This forum section seems a little under-appreciated, so I thought I'd throw this one out there.

What video game stands as your favorite/least favorite game of all time?

I'll bite :p

Best for PC (in no particular order)

Older games:

Doom - definative fps
Elite
Deus Ex - still a brilliant game
System Shock 2
Half-Life
Llamatron - maybe just me but a simple brilliantly addictive game.
GP4

Modern games:

BF2
Half-Life 2 (+ episodes and portal)
GTR
rFactor
Knights Of The Old Republic (KOTOR)
Counter Strike
Call of Duty 4
Company of Heroes

They are all great games but if I had to choose one it would have to be Half-Life, the best fps ever imo and still the greatest game made so far. Though I have to admit I'm not a huge RTS or MMORPG (that's too long an acronym anyway :p) fan but still....

The worst:

I don't buy bad games :D but if you forced me, the worst I own is Doom3 - the only game I have never finished but to be fair a friend recommended playing it on very hard and it was much better so maybe I'll go back to it.

Mafia (PC), ET:QW (PC), Shadow of the Colossus (PS2), World of Goo (PC), NFS:MW (PC) are pretty much my all time favs.

I don't buy bad games period. I always try the demo first, and I know within a couple of levels if I'll like it or not.

Best:
The Entire X-Com Series
Left 4 Dead (I've been Loving it) as well as *most* other Valve games
Neverwinter Nights & expansions Hotu was awesome
Fallout series
Everquest

Worst:
Shadowbane
Halo series (Hey wow Console gaming that does what PC's were doing 10 years ago !!!!!)
Peggle EXTREME
Kotor, I Know lots love it but I just don't do SW or the whole Kotor system (Mass Effect wasn't my gig either)
Any sports games.

My Best:
The Command & Conquer Series (including Red Alert, Generals, etc.)
Sonic the Hedgehog series on the Genesis (except 3D Blast)
Super Mario Bros. 3
Diablo II: LoD (simply due to replay value provided by so many different character builds)
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Comix Zone - an oft-overlooked Genesis gem
The Metriod Prime Series

Worst:
I'll get back to you. I've played some back ones but none seem to come to mind immediately.

I would like to share my experience about best online game nintendo wii it's good stuff. In wii I prefer to play mario kart.

Best:
Counter-Strike: Source - I love this game, competitive gaming is too fun
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne - Just started this one, it's like a new Diablo2
Crysis - Graphics were amazing and I can't wait for the sequel
Heretic and Hexen - For getting me into PC games in the first place
Metroid games - SNES version I played like 50x over and the Wii versions are incredible if you haven't tried them.

Worst:
I always read a multitude of reviews before buying anything now but the most bad games I remember playing came from the Genesis console, not to say I didn't like Genesis, I played Sonic for days.

Best:

Half life 1+2 (half life 1 when it came out was leagues ahead of anything else)
Dues ex (awesome)
Call of Duty 1,2,4,w@r
World of warcraft
BF1942, BF2
GRAND THEFT AUTO 3 (set the standard for all future games of this type)
Gran turismo 1 (set the standard for most modern racing games)
Xenon 2 (Amiga games FTW)
Tomb raider
Hidden and dangerous

Worst: (hmm this is harder than first thought)

Starwars battlefront
Lemmings (hated that bloody game)
Star wars - Obi wan - xbox (this game is really bad, awful GFX and the most clipping I have ever seen)
Windows Vista :p

have to go with half-life/hl2 and cs/css.

had fun with quake, starcraft and the command & conquer stuff. that's about all i know. haven't seen much to compete with hl/hl2.

Worst:
Halo series (Hey wow Console gaming that does what PC's were doing 10 years ago !!!!!)
.

I have to quote this because it is simply inaccurate, Halo combat evolved was released on XBOX in 2001, what PC game was as good as Halo in 1991?

Well there was catacomb 3D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacomb_3D

But somehow I don't think that quite does what Halo does...;)

Haven't had time, money, or a PC new enough to play games on in ages, but back in another lifetime I really enjoyed these:

Half-Life (never got to play HL2)
Unreal (first one)
Quake series
Doom series
Diablo II LOD

Hubby liked Max Payne but I never got to play it. That was about the most recent game we had. Kids came along and no money for updated PC, plus no place to put it. We are just using a laptop now, which is tough for gaming on.

When I see:
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/halo-wish-list-7.jpg

I think:
http://diablobasher.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/doom42193.jpg

Of course the graphics aren't as good but I'd take Doom as an FPS anytime over Halo.

Replace demons with Aliens, Doom Guy with Master Chief, Portal to Hell with Outer Space and throw in a bunch of blinking lights and graphics to make the red necks drool on themselves and you have turned Doom into Halo.

@ ASher:

I wouldn't quite relate Halo to games from 10 years before its time but I would agree that it really wasn't as amazingly epic as it was made out to be. I never got the game on PC and don't have an xbox, but I got to play the game through on a friend's console. It was entertaining, I suppose, but it definitely let me down considering how much it was hyped up. PC > Console

When I see:
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/halo-wish-list-7.jpg

I think:
http://diablobasher.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/doom42193.jpg

Of course the graphics aren't as good but I'd take Doom as an FPS anytime over Halo.

Replace demons with Aliens, Doom Guy with Master Chief, Portal to Hell with Outer Space and throw in a bunch of blinking lights and graphics to make the red necks drool on themselves and you have turned Doom into Halo.

You could probably use that same analogy on many games though. If you're going to get really nitpicky, there is hardly anything original out there at all. I, for one, am happy to play something new with updated graphics. :)

You could probably use that same analogy on many games though. If you're going to get really nitpicky, there is hardly anything original out there at all. I, for one, am happy to play something new with updated graphics. :)

There's that and also the updates for ease of gameplay, improving realism where it matters, and every once in a while think there are some original ideas (certainly nothing wholly original but slightly new ideas). Graphics now are absolutely incredible though. Crysis made my jaw drop but it's the one game I've bought where I actually had to turn down some settings to play through lots of action.

Anybody playing Left 4 Dead? Seems like everyone I know is hooked on it, but they all buy every game that comes out and I don't trust their judgment very much.

I played pro evo 2 on the ps1 till it was overused and stopped working, it was amazing.

In context, a lot of the ID games were trend-setters when they first came out. Even Wolfenstein was awesome in its day. Doom was great. Quake was good. From other software houses, Unreal and Half-Life were good. I've played some awesome games. Right now I'm working my way through something that is better than any of them, though, and in a different way.

Morrowind: The Elder Scrolls III is an FPS/3PS in style, hack-and-zap (sword and sorcery) in genre, but it actually has a wide-open plot with some serious mysteries and a long, sequential, multi-step quest in a huge world. Better than some of the older D&D computer games in that it is more literate and has greater freedom of movement, freedom of choice, and optional side-quests.

Doom, Unreal, Half-life? Great games but no serious plot. Hunt and shoot. Frag the little critters. With Morrowind, you get to frag rats and some wierd beasties, plus if you get to the northern island, you get wolves and bears. But it makes you think! The fighting challenge is there, but the brain challenge is better.

Worst game? Freedom Force. Gets nowhere fast. Too easy to die, too hard even on EASY settings to just flat out screw up. Past a certain point, it is a matter of "Who cares?" I liked Myst and its follow-ons but the copy-cats weren't good at all. Like Physicus, for example. And Rhem is another that comes to mind.

In that dreaded category of games you love to hate/hate to love? Sim City 2, 3, or 4.

Best
Resident Evil 1 and 3 (haven't played 2!)
CTR (Crash Team Racing) HUGE replay value and multi-player value
Guitar Hero

Worst
Revolution X
Based on the band Aerosmith. This game actually gave me a headache.

I only play online games, so my favorite is definitely

DooM II !

Still being played hardcore by a bunch of people :)

Quakeworld, Quake3 CPMA, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, WarCraft 2, all receive honorable mention from me.

My favorite oldies are:

- Duke Nukem 3D
- Broken Sword
- Bad Mojo

They all have been released in 1996!

My TOP modern games:

- Gears of War 2
- Call of Duty 4
- Gran Turismo 4

best: starcraft, planescape torment, fallout

worst.. i dunno, i tend to tuck bad games out of my mind

I have to agree that Red Alert 3 and Left 4 Dead are really cool games. I'm really getting hooked to Left 4 Dead lately.

Just got back into gaming after a 2 - 3 year sabbatical, Had my 360 for 6 weeks now & can't get enough!!!!!

I virtually have to be set on fire to relinquish the controller and go to bed!

Old School Best:

Roland on the Ropes - Amstrad CPC 464
Oh Mummy - Amstrad CPC 464

Sonic - Mega Drive
Eswat - Mega Drive
Strider - Mega Drive

Super Mario - SNES
Zelda - SNES
Sreet fighter 2 - SNES

C&C - PC

Old school worst:

Streets of Rage - Mega drive, Only game shipped with my friends new mega drive when first released, we completed it within 3 hours!!!! Gutted


New Best

GTA series - Play the most recent now on 360 - online is addictive, better than Gears 2 which i find a little to serious and up tight. Cant get enough of mowing down opponents with an SMG while driving at them in what ever vehicle ive just jacked

NFS series - Most Wanted being the best by far

Just to chime in!

My favs are

Morrowind III: Elderscrolls (I think this is the title) I like the fourth one for the 360 but it doesn't compare to the one before it.

Original 4 mario games for the NES and SNES, also for the NES is a fantastic game called Blastermaster.

ZELDA -Original NES game. AWESOME!!!

I agrre with what some of you said, Diablo, Neverwinter Nights. AND the Mist games are awesome.

Gosh, I could go on and on. Oh, yeah, I do have one online game weakness. Mostly younger kids play it, but for some reason I am totally addicted. RUNESCAPE. It also gives me a way to connect with the teens I work with.

Best:
Zelda OOT

Most hours logged:
World of Warcraft

Also spent a lot of time playing Runescape with my son but that was while I was out of town a lot and before we discovered WoW.

I totally enjoyed many of the games on C64 back in the day. Many were simple but very fun. I also have a weakness for the puzzle type games (Tetris, Mine Sweeper, card games, etc.). I've spent a lot of time with the Total War series and enjoyed them quite a bit. Also liked the Banjo Kazooie series.

Worst:
Who cares? I don't play it.

If I ever played WoW my real life would end.... So I have never played it. lol. Those puzzle type games are really addicting, plus you feel kinda good because you're working your mind some.

Yeah, something like that.

What's really pathetic is that you can now get 3rd party add ons for WoW so you can play puzzle games while you're playing WoW. My son does this ALL the time and his party members have to get on to him for not paying attention to the game ("are you playing Bejewelled again?").

For the record: I was playing WoW until 2 AM this morning (don't tell my wife). It can be a bit addictive.

LOL, I have heard of many marriages being strained due to WoW. The trick is to get your spouse addicted to gaming as well, which worked for one of my friends. Then they don't bug you as much. :)

I tried that with her recently. She complained that I never suggested anything we could do together. So I asked her the following week to play WoW with me. It didn't go as well as I had hoped.

LOL, You tried to get her to play a really complex game! I bet she had a hard time with the controls. What about guitar hero?

She played Guitar Hero with my son and enjoyed it. She wouldn't even attempt playing WoW with me. The last game I got her to play was either Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures or Tetris (back in the early '90s).

Hmmmm. What about some online games like cribbage, or other card games that you can compete with. Online farkle on Facebook is particularly addicting.

It took me months to get her on FB and she only looks at it once a week. She just hates computers.

My stepmom is that way, I don't even think she knows how to use e-mail. She makes my younger brother do stuff for her. I personally don't understand how people DON'T like computers.

I have one more comment about a game that was the best for me at the time, not because I liked it so much (actually, I really did like it) but because of how my grandson reacted to it and the fond memory I have for the game and its surrounding events.

When Mech Warrior 2 first came out, I had a copy of that one pretty quickly. My stepson, daughter-in-law, and grandson were living with us temporarily while they were getting their finances cleaned up - which they did fairly soon. But it meant that for a while, my #1 grandson was underfoot.

He heard all the racket from MW2, with zaps and explosions and cannon shots and the like. So one evening he crawled into my room while I was playing and being a toddler, just HAD to explore. He said, "Paw paw play BOOM, T. play BOOM." Thereafter, "BOOM" was the name for any computer game that involved explosions. He would say "Play BOOM, Paw paw" then hold up those baby arms in hopes I would take him to the computer so he could play.

I allowed him to sit on my left knee and fire the guns. (Quickly had to go online to learn the "infinite ammo" cheat right after that started. Aiming, he learned; ammo conservation, he didn't.) So there we were, him happily shooting the guns and me controlling the joystick. Until...

One night he was shooting and I was steering. He started looking at the joystick and the keyboard and kept looking back and forth between the two of them. You could almost hear the little gears grinding. Then, in his baby voice (he was maybe around three) he clearly said "Other knee paw-paw." So I swapped him to my other knee, he grabbed the joystick, and I never played that game again until they finally bought their house to move out. Oh, I loaded the game and helped with the controls, but he steered, he shot with the joystick trigger (and became a darned good shot), and he made cute little comments entirely appropriate to the moment.

So there is a fond spot in my heart for Mech Warrior 2.

That has got to be one of the sweetest stories I have ever heard. No wonder that game is one of your favs. I t would be one of mine too.

Best: winning eleven

I am the last years into online games a lot. Started with Ultima Online. Played Asherons Call, Lineage II, Starwars Galaxy. City of Villains, Everquest II and some more...

Best game for is Everquest II and the worst World of Warcraft...

Rob.

I still see the Operation Flashpoint (GOTY) with ECP and other Mods the best game ever, in all values...
Also the VBS1 and DF5 BHD TeamSabre..
But OPFP is the best! I spend hours playing and modifying missions,...it's wornderful, realist battle, guns, planning, weapons terrians, effects, and all..

I had one with MotoGP bike races. In its day it was quite advanced. The tracks were pretty close to the real layouts. I had to drive it all with the keyboard though. Never got far beyond the basic level where it managed the gear changes automatically. Too easy to blow the engine on the advanced. Where was that rev limiter?

For me Sims 3 is the best game

It took me months to get her on FB and she only looks at it once a week. She just hates computers.
I have the same problem here...

For me
best games

all sports games are best

wrost games

all other games :)

Mafia is the best and Shadowbane is the worst for me...

I am shocked that no-one has mentioned the original Civilization as one of the best games ever.

Also games like:
Grand Prix
X-Com 1+2 (rest were rubbish!)
Freespace 1+2
Total Annihilation
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (Text adventure game for those that don't know)

How I miss the days when the graphics weren't the most important part of playing a game.

Modern Games:
Grand Theft Auto Series (Keeps getting better)
Fallout 3 (Lost months to this game!) I won't download the expansion packs as I have too much to do right now to lose further months to this game!

Best Game:
Raiden Series, Metal Slug Series
Reason: instant and easy to play

Worst Game:
Call of Duty
Reason: too difficult to play

best games ever?
starcraft
diablo 1 and 2
ultima 7
world of warcraft

worst games ever?
world of warcraft (i'll explain)
D & D temple of whatever the hell it was
ultima 9

wow is both great and horrible.

It's fun up until you hit the "wall" the wall is where you're main character has achieved all you can or want to achieve with him. At that point you have a choice, same repetative grinding, or level an alt. I normally choose to level an alt.

I also like it because it's the first game my daughter really learned how to play. One day she was sitting there jumping my character around then she decided she wanted her own character, so we made her a little gnome rogue, she loved running around the starting area killing stuff.

Now she tends to play my druid, who has a non-combat pet called "The Perky Pug", because it has a puppy.

Best:

Starcraft (entire series)
Doom2
Nethack
X-Com
Mario Kart
Final Fantasy series.

Worst:

Don't hate.

Best = Lode Runner, Street Fighter II and Mortal Combat II
Worst = Sim City

Sim City is one of those games where you have to recognize that it is TOO good a simulation. Stuff happens to make the city incapable of surviving without urban renewal and taxes and stuff. To "win" at Sim City, you have to guide your city through maybe a hundred or even a hundred fifty years before you can say you are a success. It is far too easy to let the city take a nose dive.

The main reason I don't like Sim City is after I played it, I realized that urban planners have a really tough job and it isn't fair to gripe about the sloppy job they do.

Sim City is one of those games where you have to recognize that it is TOO good a simulation. Stuff happens to make the city incapable of surviving without urban renewal and taxes and stuff. To "win" at Sim City, you have to guide your city through maybe a hundred or even a hundred fifty years before you can say you are a success. It is far too easy to let the city take a nose dive.

The main reason I don't like Sim City is after I played it, I realized that urban planners have a really tough job and it isn't fair to gripe about the sloppy job they do.

I had more fun sending natural disastors to my city anyway. :D

I had more fun sending natural disastors to my city anyway.

Yeah, but that is frustrating because I can't send the real thing to certain politicians in my area who so richly deserve to be swallowed up by earthquakes.