IGN's Top 25 PC Games of All Time

[Thunderfall]

IGN has recompiled their Top 25 PC Games of All Time list and Civilization IV is #2 on the new list! Another Sid Meier title, Pirates!, is on #11. Here is what the IGN PC editors had to say about Civ4:

One of the Civilization games was absolutely going to be in the top 5 in this list, it was just a matter of which one we chose to occupy the spot. For years, it was largely understood that Civilization II was the best in the series offering up complex strategy in a palatable and even graceful format. Some out there would probably still argue that it's the best of the bunch, but we decided the latest went above and beyond that great title with more improvements than can be counted. From the revamped damage system to the diplomatic improvements and inclusion of religion, Civilization IV provides the most addictive 4X experience on the market. Even worse for those of us incapable of quitting to desktop is the inclusion of a very workable multiplayer solution. Turn-based strategy has never been easy this way, but Firaxis managed to make it easy, make saves work, and make it easily as much fun as the single player if not more so. Civilization IV is a brilliant game.

Below is the complete list:

Spoiler :

• X-COM: UFO Defense (1994)
• Civilization IV (2005)
• Star Wars TIE Fighter (1994)
• Rome: Total War (2004)
• Fallout (1997)
• StarCraft (1998)
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000)
• SimCity 2000 (1993)
• Half-Life 2 (2004)
• Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings (1999)
• Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987)
• Battlefield 1942 (2002)
• System Shock 2 (1999)
• Company of Heroes (2006)
• Grim Fandango (1998)
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006)
• World of Warcraft (2004)
• Call of Duty (2003)
• Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness (1995)
• Deus Ex (2000)
• MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat (1995)
• The Sims (2000)
• Unreal Tournament 2004 (2004)
• Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998)
• IL-2 Sturmovik (2001)

Besides this list, IGN has also released Top 25 Games of All Time list for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and GameBoy Advance. The last time IGN tried to compile these lists was in 2000.

 

[Fachy]

So StarCraft and WoW come before the sims?? GIVE ME A BREAK!!

 

[binhthuy71]

The Civ series was suitably honored. XCOM:UFO Defense definitely was worthy of the top spot. It's available now, for free, on some of the abandonware sites.

 

[Cornstalk]

The fact that 12 of those games all came out before 2000 says a lot about games themselves. The ooh and ahh of graphics only lasts so long, but the engrossing gameplay lasts for months.

A good chunk of the pre-2000 games I agree with for being in the top though, particularly spot #1. That was one heck of a game that wouldn't hessitate to buy if they rereleased it with only a graphics and interface sproose up.

Frankly I'm amazed Diablo 1 or 2 didn't make it in there... both of those games still seemed pretty notable for their time and really nothing has come close to matching Diablo 2 for that good ole click the monster hack'n'slash fun. I'm biased though, since I still play it from time to time.


It makes me sad to see Blizzard's MMO on their though. Having invested far too much time in to that... game (for lack of a rude term)... I really can't say it did anything special that makes it stand out over the predicessors and other choices. Well, no, it did one thing right... they made it so mind numbingly easy to play that there was virtually no challenges at all, and it just got easier with each and every patch. Did people mind? Heck no, in a game of 'my numbers are bigger then yours' the sooner you see results, the happier you are! I hardly qualify being easy as the makings of a good game... though the stripper dance the night elf women did probably helped too. Yay for teenage hormones making something popular?

 

[Ralelen]

Oblivion made the list and Morrowind didnt? Bah!

 

[Catharsis]

A surprisingly low place for The Sims...

 

[Heretic_Cata]

A surprisingly low place for The Sims...

Surprisingly high i would say.

Diablo 1 / 2 should've been there too, you wouldn't believe how big the multiplayer community is even today. But i guess it depends on what criterias the games were chosen.

 

[Catharsis]

Surprisingly high i would say.

You may not like it, but it's a gaming marvel.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

You may not like it, but it's a gaming marvel.

I've played the game for about 1 month.
It may have been a new unexplored game genre - but that's about it. It was just "the new thing"; it couldn't rival to veteran genres.

 

[Chuggi]

Yeah where's Diablo II? That's definetly one of the greatest games of all time... I'm glad Starcraft and Warcraft 2 got on there though.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

TIE Fighter got a rightfully honoured place, and I'm also pleased to see IL2 Sturmovik on there.

I would have put Civ2 rather than 4 on the list, but always good to see any Civ game near the top

 

[Till]

The adventure genre is woefully underrepresented. What's with all these WW2 shooter? Surely, one could have been removed to make room for the likes of Monkey Island. Not to mention that UT04 was picked over Quake. Sacrilege!

 

[Catharsis]

I've played the game for about 1 month.

You SICK FREAK!

It may have been a new unexplored game genre - but that's about it. It was just "the new thing"; it couldn't rival to veteran genres.

I suspect the problem is defining The Sims as a 'game'. Comparing it to, say, Civ is like comparing a doll's house to a game of chess. They don't match up.

And I'd say it could definitely rival that tired old FPS genre.

 

[Nobody]

Thats great to see, though i prefer part 3 or 2 i can see that this is really just a tip of the hat to all 4 games. I would put the franchise as number 1.

It makes me sad to see Blizzard's MMO on their though. Having invested far too much time in to that... game (for lack of a rude term)... I really can't say it did anything special that makes it stand out over the predicessors and other choices. Well, no, it did one thing right... they made it so mind numbingly easy to play that there was virtually no challenges at all, and it just got easier with each and every patch. Did people mind? Heck no, in a game of 'my numbers are bigger then yours' the sooner you see results, the happier you are! I hardly qualify being easy as the makings of a good game... though the stripper dance the night elf women did probably helped too. Yay for teenage hormones making something popular?

Pish posh wow is a great game, if its so mind numbings easy, did you finish nax? kill c'thun? become rank 13? There are challenges in the game.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

The adventure genre is woefully underrepresented. What's with all these WW2 shooter? Surely, one could have been removed to make room for the likes of Monkey Island. Not to mention that UT04 was picked over Quake. Sacrilege!

There's only two WW2 FPS - Call of Duty and Battlefield 1942. I'd argue the latter definitely deserves to be on there, though I think it's representing the Battlefield series as a whole - I'd wager the same goes for Civ4 representing the entire series as well.

 

[Rince]

Man, I played 23 out of those 25. Must make me a real gaming nerd.

The only ones I missed are World of Warcraft and Baldurs Gate.

How about you?

Rince

 

[Öjevind Lång]

A good chunk of the pre-2000 games I agree with for being in the top though, particularly spot #1. That was one heck of a game that wouldn't hessitate to buy if they rereleased it with only a graphics and interface sproose up.

I completely agree, though they could make the composition of the alien crews less drearily predictable and perhaps have a more imaginative list of names for your soliders.

None of the later X-COM games even came close to the original one.

BTW, I still have X-COM on a CD, but how do I make it play on an up-to-date computer?

 

[Slax]

DOOM was a breakthrough, I'm surprised not to see it.

 

[binhthuy71]

I completely agree, though they could make the composition of the alien crews less drearily predictable and perhaps have a more imaginative list of names for your soliders.

None of the later X-COM games even came close to the original one.

BTW, I still have X-COM on a CD, but how do I make it play on an up-to-date computer?

I still play XCOM. Playing on a Win2K or WinXP box is easy.

Go to this page and download xcom1fix.exe.

Copy all of the files from your CD into a folder on your hard drive. Copy xcom1fix.exe to the folder and click on it (Rather than xcom.exe) to play.

Works on my XP box with onboard sound etc.

PM me if you encounter any problems.

 

[HypnosTene]

Well, it's nice to see they remembered about some games, but on the other hand, they seem to have completely forgotten about some genres.
For example, the entire Elite/Frontier and later Privateer type of games. certainly revolutionary and imo better than many of the games mentioned on the list.

Lack oF Doom really does disappoint as well.

If mmorpgs were to be mentioned, then certainly ultima online deserves the place much more than WoW. Come to think about it, where did the great RPG series such as Ultima and Wizardry go. Betrayal at Krondor? the list just goes on.

And seriously, only ONE adventure game? and we get the sims instread? And the pseudo-historical Rome Total War instead of any decent V for Victory? *sigh*

~ just some ramblings of an old gamer