A Humble Gamer's Lifetime Favourites.

With the recent GTA V trailer #2 being released I promptly had a watch, and then another, and another. I loved it! the bar is consistently raised with Rockstar and I feel that the hype is perfectly justified.All I could think was that GTA V may possibly be one of ( possibly "the" ) best game of all time. Now of course it's obvious that such an argument will always be based on opinion, so being an egocentric man I decided I would write up my personal top 5 over the course of my 20 years. The order will go from the date of release not ranking.

#1 Crash Bandicoot ( 1996 )

Ah Crash Bandicoot. How lucky I was to grow up in the age of Naughty Dog's early Bandicoot games, as opposed to the disgraceful attempts we are seeing on the current gen. Christmas day 1996 and my brothers and I open our gifts to find a brand spanking new Playstation and Crash Bandicoot. Crash set the bar for linear platformers everywhere and was the first 3 dimensional platformer that was released for the PlayStation. It was a unique experience in that day and provided great level designs and a difficulty that was not easy but not so hard that it caused the blood to boil, It just had a charm that cannot be denied. Now I'm not saying this was one of the best games ever made, but it's all a matter of perspective.

#2 Pokemon Red, Blue And Yellow. ( 1998 )

Skip two years forward and the utopia of the Pokemon phenomenon has hit and kids everywhere are circling their parents like vultures to buy them every toy, card and vhs of Pokemon they can think of. But the one huge stand out of the pokemon era was the simple yet magnificent turn based battling, open world adventure games for the game boy. Hell I was still playing Leaf Green only a year or so ago and It still had a captivating and addictive feeling to it. There was surprisingly and incredible amount to do in these games and the makers did well to create puzzles that were challenging and fun for younger ones to solve. It genuinely felt like an adventure travelling the world of Kanto with well over 100 hours worth of ways to play, fighting from one gym to the other collecting badges, hunting down rare pokemon to complete the 150, surfing, flying flashing, and cutting your way through the caves, oceans, forests and more. I simply cannot hold these games in higher regard they are fantastic in every way. In fact, it could be one of the best RPG's ever made when you think about it.

#3 Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic ( 2003 )

KOTOR as it was referred to as, was quite possibly the best game ever made to date, certainly the best star wars game by a long shot. The story alone is enough to put this in my top 5, seriously if you haven't played this game before do so immediately. But even without the story being impeccable this game still holds strong with fantastic locations that truly feel like part of the star wars universe, brilliant characters and dialogue, a well paced progression of character development, and a great karma meter that lets you choose to be a kind jedi or a viscious sith lord and the decisions you make genuinely do have an impact on the game. If you're a fan of star wars, or just great games, I cant stress enough how fantastic a game this is.

#4 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas ( 2004 )

Choosing San Andreas was a difficult decision given that any of the GTA games could have taken a place in this spot as far as I'm concerned. I could have praised the revolutionary 3D turn of GTA III, or the vibrant 80's style Scarface story line of Vice City with Tommy Vercetti bringing the city to it's knee's and the undeniably satisfying killing of Diaz, Lance Vance, and Sonny Forelli to take over the city.

But SA raised the bar so high that it's widely regarded as one of the best ever games. Carl CJ Johnson took us on a journey from performing a drive by to robbing houses, parachuting out of a plane and stealing a jet pack from Area 69. Most impressive was SA itself, with 3 yes 3! cities, vast country and desert areas including mount chilliad, the game was nothing short of epic, the game was absolutely packed with fun activities for people to spend hours upon hours keeping themselves entertained after the story had been completed. Something that GTA IV had been criticised for. Even though I would happily accept people feeling other GTA's were better, I just can't help but feel SA had a better impression on me.

#5 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ( 2011 )

Skyrim is hands down the most enjoyable game I've played in a long time and although some are complaining about it being boring and repetitive after about 200 + hours I can only think to myself, How many games can I think of that wouldn't be repetitive after around 50 + hours?. I think the expectations for Skyrim are so high that people take for granted how miraculous it is that Bethesda have created a single player game that can captivate people for such a long time, and with DLC regularly on the way it just keeps delivering more and more. I look back on my first day of playing Skyrim and just being awe struck by the living, breathing, enormous world of Skyrim and I thought it was an absolute masterpiece! So many breathtaking sights and utterly stunning amounts of lore give this game so much life and personality, also additionally it's an even better pay off for the player if you have played the previous titles in terms of lore. With Skyrim the world is yours to do whatever you want in any way you want and that is why for me, it is the best game I have ever played. So far anyway.

Feel free to leave a comment of games that you love more than others that had that little extra flare and broken the mould for you. Remember of course it's not a debate of what game is better it's just about what you personally enjoyed more :)

[Blastoise]

Awww man It was going so well until you mentioned Skyrim :P

[Ranma1]

Why no JRPGs? You racist ?

:)

My favourites:

#1-FF10
#2-FF9
#3-Persona4
#4-FF6
#5-FF7
#6-Kingdom Hearts
#7-Resident Evil 4

[Scrivlar]

Haha Well Resi 4 and FF7 are definitely up there for me too! Infact they would have been on the list if it was a top 10 but I was worried each number would have to be talked about less and I still don't think I've done them justice. Wish I could've made a top 20 ha!

[DivineHand125]

My top 5 no particular order

Zelda ocarina of time

Pokemon Gold & silver

Smash bros melee

Mass effect 2 (Not sure if this should be in the list but i had a really good time with it and at the time it came out, i thought it was the most immersive rpg/tps ever made)

The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

[Scrivlar]

Ooof there was a lot of debate now you mention about Mass Effect 1, I weighed up KOTOR and ME1 as a kind of Bioware spot, and choose KOTOR based on the fact I nearly screamed like a girl when I found out I was Revan haha!

[JellyJelly]

Hard to make such a list. All I know is that Dark Souls would be high up on it for me.

[Scrivlar]

I've always danced around the idea of buying Dark Souls as I hear brilliant things about it, but also other people tell me that the 1000 + deaths are not worth the reward. However it's only around £15 nowadays so if you think it's worth it I'll make a purchase and begin the torture ;)

[TopDudeMan]

Dude, it's SO worth it.

I bought it twice and still thought it was worth it, so for £15, you really should play it.

[Vettur]

Imo

1. TES: Oblivion
2. Ib
3. Fallout 3
4. Resident Evil 4
5. Pokemon Yellow