10: Mike Tyson's Punch Out (1987)
Even after Tyson lost his championship belt, was convicted of rape and became a parody of himself, this game remains legendary.
9: Quest for Glory 1 (1989)
I received it as a Christmas gift during '89. I proceeded to only perform functions that were only vital to surviving in between playing it. This was The Shit when I was a kid, and when I met the random rare kid who was also familiar with it, he also couldn't stop raving about it. You had a choice at the beginning between playing a magician, a fighter or a rogue. Each character class had completely different subquests within the game, which was a revolutionary development for its time. It was the first game that I discovered that had real replay value.
8: Resident Evil 3 (1999)
As I hypothesized a long time ago as a nerd kid on the video game message forums (and fellow nerd kids acknowledged), there are two different Resident Evil fan camps: people who believe that Resident Evil 2 and 3 are superior in the franchise, and people who think that Resident Evil 1 is the best in the series by far. RE 3 carries the same sort of story and gameplay forward from RE 2. Its characters and main enemy are just a notch below RE 2's standards, though.
7: Resident Evil 2 (1998)
I think that most Resident Evil fans agree that this game was the best of the series, and, judging by the shit quality of recent Resident Evil games Capcom is never going to top it.... which is why they recently announced that they're going to remake it. I'm almost certain that the concurrent and overlapping events that occur for each character was a revolutionary development for its time. In fact, I don't remember a game that I've played since RE 2 (other than other RE games) that had concurrent, overlapping events that wound up explaining weird events that you couldn't make sense of until you had the other character's perspective. It made for great replay value.
6: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
It's one of the things that kept me sane during an insane, moronic year in this country's history (oil war anyone?). Like the aforementioned Quest for Glory game and so many that came after it, it had a few character classes that had their own subquests. The amount of autonomy that they gave to you as a player in terms of choosing between heading toward the dark side or light side and even choosing who could team up with you was wide open and made for an immersive, addictive experience. Unfortunately, like so many other outstanding single player game series, this franchise has since gotten lost in the multiplayer cash cow black hole. There have been whispers of another single player "Knights" sequel, though.
5: Mass Effect 2 (2010)
I can't think of a combat system that I enjoyed more than Mass Effect 2's system. It was complex and difficult for beginners, but when you mastered it you were never going to have funner firefights. Its characters were just as complex and compelling, and the decisions that you made played out in a real way within the game-- unfortunately it played out ONLY in this game and did not transfer much to the absolutely disastrous Mass Effect 3. In my world, Mass Effect 3 doesn't exist.
4: Silent Hill 2 (2001)
The first and only game that has scared the living shit out of me. I remember reading a blog post in the early 2000's in which a woman stated that when she played it all of the lights in the house needed to be on and her husband needed to hold her. But it scared in a good way..... in an addictive way. Most of the franchise's mysterious scare factor was removed by its overtly explanatory movie adaptations, but this game remains a classic. Silent Hill 1 ain't no slouch neither.
3: Medieval 2: Total War (2006)
The best strategy game ever, hands down. I'm ashamed to state that even though I earned an "A" in my "History of Western Civilization" course in college, I probably learned more about the Medieval era from this game than I ever learned in that course because it also provides many historical facts and stories as the game progresses. I became so skilled at this game that any level that was below "extremely difficult" was far too easy for me. If this game had a single flaw it was that its naval battles were complete dogshit and heavily weighted toward the computer (they could ONLY be resolved automatically).
My favorite campaign in any game: conquering the entire world with my own massive army of Scottish bastards.... on "extremely difficult" (as if starting the game in Scotland with a small band of impoverished rebels isn't extremely difficult enough).
2: The Last of Us (2013)
Aside from the "bloater" creatures (which are unbelievably fun to battle anyway) in this game, it's stunningly realistic. If Mass Effect games didn't exist it would also have my favorite combat system ever. Only my #1 game ever can compete with its engaging and immersive story and characters. I played this game almost nonstop when it was released in 2013, and I beat it on "normal," "hard" and "survivor." As I'm playing it right now for the first time in two years I'm realizing that my "skills" haven't diminished-- normal mode is far too easy.
They are already planning to make a movie adaptation for this game, which they will undoubtedly fuck up.
1: Dragon Age Origins (2009)
The most replayable game ever. There are ten million different angles that you can take throughout this game. For my part, my own personal canon (my original choice in 2009) is a human mage who had a witch lover who he impregnated as part of a ritual. But I've also played an elven rogue who hated said witch and killed her in a postgame expansion quest. In total, I've conquered it more than ten times. Each race, class and major decision leads you down a path that alters the game's main plot and subplots. Like "Knights of the Old Republic" you can side with the evil bastards or be a principled, goodhearted man. Your personal canon in this game actually transfers to its third installment. Unlike Mass Effect 1-3, your choices actually matter.
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