best video game of all time Archives

Happy Labor Day, all! And lucky for you, as you’re kicking up your feet and relaxing, we have our #20 Greatest Video Game of All Time! Yes, we’ve now officially marked off ten of our most favorite games ever! Remember to check out who’s writing these zany reviews–click here for our video game trust. Also, if you haven’t seen our other reviews yet, here are #25, #24, #23, #22, and #21. I hope you enjoy our #20 picks!

Kai — Deus Ex Series – I played the original Deus Ex when it came out. It’s a dark, gritty FPS with RPG elements, similar in some ways to System Shock 2. The best part of it is the massive, overarching story with tons of lore and in-game touches. It has true flexibility when achieving mission goals, similar to the newest version.

I played a little bit of the 2nd version, but thought it was much worse than the original, as it lacked the interesting gameplay and story elements. The third one was fun, although the story was slightly less compelling (much less subtle) and the boss fights were really poorly done. It captured the overall feel of the first game, just with a little less subtlety.

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Po — Super Smash Bros Melee – Tremendous 4-player insanity with a cast of characters that will have you struggling to decide on just one. Better than the original in every way, and simply the perfect battle speed with tight controls.

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Andrew — Civilization Revolution – Need I say more? Honestly, I haven’t even made my way to Civ 5 yet and I might skip it once Beyond Earth or whatever its called comes out…but I love me some Civilization. I’m normally the strongest military power in the game but I get there by playing defense, researching, and getting culture as high as I can as early as I can. Scientific progress but not a boring scientific victory. Normally I get Culture or Money victory, but it really depends…Only gripe with these games is that I feel the diplomacy panes are never that good. The AI isn’t there and it really just hurts it…plus you can buy them off to avoid you for X turns? Not that I have to since, you know, defense. (very often I won’t build or even capture other cities…no need to waste steps – although this sometimes causes my lead to be cut down and me losing 1 turn before I was gonna win – I was shocked!)

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Fit — Oblivion – Stop! You’ve violated the law! Oblivion, one of the great Elder Scrolls games. You may be surprised to see it so high on my list, but it just wasn’t the same as others. It was a blast going through the story, shaping the character you wanted, exploring all the nooks and crannies Bethesda developers would deposit in the world. I loved how the way you played the first little dungeon shaped what class you could be, kind of like a personality test–but in action! I also love, in all Elder Scrolls games, that you can put points where you want them, wield what you want, and just do whatever the heck you want. Bethesda always wows me in that they can put so much into a game that players truly appreciate. For example, all those little quests, characters, treasures not found to many, and great dialog. Oblivion didn’t have the same feel as the others, but it was still a blast playing in the Imperial City. The world was absolutely beautiful and I did get lost in the game many times. Many, many hours went into this game. The Arena was a blast, too! ALSO, Boromir and Captain Picard were voices in this game. ‘Nuff said.

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Hungry — Super Mario Bros 3 (NES) – We had this game before I was even aware of it, but as soon as I could start playing, I did. Super Mario Bros was not majestic enough and the second was a bit too difficult for a three-year old (but the digging was fun), and the Super Nintendo had not yet come out (Super Mario World… YOSHI), so this game was the perfect source of Mario enjoyment for a young child. Thus, I had years and years of replaying Super Mario 3… and it was marvelous. Games like this and The Legend of Zelda are the reason that I have been playing for over two decades, and the vast majority of my life.

What makes this game so great is that I can still play it, although it’s considerably shorter. It used to be a full day adventure and now it can take an hour but the magic is still there and with all the remastered versions, the graphics and sound have kept up with the times. Being able to play with someone else adds to the enjoyment and all of the (somewhat) unique bosses and special abilities that Mario can pick up (TANOOKI and FROG) make this an advanced game for its time. Most lists have it in the Top 10 of the Greatest Games of All Time because of what it did for the video game industry. But it made my list because of what it did for me!

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There are #20 picks. Do you agree with them? Disagree? What would be yours?! We love writing about this and hope you enjoy it too. Get ready for some great articles about food and fitness coming your way this week! As always, stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: What are some of your favorite video games?

Finally, #21 is here! We apologize for the hiatus, we’ve been busy with the move and settling in. However, we are now back on track! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, look at this post here. Please meet our Video Game Brain Trust before you continue on. We put this together as a somewhat weekly display of what our favorite video games are. What we love about it is the variety between all of us and what we prefer. If you missed it, please see #25, #24, #23, and #22! Let’s get started..

#21 Best Video Games of All Time

Kai — Gunpoint – A much more recent game than those I’ve listed so far, Gunpoint is a stealth puzzle game with great atmosphere. You play a private detective in a noire style adventure. Although short, the story is really interesting and ties in great with the gameplay. It doesn’t feel like you’re figuring out puzzles, it feels like you’re trying to move the plot forward. The difficulty curve is very good, challenging but not overwhelming, unveiling various mechanics and techniques as time goes on. My only real complaint is that the game is short and not very replayable, but definitely worth the price ($10). If you’re looking for a game to while away a rainy day, I’d recommend Gunpoint.

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Po — Super Mario 64 (N64) – Brought 3-D gaming to the mainstream. I’ll never forget the first time I walked through a door and entered a new room — it blew my mind.

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Andrew — Ninja Crusaders (NES) – Really nothing much to say here other than that I spent countless hours playing this with my brother. YOU COULD TURN INTO A DRAGON. Top 5 NES Game.

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Alana (Fit) — Yoda Stories – For me, this is an absolute classic. It’s a LucasArts game not many know about, but it holds a very special place in my heart. Released in the 90s, this game has no ultimate goal. It’s simply a collection of various levels you have to play through. So when you start the game, you could be doing one of the various Hoth levels, Endor levels, Death Star levels, Tatooine levels, and so forth. There were tons of different “levels” aka scenarios, each one with different surroundings and plots. Sometimes you’d meet Boba Fett, sometimes Vader, sometimes the Wampa. I remember my cousins, brother and I would always crowd around the computer playing and laughing at the subtly funny LucasArts writing characters said.

You usually played as Luke Skywalker, out to save the day or escape or something of that nature. You also could gain other weapons like a lightsaber and find hidden things behind boxes. It’s really a puzzle game in order to find the objective. This game was basically just the arrow keys and that’s all it really needed. It was a blast to play any of the levels over and over. I think I will play it again today.

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Chris — Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2) – Vice City is close behind on my list of favorite GTA games. While I typically enjoy some of the earlier entries in a franchise, the expansiveness and ability to do so many ridiculous things makes San Andreas my favorite. I might have enjoyed the story in Vice City a little bit more, the game based on Los Angeles takes the cake over the game based in Miami. However, San Andreas really is one of those games that I put on that highest level of near perfection.

Simply, the graphics, soundtrack, and controls were all top-notch at the time. The story was what you would expect from a GTA and as I mentioned before, they expanded on what the player could do a million fold. One example is the ability to get in a plane, jump out, and go skydiving. Every vehicle was an option and if you had the money, you could customize your really fast cars however you wanted.

But this is a favorite list and not a list of the best games, so what really makes San Andreas stand so tall. Completion. This game truly had an RPG feel to it and I put in hundred of hours in order to get to a 99.9% completion rating. I never got to 100% but it always offered enough mini-games and side quests to keep my attention and that replay value in a game like this is untouchable.

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That wraps up our picks for #21 Greatest Video Game of All Time. Stay tuned for next week’s #20 and read up on the previous ones if you haven’t already! We are having a blast doing this. I hope you’re having fun as well looking at what we have to bring to the table. And as always, stay hungry and fit!

*Question of the Day: Have you played any of these games? Do you like them?