GregHowley.com

After writing about IGN's list, I couldn't help but thinking about what would be in my own. So I sat down this weekend and sorted through lists of PS1 and PS2 games, NES Games, DS and Commodore 64 games, and came up with a bunch of others off the top of my head. I've written a list before of some of the games I've had the most fun with, and in some respects this list won't be much different. But I've considered more games for this list, and the list is a heck of a lot longer. Still, you will see no Guitar Heroes, no Halos, and certainly no MMOs. We're talking about my favorite games of all time. Others like 7th Guest and barely fell off the bottom, as my original list had over 60 games, but I'm happy with my end result.

I've decided to break my list up into five segments of ten games each. Actually, since I had a good list of 50 games and then thought of Portal, I've got 51. So the first installment here will have 11 games.

Here we go... games 51 through 41!

#51 - Scorched Earth - As he reads this, my cousin Paul is laughing and remembering an incident from just over a decade ago in which this game took over my computer and nothing but Scorched Earth would run on the machine. This doesn't stop the game from being simple and addictive fun. Here's how simple.

Scorched Earth is a turn-based artillery game. You play a tank placed randomly towards the left of the screen, and your opponent (computer or human) is on the right. The tanks don't move, but the terrain is random. You adjust your power and angle, and take turns firing until one of you is dead. Very simple. The game starts to get cool when you accumulate funds from your wins and begin purchasing shields and special munitions, such as the roller bullets that will roll downhill to destroy your foe or bouncing bombs. There have been a number of remakes, such as Scorched 3D, but the website Scorch2000 has a version closest to the original.

#50 - Dungeons and Dragons: Tower of Doom (Arcade) - When I worked at Skooters Family Entertainment Center in Bristol, CT, I had tons of fun playing this game. It was four player, like the X-Men arcade game, but was a much deeper experience. You could choose a Fighter, Dwarf, Cleric, or Elf. Each had special abilities. Everyone but the elf had shields which were incredibly useful. The Elf and Cleric had spells. Everyone had charge, slide, duck, and different jump attacks that neared Street Fighter 2's complexity. The game had branching paths leading to different levels, secret doors and hidden areas, complex traps, and many different magic items you could pick up. I never played the sequel: Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystara in the arcade, but I discovered it years later via MAME and had tons of fun with it. This game added a thief and magic user, as well as a lot more spells and special moves. In many ways it was better, but I'm making Tower of Doom my #50 because that's the game I always used to play in the arcade.

#49 - Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (PC) - I'd tried the demo for this game, and it looked really good. But as the game came nearer release, I heard nothing but bad reviews. So when I found the game at Target for 75% off and tried it, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, there were some parts that I really didn't like, but overall it was a lot of fun. You can customize your character in combat (fighter), stealth (rogue), or magic (mage) or take bits and pieces of each. Being able to play this partially as a stealth game is probably what made it so much fun for me. (my review)

#48 - Desktop Tower Defense (online) - Probably the only game on this list that's a free online game, and in some circles, it's been called game of the year. Another simple and addictive casual title, Desktop Tower Defense has you building different types of assault towers in an attempt to prevent little smiley faces called "creeps" from making it from one side of the screen to the other. It's so much fun. You can play here. (my review)

#47 - Wii Sports (Wii) - It's pretty amazing that after the Wii has been on the market for more than a year, it's still the one hot item in stores this holiday season. Know why? Wii Sports. It comes with the Wii, and it's selling Wiis the same way that Super Mario Brothers sold the NES. It makes better use of the Wii's unique controls than any other Wii game, and is certainly the system's most popular title. But despite this, the fact that people who don't generally like video games are loving it is what makes it truly great.

#46 - Dragon Warrior IV (NES) - This was an old-school role playing game, but the twist that for me really made it great was how it handled its characters and how they were introduced. At the beginning, you'd name your character. Then, you'd find yourself playing a soldier named Ragnar. Wha? A bit confusing at first - where was the character you'd made? After playing as Ragnar for a while, leveling him up, and aquiring items, chapter one would end, and you'd start chapter two, in which you're playing princess Alena instead of Ragnar. Another weird shift. This went on, and in chapter three you play a merchant named Taloon (who happens to be my favorite - he'd trip during a battle and do huge critical damage!) In chapter four you play a dancer named Mara. When chapter five starts, you find yourself finally playing the character you created at the beginning. And in your travels, you meet up with all the other characters with whose stories you've already become familiar. A very cool approach. I loved this game. I hear that you can get a copy of this game for the Nintendo DS in Japan. If it were offered here in the states, I'd definately pick it up.

#45 - Puzzle Quest (DS) - Puzzle Quest would be a shoe-in for game of the year on the Nintendo DS were it not for the competition posed by Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. It's a great blend of Bejeweled-like puzzle gaming and fantasy RPG gaming, and the variety of puzzle games really sneaks up on you as you slowly learn that there are more than just the battle puzzles. Capturing enemies was my favorite part. It really is a fantastic and innovative game. You can find my review here.

#44 - Samurai Showdown 2 (Arcade) - One of the few fighting games I really like. Like Street Fighter 2, I of course had to get good with every character in the game and learn all their moves. Samurai Showdown also did counters really well, as I learned with Jubei. But Krieger, that crazy muscle guy with the giant steel glove, was always my favorite. Yelling "Ichi-mungus!", grabbing a guy in my giant steel fist, uppercutting them into the sky, then jumping up and catching them in a backbreaker was so damn much fun.

#43 - Dance Dance Revolution (PS1) - Amongst my dancing friends, this game became a bit of a fad/obsession. I even invented a DDR move that I threw in an improvisation during an actual dance competition in Cape Cod one time. Given that everyone watching was very familiar with DDR, it got a good laugh. (I still didn't win)

To this day, Dance Dance Revolution is the main reason I still keep my old PS1 that I got modded in Manhattan's Chinatown. I can play all the import titles, and that's pretty much the only thing I use the PS1 for anymore.

#42 - Temple of Elemental Evil (PC) - While this game was incredibly buggy and sorely in need of optimization, it was in many ways the best D&D RPG other than the Infinity Engine games (Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment). I wrote about this quite a bit in my article Temple of Elemental Evil: Why It Was Great, Why It Sucked.

The game allowed you an entire party of characters, which is one of the main things that made Baldurs Gate so much better than Neverwinter Nights. It also allowed you to customize them with different classes, multiclassing, feats, and spells. Furthermore, it allowed you to take advantage of 3rd Edition D&D rules such as reach, readying, waiting, charging, partial or full attacks, and feats affecting Attacks of Opportunity. The game had so much going for it - it's a shame the programming and Q/A fell short.

#41 - Jade Empire, Special Edition (PC) - Largely on a recommendation from Brandon, I downloaded this game from Steam and gave it a shot. Despite its old-school KotOR feel, it was good. In fact, I'd say that Jade Empire is a lot like KotOR, only better. Both games have a plot twist with a big reveal, but I liked Jade Empire's story better. Plus, there was real-time action as opposed to the crappy 3D turn based thing in KotOR and Neverwinter Nights. The minigames also added some old school River Raid-esque fun - I just wish there'd been more than one minigame. (my review)

That's it for the first installment of Greg's Fantacular Top 51 Games of All Time. It took a while to write all this up, so I figure by next week I can have the second installment ready. Stay tuned.