G4's Top 100 Games of All Time

[firecape]

I played prototype and it was pretty fun and addicting for the span of ~10 hours in which I played it (give or take a few hours I didn't exactly keep track). After that I kind of just forgot about it. It was one of those things that I couldn't put down but forgot about it soon after due to a total lack of anything save for satisfying combat. And if I remember correctly that isn't a cinematic that's an actual attack you can do, though it was so long ago I could be wrong. It's definitely not winning any awards though...

edit: I personally find games like pac man and tetris fun for an occasion car ride or boring class, but they get old really fast. They're a bit overhyped as "classics" and I would never choose them over something like a good RPG.

 

[VKCA]

Prototype sucks though. I would rather play Pac-Man again, and I own Prototype.

Wait
If you had to choose between only playing Pacman or only playing Prototype for the rest of eternity, you would rather play pacman?
Sorry if I sound like I'm trolling, but I just have a really hard time believing this.

Infamous is considered much better and it uses basically the exact same concept lol

Okay you can ditto anything I said for infamous if it pleases you (you in the general sense, not byrne in particular)

 

[Wikey]

The Resident Evil Remake for Gamecube belongs on the list. I'd put it higher than RE4.

Ninja'd and he said it so well.

REMake is the single most atmospheric and well thought out horror game ever made. The level design is impeccable, constantly mixing things up to prevent the player from settling into a routine path through the mansion.

The other thing about lists like this is do you put every instance of a series on the list if they belong? The list would be like 50% Nintendo if that were the case. Almost every Zelda has been superb. Every main Mario game has been amazing.

It's the little things. Running around and exploring in SMB3 is incredibly fun. Jumping is fun. Killing enemies is fun. Beating levels and trying to get the card you need at the end is fun. Newer games have a lot of intriguing elements. And have some things that are fun. But the very basics aren't as fun. I loved Fallout 3 but getting around is a chore. Exploring isn't very fun. There is more reason to explore technically because there are all the hidden items and stuff to find but I would rather explore in SMB3.

I've been Super Mario Galaxy and gotten 100% completion twice. I've only beaten Fallout 3 once. Probably not even near 50% completion. It's just not as fun of a game.

 

[vonFiedler]

Wait
If you had to choose between only playing Pacman or only playing Prototype for the rest of eternity, you would rather play pacman?
Sorry if I sound like I'm trolling, but I just have a really hard time believing this.

An eternity of "Eh, this is ok. Might as well become the best Pac-Man player ever"

Or an eternity of "Wow these controls suck. Why did the developers feel that making every fight a clusterfuck was a good difficulty curve? If I can only realistically hurt this boss by throwing barrels at it, how come I'm not given the time needed to pick them up, reorient the bad camera, then throw accurately? Can I just play the first few levels for eternity? Those were ok..."

Infamous reminds me of everything that is good about the Spiderman game franchise. Prototype reminds me of everything bad about it.

 

[Byrne]

An eternity of "Eh, this is ok. Might as well become the best Pac-Man player ever"

Or an eternity of "Wow these controls suck. Why did the developers feel that making every fight a clusterfuck was a good difficulty curve? If I can only realistically hurt this boss by throwing barrels at it, how come I'm not given the time needed to pick them up, reorient the bad camera, then throw accurately? Can I just play the first few levels for eternity? Those were ok..."

Infamous reminds me of everything that is good about the Spiderman game franchise. Prototype reminds me of everything bad about it.

You're not really getting the point. He picked Prototype for the sake of picking some game. A better question is: would you rather have Pac-Man or a current gen game you enjoy?

 

[vonFiedler]

I got the point. I'm not one for mindlessly trash talking either the oldest or newest games. This gen hasn't been that good but yeah I'd probably play Red Dead for eternity. But I'd just as soon play Oregon Trail 2 for eternity.

 

[some hero]

REMake is the single most atmospheric and well thought out horror game ever made. The level design is impeccable, constantly mixing things up to prevent the player from settling into a routine path through the mansion. Crimson Heads offer a stifling new resource management system with a ticking clock. RE3 Nemesis offers something unique as a video game, a truly harrowing opponent. It's brilliant that while Nemesis is never invincible, it is still never advisable to take him on when you can run. These two Survival Horror games got under your skin waaaaaaay more than RE4 did, and that's the whole point of the genre. Don't be such a pussy.

Though RE4 is the best game ever made though.

The only reason why they get under your skin is because of the frustrating controls and stupid save system. The earlier Resident Evil games are almost as bad as the Silent Hill games. Being frustrated is not the same as being scared. When you go back to terrible game mechanics(instead of progressing through them) they seem to suck more. That's my problem with them and with the horror genre in general(minus Amnesia The Dark whatever). Bad controls/combat just makes them frustrating not scary.

I'm sure if i were to have played as they came out i wouldn't have this problem.

 

[Lee]

As I said, eighties and early nineties can't hold up

Chrono Trigger - 1995
Super Metroid - 1994
Donkey Kong Country - 1994
Final Fantasy 3 - 1994
Mega Man X - 1994
Star Fox - 1993
Super Mario Kart - 1992
A Link to the Past - 1992
Super Mario World - 1991

what the fuck is wrong with you

 

[vonFiedler]

Actually the camera and controls in Silent Hill 1 specifically are impeccable (they only got worse as the series progressed). The controls in RE games starting with the second work fine, in fact they are the same turret controls in your beloved RE4. Only the camera changed, but the fact of the matter was that fixed cameras were the best way to make a good looking and immersive environment on the PS1. Children these days are spoiled by the fact that 99% of games control the same way. Controls are bad when they don't do what you tell them to, not when you can't be assed to adapt to a different control scheme.

Complaining about the save system? Are you 13? Auto-saving is pretty new bro, even RE4 didn't have it.

 

[some hero]

Actually the camera and controls in Silent Hill 1 specifically are impeccable. The controls in RE games starting with the second work fine, in fact they are the same turret controls in your beloved RE4. Only the camera changed, but the fact of the matter was that fixed cameras were the best way to make a good looking and immersive environment on the PS1. Children these days are spoiled by the fact that 99% of games control the same way. Controls are bad when they don't do what you tell them to, not when you can't be assed to adapt to a different control scheme.

Complaining about the save system? Are you 13? Auto-saving is pretty new bro, even RE4 didn't have it.

Like i said before, the reason why i disliked the controls in the early RE games was because i went back to them from the fourth. Obviously it is hard to go back to something so dumb and it's unfair to compare them to a later entry in the series. Saying that the controls are terrible by todays starndards. Which is my point, even if it is because of being spoiled. This just shows that those early games suck now and didn't age like wine or whatever. Not really sure why we are arguing, the controls are bad but it's not their fault.

Also, i had a problem with LIMITED saves. Who decided that was a smart move? Obviously their passable but if i want to save every three minutes why the hell can't i? Needlesly frustrating.

 

[vonFiedler]

Like i said before, the reason why i disliked the controls in the early RE games was because i went back to them from the fourth. Obviously it is hard to go back to something so dumb and it's unfair to compare them to a later entry in the series. Saying that the controls are terrible by todays starndards. Which is my point, even if it is because of being spoiled. This just shows that those early games suck now and didn't age like wine or whatever. Not really sure why we are arguing, the controls are bad but it's not their fault.

Also, i had a problem with LIMITED saves. Who decided that was a smart move? Obviously their passable but if i want to save every three minutes why the hell can't i? Needlesly frustrating.

Let's say you are right and that they don't control almost exactly like RE4, the only exception being that in RE4 you can your gun at specific body parts (something no other previous game needed). In spite of these game's overwhelming strong points, they suck because you can't figure out the controls. Fantastic.

Also no one ever ran out of ink ribbons.

 

[Byrne]

Chrono Trigger - 1995
Super Metroid - 1994
Donkey Kong Country - 1994
Final Fantasy 3 - 1994
Mega Man X - 1994
Star Fox - 1993
Super Mario Kart - 1992
A Link to the Past - 1992
Super Mario World - 1991

what the fuck is wrong with you

Hmm. You know, I've never really realized how fucking badass the video game industry was from 91-95. That's absolutely insane.

Anyway, he has a point with the 80's. I mean, I could live if I never played any game before 1990 ever again.

 

[mingot]

@CircusKarokeThing -

If I could only play one (single player) video game for the rest of my life it would be Galaga.

 

[popemobile]

Although the list has a lot of things wrong with it, there actually are a good number of games on that list that I agree with. Hell, I'd probably put Tetris as #1 because it's stood the test of time better than any game I can think of. Might write up some comments in a bit.

Some notes: Uncharted 2 absolutely deserves to be that high, Bioshock probably not. Fallout 3 should be top 20 at least, MGS3 top 10 at least. Glad to see a Ratchet and Clank game on the list as it's my favorite series. You really could make a convincing argument for a lot of those games to be on the list, although the order in general is pretty bad.

 

[zorbees]

Wait
If you had to choose between only playing Pacman or only playing Prototype for the rest of eternity, you would rather play pacman?
Sorry if I sound like I'm trolling, but I just have a really hard time believing this.

Replay value is not the only criteria to determine a good game.

 

[VKCA]

Replay value is not the only criteria to determine a good game.

Okay yes, certainly, but if you had to choose between two games for the rest of time, wouldn't you choose the better one?

Chrono Trigger - 1995
Super Metroid - 1994
Donkey Kong Country - 1994
Final Fantasy 3 - 1994
Mega Man X - 1994
Star Fox - 1993
Super Mario Kart - 1992
A Link to the Past - 1992
Super Mario World - 1991

what the fuck is wrong with you

Hmm
sorry, I've played all those games, I thought they were later on, being only born in 93 and only really playing video games for the first time when I was eight I thought those came out later.
Fine, forget I said nineties games were bad (or whatever I said)
eighties were bad.

fuck it, I don't have an opinion anymore
video games r cool
I like em, so do you (same you as above)

I guess I'm just going to have to disagree with you guys on a couple of these things

 

[some hero]

[

Let's say you are right and that they don't control almost exactly like RE4, the only exception being that in RE4 you can your gun at specific body parts (something no other previous game needed). In spite of these game's overwhelming strong points, they suck because you can't figure out the controls. Fantastic.

Also no one ever ran out of ink ribbons.

I know you love them and won't see any flaw in them. So let's drop it and ingnore the terrible controls, bad camera, dumb saving system and crappy story. A good game doesn't need any of that, right? And why even have a limit on the saves than? Was it meant just to frustrate?

 

[zorbees]

no i would choose the one with more replay value

 

[Feathers]

it's kind of like watching someone host a show about video games and they don't play any, but they're trying really hard.

edit: is this like when skyrim scored 40 in famitsu

 

[VKCA]

no i would choose the one with more replay value

okay
I guess we can differ on this along side the other things

And why even have a limit on the saves than? Was it meant just to frustrate?

Lazy developers artificially increasing difficulty? (I don't want to say that about whomever makes re though) you guys are talking about re right?

 

[vonFiedler]

I know you love them and won't see any flaw in them. So let's drop it and ingnore the terrible controls, bad camera, dumb saving system and crappy story. A good game doesn't need any of that, right? And why even have a limit on the saves than? Was it meant just to frustrate?

Let's drop it but here are the same things I've said before, not at all addressing the fact that previous RE games have similar controls and a better story than RE4, the game that I said was the best ever made. You're trying awful hard to be cute.

Oh, I see where they aren't as good as the greatest game ever made. But you'd think you'd be able to more accurately compare two games made by the same guy in the same franchise.

If you want to say the controls are bad, you could have started with a reason. A story about how you tried to shoot your gun but accidentally entered a nearby door or something.

 

[smashlloyd20]

Mario galaxy....where?

And Ocarina of Time at 11? Seriously? I have never, ever seen it outside the top 4 in any 'best games ever' list. Ever.

 

[popemobile]

zelda is a way overrated series

come at me

 

[smashlloyd20]

not even gonna bother

 

[SJCrew]

Bioshock was a lot of fun, and in terms of relevance, it definitely deserves to be that high due to its storytelling and environment being far beyond what video games have then and since accomplished. Had it been a movie concept instead, critics would be raving about it being the best thing since Citizen Kane.

Resident Evil 4 on the other hand wasn't really a revolutionary game, just extremely well executed in every field it attempted, and an enjoyable hybrid of both classic RE lore horror and faster paced modern action. Retarded good graphics for its time helps too. Probably kicks the shit out of everything else I've ever played, even the platforming classics I grew up with. The adrenaline of its boss fights and enemy encounters are just too memorable.