GruntLogic's Top 100 Favorite Video Games

I've heard that if William Shakespeare made a video game, it would look like this. The tale of an unsung hero, set against the backdrop of a continent spanning war of succession, with themes of class warfare. Where flawed heroes clash with conflicted villains, with a dash of byzantine conspiracy.



Final Fantasy Tactics is a deep, but accessible game. There is plenty of depth to be found in leveling up character's stats between job classes. The turn-based combat is quite simple and effective, I absolutely adore the sprites used for characters and monsters, and I enjoy how these cartoonish looking characters engage in ruthless combat.
I feel that War of the Lions is technically superior over the Playstation version due to it's introduction of animated cutscenes, additional character classes, and a wireless multiplayer mode.


This is a pretty solid example of gameplay. It's one of the earlier missions. It's one of the first kind of difficult missions that may make you rethink how you've been playing the game. If you can beat this mission, you'll have a good idea how to proceed with the rest of the game.

This is a game of absurd, dark humor and ultraviolence. Fitting for a game set in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. Just the right mix of RPG elements of character upgrades and (essentially) turn-based combat.



One small thing that I strongly appreciate in this game is the crazy amount of flavor text. Every single item that you can carry in your inventory has a description, and they are often quite detailed.
I also appreciate just how many different ways you can customize your character to suit your play style.

You're a space marine. There are demons. Find the key card to open the door. Find the exit. Also, Kill anything that moves. It helps that the game has a bitchin' soundtrack that keeps pace with the fast paced frantic shooting.



Having recently read The Masters of DOOM by David Kushner, I now have a greater appreciation for the genius of John Carmack and John Romero, the creators of DOOM. This is a game that exploded onto the gaming scene and really established First-Person Shooters as their own genre.
It's really hard to argue with a game developer who voluntarily chooses to utilize the shareware model of business.

What can I say, I love mechs! This is the best of the lot, whilst Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance is a good game and has a strong story, I like the more open universe of Mercenaries. I love the idea of working for a mercenary group, traveling across the galaxy, taking contracts as you please. There is certainly a good story to be had here too, as working for different factions in a war will eventually force you to pick sides, but be aware that your actions may have consequences that effect which of the three endings you get. And if you prefer straight up mech-on-mech combat without being saddled with a story, test your metal (get it? metal/mettle!) in the arena.



I come back to this game time and time again. There's something I love about pretty much every contract you can take in this game. I love the process of upgrading your mechs, and moving up in weight classes, from 30 ton Light mechs, all the way up to 100 ton Assault class mechs. I also enjoy micromanaging the mechs of all of my lancemates.

What can change the nature of a man? This is the central question posed to the character of this game, the Nameless One. As The Nameless One, you must discover your past, and as you find out, the many past lives you have lived. The Nameless One has been "killed" many times, but as an immortal he always awakens from this temporary death, only sometimes being killed erases his memory.



This game makes full use of the old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rule set. And I use the word "rule" only in the loosest sense. That was one of the great things about 2nd edition, it was extremely flexible and customizable.
Mechanics aside, I cannot give enough praise to the story of this game. I wouldn't DARE give any spoilers, so I will simply have to remain silent on many of the finer points of this games story, and just STRONGLY encourage everyone reading this to go find this game wherever you can (you can still pick it up at GOG.com), and play it through to the end.

This game is a magnificent combination of several other superb games that came before it, namely: Bioshock, Deus Ex, and Thief: The Dark Project.

Playing as a functionally silent protagonist, Corvo Attano, you are given free reign as to how to exact your revenge upon those who have framed you for murder. The level of freedom the player is given is very similar to Deus Ex and Thief. The setting is even very similar to Thief in it's Victorian-era Steam-punk setting. I give the comparison to Bioshock because of the general similarity in gameplay, and the ease with which you can use and swap out your powers on the fly.

This game can be fairly short if you don't take the time to explore the actually fairly large levels in each mission. It would be a shame if you did that though, because this game takes pains to realize the world they've created. The city of Dunwall is lovingly brought to life through many in-game documents and dialogue.

The player is given an impressive array of tools to end the lives of all who oppose your quest for revenge, but some of the most satisfactory kills are when your enemies never see it coming, until they have a blade in their neck.



However, there does seem to be a bit of a disconnect between whether the game wants you to be a supernatural whirlwind of death, or a silent spectre of non-lethal justice. The game rewards the non-lethal path, but makes the game harder the more corpses you leave in your wake. The game also gives you a huge array of lethal options, but your non-lethal choices are somewhat limited. But there is a certain amount of cleverness required for the non-lethal path, which is kind of a reward in it's own way.

The best Final Fantasy game, with a huge cast of characters. A huge open world to explore, and once you gain the use of an Airship the world becomes your plaything. The grand story that goes along with the game moves at a brisk pace. A game that destroys the world you knew and then lets you play in the wreckage of that world in the second half of the game is truly remarkable.

One of the funnest Legend of Zelda titles there is to play. I won't talk about the cel-shaded graphics much, you either love them or you hate them. That said, this is probably the best use of cel-shading I've ever seen in a game. This is the first Legend of Zelda game where I felt like Link had an actual, distinct personality.



What few problems there were with the original game are all addressed in the HD rerelease. The sailing speed is increased 50%, and you don't have to conduct the wind requiem every time you want to sail in a different direction, the graphics have been improved, and a long, drawn-out glorified fetch quest has been significantly reduced. All in all, this is the definitive version of the game.

I was highly curious as to how one of my favorite old-school games of the 90's would fare for this re-boot/remake. I can happily report that it has fared extremely well. All of the changes that have been made I feel are for the better. They stripped away a lot of the unnecessarily cumbersome interface and made it much more smooth and streamlined. The attempt to infuse a story was an interesting addition. It isn't necessarily the strongest addition, but again, it is welcome. It gives the events a bit of human emotion. The stern difficulty is still in place by default, with the option to scale the difficulty up or down.



All in all, I am THRILLED to see the loving treatment one of my favorite old-school PC games has received in this remake/reboot.

This game is probably the pinnacle of 2D side-scrolling RPG/Adventure games. The story isn't much to write home about, if you've played one Castlevania game, you've played them all, as far as story goes. But the gameplay is solid and the equipment system is very well done. I was always looking forward to the next awesome sword or mace or whatever I could get my grubby hands on. The boss fights were some of the best highlights of the game.

This one is a biggie. Widely regarded as the greatest Legend of Zelda game, and with good reason. In it's time, it was an incredibly impressive game. However, many of the design choices haven't aged particularly well. Compared to more modern games, the camera controls are kind of clunky, and it has not aged well at all, in the same way that any 90's game with polygonal graphics has. I will say that the 3DS version is probably the best, as I wasn't terribly fond of the N64 controller to begin with, I find the 3DS to be somewhat less of a pain to use, and in the case of aiming the slingshot and crossbow, it's significantly better than on the N64. The graphics have been updated on the 3DS so they look considerably better than they did on the Nintendo 64.


If you're a fan of the Legend of Zelda series, there's a good chance you've already played this game. If not, you definitely owe it to yourself to play it. If you've never played a Legend of Zelda game before, this is probably the single best place to start. There's not much I can say that thousands of other reviews haven't already said about this game. It's really just that good.

Knowing the pedigree of the Wolfenstein games, I feel like this game is MUCH better than it has any right to be. This isn't just because the gameplay is superb (it is), it's because this game actually has a good story, which is something I'd never expect to say of a Wolfenstein game, but it's true. This is largely due the amazing cast of characters. Again, I never thought I'd say that about a Wolfenstein game either.

Now, story and characters aside, this game feels like it's very ambitious as well, like it's trying to have it's cake and eat it too. This game manages to have outstanding first person shooting, ratcheting up the craziness to dual-wielding assault rifles, and getting into lasergun fights on a Nazi moon base, to having actually GOOD stealth mechanics, silently creeping around, trying to take out the local Nazi commander before he can summon reinforcements.

I have to say, I'm really kind of happy that they went with more of a sci-fi imagining of a Third Reich rather than relying on the kind of old trope of supernaturally powered Nazi's. It's really one of very few, very fitting applications of the term "retro future."

A game for the ages, that takes place throughout the ages. A superb battle system coupled with a strong story and gorgeous setting. Probably one of the best soundtracks that can be found on an SNES. Truly a classic.



Chrono Trigger has some of the most beautifully rendered 16-bit worlds in all of video games. Whether in the distant future, the ancient past, or the present day, they are all beautiful and they give a feeling of enormity. This game is truly grand in scope, if nothing else, even while all the time, it makes it feel like it's a very personal story about a small group of characters, struggling against colossal forces.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. Although, I'm unsure how to rate it in regards to other Legend of Zelda games in particular. It tends to borrow quite heavily from Ocarina of Time, which isn't too terrible, considering that OoT was an absolutely incredible game in it's own right. It does seem to be a rather dark game, not in that it's particularly "mature," but more in that it's actually visually rather dark. I feel this helps lend some originality, giving the game it's own tone.

I love the hell out of this game! It's incredibly simple. And that simplicity lends the game a kind of elegant beauty. I also love the music in the game.

You play as Richard Conway. Freelance Private Investigator. He's also kind of an idiot. I like that, it gives the character a rather human touch. This game has a wonderful sense of humor, without being overwhelming. This isn't a comedy game, but it's a game where a lot of funny things do happen. The dialogue before and after the missions are quite witty. But added on top of all that is the fact that this game is just FUN to play.

The best Halo game, period. I can't really say enough good things about this game. The gameplay is solid, as is par for the course for Halo games. A few small tweaks to the Halo formula really worked for this game, as it emphasizes the difference between the very human ODST troopers and the superhuman Master Chief with his regenerating health. The ODST troopers actually feel quite elite, but are still within the realm of us squishy mortals, unlike the Master Chief. This game forces the player to fight smarter than you would as the Master Chief. Marvelous voice acting and a well-written script fit together with a fantastic musical score.



The story of the ODST troopers is one that I would absolutely love to see 343 Industries expand upon.
Firefight is also a very strong additional gameplay mode in the Halo series, and it got it's start in Halo 3: ODST. Firefight in this game is no joke. The first few waves aren't terribly difficult, but the difficulty ramps up VERY quickly, making for some extremely intense combat.

This game is all about getting your story on. Everything is drenched in atmosphere and symbolism. I think Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw put it best in his review on Zero Punctuation. Watch it.

Niko Bellic is one the best video game characters ever made. He is intensely sympathetic. He has a great motivation that is easy to build a story around, as vengeance stories often are. He has a unique story that fits into just about any gameplay style. As a military veteran who witnessed the horrors of war in the Balkans, he has explicitly stated his desire to leave his life of violence behind, but he is someone who could conceivably flip the fuck out and go on a kill-crazy rampage. Although story-wise, Niko is the straight man to everyone else's craziness.



As I've said before in my 30 Days of Video Games list, I feel like I relate to Niko in a great many ways, and I feel that this is one of the many reasons I think so highly of this game. The fact that it's just an absolute blast to play certainly helps too. I should also add that the DLC for this game: The Lost & Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, also have great protagonists (Johnny Klebitz and Luis Lopez, respectively) and strong stories as well.

It's great. Gameplay and sound design are top-notch. That said, it follows the classic Legend of Zelda template: Enter dungeon, find new item, generally use it to defeat dungeon boss, gain heart container, explore new area by using new item, repeat.

Now THIS is how you do a port/re-release/update for a classic game. Updated visuals, updated sound, minor but much needed tweaks to the gameplay formula, and largely ditching the absurd difficulty in favor of making the game more accessible to us mere mortals who have only finite time to play a game. The old school difficulty can be restored, in all of it's old-school glory, if you so desire. A superb platforming experience.



Admittedly, this game is not for everyone. There is a decidedly a retro feel to this game. Even with the concessions they made, it's still a game from a previous era, and no amount of polish can hide that. However, there is still a lot to love about this game, especially the soundtrack. I enjoy firing up the soundtrack playlists I find on youtube for this game, and I can just listen to the tracks for the different levels in this game for quite some time. I think this is one of the very few times where the remixed new tracks are better than the original tracks.

A wonderfully funny Lucasarts adventure game. A classic. Guybrush Threepwood is a brilliant character. He wants to be a great pirate, despite not having anything resembling skill or aptitude, but he makes up for it with clever improvisation and a naive can-do spirit.



I will never let my friend live down the fact that he couldn't get past this troll. This is a great example of the unique logic of this game. This troll will only let you pass if you give him the correct item. He wants something that seems really important, but actually isn't. It seems like a good riddle. So you need to hunt around the island looking for something that matches that description, and my friend absolutely could not figure this puzzle out. Early on in the game, you can acquire a fish. In your inventory, you see it looks red. If you examine it further, it states that it's a herring of some sort. A Red Herring. BINGO! You give the troll the fish, and he lets you pass. I love it.

This collection is invaluable to people (like myself) who may have missed these amazing games when they were on the PS2. Now having played them, I can see why they are praised so highly by everyone who's played them. These games are very good at telling a story indirectly. The setting and atmosphere do most of the heavy lifting where the story is concerned. If I do have a complaint, it's that the controls for Shadow of the Colossus aren't the most intuitive. Though I am inclined to cut the game some slack considering how it succeeds wildly at everything else it does.



Shadow of the Colossus is one of the few games that even once I've turned it off, I'm still engaged by the game. I'm always going over the events of the game in my head long after I'm done playing. This game is really that compelling.

This is the first game about vampires that really made me feel like I was controlling a powerful hunter of the night. Still, for as powerful as you are among mere mortals, you meet your equal when it comes to the other Kindred that populate this immersive World of Darkness. Also, the scene with the Werewolf is a terrifying, pulse-pounding, on the edge-of-my-seat encounter.



There's some kind of slick quality to this game that's hard to describe. It's obvious that a lot of TLC went into making this game, and I've even been privy to download a mod several people have made that restored some content that was cut from the original game. Everything about this game is top notch: the voice acting, the score, the graphics (not the most impressive, but very well optimized), the script, and the story. It all makes for a very compelling game that I found very difficult to tear myself away from for very long.

It took me entirely too long to play this magnificent game. Now I see why it seems like everyone who has played this game insists that this is Tim Schaefer's masterpiece. Psychonauts is incredibly strange, but it's also incredibly charming in it's weirdness. This game isn't all funshine and weirdbows, it can take sudden turns into some pretty dark territory, but I suppose that's only to be expected when delving into the human psyche.



Exploring the psyches of the eclectic cast of characters is easily the highlight of the game. It is wonderful and weird, and it is completely unlike anything else I've ever played.

I have recently had the pleasure of breaking this game out again, and I'm still just as thrilled to play it as I was when it first came out. The story may be a tad simple, just one of betrayal, revenge, and more betrayal, but it's enough to keep the game going forward. I feel like one of a just a handful of people who actually played the story missions instead of just roaming around, running over people and shooting cops, trying to see how high I could raise my wanted level, and how long I could survive once it was maxed out. I feel I should also say that I have NEVER used a cheat code for ANY GTA game. If I want an FBI car, I raise my wanted level up to get the FBI involved, carjack one of their cars, then ditch my wanted level and save the car in a garage. I'm just that good at this game. I love it. I still have many of the locations of items memorized.



Whilst I enjoy playing the increasingly challenging story missions, I'm not above engaging in some random ultraviolence. This game really does celebrate madcap rampages.
I also love the radio stations in this game more than any other Grand Theft Auto game. Chatterbox and Flashback FM are my favorites.
This game really excels at juxtaposing hilarity with violence.

I love stealth-based games, and this is a marvelous example of how to do stealth gameplay right. Mix in an interesting lead character, a fascinatingly believable science-fiction near-future setting, and add a dash of conspiracy, and you've got one amazing game. The boss fights were a bit of a let-down, but not enough to deter me from thoroughly enjoying myself.



This is a game that I think is kind of difficult to explain just exactly why I love it so much. Just like Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It has that same slick design that shines through in almost all aspects of the game. Again, the only thing that detracts from the game are the boss fights. It's really kind of disappointing how the game encourages stealth so much, and then FORCES you into open combat with boss characters. All the time you spent working on your stealth skills and hacking skills don't matter for squat when you're out in open combat. Still, if you have foreknowledge that the game is going to do that (like how I knew beforehand) you can adequately prepare for that eventuality, and it won't be quite so brutal. Even for as much as I (and everyone else who's played this game) complain about the boss fights, they're really short, and only occupy a very small percentage of the time you spend playing this game. So really, I feel it's a pretty small complaint. The stealth works, it's tense. The hacking is done very skillfully. The story and the character of Adam Jensen are compelling. Everything else works beautifully. Except for the damn boss fights. Still, don't let that deter you from playing this game. PLAY IT!

I love being abused by this game. It is hard as hell, but it's never unfair. This game absolutely will not give you an inch. You will die. Again and again. You will die. But each death is a learning experience. You come back, wiser and more determined. And ultimately, you will triumph, once you learn what you need to do. You will pass through fire and come through tempered, hard as steel.



In this game, there is no shame in running away.

Real-time Strategy, but with a twist. That twist is that a compelling story is told along the way. It might be overly harsh to say that RTS games tend to lack when it comes to storytelling, as story is usually confined to pre-mission exposition and post-mission cutscenes. It's kind of a cookie-cutter formula. This game is unique in that it breaks that mold and allows the story to unfold mid-mission, as you play it, in addition to the pre/post cutscenes (which are beautifully rendered, as is par for the course for Blizzard).

One of the first games I've ever played. Every few years I go back and play through this game. I can now beat it in a single day. I have this entire game memorized. It borders on being less of a action-adventure game than a puzzle game for me, and I already know all of the solutions. I never get tired of the classic theme music and sound effects.