IGN's Top 25 PC Games of All Time

[I play 4 fun]

Starcraft should've been higher with the expansion pack brood war

 

[Till]

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.

I must admit i never played Call of Duty, but given that it seems quite similar to Battlefield, and given that entire genres were left out, i think it should be given the boot from the list.

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

Spot on!
But the thing is, while it would probably be possible to compile a list of top 25 RPGs without leaving out major milestones, it's just impossible to do if the list is meant to include all genres. Adventures at least got one mention, but how about platform games like Prince of Persia or Commander Keen?
If you make a list of greatest games of all times, you should make sure all major genres are at least represented...

 

[baboon]

Blizzard doesn't get what they deserve here. I can see Starcraft being high up, bu where is Diablo2 indeed? Just log on to battlenet, they are playing it like it was released yesterday. And World of Warcraft deserves more as well imo.

I agree on Civ4 being the best since they finally found a way to stop people from spamming cities without hardcoding a maximum amount of cities (after which they aren't useful anymore)

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Oh Master of Orion 2 should have been in the top 10 easly.

I played 11 of those games btw.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

I must admit i never played Call of Duty, but given that it seems quite similar to Battlefield, and given that entire genres were left out, i think it should be given the boot from the list.

I quite agree - the difference here between Battlefield and Call of Duty is that CoD is essentially another FPS game (albeit a great one), whereas Battlefield is a shining example of how non-RPG games have come into their own in online gaming. It is an FPS, but it's one that is specifically designed to play against several dozen people online on some excellent maps, so it deserves to be placed on the list.

I'd also argue that Company of Heroes and Oblivion shouldn't be on there yet. I have little doubt they will be in similar polls in the future, but at the moment they're still too new to be fully appreciated for what they did for gaming. Oblivion is about to receive a new expansion pack, and CoH is barely six months old!

 

[HypnosTene]

Spot on!
But the thing is, while it would probably be possible to compile a list of top 25 RPGs without leaving out major milestones, it's just impossible to do if the list is meant to include all genres. Adventures at least got one mention, but how about platform games like Prince of Persia or Commander Keen?
If you make a list of greatest games of all times, you should make sure all major genres are at least represented...

platform games, or turn based war strategies <what, not a single hex game? no Generals, no V for victory, no battle isle, no nothing?>, no sports games.. no logical games, really, it's just sad. Still, i am glad they didn't put FF7 as #1 (since there was a conversion)

Also, there are, what, 7 fps games? That's what I'd call overrepresentation...

and I played 22 of those

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Also, there are, what, 7 fps games? That's what I'd call overrepresentation...

There's also half a dozen strategy games in there as well. The PC lends itself well to strategy and shooters, and they've always been the most popular genres for the system

 

[HypnosTene]

There's also half a dozen strategy games in there as well. The PC lends itself well to strategy and shooters, and they've always been the most popular genres for the system

'Always' is rather inacurate here, imo. Before mid 90s shooters were rare, especially in comparison with adventure games and all sorts of simulators (space as well as real life) and, indeed, strategies. It's just that the creators of that list seem to be rather.. young (or have short memory )

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Whups, of course you're right there. My own PC gaming only truly began in the mid-90's, so I'm a little biased towards there onwards. Ironically, of course, my early computer were never really good, so my first gaming was Commander Keen and Prince of Persia when others were playing Half-Life

I would say though, that gaming has seen a remarkable rise in popularity recently, to the extent that having a library of games is becoming as common as a movie collection. This list is probably reflecting some of the games that boosted that image - hence why we see World of Warcraft and The Sims on the list, and other more recent games rather than the older classics

 

[Diorj]

It does not even count as a "Greatest" list if Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is not on the list.

 

[Till]

I quite agree - the difference here between Battlefield and Call of Duty is that CoD is essentially another FPS game (albeit a great one), whereas Battlefield is a shining example of how non-RPG games have come into their own in online gaming. It is an FPS, but it's one that is specifically designed to play against several dozen people online on some excellent maps, so it deserves to be placed on the list.

While Battlefield certainly is the most popular massive online shooter at the moment (for lack of a better term), i would argue the milestone in this genre is Starsiege Tribes (from 1998), with support for up to 128 players. It also had vehicles, when most other shooters didn't. (I actually can't think of any comparable shooter, which was out at the same time).

platform games, or turn based war strategies <what, not a single hex game? no Generals, no V for victory, no battle isle, no nothing?>, no sports games.. no logical games, really, it's just sad. Still, i am glad they didn't put FF7 as #1 (since there was a conversion)

Also, there are, what, 7 fps games? That's what I'd call overrepresentation...

and I played 22 of those

Oh man, hex games! That takes me back. You don't see many of them anymore these days.

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

While Battlefield certainly is the most popular massive online shooter at the moment (for lack of a better term), i would argue the milestone in this genre is Starsiege Tribes (from 1998), with support for up to 128 players. It also had vehicles, when most other shooters didn't. (I actually can't think of any comparable shooter, which was out at the same time).

Yeah, annoyingly I only remembered it after posting my earlier response. How popular was it though? I never really got a chance to play it.

That said, for all my talk about FPS shooters that were designed for multiplayer, the one game that should be there is Counterstrike. Might not be the best, but it's a game most can relate to, I feel.

Oh man, hex games! That takes me back. You don't see many of them anymore these days.

Although I know it's not a hex-game, for some reason this comment reminded me of another gaming great - Close Combat. Now that's a WW2 Strategy that deserves to be up there.

 

[Till]

Yeah, annoyingly I only remembered it after posting my earlier response. How popular was it though? I never really got a chance to play it.

That said, for all my talk about FPS shooters that were designed for multiplayer, the one game that should be there is Counterstrike. Might not be the best, but it's a game most can relate to, I feel.

I don't think it was extraordinarily popular initially, due to the lack of widespread broadband. It did create quite a splash when it came out, though, and quite a lot of people still play it today!
And you are absolutely right about Counterstrike. An entire generation of teenagers grew/grows up with it! Not among the best games, but one of the greatest.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

It does not even count as a "Greatest" list if Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is not on the list.

My God, how could i forget about it. I even have an avatar from it.

And speaking of CounterStrike - i'm glad that didn't make it in the top. It shows that the IGN folk have some sence in them.

 

[SuperBeaverInc.]

Civ III should have been #1.

 

[HypnosTene]

Civ III should have been #1.

Then I'd officially nuke their servers Myself, I'd rather see SMAC (no, I am not much of a Soren person) or Planescape Torment as #1, but I think genres and series are more impotant.

Although I know it's not a hex-game, for some reason this comment reminded me of another gaming great - Close Combat. Now that's a WW2 Strategy that deserves to be up there.

Ah yes, it was quite a splendid series. Btw, have you noticed the predominance of RTS games on the list? SC, WC2, AoE, CoH...

I would say though, that gaming has seen a remarkable rise in popularity recently, to the extent that having a library of games is becoming as common as a movie collection. This list is probably reflecting some of the games that boosted that image - hence why we see World of Warcraft and The Sims on the list, and other more recent games rather than the older classics

Yes, I think you put your finger to it. In other words, it's like 'the greatest movies of all time' list opened by Lord of the Rings and the Matrix and followed by the NEW Solaris and Ben Hur

Man, if I act like an old man at my age, there's no telling what will happen in a few years

 

[Kan' Sharuminar]

Yes, I think you put your finger to it. In other words, it's like 'the greatest movies of all time' list opened by Lord of the Rings and the Matrix and followed by the NEW Solaris and Ben Hur

I wouldn't go that far. I'd say it's like having The Greatest Movie of All Time, and including films like Star Wars, Godfather and Lord of the Rings, but not Ben Hur, Casablanca and Citizen Kane. These are all great games - some of which will become the classics of the next decade - and some of them are happily taking ideas from bygone greats, but they're all entertaining and invoking emotions in a way that great games should.

As I think has been accepted in this thread, this is a list of top games for the current generation, despite the inclusion of Pirates and TIE Fighter and what not. That's no bad thing

Too much thinking makes Kan a bad man, I demand the inclusion of Outcast and Fahrenheit in a future list. Now that's great gaming

 

[ThERat]

Played quite a number of those games and agree on many. As for civilization or Half Life, they should have been smart enough to state 'civilization series' or Half Life 1/2. If they claim Civ4 is the 2nd best game ever made, they better hide...stupid decision...

They have to take into account what was possible at that point in time and which game opened up whole new genres. I personally think 'Dungeon Master' was such a milestone (but then, the game came out on the Atari 512 or something like this. I played it on my Amiga.)

Doom was a milestone, so was civilization 1 and Half Life 1. I even think Wing Commander was quite a new experience when it came out...

Then again, you can never satisfy the diversity of a community and someone will always cry foul...but to put Civ4 as #2, plain wrong

 

[Öjevind Lång]

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.

Thank you!

 

[acidsatyr]

First, you need to realize that this is just one among many similar lists that tried to objectively (in which it didn&#8217;t succeed at all) show some of the best games ever made.
Second, the list itself is rubbish. Some of the greatest games were missed here (some of the ones you already mentioned), while others were put up on the list very high.

CIV 4 on 2nd place? Give me a break. It should not be in top 25 to begin with.
All who oppose to this FACT are simply too addicted to the game to admit otherwise, and you need to realize why was the list composed like this in the first place.