Top Ten

I forget if I've mentioned this at all on here, but over the last year or so, I've been invited to participate in some of the podcasts over at GameCritics. I think I'm crap at it, personally, and I have no experience doing anything like this elsewhere, but here we are.

To get through the summer slog, the guys running the podcast conjured up a new feature wherein regular members would each get an episode largely dedicated to detailing their ten favorite games of all time. I finally got the chance to do my own on the most recent episode, which can be heard here, if anyone's interested. I believe it's the first time I've ever constructed and formally presented such a list, so I figured there was a modest chance that someone on this site would be interested in listening to such a thing.

We also talk about SOMA and The Beginner's Guide, both of which I've reviewed, but if you're interested in some deeper and more varied discussion, there you go.

Here's my list, in case anyone's curious but can't be bothered to listen to the whole thing. Honorable mentions were Deus Ex, Star Ocean: The Second Story, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger and Mega Man Legends.

10. Pokémon Red/Blue
9. Banjo-Kazooie
8. Dark Souls
7. Divinity: Original Sin
6. Mass Effect
5. Metroid Prime
4. Spec Ops: The Line
3. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2. Team Fortress 2
1. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Comments 9

honestgamer Staff Nov 19, 2015

A decent list, I feel, even though my own list looks considerably different. I do enjoy seeing Dark Souls now filling a spot on your top 10, as well. I was surprised to see Banjo-Kazooie on there, but it's a terrific game so I probably shouldn't have been.

Never3ndr Nov 19, 2015

Mine would also look much different if I made one...but I'm 100% sure that KOTOR would make it...undoubtedly one of my favorite games. I'd probably include or HM either Mass Effect 1 or 2 I really enjoyed the first 2 games of that series.

joseph_valencia Nov 19, 2015

Why not in pog form?

jerec Nov 19, 2015

KotOR made my list about 10 years ago, but last time I tried, I found it hadn't aged well. It's probably dropped off now. Haven't thought about my own top 10 in a long time.

bbbmoney Nov 20, 2015

KotOR is a painful play these days. This is the most original top 10 I've ever seen though, I might tune in to the podcast for this.

Genj Nov 21, 2015

I've been trying to put together a top 10 list off and on for awhile but have difficulty picking 10 (this will probably make me go back and try again). Banjo was floating around there for me (at least the HD version). Probably the best 3D platformer ever and also the last one in that era before they started having too much junk to collect. I haven't played KOTOR since it was still fairly new but I have a lot of fond memories, as it was the first Western RPG I ever played. I still have my Xbox original copy somewhere. I doubt I'll ever replay that version. I'm really surprised by Spec Ops: The Line. I know you gave it a really positive review but I found it fair at best. As a game, it's a competent third person cover shooter with some set pieces of varying quality. I respect that they tried to do something different by adapting Heart of Darkness in video game form, but it strikes me as being too similar to Apocalypse Now - one of my favorite films of all time. It's not a comparison any film is going to win let alone a third person cover shooter.

Suskie Blogger Nov 21, 2015

Spec Ops is definitely the weirdest inclusion on this. If you're interested, Genj, I wrote a spoiler-filled blog post a while back detailing exactly what made that game work to well for me (in a manner that a standard review couldn't).

Never3ndr Nov 21, 2015

Not sure what qualifications where, used, but, personally, my favorite games (versus a list of influential or "best" games) would be listed by level of enjoyment I got when I originally played them rather than how innovative they were or how well they have aged...probably means I'd actually include a lot of multiplayer games now that I think about it...best times are when playing with friends.

Suskie Blogger Nov 23, 2015

Aw, thanks, Ben. Also, the TBG segment is basically what I wanted to say about the game when I said I was hoping to write a spoiler piece about it, so that part may be worth a listen if you're still interested in hearing my full take on the game.