The VGC Top 100 Best Games of All Time, #80-71 - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 09 May 2009 / 60,526 Views
Welcome back to the Top 100 Best Games of All Time list. In this feature, we have more Xbox love, and more classic and highly rated games. Some of these gems are old, while many are recent. This transparency is why we love games. Even the oldest and recent of games can become games we revere for a long time. This list may not coincide with opinions of some, but we hope you enjoy the list.
80. Gears of War 2
As the sequel to the Xbox 360's first killer app, this game was hyped immensely. When it was announced, Epic promised a bigger, better, and more bad- ass game. Videos poured in and hype spread liek wildfire, especially in regards to graphics and how far the 360 could be pushed technically. The game offers good balance between single player and multiplayer, garnering much praise. Most of all, 360 owners could not wait for Marcus Fenix's next adventure. This game is truly one of the 360's greatest gems and owners are already looking forward to the next installment.
Platform: Xbox 360
79. Gears of War
One of the 360's earliest gems, the game is centered around soldiers called Gears who fight Locusts, a race of creatures that emerge from under ground to battle the humans of the planet Sera. The Gears are led by the game's protagonist, Marcus Fenix. Gears is definitely one of the most innovative shooters in recent years. The implementation of a cover system to a third person shooter was one of the most well-recieved mechanics for a console shooter in years. Gears of War manages to beat out its sequel for better recieved game.
Platform: Xbox 360
78. Resident Evil
Originally starting on the PS1, and released in 1996, Resident Evil began the now monstrous series we know today. When it was released it was praised for its horror elements, puzzles, and action. You play as a member of a police special tactics and rescue squad called S.T.A.R.S. and are sent to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances and deaths. Zombies start to attack you, and you are forced to take cover in a creepy, old mansion. Sure, the premise may sound cliché, but can you really resist the horror and surprises the game throws at you? Certainly not, or else the game would not have sold an excess of five million and spawned multiple games, novels, movies, and merchandise! For best experience, play in the dark. WARNING: Game is not suited for the weak of heart.
Platform: PS1
77. Persona 3
Boom! Your character just shot themselves in the head. Believe it or not, shooting oneself in the head is the game's signature mechanic, which releases their inner self - or Persona - to help in battle. This surprisingly dark and mature RPG sets itself apart from other games in the genre very well. Your character recently transferred to Gekkoukan high school, and little do most know that mysterious creatures called shadows are spreading an infection called apathy disease amongst the locals between the hour of midnight and 1 a.m. At this time, Persona users go to the realm of Tartarus to fight off shadows. The story sounds simple but it is far more complicated and any more detail would be spoilers. The story is not the only highlight of the game. The other half involves day-to-day school activities such as attending classes, playing sports, forming relationships, and so on. This game is overlooked by most gamers, and is truly one of the PS2's greatest offerings. Any PS2 owner should give this game a chance.
Platform: PS2
76. Mass Effect
BioWare's first jump into current generation consoles turned out to be a big splash with Mass Effect. The game is a terrific space opera, with a surprisingly good plot, exciting action, and terrific production values. You play as Commander Shepard, (who can be fully customized before the game begins) the potential savior of the universe. A Spectre, an elite group selected from different alien species that work for the Citadel Council, has gone loose and is using ancient artifacts to unleash the violent, robotic race named Geth on the unsuspecting galaxy, and it is Commander Shepard's job to stop him. The plot flows silky smooth with very deep dialogue, with many decisions involving life-and-death situations and many consequences that will have you at the edge of your seat. All in all, Bioware has made a truly great game for the Xbox 360 that owners should not miss.
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC
75. Grand Theft Auto IV
Probably one of the most controversial games ever review-wise, this game has garnered mixed reactions among gamers. In this game, you roam the streets as Niko Bellic. Niko is compelled to start working for one of the factions in Liberty City, and his military experience ensures him a job as a freelancer for killing people. Liberty City is far more alive in this game than Liberty City in GTA III. There are very funny TV shows, comedy acts, and character dialogue during Nico's story of freelancing as a killer. A new addition to the series is its 16-player online support which lets players go wild around the city.
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
74. Xenogears
Squaresoft's anime-inspired RPG is one to be adored. This game has a rather large following, which is no surprise due to its complex story that questions our very being and its compelling cast of characters. The game offers normal ground combat with typical commands such as attack, defend, magic, item, and run. However, the twist comes in where attack points are given, allowing characters to use combinations of attacks costing one, two, or three attack points. Leftover points can be used to string massive combos that keep battles exciting. The game also features Gear (mecha) combat, which also has its own unique gameplay quirks. Anime scenes and in-game graphics are very well done, which keep the production values high. The game's enriching story, gameplay, and cutscenes are elements that keep the game raved about even today.
Platforms: PS1
73. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is praised as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) Star Wars games of all time. In this game you can choose the way of the Jedi or the way of the Sith Lord. The game takes you on an exciting journey to find an ancient relic called the star forge, which apparently is the key to the Sith's seemingly limitless amount of weaponry. As to be expected of an open-world game, there are many choices to be taken that will influence the particular path you take. This gem isn't to be missed by Xbox or PC owners looking for some galaxy far, far away goodness.
Platforms: Xbox, PC
72. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is one of the most craftily made games ever. The game is brimming with hilarious dialogue, innovative gameplay, gorgeous visuals, and good length. This game is pure Mario/RPG goodness on a single disc. You start off the game with Peach kidnapped once again, but this time not by our fire-breathing Koopa king friend. She was last seen in Rogueport, the central location of the game. Along the journey, Mario meets many new characters and enemies and gains new powers to save Peach. The game throws you into one of the best Mario storylines to date, and it is certainly not a game to be missed by any Mario or RPG fan.
Platform: GameCube
71. Okami
One of the most under-appreciated games ever released, this game is flowing with beautiful watercolor visuals. You play as Amaterasu, who has been reborn in the body of a white wolf. Amaterasu works to rid Nippon of the evil eight-headed serpent Orochi and renew the lands it has poisoned. The game is a piece of art that is best experienced when you are relaxing and can admire the visuals while also getting sucked into the story. This game marks one of Clover's (now Platinum Games) greatest design efforts, and is not to be missed by any PS2 or Wii owner.
Platforms: PS2, Wii
[url=http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=3554] Numbers 90-81[/url]
[url=http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=3539]Numbers 100-91[/url]
The VGC Top 100 Best Games of All Time is based entirely on votes by our members. The source for the list can be found here . Only games released before January 1st 2009 are included.
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I hope Pikmin isn't on this list hahahaha KillerYoshi (I know him)
id say Gears of war 1 and 2 are in the right place.
Not that it's terribly important, but Gears of War is available for the PC as well as the 360. And Resident Evil was available for both PC and the Sega Saturn.
Xenogears shoulda been higher ;P I wonder where some of the games I would have voted for will end up
Not sure what people are whinging about regarding KOTOR. Ok, it was one of the better Star Wars games, but how many good ones of those have there been beyond the Tie Fighter/X-Wing series (which scant few here will even have played)? Besides, the game mechanics have been done better, both before and since, albeit without Star Wars tie-ins (no pun intended).
gta4 deserve to be low.
@kowenicki i agree .... GOW2 play through it and it feels like one of those movies you shouldn`t have watched
The fact that I know FFVII is going to rank better than Xenogears upsets me greatly. :-(
A couple of my favorites here. No complaining. But I sure wait for the next list. (which is quite a retro list?)
I'm glad to see Xenogears in the list. It goes to show the few people who played it really appreciated it.
Nintendo is ever on the top, good list.
Nice to see Persona 3, Xenogears and RE1 in top 100
Also I find it very interesting that Gears and Gears 2 are RIGHT NEXT to each other.
I took a good hard look at the logo for the first time. Imma chargin my fanboy rage attack...
@ kowenicki )
I have no doubt this list will have Nintendo games on top.
Resident Evil only 76? it got the whole Horror game trend going. That game had some shocking moments
Great list some good games there
Great list but I honestly don't think Gears 2 should be there
@irstupid: Baldur's gate still is a niche game, western-rpg. You know, it's old and huge (and awesome), but I never bet it would be on top-20~10. Even if it deserves more, it's easy to know why it got on top-100.
Eastern-rpg is much more popular, and, for myself, I don't like baldur's gate that much because I prefer to play the old table-based RPG, you know? ^^
I want Disgaea 3 on the list. T_T
@yorch it does matter what games people have played. someone who has only played 10 games in tehir life knows shit compared to someone who has played 100.
why shoudl i care what someones opinion on greatest game ever is if they haven't played any games on sega, nes, snes, ps1, 64, ect. sure some games don't age, and are only good in time released. but okeydokey sonic is still way more fun than gta or gears any day. (not current sonic, sega genesis sonic)
so this list to me is just comical. i knew it was gonna be bad when i first saw baulders gate 2 at like 97
I think there are to many "new games" on the list. Considering the fact that gaming has been around for decades and decades.
Old school & New School gamer GamingChartzFTW.
Opinion.
@ kowenecki
I'm seeing not a lot of Sony love so far.....
Mass Effect not better than GTA IV ?Really?
Seriously guys, I don't know why some of you think that have better criteria than the rest... THAT is a childlish behavior...
Many people has started playing games in the PS2 era... Why should all these players care of all the great games that were made in the past? There are TONS of great games from PS2 era to nowadays... Sure, some awesome games were made in the past, so what?
My favourite game of all time is Super Mario Bros 3 (NES), and I've been playing games for 18 years... but this doesn't make me better than a boy who started playing games last year. Seriously, his feelings will be the same I had when I first played Super Mario Bros 3, Super Mario 64, KOTOR or Fallout... therefore, his vote counts as one, as counts my vote.
A list will never objective... NEVER. Why do you complain so much? I really doubt you have played all the games listed... instead of whinning you could try those games, maybe they are better than you thought...
Stop complaining about new games. New games are better than old games. Take off your nostalgie goggles for a fucking change.
Gears of War and GTAIV > Sonic the Hedgehog.
Oh no I di'nt! :0
@griffen do you wonder why they are at the start of the list? and my dead rising probably isnt gonna be on here :(
Cloud Strife is in the logo........
further proof this is a biased stupid fan listings. yea i know the members here voted. (i personally didn't)
but wow looking at these games and games rated lower is a shame. really seems like a ton of people that just started gaming voted. haven't played before ps2 era
Gears 2? R U serious? Gears 1 was an awesome game but 2? this game is super buggy how a game like that is on the list?
Thanks Soriku
Hmm, should i be glad or dissapointed with Xenogears...
At least i know i supported one of the best games off all time... ;-)
Actually it does. At least in my opinion. But considering there is no such thing as "the best game of all time", it is all subjective.
MGS4 doesnt deserve to be in the top 10 of the best games ever!
Number 1 will be...
Ocarina.
MGS4.
or
FF7.
im not happy this time either, what is xenogears down down here?
@ Rubang. Yes. I am aware that this is the VGChartz communities picks. This is my way of calling everyone out. LOL I am happy that GTA IV is nowhere near the top according to the members of this site, but I am most disappointed in it being higher than Sonic the Hedgehog.
thanks god GTA IV is not on top10!
The higher we go the more worried I become that ICO didn't make the list.
Seriously, if the Gears of War games end up making a Top 100 list that ICO doesn't, I...uhh, ban this community from playing games =P.
KOTOR @ 73 pathetic
At least it's higher than GTA IV
Just to be clear - I really like this list so far. But it might have helped with any of the inevitable complaints if there had been a nomination round and then a voting round on the top 200 or so...
Would have been a lot more work from the admins, I can appreciate that.
But like I said, I'm very happy with the list so far. Nice work! It's always gratifying to read praise about the games you really appreciate.
Still no sign of the MIGHTY Shenmue :-)
Top 50?
Higher?
@Kyuu: It's based on the votes of the community, not the staff (although the staff had one vote as well obviously).
@Atma: Why don't you wait ntil you've seen more than 30 games? I guarantee you the full top 100 is completely awesome. Yes, there's always something to complain about, but at least wait until you've seen the full list.
Top 10 would be Halo 3, MGS4, SSMB, FFVII, LOZ:Oot, RE4, FFX, WoW, Super Mario Bros.
@amp316, you didn't see my post earlier?
based on the games listed so far, I wouldn't be surprised to see Wii Sports somewhere in the top 70 ...
Mass Effect is too low. The game was epic, and IMO top-25 material.
lol @ Gears of Wars through in a one-two. That says something about the sequel.
excellent, no final fantasy VII yet
Gears 1 and Mass Effect should be way up on this list. Top 50 EASY
Given the games listed so far, I expect 55 of the top 60 to be NES/SNES/Genesis games :)
KOTOR deserves to be a top 20 game.
Mario is still higher! :-)
I thought that GTA IV was the greatest game of all time. This is what all of the reviewers said and I always trust the reviewers.
All of these games are better than Sonic the Hedghog? You learn something new everyday.
As long as GoldenEye is number one, I'll be happy.
@Soriku
The fact that ToS beat GTA:SA proves your previous statement wrong.
@MontanaHatchet
I know that and it still sucks! The best way to do a top 100 is the gamefaqs way and I'm sure the results will be entirely different and more appropriate.
Atma: Then what do you call Xenogears and Resident Evil? They're games from 2 generations ago. Besides, this list is from the community and not staff. If you're saying it sucks, it's from you and not us.
Is KZ2 in the top 100?
Fairly good list although imo TTYD is one of the best games ever created, but unfortunately, I don't decide where it goes on the list D:. I'm still friggen pissed that VGC's top 10 GC games did not include TTYD do to the massive AC fans within the staff.
so 2 of these games were not this or last gen Res Evil and XenoGears for all those complaining about how this list has too many newer games these are 71 to 80 so there are 70 games that were voted better than these don't worry there will be some older ones in better places on the list
I really didn't enjoy Mass Effect....though I suppose that's a personal problem. I'm wondering how many Zelda games will show up on this list though. I figure OoT and LttP are shoe-ins and wouldn't be surprised to see several others(maybe TP and MM?) make it on here.
Totally agreed with griffinA people must realise that games were created before this and last generation! This list sucks IMO.
Wow, what a List.
I expect to see Persona 4 doing much better than its predecessor.
When can we expect the next list?
Xenogears at 74? Should be waaaay higher then that
Wow the Vgchartz community sucks at making lists.I mean KOTOR so low that was probably one of the top 5 best xbox games.It is an insult seeing it so low.MAKES ME ANGRY.
It's way too unfair what people do with Ōkami: they don't play it. I finished the Wii version last night and only now I realize it's one of the best games ever developed, and that CAPCOM should have received much more reception with that game.
It's truly a remarkable game: the astonishing graphics, the beautiful gameplay, the perfect and impressive storyline and the best video game OST ever composed. Ōkami is, indeed, one of the best games of all time, but 71st place is unfair.
lmao.
@Nightmare24
you do realize not a single one of those games is a FPS correct?
its so sad that people cant realize there are older games that were not all FPS's
I don't even remember what I voted for.
Well, I expect the top 10 to go something like Zelda, MGS, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Mario, MGS, Final Fantasy, Mario, Zelda and then something random like Resident Evil 4 or Shadow of the Colossus.
There is no way GTA IV is better than Mass Effect... Sorry..
I can't believe both Gears made it on a Top 100 list. I am disappointed.
Oh well, some good choices there.
Well my role here is to complain about Gears of War 1 and 2 being in the top 80. They're good games, but not top 80 all time.
Hmm, I must say I'm surprised.
But at least none of my top 5 has been called yet.
Although, I don't think #4 or #5 will make the list.
Quite exiting, we will have to wait for a while to know will the winner be ninty fans with oot or sony fans with mgs4. :P (just a guess)
@OkeyDokey
yeah but the biggest xbox brands are all the way back here. I bet from number 50 and on there will be virtually zero xbox games.
Xenogears at 74? HELL NO! it should be in the top 20 atleast.
Resident Evil seems a bit low for such an imprtant game. Maybe everyone voted for the remake...
And this list already has more xbox games than I expected considering the site demographics :P
Why are all the best games so far up?
only three of these games deserve to be up there, the rest are not worthy
Lol you guys quit your damn whining we voted for this list after all.
Though like someone said in one of the other lists for this, you can clearly see what demographic the VGChartz audience is by readin this countdown.
lol some of my all time favorite games dint even break into the 60's....
This time the list seems perfect, 90-81 was messed, all those games in 90-81 were VERY good
I think Gears 2 should have been ahead of Gears 1 at least. Part 2s gameplay and story were just so much better. I didn't play online in either so that doesn't affect my takes on the games.
GoW2 made it on the list.... /facepalm
:-( one of my fave games only made it to 79
otherwise, the list has been good so far
A slight typo in the Okami spot. There shouldn't be a 7 there. Otherwise, pretty good!
30 great games so far... Well of course I haven't played them all but strangely I have heard about all of them... There are always opinions and people allways feel left out because THEIR opinion isn't higher... That's why I always say, that democracy doesn't work because all the fools can vote too :P But those who call the fools out are the biggest ones so what... I'd say see this list all together... 100 great games... it doesn't matter if KOTOR will be place 1 or place 73, it is one of the hundred games you should play if you can get your hands on it... And that's all that is important, not the number where it sits but just what the community likes and you can be quite sure that so far all this games are worth playing exept you really hate the Genre... Poo on democracy, enjoy all of it... Your game didn't get spot #1? awww... be happy it's in a list where only 100 out of THOUSANDS of games are mentioned... I mean of course I can disagree with nearly everyone specially with wanda who said Mass Effect should be higher... In my opinion it's right there and it's one of the weakes offerings of Bioware but it's worth mentioning anyway, no matter if it's spot 25 or where it is... it's a game worth palying... Sorry, I guess, I repeated myself quite a bit but I hope some will understand... be happy and discuss what good or bad about these games and not their spot... that's just not worth the time...
P.S. Great Work Soriku :)
Kotor #1
I thought persona 3 would at least break in at #50 :\
one BIG points I agree with here: Gears of War 1 was a was better than Gears of War 2.
I didn't think more people on this website like Mass Effect better than Gears of War though.
I want more retro-games on the list ;_;
I'll post the link to the thread again:
For those wondering where this list came from:
http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=61288
Looks like I was right, the top 50 are probably gonna be all games from N64-NES, aka Saturn-Genesis Era... As they should be...
its a pretty safe bet that none of ya'll have played all 100 games on the list, so I have no idea how can you say X game is better than the rest, without playing the other games.
I think Okami should have been at least in the 60's but I'm very glad it beat out these games. GoW did great as well. Paper Mario is such an awesome game with the funniest dialogue i have ever seen in a game.
Both Gears games? Okayyy...
Stop fucking whining. It was a community based poll!! Its what everything averaged out mean the comminuty think is good.
Fuck it keep whining its all most of you do anyways. Okami sucks balls is shouldnt be in this list!!1111 its what I think but aint bitching about because I dont really care.
