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[Real4Life]

1. Doom 1/2 I have no exact words to describe these games. Everything is perfect and the fact that it is played a lot to this day says it all. Kickstarted the FPS genre! (If I had to choose between them, then I'd go for Doom 2 Hell on Earth)
2. Mafia: Best story/atmosphere in a game ever. At least for me this game was exceptional.
3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. : The atmosphere, the visuals, the gameplay. Man, it had flaws upon release but this still is my favorite game in years.
4. Rise of the Triad: It was a game that I got on pure luck and I was blown away. The guys that surrender and shoot you in the back when you walk past them are priceless!
5. Rise of Nations: Well, I have spend LOADS of hours in this game and I still have it installed on my PC.
6. Age of Empires 2: This game is the pinnacle of RTS. Countless hours of online matches against friends till early in the morning. I miss those times.
7. Little Big Adventure: Simply unique. The feeling of freedom, the puzzles, the atmosphere. It was all top notch!
8. Sonic The Hedgehog: Seeeegaaaaaaaaaaa!
9: Mortal Kombat 2: My first and favorite fighting game!
10. Unreal Tournament: Same thing as with AoE2, it's absurd how much I've played this phenomenal game. 'Godlike' !

Btw, it's very hard to make a top 10. Games like Deus Ex ( ), Ninja Gaiden, MGS, DMC1/3, Hitman, Half-Life, Quake etc. all miss out.

 

[KScorp]

My lists consist of games that I feel show some special parts of PC gaming. (I'd include other great games that exist on PC but I want to exclude games where you can get nearly the same experience on consoles.)

Team Fortress 2 - Timeless multiplayer experience. And they can actually make money on the damn thing without segmenting the players. (It's also proof that no matter how well a game is executed, there will be complainers.)
Starcraft - For creating one of the largest e-sports around.
DotA - The original. For showing how a simple mod to a game can become its own genre.
Dwarf Fortress - I'd bet money that you'd never see a game like this on consoles. Seeing a game like this even exist is amazing, and this game helps show the wide spectrum PC gaming can cover.
Minecraft - A little experiment that became huge. Shows how you don't need a massive budget or team to make a great, popular game.

These are the only ones I can think of at the top of my head, if I think of more before tomorrow I'll edit them in.

 

[Timber]

X-COM: Enemy Unknown - civilians waste my precious time walking in and out of buildings, it's bullshit
The Curse of Monkey Island - still prepared to shank fools over lucasarts vs. sierra
Deus Ex - people are trying to turn it into portal but it's a game for sure
Anachronox - more devs should ruin themselves in ion storm fashion
System Shock 2 - perfect until someone had the idea that XEN was what made half life great
Star Control 2 - it's asteroids with a bunch of weird shit tacked on
Fallout 2 - token rpg
Half-Life - all downhill from here
Grim Fandango - only good game story?

 

[Timber]

California Games II

holy shit dude

 

[Max]

Deus Ex - people are trying to turn it into portal but it's a game for sure

???

 

[PetriP-TNT]

In no order:

Return To Castle Wolfenstein Maybe my favorite FPS and has the best mod and multiplayer game ever, Wolfenstein : Enemy Territory


Half-Life If RTCW isn't my favorite, it's Half-Life

Monkey Island 1 recently completed it and it had to be on the list

Leisure Suit Larry - The Land Of Lounge Lizards A game I keep coming back to, Ken Sent Me. Not perfect but charming

Sim City The first one, I have destroyed billions of hour on this as I have with

Civilization yup, obviously.

Max Payne Best 3rd person action game on PC? Absolutely.

Doom Picked this over Wolf3d

Ski Free That goddamn monster. Damn

Chips Challenge The first game I ever wrote a guide/review to!

Well, those might be my favorite PC games ever. I got all kinds of honorable mentions for games like Grim Fandango, Police Quest but I just had to pick 10

 

[Deadstar]

Diablo 2 - I've had more fun in Diablo 2 than in any other game. Diablo 1 is a close 2nd but there were a ton of options in this game and it was fun for hours on end.

Supreme Commander - Best RTS ever made period. Land, sea and air units fight on gigantic battlefields while artillery and nukes decimate all in their path. I have never had more fun in any other rts. The sheer scope and range of options has not yet been matched.

The Neverhood - Classic game with beautiful graphics. Fun aesthetic, great music and a unique story.

Half-Life - Probably my favorite FPS of all time. Introduced story telling into the fps genre.

Warcraft 3 - Great rts with four races. A lot of options and included heroes which I pesonally liked.

Starcraft 2 - Again, great rts with great gameplay.

Tribes 2 - My favorite competitive fps of all time. Customization and the size of the maps allowed for incredible replay value. Do you stay on defense in one of the heavier suits with heavy weapons or do you stay on defense outside the base in a lighter armor taking out approaching enemies. Or do you try to infiltrate the enemy base and take out generators that would take down the entire system?

Team Fortress 2 - A lot of options here and without a doubt one of the best fps's ever made. Best hats in any game as well.

Witcher 2 - One of the best action rpg's ever made. Beautiful visuals, fun and unique combat.

Command and Conquer (Original) - This was one of the first games I ever bought on pc. It shaped my love of rts's.

 

[Mango Positive]

I started early (Kings Quest I-IV / Space Quest 1 & 2 / Leisure Suit Larry 1 & 2), left for a while (poors, lol), then came back with a vengeance 4 years ago, so forgive my omission of your classics. These are in no particular order, other than HL2.

1. Half Life 2 & Episodes. What a freaking ride.
2. Portal
3. Kings Quest 3 (I guess you had to be there. Games were complex. You had to type your actions).
4. Leisure Suit Larry (LUBBERS!?!?!)
5. Portal 2 - The perfect sequel to a game that didn't need one.
6. Crysis - First graphical "wow" in a long time (also my reintroduction to PC gaming).
7. Morrowind - Even without the mods, the best Bethesda game I played.
8. Mass Effect 2 - Not much to say... I just really liked it.
9. Witcher 2 - Thank Science for disposable income! Also, thank Portal 2 for killing my GTX 460 on the release date, causing me to upgrade to the GTX 560 TI rather than wait for the RMA process.
10. Bioshock - I never played System Shock 2 and I'm now a graphics whore, so no going back. You want to fight about it? I'm eagerly awaiting Black Mesa so I can finally play Half Life 1 for the first time.

 

[flyinpiranha]

1) Baldurs Gate II
2) World of Warcraft
3) Half Life 2
4) The Witcher
5) Diablo II
6) Unreal Tournament
7) Dues Ex
8) Portal
9) Battlefield 1942
10) Half Life

 

[SneakyStephan]

This is unfair, it's hard to pick 10, I've got at least another 10 that I feel awful for leaving out.

half life gunplay, story, scripting done right, holy mother of mods!, netcode, MKLSHFFM fuck yeah

portal mind boggling new mechanic, divine voice actress for glados, fun, awesome came as a bonus with the orange box = even more mind boggling.

quake 3 mods, fun, learning curve, graphics for it's time, just perfect

battlefield 1942 (2 points) : sandbox 64players, mod tools, support for AI, best vehicle physics ever especially in DC mod, most fun that can be had in a videogame.

left4dead Sweet concept, revival of coop, versus mode is amazing , does almost everything right.

red alert 2 Gameplay, building walls , campy fmv and voice acting, the most enjoyable of all c&c games by far.
SO MUCH FUN with a friend on LAN.

tribes 2 Tribes spawned plenty of semi clones (hi halo) , fun, awesome weapons, skiing, scale, vehicles.

cs 1.5 Still the grandaddy of 'realistic' shooters, and the only one to ever do things right.
Best gunplay in the industry, amazing netcode and hit detection.
Also : mods, maps, skins, rcon, WON , headshot animation, proper voip.

rollercoaster tycoon sandbox, so much fun, not much else to say it's just awesome

max payne Story, film noire, gameplay, graphics, bullet time when it was still fresh, fun fun fun fun fun.

Honorable mentions:
terraria
UT
dawn of war II
trackmania
age of empires 1-2
rollcage (not pc exlusive but suck it this game needs more recognition)
team fortress 2
stalker
witcher
moh:AA
duke nukem 3d
Operation flashpoint

I'm sure I forgot a few games, probably some that would have been in my top 10,oh well.

 

[Paches]

Baldur's Gate II: The pinnacle of PC RPGs still to this date. Hundreds of hours of side content, great side stories, and amazing combat. It had basically everything that an RPG fan could wish for...way ahead of it's time.

Starcraft: The first game that got me hooked in to RTS and the competitive online scene. Pretty immaculate balance compared to other games and created a huge following. It wasn't the most innovative game ever, but it was crafted and polished so well and the scene it created was so awesome, it takes the cake.

Diablo II: Expanding on the awesomeness of the first, this game set the bar for loot happy ARPGS. I would still contend it is the best "click fest loot game" on the market. Torchlight is the only thing that comes close in the past decade.

Unreal Tournament: The most fun FPS I have ever played. The assault mode online and CTF consumed my life for months at a time. I am sure there was something that did objective based game modes before UT, but assault mode was the best implementation of it I can remember. Tons of awesome weapons too.

Fallout: My brother picked this game up because it looked pretty cool from the box art (those were the days!). Little did we know this was one of the best RPGs to ever come out and have an awesome setting. The environment, combat, and story was all very engrossing.

 

[JakOfTheShadows]

In no particular order...

Counter Strike - 2 points
Diablo II
Myst
Battlefield 2
Kings Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
Neverwinter Nights
Myth II: Soulblighter
Civilization II
Team Fortress 2
Final Fantasy XI

 

[watatatow]

StarCraft
Quake III Arena
Jagged Alliance 2
Deus Ex
Fallout 2
Planescape: Torment
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Civilization IV
UFO: Enemy Unknown
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

 

[decaf]

Grim Fandango
Worms Armageddon
Age of Empires II
Diablo II
Duke Nukem 3D
Unreal Tournament
Sanitarium
Curse of Monkey Island
Hidden & Dangerous
RollerCoaster Tycoon

 

[Cystm]

1. Doom
2. Quake
3. Half-Life
4. System Shock 2
5. Deus Ex
6. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
7. Portal
8. World Of Warcraft
9. Starcraft
10. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

 

[kswiston]

Going to extend voting since I was busy yesterday (and will be busy some of today). If you were planning on participating now is you last chance to do so. I will start posting results tonight or tomorrow.

 

[amdnv]

Half-Life
Every time after I've played through the series I just think "Wow, what a ride!" These games don't get old, they're the best of the best.

Mass Effect
The first Mass Effect is my favorite game of all time. It's a truly epic scenario with many interesting characters. The only game I ever played through twice back-to-back.

Day of the Tentacle
Best adventure game ever. Nuff said.

Mafia
I have yet to play the second game, but the first Mafia creates a wonderfully realistic world that's fun to be part of every time I play it.

Ghostbusters
I have no idea why this game doesn't get more love. The voice acting, the varied levels, the ghosts, the physics, the graphics, everything about this is pure fun and sucks you right in. It's like playing a good movie with tons of oh-my-god-did-this-really-just-happen moments.

Outcast
If any game needs a high resolution remake it's this one. But even the original version is breathtaking with its unique environments and characters.

 

[Mindlog]

Retire to the study. Put on some chamber music. Grab the nearest single malt scotch. Dust off the comfortable leather chair. Ruminate.

and vote you classy sons of bitches

 

[perryfarrell]

Ultima Series
Half-Life
Counter Strike
Team Fortress 2
Starcraft 2
Quake 3 (haven't seen too many mentions of this)
Doom
Dune 2
Portal
Wolfenstein 3d

 

[kswiston]

Voting is now closed.

I have gone through everyone's list and tallied the results. However, I am still deciding how to present the hall of fame list.

To address vote splitting caused by my one-per-series rule, I am thinking of pooling votes for series where titles other than the most popular entry still received at least 10 votes total. For instance, the Witcher received 20 votes while the Witcher 2 received 19. 39 different people voted for a Witcher game in their top 10. They were just forced to choose one over the other for the sake of their list. Portal, Battlefield, Starcraft and others were similarly split down the middle.

I will eventually post raw lists by series and by individual games for those curious, but for the hall of fame summaries, I think lumping together (some) series makes sense.


While I am working on that, here were your raw Top 5:

1) Deus Ex - 76 votes
2) Half-life 2
3) Diablo 2
4) Team Fortress 2
5) World of Warcraft - 56 votes

Half-life 1 was #6 overall, so the Half-life series received the most votes by far.

Classic PC gaming GAF should prepare for disappointment. Doom and X-Com were the only Pre-1995 titles in the top 20. (not counting Sim City and Civilization whose votes were split across the entire series).

 

[larvi]

Classic PC gaming GAF should prepare for disappointment. Doom and X-Com were the only Pre-1995 titles in the top 20. (not counting Sim City and Civilization whose votes were split across the entire series).

I think that just shows how strong PC gaming was pre 1995. There were so many great titles appealing to many different tastes that the votes got spread around. PC gaming back then covered just about every gaming genre and there were hall of fame quality titles in all genres. Also, I saw this vote PC games I liked the most as opposed to a general hall of fame irregardless of my preferences. I.e. Doom wouldn't make my personal top 100 since I don't care for shooters but I would have a hard time arguing it didn't belong int he top 10 for someone who does.

 

[Foliorum Viridum]

Deus Ex and Half-Life 2 being the top 2 is fine by me.

 

[MisterNoisy]

Planescape: Torment
-Best writing of any game, the combat wasn't the greatest, but you could not die which made up for it.

I'm kind of disappointed that the 12th post is the first to mention #1.

 

[Anticitizen One]

Everything else is back of the bus

 

[kswiston]

OP has been updated with the first 10 hall of fame entries. Screenshots and more entries will be added tomorrow. I still have a lot I want to add to this thread before it is buried and forgotten.

Since I am grouping a lot of games series together, I decided to present games alphabetically instead of by votes. However, 8 of the 10 current hall of fame entries had a game in the individual title Top 10 (and all 10 had a game in the top 13). Grouping games this way solves the problem of popular series falling down the list due to vote splitting, and it will also free up spots for a bigger variety of games later on.

There were a ton of great titles in the #20-40 range, so I think I will create entries for at least the top 30. The top 40 if I have space in my three posts (and time)

Here were the total votes for the first 10 Hall of Fame Entries:

Half-Life Series - 122 votes
Deus Ex - 76 votes
Diablo 1/2 - 76 votes
Starcraft 1/2 - 67 votes
Portal 1/2 - 65 votes
Civ Series - 59 votes
Team Fortress 2 - 56 votes
World of Warcraft - 56 votes
Doom 1/2 - 53 votes
Baldur's Gate Trilogy - 48 votes

The Quake series and Elder Scrolls Series also had 48 votes each and will be added next


Here were the votes for the Top 10 by individual titles:

Deus Ex - 76
Half-Life 2 (a couple Ep2 votes included) - 71
Diablo 2 - 66
Team Fortress 2 - 56
World of Warcraft - 56
Half-Life - 51
Counter-strike - 45
Starcraft - 45
Baldur's Gate II - 43
Doom - 41


Here are a few other random facts:

- The Monkey Island Series ranks #25 overall. Votes were split pretty evenly among the first 3 games.

- KOTOR was the highest ranked game that was not originally released on PC (either as a multiplat title or an exclusive). KOTOR received more votes than the entire Ultima series put together excluding Ultima Online.

- Civ 3 received the least votes out of the five games in the series followed by Civ 5. Votes for Alpha Centauri were not included in the Civ Series total. If they were, Civ would move up to fourth place overall.

 

[FieryBalrog]

So, 3 Blizzard games and 3 Valve games. /bow

Also a Bioware game, an id Software game, a Firaxis game and an Eidos game.

Solid.

 

[koji]

Now THAT is a hall of fame list right there. GJ GAF <3

 

[Kabouter]

Looks like an excellent list, nice job kswiston.

 

[Derrick01]

Deus Ex in its rightful place makes me happy. You did good Gaf.

 

[kswiston]

OP is less of a text wall now. Going to start adding more entries.

 

[Opiate]

Disregarding personal opinion:

1) Solitaire
2) Quake
3) World of Warcraft
4) Farmville
5) The Sims
6) Starcraft
7) Counter Strike
8) Bejeweled
9) Half Life 2 (And Steam)
10) Baldur's Gate II

 

[Lasthope106]

OP is less of a text wall now. Going to start adding more entries.

Amazing work kswiston. Final list is going to be the list of the forever.

Did S.T.A.L.K.E.R. manage to crack top 20?

 

[Stallion Free]

OP is less of a text wall now. Going to start adding more entries.

Holy shit it looks nice.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

the hell is this? where's quake1?

 

[TyrantGuardian]

Fantastic job. I am proud of GAF for this thread <3

(Though I can't believe Quake didn't reach the top 5, I guess the series died off in popularity over the years.)

 

[StuBurns]

Very happy to see Portal in there. Although Portal 2 certainly has more than one character, it has at least three meaningful ones.

 

[Bentendo]

Did anyone vote for Myst?

 

[StuBurns]

Did anyone vote for Myst?

I know someone voted for the sequel.

 

[ZedIndyLil]

Great OP, very well done kswiston and others. I definitely like the absence of rankings in the HoF. That's how it should be.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Any chance we can get the full breakdown of votes? Awesome work on the list btw.

 

[Snuggles]

Awesome job with the OP. Only one of my picks is in the top ten, but that's alright. The lack of Bloodlines is disappointing, but otherwise it's a damn good list.

In case anyone still cares, here is the IGN list that inspired this thread, for comparison:

10. The Witcher 2
09. Fallout 3
08. Counter-Strike
07. Company of Heroes
06. Starcraft II
05. Portal 2
04. Deus Ex
03. Civilization IV
02. Baldur's Gate II
01. Half-Life 2


On a different note, I feel compelled to tag quote Opiate for ranking Farmville on his list.

 

[Auto_aim1]

It seems like very few people here have played the Thief games. It deserves more respect.

 

[kamspy]

Great list. Personally I'd swap Portal for a UT or Quake nod, but GAF proves they can list better than paid listers.

 

[mr stroke]

Solid list. Great picks all around.

But the lack of Command & Conquer

That was game was the catalyst of PC RTS's. Its too bad the series dug its own grave and now everyone has forgotten about it.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

Its too bad the series dug its own grave and now everyone has forgotten about it.

forgotten about it or really hate it because of the complete trash it turned into. just like supreme commander.

 

[kswiston]

Updated the OP with entries 11-15. More coming soon. This update takes care of most of the Blizzard and Valve Entries.

Votes were as follows:

Quake Series - 48 votes
Morrowind/Oblivion - 48 votes
Warcraft RTS - 46 votes
Counter-Strike - 45 votes
The Witcher - 39 votes

For those who asked:

- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series came in at #24 and will be added to the OP soon.
- Myst received 6 votes and Riven 2, putting it in the bottom half of the top 100
- Full rankings (individually and by series) will eventually be posted. I want to get the Hall of Fame Entries listed first.

Sim City, Age of Empires, Unreal Tournament and others to be added in the next update.

 

[kswiston]

Solid list. Great picks all around.

But the lack of Command & Conquer

That was game was the catalyst of PC RTS's. Its too bad the series dug its own grave and now everyone has forgotten about it.

C&C series was #32. A lot of vote splitting in that series, but Red Alert 2 was most popular.

 

[Uriah]

Nice job on the OP kswiston.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

10. Deus Ex
9. Heroes of Might and Magic II/III
8. Daggerfall
7. Dungeon Keeper
6. Counter Strike
spent so many hours playing this.
5. System Shock 2
4. Baldur's gate II
3. X-com
2. Natural Selection

Half-life mod where you play as aliens or space marines. The 2 sides play very differently. Its a RTS/FPS for humans with a leader that makes buildings and gives out orders. Whereas you play as a collective when playing as the aliens.


1. Kohan

I'm not even an RTS guy and this game still is my #1. Its so good and revolutionary. You create companies made up of different units. There are flanking units, magic, range, big bruisers, and heroes. They all gain experience and become more powerful. Plus there are no workers to place on resources. Your buildings you make create the resources.

Plus I made EvilLore rage quit once.

 

[kswiston]

OP has been updated with completed hall of fame entries for the full top 20. It takes me about 20 mins an entry, so I will probably spread the remaining entry updates (haven't decided whether I will stop at the top 30 or top 40) over the next couple days.

Here were the votes for #16-20

Unreal Tournament Series - 36 votes
Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 - 34 votes
Age of Empires series (incl AoMyth) - 32 votes
Fallout 1 and 2 - 32 votes
SimCity - 31 votes

Next update will include the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and four 90s classics.