Top 100 Games of All Time!
Every few months a magazine or media hub churns out a "top" list with lofty language like "Greatest X of All Time" or "Top X You Probably Missed," and we yawn or cheer or raise our middle fingers in salute. December in particular is like a daily "best of [insert year]" list-a-thon, exacerbated by blogs and the interminable reach of Google. We're all, in a sense, becoming visible critics.
Don't worry, I wasn't planning to foist my "100 favorites" on you. I think lists tend to be obsessive, often snobbish, sometimes fanboy-ish, and more than anything, designed to be persuasive (and, like anyone else, I tend to resist "assimilation"). Their saving grace? They foster debate.
For example: Edge magazine just published another "best 100 games" list with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in the top spot. No arguments from me about that choice (it's not my favorite Zelda, but it's up there). It's rather the magazine's analysis of its results that bothers me. According to Short News, Edge editor Tony Mott framed Zelda's win by noting "Ocarina of Time is nearly 10 years old, but its position at the top slot...show that great game design does not age."
Ahem -- with exceptions made for timeless stuff like chess and checkers -- really?
Gamers may indeed be willing to climb a rung or two back down the ladder, buy a Nintendo DS, pick up a Nintendo Wii, and even download a 10 year old game like Ocarina to twiddle with while waiting for Metroid 3 or Super Mario Galaxy. But last I checked, no one's planning an Atari 2600 handheld or a Commodore 64 PDA. Much as I loved Colossal Cave on my Commodore B-128 and Aztec or Choplifter on the school's Apple IIe's, something tells me those games -- true greats, in my opinion -- won't be coming back in anything like their original form. We're just not far enough along the game design curve at this point to call a game like Ocarina timeless. Proof that our game design/paradigm radar's critically fallible? Two words: Nintendo Wii.
We're all creatures of context. Super Mario Bros. (1983) is just old enough in 2007 that it's entirely conceivable, if not outright probable, teens today have never played the original. Too much of game "play" today still hinges on superficial sensory elements (see: graphics). To put that in filmic context, Michael Bay's Transformers, which I've just come from seeing a second time, is brilliantly conceived visually (the phrase I keep using is "robot ballet"). But it also hitches its worth so completely to its visual hook, that while in 50 years we'll probably still be celebrating films like Citizen Kane and Schindler's List, I'll be surprised if anyone cares much about a two hour CGI-pimped nostalgia trip.
But okay, so I fibbed -- I won't give you my "top 100," but 10's a trifling offense, so here goes. Ask me tomorrow and I'm sure it'll be different.
1. System Shock (PC)
2. Ultima VI: The False Prophet (PC)
3. Final Fantasy VII (PS)
4. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC)
5. Wing Commander (PC)
6. Super Mario 64 (N64)
7. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC)
8. Close Combat (PC)
9. Combat Mission (PC)
10. IL-2 Sturmovik (PC)
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System Shock? Truly a fantastic game but it has its nitch. It is like the Moody Blues, small fan base but very loyal. I don't like that you put console games in with PC games, a purest such as myself would say you're selling out. Give me a keyboard and mouse over whatever that thing is you hold in your hand for console games. I'm positive I'm missing out on some great game play in console, but until I can go into a simulation room, ala Star Trek, I'll stick with PC shooters. My fav? Let's face it, Duke Nukem had charisma AND balls. Character development is important and I haven't seen that since Max Payne. Your choice of Wing Commander is excellent. Just think what could be done with that game today. Why is it that they don't make remakes of old PC games? They should.
Where is Civilization? That's gotta be in the top 10.
Arguements could be made for Fallout, Civ II, Thief(the first stealth action game), Starcraft, The Sims(i don't care for it, but it's easily one of the best selling of all time).
I'm surprised Combat Mission, Close Combat and Stumovik made it on there, as those tend to more niche games. System Shock is argueably one of the best FPS of all time, it was just over-shadowed by the soul-less crapfest that is Doom.
Also, games like Daggefall, Deus Ex, X-Com:UFO Defense, Syndicate...
I can't really roast anyone for their top 10 or top 100...it's all subjective, which is the point he is trying to get across. It's good to see System Shock get some love...it never got enough when it mattered and Looking Glass is a thing of the past now sadly.
Lastly, sorry consoles, none of your games can go top 5 in the least, probably not top 10. Everything thats been done on the console came out earlier and better on the PC. Making the most of a limited system is nothing to crown.