Alright. The last 10. There will be a summary with links to all blogposts posted after this one. Thanks to everyone who actually read this huge project. It was alot of work, way more work than I thought actually. But now its finally done. Feel free to spread this list to people interested in it once I get that summary up and feel free to add me on MSN: jimmy_nyman2@hotmail.com or mail me on the same adress with flaming, suggestions, corrections to faulty information or appriciation. Did I forget something obvious? Tell me! This took so much more hard work than I imagined it to take. Each part of this list took roughly 3-4 hours to write and the planning took at least 30-40 hours aswell.
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10: Warcraft 3-Reign of Chaos
Platform: PC/MAC / Year: 2002 / Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Together with Starcraft its the biggest Progaming RTS ever created. I myself played Warcraft 3 for pretty much 2 whole years, climbing the ladders and participating in tournaments. Just like with all other Blizzard games WC3 takes 30 minutes to learn but years to master and just like the others you can play them for 1000s of hours without getting bored. On the surface WC3 is a highly polished RTS with excellent artdesign, 4 distinct fun races, and superb campaigns that takes you through alot of Warcraft Lore. Deep within lies an outstanding coredesign and gameplay that works on a pro level and that keeps getting constant updates for years and years. The depth to WC3s races and their gameplay is astounding and this game is truly a marvel to behold from a design standpoint. The attention to the small details and the amount of polish Blizzards puts into everything really shines through in WC3. In retrospective its also kinda fun to go back to Warcraft 3 after playing WoW and realize that the artstyl3 and graphics are pretty much exacly the same but from a RTS perspective. An important piece to the Warcraft universe, probably THE most important piece, and watching replays of Korean Progamers that plays WC3 for an actual job will never stop to impress no matter how many years that passes. And by the way, looking at the sales for games in Sweden Warcraft 3 and its expansion still sells almost as well as WoW. The interest is STILL burning for this game, and I can totally see why.
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9: Bioshock
Platform: X360/PC / Year: 2007 / Developer: 2K Games
I dont even know where to begin with Bioshock, it works on so many levels. Its a very open game much in the same vein as Deus Ex or System Shock. You modify your own body and your weapons to fit your playstyl3 and there are often numerous ways to solve any given situation making Bioshock an open shooter playground. But there is so much more to it than all of the mods and genetic splicing. The story is one of the most relevant and intelligent ones ever. It has such deep and serious philosophical and political undertones to it that it really makes you think about the world we are living in like no other game. The mystery of what went wrong down there in Rapture is also a very important part of what makes the game so intriguing. As you make your way through the city more and more is revealed about what is going on down there and what has happened to everything. The Artdirection and attention to detail in the game is mindblowing. Everytime you enter a room there is literally details everywhere in the room . Posters, texts, papers, small items, a recorded tape, furniture, dead bodies with a story to them, restless spirits in the air, you name it. And everything can be interacted with. The atmosphere is also soooo thick. So thick you can feel it. This game dosent let you go for one second, you are in Rapture every second you play the game. The game makes about a dozen unique and smart designchoices that I cant even begin to go into, from the Little Sisters and how they are integrated to the world, to your own background, why your plane crashed there and who you really are to how they handle death in the game. Enemydesign, some of the best music ever, overall audiodesign, the feel of the weapons and the ever present water. The water outside of the city that is leaking into the city as it keeps falling apart is a contant reminder to where you really are, on the bottom of the ocean, where a society has gone wrong, a society where no kings and no gods could rule over one mans dream to build a utopia where man decides is own fate. Bioshock might not look like alot on pictures but its a larger than life game with a plot, a story, a mystery and characters deep as the sea you are exploring. The game is probably to intelligent for many to appriciate all of its qualities but be open minded and this is an experience you will never forget. Read my review for more!
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8: Gears of War
Platform: X360/PC / Year: 2006 / Developer: Epic Games
It feels like everyone has been trying to do their own Gears of War since the release of this giant in the end of 2006. Gears of War set the bar for next gen shooters and said "alright, here is how you do a shooter in this day and age", and everyone picked it up. Coversystem, the way you toss grenades, the way zooming in / shooting / popping out of cover is handled, the way cutscenes are told. It feels like I see them everywhere. GTA4, Dark Sector, Uncharted, you name it. Alot of games draws from the well that is Gears, and it is for a reason, alot of games also borrows the engine that came with it wich is one of the best if not THE best engine on the market. Cliff Blezsinski, one of my personal rolemodels and together with Peter Molyneux, the biggest genious in the industry, is a perfectionist. He dosent let anything just slip by and that results in Gears feeling perfect when you play it. It just feels so right. Its probably one of the tightest actiongame to date and everything is made to be heavy and rough. Soundeffects, enemy and characterdesign, environments, armor, wehicles, weapons. This is a really "manly" game. For some reason some people get turned off by that and I truly feel sorry for anyone who calls himself a gamer or that enjoys GTA 4 without going to play the source first, willingly missing out on the best actionexperience you can have on a next gen console. And I am going to be honest with you, all of the games that have tried to copy the Gears of War concept arent even close to as solid as Gears of War, I would go as far as to say that comparing GTA 4s or Uncharteds covermechanics with Gears would be downright criminal. Gears of War introduced alot of new mechanics and revolutionized the way shooters are made much like ID Software has done many times before. Seeing as they have been working hard on the engine since 2006, Gears of War 2 has the potential to be even better. Cliffys way to look on Gamedesign goes beyond your average lead producer and he thinks 10 steps deeper and we can all safely laugh at the pathetic attempts at copying the concept. The games can be really good, dont get me wrong, but gears is just on a whole other level.
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7: Super Mario World
Platform: SNES / Year: 1991 / Developer: Nintendo
This should not come as a surprise at all. Super Mario World is a masterpiece, a golden game, a game so well crafted it dosent have any flaws and it will be fun to play forever. Mario World is just as fun to play today as it was in 1991. The graphics were among if not THE best on the SNES and the design is unforgettable. The leveldesign is just pixelperfect, everything is there for a reason and there is not 1 misplaced pixel in the entire game that dosent enhance the gaming experience. Super Mario World is Platform nirvana. Yoshi is introduced as a rideable animal and adds new depth to the gameplay together with new powerups like the feather. Super Mario World can be enjoyned on so many different levels. Playing a stage casually, going through the lenghty campaign and exploring the entire land and all of the different backdrops or trying to find all the secret stuff scattered throughout the world. But most of all SMW is just pure fun to play, pure, untouched fun. Gaming would collapse into a black whole if Mario World dissappeared.
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6: Doom
Platform: PC/PSX/SNES.. / Year: 1993 / Developer: ID Software
I recently checked my Xbox Live statistics and one of the games I have played the most since I bought my Xbox 360 at launch is Doom for XBLA. That says alot about the games quality compared to todays market. The story of Doom is a long and extremely interesting one. The story of John Carmack, John Romero and friends who sat in a cabin out in the woods and created a game in their teens. Its a long and very emotional one for someone as into gaming as I am to read and everyone should read it. Anyway, the end result of this hard work of pure enthusiasm was Doom, a work of pure love for gamecreation. Sure, there were shooters before Doom but Doom is really the game that created the genre. This is it. Doom is still a checklist for everyone that does anything even remotely actionoriented. It was Doom that made it so that a shotgun or a rocketlauncher has to be included in every game these days. I feel that the developers today dosent pay enough respect to Doom. Think of any game that has some shooting in it that you have played, well, deep deep down there is an essence of that game that comes from Great great grandfather Doom. But not only is Doom the reason the actiongenre exists the way it does today, its still more fun to play than most other actiongames that gets put on a disc these days. The release on XBLA is something that everyone should own, its worth buying a 360 just to buy Doom since its hard to find a PC these days that runs it. Doom is perfected shooterdesign, its the essence of action, its a PC revolution and something that way to many kids these days goes "hah, really? you still like doom, dude doom is just a mindless shooter" at before they return to playing Counter Strike wich makes me both sad and angry at the same time. The kids of today dosent know that Counter Strike wouldnt exist without those few enthusiast boys in the early 90s who sat up around the clock and coded Doom.
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5: Starcraft
Platform: PC / Year: 1998 / Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
The best RTS ever made. Everything with Starcraft is crafted to RTS perfection. The races, their desings, their lore and their units. The unitbalance, the maps, the Sci Fi universe and the totally awesome soundtrack. Just like with Warcraft 3, Starcraft is still played actively on a Pro level in constant tournaments and by now this game is perfected even more than when it was originally released. Starcraft is 100% waterproof so to speak. Its tight and snug and perfected in every aspect of its design wich really creates a game so perfect there is no reason to ever stop playing it. In South korea this game is so huge that the good players are like rockstars, so big that you can buy milk with Starcraft themed pictures on them and shoes with Zerglings on them. You all know Blizzard by know and I have ranted about them so much over the course of this list that I feel like I dont need to anymore. With a sequel on its way I am of course superexcited. I have a feeling I will be playing Starcraft 2 like I did with Warcraft 3 or WoW. If its only half as good as Starcraft 1 its bound to keep me entertained for at least a year. Yea, there are a few days in your life that never gets erased from your memory. I still remember the day I got Starcraft in my hands. I still remember installing it on my PC like it was yesterday. I still remember the shirt I was wearing and the weather on that particular day..it was 10 years ago..thats says alot about the impact this game made on me, my gaming taste and my childhood.
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4: Super Mario Galaxy
Platform: Wii / Year: 2007 / Developer: Nintendo
Takes every mariogame ever made, throws it in a blender and adds a revelution into the mix. Super Mario Galaxy is everything good from all the great Mariogames but it also throws out everything you expect from a platformer or just games in general and totally revolutionizes gaming. Super Mario Galaxy is the best platformer ever made and easily one of the best games ever made. Its a completely mindblowing experience in every sense of the word. The game plays around with gravity, physics and the very laws of nature itself. The fun of playing Super Mario Galaxy cannot be described with words. Its the reason to own a Wii. I would even go as far as to say that if you dont own a Wii and Super Mario Galaxy you might aswell find another hobby since you obviously dont care for games. Screw the "everyone has a different opinion". Anyone who sits down with Super Mario galaxy for enough time to get his/her mind blown by it will place it up here on their own versions of this list. Every stage of Mario galaxy is unique enough to fill a whole game but just as you think you know one aspect of a game it throws you away to a completely different one and its like playing a whole new game all over again. Its one of the best looking games out there and it created magic with the Wii hardware. I have been looking at the OST CD for this game and I might end up getting it since the music is even better than the graphics. Mario Galaxy would be almost as awesome without the nostalgia factor but the game is also very smart with playing on your nostalgic feeling for Mariogames and it adds alot to the experience to hear a song from Super Mario Bros 3 when landing on a certain galaxy.
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3: Dungeon Keeper
Platform: PC / Year: 1997 / Developer: Bullfrog Productions
The pinnacle of Peter Molyneux founded Bullfrog Productions and also his finest work there before he left to set up Lionhead Studios. Took a standard strategy/management formula and turned the tables on it. Instead of playing the good guys you play an evil Dungeon Keeper and you task is to dig out a huge cave filled with different rooms to attract dark creatues from a portal wich you then have to feed, train and take to battle when the good lord of the land comes to visit. You dig out "rooms" and fill them with room tiles much like Theme Hospital but in a dark and evil cavesystem. The concept is actually very close to the more recent Viva Piñata. I dont know if anyone but me noticed that VP was a Dungeon Keeper ripoff set in a sunny garden. Maybe thats why I liked VP so much even tho it was so childish. Anyways, Dungeon Keeper was extremely innovative in how it worked. Different creatures gets attracted by different things in your dungeon and some of them fight each other so you have to keep them separate. Dungeon Keeper also succeeds by being very unique in graphical styl3 and overall theme. It has some of the best audio ever and its a legendary cla$$ic that I recommend everyone to play right now because guess what, it still works flawlessly on modern PCs and windows Vista. Thats says quite alot of how professionally programmed this game is. DK had a dark sense of humor to it and it really made fun of the general fantasy hype while also incorporating revolutionary new ways to look at management simulations and strategy games on the PC.
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2: The Curse of Monkey Island
Platform: PC / Year: 1997 / Developer: Lucas Arts
As you should all know by now I really love good old cla$$ic point and click adventure games from Lucas Arts, Monkey Island in particular. Monkey Island 3, aka The Curse of Monkey Island is easily the best one in the series. The artdesign is terrific and the whole game got a cartoony and very soothing look to it. The game is really the perfect adventure game. The amount of love and detail that has gone into every screen in the game just leaves me without words. The locations are all beautiful and extremely varied. Characters are each and every one the best characters ever in a video game. As usual with Monkey Island the game is soooo funny. The humor is so good It makes me wonder where all the humor has gone, games arent this funny anymore. The adventuring itself makes for countless memorable scenes, comments and characterinteractions. As I have said before, Monkey Island (and MI3 in particular) formed me as a person more than anything else I can remember. The type of humor, sunny carribean islands, pirates and cozy coastal towns. Thinking about stuff like this makes me go dangerously nostalgic. Getting up that christmas morning and finding MI3 is one of the best moments of my life, yea, thats how important Monkey Island 3 is to me. Its really a part of my personality.
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