ILX'S 100 GREATEST VIDEO GAMES EVER

Playing Scorched Earth with school chums on Windows 3.1 = childhood. That and downloading the "Anarchist Cookbook" on AOL 2.0 and trying to create napalm in an empty coffee can.

#65: Secret of Mana (1993)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Secret_of_Mana_Box.jpg
http://secretofmana.planets.gamespy.com/images/secretofmanashot.gif
Developer:Square
Publisher:Square
Original format:SNES
Highest position:#1, caek

whoa '16 meg-memory'

Tombot voted for that one as well.

Bioshock was my #9 and my most recent pick on the list. That said, I'm still shocked it got a #1 from someone. It's really hard for any new game to penetrate the haze of gaming nostalgia from my youth.

Also, if The Sims highest score was a #10, but placed before a lot of #1 rated games, does that mean a lot of people liked it a little?

ha!

no way

I feel like I've played the first few hours of most of the Square rpgs and never finished any of them.

I voted for SOM out of some kind of affection for my first experience staying up till dawn playing a game (my neighbor friend had gotten it for his birthday). I played quite a bit of it later on emu - and much much more of Seiken Densetsu 3, before getting bored with all the tedious levelling-up - at this point I can't really remember what stuff was in which game (I didn't finish either one). They've got nice bright colors and the multi-player thing was cool (in principle anyway).

#64: Nethack (1987)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Nethack_releasing_a_djinni.png
Developer:The NetHack DevTeam
Publisher:Open-source
Original format:PS Dos
Highest position:#1, Catsup Dude

ZZT for number 1

I play it with a tile set cos I'm not geek enough.

I guess what impresses with Nethack is how much game is packed into so little code, and how well a bunch of ASCII characters can create a satisfying atmosphere.

#63: Cannon Fodder (1993)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Cannon_fodder_MDb.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Cannon_fodder_MD_2.png
Developer:Sensible Software
Publisher:Virgin
Original format:Commodore Amiga
Highest position:#8, blueski

^first game on the list I love unconditionally

that's more like it

^^^ TOO LOW

Cannon Fodder was so much fun, until you got to the first really hard level and gave up.

wtf? i've never even HEARD of that one.

Screenshots from the cancelled Sensible Software project, Sex'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll:

http://www.purplesensi.co.uk/snd/sshots.php

Find an abandonware copy now, you won't regret it.

xpost

wtf? i've never even HEARD of that one.

-- Doctor Casino, Saturday, 3 May 2008 22:40 (22 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Real-time war tactics game, control a motley group of soldiers and kill opposing armies. Produced by the Godlike (for British gamers, at least) Sensible Software. Big tabloid controversy around the time the game was launched because it used the red poppy as a logo.

Abandonware copy of Cannon Fodder: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/76/Cannon+Fodder.html

#62: Planescape: Torment (1999)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Planescape-torment-box.jpg
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c70/nordonordo/planescape_torment01.jpg
Developer:Black Isle Studios
Publisher:Interplay
Original format:PC Windows
Highest position:#2 HI DERE, Greg Pallis

yeah i'm sure that's better than cannon fodder

It's pretty good. Different kind of thing. Not sure that the much vaunted plot is as mind-blowing as the hardcore fans think, but I've never finished it.

Cannon Fodder was so much fun, until you got to the first really hard level and gave up.

Painfully OTM. Anyone else play that Sensible Soccer crossover called Cannon Soccer? That was a perfectly measured dose of CF.

cannon fodder was wonderful.

Not sure that the much vaunted plot is as mind-blowing as the hardcore fans think, but I've never finished it.

Dude, finish it. It's fucking mental. (At least, it was in 1999.)

Also I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT ABOUT SCORCHED EARTH, WAU

There's a general "look" to these turn-of-the-millenium PC games - this, Diablo, Baldur's Gate - that is just incredibly off-putting to me. I don't know how to describe it...other examples would include Age of Empires, Ultima Online, and to a lesser extent Ultima 8 (which has plenty of other problems to worry about). It's not the ugliness of polygons (another scourge of the late 90s) but something else. Not sure why it connotes "boring, tedious game" but it does.

Thanks for the tips on Cannon Fodder - I'll check it out tonight maybe!

(the "this" above is Planescape)

big shame lucasarts etc have been the abandonware sites and pulled their games off with no sign of rereleasing them

#61: Final Fantasy VII (1997)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Ffviibox.jpg
http://www.gamethink.net/IMG/jpg/playstation_Final_Fantasy_VII-Combat.jpg
Developer:Square
Publisher:Square
Original format:PlayStation
Highest position:#5, Mordechai Shinefield

xxxpost

Mrs Vague complains about the "stupid little people that you can't see properly" aspect of those games.

DG I can hook you up with some Lucasarts adventures if you're interested.

Throw out a wishlist; I may have one or two

xxp

xp oh no i've got the adventures, it's stuff like X-Wing i'd like to play again, cheers anyway

(x-wing alliance hates vista)

FF VII is where I got off. Specifically cos my son made me read all the text out loud and I got bored stupid, but that's not really Square's fault. Pointlessly over-elaborate combat fannydangle and random fights that happen every time you cover one inch of screen OVER AND OVER AND OVER are tho.

"Oh good, it's some more Ninja Acid Blobs and a Big Fucking Frog".

Fuck a random battle, f'real.

I don't care how big your sword is you aren't seriously gonna take down some dude with a nuclear laser cannon.

I made an honest stab at playing through that one but I just couldn't fall in love with it... where is influential voter Mordechai Shinefield in this discussion anyhow? I'm curious what would make someone so adore this game that it makes top five!

#60: Prince of Persia (1989)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/PoP-megaCD_cover.png
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/files/prince_of_persia.gif
Developer:Brøderbund
Publisher:Brøderbund
Original format:Apple II
Highest position:#10, KenC

had that exact version

it was no flashback though

This was fun too for a bit but feels like another game you'd vote for cos of its historical importance, and I ruled that out as a voting criterion. Yeah Flashback was better.

This was fun but got old once you'd done it, which didn't take long.

nice turbans though

Best ever video game turban?

Yeah, I didn't vote for it for precisely these reasons, although I was happy to give historical votes to a lot of these, I guess cause they were historical AND I played the shit out of them, whereas Prince I would load up every so often, be unable to beat it, and then give up. Boy was the animation cool though!