No. 10 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (PC, also on PS3, 360 and Wii as Reflex)

As a fan of Call of Duty from the very beginning, this game was the pinnacle of the series for me and showed off everything the franchise can be. Moving the time period from the over-done world war II setting to the modern day (meaning some very cool weaponry and varied gameplay) yet still retaining everything that made Call of Duty 1 & 2 great; a glorious single player campaign combined with a superb multiplayer.

The single-player campaign, whilst relatively short, is perhaps one of the most memorable and shocking. A solid narrative pushed you along, but added some truly shocking moments not seen in video games that made full use of the first-person perspective (nuke anyone?). The multiplaer in Call of Duty has always been good, and CoD4 was no different. New weaponry and a levelling system added to solid CoD gameplay. In many ways, this was the last (and arguably only) Call of Duty game to truly innovate.

No. 9 Age of Empires & Rise of Rome Expansion (PC)

Original? No. Brilliant? Hell Yes! The original Age of Empires is easily my favourite Age of game. Everything just seems to click for me. This and Starcraft were my two RTS games of the 90s, but with AoE, everything just clicked. Brilliantly balanced gameplay, loads of factions/civilisations to choose from, a good variety of maps, hilarious sound effects (erectus! Nineveh!), fun multiplayer, and the most interesting time period (for me). In fact, when I get a new PC/format a HDD, this is one of the few games that has to be installed on my PC.

Of course, it has flaws that were fixed in later sequels, but the charm and attention to detail of the original still makes this the best RTS game on my list. Oh, and the cheats were bloody hilarious; catapults firing cows?!

Damn, I haven't updated in ages! >_<

#35 Final Fantasy IX (PS2)

"I do what I want! You have problem?!"

The most charming Final Fantasy ever? That would be Final Fantasy IX.

Final Fantasy IX feels like an old friend. (Don't make me explain, 'cause I can't ) It "knows" me; it knows what I like. When I want some lighthearted fun, it gives me that. When I'm in for deep or touchy stories, that's precisely what Final Fantasy IX provides. Comedy, Tragedy, Love Stories; Final Fantasy IX has it all.

The game offers a great variation of different locations and characters. Speaking about characters you have sneaky rats, rusty knights, freaking black mages and god-knows-what-with-an-enormous-tongue. Queen Brahne gives you an idea of what Kefka would look like after an "Eat 100 cakes" contest. An excellent cast if you ask me.

There are lots of things about Final Fantasy IX that I miss in many other Final Fantasy's: I really like when a character has a certain class; I want to have my black mage, thief, fighter. It gives the characters more personality, and makes every character more unique and important. The art style of Final Fantasy IX is just awsome. If (when) Squeenix remakes Final Fantasy VI and they don't turn it into an animated Amano painting (my wet dream) then Final Fantasy IX's art style would be perfect.

#34 Disgaea: Hour of Darkness (PS2)

"A horse wiener!? Now, THAT's dangerous!"

An extremely hardcore SRPG with überfunny story, tons of classes and kamikaze penguins? Sold.

If you can get from start to finish without ever smiling then you have no soul. If you beat Disgaea without ever screaming in pain because a bunch of evil monsters that can't spell "levelcap" just beat the crap out of you in a most unfashionable manner, then you aren't human.

The cast in Disgaea is great. Laharl is one of the best "heroes" ever and is the master of insulting all and everything. He is the definition of "Evil @!&%?$ bastard". He wouldn't think twice before saying something insulting about Darth Vader's grandma. He's that evil. Etna is...something worse than evil. Flonne on the other hand is made of 100% goodness and doesn't ever miss a chance to preach about love. Being more clueless than Osaka of Azumanga Daioh only adds to the cutiness.

While the story is pure comedy, the battles are totally brutal. If you think you might be able to win this battle the game will rape you twice for being such a fool. Venture where you shouldn't and you will get punished; the game will laugh you in the face while it tickles your toes with a feather and washes your brain with melted iron. Yes, this is good stuff.

#33 Starcraft (PC)

"It's freaking Starcraft! 'nuff said."

If you are an RTS fan but haven't played Starcraft then you better get back to school. Starcraft is the RTS game. It smacks you in the face with some flawless gameplay mechanics, three totally different factions that gives me some awsome 40k vibes and hours upon hours of pure fun.

In lots of games you just have to find the perfect combination of units or spam the best ones to win. In Starcraft there are lots of different strategies to use and if you want to master the game you really need to master every unit. Spamming the elite units will only get your ass kicked. The very first units still have a place in a later army, and that's what makes it so much fun, and so hard to master. You need to be quick, clever and cold at all times.

The factions in this game are unique in every way. Totally different races, technology and units. Each faction is fun to play as as you'll have to think differently. Even basic stuff like health and unit creation differs from faction to faction.

Starcraft is one of those games that'll never get old. It's still fun to pick up.

7. Super Mario Galaxy

Like I said, it fell to Nintendo to beat the benchmark that they had set with SM64, and it was with Super Mario Galaxy that they didn't just beat it, but smashed it to pieces.

I cannot agree with people who say that this is just more of the same with Mario. I can only surmise that they haven't really played it because the first time you attempt to orbit one of the smaller planetoids in one jump (something that you don't have to do at all, or won't do unless you feel like messing around and seeing what the gravity system can do), and you see Mario fly all the way around the planetoid, you realise how fresh and unique this game is in context of what had come before.

Not only that, but Nintendo managed to convey an actual feeling of gravity whilst playing. You would start to learn how and when to jump to manipulate it to perfection. What that gave us was the finest 3D platforming ever created until that point, and on top of that, it was paired with one of the finest gaming soundtracks ever written. The truly epic music just added to the soaring feeling that you got with each world.

It's because of games like this that I love Nintendo. I love them even more when they keep trying to beat what they've done before, and they succeeded again...

5. Final Fantasy X (PS2)

What we have here is the first FF for the PS2 and still by far the best. Everything from its' graphics to gameplay were amazing. A great storyline and great characters are just another reason for me to like this game so much. And normally I don't do sidequests in videogames, but FF X was one of the few games in which I simply wanted to do everything. I didn't manage to do everything in it, but I spent more hours in FF X than in most other singleplayer games.

8.

Super Metroid - I've played this game so many times, I've found every upgrades and completed the map.  This was the first game I downloaded on the virtual console.  Super Metroid is simply part of my gaming life, the music is among the most atmospheric I've ever heard and I love the graphical style and Zebes design.

7.

Super Smash Bros Brawl -This game took up my life during the summer holidays on 2008.  According to the Nintendo Channel, I've spent over 200 hours on this game and I still regularly play it either alone or with company.  I have done absolutely everything with this game.

6.

Chrono Trigger DS - I've only played the DS version as it is the only release of the game to make it to Europe.  Not often do I replay a game the moment I've finished it, but I did with Chrono Trigger.  I've seen 5 of the game's endings so far and vow to one day see the remainder.

7. Persona 4 (PS2)

A surprising and wonderful release considering how late in the console's life cycle it was released, this rpg mixed with a visual novel provided plenty of different gameplay.  The addition of RPG elements such as leveling, magic, and dungeon crawling turn the choose your own adventure characteristics of visual novels into real gameplay.  The game's periodic switching between the two genres leads to an interesting back and forth that staves off the boredom of the quickly repetitive rpg stages.  Mixing personas in the velvet room can consume as much or little time as you desire, doing so will make battles easier but isn't necessary.  Trying to figure out the right way to progress social links in the real world provides an extra challenge rarely seen in rpgs.  While trying to solve the mystery world, there is plenty of amusing, intriguing, and confusing story which actually means failure to find the murder is possible.  The battle systems weakness mechanics are good but the lack of variety in enemies means you pretty much end up using the same strategy for the majority of the game's battles. 

6. Super Smash Bros Melee (GC)

No other multiplayer game has consumed as much of my time as Melee has.  While it lacks some of the features of its sequel, it simply has a better feel to the gameplay that made it far more addictive.  The characters were unbalanced at times but never so much that it really mattered except at the highest levels of play.  There were a number of features tailored to groups larger than the number of controllers available that allowed you to rotate people into the game without figuring out whose turn it is to sit out.

5. Okami (PS2)

The concept of running around as a wolf with a magic paintbrush and using it to change the environment around you seems almost katamari-crazy at first, but after a while just feels normal.  The game at first feels a bit short before achieving its RPG length with a zelda-like midgame boss.  The normal battles have a little bit of variety thrown into the techniques used to kill different enemies but the boss battles are where the game really shines.  Outside of battle there are numerous things to collect and upgrades to achieve for different items.  The special part of this game is the ability to draw your attacks and platforming tools using the paint brush as you learn new brushstrokes.  These techniques allow you to change the time of day and do everything from a simple slash to a bomb, or blooming flowers to walking up walls.  The story ties in mythology nicely and the art style is beautiful as well.