make any run and play any ball.

Talented players will thrive, duffers will be punished simple.

8: Gran Turismo

The Gran Turismo video game series has been one of the most popular over its lifetime, appealing to an audience ranging from casual gamers to fans of comparatively super-realistic PC racing sims. With a collective sales total of over 50 million units sold[1], it is the highest-selling PlayStation exclusive franchise of all time.

7: HALO

More often than not, when a game is in development for over three years it does not live up to the hype. Bungie’s Halo is the exception. Not only does the game live up to the hype–it greatly exceeds it. This sci-fi first-person shooter is a nearly perfect blend of gameplay, graphics, and sound. This was the highest selling game on xbox selling over 8 million copies when first released. The trilogy of video games have been praised as being among the best first-person shooters on a video game console, and are considered the Microsoft Xbox’s “killer app

6: Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong pet of a carpenter named “Jumpman”. When mistreated by his master Donkey Kong escapes and kidnaps Jumpman’s girlfriend,t he player must take the role of Jumpman and rescue the girl. This was the first occurrence of the damsel in distress scenario that would provide the template for countless video games to come.

With successful spinoffs like Diddy Kong racing this game developed in 1981 has sold over 30 million copies and counting.

5: Tetris

When Alexey Pajitnov created was developing Tetris I am sure he never expected the game to be so popular. I mean its basically moving shapes composed of four square blocks each around yet the game (or one of its many variants) is available for nearly every video game console and computer operating system, as well as on devices such as graphing calculators, mobile phones, portable media players, Network music players and even as an Easter egg on non-media products like oscilloscopes.

Tetris is timeless and brilliant because of its instant accessibility Tetris players experience complete escapism, which is why many corporations and educational institutions loathe its existence.

4: The Sims

The Sims was first released on February 4, 2000. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling PC game in history. To date the franchise has shifted over 100 million copies.

The Sims focuses entirely on the lives of “Sims”, placing the player in control of their virtual “world” and their daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, reading, and bathing. It was Big Brother there was Big Brother.

The Sims is truly unique in the world of interactive entertainment because it attracts creative people around the world of all ages and both genders,” added Nancy Smith, president of The Sims Label. “Because of the open-ended creative freedom that players experience with the game, The Sims has universal appeal like no other game franchise.

3: Legend Of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda series has sold over 57 million copies since the release of the first game, The Legend of Zelda, and continues to be successful worldwide. The series consists of 15 official games on all of Nintendo’s major consoles, as well as several spin-offs.

2: Street Fighter 2

Hadōken, Shōryū-ken are the sounds that filled my living room in the 90’s. Street Fighter was and still is the ultimate fighting game. Offering players a selection of multiple playable characters, each with their own unique fighting style and special moves. Before pro evolution & FIFA this was the game that caused arguments.

Street Fighter II is credited for starting the fighting game boom during the 1990s. Its success led to the production of several updated versions, each offering additional features and characters over previous versions, as well as many home versions. Some of the home versions of the Street Fighter II games have sold millions of copies, with the SNES port of the first Street Fighter II being Capcom’s best-selling consumer game of all time as of 2008.

1: Super Mario Bros.

In 1985 Mario, set out to rescue Princess Peach Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser, King of the Koopas assisted by his younger brother Mario’s younger brother Luigi. On his way to get his woman which has taken over 2 decades, he has enlisted help of over 42 million people worldwide. This game single handedly revitalized the game industry after the video game crash of 1983. The game has spawned more spin offs that Tiger Woods has had jump offs and its popularity shows no sign of stopping. If sales of all Mario games where combined it would total over 400 million. More importantly, it’s every bit as addictive, enjoyable, and satisfying today as it was two decades ago.

What do you think?

Tags: Highlight, List