Top ten of games

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm going to mix console games (well, two of them) with PC games.

1) MTW: VI
It changed my perception of videogames, I think. Certainly the strategy genre. It also got me here! Spent hours and hours on that game. I can still take it out and play it some more. Also, there are several quality mods out there for it. VI is a necessary component of this, as it made the game much better. Without VI, MTW might not make the top berth. Close though.

2) Close Combat II
A brilliant RTS game without the stupid resource gathering like star craft and co. The soldiers were real people in that game, an effect I really like. They aren't identical, mindless idiots for you to control godlike-ly. Nope. If you lost a whole bunch of guys in a battle, you were actually moved by it. I was, anyway. Note: I haven't played any other Close Combat games beyond demos. I may get III someday, though. I hear it is good (maybe even better than II).

3) Sid Meier's Gettysburg!
Another brilliant RTS game, with some parallels to CC2. I loved the whole Civil War setting, videos of reanactments, the little things like being able to play bugle calls. And this is not to mention the wonderful game - very challenging (the AI can be wicked, and I was very poor). Sadly, I lost the original CD, and the Sid Meier's Civil War Collection (Gettysburg + Anteitem) doesn't work on my computer.

4) Tie Fighter/X-wing
The two similar games are from one of my favorite game companies, Lucasarsts, owned by one of my favorite movie franchise, Star Wars. Tie fighter was my first computer game love, and indeed took many months of my 9-year-old life from me. I may get it again some day - on CD instead of floppy disks! I have X-wing, which wasn't as good as Tie, I think, but is still excellent. Note: I despise the X-wing Vs. Tie Fighter game. The stupid turning rules where more speed = slower turning!?! Bleh.

5) Star Fox 64
The greatest console game ever. Corny dialogue, fun, mindless action, wonderful. It needs a sequal that does it justice.

6) Rogue Squadron III
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm such a hypocrit for not playing the first two. But III is still very good, #2 for my Gamecube. Beautiful graphics, the mindless-ness of Star Fox + Star Wars of Tie fighter. III gives you co-op missions as well as single player, and my brother and I beat all but the very last mission together (it's his fault, you know )

7) Star Craft
I may be branded for heresy, but I have to credit where it is due (for me at least). Star Craft was fun, though repetitive and mindless. The campaign was pretty neat, at least the story. The cutscenes between certain levels were the greatest. And the dialogue, particularly the Terrans, was awesome. Just keep clicking the Tank Driver to here him say funny stuff.

8) Rome: Total War
It is with a heavy heart that I put this game at #8. I wish it could have been #1. But it ain't. I am hoping for mods to bring this higher, like Europa Barbarorum, anything made by Duke John, and a few others. RTW: potential wasted.

9) America's Army
Surprisingly enjoyable tactical shooter, though I've lost interest. Amazingly it plays well and looks gorgeous on my mediocre laptop. Hopefully there will be sequals with new weapons, like the XM-8 and XM-29 (two experimental weapons for the US Army that look really cool).

10) Age of Empires II: Age of Kings
One of my favorite games many moons ago, before I graduated to MTW. Fun, though eventually repetitive. The campaigns were good, and challenging. Random maps were less fun. Never got the expansion. Favorite faction: Teutons (those Germans with the Teutonic Knights).

Others
These I don't have the full version of but might in the future, or I didn't include for other reasons.

Halo/Halo2 - I lack an Xbox, and it isn't worth it to play Halo I on my laptop with the graphics as low as they can possibly be. Also, it will be interesting convincing that "Mature" means "makes players more mature."

Marathon - I've managed to track down Windows versions for this game, that I only heard about through Halo. Looks kinda cool, and hey, no slowdowns. Since it was made in like 1994.

Call of Duty
Looks very fun, need better computer. Have played demo.

[Murmandamus]

Played way too many games to list 10 in order but some favs that I can think of atm are:

RTW and STW (didn't like MTW)
Syndicate
Total Annihilation
GP2, GPL and GTR for racing games.
Duke3D, Deus Ex, Max Payne, Call of Duty
Pool of Radiance, Azure Bonds and SotSB (C64), Phantasy Star (master system), Wizardry 8, Baldurs Gate
Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, Heavy Gear 2

[screwtype]

RTW and STW (didn't like MTW)

The thing I could never understand about MTW is why they changed the battle engine from STW. The MTW engine is clearly inferior. Units respond to commands slower, when you pull a group of units across terrain some of them line up in screwy ways, and the FPS rate is clearly inferior. Not to mention the missile units that don't skirmish. The graphics are fuzzier and less pretty on the battlemap as well.

MTW with the STW battle engine would have been a much better game. You can't help but make an unfavourable comparison when coming to MTW from the older game.

BTW, I notice you mentioned Deus Ex as one of your favourites, but I don't think anyone has put Deus Ex 2 into their top ten. It was a much awaited game but doesn't appear to have created much excitement. Was it a disappointing sequel?

[econ21]

Yeah, I like the STW battle engine better than MTWs. It does look prettier to me too and the AI did appear to put up more of a challenge. But where MTW shines is at the strategic level. There are so many more strategic possibilities playing as, say, England than there are when playing as Shimazu. There's scope for role-playing, especially with Glorious Achievements; and there's no equivalent of the Hojo horde. Not to mention the factions' strategic positions and orders of battle are much more varied. STW is a gem, no doubt, but MTW is a like a crown of jewels by comparison.

[screwtype]

@ Simon

I never got that deep into MTW but I agree there are more strategic options. I'd probably enjoy it more now if I went back to it, STW really isn't big enough for me anymore, I pretty much exhausted the possibilities in that game long ago, having played and won with every faction.

But I'll still never understand why they redesigned the battle engine for MTW to come up with something worse.

[Al Khalifah]

Another brilliant RTS game, with some parallels to CC2. I loved the whole Civil War setting, videos of reanactments, the little things like being able to play bugle calls. And this is not to mention the wonderful game - very challenging (the AI can be wicked, and I was very poor). Sadly, I lost the original CD, and the Sid Meier's Civil War Collection (Gettysburg + Anteitem) doesn't work on my computer.

One of my favorite games Sid Meier's Gettysburg. It didn't really have much ambition, but boy did it do what it did well. The definitive single battle simulator, the full day scenarios (play the entire 1st day and 2nd day of Gettysburg all in one go!) are the best battle missions I think I've ever played. You really have to think about what you're doing and the consequences of success and failure are big - unlike in the fight the battle mode where you could force a units surrender one scenario and have it fighting you again the next.

Firaxis recently released a windows xp patch to allow you to play the game on an XP box. If this is your problem I suggest you look for this patch, when I tried it just took a quick Google. How good is that for customer support???

BTW, I notice you mentioned Deus Ex as one of your favourites, but I don't think anyone has put Deus Ex 2 into their top ten. It was a much awaited game but doesn't appear to have created much excitement. Was it a disappointing sequel?

It was an okay game, but a bit poor as a sequel to Deus Ex. The story was quite good but the gameplay wasn't quite so original and the RPG element was almost completely removed from the game. Its kind of like The Phantom Menace compared to A New Hope.

[Shambles]

a nother top 10 games :)
( classics....)

Dizzy (c64)
Grand larceny (c64)
sphynx adventure "text based" (acorn)
donkey cong country 1 (snes)
Super bomber man 3 or 4 i forget which (snes)
buble boble (Nes)
super mario kart (snes)
trak and feild 2 (nes)
Moon patroll (atari 2600)
Chrono triger (SneS)

They all were the best "In my oppinion" when they were being played by me Years ago :)

[doc_bean]

Total Annihilation

I had completely forgotten about that one ! One of the few RTS games I enjoyed post-Warcraft 2, I never did understand what was so good about AoE.

I have also forgotten probably the greatest game ever:

Worms !

Mastering the bazooka was a goal in my life.