I'm playing catch-up here to the GameSpot crew. They're two editions into their newly minted Pick 5... feature, which is really a great idea. So with no further ado, the top 5 games I have in my collection because I think they make me look cool:

1. ICO - Everyone who's anyone says ICO is the greatest game ever. And in reality they're not that far off the mark.
2. Deus Ex - The under-appreciated cyberpunk cult classic, that I've never even finished. What I played was fun, but I've become a victim of the technology curve. Games like Deus Ex are just plain ugly now, and it makes it hard to go back and play them.
3. Warcraft: Orcs and Humans - The first PC game I ever purchased myself. In its original packaging from 1994, when CD-Roms were new and exciting... Ah, nostalgia. And it's still one of my favorite RTS games ever made.
4. Planescape: Torment - Another in the "bought and never played" column. I was caught up in the hype and managed to steal a copy off of eBay for $7. But I've never been a big fan of games that come on 6+ discs.
5. The Longest Journey - I consider myself an adventure game aficionado, so I picked this one up just on principle. It was really a bonus that the game is incredible.

Moving right along, the top 5 games I haven't played but should:

1. Final Fantasy VII - I never had a Playstation. Shut up.
2. Metal Gear Solid - See reason #1. I've played the NES versions though, so don't you judge me.
3. The Zork series - Before my time, but fortunately Zork + Asterisk = one of the best ideas ever.
4. Shenmue I & II - To be fair this list really should contain every Dreamcast game, but these two will be the representatives.
5. Psychonauts - I'm actually ashamed of myself because of this... And I'm a huge Tim Schafer fan! I really don't have an excuse. I'm just a jerk.

And finally (but GameSpot has only done two Pick 5s?) following the trail blazed by Justin Calvert, the top 5 games I've played and I bet you haven't but should:

1. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - Even if you don't play another point & click adventure game for the rest of your life, I just don't know how you couldn't love a detective story about ritualistic murders set in the Big Easy.
2. War Wind - An RTS game that was released into the market vacuum that surrounded Command & Conquer: Red Alert. And it's really a shame, because War Wind did things in 1996 for RTS gameplay design that took years to hit the mainstream. Luckily for you, you can download the demo from GameSpot.
3. Z - Or Zed. Another fantastic RTS game from 1996. Z is a really fresh experience, especially for its time. There were no base-building or micro-management mechanics to the game; it was all about territorial control and blowing crap up.
4. Syndicate - An incredibly addictive squad-based action/strategy game from 1993, where you played as a multinational corporation competing for world dominance, using a team of cybernetic assassins. There's nothing quite as satisfying as having your team step off of an elevated train, using your cyborg sniper to eliminate a corporate rival (surrounded by heavily-armed bodyguards) from 2 miles away, stepping back on the train and riding back to base. 30 seconds, mission success... You just have to play this game.
5. Bioforge - Really more than just a straight-forward adventure, Bioforge featured a prominent combat aspect to its gameplay. There was plenty of puzzle-solving to be done, but you also beat a crazy cyborg unconscious with his own severed arm... Because, you need his fork, why else? Yeah, it's not for the kids. Read more about it on Wikipedia.

So those are my 15 picks. I'll leave you with this...

We're no longer called Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but just for tonight, we are Barry Jive and his Uptown Five.