StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Okay, so let's do something a little different. I want get nominations for the top ten games ever made - irrespective of genre, release date, modernity, etc. . so, submit your nominations for the top ten games ever made - and then the academy (read: us.) will vote and from this vote we will compile our list of the top ten games you must play before you die. Let's do it in the style of the Discovery Channel's Top Ten - with a standard Matrix of Criteria to judge them on.

Quality/innovation - (Overall quality of the game upon release and subsequent updates/patches if applicable - including how world-changing the game was/is)
Graphics/sound - (Overall prettiness of the game relative to the time period in which it was released)
Fun Factor - (Overall rating of how much fun the game is for you, your family, your friends, other players, etc.)
Replayability - (How many times could you replay the game before falling asleep - literally)
Learning Curve - (How difficult is the game to learn to play - this includes ease of following the plot, control scheme, etc.)
Immersion - (How engrossed were you with the story? Did you want more? Did the game make you feel like you were THERE?)

So, submit your nominations with reviews/ratings, 1-10 for each category. If more than one person nominates the same game, I will splice together the two reviews to make one MASSIVE review. Ratings in each category will be assigned by the users at large (Just because YOU think Doom 3 was the most immersive game ever [10/10] doesn't mean everyone does - it may average, upon peer review, a 6.5/10!) To Keep the thread manageable, let's stick to one review/nomination per person unless we do not even GET 10 nominations - then we'll open the doors to more.

I will be posting my nomination later.

Rome: Total War.
Quality/Innovation: 9/10. This game changed the RTS game world.
Graphics/Sound: 8/10. At the time this came out, the graphics were great, and sound is still good. (Except for "THE DAY IS OURS!!!" Players will know what I'm talking about.)
Fun Factor: 10/10. This game is one of the best games ever made. Anyone who enjoys strategy games will enjoy this.
Replayability: 9/10 .Even now, years after a sequel with another soon coming out, it is still very popular with a very active modding community.
Learning Curve: 10/10. In just half an hour or so, one can learn just about everything about the game. Controls are intuitive, but it takes lots of practice to become a truly great general.
Immersion: 8/10. You feel like you're an emperor. Enough said.

Most of this applies to Medieval II: Total War as well, but it's basically this reskinned.

Tetris, Game Boy version, 1989

Quality/innovation

Blocks fall, form lines, disappear. Rinse and repeat until game ends.

Tetris wasn't a very complex idea when it was first thought up in the mid-eighties, and it wasn't a complex idea when it arrived on the Game Boy. But the simplicity of the gameplay combined with the ability to take the game anywhere arguably launched the mobile gaming industry as we know it today. On the PC and home consoles, Tetris was a fun albeit limited pastime. On the Game Boy, it became the answer to long train rides, to waiting rooms, to dull holidays and that bit in the restaurant where you've been waiting on your food so long you're not hungry any more. It was suitable for six-hour marathons and two-minute jaunts on the privy. Tetris was the game that made gaming a part of life.

Innovative? When it was first thought up by Pajitnov, it was; when it hit the Game Boy, not so much. But the gameplay was of an elegant simplicity that modern game designers would happily trade limbs for. The lack of a permanent high score table is somewhat offset by the inclusion of multiplayer, but it's still missed - now there's no way to make your boasts stick. A shame, but not a debilitating one.

8

Graphics/sound

Tetris thrived on simplicity, and the Game Boy's monochrome pallet was perfect for that goal. The graphic polish was limited to a handful of victory animations, the music teetered on that fine line between "memorable earworm" and "annoying loop". Overall, perfunctory is the word to use.

5

Fun Factor

How much fun would crack be if it had no ill side-effects?

The world melts away. Five minutes with Tetris is all it takes to turn your surroundings into a vague blur. An hour is enough to make bricks appear when you close your eyes. The game sucks you in like only the best games can and refuses to let go as you hammer the buttons, inching ever closer to the next level. Is that fun?

10

Replayability

It's a puzzle game. I suppose you can stop playing once your thumbs fall off... until someone finds a way to control it via the mind, of course.

10

Learning Curve

Less of a curve and more of a gentle incline... one that you can either try to tackle, or just ignore as you wander through the flat countryside taking in the simple pleasure of the trip. Any skill level from 'clumsy chimpanzee' onward can pick up the game, and as the difficulty ramps up with your ability, you'll never find yourself faced with an impossible challenge.

9

Immersion

There was a story?

Tetris doesn't suck you into a fictional universe, it sucks you into an abstract one. As covered under "fun", it is perhaps one of the few games that seems to erase that barrier between your mind and the game. You can play Tetris with your brain shut off, or you can go for broke at the highest level requiring every last ounce of concentration you have. If that counts as "immersive", I recall few games that best Tetris.

9

And to this Academy I say: if you can pick just one game to play for the rest of your natural life - can you honestly say you wouldn't consider Tetris?

Bubble Bobble

2D Platform Game on the Commodore C64 form 1986. Best played in two player mode, the players each control an avatar looking like a little dragon who can shoot bubbles. The players have to capture monsters within these bubbles and then touch them. After touching them the monsters explode and release items which can be collected by the players. After killing all monsters the players continue to the next stage.

Quality/innovation:
Qualitywise i don´t know of any bugs or other problems that could occure
Innovationwise i think it had quite a bit such as not only having to shoot the enemies but also touch them after that. Furthermore the ability to use the monsters inside the bubbles as jumping pads was really cool. The extras that the players could collect were a nice addition as well as the different types of bonus items, like the collectible letters

9 Points


Graphics/sound
Well, the graphics were ok for the time, the monsters looked cool and adequat and the avatars, Bub and Bob, are adorable.
The Soundtrack is similar to other games of that time very repetitive but it never gets boring and is a real earworm.

9.5 Points


Fun Factor

Funnest Game evaaar!!!

10 Points


Replayability

I played it again and again. It never got boring.

10 Points


Learning Curve

It starts easy and gets harder. The learning curve is very good.

10 Points


Immersion

Well, there´s not much of a story or atmosphere to get sucked into so while you do forget the oudside world i don´t know if it would fit the modern definition of immersion.

5 Points

Hmmmm...Rome is already taken, so I'll just submit another of my favorites.

Baldur's Gate

Quality
The game was stable upon release and subsequent patches only fixed minor issues. In 10 years of playing the game I have only noticed two bugs.

10/10

Innovation
It rekindled the RPG world. Innovation includes:
- Party management
- NPCs you gave a damm about
- the "pause" key that is now standard in any RPG game, whereas real actions are not round-based, but in real-time
- multiple endings based on how you react to things
- game characters react accordingly to your deeds etc.

There are countless more, but I cannot remember them at the moment.

10/10

Graphics

Beautiful hand-drawn graphics, far superior Diablo 2. When it came out, it was high-end and it is still playable and easy on the eyes today.

10/10

sound
The voices of BG are pure genius. Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid...all are great. The sound is authentic and really gives you that adventurer feel as well. However, some are repititive.

8/10


Fun Factor

It is fun. The only thing that can be a bit dreary is walking from one point to another.

9/10

Replayability[/10]
I am still replaying it. Does that answer the question?

10/10

Learning Curve
The controls are easy. The learning curve can be steep at the beginning, but it is not taxing.

10/10

Immersion - (How engrossed were you with the story? Did you want more? Did the game make you feel like you were THERE?)
Yes, Yes, Yes. 10/10

Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Quality, 9/10

Never encountered a single bug, never had a crash, never had to patch it. I would not call it world-changing though, since it is a sequel.

Innovation, 6/10

Again, it was a sequel, so there were no really new concepts. Everything was really just an updated version of I and II. However, so much was added to it from the previous games that I have to give it some credit.

Graphics, 9/10

Slightly "small" looking, but everything looks amazing for its scale. There are no jagged edges, and the level of detail is just beautiful.

Sound, 8/10

Insofar as I listen to sound, it was pretty good. However, I can't really be authoritative about it because I mostly played on mute.

Fun Factor, 10/10

Every single minute that I've played this game I was enjoying myself. I never once quit out of boredom or frustration. And that's just single player. Multiplayer was even more difficult to stop playing.

Replayability, 10/10

I don't have an exact number of hours logged on this game, but I do know that it's well over one thousand. If that's not replayability, I don't know what is.

Learning Curve, 9/10

You do have to spend some time with it, but since it's a turn based game, there's really no pressure to learn instantly. I'd say it's an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master kind of game.

Immersion, 10/10

Holy shit yes. I often spoke out loud giving orders to my units. I've also been known to play the game for 12 hours straight, because I forget that it's possible to save, unlike real life.

I honestly haven't played anything that I believe is the greatest game of all time, and I have three pretty much tied for the place of my personal favorite: Age of Empires 3, Battle for Wesnoth, and Battlestations Midway (before any of you laugh at these choices, please remember that I own a Mac and am thus limitted in the range of games I can play. No Total War for me ).

At the end of the day, I'm going with Wesnoth, which is a choice I have severe reservations about given that its got very simplistic graphics and poorly writen campaings (the last is true for the other two though). But it has a certain uniquness, and a hell of a lot of replayabillity, for reason I'll explain.

So, Battle for Wesnoth:

Quality/innovation: 7/10. This is a tough call because the graphics are simple (though I find the music very atmospheric), and the campaing dialouge is often poorly written. However, their are compensating factors. One of these is that it is by far the most complex and well done game I've ever played which is free and made by amateures. I find this innovative, at any rate. It certainly shows that a dedicated comunity of amateurs can in some ways match or even excede the so-called professionals. Gameplay is also solid, and its not very buggy at all. The fact that its free and plays on Macs wins it some favor as well .

Graphics/sound: 6/10. A mixed catagory here. I don't mind simplistic graphics if the gameplay and story/setting are good, but I won't pretend these are great quality by most standards. As I said though, I like the music, and the graphics have a certain quaint and simple charm to them.

Fun: 7/10. Very challanging. The dialouge is often average to poor, and I may not like a given campaing's story, but the settings and stories for the campaings are often interesting. Multiplayer can be very entertaining as well, thanks in large part to an active fan community and gameplay which is both easy to grasp (at least at a basic level, but complex enough to challange and interest for a while. Oh, and tactics count. Their's more to this game than building up a big economy and then spamming units, or learning a rock-paper-scisors formula. Terrain, time of day, and luck all count in deciding the outcome, in addition the attributes of the units themselves.

Replayabillity: 9/10. I'd be inclined to give it ten out of ten, but turn based multiplayer games can lagg, and campaigns can be bloody hard to beat, which can get tiring to the less-than-brilliant players like myself. However, an active community really helps. Their are always innovative new maps, senarios, and campaigns being made, which are often better than the "mainline" or default ones.

Learning curve: 9/10 You can learn the basics pretty fast, and their's a decent tutorial to tell you how to play.

Immersion: 6/10. I never get deeply immersed in games emotionally, though Wesnoth eats up a lot of my time. I think the campaigns can really pull you in, as you keep playing both to beat the level and see how the story unfolds.

While I could go up or down on a lot of this, I'm giving a score of 44/60, for an average of 7.33/ 10. Call it 73%, or to round, 7/10.

Star Control 2

Quality/innovation - 10: Only one bug that could be used to generate infinite money. It was a cheat that still wasn't game breaking due to so much else needing to be done just to form a worthwhile fleet.

Ginormous space setting that makes Mass Effect look like the kids pool. Hundreds of start systems to visit for either alien interaction or just resource gathering. Various inter-weaving plot contrivances that actually went somewhere and had solutions that weren't completely insane (well, at least some of them weren't). Oh and Hypnotoad.

Graphics/sound - 10: Excellent for it's day. The characters were animated and even disgusting when needed. The combat was complete with satisfying explosions and animations. Even with such antiquated technology, the solar systems gave you a sense of scale. The music, to me at least, is one of those simple yet catchy little tunes. Off-hand I can still hum the battle, hyperspace, and human space station music in my head. It wasn't like The Dig where they went off and hired John Williams, but it still fit the scenes and added to the immersion.

Fun Factor - 8: the quick battle system and controls were responsive, but the inclusion of only 8 ship facings for some of the larger ships was limiting, but did make combat a bit easier when dealing with long ranges. Scavenging for resources was a pain and the lack of a quick warp meant many breaks to go get something to eat or using the can while your ship traveled on it's endless voyage across the cosmos. Sure, there was a work-around with the Air-loo-lee-lay (sp), but you had to find them first and it was still a work-around rather than a solution. Much time was spent studying the (awesome) included map while watching the red drift by you. But when the action started, this game was intense.

Replayability - 10: There's so much to do and even the main quest wasn't something you could bang out quickly. Gathering a complete armada to tackle the Ur-Quan was difficult and further pressure was added in that you could actually run out of time and lose the game. What a fucking concept: an RPG that you were very likely to lose the first time you played it and you would actually have to go back to the start because it was likely all your other saves were worthless as well because you took too much time doing X.

Learning Curve - 7: a rather high learning curve, especially when you're as young as I was when it came out. You are dumped into a huge universe with little direction and no alien territories known of at first. The Spathi could help a bit, but it was still only a general "over there" gesture. Oh, and be prepared to lose more shuttles than Voyager. Fucking things are made of tissue. Early on, picking the right ship for the job is hard if you hadn't messed around with the quick-battle. I remember losing my main ship to a Sylandro Probe right after starting the game the first time. I was not pleased.

Immersion - 9: I still want to kill that damn Dnyarri after making me fight endless Ur-Quan until I got the mind-shield. The characters were as believable as could be and hilariously over-the-top in some instances. You could even feel for the plight (and esuing xenophobia and homicidal tendancies) of the two Ur-Quan species. Only the looooong hyperspace flights detracted from the immersion.

The only thing stopping me from loading the installed copy of the 3DO version I have on my PC is the lack of time. I'm prone to take large breaks in between playing older games. That's just not a possibility with SC2. You've got to dedicate some serious time to it because there's no real quest log or anything. In fact, I don't remember if you could even check what unique items you had already collected.

I will end this by saying: Mass Effect wishes it was Star Control 2.

DooM

Quality/Innovation - 10: The game that spawned the FPS genre, as well as Online competitive gaming, including Deathmatch play.

Graphics/Sound - 10: When I personally saw the game for the first time, I thought it was photorealistic. That's how impressive the graphics were for its time. Also, the design of it all, created a both dark and colorful environment, that nowadays has been replaced with the return of the everything is gray movement.
As for sound, the growls of incoming demons could at times be the stuff of nightmares.

Fun Factor - 10: Shoot things with increasingly more powerful guns. Use a chainsaw, a shotgun, the mythical BFG. Fight hordes of monsters only to turn around and see something bigger coming your way. Move through hellish locales solving straghtforward puzzles while shooting some more. Gee, I still play this game when I want a realiable stress reliever.

Replayability - 9: It's straightforward, linear, and without much variation. The difficulty settings could make for interesting replay, as well as doing it in coop, but it would get old fast. The reason why I'm giving it a 9 regardless was because this game also started the MODDING trend, giving it life beyond its years, to the point that mods are being released TODAY. And, of course, Deathmatch.

Learning Curve - 10: Simplistic controls: Push a button, something dies. One of the trademarks of Id Software in most of their games has been a simplistic UI that makes their games so much easier to play, unlike the many contenders to the throne who had to cope with increasingly complex controls, to the point of simulator-like complexity.

Immersion - 10: Whoever, back in its day, didn't jump at the scares this game has, is either lying, or was cheating. Of course, there wasn't much of a story to begin with, but it's not like you needed one, just how you really don't need a plot to enjoy a roller coaster ride.


Of course, there's some major rose-colored goggling going on here, but thankfully, there's the whole FPS genre to back this up.

Lol I see what you guys are up to here

With the help of my handy reference guide I shall join in


Enter the Matrix

Quality/Innovation - 10: With unique acrobatics system featuring the "bullet time" mechanics from the smash hit motion picture series, this game offers a thrilling experience as you perform breathtaking stunts and dodge bullets at your lesuire

Graphics/Sound - 10: This game features real-time 3-D models that interact with their environment and come with a diverse range of speech lines.

Fun Factor - 10: The game is open ended, so even after you've killed all the enemies in an area you can stay for as long as you want. The stunning acrobatics system mentioned before means you can have hours of fun flipping, cartwheeling, and even running up walls at your lesuire. You regain health gradually at a constant rate, meaning that you can continue your charge if you're feeling up to it, or stay and reflect on what you need to do while you are restored to fighting fitness.

Replayability - 10: The game offers two characters to play as. Each character has a distinct personality and different skills, so you can replay the game and experiment each level with each. The game also features a "hacking mode", in which you play as an Operator from the motion picture series and attemt to hack the Matrix to unlock hidden games and features.

Learning Curve - 10: This game features an easy learning curve; no matter what buttons you press one way or another you are going to make it to the end of the level. This clever design means new players can pick up the game and start their experience right away.

Immersion - 10: Featuring cutscenes and a story that captures the feel of the movies, you will feel that you are actually in the Matrix as events unfold from a different viewpoint through the third movie.

Wait, is this a serious thread or a joke thread? If the latter, I retract my nomination. If the former, I humbly suggest to Chardok that Zablorg's nomination should not be included in the vote to determine the final top ten list.

Tales of Symphonia
2004 Gamecube title, later remade for PS2.
Quality/innovation 10/10 Fucking oresome game, four player co-op, small issue in that beyond battling 3 people have nothing to do really, doesn't detract from the overall game. Controls are well laid out.
Graphics/sound 10/10 Rather pretty game for the time. Sounds are nice, usually kind of repetition in what people say, again, doesn't detract from the greatness.
Fun Factor 10/10 Could play this game for hours on end.
Replayability 8/10 See above, replayability isn't infinite, story is always the same, but it can be fun a few times. Then you take a break and go back to it.
Learning Curve 10/10 Game holds your end at the beginning, then starts to get tougher, on easiest difficulty never really feels overly difficult, but that's why it's called easy innit?
Immersion 10/10 Story engrossed me, though it was a run of the mill "bad person/dude/chick/machine that gained sentience/ham sandwich wants to take over/destroy the world and it's up to a guy with spiky hair and duel blades to save the planet with the assistance of a rag-tag group of people.

tl;dr Game is fun, try it out.

I'll submit an underdog candidate.

Bully PS2

Quality/innovation - 8/10 Decent quality. The game play really isn't anything new. Just GTA minus the killing and set in a High School setting. But damn does it ever work!

Graphics/sound - 10/10 It does what it is suppose to do, the sound effects add to the world and help to immerse the player in the setting of Bullworth. Especally attention to little details like the surface your walking on and the sound of bicycles falling onto there side.

Fun Factor - 9/10 I had a blast on this game, a favorite pass time was covering the entrance to the boys dowm with marbles and pulling the fire alarm. Then fighting for my life in the resulting brawl

Replayability - 10/10 I think I have replayed this game as much as 50 times so far one weekend when I was sick I ended up doing three back to back replays.

Learning Curve - 10/10 Perfect, mini tutorials walk you throw what you need to know and by the end of the first chapter you know everything you need to know to make it in the game.

Immersion - 8/10 Almost perfect. You feel like your actually a student at the school the only flaws really are that you cannot do much with your girlfriends beyond kissing them. I mean it had been nice to have date side missions and a mini storyline with each girl.

Also teachers that are normally nice to your characters in cutscenes and missions act like they are someone else when you speak to them when they are wondering the halls. Literally I completed a mission saving a teachers job then they turn around and call me a no good trouble maker.

Finally there's the factions in the school once your at a 100% with them you can show up beat every member senseless and walk away come back to there area and they act like nothing ever happened.

Are we giving 10/10 graphic for PS2 games?

As for the thread itself, you would have been better off going with a best game in genre thread. Or the game that has is the best in the categories that you've given us. Of course we all know that the game that wins this is going to be an action title or FPS.

Sure, why not. Now, to avoid falling into the obvious trap, I'll rate this game with two ratings each: one set for my impressions at the time it came out and played it then, and how that game would rate with me now. For good measure, I'll do one nostalgia review, and one recent review of a game that should be a nostalgic review, but I only began playing a week or so ago.

Game: Vagrant Story
System: PSX
Publisher: Square (before they became Square/Enix)

Quality/innovation: Given that this was a console game, the "patches" part of this won't apply; with that said, though nothing was truly groundbreaking in terms of mechanics or presentation or gameplay, the minor touches all around made the game a very fun action/RPG for it's time.
Original: 9, Now: 7

Graphics/sound: There really wasn't much music to this game; most of what music there was tended to be the atmospheric and subtle route; nothing very standout. The graphics for a PSX game were impressive for their time and their system, but nothing overwhelming.
Original: 7, Now: 5

Fun Factor: Given that this was a single-player RPG with no multiplayer options, the best one could do with friends this game is take turns and offer advice - however, for what it was, a single-player RPG, it did have a good plotline, and interesting characters.
Original: 9, Now: 7

Replayability: The fact that several goodies were unlocked with the second and subsequent playthroughs did offer some solid replay value, but it did wane the third time through, as it had nothing else to offer at that point.
Original: 7, Now: 5

Learning Curve: Given that this is a Square game on the PSX, the game holds your hand through the first while. Learning the little subtleties of Break Arts, or best weapons to use against which types of creatures, or even forging new weapons and armor for yourself, none of these are particularly obtuse to figure out.
Original: 5, Now: 4

Immersion: Despite there being no voice-acting as there would be with later titles, it felt very much like a pulp comic as one played, with the way that characters spoke, the speech bubbles, and especially the plot. I was and am still rather impressed with this.
Original: 10, Now: 7


==================================
Alright, now for the more recent game.


Game: Space Rangers 2
System: WinXP
Publisher: StarDock

Quality/innovation: Though neither terribly innovative or of exceptional quality, this game still holds a respectable score for such.
Rating: 6

Graphics/sound: The graphics are all sprite-based, and rather simple compared to the latest games. The background music is rather nice, but the sound effects are sometimes annoying.
Rating: 5

Fun Factor: Though this is a single-player scifi RPG effectively, and includes the base elements of all RPG's (upgrading capabilities, buying new items to replace the old, the character making an impact on the game universe, etc.), this is still tremendous fun.
Rating: 9

Replayability: Not sure yet, to be honest. This doesn't appear to offer much in subsequent playthroughs except higher difficulty or starting with different stats, though those things alone could effectively create an entirely different game, as the universe changes with each game.
Rating: 8

Learning Curve: Honestly, I had a friend's advice for this game, so I caught up to speed reasonably quickly. However, parts of this game are more obviously translated than others, so certain aspects were...confusing without some assistance from forums. This would be a weak point of this game.
Rating: 7

Immersion: Though never completely and utterly sucking one into the game, it does offer enough consistent things of interest that there isn't really a time where you're bored, even when trying to get some quick cash together.
Rating: 7


EDIT: I should also mention for the record that I would nominate neither game as my "All-time favorite," as I really don't have an all-time favorite game.

Final Fantasy VII

Quality/innovation - THIS GAME WAS WORLD-CHANGING! It was genre-defining! It was like nothing anyone had ever seen before! Suddenly every game ever had to have a snow-boarding sequence and attack animations that take at least 4 minutes per action! AND THE CUTSCENES! It's amazing the quality of these! They're brilliant - even now they look amazing! 10


Graphics/sound - This is the best looking game of that year! It's incomparable to anything else - Tomb Raider 2, Quake 2, X-Wing v TIE Fighter, Abe's Odyssey and Curse of Monkey Island? None of those can hold a candle to FFVII technically or artistically. No character EVER has been as iconic as Cloud! The music was perfect - the score should have won an Academy Award - it was orchestral! How could the Academy give the Oscar to James when Nobuo Uematsu's opus was clearly the best work in any media ever! 10


Fun Factor - I have never met anyone who doesn't think that FFVII isn't the greatest game of all time! There is no part of that game that is not perfectly done - it's always fun to play! 10


Replayability - I'm still playing this game! I only ever play Final Fantasy games and I can now finish Final Fantasy VII in about 45 hours, it would be less, but I still can't help but watch every beautiful moment of that game. 10


Learning Curve - What learning curve? THIS GAME IS LIFE! 10


Immersion - I cry every time Aerith dies, the story is so perfectly written, the graphics are so wonderful and it all comes together to form the ultimate experience. I didn't cry when my mother died or when my dad beat me, but the story crafted by Yoshinori Kitase can never fail to make me feel such amazing emotions. In fact, it makes me feel emotions... 10

TECMO BOWL
That's right.

Quality/innovation - 10/10 The first fun football game and arguably the basis for all future games to build on. Actual teams, rosters and individualized plays for different teams. Sweet.
Graphics/sound - 7/10 Not the best looking game, but since I didn't play much else at the time, I don't have much to base it against. However, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the best looking at the time.
Fun Factor - 10/10 Hours, weeks and months were lost to this game. I may still have the deep bone bruises in my shoulder from getting hit by my older brother because I kicked his ass in it constantly.
Replayability - 10/10 I literally would play the game until I got into bed, then in bed until I fell asleep. That and every game was different.
Learning Curve - 10/10 I don't know anyone that couldn't play it effectively after about ten minutes.
Immersion - 10/10 I haven't stopped playing football games since.

havokeff wrote:TECMO BOWL
That's right.

Quality/innovation - 10/10 The first fun football game and arguably the basis for all future games to build on. Actual teams, rosters and individualized plays for different teams. Sweet.
Graphics/sound - 7/10 Not the best looking game, but since I didn't play much else at the time, I don't have much to base it against. However, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the best looking at the time.
Fun Factor - 10/10 Hours, weeks and months were lost to this game. I may still have the deep bone bruises in my shoulder from getting hit by my older brother because I kicked his ass in it constantly.
Replayability - 10/10 I literally would play the game until I got into bed, then in bed until I fell asleep. That and every game was different.
Learning Curve - 10/10 I don't know anyone that couldn't play it effectively after about ten minutes.
Immersion - 10/10 I haven't stopped playing football games since.

BO JAAAAAAAAAAACKSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Mutant League Football for the NES. I'm giving this a ten in every category because nobody has made a sports game as innovative or graphically adept since.

Schuyler Colfax wrote:Are we giving 10/10 graphic for PS2 games?

As for the thread itself, you would have been better off going with a best game in genre thread. Or the game that has is the best in the categories that you've given us. Of course we all know that the game that wins this is going to be an action title or FPS.

Rate the graphics, FOR THE TIME.

General Zod wrote:Mutant League Football for the NES. I'm giving this a ten in every category because nobody has made a sports game as innovative or graphically adept since.

It all comes down to a few good games for me:

Doom 1/2 -- Admit it; loading either one up in a doom emulator and shooting some guys is still fun.
Mutant League Hockey for Genesis -- MLF was okay, but MLH was awesome. I still play it.
Pirates! Gold for Genesis -- Took the graphics of the Amiga version and put them into an easy to play cartridge.
X-COM UFO Defense/X-COM TFTD -- basically one and the same. Perfect blend of graphics, playability etc that still work 15 years later.

I'll think of some more later...

Homeworld (1999 Sierra Entertainment, PC)

Quality/innovation -10/10, No 2D or Turn based bullshit here. Homeworld gives you the right experience, commanding an armada of warships in full 3D Real time, from swarming enemy capital ships with Plasma Bombers to bringing the mighty Ion Cannons of a Heavy Cruiser to bear on some unfortunate chump. The system of gameplay is solid, as is the campaign aspect, you can't just throw your units away to be blown to bits on your return home. This is a basically one of a kind RTS, but never the less was well refined and developed conceptually.
Graphics/sound -9/10, The soundtrack is excellent, one of a kind and really helps sell moments of the story. The ships themselves are Well Done despite being fairly dated. The voice acting is good, as are the comic boot cutscenes.
Fun Factor-8/10, The controls are easy to use and straightforward, you have a good selection of useful tools to help you out. There are several routes you can go in battle, from raiding resource collecter/controller convoys to using salvage corvettes to commandeer enemy warships. Commanding your fleet to victory and you really do have an epic feeling when you see the space battles. The only problem is the fact that you do have to do a fair bit of waiting in 200km+ in diameter battlefields (as you will during resource collection after certain levels)
Replayability - 10/10, Did you capture all the Multibeam Frigates in Kadesh? Did you grab all six Cryopods? Really there are a fair
Learning Curve -10/10 The missions have a good learning curve as you move up the capital ship tree. Although you really must know what you are doing in some levels.
Immersion-9/10, The Story itself of the campaign is very well thought out, the universe itself is very fleshed out and some scenes can be downright chilling despite the fact that you only see a couple shots of Karen S'jet in cutscenes.

Schuyler Colfax wrote:Are we giving 10/10 graphic for PS2 games?

As for the thread itself, you would have been better off going with a best game in genre thread. Or the game that has is the best in the categories that you've given us. Of course we all know that the game that wins this is going to be an action title or FPS.

For it's time and system yes! ^.^

Invictus ChiKen wrote:

Schuyler Colfax wrote:Are we giving 10/10 graphic for PS2 games?

As for the thread itself, you would have been better off going with a best game in genre thread. Or the game that has is the best in the categories that you've given us. Of course we all know that the game that wins this is going to be an action title or FPS.

For it's time and system yes! ^.^

No shit Sherlock.

Schuyler Colfax wrote: No shit Sherlock.

Well if you didn't want an answer ya shouldn't have asked.