10 Best Video Games Ever

A Facebook application today asked me to answer what were the 5 best video games. I naturally couldn’t resist and filled out 5. I then posted it as 5 of the Best 7, because two of my choices were not available.

So here I will post my Top 10 Video Games:

1. Final Fantasy 8 (Playstation)-
You play as the lonely, antisocial 17 year old Squall Lionheart. After a dramatic and fairly nonsensical but exciting all the same cinematic sequence to start the game you awake in hospital with your forehead sliced open. A mysterious girl appears then disappears again and then your tutor Quistis Trepe comes and takes you for a walk to class. Yes, you are enrolled in a military academy called Balamb Garden and you work as a Gunblade (literally a sword with a gun in it) specialist ready to take your exam to become a SeeD- the elite military force of Balamb Garden.
Across the 4 discs of gameplay you get to do heaps of awesome stuff which involves fantastic characters, including Quistis Trepe who I love, it has a good battle engine and the story line is best of any game I’ve played. I’d say being 17 helps but I’ve been playing since I was 10 and have loved it that long.
The graphics are spectacular, though you may not think so. The cinematic sequences are pretty good, the background art is great, probably because it is visual art placed in a gaming context. The actually gameplay graphics and the battle graphics especially are boxy and pixilated- not badly, but by today’s standards it doesn’t look so great. Just remember the game was made in 1998 and while those aspects fall short, the background brings it back up.
Also, the music is the best of any game soundtrack I’ve ever heard. Nobuo Uematsu is a genius and I don’t care if his new album is dull piano solo stuff, he is a genius and will never be anything but that. This is a game soundtrack that is worth paying for.

2. Starcraft (PC)-
I’ve blogged about Starcraft before. It is my favourite Blizzard game and my favourite RTS. The story line is surprisingly good for a 90s RTS and the characters are likable and engaging, an advantage the game has over its otherwise sister Warcraft 3. Blizzard has updated the graphics of newer games but I actually prefer the ones from the late 90s, they aren’t as detailed but they are so much clearer- clear enough to be immediately identifiable at low distance on an overpixelated YouTube video. And you will find plenty of overpixelated videos of Starcraft on YouTube because it is the national sport of Korea.
I’m not playing Starcraft any more because I need to stay away while I finish school, I know once I start again I’ll become hooked again and no study will be done, so until November I’m still halfway through the Protoss campaign. The installation level where you need to use Hallucinations. Yeah I hate this level, but I’m still playing for the story SO NO SPOILERS!
Also Blizzard I know you have the most anticipated PC game of all time waiting in Alpha testing at the moment, but can you please wait until I’m done with Brood War before you release it because I am really looking forward to it but don’t want spoilers.

3. Computer Solitaire (PC)-
I’m no fan of Microsoft and I have grown to hate Windows, but man there is nothing like sitting down to a good game of Solitaire. If you have a Windows OS I’m sure you know what I mean, and let me just say you don’t know what you are missing until it is gone. I’ve still not found a Solitaire game for Mac, or at least the only ones I’ve found demand money and I’m not willing to pay that for a product that will still be inferior to the Windows game.
You can play with money, with a score, with a clock or with nothing at all. Then when you finally get a game out all the cards come bouncing back down off the aces and you get to watch the exciting show of trying to see if the entire window can be filled with bouncing cards or if there will still be some green left.
There is no way of judging its popularity, but I’d say that Solitaire is easily more popular than Windows is used, so this is no small thing.

4. Microsoft Hearts Network / 3D Hearts (PC)-
I like Hearts more than Solitaire however Hearts is more complicated so I’ve put it at 4 seeing as so few people know how it works.
4 players, first to 100 points loses, lowest score wins, queens of spades is 13 points, each heart is 1 point. Simple right? Well there are other rules to make it more complicated but that is the general idea.
Microsoft Hearts is the best, it is simple, you name the other players, it leaves everything up to the imagination while delivering a clear procrastination: the graphics are uncluttered and clear which makes this better than most other Hearts games. It is built into the Windows OS, however I was heart broken when I moved to a Mac because I was no longer in possession of Hearts, like Solitaire. However thanks to MacHeist I got a version of 3D Hearts for Mac. It is equally good as Microsoft Hearts, it has 3 other players who actually appear at the table, you can play in space, the kitchen or the office, the backgrounds are customizable and the other players bring their own personalities and THEY ALL TALK! It is great, but doesn’t offer the imagination of Microsoft Hearts and it is also harder to see as the graphics aren’t as clear. The rules are customizable though, but I don’t alter that sort of stuff.

5. One Must Fall 2097 (PC)-
Giant. Fighting. Robots.
I have now said everything I need to about this game but I’ll continue anyway. It is a platform arena (not 3D) where you and one other giant fighting robot go and fight until one of you can’t sustain consciousness.
Basically this company called WAR came up with these giant fighting robots where the pilot goes inside and their moves dictate the robots’, so allowing this Street Fighter clone to have giant fighting robots. There are 4 major tournaments ranging from North American Open (easiest) to World Championship (hardest). You can choose from many varieties of giant fighting robots, but you always start with the Jaguar. This is ok though because the Jaguar is the most like a human so it is easiest to use. You can then upgrade parts and take training courses as you earn your ridiculous match fees (by the time you hit the World Championship you are earning over $1Billion each fight). When you have all the upgrades, training and money you could ever want, you beat the hardest opponent without taking any damage in 15 seconds, you just keep going because it is fun.
My best robot remains Power Overwhelming, a mainly black Jaguar who, when I got rid of the computer that ran the game, had won over 500 fights… and lost 1.
I’m now building a new PC so I will one day be able to return to giant fighting robots. June probably.
Did I mention this game has giant fighting robots?

6. Gran Turismo 3 (Playstation 2)-
It’s a driving simulator. It’s THE driving simulator. I’m not sure how much I can really talk about this game, you buy a car, get a racing license, wins races, get a better license, win more races, buy a better car, etc. It is all based on real cars and also some real circuits, though some are GT exclusive.
Some of the most fun you can have on a PS2 is in this game, but I like racing games. If you don’t like racing games I wouldn’t bother with this.
The coolest car is the Audi TT and I don’t care if only cocks drive them.

7. Balls of Steel (PC)-
Pinball on steroids as it is described by itself. It goes beyond pinball though, with each table containing missions and stuff. You either battle an alien infected space station on Darkside, hit it with the Duke in Duke Nukem, enter the strange mutations in the lab or creeps on Mutation, work for the fire department stopping bomb threats and arson attacks in Firestorm or head into the mystical age to earn honor with the gods on Barbarian.
I don’t know why this is only no. 7, it is fantastic, in fact no amount of me describing it will ever make it any cooler than it is, you have no choice but to play it yourself.
Sadly it will only run under Windows 95. You should be able to trick it into working somewhere else, but my current PC is crap, and as such my much better one I’m building myself will have Windows 95.
I’m not trying to make this game sound good only because it is so good nothing I can say can make it seem as good as it is.

8. Warcraft II Tides of Darkness (PC)-
Another Blizzard RTS, an older one though and not as good as Starcraft. You can only select 9 troops at a time, only train one person per building at a time, etc. It is Orcs Vs Humans, but not Orcs and Humans the first game, this one has multibutton mouse clicking and shortcuts and BOATS. The boats are important and I suck at using them, which is possibly why I’ve never progressed past level 8. Also I’m scared of magic but shouldn’t be. You see when I was 6 I played with the cheats on and magic is the only thing that can hurt you when invincibility is turned on, so I’ve developed this irrational fear of magic. It is primitive and sludgy compared to Starcraft, but this is the game that made Blizzard Entertainment the powerhouse they are today so you should play it.
Also the soundtrack is great. It is orchestral stuff, dramatic, fantastic. Being a Blizzard game, the disc is for both Mac and Windows, and due to its old age if you insert the disc into the computer and open iTunes, the full soundtrack is there ready and waiting. I’m not sure exactly why, something to do with Macs of the early 90s being unable to read the integrated files Windows used. Whatever it is I have this soundtrack in iTunes and listen to it regularly.
Sadly also because of its age Blizzard no longer support it. If you buy the fancy Battle Net edition then you get some support, but PC only.

9. Halo 3 (Xbox360)-
Apparently this game has a story line, but I don’t care because it will be a sad day when I play this single player. I only ever play it multiplayer, with friends, at their houses. This is because I don’t own an Xbox360 and really don’t want to, because I’ve got great friends, and because this game is quite dull without other players. If you play it multiplayer then you get the wonderful joy of using unrealistic and exotic weapons to kill your mates in all manner of wonderful ways. The fun lasts for hours, and seeing as I’m really bad at the game I can assure you that you don’t need to be good to like it. The bright colours and nice landscapes make this nice, and also being multiplayer you are in the company of friends which makes it nice.
Single player, I’ve never done, but from what I’ve heard is that it is pretty pathetic. Halo was good, Halo 2 wasn’t, Halo 3 not much better than 2. Really just go multiplayer, it isn’t realistic enough to warrant single player anyway in my mind.

10. Team Fortress 2 (PC)-
The most hyped FPS of the last year. Multiplayer only this time, but being an online game this means you need a good internet connection or you break your head. This game also requires a good graphics card, though not too good (my definition of good is anything not already built into the processor) which is surprising because it is cartoon. Also surprising is it is rated MA due to high levels of violence. I wouldn’t call it violence though, I’d call it slapstick. Extremely bloody, brutal slapstick. It takes racial stereotypes, gives them enormous guns, blows your organs apart while giving you a description of where each piece of your body lands, and then you do it all again and you love it. Games like this are the reason FPS are so great. I think we should introduce respawn to real life and then go around blasting each other to smitherines. It would be great.
Real life doesn’t have respawn though, we can’t kill each other and so whenever you get the urge, play this instead and get those feelings out while having fun.
I should have a computer ready to play this by January next year, so everyone keep playing it until I’m ready. And also when I’m ready. :-/

Ok, this went a lot longer than I thought it would, but there are my 10 best games of all time.
Comments welcome.