Favorite Video Game Franchise?

[DeToxRox]

I was going to poll this but there are far too many options, so let's just throw 'em out there.

What video game franchise is the best for you? As in what one has had the most consistency with awesome games, and you are hyped to get whenever they're released?

For me, #1 is Resident Evil. RE 1 is the best PS1 game ever. RE 2 was a great sequel. RE 3 was fun. RE 4 was fucking amazing and RE 5 looks on an entirely different level. Every time a RE comes out I am stoked beyond belief and never disappointed.

#2 is GTA. From the PC version to GTA 4, I've played them all hour hundreds of hours and I'm always there at midnight on release night to pick it up. The only difference between Resident Evil and GTA is I'm a zombie nut, so it takes precedent.

#3 is MGS. Metal Gear Solid 4 was the most stunning game graphically I've ever played, and it was a lot of fun too boot. The NES MGS is my favorite NES game, and all the other games in between I've played have been a lot of fun.

Anyway, what about for everyone else?

[Kodos]

Madden. EA's commitment to quality is simply unparalleled.

[Kodos]

Heh. I was actually able to type that without my fingers mutinying on me. ;)

[Logan]

Damn it, too slow to the draw.

[MikeVic]

Castlevania. Mario.

[gstelmack]

Falcon.

[Lathum]

Whatever TCY/FOF are considered. I have gotten more enjoyment/longevity from those games

[Maple Leafs]

Putting aside EA Sports (NHL #1, Madden #2 but fading), I'd go with Resident Evil. The wife and I have played through all of the main ones, some of them several times. Even though I didn't really like the way they changed the game in v4, I still can't wait for #5.

[DeToxRox]

Putting aside EA Sports (NHL #1, Madden #2 but fading), I'd go with Resident Evil. The wife and I have played through all of the main ones, some of them several times. Even though I didn't really like the way they changed the game in v4, I still can't wait for #5.

I seriously love the fact RE 5 has online co-op. This is going to make the game that much better.

[JPhillips]

Civilization. 3 was so-so, but 1, 2 and 4 were/are simply magnificent.

[Fidatelo]

I'd say Mario (not all the derivatives, just the main franchise). It is the only long running series I've ever played where I have not been disappointed by a single entry to this point.

[MikeVic]

Yeah I meant the main platformers... 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, Galaxy, New Super Mario Bros., etc.

[albionmoonlight]

Mario

[hukarez]

Star Ocean

[Big Fo]

1. Super Mario - Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Galaxy are some of the best games I've played and SMG is my all-time favorite.

2. Civilization - Loved the first one, the second one, Civ III was very disappointing but Civ IV: BTS has redeemed the series. Before SMG came out Civ II was my all-time favorite game even though Civ IV: BTS has more options and offers a better challenge.

3. Football Manager - Been playing it for a decade now, still the king of sports management games although OOTP9 and NFL Head Coach 09 are giving it a good run. This franchise also played a big role in getting me to start following the sport as much as I do now.

Honorable Mentions: Mario Kart, OOTP, Metal Gear, GTA, Diablo, Pro Evolution Soccer, Dragon Quest

[MJ4H]

1. Metroid
2. Super Mario
3. Pro Evolution Soccer

[EagleFan]

Brothers in Arms

[PackerFanatic]

I have throughly enjoyed most of the Splinter Cell games.

[KWhit]

Civilization
Fallout
Mario Kart

[Kodos]

What's sad is that five years ago, Madden would have been my honest answer. But once they bought the exclusive license, everything started going to hell.

As far as RE, I thought RE 4 was great. The others were unplayable due to the clunky controls.

[Greyroofoo]

Command & Conquer

[Sun Tzu]

Mario...definetely. NCAA has been pretty damn good over the years too, dating back to Bill Walsh on the Genesis.

[Daimyo]

Up until the start of the PSX era Final Fantasy was my top choice, but since then they haven't really been that compelling and I haven't even tried 12 yet. I guess that leaves Super Mario -- other than Sunshine, they've all been great and IMO rate at or near the top of each hardware generation.

If we expand it to computer games, Civilization is probably #1.

[Fidatelo]

I guess that leaves Super Mario -- other than Sunshine, they've all been great and IMO rate at or near the top of each hardware generation.

I don't get all the hate for Sunshine. I really enjoyed that one, in fact I liked it more than Super Mario 64 (which is probably some kind of blasphemous statement but whatever).

[RendeR]

Civilization
Starcraft
NASCAR Racing (papyrus)
Worms

[sabotai]

#1 - Final Fantasy. Really enjoyed playing all of them except for 8.

#2 - Half Life. The best FPS games I've played.

#3 - Europa Universalis (and the rest of the Paradox games). Best strategy games, but they always leaving me wanting a bit more. Even if they leave me 90% satisfied, they are still the best strategy games out there. I would love it if they created their games to take into account importing and exporting to their other games (something they leave to the MOD community, unfortunately since some of them don't work to well and there's a long wait for them to show up).

#4 - Total War series. Same as EU. If they had a much better campaign/nation management system, it would be higher. They are very fun games, but I've grown out of the "world domination" gameplay and simply find it boring now, which is the main reason I prefer EU even with their annoying ping-pong battles and bad peace negotiation system

Combine Total War battle/army system with EU's nation management (with an overhaul of the trade and peace AI) and I'd be one very happy sabotai.

#5 - Warcraft - Best MMORPG, and before that, some of the best RTS games for their time.

[lordscarlet]

Civilization
Starcraft
NASCAR Racing (papyrus)
Worms

One of my best friends runs what I believe is the biggest fansite for NASCAR Racing: http://nnracing.com

[Raiders Army]

1. FPS Football (the 99 debacle notwithstanding)
2. Warcraft/Starcraft (RTS games)
3. Guitar Hero
4. Street Fighter (hey back in the day)
5. Civilization

[sterlingice]

Sure, I'll go ahead and throw Pokemon out there. I think I've put more hours into that than any other game series (over 800 hours- maybe more).

I still can't believe there are no Zeldas yet.

SI

[mckerney]

WarCraft RTS Series

[Radii]

Grand Theft Auto is the one that immediately comes to mind for me, and I have spent a *ton* of time playing the series, but after reading through some of the responses, I do believe I have spent more time with other series than GTA:

1) Civilization
2) Warcraft
3) Total War Series
4) Railroad Tycoon
5) Grand Theft Auto

I believe that's it in the order that I have spent the most time playing them over the years. The original Railroad Tycoon and original Civ I think I played more than any non-MMO :P

[thesloppy]

The franchise has faded (at least for me personally), and they haven't done anything revolutionary in quite a while, but I played the ever-loving crap out of the first 3-4 Tony Hawk games.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Gallop Racer.

[MizzouRah]

Call of Duty, NCAA Football, FPS Football and Baseball, Fallout.. heck even Hardball was a great series.

[Groundhog]

Would probably be Mario or Zelda. I've played through Zelda 3 more than any other game, and Ocarina of Time is still arguably the greatest game I've ever played.

[Buccaneer]

I wish you had separated PC games from console ones. It took me about half the page to understand what some of you were talking about.

1. Civilization series
2. Impressions Games historical city-building series
3. Gothic series
4. Talonsoft Battleground series
5. Medal of Honor and King's Quest series (tie)

[saldana]

civilization and diablo...Diablo 3 may be the PC title that gets me to buy a new computer if needed.

[Buccaneer]

Speaking of which (I didn't want to start a new thread), I was in a rare mood today and wanting to play a new game (haven't gotten into a new game since Civ4 came out). I thought about all of the games I have played in the past 20 years, thought about resurrecting some old ones (like Hooves of Thunder) but wanted a new experience. And then I thought about some of my favorite series, esp. the game that started it all for me - SimCity. So, I went out and got SimCity 4.

[SFL Cat]

FPS Football
FOF/TCY
Civ
Paradox line of games

[KWhit]

I forgot OOTP. I logged a TON of hours on that series.

[Marc Vaughan]

Football Manager (unsurprisingly ;) )
Civilisation
Warlords (I, II and III - after it went RTS I lost interest)
X-Wing

[Flasch186]

Civilisation? Youre in America now.

[Buccaneer]

Civilisation


Silly Brit. Don't even know how to spell the greatest series of all time. :)

[Buccaneer]

Aww shit, Flasch beat me to it.

[ColtCrazy]

1. Civilization - Easily the best series for me out there, and probably has gotten the most hours out of me.

2. Europa Universalis - I've played this a ton online (2nd one) and love playing the 3rd one. Great games. The first was good too.

3. Knights of the Old Republic - Don't know if you can call it a franchise when there's only 2 but I am PRAYING for a 3rd. Both were excellent games.

[Nugget699]

Transport Tycoon, which is being kept alive now by OpenTTD

[terpkristin]

Final Fantasy is probably my #1. I still regeret selling back FFVII when I was in school, wish I still had it.

Zelda is up there, though the last 2 I played (Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass) were utter crap. If Phantom Hourglass didn't force you to use the stylus, it probably wouldn't have been bad but the stylus was stupid and gimmicky. The series may almost be dead to me, for the failures of those 2 games.

Pokemon is up there, damn you SI for getting me into them. ;)

Dragon Quest is there, too, though I haven't played as many. Star Ocean may well be in the same boat, but I've only played one version of that one.

I guess it's probably obvious I like the JRPG's.

/tk

[Icy]

UFO series, i really miss a tactical game mixed with finances like those old ones.

[kingnebwsu]

Great thread idea.

This is a tough one for me because of how much online play has changed the face of console gaming. XBox Live launched in Fall 2002 and since then my taste in games has changed dramatically. I loved Halo 2 like crazy and played it almost every day for 2 years. But I only played Halo 3 for 2 months because Call of Duty 4 was definitely a better game. But I'm not getting CoD 5.

I honestly think I'm going to go with Gears of War. The sequel is just amazing. Ask me in 5 years and you'll probably get a completely different answer. My favorite franchise will be whatever the best multiplayer shooter is on Microsoft's system. That's how it's been for the past 6 years and that's how it's going to be for the forseeable future. I think all of these games released in the fourth quarter of the year listed, and they are the game that I played for the entire year until the next big game came out...

2002: Unreal Championship
2003: Rainbow Six 3
2004-2005: Halo 2
2006: Gears of War
2007: Call of Duty 4
2008: Gears of War 2

I guess that's my recent console playing history summary :p

[Groundhog]

UFO series, i really miss a tactical game mixed with finances like those old ones.

Yup, awesome selection. Just the right mix of strategy and RPG, even if they were insanely difficult and unforgiving. :D