The 101 best PC games ever, part three
17-May-2007 Feature: Here it is - 50 to 26! Let's compile a list of our most loved PC games of all time! It sounds like a bit of fun, doesn't it? Easy. If only we'd known. The following feature, which we've spread over a number of days, has taken the PC Zone team weeks of heated discussions, office arguments, late-night drunken text messages and email abuse to whittle down the PC's entire 20-plus year output of games into just 101 titles - and that's before we even started thinking about number one...
However, the dust has finally settled, the swearing silenced and here we are - PC Zone's 101 Best Games Ever. Enjoy this, numbers 50 to 26, and previous and the forthcoming final instalment featuring the crème de la crème of PC gaming, then don't forget to let us know if you agree or disagree by hitting the comments field below...
Previous instalments you may have missed:
50. CARMAGEDDON II: CARPOCALYPSE NOW YEAR 1998: While it may have been much the same as its predecessor, it was still impossible to ignore the sheer unadulterated entertainment value of Carmageddon II's unsubtle yet irresistible mix of high-speed driving, car-trashing and pedestrian-ramming. Politically incorrect in the extreme, it was also bloody good fun.
49. STAR WARS: JEDI KNIGHT- DARK FORCES II YEAR 1997: This shooter remains one of the finest examples of how to make a Star Wars FPS. Set in the aftermath of the second trilogy, you reprised your role as bearded pseud Kyle Katarn and battled an evil Sith lord in a Force power-packed intergalactic romp of blasting and lightsaber duelling. Genius!
48. SYNDICATE YEAR 1993: One of Bullfrog's finest ever creations, you played as the director of a massively powerful global corporation who were hell-bent on annihilating your competitors and setting pedestrians on fire. Controlling four drug-fuelled soldiers in isometric battles, the action/strategy mix was a precursor to the likes of Command & Conquer and Commandos.
47. BEYOND GOOD & EVIL YEAR 2003: An unfairly overlooked adventure, Beyond Good & Evil is a jaunt of startling depth and character, in which you play photo-journalist Jade (who you fancy), who's accompanied by her piggy uncle (who you don't). Recruited to expose an alien conspiracy, its delightful puzzling and oddly Rastafarian rhino mechanics made it nigh-on unforgettable.
46. BLACK & WHITE YEAR 2001: A flawed masterpiece it may be, but Black & White remains one of the most innovative and ambitious games of the new millennium. Playing as a god within a mystical world and aided by a giant creature you had to nurture from childhood to adulthood, you were charged with becoming the world's most powerful deity by any means at your disposal, be they good or evil. With your every action causing a reaction, both your creature and the world around you physically changed to represent your alignment, while the open-ended gameplay meant endless hours of freeform fun and villager torment.
45. ALIENS VS PREDATOR 2 YEAR 2001: A game of wondrous chills, this fright-fest made use of stunningly understated lighting and sound to generate genuine terror. Playing as a human (amazing!), a Predator (really good!) and an Alien (a bit confusing!), it also made for some of the tensest multiplayer action ever seen on PC. It's also the best film-licensed game money can buy.
44. COMMANDOS 2: MEN OF COURAGE YEAR 2001: This superb sequel remains one of the most taxing and entertaining strategy games of times past. Controlling a squad of four elite soldiers, you used their unique skills of sabotage and clothes-nicking to solve vexing puzzles while stealthing your way behind the sumptuous-looking enemy lines of Nazi Germany.
43. X-COM: UFO DEFENCE YEAR 1994: Long before the likes of Total War combined strategic maps with 3D battlefields came this superb tactical romp, in which you battled invading aliens. Split into two sections - a tactical map for troop movement and resource gathering, alongside a turn-based 3D battlefield - X-Com: UFO Defence was simply light years ahead of its time.
42. COMMAND & CONQUER YEAR 1995: While not quite the first RTS, Conquer & Conquer was the game that turned the genre into a global phenomenon. Suddenly, turn-based gaming was a thing of the past as gamers across the world experienced the joys of real-time warfare. Packed with cool and imaginative hardware - most notably the still unsurpassed Mammoth tank - and driven forward by superbly acted FMVs and one the best RTS soundtracks ever, C&C; heralded a new dawn in PC gaming and would go on to influence such classics as Company Of Heroes and the Total War series. Now that's what we call a legacy.
41. QUAKE YEAR 1996: Having changed the world of PC gaming forever with the all-conquering likes of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, id Software then went and made it three hit series in a row with this stunning medieval-fantasy- meets-sci-fi blaster. A dearth of story was made up for with giant electrosloths, eerie murk and brutal multiplayer.
40. DUKE NUKEM 3D YEAR 1996: A woman shouldn't be alone in a bar like this. She's interested, that's for sure. No matter how fast you strafe around her, she's facing you. Your hopes raised, you try to catch her attention with a dollar bill. "Shake it, baby," you growl, before renting a porn movie and going home alone.
39. WARCRAFT III: REIGN OF CHAOS YEAR 2002: Two years before the freakish popularity of World Of Warcraft, there was the only slightly less freakish popularity of Warcraft III. Ushering in the Night Elf and Undead races, it fleshed out the world and packed it with more of that compulsive Blizzard gameplay.
38. MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIM 2007 YEAR 2006: Think non-combat flight sims are tedious? Then shut up. Microsoft have this genre sewn up, and even if MFS07 is, ahem, 'Vista Preferred', it still hurls more fun, technology and innovation into the genre than ever, with missions that even include spies. Still think it's for dads, eh? Even with spies?
37. SAM & MAX HIT THE ROAD YEAR 1993: The new games are great, but they wouldn't have been made if the LucasArts original hadn't earned an immortal sheen. The comic-book roots were clear - every click was a joke, and sophisticated enough to not even feel like it was trying that hard. The 'Bigfoot' storyline wasn't quite as memorable as that of Monkey Island, but some of its scenes will live forever: the Cone of Tragedy, Gator Golf, bungee jumping from the noses of Mt Rushmore... And did you know the world's largest ball of twine is actually in Wisconsin? Well it is. That's a true story.
36. PSYCHONAUTS YEAR 2005: Psychonauts was Tim 'Grim Fandango' Schafer's first departure from point-and-click games, and he managed to fill the world of platform puzzling with his rich comic imagination. Artistically beautiful without the modern cop-out of being state-of-the-art, Psychonauts has some of the most innovative level design around.
35. IL-2 STURMOVIK: 1946 YEAR 2006: When IL-2 Sturmovik was first released, it was already a great flight sim - perhaps the greatest. Since then, its creator Oleg Maddox has continued to update and expand IL-2 until it's damn near perfect. The new 1946 version is 100% refined pure flight-action goodness. Proof that history (not to mention flight sims) can be fun.
34. PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 6 YEAR 2006: With goals creating the kind of rush previously reserved for non-prescription drugs, Konami's latest arcadey kickabout is still the pinnacle of the genre, however much FIFA is catching up. As in real football, however, violent disputes and foul language tend to follow it wherever it goes.
33. BATTLEFIELD 1942 YEAR 2002: Get in tank, shoot something, get out of tank, run around, shoot something. That's the pleasure of Battlefield 1942, and why it's more instant fun than the strategically superior sequels. It not only invented a whole genre from scratch (Codename Eagle aside), but also made crashing into a hillside in a freshly taken-off plane seem hilarious.
32. GTR 2 YEAR 2006: While not for the novice (first-timers probably won't get round the first corner), SimBin's hardcore racer is quite simply the finest racing simulation on Earth. With force-feedback that's so realistic it gave our managing editor travel sickness, slick hi-res graphics and obsessively accurate recreations of famous tracks and exotic machinery, GTR2 is quite simply petrol-soaked delirium.
31. ULTIMA VII: THE BLACK GATE YEAR 1992: Boasting the first true free-roaming world, Ultima VII still hasn't been topped. It satirised Scientology, let you fish, mine and have sex; it also lay the foundations of the MMO, but you got to make a permanent impact on your world. Best of all, it's still playable via Exult (exult.sourceforge.net).
30. FAR CRY YEAR 2004: Far Cry: punishing, intelligent, beautiful and shackled to a
hero with a distinctly odd sense of fashion. Developers Crytek may pour scorn on their Trigen creations these days, but for long-range, heart-stopping combat and remarkable outdoor level design, their tropical shooter remains a ground-breaking FPS experience. It's also, however, extremely bloody bastard-difficult to complete.
29. WING COMMANDER IV: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM YEAR 1995: Beyond the orgy of million-dollar FMVs (this time abandoning blue screen for real sets) and the dumb thrill of having Luke Skywalker play your hero, WC4 offered high-impact space battles, the likes of which are curiously uncommon in this day and age. Come back soon, Wing Commander. Please!
28. VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE - BLOODLINES YEAR 2004: Troubled development, bugged-filled release and the closure of the development company. That would spell the end of most games, but not Bloodlines. It was so stupidly good anyway that the fans resurrected it themselves. Three years and 2.4 versions later, we still don't know which 'sister' we'd rather sleep with.
27. MAFIA YEAR 2002: Describe Mafia as a Grand Theft Auto clone and you honestly should be sleeping with the fishes. This superb mobster game boasted a fantastic storyline that saw you rising to inevitable Don-hood, along with a considered approach to car theft, gunfights that felt real and a gut-wrench of a final scene. We're in desperate need of a sequel.
26. COUNTER-STRIKE: SOURCE YEAR 2004: It's the most popular online shooter ever, and the second place isn't even close. I mean, we know how to strafe around de_dust better than we know the route between the sofa and the bed in our own homes. Even if the recent introduction of market forces has rankled some players, the continued amount of love being pumped into the game from users and developers alike is remarkable. Will we ever tire of playing those same maps again and again, and being shot in the head from a mile off by someone whose skill infinitely outstrips our own? It's sadly doubtful.
We'll be back at the weekend with 25 down to 1 - keep eyes peeled!
| PC Zone Staff |  |
