The top 10 PC games of all time

[PCgamer81]

Okay, so I would like to post what I believe to be the top 10 PC games of all time. This list is my own personal opinion, so I would not like to start an argument, but I would like to start a discussion.

Before I begin, I will admit that I am probably not the most qualified person to be making this list. I have only been a PC gamer since the last few years, and I never really got a chance to play most of the games that came out prior to '04 - so this list will only encompass the games that I have played, and my own personal favorites out of those games.

More than anything, I would like to hear some opinions on what you think are the top 10 PC games of all time.

I know that to narrow down all of the great PC games (not only exclusives) in history is an exercise in futility, but I will give it my best shot.

Here goes...

10. Far Cry
9. Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn
8. Star Wars: Tie Fighter
7. Diablo 2
6. Deus Ex
5. Crysis
4. Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion
3. Doom
2. Half Life
1. Half Life 2

A personal favorite of mine that didn't make my list is Metro 2033.

 

[Herr_Koos]

No RTS games?

Making a top 10 list would take some serious thinking, which I'm frankly too lazy to do right now. It also depends on what criteria you use to define "top" or "best". Units sold? Critical acclaim? Gameplay? Graphical quality? Storyline?

Anyhoo, I tend to rate "greatest" in terms of longevity and impact on the genre. Hence, a few of the games I would feature (in no particular order) are:

Dune II
Command & Conquer
StarCraft
Doom
Half-Life
Wing Commander
Civilization

I may add more later as I think of them.

 

[de5_Roy]

on top of my head.....based strictly on personal experience -
1. doom 2
2. duke nukem 3d
3. gta san andreas
4. gta vice city
5. gta iii
6. need for speed - ii, iii, most wanted, hot pursuit
7. commandos - i & ii
8. x men legends - rise of apocalypse
9. mortal kombat 4
10. max payne i & ii

 

[Gothams Finest]

Best PC game to me means, best PC exclusive, or at least exclusive on release.

Here are mine in no particular order.

Age of Empires
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Command & Conquer
Company of Heroes
Total War Series
Half Life 1 & 2
Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic
Deus Ex
Counterstrike
Red Orchestra 2

 

[sosofm]

Im am a fps games player and i liked :
Max Payne I & II
Sniper Elite
Doom
Borderlands
Call of Dutty series all
Crisys all
Half Life
and the most played games series TOMB RAIDER all series.

 

[PCgamer81]

No RTS games?

Making a top 10 list would take some serious thinking, which I'm frankly too lazy to do right now. It also depends on what criteria you use to define "top" or "best". Units sold? Critical acclaim? Gameplay? Graphical quality? Storyline?

Anyhoo, I tend to rate "greatest" in terms of longevity and impact on the genre. Hence, a few of the games I would feature (in no particular order) are:

Dune II
Command & Conquer
StarCraft
Doom
Half-Life
Wing Commander
Civilization

I may add more later as I think of them.

Good points and a good list!

 

[PCgamer81]

Best PC game to me means, best PC exclusive, or at least exclusive on release.

Here are mine in no particular order.

Age of Empires
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Command & Conquer
Company of Heroes
Total War Series
Half Life 1 & 2
Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic
Deus Ex
Counterstrike
Red Orchestra 2

Good list! I would personally put AoE2 ahead of AoE but that's just me.

Oh, and I don't know how I forgot about Kotor.

 

[AntiZig]

I don't think I can rate the games I've liked over the years from top to bottom, but here's the list of the 10 that I liked most:

- Half-life (1,2) + CSS
- Starcraft (1-2)
- Heroes of Might and Magic (2-3,6)
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Vanguard Bandits
- C&C:Red Alert 2
- Warcraft 3
- Assassin's Creed (1-2)
- Witcher
- Metal Gear Solid (1-3)

 

[PCgamer81]

I don't think I can rate the games I've liked over the years from top to bottom, but here's the list of the 10 that I liked most:

- Half-life (1,2) + CSS
- Starcraft (1-2)
- Heroes of Might and Magic (2-3,6)
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Vanguard Bandits
- C&C:Red Alert 2
- Warcraft 3
- Assassin's Creed (1-2)
- Witcher
- Metal Gear Solid (1-3)

All great games, no doubt about that.

But the MGS series, while absolutely amazing games, aren't PC games.

 

[AntiZig]

hmm, I coulda sworn I've played at least one of them on PC, oh well maybe not haha

 

[de5_Roy]

mgs series was first released for consoles but they had pc versions too. i've played the first mgs (the 3d one) on pc. i saw the another one (sons of liberty iirc) but at that time it was beyond my pc's specs. they had quite a bit of a learning curve with the keyboard controls. but the gameplay and the story was awesome. also had some nice easter eggs.

 

[benski]

No quake or unreal tournament on anyone's list?

10 off the top of my head:

Doom
Warcraft 2
Starcraft
Quake
UT2004
Falcon 3.0
Myst
Kings Quest 6
Civilization
Duke Nukem

 

[Gothams Finest]

Good list! I would personally put AoE2 ahead of AoE but that's just me.

Oh, and I don't know how I forgot about Kotor.

I listed AoE over AoE 2 for more personal nostalgia reasons more than anything else.

Age of Empires was my first PC game, and is also probably the game that I have spent the most time playing.

Kotor is an amazing game isn't it, I'm currently playing through it once again for like the 100th time lol.

 

[Gothams Finest]

I don't think I can rate the games I've liked over the years from top to bottom, but here's the list of the 10 that I liked most:

- Half-life (1,2) + CSS
- Starcraft (1-2)
- Heroes of Might and Magic (2-3,6)
- Jagged Alliance 2
- Vanguard Bandits
- C&C:Red Alert 2
- Warcraft 3
- Assassin's Creed (1-2)
- Witcher
- Metal Gear Solid (1-3)

Good to see another Heroes of Might and Magic fan

 

[AntiZig]

that hot seat man. back when i was in 5th grade or so, we used to play that with like 3-4 friends all the time

 

[PCgamer81]

I listed AoE over AoE 2 for more personal nostalgia reasons more than anything else.

Age of Empires was my first PC game, and is also probably the game that I have spent the most time playing.

Kotor is an amazing game isn't it, I'm currently playing through it once again for like the 100th time lol.

Kotor is brilliant. You would think that with Mass Effect and Dragon Age, Kotor would be no fun, anymore.

But it is still great fun, thinks to the D&D rule set incorporated into the game, the Star Wars universe, and the awesome story with very different paths. Even though it only has two endings, you can't really play that game the same way twice.

 

[chriscornell]

Batman Arkham Asylum
Half Life 2
Warcraft 3
World of Warcraft
Unreal Tournament - the original and 2003/2004
Battlefield 3
Baldur's Gate 2
Civilization - all of them
COD 4 Modern Warfare
Colin Mcrae Rally - the first one

In no apparent order - listed, Batman or Half Life would probably top the list.

Honorable mentions:

the GTA series
Portal 1 & 2
League of Legends
Worms
Sim City
Railroad Tycoon
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory - goddamn I played that game a lot back then
Mafia - the first one
Max Payne 1 & 2

 

[PCgamer81]

Batman Arkham Asylum
Half Life 2
Warcraft 3
World of Warcraft
Unreal Tournament - the original and 2003/2004
Battlefield 3
Baldur's Gate 2
Civilization - all of them
COD 4 Modern Warfare
Colin Mcrae Rally - the first one

In no apparent order - listed, Batman or Half Life would probably top the list.

Honorable mentions:

the GTA series
Portal 1 & 2
League of Legends
Worms
Sim City
Railroad Tycoon
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory - goddamn I played that game a lot back then
Mafia - the first one
Max Payne 1 & 2

Good list, I agree with UT04, Civ, Baldur's Gate 2, Half Life 2, Sim City, WET.

 

[johanvheerden]

I thinks it's almost impossible to have a top ten for a true pc gaming fan. But if i had to name ten of the best games they would have to be as follows (in no particular order).

Freelancer (my childhood, also i have a great love for space games and anything space related)

Supreme Commander+Forged Alliance (me and my friends have spent hundreds of hours lanning this game, we do still)

Warcraft 3 (even to this day i play this game, it's a classic)

Mass Effect 1 & 2 (as i said i love space games but besides that the storyline is simply amazing, better than watching a movie imo)

The Elder Scrolls series (I love how all the games are connected, each new game just adds to the big archive of lore to the Elder scrolls universe)

Dragon Age Origins (love the game mechanics, storyline and the whole feel to it) PS. they totally f*** up with Dragon Age Awakening and Dragon Age 2 imo

Batman Arkham Asylum (Usually they ruin Marvel games like they did Iron Man and the Spiderman games but with this one they really made me smile "which is rare nowadays")

Call of Duty World at War (The campaign was simply awesome for me and also me and my friends have lanned the zombie maps more times than i can count)

World of Warcraft (i never liked mmo's until i played this game, it basically stole 2 years of my life, i stopped playing now but the only reason is because of schoolwork and sports, it was truly a sad day when i closed my account)

Anno 1404 and Anno 2070 (these two games are simply amazing, Anno 2070 is quite possibly the best game i've played in 2011)

Crysis and Crysis 2 (the storyline is surprisingly good and the overall First Person Shooter feel of the game is pretty fun, not to mention the amazing graphics)

Gothic 3 (Besides the vast array of glitches this game managed to steal a good half year of my life)

Gears of War (the pc version, this is quite simply and Epic shooter/alien invasion/blood and gore/hardcore chainsaw gun and teeth grinding game)



Sorry about the long list, i got carried away lol

 

[bystander]

My lists go vary far back, so this will be hard for me to recall them exactly, but a few of you definitely brought back memories.

Kings Quest series got me into gaming.
Dune II was the first good RTS I'd played
Ultima and Ultima Underworld got me into RPG's
Elder Scrolls - I've played all of them, Arena was awesome, Daggerfall and Morrowind too. Only Oblivion was a bit disappointing to me.
Wing Commander series, they were all great.
Baldur's Gate was awesome
Dragon Age Origins felt like a revitalization of Baldur's gate.
Star Wars Knights of the Old republic
Warcraft
Starcraft
Falcon 3.0 definitely was the best flight simulator game I've ever played
Farcry is my favorite first person shooter
Diablo

There are a few more I can't even remember their names anymore, so I guess they don't make the list as a result.

 

[PCgamer81]

I thinks it's almost impossible to have a top ten for a true pc gaming fan. But if i had to name ten of the best games they would have to be as follows (in no particular order).

Freelancer (my childhood, also i have a great love for space games and anything space related)

Supreme Commander+Forged Alliance (me and my friends have spent hundreds of hours lanning this game, we do still)

Warcraft 3 (even to this day i play this game, it's a classic)

Mass Effect 1 & 2 (as i said i love space games but besides that the storyline is simply amazing, better than watching a movie imo)

The Elder Scrolls series (I love how all the games are connected, each new game just adds to the big archive of lore to the Elder scrolls universe)

Dragon Age Origins (love the game mechanics, storyline and the whole feel to it) PS. they totally f*** up with Dragon Age Awakening and Dragon Age 2 imo

Batman Arkham Asylum (Usually they ruin Marvel games like they did Iron Man and the Spiderman games but with this one they really made me smile "which is rare nowadays")

Call of Duty World at War (The campaign was simply awesome for me and also me and my friends have lanned the zombie maps more times than i can count)

World of Warcraft (i never liked mmo's until i played this game, it basically stole 2 years of my life, i stopped playing now but the only reason is because of schoolwork and sports, it was truly a sad day when i closed my account)

Anno 1404 and Anno 2070 (these two games are simply amazing, Anno 2070 is quite possibly the best game i've played in 2011)

Crysis and Crysis 2 (the storyline is surprisingly good and the overall First Person Shooter feel of the game is pretty fun, not to mention the amazing graphics)

Gothic 3 (Besides the vast array of glitches this game managed to steal a good half year of my life)

Gears of War (the pc version, this is quite simply and Epic shooter/alien invasion/blood and gore/hardcore chainsaw gun and teeth grinding game)



Sorry about the long list, i got carried away lol

Good list, and you are not the first person to put world of warcraft in there - I left it out because I see MMO's as more of a social network game than game game.

 

[PCgamer81]

My lists go vary far back, so this will be hard for me to recall them exactly, but a few of you definitely brought back memories.

Kings Quest series got me into gaming.
Dune II was the first good RTS I'd played
Ultima and Ultima Underworld got me into RPG's
Elder Scrolls - I've played all of them, Arena was awesome, Daggerfall and Morrowind too. Only Oblivion was a bit disappointing to me.
Wing Commander series, they were all great.
Baldur's Gate was awesome
Dragon Age Origins felt like a revitalization of Baldur's gate.
Star Wars Knights of the Old republic
Warcraft
Starcraft
Falcon 3.0 definitely was the best flight simulator game I've ever played
Farcry is my favorite first person shooter
Diablo

There are a few more I can't even remember their names anymore, so I guess they don't make the list as a result.

Very good list.

Morrowind is my favorite Elder Scrolls game.

I think Oblivion is better and funner all things considered - that is why I put it in my list instead of Morrowind or Skyrim. It is the better game, in my opinion. But I personally liked Morrowind the most - and here is why...

You get to play the role as the "chosen one", giving the player an "I'm destined", Messiah-esque feel. No other game I ever played made me feel like God incarnate. That is what you are in Morrowind, basically. God in the flesh.

 

[casualcolors]

10.Jane's series combat flight simulator games. They were all beast.
9.Mass Effect 2
8.Quake
7.Portal
6.Bioshock
5.Battlefield 3 (based solely on the multiplayer experience)
4.Wolfenstein 3-D
3.Crysis (entire series, I liked Crysis 2 in addition to the other games quite a bit)
2.Deus Ex
1.DOOM & Doom 2


honorable mentions: 7th Guest was cool for its time, Arkham City is really impressing me and a lot of old text MUDs that are gone now but sorely missed by me.

 

[PCgamer81]

10.Jane's series combat flight simulator games. They were all beast.
9.Mass Effect 2
8.Quake
7.Portal
6.Bioshock
5.Battlefield 3 (based solely on the multiplayer experience)
4.Wolfenstein 3-D
3.Crysis (entire series, I liked Crysis 2 in addition to the other games quite a bit)
2.Deus Ex
1.DOOM & Doom 2


honorable mentions: 7th Guest was cool for its time, Arkham City is really impressing me and a lot of old text MUDs that are gone now but sorely missed by me.

Great list, and I agree with mostly everything there.

I did think Doom was a lot better than Doom 2. I didn't like the Doom 2 levels.

 

[jaguarskx]

Not in any particular order:

Star Wars Tie Fighter
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Half Life I
Civilization II
Far Cry
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Master of Magic
Master of Orion I
Fallout 2
Mass Effects I