[ALL] SethMode's Top 50 Favorite Games of All Time

[SethMode]

Yeah, who cares? I'm going to be vocal no matter. What. Opinions are what makes this world go around. This is your list. If you want to have Barbie Horse Adventures on here, well fuck an A! I'd love to see the write up on that.

In regards to Bionic Commando, that is one of those revered classics that I basically missed. I tried it but I think the whole grappling mechanic completely threw me off. It was way ahead of it's time IMO. Back then you were so accustomed to jumping in a platformer and I just never really game that game a chance. There were others but I definitely regret not investing some time into BC.

Barbie Horse Adventure may or may not be making an appearance on this list.

Fucking Bionic Commando. Definitely way ahead of its time.

 

[wingsfan77]

I picked up the Mass Effect trilogy a few weeks ago because I needed something to play, I remember starting the first one a few years ago and quitting because I got bored. I'm about 10 hours in now and loving it, really excited I still have a shitload more of this series to go.

 

[Misogi]

persona 3 FES just missed the cut? :ronaldo:

 

[SethMode]

#46

Mass Effect​

Coming in at just a dash over the trilogy's epic conclusion, is the trilogy's far more subdued opening act. A little less refined when looked back upon today (that inventory menu…yeesh), this is still a modern classic and really shows just how good Bioware is at creating meaningful characters and worlds. Getting to know your crew while essentially playing out what could be argued as Star Trek: The Away Mission, and uncovering the plot that would serve as the lynchpin of the series, was breathtaking at the time, and still holds up extremely well despite some of its more clunky design ideas (I’m looking at you, Mako). Between playing space P.I., special agent to your asshole Citadel masters, and badass, gun toting, alien flinging biotic, the game does a very good job of blending the dice roll style combat that Bioware was known for, and gun combat. Where games like Alpha Protocol really drop the ball, Mass Effect tends to avoid for the most part. In my 4 or so playthroughs, I can never recall a moment where I aimed somewhere and missed my target, regardless of where my ability levels were (admittedly, I could be misremembering, but hey, whatever, it’s my list). This was an excellent introduction into this amazing world, and it also featured, in my opinion, the best villain of the series in the form of rogue Spectre Saren, who helped to really sell just how daunting of a threat the Reapers truly were. All of that combined with the traditional Bioware level of excellence in writing, voice acting and music, and well, you have one amazing game.

Just Missed the Cut:
Resident Evil 2

 

[jms493]

ME, great game!

 

[Misogi]

RE2 just missed the cut too? :ronaldo: a lot of the games i really enjoyed are just missing the cut. Let me find out Gunstar Heroes or Super Metroid missed the cut :bobbyv:

 

[DomePatrol]

I think if you include Okami Ill have to go back and thank as many of your posts as I can find.

 

[SethMode]

Oh man, a lot at stake here!

 

[Buzzman]

I FUCKINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG LOVE Saren. Dude was my favorite character of the series.

 

[SethMode]

#45

Suuuuuuuper Meat Boy​

Until this point, I’d say most of the games on this list would make a lot of people’s top games list (with perhaps the exception of Blood Omen). This will be my first veering from predictable, I’d say. Super Meat Boy is, in my opinion, the best platformer in recent memory, and the best XBLA game released (which in itself is no small feat, given the abundance of fantastic XBLA games). Created by two dudes (if you haven’t seen Indie Game: The Movie, check it out, it’s a great window into that world) who barely got a chance to interact in person throughout much of its creation, this is the most tightly coded, fair, well designed, pure unadulterated fun video games made in a long time. Oh, and you will die in it. A lot. And you will get mad. Really mad. If you’re like me, you’ll be thankful the game was released in a time in your life where you only think about throwing your system out of your window and lighting your house on fire, instead of going through with it. I really can not imagine my brother and I playing this game growing up without the scenario ending in violence to everyone and everything around us. That being said, every death is your fault. You learn to play this game to the point where, if you’re good, shit that killed you early will seem like a trifle. You will be rewarded for learning its rules, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with finally beating Rapture, will have you feeling on top of the world (and then you’ll realize there is one more world, you’ll cry, you’ll eventually beat it, feel on top of the world again, and then realize there is one MORE world, and once you play that world you’ll just cry and keep crying – I still haven’t beaten fucking Cotton Alley). I love this game because it’s great, but I also love it because it’s basically like playing something new that simultaneously scratches every nostalgic itch I have from those days when life was simpler, and entire days would be spent just trying to beat “one more level”.

Just Missed the Cut:
Half-Life

 

[SethMode]

#44

The Curse of Monkey Island​

Kicking off the first of what will end up being a list heavily influenced by what I consider to be the golden age of LucasArts, The Curse of Monkey Island was actually the first of the Monkey Island games that I ever completed. It was much more accessible than The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, and given that I was in elementary school when I played those, the likelihood of me getting through those games at that time was slim (I have since gone back and replayed them thanks to the XBLA releases, and while I loved them, I still think that this one holds up the best). Among Monkey Island fans, this is generally considered on of the weaker entries, but personally, be it nostalgia or otherwise, it’s my favorite. This was the first one to feature full voice acting, all of which was absolutely hilarious and of course very well written. The voice actors for characters that we already knew were chosen brilliantly (Guybrush and LeChuck literally could not have been more accurate to how I heard them in my head), but the new guy, Murray the Demonic Skull, steals the show from both a VA standpoint, and a hilarity standpoint. In this edition, Guybrush foolishly slips a cursed ring on his beloved Governor Marley’s finger, turning her to stone and kicking off his trek all over a number of islands scattered all over the ridiculous world of MI. On his way, he will solve puzzles like ripping a layer of burned skin from a sunbather in order to procure a map, he will sword fight entirely using rhyming insults, he will pose as a vegetarian cannibal with a giant mask carved from Tofu, and in the end, he’ll find away to end the scheming of the now Demon Pirate LeChuck and bumble his way to another zany conclusion. If you love adventure games, and the wacky humor of the MI universe, this is a great entry, with beautiful hand drawn graphics, wonderful music, and as previously stated, voice acting that is unparalleled, this is definitely worth a play. Unfortunately with LucasArts adventure games being in something of a state of limbo, it’s kind of hard to track down legally at the moment, but if you can, I can’t recommend it enough.

Just Missed the Cut:
Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge

 

[Handleit_44]

Need to update the first post with all your picks - will get lost in the shuffle. :yep:

 

[SethMode]

#43

Psychonauts​

So, Psychonauts is pretty much the definition of a cult hit. Beloved by most everyone that has played it, for it’s uniqueness and genuine creativity, and seemingly always one of those games that is followed by the statement “Man, I really need to give that game a try” by people that haven’t played it, Psychonauts didn’t sell very well at launch and has had people fighting for it ever since. It’s by no means a perfect game, as it is pretty much the prototype of what it meant to be a Double Fine game, before they honed their craft to be super laser focused with their download only titles. For everything it does wonderfully, there is a gameplay mechanic that makes one cock their head, confused. For every legitimately brilliant brain level, there is the Meat Circus, which goes down as one of my absolute most fucking despised final levels ever in a game that I truly love. There are hard swings in positives and negatives, which can dissuade some, but those that enter with a little patience and an open mind, you shall be rewarded. Without giving too much of the excellent plot away, you play as Raz, a child acrobat who escapes to a kids psychic summer camp, and after a number of things go wrong, you find the responsibility of jumping into different characters insane brains in order to play Mr. (Psychic) Fix-It. It’s a world and a concept that can only come from Tim Schaffer, who by all accounts might be legitimately insane. Perhaps better than I can describe, this quote is from a retroactive “Zero Punctuation” by Yahtzee at www.escapistmagazine.com (if you’ve never seen his videos, particularly the early ones, check them out, they’re very funny/well done). Anyway, here’s the quote:

Yahtzee: I'm just going to list out of context some of the things that occur in Psychonauts: a telekinetic bear; a dentist who harvests brains; a sequence wherein you become a giant Godzilla style monster and terrorize a society of talking fish; and a shadowy trench-coated government agent who disguises himself as a housewife by brandishing a rolling pin and talking disjointedly about pies.

So yeah, if you haven’t, you should play this game, and revel in the madness that is Tim Schaffer.

Just Missed the Cut:
RBI Baseball

 

[SethMode]

Big thanks to Handle for confirming what I was thinking about doing.

Question to a mod or someone more forum literate than me: Anyway to have the ME3 post become it's own post? That way, first post is me jabbering, along with what I've done so far, and 2nd post is ME3? If we can't, no problem, I just want to avoid the first post from going on forever, if possible.

 

[SethMode]

#42

Thief 2: The Metal Age​

My excitement level at release of this game was low. I liked many of the ideas presented in the original Thief, but was pretty rapidly turned off by the somewhat magical presence in the game, namely in the form of zombies. To this day, I’m not sure I remember finishing whichever mission it was that introduced these shambling assholes that you couldn’t kill or avoid (I think it was mission 4). A friend loaned it to me though, and promised me that the jump between 1 & 2 was pretty significant. In retrospect, that was an understatement. Thief 2 improves on Thief in almost every conceivable way. You return to your role as Garrett, a former orphan trained in the arts of Shadows, Clubs, Stealing and Having a Sharp Tongue. As Garrett you will skulk over HUGE levels with multi-tiered missions, the focus being stealth, survival, and walking away with everything that isn’t bolted down. The missions are extremely challenging, particularly if your goal is getting in and out without being noticed. Medieval gadgets are introduced left and right, all of which are as crude as the time period would suggest, but still fun and effective. The story is well told, with a darker tone akin to a Game of Thrones-style low fantasy. At the end though, what the game does amazingly is its seamless incorporation of stealth through sound and sight, and its multiple approaches to each objective, some of which can be performed in a manner that almost make you feel like you’re breaking the game. With Thief 4 coming about, and Thief 2 being cheap as hell on Steam, I’d recommend giving it a shot, but remember to seek out any number of updates made by the games rabid fan base. Like many brilliant, before-their-time PC games, it can be a bit rough to look at in its original form.

Just Missed the Cut:
Jak 3

 

[SethMode]

41.

Batman: Arkham Asylum​

I’m going to avoid going on too much about the usual things mentioned by seemingly every review written at the release of this game. Here are the bullet points: 1) a good superhero game!?; 2) finally, a Batman game as good as the NES days!; 3) How has it taken them this long to get this right?; and 4) SERIOUSLY, A GOOD SUPERHERO GAME!?!?!? This game, for even the most casual superhero/comic book fan (of which, there were many at this point – at least, in the form of Batman fans thanks to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight), was a revelation. It incorporated all of the things that made comic books fun, all of the things that made Batman the BAMF (sorry Jules Winnfield), all of the things that made the Joker one of the greatest villains of all time, and finally, it wrapped them all up into one of the tightest playing, well designed games in recent memory. Not just that though. Let’s throw in a shitload more of Batman’s villains, and even manage to make some of the lamer ones (Scarecrow, The Riddler), awesome. But wait, there’s more! How about the best setting anything Batman could ever be, in the form of the namesake insane asylum? Oh, and a Metroid-style “I’m backtracking but it feels more rewarding than actual backtracking” and finally, oh yeah, the best melee combat system ever designed for a non-fighting game, ever, infinity. This game was great in its own right, but I think what really sold it the most for me was that it was basically a love letter to every Batman fan. I’m worried at this point that they might go back to the well one too many times, but even if they do, I’ll always have this game to fall back on (a game which I’ve beaten on all three platforms it’s available for, just as an FYI). If you’re one of those crazy people that still hasn’t played it, or hasn’t allowed yourself to get sucked in well…stop being a crazy person and get to it.

Just Missed the Cut:
Sim City (1989)

 

[Swarley]

I'll never forget my first playthrough of Arkham Asylum. I was one of the people that just brushed it off at first and was all like, "another super hero game? meh." But then I finally got around to it a year later (I think?) and my god, what gloriousness. What a game.

In fact, I'm getting ready to replay it here in the next week or so.

 

[killgod]

Yeah superhero games don't usually come up good, but AA was wicked.

 

[SethMode]

Some Random Fun Stuff for the First 10

System Breakdown (Ranked Top 50)
XBOX 360 – 4
PC – 2
NES – 2
PSX – 1
PS2 – 1

System Breakdown (Unranked Bottom 50)
PC – 4
SNES – 2
PS2 – 2
NES – 1
PSX – 1

My Favorite Cutscene of the Past 10 -- Warning! Could Be Considered Spoilers!

My Favorite Music of the Past 10

My Favorite...Music and Cutscene? of the Past 10?

(Skip to 2:40 for just the song, but it's all pretty good)

And Finally...My Favorite...erm, Murray, Moment of the Past 10

 

[Buzzman]

Is the system breakdown the console you played them on? One thing that sucks about those videos is that if you haven't played them or heard of them, you can't really watch and enjoy them nearly as much as yourself.