2) Half Life 2 (PC) - So i finally played and finished this game last year and felt that it looked better and played better than a lot of other games that came years after it's release. The amount of polish and detail to create immersion for the player is outstanding. Most of you have already played it and loved it. So there is no point of going into details for each level. I am sure a lot of you remember the chills from Ravenholm and ant lions and the awesome gravity gun. I really don't know how they could have made it better to this day. It is almost if not perfect game. 

Word up for PSO love

49 Lists tallied, 899 unique games.

Ill give you two hints about my number 1

1. I already posted it so don't go back and check

2. A glitch involving sandals and a jail allow you to learn a spell as mysterious as it is useless

2. Radiant Historia (2010)

The last of the new arrivals on my list is one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in years.  The time travel concept in this game is wonderful and uses your decisions as the method of crafting where in the timeline may be accessed.  In order to reach a new area you will often need to get a new skill which can only be obtained in a different part of the timeline.  Some of the decisions lead to false paths in which your quest is lost or abandoned, similar in a sense to some visual novels.  The ending of the game is also altered nicely depending on which of the non-story quests have been completed.  As good as the story mechanics are, the real reason this game is so high on the list is its battle system.  The design of the different abilities and when you obtain them, coupled with the increase in enemy difficulty is nearly perfect at teaching you/forcing you to develop new strategies.  Using attacks to push enemies around a grid provides numerous options, especially when combined with the ability to rearrange when the turns of your group and enemies occur in order to create larger combos at a risk.  To see the time travel mechanic incorporated into the battle system like that was a real treat.  This is the single game I would most recommend other people play (despite it not being #1 on my list).

Okay, apparently my #1 is not widely known to be my #1.

It's a standalone game, but it has a predecessor in the same universe with wildly different gameplay. Another game in the universe is hopefully coming out reasonably soon, but it's been in development forever. The controls are buggy, the camera is dreadful but I adore the game, and so do many other people, especially on this site.

#2 - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, takes you to another world. This game is so vast, you can literaly play it differently in every playthrough. This is hands down the best Star Wars game ever made, as well as the best RPG ever made. The game has the perfect Star Wars story; an intimidating antagonist, large space stations, a desperate situation, galaxy-shaping events and epic battles. It is all present. Also, the game contains one of the best and memorable plot twists in video game history. Right up there with "The Princess is in another Castle..." Sadly, the game is so good, it makes the Star Wars movies, the prequel trilogy at least, look bad. There is nothing bad to say about this game, other than that the robes of the Jedi are not very 'Jediish'. And the good things speak for themselves; the game's epic from start to finish. Like I said, the game is vast, I'm amazed at the seemingly endless amounts of dialogue. This had inspired me to replay the game many times over, to search for new ways to accomplish things. This also got into looking in game-files, something I'd never done before. I wanted to know just how deep the dialogue-trees went. For the first time, I used the internet to find out things about this game, and it spread my interest to other games. I ended up on different forums, modding websites and other websites telling a certain game's secrets. This game prompted my interest in the workings of a game beyond the thing you see on screen. You could say, I am here because of this game!

#1 - ?

The number 1 game, the best game ever made, should not come as a surprise.

Smeags said: Hint for #1: It's Smeags' favorite game ever. Duh! (Another hint) The final level requires you to master all of your skills you've come across during your adventure. This one is the grand daddy of them all!

(Another hint)

Completing the final level really requires the inner daredevil in you.

Shadow of the Colossus?

Dang you're good.