Your all time favorite games?

[adam_grif]

Exactly what it says on the tin. Favorite games, all platforms. Provide a breif (or not so breif) explanation as to why you love it.

1. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory - The height of the series, and my most replayed game of all time. I still enjoy the co-op with my buddies on a semi-regular basis.

2. Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Fucking love this game. Back in the day, all I ever had was the demo version of the game, and I played it over and over. Then I finally got the full version and it still kicked ass.

3. Mass Effect 2 - This might reach #1 over time, but I haven't had it long enough to be sure. I've played it 4 complete times since it came out, and I'm still not sick of it.

4. Company of Heroes - Greatest RTS of all time, in my opinion. Quite innovative, and the rest of the genre still hasn't caught up to it yet. It seems that Relic doesn't even know what makes it great though, given how much DoW2 blows by comparison.

5. Command & Conquer: Genearals - "my first RTS". Well not really, I played Red Alert / 2 and TibSun, but this was the first that I owned, and I got to really sink my teeth into.

[Gandalf]

Tetris. I still play the bastard.

Also, the HoI series. It's so silly I can't help but love it.

[Stark]

Assuming you mean games that are still favourites, unlike those like System Shock that were fucking amazing but are now just clunky dinosaurs...

Star Control 2. Possibly the all-around best game in history, taking time period into account.

Thief. Better than LGS thought it would be.

World in Conflict. Context pings + teamplay = win.

Gears of War 2. Third person has taken over my life.

Saints Row 2. Sandbox done right.

[adam_grif]

Oh shit I should probably mention Galactic Civilizaits II while I'm here. I've lost so many afternoons to that fucking game.

Assuming you mean games that are still favourites, unlike those like System Shock that were fucking amazing but are now just clunky dinosaurs...

Yes. Early 3D games have not aged well.

[Havok]

MADDEN 11 (please please please hurry up August!)

Starflight (I still never finished it! )

Tactical: Starfleet battle simulator (An old unlicensed Star Trek game that was turn based I think it is called, that was just heaps of fun)

Gears 2 (The most re-playability as far as multi goes for me outside of Madden)

ME1&2 (2 was weaker, but as a whole a great game)

Assassin's Creed 2 (If a game doesn't have character movement like this it is almost a failure to me now)

I am sad that I can not count any Star Wars games on this list.

[adam_grif]

I dunno, Havok. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron/2 were pretty fucking sick. I loved those games. Jedi Outcast rocked too.

[Stark]

Sorry, I thought the thread was called 'all time favourite games' and not 'laundry list of games I like'.

[General Zod]

I'm not going to bother with numbers since that would be fruitless, but anyway.

Chrono Trigger - Self explanatory really.

Dawn of War II - Huge improvement over the first game, and one of my favorite RTS's

Metal Gear Solid - Mainly because it started me off on stealth games.

Assassin's Creed 2 - Huge improvement over the first one, one of the best stealth games of all time.

Miles Edgeworth Investigations - It's an Ace Attorney game featuring Edgeworth, what's not to love?

[adam_grif]

Shut your whore mouth Stark!

I retroactively add RS to my list. I was going to add it originally but for some reason I got it in my head that I should only put 5 games on :/

[Kuroji]

While any number of games I enjoy are above, my favorite has to be Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. To me, it's the height of the Civ genre. Complex enough to enjoy, but not so overcomplicated that I have to worry about micromanaging everything under the sun.

[Lief]

If I go back through the ages, basing this of how much I actually played the game..

Dungeon Master
Lords Of Chaos
Megalomania
Everquest 1
Counter Strike + Counterstrike Source
Fallout Series
Starcraft
Elite
Total Annihilation
Civilization Series
Championship Manager (Football Manager now)

There are more, but 10 will do

[dworkin]

Alpha-Centauri would be my all time favourite. The massive amount of customisation and ability alter the map to suit your needs was great. That and the Network Node ditty.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I don't know what to say about this. I've sunk countless hours into this, second only to NWN I suspect. Every time I play it, I find something new: some new dungeon, a new quest line, a new area, a different way of approaching my character and the story. The insane amount and quality of mods, the flexibility of the (admittedly dated now) character system. I just can't say enough good things about it.

Neverwinter Nights. The single-player campaign of the original is pretty poor, but everything else is great, including the expansion campaigns. The multiplayer in particular has occupied a disgusting percentage of my life (approximately 3,800 hours, in fact). The user content, both in modded-in odds and ends such as the Community Expansion Pack as well as the slew of modules available is extensive and of decent quality, often improving upon the base game significantly. The editor's ease of use is pretty hard to rival; world-editing can be done by a child and the scripting is straightforward (speaking as a programmer, granted).

Final Fantasy 3/6. Mostly nostalgia speaking here, but the number of times I've gone back to it bears mentioning. Best FF, period.

Baldur's Gate 2:Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal. Not much to say here. Huge game, great writing, great characters, old school Forgotten Realms (back when it was cool).

Day of Defeat. Dated gameplay by today's standards perhaps, but easily one of the finest of the "golden age" of PC first-person shooters. Probably my most-played FPS.

Honorable mentions to Tyrian II/2000, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Civilization II, Master of Orion II, and E.V.O. (obscure SNES game)

[The_Saint]

hmmmm 5 you say... *glances at pile of old game boxes* well now

Diablo: got the demo long ago then found a copy I know not where from (now have something like 3 copies of Diablo 1 for various reasons, Hellfire turned up at an op shop)
Sid Meier's: Alpha Centauri: Used to play a lot of Age of Empires (honourable mention) whilst a friend played Civ, we both moved on to SMAC and still play today (including a mulitplayer game we sometimes resurrect that's had several thousand game years pass)
Flight Unlimited: it was and always will be the greatest flight sim ever. I got a demo on a win95 demo disc (I think there were only about three games on those discs that ever got commercially released).
Operation Flashpoint: the wargamers wargame. Was given a not quite legit copy by a relative (whilsto n holiday) and within a month was inducted into their gaming group to make up numbers for compettions. Have pent days modding and scripting and cataloguing models/skins for it.
Day of Defeat: version 3.1 beta, everything after that was just messing with a great ww2 fps.
Quake 2 & 3: I cut my fps multipalyer gaming teeth on these.

Each are games that I have spent far too long playing (but not enough) and still play today (in some way shape or form)

Honourable mentions to Fallout (the first three and a half, not the 5th one that calls itself 3 although it's alright), Grim Fandango, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, Space Quest, Descent, Anarchy Online, Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Thief, GTA (only the first one, rest were crap) ... all together that's the bulk of my favourite gaming.

[weemadando]

Operation Flashpoint. Lived on my HDD for longer than any other game did. I had gigs of mods and addons for it and and sunk untold hours into it. Just too much fun. I had everything from speederbike races to medevac chopper scenarios to the actual wargame part of it in missions and mods.

Arcanum. My favourite CRPG, excellent writing, actual decisions and morality, but without Bioware's "Kill kitten"/"send kitten to university" dynamic.

TIE Fighter. Star Wars. Playing as the Empire.

Civilization. All of them. Even the Call to Powers. Each of them have their own allure, but the series at a whole represents something fantastic to me.

Crimson Skies (PC). A great arcade flight sim in a fun setting.

[Gramzamber]

Suikoden III
The Suikoden series in general is fantastic (well except for IV) and III in particular brought new elements to the table, keeping the series fresh and innovative.
Of course stupid nerds bashed it because they fear change so Konami gave us IV which was a terrible clone of II and V which was a good clone of II, then gave up entirely.
Mini rant aside it's not without it's flaws, but has a peculiar charm for me above most J-RPGs.

Metroid Prime Trilogy
FPS and adventure/exploration done right. I count all three as one game since hey, it was released as one game. So there.

Saints Row 2
Somebody, somewhere had this very odd idea that sandbox games should be fun, have numerous activities ranging from daft to ludicrous, with an unintrusive storyline and a totally customisable main character.
Shockingly it worked. Saints Row 2 grabs every other sandbox game by the lapels and screams "I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUUUN!" into their ears.

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song
The sheer scale of this game is incredible. Tons of characters, locations and events. Consequences for quest failures and taking to long to do something or go somewhere. To this day I've never found everything to do here. Coupled with beautiful visuals and music it remains one of my favourites.

Arcanum
Never before or since have I seen a steampunk/fantasy game done so well, it's world believable and immersive, the ability to play around with silly gadgets.
Okay so the combat was crap but the rest of the game more than made up for it.

Honorable mentions: Civilization series, Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3 PC versions (epic modding communities make these games timeless)

[Ghost Rider]

MADDEN 11 (please please please hurry up August!)

Y'know Madden 14 will be more awesome!! BUY more!!! The fat man OWNS YOU!

And I never quite got the love of it, but I know people with your love of Madden if not more. I've played variety of iterations but it just never got to me given that at some point it felt you either broke the game or it decided "Puny human...behond my perfection!". Though I could see more enjoyment with people.

Oh, right...

1. Final Fantasy III/VI. I still go back to it with nostalgia and still amazed it does things better then I see in a lot of the current FFs and japanese RPGs.

2. Smash TV. The sequel was whackier, but the catch phrases and the sheer amount of killing made this the pinnacle, for me, of the Robotron game.

3. Super Street Fighter II Turbo. It just needs to have Boxer to have his dick laugh, and then it would be perfect. HD or otherwise it's a great game to see which dumbass newbie thinks he's the shit because he learned how to use an air fireball and play with him like a cat.

4. TIE Fighter. I love I can destroy ISDs and such not with my whittle bitty fighter.

5. Doom II. Not the greatest of the whole Doom/Quake bits, but the one I most enjoyed. The size of the maps, the lovable critters, and asinine story of saving humanity from a giant hole in the ground because someone likely tried to fuck a goat.

There are others, with things like Star Controll II (god I loved the original map and running around trying to figure out what the fuck to do), Baldur's Gate II, Dunne 2/000, and things like that...but the list would be long and take up too much time.

[Havok]

MADDEN 11 (please please please hurry up August!)

Y'know Madden 14 will be more awesome!! BUY more!!! The fat man OWNS YOU!

And I never quite got the love of it, but I know people with your love of Madden if not more. I've played variety of iterations but it just never got to me given that at some point it felt you either broke the game or it decided "Puny human...behond my perfection!". Though I could see more enjoyment with people.

Look you... we can take this outside if we have to tax boy!

In all seriousness, I am the eternal optimist, so I always think the upcoming game will get more right than the last. Despite what the whiners say (OMG THIS GAME SHOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT 10 YEARS AGO!!) they do a good job of making steady progress with each year (with the exception of 08 and 09... I don't know what happened there) given the restraints that they face in having to have a game ready to go every year and the fact that they don't have the time to really make the wholesale changes everyone clamors for.

Should the game be a little better than it is? Yes. Are they stuck between two warring fanbase factions of 'Fun to play!' Vs 'OMG STATS!' that keep development stagnant at times? Yes. Is it ever going to be exactly like real life NFL football? No. But what game that simulates something as real life measurable as football, is ever going to be exact? None.
The game is a blast to play if you like football, and need the NFL brand.

[Flagg]

FF7
GTA 3 - GTA 4
NHL '95
GEARZ 2
Oblivion (fuck you Stark)
KoTOR (fuck you Stark)

[White Haven]

Let's play Lets Fix Madden. Aww, you can't do it in a year? Okay, release next year's roster in DLC for last year's game for one year, thus giving you two years to work on the next title. The fact that they're not willing to do what needs to be done to make real progress on the franchise has nothing to do with impossibilities.

[Havok]

Let's play Lets Fix Madden. Aww, you can't do it in a year? Okay, release next year's roster in DLC for last year's game for one year, thus giving you two years to work on the next title. The fact that they're not willing to do what needs to be done to make real progress on the franchise has nothing to do with impossibilities.

Or the fact that their contract with the NFL stipulates a new game every year and has nothing to do with what the developers want to actually do may have something to do with it... but hey, why let pesky facts get in the way of your little EA/Tiburon Sucks! rant.

[Ritterin Sophia]

RTS: Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge
MMORPG: Pre-NGE Star Wars Galaxies
FPS: Massive Action Game
RPG: Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, KotOR
Sandbox: GTA3 Series (GTA3, Vice City, & San Andreas) & Saint's Row Series
Sports: Blitz The League Series
Flight: TIE Fighter & SWG Jump to Lightspeed

[Alyeska]

* Battlefield 2
* Battlefield 2142
* C&C: Red Alert
* Company of Heroes
* Counter-Strike
* Desert Combat
* Doom 3
* TES IV: Oblivion
* Fallout
* Fallout 2
* Fallout 3
* F.E.A.R.
* Freespace: The Great War
* Freespace 2
* Ghost Recon
* Grand Theft Auto III
* Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
* Ground Control
* Half-Life
* Half-Life 2
* Halo
* Halo 2
* Homeworld
* Homeworld: Cataclysm
* Mass Effect
* Master of Orion
* Max Payne
* Max Payne 2
* Myth: The Fallen Lords
* Myth II: Soulblighter
* Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
* Star Control 2
* Starcraft
* Starfleet Command Volume II
* Supreme Commander
* Sword of the Stars
* Team Fortress
* TIE Fighter
* Total Annihilation
* Tribes 2
* Wing Commander Privateer
* X-COM: UFO Defense
* X-Wing

Some are more nostalgic memories. I do not honestly know how I would feel playing them today. Some are just too new for me to put into context of how I like them long term.

[Admiral Drason]

Okay lets see
*TIE Fighter
*Civ III
*Doom/Doom II
*Wolfenstein 3D
*Dawn of War

[Stark]

Fifty five games? Seriously?

TIE was cool, but for me it's like System Shock. It sucks now. Starcon and Thief and WiC are still awesome.