IGN's Top 25 PC Games of All Time

[ISiddiqui]

They do it for consoles too (well not including the current gen), but that's something you can find yourselves ;).

They seem to use the one game per series rule as well.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/772/772285p1.html

25) IL-2 Sturmovik
24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
23) Unreal Tournament 2004
22) The Sims
21) MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
20) Deus Ex
19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
18) Call of Duty
17) World of Warcraft
16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
15) Grim Fandango
14) Company of Heroes
13) System Shock 2
12) Battlefield 1942
11) Sid Meier's Pirates!
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings
9) Half-Life 2
8) SimCity 2000
7) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
6) StarCraft
5) Fallout
4) Rome: Total War
3) Star Wars TIE Fighter
2) Civilization IV
1) X-COM: UFO Defense

I like the list. Any big gamesite list with Fallout, Pirates!, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex in its Top 25 is more than alright with me.

[WVUFAN]

They do it for consoles too (well not including the current gen), but that's something you can find yourselves ;).

They seem to use the one game per series rule as well.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/772/772285p1.html

25) IL-2 Sturmovik
24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
23) Unreal Tournament 2004
22) The Sims
21) MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
20) Deus Ex
19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
18) Call of Duty
17) World of Warcraft
16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
15) Grim Fandango
14) Company of Heroes
13) System Shock 2
12) Battlefield 1942
11) Sid Meier's Pirates!
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings
9) Half-Life 2
8) SimCity 2000
7) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
6) StarCraft
5) Fallout
4) Rome: Total War
3) Star Wars TIE Fighter
2) Civilization IV
1) X-COM: UFO Defense

I like the list. Any big gamesite list with Fallout, Pirates!, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex in its Top 25 is more than alright with me.

Fantastic List! I'm a HUGE X-Com fan, so seeing it as #1 warms my heart. Fallout certainly deserves to be there too. The bolded titles were my favorites on that list.

[primelord]

These lists always make me sad just because I haven't played most of the games on the list. In this particular list I have only ever played:

4) Rome: Total War
6) StarCraft
8) SimCity 2000
19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
21) MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
22) The Sims
23) Unreal Tournament 2004

Just 7 out of 25. So many great games I have missed apparently.

[Tigercat]

Its a solid list overall, but I don't see how you can go Oblivion over Morrowind and Civ IV over Civ II and still pick The Sims over The Sims 2 or Fallout over Fallout 2. Are we picking groundbreaking or the best game in the series?

Seems like inconsistent criteria to me.

[MrBug708]

I dont think Rome Total War is that high. MTW:1 was waaaaaaay better

[bhlloy]

The thing that makes me sad about that list is how badly Eidos screwed up Deus Ex 2. Don't think I have ever been so geeked about hearing about a sequel, only to find out that they ripped the heart and soul out of the original game and made it into a one-dimensional shoot em up with a story that a sixth grader could have written.


I'm actually surprised I have played well over three-quarters of the games on that list. Some very good stuff in there.

[Schmidty]

World of Warcraft should be much higher.

[ISiddiqui]

Its a solid list overall, but I don't see how you can go Oblivion over Morrowind and Civ IV over Civ II and still pick The Sims over The Sims 2 or Fallout over Fallout 2. Are we picking groundbreaking or the best game in the series?

Seems like inconsistent criteria to me.

I think they are picking the best game in the series and groundbreaking plays INTO how good a game is. After all, if it is an innovative design, and there are no other games like that out there, you gain a bit more pleasure from the game than if it is a tried and true formula (at least IMO).

FTR, though, I'd pick CivIV over CivII anyday (and I love CivII). And Fallout over Fallout 2 (While Fallout 2 WAS great, it was incredibly buggy, and Fallout 1 had a better story). As for Oblivion vs. Morrowind, they picked Oblivion because it was more accessible, and while they granted it wouldn't make the hardcore happy, it made it a better experience. I won't argue with that, because I think both are amazing games.

[Tigercat]

It just seems like based on the list, Civ I and Civ II are too groundbreaking to not pick over Civ IV. If you add Civ II's accessibility to the public over its predecessor, like they mentioned for Oblivion, it makes Civ II the landmark game in the series in my mind.

Now if one day they make a Civ game where you can do something completely new and amazing such as truly playing out battles and/or fully planning and exploring cities within the regular structure of a Civ game, then we might be talking about something that can be the new landmark for the series.

[sabotai]

FWIW, I thought Oblivion was a LOT better than Morrowind.

Good to see TIE Fighter on there. I can't even give an estimate to how much I played that game.

And I am the opposite of primelord. I played the vast majority of those games, and it makes me sad cause it demonstrate how much of a life I don't, and never, had. :)

[ISiddiqui]

::shrug:: CivII was one of my favorite games of all time. I hated CivIII, but CivIV really bettered CivII in just about every way, IMO. I really can't support rating CivIV under CivII in any list. If we are talking innovating, CivI wins that.

[EagleFan]

Of the games's Ive played...

25) IL-2 Sturmovik - absolutely love it, deserves mention
24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - liked it, but never really got into it
23) Unreal Tournament 2004 - very fun, deserves mention
22) The Sims - cannot get into it, thought it would be great but after playing it I feel like I wasted my time and got nothing in return
20) Deus Ex - great game, also ticked about the sequel
18) Call of Duty - great game, loved it
17) World of Warcraft - addictive game, hate the time sink though
16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - great game
11) Sid Meier's Pirates! - great game
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings - tried but not into RTS
9) Half-Life 2 - deserves to be here, or higher (especially when you add the first game into the mix, since they are just taking one per series, it should be near number one)
8) SimCity 2000 - tried to get into several times but it never clicked
2) Civilization IV - addictive games


As for games that deserve mention:
Brothers in Arms
Starflight
Not a fan of but one of the Diablo games I would have figured to be on the list
Sports games get no love on these lists but I would put Earl Weaver Baseball on my list

[ISiddiqui]

Meh, I'm GLAD that Diablo didn't make it. Overrated trash :p. Much happier that Baldur's Gate II and Fallout were on instead.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

No FOF? What a crock.

[tanglewood]

24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Good fun and enjoyed it but only played through it once. I guess this was the first of the 'realistic' FPS games so deserves a mention for trend setting there.
23) Unreal Tournament 2004 - Great quick blast of fun and the addition of vehicles was great too. Not too deep but who cares. Perfect for 30 min stress relief.
22) The Sims - Never really liked it, the concept just doesn't excite me.
20) Deus Ex -Terrific game. In my top 5 for sure.
18) Call of Duty - Really enjoyed it. I need to go back and play this one again sometime. The infamous Omaha level is very memorable.
13) System Shock 2 - Fantastic game. This and Deus Ex are quite similar but I think that even though Deus Ex is the superior game in almost every measure (plot, graphics, gameplay etc.) for some reason I just prefer SS2. The creepy atmosphere is so awesome. Don't play it at night!
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings - Just never connected with it for some reason. I think I maybe disliked its slightly Fisher Price approach to strategy, if you get what I mean. I suppose it wasn't really any less complicated than most RTS games on the market at the time but felt so to me.
9) Half-Life 2 - Should be way higher, and if we are considering the series as a whole then should be number one without any doubt. Don't forget that not only was HL1 stunning, but the Opposing Force expansion was as good as any (non-HL) FPS I have played.
7) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - Never really got into this much for some reason and only played a few hours in. I play the occasional RPG but am not a hardcore guy. I suppose it is that I am not really interested in the magic and monsters setting very much, hence my like of futuristic/sci-fi RPGs (notably KOTOR).
4) Rome: Total War - Very good, but far far far too easy. I haven't played the either of the Medieval editions but I definitley prefer the original Shogun to Rome. The setting was more captivating than Rome and Medieval (which doesn't excite me hence the non-purchase) and the AI seemed more robust, thus more challenging, with less options avaliable.
3) Star Wars TIE Fighter - Amazing game that always seems to be forgotten but for me is No. 3 behind Half Life and Football Manager/Championship Manager. You may have noticed even in this short list I am high on immersion, atmosphere and setting and this game simply reeked of all three. The mission where you fly as Darth Vader's wingman is probably one of the highlights of my life.
2) Civilization IV - Now I played the shit out of Civ II, I seem to remember summers which basically revolved around Civ II sessions, but I just don't get into Civ IV in the same way. No idea why at all. The fact that the graphics went all 3D thus make it chug to a grinding halt on my laptop are perhaps a big part of my mild apathy at the thought of loading it up. But on the other hand a lot of the new features brought by the game have now made me feel something is missing when I go back and play Civ II. Thus, the latest incarnation of the series has managed to lose my interest in its future development but also kill my love of the first one I loved, therefore rendering my life from this point forth Civless. Thanks a lot Sid Meier.

Games Missing:

Monkey Island - Where the hell are the Monkey Island games? I and II are stupendously brilliant and III and IV despite their critics are still really great games. I know Grim Fandango is listed (which I have sadly only played the demo of for some much regretted reason did not buy at the time. Now I can't find a cop[y anywhere), but really leaving off LucasArt's highpoint is bodering on criminal.
Championship/Football Manager - It's a US centric website so no suprises, but CM/FM is easily tops for me in hours logged, not only in gaming, but life activity in general behind sleeping and eating.
CounterStrike - I don't know if this would be included in Half-Life (which if it is cements its number one spot even further), but if not it deserves a seperate list. I started playing during Beta 5, reached a manic peak of near obsession around the 1.0 release and since subsided, but I still play Source a couple of times a week. I'm nowhere near as good as I used to be and now regulary get 'owned' by rapscallion youths who accuse me of n00bishness (oh, what they don't know!) but still really enjoy it.
Homeworld - Complete 3D graphics and a rotatable 3D camera for the first time in any game. It was (still is actually) really stunning and at times genuinly beautiful to watch with the different ships flying around and leaving their vapour trails. Some of the epic battles I got into playing my friend over a network were simply awesome.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Really great, quick and easy, almost brainless RTS action. And again, a cool setting that clinches it. How can you not love a game that features evil time traveling Soviets led by Stalin?

[Icy]

Wow nice to see UFO there, i remember my eyes hurting from playing it too many hours, probably my worst addiction to a game ever.

[spleen1015]

22) The Sims
19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
17) World of Warcraft
16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings
8) SimCity 2000
7) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
6) StarCraft
3) Star Wars TIE Fighter
2) Civilization IV
1) X-COM: UFO Defense

I've played these. I've always intended on playing Grim Fandango and Fallout, but never got around to it.

[Warhammer]

I still remember the first time we loaded up Mechwarrior 2, we saw opening cut scene and nearly crapped our pants. We watched that thing over and over and over before we ever fired up the game.

Rainbow 6 was the first FPS I ever played a lot online and it was great fun, if you had a bunch of guys that played it with a brain. You had guys taking cover and laying down covering fire. You'd wait behind cover until they ran out of ammo and would then spring forward, etc. That was great fun.

[Ryan S]

Championship/Football Manager - It's a US centric website so no suprises, but CM/FM is easily tops for me in hours logged, not only in gaming, but life activity in general behind sleeping and eating.

On a British site CM/FM would have easily made it into the top 10.

[Greyroofoo]

I just can't believe a Command & Conquer game didn'y make it onto there, or Knights of the Old Republic.

[General Mike]

Where's Diablo 2?

[Leonidas]

I'd take Daggerfall over Oblivion any day. And I love Civ IV, but I have to think Civ II was the definitive game of the series.

[jeff061]

Fallout 1 and 2 makes every single other game look second rate.

Not meant as dissent against the list, just fact :).

[JonInMiddleGA]

These lists always make me sad just because I haven't played most of the games on the list.

You think that's bad, I've played two of them at most.
My not-quite-9-y/o has played at least four of them.

[MJ4H]

Played 5 of them.

[ISiddiqui]

I just can't believe a Command & Conquer game didn'y make it onto there, or Knights of the Old Republic.

Knights of the Old Republic was on the XBox Top 25 games list. Maybe they considered it an XBox game first and ported to the PC. Thus more deserving for consideration on the XBox list than the PC list.

And I think they also figured they had a bunch of RTS games on the list, no need for one more. Though perhaps a C&C game instead of Age of Kings would have been appropriate.

[KWhit]

I've played 19 of those. Can't say I've finished them all, but I've spent a good deal of playtime with them. Some of the ones I disagree with:

The Sims: Good God that game was awful. A game where you go to work? And make your character poop? Um, not fun.

Deus Ex: I didn't care for this at all. I made myself get 3/4 of the way through it, but it bored me to tears.

Company of Heroes: It is sitting on my desktop collecting dust right now. I've played a good many missions (I'm guessing I'm maybe halfway through), but it just hasn't grabbed me. I think I'm just tired of the RTS genre, cause I haven't played one I've liked since Starcraft.

Fallout: I know everyone raves about it. I loved the storyline and setting. But the combat was unbearably tedius. I admit, I played it a few years after it was released, so by that point in time interfaces had improved in general, so my feelings probably would have been better about it had I played it at the time of its release.

The others on the list I can pretty much agree with, although I couldn't ever really get into WoW due to the leveling grind. And I can see why the games above are on the list (except maybe Deus Ex - I thought was extremely overrated at the time) but I just couldn't get into them.

[MrBug708]

Jagged Alliance 2?

Colonization?

The Settlers?

[Subby]

You think that's bad, I've played two of them at most.
My not-quite-9-y/o has played at least four of them.
I played SimCity 2000 for 10 minutes.

WTF is Earl Weaver baseball?

[miked]

When I was growing up, I played tons of Might and Magic. I though most of them were great. Heroes was also much fun in college, especially hotseat mode.

[Brillig]

Yep, this list has some questionable choices.

For one, I can't take any top 25 list that leaves Railroad Tycoon off seriously.

I have played 15 out of the 25, though, including all of the top eight. I need a life. :)

[gstelmack]

24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Good fun and enjoyed it but only played through it once. I guess this was the first of the 'realistic' FPS games so deserves a mention for trend setting there.

That's the key, as it basically created the genre: no health packs, one-shot kills, etc. First game I ever worked on, so it holds a special memory for me. For the record, Rogue Spear + Urban Operations is still my favorite of all the RSE games I've worked on.

[jeff061]

I used to love drawing up the plans for my AI partners in Rainbow Six. That was good stuff, haven't played them since shortly after Rogue Spear was released though.

[Surtt]

Homeworld - Complete 3D graphics and a rotatable 3D camera for the first time in any game. It was (still is actually) really stunning and at times genuinly beautiful to watch with the different ships flying around and leaving their vapour trails. Some of the epic battles I got into playing my friend over a network were simply awesome.




Just a side note: Homeworld went open source.
You can down load the source code and play around with it - very cool.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Just to note, XCom: UFO Defense is now on GameTap. :D

[Oilers9911]

I played SimCity 2000 for 10 minutes.

WTF is Earl Weaver baseball?

If it was top sports games EWB would be at or near the top. I happen to agree with you 100% but I guess baseball is mass market enough.

[Oilers9911]

Dola: As per Jon's comments I have little experience with the games on this list. My number 1 might be One-Nil from Wizard Games ;)

[molson]

I like the list. Kind of sad to see so few titles from the old-school adventure genre. Not necessarily because they belong, but for more sentimental reasons. My first experience with computers involved the Sierra games, I probably blew through all of them in a period of 2 years. Then I went back to consoles for a few years, only to re-discover PC gaming with the Gabriel Knight series, etc. A top 25 list from say, 1996 would probably include 12-14 from that genre.

[Warhammer]

If there were more space adventure games out there, Starflight or StarControl 2 would make that list.

[Buccaneer]

I like the list. Kind of sad to see so few titles from the old-school adventure genre. Not necessarily because they belong, but for more sentimental reasons. My first experience with computers involved the Sierra games, I probably blew through all of them in a period of 2 years. Then I went back to consoles for a few years, only to re-discover PC gaming with the Gabriel Knight series, etc. A top 25 list from say, 1996 would probably include 12-14 from that genre.

I agree with you and Brillig. King's Quest and Railroad Tycoon should be on the list.

[14ers]

Yep, this list has some questionable choices.

For one, I can't take any top 25 list that leaves Railroad Tycoon off seriously.

I have played 15 out of the 25, though, including all of the top eight. I need a life. :)
My thoughts exactly. Where is Railroad Tycoon?


Earl Weaver baseball was later renamed Tony LaRusa baseball.

[Philliesfan980]

My thoughts exactly. Where is Railroad Tycoon?


Earl Weaver baseball was later renamed Tony LaRusa baseball.

Wow, TLUB was based off of Earl Weaver? Did Trip Hawkins work on both (I think he was on TLUB), if so, that's amazing.

[14ers]

Wow, TLUB was based off of Earl Weaver? Did Trip Hawkins work on both (I think he was on TLUB), if so, that's amazing.
Are you thinking of Don Daglow?

[gstelmack]

WTF is Earl Weaver baseball?

Probably the best early manager sim. On field animation, complete control over the team on the field, complete MLB rosters, easy to edit the rosters (could input batting average, etc and it figured out attributes for the players, kind of an early Lahman / OOTP). Way ahead of its time (like much of this list, it was a groundbreaking game that paved the way for a lot of games to come later).

I played the heck out of this on the Amiga back in '89.

I think a key point to keep in mind with this list is that they are giving a lot of points to breaking new ground or establishing a genre / line. As I said above, I think Rogue Spear / Urban Operations is a much better game than Rainbow Six was, but Rainbow was pretty groundbreaking for its time.

[Raiders Army]

Sid Meier's Pirates! is on the PSP. Really fun game.

[sterlingice]

Pretty good list- not many "Top X" lists are.

The only major quibble I have is that there is no id software game on there. How do you make a PC list without one of Quake, Doom, or Wolfenstein on it? Wolfenstein pretty much made the FPS genre, Doom was one of the most popular series ever, and Quake pretty much defined FPS internet gaming.

By that same token, the FPS selection is questionable at best. That has to be the biggest genre of PC games throughout history. No Counterstrike or Tribes or anything but UT2K4? Huh? I'm not a huge FPS fan but it's hard to deny the impact on PC gaming.

I've never understood the insane cult popularity enjoyed by Fallout. Yes, it's open ended and pretty much the first game to do that. But I've never been a big fan of open ended games- it just makes the devs spend less time on making a good main plot and instead put less energy on a lot of smaller individual, more cliche parts. Fallout, great, you could go evil and kill everyone... then you had no plot to follow and all that was left to do was go around and kill.

Also, I'll agree with Tigercat- I understand the philosophy of making a list like this balancing innovation with polish (which is why I'd rank Starcraft a little higher- it was a much more polished version of WC2 and drop WC2 down a few slots, if not off the list)- but Civ 4, in particular, looks a bit weird on that list, particularly that high.

Oh, and, c'mon guys, sure we're a giant text-based sim community, but you're talking about a very limited audience. Even if you haven't played the games on the list, I bet you've heard of at least 15 of them, 20+ if you've been an avid PC gamer for more than 10 years. But, how many players of, say, Half Life or Starcraft have even heard of FM, much less played it?

SI

[Abe Sargent]

1). I think the list shows too much bias for new games. Where's Master of Orion 2 or Wing Commander?

2). I think the list demonstrates biases aor certain genres and against others. You'll note a lack of some genres while an inclusion of many entries of others.

3). This reads like a list of how people remember major games, not a list of top games that real gamers selected that include hidden gems. For example where's hidden Gem Tropico or Wasteland?

4). And if you want to see my list, albeit with a lot of non-PC games on it, as a plug, check out:

http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=51381


Bye all!



They do it for consoles too (well not including the current gen), but that's something you can find yourselves ;).

They seem to use the one game per series rule as well.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/772/772285p1.html

25) IL-2 Sturmovik
24) Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
23) Unreal Tournament 2004
22) The Sims
21) MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat
20) Deus Ex
19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
18) Call of Duty
17) World of Warcraft
16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
15) Grim Fandango
14) Company of Heroes
13) System Shock 2
12) Battlefield 1942
11) Sid Meier's Pirates!
10) Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings
9) Half-Life 2
8) SimCity 2000
7) Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
6) StarCraft
5) Fallout
4) Rome: Total War
3) Star Wars TIE Fighter
2) Civilization IV
1) X-COM: UFO Defense

I like the list. Any big gamesite list with Fallout, Pirates!, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex in its Top 25 is more than alright with me.

[Abe Sargent]

Pretty good list- not many "Top X" lists are.

The only major quibble I have is that there is no id software game on there. How do you make a PC list without one of Quake, Doom, or Wolfenstein on it? Wolfenstein pretty much made the FPS genre, Doom was one of the most popular series ever, and Quake pretty much defined FPS internet gaming.

By that same token, the FPS selection is questionable at best. That has to be the biggest genre of PC games throughout history. No Counterstrike or Tribes or anything but UT2K4? Huh? I'm not a huge FPS fan but it's hard to deny the impact on PC gaming.

I've never understood the insane cult popularity enjoyed by Fallout. Yes, it's open ended and pretty much the first game to do that. But I've never been a big fan of open ended games- it just makes the devs spend less time on making a good main plot and instead put less energy on a lot of smaller individual, more cliche parts. Fallout, great, you could go evil and kill everyone... then you had no plot to follow and all that was left to do was go around and kill.

Also, I'll agree with Tigercat- I understand the philosophy of making a list like this balancing innovation with polish (which is why I'd rank Starcraft a little higher- it was a much more polished version of WC2 and drop WC2 down a few slots, if not off the list)- but Civ 4, in particular, looks a bit weird on that list, particularly that high.

Oh, and, c'mon guys, sure we're a giant text-based sim community, but you're talking about a very limited audience. Even if you haven't played the games on the list, I bet you've heard of at least 15 of them, 20+ if you've been an avid PC gamer for more than 10 years. But, how many players of, say, Half Life or Starcraft have even heard of FM, much less played it?

SI



And Halflife 2 is on there too. To be fair, popularity should not, in my opinion, equate with quality. The best selling computer games of all time may not be all that inventive.

[sterlingice]

BTW, if I had made this list, my personal top 4 would be:

1) Starcraft - Best, most polished game ever made, particularly for the time period
2) Wolfenstein 3D - Created FPS's as we know them
3) SimCity 2000 - It still blows my mind to this day how deep a game that only fits on 2 floppies was
4) X-Com - The fact that there has never been a good sequel to this game is one of the biggest crimes against the game playing public

Then there's a jumble of 6 games for the rest of my top 10, in no particular order:

Civilization 2 - Whoa, I lost an entire semester of college to this game; perfected the "just one more turn" feeling that no game since has been able to duplicate
Tie Fighter or X-Wing vs Tie Fighter- both amazing flight sims
The Sims - boring as sin to myself, but no denying the huge popularity and interesting yet addictive game design for the mainstream gaming public ("wow, i can sit at my computer all day make a Sim who sits at his computer all day and plays games")
Half Life - I'd probably pick this over the 2nd but only because I haven't played the second
Baldur's Gate (or BG2) - Was a huge leap forward for American "open-ended" RPGs
World of Warcraft - Gold standard for popularity and design which made the MMORPG mainstream

SI

[Rizon]

Only played 4 of those games and heard of about half.

Where is Doom and Wasteland?

[sterlingice]

And Halflife 2 is on there too. To be fair, popularity should not, in my opinion, equate with quality. The best selling computer games of all time may not be all that inventive.

Yes, but you have to balance it with the other factors- it is important. I think a lot of gamers would love to ignore it and pretend it doesn't matter. That's why you end up with a lot of lists online that look like indie music fans' "Top 50 albums all time" which have a combined sales figure of less than Thriller.

There is a good reason why a lot of games bubble to the top of popularity- a lot of them are very good. It's definitely not an absolute rule, certainly- I know Madden isn't one of the top 5 best console games every year, but it's always on the top sales list.

SI

[Buccaneer]

SI, I was going to mention Wolfenstein (the earlier ones), which I think is a better choice than Doom or Quake. That was my first action game and still one of the best gaming experiences I remembered.

[Buccaneer]

Come to think of it, I agree with list's bias. Not only are the classic adventure games missing but so is any of the great LucasArts games (unless I'm misreading again). Seems like this list was made by college-age gamers.

[Greyroofoo]

Come to think of it, I agree with list's bias. Not only are the classic adventure games missing but so is any of the great LucasArts games (unless I'm misreading again). Seems like this list was made by college-age gamers.

Grim Fandango isn't a LucasArts adventure game?

[miked]

One word. Zork!

Actually, I had an old version of Wolfenstien with stick figures and such. You had to walk from room to room and either kill or hold up people (to get their stuff). Those games, the Ultima series, and the original Might and Magic kept me entertained.

[Buccaneer]

Grim Fandango isn't a LucasArts adventure game?

I think I was confusing that with a Molineaux game.

[tanglewood]

Oh, and, c'mon guys, sure we're a giant text-based sim community, but you're talking about a very limited audience. Even if you haven't played the games on the list, I bet you've heard of at least 15 of them, 20+ if you've been an avid PC gamer for more than 10 years. But, how many players of, say, Half Life or Starcraft have even heard of FM, much less played it?

SI

Just to say that as I said earlier, if this was a UK based website/magazine list then Championship Manager/Football Manager would be up there. Text-sims are certainly a very niche market in North America but in Europe and the UK especially the sell very well indeed. Football Manager 2007 is at number 2 in the PC charts and 21 in the all system charts for the week ending 10th March, despite it having been out for 5 months now.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

One word. Zork!


Haha. Now that truly is a classic. Nothing like playing that game with the amber or green screen.

[ISiddiqui]

I've never understood the insane cult popularity enjoyed by Fallout. Yes, it's open ended and pretty much the first game to do that. But I've never been a big fan of open ended games- it just makes the devs spend less time on making a good main plot and instead put less energy on a lot of smaller individual, more cliche parts. Fallout, great, you could go evil and kill everyone... then you had no plot to follow and all that was left to do was go around and kill.

And on the other side, any "Best PC Games" list that doesn't have Fallout in the Top 10 loses all respect from me ;). It doesn't take much for me to say that Fallout is perhaps my #1 PC game of all time (though perhaps most of the time I'd say a Civilization game or Grand Theft Auto III [no, seriously]).

It is a wonderful open ended game, but it has a fabulous main plot. First involving a water chip and then involving mutant armies. It is a wonderfully crafted story, but at the same time you go through knowing your actions and who you choose to back has consequences and you see those consequences at the end, which is an absolutely incredible device that I wish more games would use. It really makes you feel like you had an effect on an actua world and perhaps made the game have far more of an emotional impact than other games would.

It also had a very well done turn based combat mode, some great fleshed out characters, and an amazing post-armeggedon story.

It was gaming nirvana. Fallout 2 was great as well, but I didn't think it was as good. Fallout 1 was a bit tighter and fit together better and, IMO, had a better story.

Unfortunately Fallout 3 never came out and if it does, it won't be by the guys that did Fallout 1 and 2. Perhaps its for the best... it probably could never live up to my expectations.

[path12]

I've certainly seen worse lists, but no Master of Magic/Master of Orion or CM/FM or RRT surprises me.......well, not the CM/FM so much since it is a US list. Seems heavy on shooters to me which aren't my thing but everyone has quibbles with things like this.

[jeff061]

Unfortunately Fallout 3 never came out and if it does, it won't be by the guys that did Fallout 1 and 2. Perhaps its for the best... it probably could never live up to my expectations. It's in development now by Bethesda after Troika couldn't reel in the rights. I had wanted Troika (ex-makers of Fallout, now defunct) involved, but Bethesda would be my second choice.

[Honolulu_Blue]

4) X-Com - The fact that there has never been a good sequel to this game is one of the biggest crimes against the game playing public


Agreed. It's mind-boggling that not only has there never been a good sequel to it, but there's yet to be a squad-level turn-based tactical game (even un-related) to top it. None. How hard can it be?

I recently started playing X-Com again thanks to GameTap and loved it. It still reigns supreme.

[John Galt]

My two favorites games of all time, Star Control 2 and Planescape:Torment, didn't make the list. But overall, it isn't a bad list.

[TroyF]

I've played 9 of the games on the list.

System Shock 2 continues to be one of my all time favorite games. Best atmoshphere of any game I've ever played.

[ISiddiqui]

It's in development now by Bethesda after Troika couldn't reel in the rights. I had wanted Troika (ex-makers of Fallout, now defunct) involved, but Bethesda would be my second choice.

I'm just not sure Bethesda could pull it off. Especially the wonderful atmosphere, which made Fallout 1 and 2 such an amazing experience.

[Eaglesfan27]

I've played Fallout 1 and 2, and I just don't get the extreme praise that some people give it to it. They are good games with good atmosphere, but I'm fairly sure Bethesda could replicate that if they want to. They've produced some great RPG's.

[Eaglesfan27]

Dola -

Planescape: Torment is the best name missing in my opinion. That is my all time favorite RPG.

[ISiddiqui]

Bah, Fallout destroys Planescape: Torment (and for that matter Morrowind and Oblivion). The only RPG that comes close is Baldur's Gate II, but they are completely different games.

I don't think Bethesda can really come close. I mean Oblivion and Morrowind were great games... but come on, we are talking Fallout here. They have to replicate the humor, the amazingly realistically done post-apocalyptic setting, the wonderful story, the perfectly done combat, the SPECIAL system, perks, and the party NPCs (dogmeat rules!).

[Atocep]

I've played about half the games on that list. I thought Planescape: Torment was better than Baldur's Gate II and I also thought Warcraft 3 was better than 2.

Probably some games missing in there but I think they tried to represent most genres and did a solid job.

[Travis]

Just like to chip in my two cents and applaud BF1942. Still easily the best multiplayer online experience I've been a part of. Absolutely love the fact that while it was easy to be good, it was hard to be dominate. Played this game in so many different fashions and enjoyed them all.

Probably played about half the games on this list and while I'm disappointed that Knights of the Old Republic didn't make the list, it's hard to argue against most of the titles on there.