My 200 Favorite Games: 99-50

Last part here

99) Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness. Blizzard, 1995.

Hardly an original concept is greatly aided by an incredibly vibrant style and well-focused gameplay. For my money, the best of the series.

98) Gears of War 2. Epic Games, 2008.

A bigger, badder and better sequel and the biggest release of 2008, if you had an Xbox 360.

97) The Walking Dead Season Two. Telltale Games, 2013.

Pacing issues aside, this is a very good game that manages to not embarrass itself in comparison to its legendary predecessor.

96) Alan Wake. Remedy Entertainment, 2010.

Extremely moody, atmospheric and unique, Alan Wake is Remedy's strange little gem.

95) Perfect Dark. Rare, 2000.

Why did we ever agree to play shooters on this console? An excellent cyberpunk shooter that still holds up. Now, about that expansion pack.

94) The Legend of Zelda; Twilight Princess. Nintendo, 2006.

A game whose wiles never quite got their hooks in me. Plays a bit like it thinks it invented Zelda. Still, a poor 3D Zelda is better than most games.

93) Half-Life Opposing Force. Gearbox Software, 1999.

How do you outdo a masterpiece? Blue Shift tried to tone things down. Opposing Force turned them all up to 11. It works, most of the time.

92) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Rockstar North, 2002.

This whole section is lesser versions of all-time great series. Vice City is no exception. I found it grating, but still pretty great.

91) Jade Empire. BioWare, 2005.

BioWare's unplayed and unfinished masterpiece. There's so much to this game that even now I feel like I'm not done with it.

90) Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Retro Studios, 2004.

I've never been crazy about the dark world/light world dichotomy. It's been done better before, and the difficulty spike is inconsistent. Still, this is a solid sequel to a great, great game.

89) Batman. Telltale Games, 2016.

Telltale's take on the Caped Crusader has been very interesting thus far. Might jump up this list in the future.

88) Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City. Rockstar, 2009.

I'm counting The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony as the same game here, even though the latter is much better than the former. A welcome return to Liberty City.

87) Dead Space 2. Visceral Games, 2011.

The absolute pinnacle of this sort of game. I can't even conceive of a more taut, suspenseful survival space horror game. Some of the best setpieces in the industry.

86) Dragon Age Inquisition. BioWare, 2014.

Sort of splits the difference between the first and second Dragon Age titles, which makes for an awkward experience that isn't all that fun on repeat playthroughs.

85) Rocket League. Psyonix, 2015.

An incredible concept executed to its fullest extent, to joyous results.

84) Final Fantasy IX. Square, 2000.

The dark horse of the three PSX FF games might honestly be the best.

83) Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. Raven Software, 2003.

Modular level design and greatly moddable multiplayer made this the little game that could. It lasted for nearly a decade.

82) Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Retro Studios, 2007.

Smoother, Wii focused controls made MP3 perhaps too easy, but also perhaps more inventive and inspiring than its direct competitor.

81) Lost Odyssey. Mistwalker Studios, 2007.

The lost Final Fantasy game proved that turn-based JRPGs weren't as dead as we assumed. One of the most poignantly written games I can think of.

80) Resident Evil 4. Capcom, 2005.

A rapid departure from the series raises it to glorious heights and, eventually, terrible lows. Still the best game in the series.

79) Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Naughty Dog, 2011.

At what point do you sacrifice spectacle for content? Uncharted 3 skirts that line for its entire run time, but I still enjoyed it.

78) Gone Home. The Fullbright Company, 2013.

The level of detail and care put into this game rivals anything on this list. Environmental storytelling is important, and this is one of it's shining beacons.

77) The Stanley Parable. GalacticCage, 2013.

There hasn't been a better game about games that I've ever seen. Incredibly funny and interesting, if not all that replayable.

76) Just Cause 2. Avalance Studios, 2010.

Does Saints Row better than Saints Row ever has, and stands tall as one of the biggest, most malleable and most chaotic open world games in history. Still looks great, too.

75) Max Payne. Remedy Entertainment, 2001.

Remedy's crown jewel doesn't have the impact it did 15 years ago, and it's sometime cringeworthy, but it conjures up a mood that nothing I've ever played has been able to replicate.

74) GoldenEye 007. Rare, 1997.

The original master of console FPS has often been overlooked as a single player game. Really good and really important.

73) Halo 4. 343 Industries, 2012.

An awkward transition from Bungie to 343 can't mask some inspired design choices (and some terrible ones).

72) Super Smash Brothers WiiU. Nintendo, 2014.

A return to form for the most unique fighting game on the market, and the best game on the WiiU.

71) Fallout 4. Bethesda, 2015.

A more colorful art style can't quite hide some unfortunate streamlining and a piss poor quest system, but it's still Fallout.

70) Grand Theft Auto III. DMA Design, 2001.

I'm not sure there's been a more important game in the last twenty years, and that alone makes it better than Vice City.

69) Dark Souls. FromSoftware, 2011.

A gloriously brutal, well-wrought survival game that a small part of me is still afraid of.

68) The Banner Saga. Stoic, 2014.

A true gem that captures the spirit of tabletop gaming in a way I never thought possible. Oregon Trail + Final Fantasy Tactics.

67) Fallout New Vegas. Obsidian Entertainment, 2010.

A departure from Bethesda's style and more of a throwback to original Fallout games makes for a disjointed, but very worthy experience.

66) LA Noire. Team Bondi, 2011.

A game of staggering ambition and immense detail that fails in some very illuminating and interesting ways. Still, it's unlike anything else that's ever existed.

65) The Legend of Zelda; Skyward Sword. Nintendo, 2011.

An over-simplification of the Zelda formula? Perhaps, but it looks great and the swordplay is never anything less than intuitive. Some of the best dungeons in the series are here.

64) DOOM. id Software, 2016.

A startlingly good reboot sees the best single player FPS game in the better part of a decade. If it's too loud, you're too old.

63) Star Wars Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. LucasArts, 1997.

Alright, I won't pretend JK has aged well, but it was fairly innovative and held the first live action Star Wars footage of any kind since 1983.

62) Super Mario Sunshine. Nintendo, 2002.

A gorgeous game with a great gimmick that pales in comparison to SM64 because everything does and will until the end of time.

61) System Shock 2. Irrational Games, 1999.

Moody, atmospheric as hell and too complex by half makes for a great first run for Ken Levine. This game still gets under your skin.

60) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Kojima Productions, 2008.

Kojima indulges his worst tendencies in a game that feels like 40% of a game. The 40% that's there is fascinating, though.

59) The Wolf Among Us. Telltale Games, 2013.

A purple tinted noir masterwork from Telltale. This game's pacing is just as important to their future as The Walking Dead was.

58) XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Firaxis Games, 2012.

It's remarkable how much affection you can feel for personality-bereft interchangeable drone soldiers. This is a game of two halves, both of them immaculate.

57) Halo 5: Guardians. 343 Industries, 2015.

An absolutely excellent new movement system and some fun, open level design saves 343's increasing inability to tell a coherent story. Still, if you're going to do something right in a Halo game, making it fun is a good start.

56) The Elder Scrolls IV; Oblivion. Bethesda Softworks, 2006.

The first game I ever played that truly felt "next-gen." Still a monolithic achievement, but a lot of the luster is gone.

55) The Banner Saga 2. Stoic, 2016.

A truly improved sequel sees some interesting refinements that further separate this game from everything else in its genre.

54) Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast. Raven Software, 2002.

The ultimate Star Wars action sim. It probably won't ever be topped, despite how much I'd like it to.

53) Half-Life 2: Episode One. Valve, 2006.

The weakest official Half-Life game by far, mainly because it treads no new ground, makes no real improvements. Still a great game.

52) Dragon Age Origins. BioWare, 2009.

BioWare's throwback to Baldur's Gate style RPGs is enriched by some quality worldbuilding and a sense of scale that actually is "epic."

51) Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Kojima Productions, 2001.

Maybe the cleverest game of all time is weakened a bit by how little actual game is there. I still love it.

50) Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Rockstar, 2004.

By far the best of the PS2-era GTA titles is still one of the most exuberant and delightfully insane games of all time.

Final part here