So..I've been seeing this list going around various youtube channels and online communities I follow, and I wanted to fill it out myself and figured it would make a good article, since I've been doing more gaming discourse as of late on here. The list is somewhat flawed as I'll get to, but I did try to fill it out and I'll attempt to justify my choices.
Here's the final graphic, btw:
Favorite Game- Fallout 4
So, this is a very hard decision to make. There are so many games in so many genres and it's hard to say, "out of all of these games I've ever played, this one is the best." I mean, I would struggle to narrow this to a top 10, let alone just pick one, but I went with this one.
The fact is, I wanted to choose a primarily single player title for this one. Multiplayer games come and go with the player base, but single player games are eternal. Candidates over the years would be: Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Mario 64, Doom/Doom 2, the Halo trilogy, etc. But honestly? I think that the bethesda RPGs are the most impactful. They're long lasting, keep me engrossed for hundreds of hours, and make me obsessed with them. From there, I had to decide which one? A lot of people love skyrim, but i kinda found it shallow and i aint a huge fan of high fantasy. I gravitate more toward Fallout. Fallout 3 was the first title I played, it had a great world, but the story sucked. New Vegas had a great story, but other elements were more mediocre. Fallout 4 was a massive improvement on both, even if it's not the best at anything. Fallout 76 was an MMO and definitely not the best the franchise has to offer. Starfield wasn't bad, and ended up making another category, but it's not the best game of all time, not by a long shot. So I went with Fallout 4. It's a solid game, it sucked me in for a good 500 hours through multiple play throughs, had solid game play, and yeah, when I REALLY think about it, if any game deserves the coveted "GOAT" status from me, it's probably this.
Best Story- Halo 3 (Halo Trilogy, really...)
I couldnt just choose Halo: The Master Chief collection, but yeah, Halos 1-3 are a huge trilogy and one of the best I've ever seen. Halo CE was kinda mediocre in and of itself. It felt like sci fi B movie ripping off aliens, predatory, etc. But the corresponding books kind of opened up the world a bit which really sucked me in. Halo 2 expanded on the lore and the story greatly, and while it was great in its own right, it ended on a cliffhanger which was infuriating at the time. That said, when Halo 3 came out and we had to finish the fight, it was quasi religious for a lot of us. Seriously, the hype this game had in 2007 was astounding. It tied up all the loose ends, it was the perfect ending to the trilogy. it was so perfect Halo struggled to regain its footing since, and I think halo 3 just set the bar too high where it set up the future of the franchise for failure.
Favorite Art Style- Halo Combat Evolved
Art style is subjective. But one thing I've always been attracted to in video games is OOOH PRETTY COLORS. Sonic CD was an original choice I scrapped. I loved the colors back in the 90s and thought it looked amazing at the time. Arguably, lots of mario games have good art styles, and despite inferior graphics with newer consoles, Mario games always hold up EXTREMELY well. But honestly, I'm just gonna go with Halo CE as that was the advantage of the first halo. It had cutting edge graphics for its time, and everything was OOOH SUPER PRETTY COLORS. I mean, you got the purple alien ships. The environments range from beaches to icy canyons to alien ships. The aliens themselves are colorful and you can literally just paint rooms with their multicolored blood.
Biggest Personal Impact- Bioshock Infinite
This was perhaps the hardest choice to make. Despite being deeply invested in video games, I dont feel like they make a personal impact on my life, at least not the way some other media does. Most games I like are actiony, and the stories often aren't amazing.
I started thinking about games that helped me connect to other people, whether they be Doom or MarioKart 64, which I would sometimes play with my parents. Pokemon, which I played with my friends. Chess, which isnt a video game but I played it as one online and met an online girlfriend through that back when I was a teenager. But none of them really felt...right.
But then I just thought about what had the biggest impact on me. And given my obsessive anti work focus, I'll go with Bioshock Infinite. Bioshock infinite was intended to fit this early 1900s aesthetic of america at the time, but it still feels relevant today, between the enemies all being religious psychos, and let's face it, modern society's work ethic feels like it's straight out of Fink Industries with its propaganda. If anything, seeing this propaganda really helped drive home how wicked modern work culture is. When I see people talk about hustle culture and work ethic, I can't help but think of this game. Be the bee!
This one is also arguably a runner up for best story, but yeah. Halo has that covered.
Best Combat- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
People are gonna think I'm basic AF for this one, but hear me out. COD greatly modernized the FPS genre in the 2000s and is responsible for shaping much of the industry today. Given my most overrated title (Counter Strike) and its awful game play, I feel like COD did the opposite to the FPS genre. It kinda standardized modern military shooters, making ADS common, having regenerating health, and having 2 weapons. These design choices impacted gaming to the modern day.
A runner up though is, arguably, Halo though. For campaigns at least, the combat was also great. COD arguably got regenerating health from Halo, and Halo had great combat between the covenant being susceptible to energy weapons and resistant to bullet based weapons, the flood being weak to bullet based weapons and resistant against energy weapons, etc. Every encounter felt strategic. But at the same time, Halo's multiplayer just doesnt hold up, while COD's does. So I feel like COD is more impactful, and I already chose Halo for a few other categories.
Alternatively, Doom also deserves an honorable mention, both classic doom and 2016. Classic doom invented FPS combat in the first place in many ways, although without mods like GZdoom it does feel dated. Doom 2016 also arguably deserves to be here because of it being a rather fast paced single player game with great combat including glory kills, but given the direction the franchise went past that, I'm reluctant to include it, and also, I'm putting enough doom on this list elsewhere.
Idk. There's a lot of titles that COULD go here, but I feel like COD has been most impactful on modern shooters for better or for worse, and serves as a perfect foil to counter strike (which I hate, more on that later).
Overhated- Starfield
The internet hype machine and the internet hate machine are weird sometimes. They'll take a flawed game, they'll just dunk on it until people think it's the worst POS ever. They'll take a moderately good game and hype it up to levels of delusion that no game can live up to or deserves. There's been a lot of overhated games over the years. First, some honorable mentions. Mass Effect 3. Solid game, just with a let down ending, but the hate back at launch was INSANE. Fallout 76 was another one that was overhated, given the sheer amount of bugs and mediocre lack of story. It deserved some hate, but due to improving over time, has made a huge come back. Battlefield 2042 is another one of these games to some degree. It deserved SOME hate due to releasing in, quite frankly, an unacceptable state, but the battlefield boomers as I called them glommed onto specialists for some reason, which was the least of the game's problems. But honestly, a game that people still hate to this day seems to be starfield. Another one is also Halo 4, which, given the success of 3, was NEVER gonna live up to its hype, and it didn't, and I feel like it was overhated at the time for it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect and even I had issues with it, but yeah, I feel like it was judged too harshly for what it was.
I'm not gonna lie. I LIKED starfield. It wasnt the best bethesda game. I understand it has some shortcomings between bugs, the repetitiveness of the planets, the loading screens, but to be fair, I have to ask, have these guys ever played a bethesda game before? I feel like this game's ambitions were set too high and the expectations were too high. All in all, it was a decent 8/10 title. Which is low for a bethesda game, but it IS still an adequate bethesda game. Quite frankly, I think people are just mad it distracted from TES 6 or fallout 5. And even now, people struggle to recommend it, acting like its garbage when I'm like 150 hours, would play again at some point.
Underrated- Doom 64
There are a lot of underrated games out there IMO. Some of them are the overhated ones mentioned above. Some aren't bad, they just got overshadowed. There's a lot of games that could fit here. I chose Doom 64. Honestly, it was either Doom 64 or Doom 3, both are underrated. Doom 3 had a 2000s era survival horror vibe that didnt age well and feels awkwardly placed between the classic dooms of the 90s and the modern dooms of 2016 onward. But honestly, what I think has been more underrated is doom 64. Doom 64 is the REAL doom 3. It was the doom 3 they werent allowed to call Doom 3. It was a N64 exclusive Doom, and it just never stood out. There were better games on the system. The controls were awkward AF. It was largely forgotten until a PC re-release with Doom Eternal, and going back in playing it, while it wasnt perfect, it really didnt deserve its relatively negative treatment. And in retrospect, played with modern controls, it feels very good to play.
Overrated- Counter Strike 2
Remember what I said about the internet hype machine. And remember what I said about COD modernizing FPS combat.
Counter strike is the ultimate anti-COD FPS game. It released in another time. It was one of the first tactical multiplayer FPSes, it actually started off as a Half Life mod. It had awkward mechanics. For the time, they felt okay, but in my view, they aged VERY BADLY. And by the time I played CS Source in 2008 for the first time, the game felt dated. This was always hyped up to be like the ultimate PC FPS. But instead, i got this mediocre 7/10 game with crappy recoil mechanics from the 90s. And dont you DARE say anything about it online. HURR DURR SKILL, HURR DURR YOU JUST SUCK. I mean, i do suck at CS, but my criticism goes beyond sucking, it's the fact that I genuinely don't see the appeal of mastering crappy recoil mechanics from an old 90s game. There are better games out there. But it's like "but but if you only play a few hundred more hours it might eventually click." I DON'T WANT TO PLAY HUNDREDS OF HOURS JUST TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE. "Hurr durr you just suck." It's not that I suck, it's that I literally lack the drive to learn this crappy ### game. I play games for fun. I like more casual shooters...like COD....which revolutionized FPS games in its own way by making the mechanics simple and streamlined You ADS, bullets go where they're supposed to go, you dont have to fight your gun. These guys LIKE that recoil, because to them it means "skill."
Now, for a while these guys just F-ed off to their own corners of the internet and did their own thing. But then, starting around 2017, they started infesting other FPS games, pushing their game play philosophy on more and more games, making them more "competitive." And again, the most obnoxious thing is the recoil. I dont want to have to fight my gun too much just to fricking land shots. I dont have the reflexes, I dont have the mouse pad space, and it just isn't fun. But for them it's what separates 'good" players from "bad" players. You see, "good" players can learn to control the recoil and thus dunk on the "bad" players, leading to insane skill gaps that pretty much wreck the game for the "bad" players. Whereas in a "low skill ceiling" game, anyone can log in, get a few kills, and enjoy themselves, "high skill" players dont like that, because they have to be the best, they have to lord their insane KDRs over the rest of us, and honestly, Im gonna be blunt. While there is always going to be some element of merit in FPS games, I like low skill games the same way I like low income inequality social democracies. It's more inclusive for everyone. It's more fun. It's less effort. It's just better. But because our society is run by type A ###holes who have to not just be the best the impose their BS social hierarchies on the rest of us, no, the rest of us have to suffer so THEY can look good.
Honestly, people keep acting like if only i played hundreds of hours I'd grow to like it, but that just sounds like alcohol where you're drinking hand sanitizer, it's literally poisoning your body, but the people are just like "it's an acquired taste, bro!"
Now, before I continue, I do want some honorable mentions here too.
League of Legends- I never seen such a toxic and try hardy unfun game that people seem to glaze for some reason.
Final fantasy- I aint really a hardcore RPG person, and the cinematography ain't my thing.
WoW (and other MMORPGs)- MMOs feel like the polar opposite of CS in a way. Rather than have SOME level of reflexes and skill, it's mostly just levelling up and choosing builds and your numbers being better than your opponents. Maybe there's more skill end game, but I'd never play one long enough to reach the end game, and I'd rather just play FPS.
GTA (and rockstar games in general)- Always came off as an edgy teen thing. Like "look at me, Im 13 and I'm watching this really adult R rated movie." This is that but for video games. The game play is kinda crap. And no, I'm not looking forward to GTA 6. I dont care about GTA 6. GTA 5 was mediocre AF and GTA 6 is just gonna be more of the same.
Of course, all of these franchises really come down to taste, to some degree. I feel especially qualified to rip CS because I'm literally an FPS gamer and I hate it and what it's done to gamer culture. And it baffled me the series still had a following in 2008, and it baffles me it's still popular now.
Needs a remake- Fallout New Vegas (and 3)
Okay, so....arguably a lot of games deserve remakes. The problem is I feel like most remakes would completely F up the original game. Still, Fallout New Vegas gets my recommendation. In part because of the Fallout TV show, but in part because Fallout 3 and New Vegas are great games, but they're very VERY dated. And I can just imagine them being remade on FO4/76's engine and being FAR better for it. Like, the tech is there, the demand is there, Todd Howard, plz.
Criminally Overlooked: Titanfall 2
Look, I know I glazed COD above, but since the OG 360/PS3 COD games, they've done F all with the franchise. I mean, okay, MW19 DID modernize the franchise a bit. But most of those PS4/XB1 era games were complete and utter crap. And a lot of the space themed ones were especially crap. Advanced Warfare, Infinite Warfare, some of the lowest points of the whole series. But wanna know who did it RIGHT? Titanfall. Titanfall and Titanfall 2 were like COD advanced/infinite warfare with GOOD mechanics and mech fighting. ANd yet, they barely got any success, and they fell off quickly. While the franchise eventually found its footing with Apex legends, a Titanfall inspired battle royale, yeah, this franchise should've popped off a lot earlier, and it should've been more popular. It's a shame it died like it did.
Favorite Protagonist- Doom 2016
I don't like protagonists in video games often. But if I had to give it to one, I'd give it to the doom slayer. he's just so bad### and commands so much respect. In 2016, you hear the demons reading stories of his accomplishments, and it's just like....yeah, this is one guy you DONT wanna mess with.
Favorite Antagonist- Far Cry 3
While he's not the MAIN antagonist of the game, Far Cry 3's Vaas is just...well...insane. In a good way. he's just so evil. You wanna hate him so bad, you wanna kill him. They even made like 30 minutes of promotional material for the game mostly centered around him. He's the best I could think of.
I know someone else's video I watched went the Portal route and said Glados. I'd one up that and say my runner up is Wheatley. Because Wheatley is just so stupid, incompetent, and insane that it makes you WANT to put glados back in charge. Glados is great, dont get me wrong, but she's Hillary Clinton, while Wheatley is donald Trump.
Best Soundtrack- Red Alert 3
C&C games always have banging sound tracks, but Red Alert 3 really outdid itself, between the main theme, hell march 3, red rock, grinder 2, etc. Honestly, all the C&Cs have good music, but this one just outdid the others, despite being a relatively mediocre entry in the franchise.
Runner ups include stuff like Advance Wars, Doom, Black (2006 title), and Halo. But nothing really touches Red Alert 3.
Best Multiplayer- Battlefield 6
There's a reason I wanted to focus on single player games to some degree. Multiplayers come and go. I could say Battlefield 4 or Bad Company 2 are the best multiplayer games ever made. But BC2 is shut down, and BF4 only has a few servers active. Those games were great, don't get me wrong, but right now, BF6 is the hottest thing. The best multiplayer game was gonna be a battlefield game. battlefield offers a combination of good gun play, large maps, chaotic battles, and large scale warfare. They are known for their "battlefield moments" like the "rendezook" when someone basically is being chased in a jet, ejects, snipes the pilot of the plane that shot them down out of their cockpit, and then gets back in their jet. it's insane. No series has ever given me the high that battlefield typically has. Except maybe Planetside 2, another runner up. but that game is less active today, and feels dated, so I wouldnt recommend it either, even if I was addicted to it at the time.
Honestly, you wanna get into these kinds of games today, battlefield 6. Battlefield's back, baby, in all its past glory.
Not usually my thing, but....- NFL Blitz 2000
So, I'm not a sports guy, but there was a sports game I loved back in the day and it was NFL Blitz 2000. Basically, it's like simplified football, except the violence is the point. You just stomp the guy with the ball, throw them around, jump on them after they're already down, and be an unsportsmanlike ###. it was fun AF back in the day. I dont play sports games otherwise, but I liked this one.
Turn my brain off- Unreal Tournament
Yeah, for a while, if I just wanted to "play something" but not think about it too hard, Unreal Tournament with bots is my game of choice. You can just throw bots in a game while shooting things to your heart's content. Even more so, UT is a super fast paced multiplayer game, so the more you turn your brain off and go by instinct, reflex, etc, the better you do in my experience. Kinda like ultra instinct from DBZ but for video games. So yeah. It's my ultimate "don't think about it, just shoot it" kind of game.
Best with friends- Mario Kart 64
So, this was the ultimate "play games with friends" game as a kid. I played it split screen, it was fun. Nothing matches the experience. I could also go with pokemon trading card game, but that's also like...a card game, you didnt play the video game ones back in the day, you played with real cards. Various FPS games could apply but they either didnt age well or its hard to get the guys all online as you get older. I kinda wanted to go with the in person touch, since games used to be made for split screen.
For a newer more PC oriented vibe, another runner up is sonic all stars racing transformed. Had some fun with online friends with that one back in the day.
Best Retro game- Doom 2
The OG dooms, with the right game engines, still hold up today. They're over 30 years old, but still feel quite modern and timeless all things considered. I honestly think they deserve the spot for best retro game.
Older Sonic and Mario titles also arguably deserve this spot. I know one guy i watched put super mario world, that's a strong contender here. Likewise, being the sega kid I was, sonic 3 & knuckles and sonic 2 also belong on here. But I went with sonic 3 for the next one.
Nostalgic childhood game- Sonic 3 & Knuckles
So, you know Sega used to have a magazine? And I remember getting a couple free ones from them hyping up genesis games at the time. Sonic 1 and 2 were some of my first, and favorite games, but I dont think anything ever touched Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It was just perfection as a sonic title. It was super hyped, and MAN it lived up to said hype. For nintendo kids, mario might get it, but for me, it's sonic, always.
The only game since that even scraped the floor of these heights for the series was sonic mania tbqh.
Game everyone should play- Portal 2
Honestly, it's portal AND portal 2, but I wanted to end this with a wildcard recommendation. A lot of people like different games in different genres, but by this point, the portal games are cheap, they're different, they're accessible, and have hilarious dialogue. So, I'm gonna go with the portal games for this one.
And yeah, that's my list. Some people can agree or disagree with specific entries, but yeah.
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