Five Games For Life
Written by The GN Staff on 7/15/2004 for
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We, at Gaming Nexus, were posed with a question recently. If we were able to only choose five games to have in our collection for the rest of our lives what would they be? The only qualifying agent would be that the game is released so that leaves out some heavy hitters such as Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. So here are some of our staff’s top choices.
Phillip Ellis
Staff Writer
NCAA Football 2004
NCAA Football 2004, because it's the greatest college football game ever. I would cry that I just missed out on 2005, but I would be able to live with 2004 for eternity I guess. It just never gets old, the gameplay is amazing, the recruiting, everything.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty, if I had an internet connection wherever I was. The gameplay is seriously awesome, the mods that have been made are great, and the people that play it are cool to play with. Nothing like a sixty-four player deathmatch. Especially respawning to your death.
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising.
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising. Something about the 150 player multiplayer that turns me on. How could I live without those huge battles, and the teamwork that comes with the game? From driving the choppers to driving some fast inflatable boat away from my death. I just love it.
MVP Baseball 2004
MVP Baseball 2004, greatest baseball game ever. Except for that lefty-power bug. It irks me, but it's such a small problem that I don't even care. The gameplay is some serious stuff, and the depth of the game, for just a second year game, is freaking awesome. It's nice to finally get to play with my local minor league Charlotte Knights.
Full Spectrum Warrior
Full Spectrum Warrior, the most realistic war strategy game of all time. The graphics are sick, the teamplay is excellent. Everything falls into place. It was a little on the short side, but it has the Army Mode and Authentic Modes for me to fill up on along with the regular modes. No way I could pass taking this gem with me.
Cyril Lachel
Staff Writer
X-COM
In the guise of a simple, outdated strategy game lies one of the most involving games of all time. X-COM is the type of game that demands hours of devotion, but rewards you with one of the deepest stories of any game of its type. The longer you play the game the most attached you become to your various workers, to the point where there is actual emotion when somebody dies (and you know they are never coming back to life). X-COM has several sequels, but none of them were able to demonstrate the programming mastery of the first game. There is no right or wrong way to play X-COM, which will lead you to play the game over and over with varied results. The graphics might start to look the same after awhile, but I can think of no finer time-waster than X-COM.
Tetris
I'll be honest with you, I don't trust anybody that doesn't like Tetris. Being against Tetris is like being against water; it's the lifeblood of the video game industry, it's the very reason we play games. If you were to squeeze all your games together, that sticky stuff that comes out is the essence of "fun" ... something that Tetris was built on. It's the kind of video game everybody likes, even people who would never normally play video games. But even if it wasn't the worldwide success it is, even if it was just a simple, fun puzzle game I'd still take it with me. Tetris is the type of game I can play for hours on end, always trying to better my score and hone my skills. Certainly there are games that offer deeper stories and better graphics, but Tetris is the closest video games have come to perfection, and there's not a single reason I wouldn't want to keep it with me for the rest of my life.
SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs
If I'm never going to be able to buy another online game, I might as well keep the one with the most depth and replay. As a fan of the original, I was smitten by SOCOM II from the very beginning ... but now that I've put in well over 300 hours in it, I can honestly say I appreciate it more now than ever. The levels are large and interesting, and no matter how long you play it, you're bound to find a new hiding place or sniper point. Add in your equally addicted friends, and you have a recipe for what is easily the best online experience on a console. With the addition of downloadable levels/content, there is no rush for a SOCOM III ... which would be a good thing for me, since I won't be able to buy it.
Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack
Thousands of pages have already been written about Rockstar's crime simulator, so why even bother trying to come up with something new to say? By now everybody who wanted to play the game already has, and those who are against the series have all but shut up. But I don't care what other people think of the game, for my money, the Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack is about the best value going. It features two of the best games of this video game cycle, and easily the best in-game audio ever devised. Furthermore, it holds up surprisingly well. Not one of the subsequent GTA clones -- Driver 3, the Getaway, True Crime -- was able to recreate the fun and excitement found in Vice City. These two games aren't perfect, but they do offer you dozens (if not hundreds) of fun things to do, which should keep me happy for years to come.
Mortal Kombat Advance
You heard me. I figure if there's ever a time where I start taking those other games for granted, I can toss in the mighty Mortal Kombat Advance and realize how good I have it. There is not a game out there that doesn't look good when compared to the horrible, horrible Mortal Kombat Advance. What's that, your game has no replay and terrible controls? Well, Mortal Kombat Advance features a fighting engine so flawed, even your punches and fireballs go right through your foes. Forget challenging, Mortal Kombat Advance is impossible, which is the perfect difficulty when you're sentenced to a life without new games.
Charlie Sinhaseni
Senior Editor
Unreal Tournament 2004.
I’m a big fan of killing people and I don’t think that it gets any better than Unreal Tournament 2004. It definitely gives new meaning to the phrase “go play with yourself.” If none of your friends are around, or if you’re like Bart and you don’t actually have any friends, you can always engage in some intense action thanks to the game’s insanely brilliant AI.
Custer’s Revenge.
I think that I’d have to have a copy of Custer’s Revenge. Not for myself of course, but just in case John gets lonely and decides that he needs some entertainment. Hardware geeks are just perverted like that.
NFL GameDay 2002.
Sometimes it’s good to step back and realize just how good you have it. For that reason I decided to throw a little kink into the cog and bring out the little gem known as NFL GameDay 2002. For you see, there are bad games, there are worse games and then there’s NFL GameDay 2002. Shoddy graphics, stupid AI, muddy controls and graphics that looked like they were puked out of a trash compactor. Besides, the disc comes in handy when I need a Frisbee. And what about coasters? I need something to put my beers on. My girlfriend would kill me if I left rings on the coffee table.
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sail
When I want to relive the classic days of adventure gaming I usually stop by my shelf and pick up my old copy of Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sale and slip it into the disc drive. Sure, I lost the scratch and sniff card that came with it but I’m more than capable of reproducing the smells of flatulence. (umm.. via my dog that is…) Besides, the game featured an engaging storyline that was intriguing for two reasons; 1) gamers were able to empathize with a loser whose attemps to get laid ended in failure and 2) the game was damn funny. Hell, to be honest I would probably be happy playing with five copies of Larry 7 for the rest of my life. Actually, make that four copies, I absolutely can’t live without my copy of Larry 4: Charmed and Dangerous. Oh Al! You’ve done it again! That scene where Larry tries to score with Rush Mountmore? Priceless!
Super Puzzle Fighter
If there’s one thing that never gets old it’s a puzzle game. Sure, I’m a huge blood and guts sort of guy but my girlfriend has really turned me onto those stupid cutesey puzzle games with all of the shiny graphics. I’m a real man’s man though, so I decided to go with Super Puzzle Fighter, probably the manliest one of the bunch, although that’s not saying much.
Tyler Sager
Staff Writer
Heroes of Might and Magic III
My first choice would be one of my all-time favorites, Heroes of Might and Magic III. I’m going to assume I get all the expansions for the game. Those, along with all the fan-based content, and I’m in turn-based Nirvana for a very long time. Now that I think of it, it’s been a while since I loaded this gem up…
Galactic Civilizations
Next, I’d need some sort of 4X game. Galactic Civilizations is my favorite in that genre, so that’d be the natural choice. Again, tons of replayability in this wonderful title.
Morrowind
And of course I’ll need some sort of RPG. While most are good for at least a second play-through, not many would hold up for the rest of my life. I’ll have to pick Morrowind and its expansions for my third title. There’s just so much to do in this massive game, and so many ways of going about doing it, that this should stand the test of time nicely.
Diablo II
So far most of my games are pretty slow paced, so I’ll need a good hack-n-slash to round things out. As far as I’m concerned, no other dungeon-hack game has as much durability as the classic Diablo II, with expansion. I can still get sucked into that time vortex even years after its release, so it’ll most likely keep my attention for many more years to come.
Disgaea
Finally, I’ll grab something from the PS2 camp to fill out my roster. Let’s see…insanely long play, horribly addictive, just-one-more-turn goodness…yep: Disgaea. I can never seem to devote enough time to this turn-based RPG—if this was one of a very few games I owned, I’d probably be able to give it the attention it truly needs.
Dave Gamble
Staff Writer
Microsoft Flight Sim 2004
Perfect for practicing instrument flight procedures. While the FAA won't let me log the time I fly using FS2k4, I still get quite a bit of excellent practice from it. The interactive ATC and real-world weather provide a realistic and meaningful practice arena. Also, if I were limited to five games for the rest of forever, I'd be inclined to choose games that can be modded. There are literally thousands of add-on aircraft, panels, scenery, and utilities readily available to keep the experience new and exciting.
EA Sports F1 Challenge
In my opinion, Image Space has the best racing physics engine available today. And with the track modeling getting better and better every year, I find that running a race on F1C a few days prior to the real-world F1 race adds significantly to the enjoyment of watching the actual race. And, like FS2k4, F1C has a host of available mods that pretty much let me select any type of racing I might want to do at any given time. My latest addiction is Mini Cooper racing. Very tight and exciting racing, even at a top speed of 130 mph.
Call of Duty
The only FPS I've ever really liked. The ambiance is so immersive, and the game play so addictive, that I could easily get by with this as my one and only shooter.
Americas Army
Easily the best multi-player title around. If it was one of only five games I was allowed to have, I might even have time to get good enough at it to change my moniker to something other than Sgt. Meat Shield or Pvt. Sniper Bait. I could also probably work out that whole friendly fire issue that keeps my Honor level at something just above 'Trial Lawyer.'
X-Plane
X-Plane isn't quite as sophisticated as FS2k4 when it comes to ATC and some of the avionics, but it does do an incredible job of provding smooth and fast updates to the flight instruments. Piper Aircraft provides an incredible set of X-Plane downloads for all of the airplanes in the product line-up. It's worth having for those alone.
Charles Husemann
Editor-in-Chief
Unreal Tournament 2004
All of the different game modes and strong bot and developer support mean that it will take years to get bored with this game.
Half-Life
Still one of the classic single player games of all times and I could probably go through the game five or six more times before even starting to get bored with it.
City of Heroes
I'm still spending hour after hour on this game and I still haven't scratched all that there is in the game. I still have 3 archetypes to try out and with the recent content update there's still a lot of Paragon city that I haven't explored.
Prince of Persia : Sands of Time
Another great single player experience that I could play a couple of times through without getting bored with. It's hard to get sick of all of the cool moves you can get the prince to do.
ESPN Hockey 2004
I have to have one hockey game with me no matter what and I'm taking this one over EA hockey just because it supports Xbox Live.
John Yan
Senior Hardware Editor
Unreal Tournament 2004
Just a very polished first person shooter that does many things right. I love Onslaught mode and enjoy the back and forth action of capturing power points. The vehicles add a lot to the game and it’s fun to see people scatter when the Leviathan rolls around the corner and starts to transform.
NCAA Football 2004
My love for Ohio State football brings me to EA’s great game. Recruiting, dynasties, greatest finishes, and classic teams make this game an incredible sports title. If there’s one game that had me playing multiple years just to see my recruits develop into high NFL draft picks, NCAA Football 2004 is it.
M.U.L.E.
This classic on the Commodore 64 is one game that’s not complicated, not too deep, but was incredibly addicting. There have been a few attempts to update the game to the new technology, but so far nothing’s compared to the ole C64 classic. It says something that I still enjoy the game with its crude graphics and simplistic economy system.
Whiplash
One of my all time favorite games, Whiplash was a fun stunt racing game that I had a blast with on the LAN. The jumps and action of each chaotic race had me coming back for more and I really wish Gremlin Interactive did a follow up to this game. I have many fond memories of playing 8 player LAN at the OSU computer lab and spending countless hours racing against the computer while killing time.
Neverwinter Nights
For a Dungeons and Dragons multiplayer experience, not much comes close to Neverwinter Nights. I’ve lost many of nights playing this with friends and the incredible amount of modules available allows you to practically play this forever. It’s not perfect but it’s damn fun and a great multiplayer title.
Phillip Ellis
Staff Writer
NCAA Football 2004
NCAA Football 2004, because it's the greatest college football game ever. I would cry that I just missed out on 2005, but I would be able to live with 2004 for eternity I guess. It just never gets old, the gameplay is amazing, the recruiting, everything.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty, if I had an internet connection wherever I was. The gameplay is seriously awesome, the mods that have been made are great, and the people that play it are cool to play with. Nothing like a sixty-four player deathmatch. Especially respawning to your death.
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising.
Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising. Something about the 150 player multiplayer that turns me on. How could I live without those huge battles, and the teamwork that comes with the game? From driving the choppers to driving some fast inflatable boat away from my death. I just love it.
MVP Baseball 2004
MVP Baseball 2004, greatest baseball game ever. Except for that lefty-power bug. It irks me, but it's such a small problem that I don't even care. The gameplay is some serious stuff, and the depth of the game, for just a second year game, is freaking awesome. It's nice to finally get to play with my local minor league Charlotte Knights.
Full Spectrum Warrior
Full Spectrum Warrior, the most realistic war strategy game of all time. The graphics are sick, the teamplay is excellent. Everything falls into place. It was a little on the short side, but it has the Army Mode and Authentic Modes for me to fill up on along with the regular modes. No way I could pass taking this gem with me.
Cyril Lachel
Staff Writer
X-COM
In the guise of a simple, outdated strategy game lies one of the most involving games of all time. X-COM is the type of game that demands hours of devotion, but rewards you with one of the deepest stories of any game of its type. The longer you play the game the most attached you become to your various workers, to the point where there is actual emotion when somebody dies (and you know they are never coming back to life). X-COM has several sequels, but none of them were able to demonstrate the programming mastery of the first game. There is no right or wrong way to play X-COM, which will lead you to play the game over and over with varied results. The graphics might start to look the same after awhile, but I can think of no finer time-waster than X-COM.
Tetris
I'll be honest with you, I don't trust anybody that doesn't like Tetris. Being against Tetris is like being against water; it's the lifeblood of the video game industry, it's the very reason we play games. If you were to squeeze all your games together, that sticky stuff that comes out is the essence of "fun" ... something that Tetris was built on. It's the kind of video game everybody likes, even people who would never normally play video games. But even if it wasn't the worldwide success it is, even if it was just a simple, fun puzzle game I'd still take it with me. Tetris is the type of game I can play for hours on end, always trying to better my score and hone my skills. Certainly there are games that offer deeper stories and better graphics, but Tetris is the closest video games have come to perfection, and there's not a single reason I wouldn't want to keep it with me for the rest of my life.
SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs
If I'm never going to be able to buy another online game, I might as well keep the one with the most depth and replay. As a fan of the original, I was smitten by SOCOM II from the very beginning ... but now that I've put in well over 300 hours in it, I can honestly say I appreciate it more now than ever. The levels are large and interesting, and no matter how long you play it, you're bound to find a new hiding place or sniper point. Add in your equally addicted friends, and you have a recipe for what is easily the best online experience on a console. With the addition of downloadable levels/content, there is no rush for a SOCOM III ... which would be a good thing for me, since I won't be able to buy it.
Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack
Thousands of pages have already been written about Rockstar's crime simulator, so why even bother trying to come up with something new to say? By now everybody who wanted to play the game already has, and those who are against the series have all but shut up. But I don't care what other people think of the game, for my money, the Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack is about the best value going. It features two of the best games of this video game cycle, and easily the best in-game audio ever devised. Furthermore, it holds up surprisingly well. Not one of the subsequent GTA clones -- Driver 3, the Getaway, True Crime -- was able to recreate the fun and excitement found in Vice City. These two games aren't perfect, but they do offer you dozens (if not hundreds) of fun things to do, which should keep me happy for years to come.
Mortal Kombat Advance
You heard me. I figure if there's ever a time where I start taking those other games for granted, I can toss in the mighty Mortal Kombat Advance and realize how good I have it. There is not a game out there that doesn't look good when compared to the horrible, horrible Mortal Kombat Advance. What's that, your game has no replay and terrible controls? Well, Mortal Kombat Advance features a fighting engine so flawed, even your punches and fireballs go right through your foes. Forget challenging, Mortal Kombat Advance is impossible, which is the perfect difficulty when you're sentenced to a life without new games.
Charlie Sinhaseni
Senior Editor
Unreal Tournament 2004.
I’m a big fan of killing people and I don’t think that it gets any better than Unreal Tournament 2004. It definitely gives new meaning to the phrase “go play with yourself.” If none of your friends are around, or if you’re like Bart and you don’t actually have any friends, you can always engage in some intense action thanks to the game’s insanely brilliant AI.
Custer’s Revenge.
I think that I’d have to have a copy of Custer’s Revenge. Not for myself of course, but just in case John gets lonely and decides that he needs some entertainment. Hardware geeks are just perverted like that.
NFL GameDay 2002.
Sometimes it’s good to step back and realize just how good you have it. For that reason I decided to throw a little kink into the cog and bring out the little gem known as NFL GameDay 2002. For you see, there are bad games, there are worse games and then there’s NFL GameDay 2002. Shoddy graphics, stupid AI, muddy controls and graphics that looked like they were puked out of a trash compactor. Besides, the disc comes in handy when I need a Frisbee. And what about coasters? I need something to put my beers on. My girlfriend would kill me if I left rings on the coffee table.
Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sail
When I want to relive the classic days of adventure gaming I usually stop by my shelf and pick up my old copy of Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sale and slip it into the disc drive. Sure, I lost the scratch and sniff card that came with it but I’m more than capable of reproducing the smells of flatulence. (umm.. via my dog that is…) Besides, the game featured an engaging storyline that was intriguing for two reasons; 1) gamers were able to empathize with a loser whose attemps to get laid ended in failure and 2) the game was damn funny. Hell, to be honest I would probably be happy playing with five copies of Larry 7 for the rest of my life. Actually, make that four copies, I absolutely can’t live without my copy of Larry 4: Charmed and Dangerous. Oh Al! You’ve done it again! That scene where Larry tries to score with Rush Mountmore? Priceless!
Super Puzzle Fighter
If there’s one thing that never gets old it’s a puzzle game. Sure, I’m a huge blood and guts sort of guy but my girlfriend has really turned me onto those stupid cutesey puzzle games with all of the shiny graphics. I’m a real man’s man though, so I decided to go with Super Puzzle Fighter, probably the manliest one of the bunch, although that’s not saying much.
Tyler Sager
Staff Writer
Heroes of Might and Magic III
My first choice would be one of my all-time favorites, Heroes of Might and Magic III. I’m going to assume I get all the expansions for the game. Those, along with all the fan-based content, and I’m in turn-based Nirvana for a very long time. Now that I think of it, it’s been a while since I loaded this gem up…
Galactic Civilizations
Next, I’d need some sort of 4X game. Galactic Civilizations is my favorite in that genre, so that’d be the natural choice. Again, tons of replayability in this wonderful title.
Morrowind
And of course I’ll need some sort of RPG. While most are good for at least a second play-through, not many would hold up for the rest of my life. I’ll have to pick Morrowind and its expansions for my third title. There’s just so much to do in this massive game, and so many ways of going about doing it, that this should stand the test of time nicely.
Diablo II
So far most of my games are pretty slow paced, so I’ll need a good hack-n-slash to round things out. As far as I’m concerned, no other dungeon-hack game has as much durability as the classic Diablo II, with expansion. I can still get sucked into that time vortex even years after its release, so it’ll most likely keep my attention for many more years to come.
Disgaea
Finally, I’ll grab something from the PS2 camp to fill out my roster. Let’s see…insanely long play, horribly addictive, just-one-more-turn goodness…yep: Disgaea. I can never seem to devote enough time to this turn-based RPG—if this was one of a very few games I owned, I’d probably be able to give it the attention it truly needs.
Dave Gamble
Staff Writer
Microsoft Flight Sim 2004
Perfect for practicing instrument flight procedures. While the FAA won't let me log the time I fly using FS2k4, I still get quite a bit of excellent practice from it. The interactive ATC and real-world weather provide a realistic and meaningful practice arena. Also, if I were limited to five games for the rest of forever, I'd be inclined to choose games that can be modded. There are literally thousands of add-on aircraft, panels, scenery, and utilities readily available to keep the experience new and exciting.
EA Sports F1 Challenge
In my opinion, Image Space has the best racing physics engine available today. And with the track modeling getting better and better every year, I find that running a race on F1C a few days prior to the real-world F1 race adds significantly to the enjoyment of watching the actual race. And, like FS2k4, F1C has a host of available mods that pretty much let me select any type of racing I might want to do at any given time. My latest addiction is Mini Cooper racing. Very tight and exciting racing, even at a top speed of 130 mph.
Call of Duty
The only FPS I've ever really liked. The ambiance is so immersive, and the game play so addictive, that I could easily get by with this as my one and only shooter.
Americas Army
Easily the best multi-player title around. If it was one of only five games I was allowed to have, I might even have time to get good enough at it to change my moniker to something other than Sgt. Meat Shield or Pvt. Sniper Bait. I could also probably work out that whole friendly fire issue that keeps my Honor level at something just above 'Trial Lawyer.'
X-Plane
X-Plane isn't quite as sophisticated as FS2k4 when it comes to ATC and some of the avionics, but it does do an incredible job of provding smooth and fast updates to the flight instruments. Piper Aircraft provides an incredible set of X-Plane downloads for all of the airplanes in the product line-up. It's worth having for those alone.
Charles Husemann
Editor-in-Chief
Unreal Tournament 2004
All of the different game modes and strong bot and developer support mean that it will take years to get bored with this game.
Half-Life
Still one of the classic single player games of all times and I could probably go through the game five or six more times before even starting to get bored with it.
City of Heroes
I'm still spending hour after hour on this game and I still haven't scratched all that there is in the game. I still have 3 archetypes to try out and with the recent content update there's still a lot of Paragon city that I haven't explored.
Prince of Persia : Sands of Time
Another great single player experience that I could play a couple of times through without getting bored with. It's hard to get sick of all of the cool moves you can get the prince to do.
ESPN Hockey 2004
I have to have one hockey game with me no matter what and I'm taking this one over EA hockey just because it supports Xbox Live.
John Yan
Senior Hardware Editor
Unreal Tournament 2004
Just a very polished first person shooter that does many things right. I love Onslaught mode and enjoy the back and forth action of capturing power points. The vehicles add a lot to the game and it’s fun to see people scatter when the Leviathan rolls around the corner and starts to transform.
My love for Ohio State football brings me to EA’s great game. Recruiting, dynasties, greatest finishes, and classic teams make this game an incredible sports title. If there’s one game that had me playing multiple years just to see my recruits develop into high NFL draft picks, NCAA Football 2004 is it.
M.U.L.E.
This classic on the Commodore 64 is one game that’s not complicated, not too deep, but was incredibly addicting. There have been a few attempts to update the game to the new technology, but so far nothing’s compared to the ole C64 classic. It says something that I still enjoy the game with its crude graphics and simplistic economy system.
Whiplash
One of my all time favorite games, Whiplash was a fun stunt racing game that I had a blast with on the LAN. The jumps and action of each chaotic race had me coming back for more and I really wish Gremlin Interactive did a follow up to this game. I have many fond memories of playing 8 player LAN at the OSU computer lab and spending countless hours racing against the computer while killing time.
Neverwinter Nights
For a Dungeons and Dragons multiplayer experience, not much comes close to Neverwinter Nights. I’ve lost many of nights playing this with friends and the incredible amount of modules available allows you to practically play this forever. It’s not perfect but it’s damn fun and a great multiplayer title.
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
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