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A Top Ten and A Definitive Dozen
End-of-week lists are always fun. From CNet, we have a list of the top ten games of the last ten years, and from 1up.com the definitive dozen titles from the PS1's lifetime. From the 1up article: "Resident Evil
Capcom, 1996
Admittedly a straight-up rip-off of the PC adventure series Alone in the Dark (all the way down to the polygonal characters in static environments), Resident Evil was the first great example of Sony's commitment to quality, adult-oriented entertainment. Sure, the controls sucked, and the voice acting was worse. But for all intents and purposes, this was the game that helped the PS1 grab gamers by the throat, chew on their jugulars, and gnaw on their brains."
The problem with top whatever lists is they seem designed to start flamewars. For example, the first list seems to me to be very biased towards pc games. It's almost as though the console games there were tossed on because even PC gamers know all about them.
The second list seemed very biased towards early games. Though you could argue that if it is a list of games that "defined" the PS1, then it's to be expected.
But someone already noted that the lists seem very good to them. So it shows what I know. Possibly means I'm biased, not the lists.
I seem to recall a storyline formula in both the original and the expansion that required playing all 3 races on one playthrough.
Sipping on Jolt and Dew. Laid back. With my mind of my cubicle and my cubicle on my mind.
I would definitely keep Ocarina of time (still number one on my list) , half life and GTA 3 .
The rest are very subjective , Starcraft was not a personal favourite , but i can see how it got listed .
The Sims may have done a lot for the Casual gamers , but it was dull as dishwate. Sim-city 3000 was far superior
Madden
Quake
Halo is one of the most over-rated games of the past 10 years
Everquest bored me silly . Again i can see that a lot of people enjoyed it , but if credit goes to any MMORPG of the past ten years it should be Ultima online . 5/10
In the place of the other 7 i would have
Mario 64 . the game the legend 9/10
Unreal tournament , amazing fun
Deus Ex , Taking System shock to the next level 9/10
Thief 2 , Removing the Zombie levels was a great idea 9/10
Pokemon Gold/silver/crystal
GoldenEye 007 , Countless hours spent living the life of Bond 9/10
Gran-Turismo 3
These lists are very subjective , and as such these are just my opinion .
I couldn't really do a top 10 properly , these are just a few from my top 50 list of games since Pong .
it's in non specific order(bar ocarina of time which sits solidly at #1).
There can be no definitive top 10 list
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
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Honestly Parappa The Rapper has to be one of the most innovative games I've ever seen.
People are always jerking off over Miyamoto and his innovativeness (which is immense) but here we have an exclusive game for a platform that isn't Nintendo that doesn't follow the traditional video game path (sports, killing, simulation).
Not only that but Greenblat's artwork is amazing, and they way they were able to animate the characters and coordinate the music and the motion is beyond amazing.
Stop hating on it because you have no rhythm and couldn't beat your four year old cousin, and recogize what an amazing game it really is/was.
I would like to add one more to make it a baker's definitive dozen on the PS1:
Wipeout XL.
Insanely great racing game that was nothing like other racing games at the time. Or since, for that matter, since nothing so far as been able to quite match it.
Okay, let me explain what a "good game" is. A good game is a game that anybody will agree is a good game. Take Madden for instance, only NFL fans would like Madden. Now let's take Super Mario Sunshine, only Mario fans (like myself) would think it was good. Now let's take Zelda. There are very few people out there who would say that Zelda is not a great game. Remember, not all gamers are 14-25 year old males. And not all 14-25 year old males like the same kinds of games. Thus like I said, the only good game on that list is Zelda.
Saying that Half-Life doesn't have the staying power of FF7 is silly, considering it's massive influence on the FPS genre, especially if you consider its mods (Counter-Strike being the obvious example).
In fact, I seem to get the urge to replay the entire game every year or so, and it still seems just as good as the first time.
The list does have 4 console games on it, 5 if you count Madden, but there are some key rankings I disagree with.
1) Ocarina of time should be higher on the list, somewhere in the top 4. The game is essentially as close to being perfectly made as any game can be. I do not think anyone who enjoyed the game can honestly pick out a part of the game that was particularly weak.
2) Everquest should be in the top 3. It basically proved that MMPORG's were a viable business model. And I also think that if you were to total up the number of man hours spent on that game, it would eclipse the rest of the top 10 handily.
3) Madden does not belong on the list. It is little more then an annualized re-hash of its self each time out. Any improvements to the series are strictly evolutionary, no revolutionary.
4) I find it highly suspicious that the top 4 games on the list were all PC titles.
END COMMUNICATION
"The gameplay itself was so addictive that players often played the game through three times just to experience it from the perspective of all three races."
Ok, i played through the game way more than three times, but isnt the campaign itself designed so that you play through it with each race? You don't need to play through the campaign three times....
"I don't think there's a man alive who hasn't played Madden."
Me. I hate sports games. I hate sports in general. I've never had an interest in them. The real world needs to understand that real gamers don't sit around playing Tony Hawk, Madden, and Grand Theft Auto. Sure, some of us may play those - but i doubt any of you would say those are your favorites, or even play them very often.
Ocarina of time should have been way, way up there. Almost all the other games you can point out weaknesses, annoying parts, parts that could have been better - I'm basically a PC gamer only - but imo I would have put it right at a tie with Half-Life, or maybe even above. It basically IS the perfect game. When I got it, I played through it about 40 or so times before I even TOUCHED another game. Since then I've pretty much fallen away from console gaming - but I can fight Gannondorf several times in one day if I feel like it and not get a sense of boredom. It's simply so....AWESOME....
"Potpourii doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Dark_Link2135