#2) Super Metroid (SNES/Wii)

Super Metroid is like fine wine. It is just insusceptible to aging. Almost every other 16 or 8-bit game on my list could benefit from modern technology in some way, shape or form, but Super Metroid is just perfect as it is. Not one thing wrong with it. Well, alright, an option to skip the monologue at the beginning of the game would be nice, but nothing else!

Over the course of the two and a half years I have owned this game, I've completed this game close to twenty times. Sometimes in barely over an hour, sometimes not until I've explored every nook and cranny in the entire game.

On many days, it is my favorite game of all time. Just not on the day I made this list.

17. Super Mario World - SNES (10 last year):

I have many happy memories of playing this game both on the SNES and GBA when I was younger.  Thoughout that period I always wished a new 2d Mario would be released, something that happened eventually in 2006.  The SNES was an epic console and it got off to a brilliant start with this game.

16. The World Ends With You - DS (New):

I played this game early this year and I was amazed by it, it has become easily one of my favourite new IPs of the 7th generation.  This game used the DS' capabilities perfectly and IMO is S-E's best piece of work this gen.  I really hope for a sequel and am happy that some of the characters are appearing in KH 3D, which releases in a few months.

15. Shadow of the Colossus - PS2 (24 last year):

This is the highest rated PS2 game on my list and I think it easily deserves that.  This game can be described as nothing more than a masterpiece.  I haven't played this game in a while and must do so soon.  Also, I am so hyped for the Last Guardian ever since it has been announced; if it even is half as good as this is it will be among my favourite games of all time and appear on a future edition of this list.

Whew, just got through working on the first half of my list. I started slacking after #45 so I had some major work to do catchin up, albeit having fun doing it! I like doing this sort of compilation/top 50 stuff. That's what a good part of my gaming blog is going to be centered around.

I'll probably wax off the top half of the list within the next couple of days, I just got nothin left in the tank at the moment.. It was tough to pick out the games as well as the orders, even now I think of more games that probably could have made the list.

A convenient link to those who may be interested: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=4301922

1. God of War III (PS3)

One word to describe this game: EPIC! It surely has the most amazing boss battles I've ever seen, in fact I loved every single one in God of War III. That's something that no other game before GoW III has been able to achieve. I'll always remember the battles against Poseidon, Hades and Cronos and the epic presentation of the game overall. This is without a doubt my favourite game of all time.

#9. Secret of Mana (SNES, VC)

There's a certain charm about Secret of Mana that makes me love every part of this game. It looks and sounds incredible and the gameplay is something I've yet to experience again in any other game. Everytime I play through the game, I'm always obsessed with leveling all weapons for all characters, maxing out the magic spells. I don't mind that you have to hold the attack button forever to unleash a level 8 attack, I love seeing the character jump around and kick the enemy's ass. Being able to play this game with two additional players was a great plus also (something rarely seen in a RPG).

#1) Warcraft III (PC)

I have sunk more hours into this game than entire franchises that have been around since before I was born. Hell, I've spent more time clicking units for amusing responses ("Why don't you lead an army instead of touching me?") than playing some other games. And that's excluding all the time I've spent playing custom maps on Battle.net. (The amount of hours I've spent on Battle.net alone is a four-digit number) Playing through the campaign has pretty much been an annual tradition for me for the past eight years.

I love the RPG elements, I love the fleshed out game world, I love about a dozen other things about Warcraft III, but listing them all would might get a bit redundant. (Plus it's 1:30 in the morning and I really need to get my sleep pattern under control) It's not flawless like Super Metroid; off the top of my head, I could name seven things I don't like about it. But if I had to pick one game to play until the coming of the Four Horsemen, it would hardly be a contest.

#8. Final Fantasy III (VI) (SNES)

I'm a big fan of the Final Fantasy series since the very first game and with this installment I was treated to one of the finest RPG ever. The story follows a great number of truely interesting heroes and one hell of a twisted vilain. Each character is unique in both his abilities and his personality. Yes, there are some character I don't really care about (Gau, Strago, Relm) but that's bound to happen with a cast of 16 but that's massively outweighted by greatness of the story surrounding the rest of the cast. You get sucked in while following Terra's struggle to find herself or Cyan's heartbreak over losing his family or Celes striving to find a reason to live in a completely destroyed world.

2. Half-Life 2 + Eps 1 &2 (PC, also on X-box and in Orange box on 360 & PS3)

Sequel to what is probably the most innovative FPS to ever grace the market, Half-Life 2 had a lot to live up to, but boy did it deliver. When released, the animations were some of the best ever seen, the graphics were superb even on a low spec PC, the physics implementation was revolutionary, the characters felt real, the battles were suitably epic in scale and it introduced the superb concept of the gravity based weapon.

Much like the original, HL2 retained the immersion by sticking to the first-person perspective. As the silent protagonist Gordon Freeman, you had the chance to let your imagination place your own persona into the image of Gordon Freeman. However, Valve took this concept and blew it out of the water with its dystopian setting and storytelling. Hidden extras in the world reveal tit-bits of info on the story and events leading up to HL2 and potential events in future games. You are always Gordon Freeman, so when/if you miss them, Gordon misses them. Control of Gordon's movements is always with the player, so when Gordon's physical abilities are impaired the feeling of being powerless is amplified. This is done well near the end of HL2 but utilised expertly throughout Episode 2. 

Another factor that I think is often overlooked is the acting and animations of the characters. In most games, the acting is terrible and the characters feel like they're just generic plot devices. In HL2, the characters actually engage in real life actions. The actions of Alyx are where this is most apparent. Yes she's with you (or Gordon) and talking to you through large segments with good animation, but also little details like when she's teleported to her father's lab and she smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Easily missed, but little details like this help to breathe life into the characters.

I haven't even mentioned the superb game design Valve implement where early on they allow you to explore an area to get the lay of the land before entering a gun fight. Or the immense battles vs soldiers and gunships on dystopian rooftops closely followed by mass battles with striders. Or the well paced vehicle sections where just as they start to get boring, you move onto something else. Or the little puzzle sections that give you breathing room from all the action. Or the brilliant implementation of physics as a gameplay mechanic with the gravity gun. The sheer variety and depth in the game is epic in every sense of the word. No other pure FPS does what Half-Life 2 manages in a single package. 

Add to all this the fact that Valve are continually updating the Source engine and many little improvements are seemingly retrofitted into Half-Life 2 and Eps 1 & 2, and you get the greatest FPS single-player package on the planet.

Finito'd

1. Deus Ex (PC, also on PS2)

So, finally we reach number 1, although anyone who looked at last years list, this should be pretty obvious. This is quite simply the greatest game ever created! So many different play-styles, so many different decision trees, and a fantastic story to boot. If you like FPS or you like RPGs (even better if you like both!), this game has to be played. The tech may be old, but the story and the gameplay are timeless. 

Set in a cyber punk world (set in the not too distant future) where a wide array of hidden political groups, terrorist factions, freedom fighters and advanced computer AI are all vying for for their ideological future. You play JC Denton, a new nano-augmented agent for anti-terrorist organisation UNATCO. The first level shoves you in the deep end and immediately sets the tone for the rest of the game. You enter the docks to find terrorists have attacked the base to steal the months supply of a vaccine for a global plague. You're tasked with finding the terrorist leader (alive). Immediately, your brother (a fellow agent) gives you the option of which weapon you want to carry: crossbow, sniper rifle or RPG.  

You then have multiple options; Do you use stealth and sneak around? Do you go to the other side of the island and meet with the contact for the key to the front door? Do you pick the lock? Do you find a back way in? Do you hack the security systems and disable the cameras? Do you make for the ammo caches first? Do you go in guns blazing or silently take them down? Do you kill your enemies or just stun them? Do you avoid them alltogether? Do you bother with the secondary objective and save the captured agent or leave him? If you do rescue him do you give him a gun? When you reach your final objective do you follow orders or outright kill him?

All those decisions are on the first level and can have an immediate effect on the way other characters interact with you. In the future, the choices you make have serious repercussions on the characters around you including whether they live or die. The repercussions aren't always clear-cut either. Whether your pilot Jock lives at the end of the game is based solely on your curiosity rather than a clear positive/negative decision tree seen in most RPGs. All these decision trees and the detail in the world (you can drink and eat food, read newspapers, hack computers to read e-mails, get drunk/high etc.) make this game deeply immersive.

The games is ridiculously immersive to the point of embarrassment for me. I actually mistook the beeping of a stopwatch (in real life) for the sound the explosives make when they're about to go off and dived into the opposite room. Luckily, no-one saw, but yeah...

I haven't even talked about the story yet. The storyline is one of the best in video games history. A deep and involving plot that combines political intrigue, conspiracy and advanced science into one amazing package. What's so extraordinary is that it manages to retain an excellent storyline whilst still giving the player such huge freedom and choice. Only a select few games have ever acheived this, and I can't think of one that had as much choice as that offered in Deus Ex.

Add to all this the variety of weapons that included a measly batton/knife, grenades (EMP, gas, explosive), assault rifles, shotguns, RPGs, sniper rifles and massive energy weapons, and the variety of nano augmentations (enhancements) that included invisibility to either bots or organics, healing, super speed and jumping, spy bots, balistic protection and visual enhancements, and you get an amazing package.

This year saw a Deus Ex prequel in Human Revolution that made it to number 3, but even with the new graphics, the level of immersion is still slightly lacking by comparison as there is just a ridiculous amount of interaction in the original. That and it had stupid boss fights whereas the orginals boss fights still played out with multiple paths in mind. There were 3 different points you could fight Anna Navarre depending on player decisions for instance.

So the game was perfect in single player, many will complain the multiplayer wasn't that good. I entered the multiplayer with this in mind but have to say, I found it thoroughly enjoyable. The sheer variety of weapons and nano-augmentations kept it fresh, different and was actually a lot of fun. Bascially, this game is incredible, and if you haven't played it, you owe it to yourself to give this a go. Oh and it also predicts the future as it predicted 9/11 a year before it happened! Play this game for a view into our future! Oh, and theres a new High Def texture pack(s) for it: