ThumBlister: 25 Games to Play Before You Die

Showing posts with label 25 Games to Play Before You Die. Show all posts

Sunday, September 2, 2012

[ThumBlister] 25 Games to Play Before You Die

The Idea

So you're about to die. You have lived your whole life to it's fullest, and completed every item on your bucket list save for one. You have never played a video game. All your years have come and gone, and you've always wanted to, but you just never found the time to pick up a controller.

Well you are in luck, because through extensive thought and product research (see: playing lots of games) I have composed a list of the top 25 games to experience before you die.

Assuming these are all you will play, no two of these games will be the similar. Each will be the absolute best gaming can offer, with no duplicates or wasted time.

This is not a best games of all time list. Some of these games actually have many issues. This is in fact a list of the best most pure experiences available in gaming today.

In order to uphold this quality, every game on the list will be required to stand up, and still be good, based on today's standards. Unfortunately for fans, this already eliminates some very important games such as Goldeneye and Final Fantasy VII.

I will announce the games in order, and deliver them every day this week. Five games will be announced every day starting now with #25-21.

Games to Play Before You Die

#25-21

#25. Wii Sports - Wii

With the invention of the Wii, Nintendo more than reinvented gaming, they revolutionized it. Sure copy cats have improved upon the original idea. The Xbox Kinect comes to mind as a much more authentic overall motion control experience. However, not one game in history can claim to have reached the mass audience that Wii Sports has, as it's current sales have reached just under 80 million copies sold.

Before Wii Sports the idea of a “Casual Gamer” meant 40+ year old men with jobs and families. Now nearly 6 years into the Wii's lifespan, millions of people who never expected to, find themselves casually gaming every week. Mothers, fathers, and even grandparents are now scheduling time to play games, because they finally can. Requiring nothing but your own personal movement, and little to no skill, anyone of any gender or age can just pick up a controller and play.

You owe it to yourself to try Wii Sports. Unlike Farmville, this casual gaming phenomenon is entirely worth it.

What You're Missing: Watching your grandpa (who still thinks games look like Pac Man) get obsessed with achieving a perfect Wii Bowling score.

Honorable Mention: Kinect Fruit Ninja

#24. Star Wars Battlefront 2 – PC/PS2/Xbox

There are online multiplayer shooters, and then there is Star Wars Battlefront 2. Where most shooters, even still today, limit gamers to a measly sixteen player online experience. Battlefront gives you 64. As if that wasn't already enough, it does so inside the Star Wars Universe. Usually matches are all based around capturing re-spawn points until the enemy is defeated, but even so, it never gets repetitive.

If somehow blasting your enemies as a crossbow wielding Wookie does get old, which it won't. You could always hop in a ship and engage in the full fledged galactic space battle happening right above you. You only need hop in a ship.

Pilots, Troopers, Droids, Bounty Hunters, and even Jedi and Sith are always a just a click away. You will be required to slice up rebels as Darth Vader, then moments later you will be flying in a Tie Fighter trying to take over a Star Cruiser. This game has ADD, and is all the better for it.

What You're Missing: 64 player online, blaster filled, lightsaber dueling, giant spaceship battling glory.

Honorable Mention: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

#23. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 HD – Original PS1, HD PS3/Xbox360

This was a close one. Tony Hawk is arguable one of the greatest sports games ever made, however it in no way holds up today. With games as attractive as the more recent Skate series, Pro Skater 2 has not aged well at all.

This all changed recently. As of July 18^th on Xbox 360, and also August 28^th on PS3, Tony Hawk has released a completely recreated HD version of Pro Skater on both Xbox Live and the PSN Network.

While yes it is totally unrealistic in every possible way, no other sports game minus maybe the SSX series requires an actual skill and practice to master it's art. Yet somehow, being so difficult makes the unrealistic move-set feel completely real. Why shouldn't you be able to grind three consecutive staircase rails on only the nose of your board? Even if this ends up completely copy pasted off the original, and nothing is changed or added but the graphics, it is an absolute must play.

What You're Missing: The thrill of landing a gravity defying chain of grinds up the side of a building, onto a telephone line, and then landing a handstand on a moving car.

Honorable Mention: NFL Blitz 2000

#22. Metal Gear Solid - PS1

Metal Gear Solid single-handedly taught millions of teenagers to follow the ESRB rating system. Picture an 11 year old boy, so excited to finally sneak a copy of Metal Gear Solid from an unsuspecting video game clerk. He takes that game home and plays it all night. First the story, full of political intrigue and betrayals, pulls him in. Then the revolutionary stealth game play takes the forefront.

Finally begin the ingenious bosses. Among them, is Psycho Mantis. Widely remembered for breaking the 4^th wall, Psycho Mantis displayed his powers by commenting on the players game saves, turning off your television, or even switching your televisions input. Now 14 years later, that seems like nothing, but at the time it was astonishing.

Personally, I have never turned off a game so fast in my life. I did not even go back to play it until after I had played Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PS2 years later.

What You're Missing: The best boss battle that has ever been put into a video game. Usually I would say it is arguable, but I just don't see how that is possible here.

Honorable Mention: Eternal Darkness

#21. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 – Arcade Version

Since it's release in 2003, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has managed to steal enough quarters that most gamers could have just bought the game on consoles twice over. Why then do players keep going back?

I have attributed it simply to button mashing. MvC actually gives players control of three separate characters a match instead of the normal 1v1 match. So when button mashing, six characters total are rushing onto screen from all sides unleashing devastating specials left and right.

The exact same visuals are there on the console versions, even on the newly released Marvel vs. Capcom 3. However, that is not what makes this an experience to have before you die. The true experience comes from rapidly slamming your palm on the arcade table, while throwing your quarters in at a nearly equal pace.

What You're Missing: Somehow losing $20 in quarters, even though you promised yourself you would only spend that $5 bill. The change machine just sucked the rest right out of your wallet.

Honorable Mention: Super Smash Bros. Melee

To Be Continued:

#20-16

[ThumBlister] 25 Games to Play Before You Die Part 2

The Idea

So you're about to die. The one item left on your bucket list, play your first video game. If this sounds like you, then this is your list.

This is not a best games of all time list. In fact some of these games actually have many issues. This is in fact a list of the best most pure experiences available in gaming today. No two of these games will be the similar. Each will be the absolute best gaming can offer, with no duplicates or wasted time.

In order to uphold this quality, every game on the list will be required to stand up, and still be good, based on today's standards.

I will announce the games in order, and deliver them every day this week. Five games will be announced every day, continuing now with Part 2.

Games to Play Before You Die

#20-16

#20. Halo – Xbox/Xbox360/PC

Millions of people worldwide can name a John Williams composition from only a few notes, he is that good. The same cannot be said for any video games, save for one.

Martin O'Donnell, the genius lead audio composer for Bungie, hand built the original score for the Halo Series along with Michael Salvatori. In doing so they created what is without a doubt the best, and now one of the most recognizable orchestral themes in the world.

Put this music alongside a science fiction epic so grand as to rival James Cameron's best, be it Aliens or even Avatar, and you have gold.

For a little perspective, total series sales are currently over 64 million copies, Xbox 360 system sales are just now over 67 million. People like Halo, and chances are you should probably play it.

What You're Missing: Besides Mass Effect, the most detailed space opera to ever hit gaming. An amazing orchestral score continually leads you onward, always focusing on story over the action pieces so many other series are stuck on (Call of Duty).

Honorable Mention: Mass Effect [Editors Note: Mass Effect as a series is worthy of a Top 5 spot on this list, however it must be experienced by playing all 3 games, which disqualifies it]

#19. Assassins Creed II – PS3, PC, Xbox360

Have you ever wanted to visit Venice, but never found the time nor the financial means? Then you must take a trip to the Renaissance Venice of Assassins Creed II. Sure you will need to find the time to end the life of a few political dignitaries while you're there, but you'll also be able to visit dozens of stunningly detailed and historically accurate architectural wonders.

You can visit St. Mark's Square to see the Bascilia, gaze upon the St. Mark Clock tower, and more. The entire city was painstakingly recreated for authenticity.

Just then, when you think you're short travel back in time is over, you are sent to an equally as detailed Rome. Three times larger than any prior Assassins creed city, nearly every major monument was represented.

Ubisoft gives players both a time capsule and a mirror with which to view life hundreds of years ago. It's only a bonus that the game play and story are as equally amazing.

What You're Missing: Walking up to two total strangers, and raising your hand in a show of greeting. Only this greeting has blades hidden on it's wrists, and they would like to say hello to your face.

Honorable Mention: Batman Arkham City

#18. God of War 3 - PS3

Why God of War needs to be seen can be summed up in a single point. In Zelda, Link lights his way with a lamp which he found in a treasure chest. In God of War, Kratos lights his way with the flaming head of Helios which he ripped from his screaming body. It's ok though, because Helios deserved it.

Kratos is an angry man. Understandably so, as he was brainwashed by the Gods into murdering his own wife and child. As anyone with knowledge of Greek Mythology is aware, that isn't the only bad thing the God's have done. They've had it coming, and Kratos is here to deliver. Fans of mythology, this is for you. Squeamish fans though, you should probably look elsewhere.

This game is, without a doubt, the most violent game that exists today. For that reason alone, this is a must play. Those who can stomach it are in for one of the wildest rides in gaming.

What You're Missing: Know those feathery shoes Hermes wears? Would you like a pair? Good because Kratos just chopped his legs off, just so you could have them. Lucky you.

Honorable Mention: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

#17. Kingdom Hearts - PS2

Kingdom Hearts by all reason should not exist. How this idea even came up in conversation is something only the heads of Disney and Director Tetsuya Nomura will ever know. But it's good to know that Disney isn't afraid to put their franchise history on the line for a chance at something great. Which is what we have here.

Meshing together characters from two decades of Square Enix games, with dozens of Disney characters spanning 75 years of animation history, Kingdom Hearts is both the strangest and frankly one of the greatest games ever made.

This game is a 100% must play for any fan of Disney regardless of age or gender. By bringing the wonder of the Disney Worlds into your living room, and tying them together with the ingenious writers at Square Enix, you just get magic.

What You're Missing: Mickey Mouse in a matrix cloak flipping around like Yoda wielding a golden key as a sword slaughtering everything. Yes that was serious, and no it never gets old.

Honorable Mention: Final Fantasy X

#16. World of Warcraft – PC/Mac

World of Warcraft needs to be experienced to be believed. Yet most non-players always shrug it off, as if it were a mere fad. 12 million active players is not a fad. In fact 12 million players is twice the entire population of Israel. Even with WoW's more recent decline, as it nears it's 8^th birthday, it has barely fallen to 9 million to match the population of Sweden. The fact is, a lot of people like Warcraft.

Regardless if someone thinks they may not enjoy World of Warcraft, it is a must try. Everyone should experience what a 'real' living breathing fantasy world can offer. From the constantly fluctuating economy, to a community that can spark in a sporadic dungeon crawl with a stranger, WoW is meant to be seen.

With subscriptions now being completely free up till lvl 20, there's no reason why you can't hop in and take a look. Grab a griffon and fly the continents from top to bottom, it will take you nearly an hour, but the view will be worth it.

What You're Missing: Wandering the countryside for miles just to take in the view, only to unwittingly end up in an epic fight with a few complete strangers. Who then become your friends.

Honorable Mention: Diablo 2

To Be Continued:

#20-16

[ThumBlister] 25 Games to Play Before You Die Part 3

The Idea

So you're about to die. The one item left on your bucket list, play your first video game. If this sounds like you, then this is your list.

In order to uphold this quality, every game on the list will be required to stand up, and still be good, based on today's standards.

I will announce the games in order, and deliver them every day this week. Five games will be announced every day, continuing now with Part 3.

Games to Play Before You Die

#15-11

#15. Super Mario Bros 3 – NES

This one is just easy. Everyone needs to play Mario before they die, because it’s Mario. He is a man who deserves your respect. Mario is the not only the father of gaming, he managed to single handedly save the industry in the 80's.

Viewed from the outside Mario makes no sense. You are a plumber, who's princess girlfriend just got kidnapped by a giant dinosaur. You then fight your way through an army of evil mushrooms and turtles using your flying raccoon powers, which you earn by eating brown fallen leaves. It is almost as crazy as it is fun. 25 years later, the newest Mario games have hardly changed, yet this formula is still working as great as ever.

So if you are going to play a Mario game, you might as well play the best one. Considering that Mario's name is attached to just about everything that comes out of Nintendo, this can be a hard. But I assure you, as every video game fan will attest; Super Mario Bros 3 is the best one hands down.

What You're Missing: You turn into a flying raccoon by ingesting fallen leaves. You gain the incredible swimming power of a man in a frog suit by collecting green frogs. You learn to throw fire by eating sunflowers. And when you put on a shoe...you become a god.

Honorable Mention: Mario Bros. Arcade

#14. Resident Evil 4 – Gamecube/PS2/PS3/360/Wii

Have you managed to watch those horrible excuses for 'Resident Evil Movies' and survive with your eyes intact? Those are not remotely Resident Evil. The true story is so intricate, it now spans almost 30 games (including remakes) and asks that you know a history going back over 16 years.

Resident Evil 4 is the pinnacle of the Resident Evil series. You play as Leon, a fan favorite, as he tries to save the President's daughter from a group of terrorists. At first the game has no noticeable ties to the series, but that soon changes.

The key to this games success was the zombies who were still slow, yet very smart, and thus terrifying. Enemies keep the player constantly on edge, building the suspense and dread.

It also includes some of the series best boss fights to date. Honestly, to spoil any of them would be a disservice. However, no one will ever be the same after facing ‘It’ in the suspended Labyrinth.

Think I am bluffing; give the game a try as it is currently available for download on both major consoles. You will change your mind the second you find yourself facing a room of frozen Regenerators, good luck with that.

What You're Missing: The best survival horror game ever made. Period. If you have never played a game, but love horror movies, this is the game to start with plain and simple.

Honorable Mention: Silent Hill 2

#13. Rockband – PS2/PS3/360/Wii

Standing in a room with six of your closest friends, you choose Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”. You begin to sing, while two of your party guests sing backup vocals and harmonies. The other four are jamming on the drums, bass, guitar, and piano. In the background you have the Rock Band fog machine and concert lights on full blast. Of course you have 'no fail mode' turned on to prevent anyone from getting embarrassed by losing. You are about to have the most fun you will all week.

After your practice run of Queen, you all decide to play a full concert, but you feel like the 70+ songs on the disc are not enough. Lucky for you there are now 5,782 songs available for purchase from the Rock Band Digital Store. Don’t worry about collecting them all though, to do that would cost well over $11,000.

A rare few are chosen to be gods of rock and roll, especially in today's music world. But in the world of Rock Band, even you can be the next Jimmy Page. You need only pick up a plastic guitar.

What You're Missing: The most fun party game ever made. That is, as long as you are willing to cough up the extra money for the songs you want.

Honorable Mention: Dance Dance Revolution

#12. Uncharted 2 - PS3

Boom. That is about as on the nail a review as any for Uncharted 2. Otherwise known as the game that never pauses, Uncharted puts you behind the reigns of a never ending action movie.

Without stopping to take a breath you are thrown from one moment to the next. Nathan Drake will be dueling a helicopter along city rooftops, and before you know it you are in a firefight as the building you are in collapses sideways. Or you are dodging bullets atop a train as you fight to keep your balance, only to then rapidly climb the train after it goes over a cliff.

On the rare occasion the game does slow down, you are met with stunning tropical vistas and deeply detailed ruins. Among these ruins will be puzzles, not unlike Indiana Jones would solve. These serve as great breaks between the sometimes overwhelming action.

But the above reasons are not why the game must be experienced. Uncharted boasts the best graphics to grace a console to date. There isn’t even a valid argument to be made otherwise. You just need to see it, and be blown away.

What You're Missing: Did you hate Indiana Jones 4? Did National Treasure 2 just not do it for you? I assure you the cinematography, acting, puzzles, and story are all better in this, than any 'relic hunting' movie of the last decade.

Honorable Mention: Gears of War 2

#11. Psychonauts – PS2/Xbox/PC/Mac/PSN

More people need to play Psychonauts. It is one of the greatest games of all time, and is currently surviving on the fringes of gaming by a small group of die-hard fans.

Any game which requires you to enter the mind of a giant mutant lung fish named Linda is worthy of anyone’s time. Poor Linda has gone crazy, and you need to set his mind straight by living out a remake of Godzilla inside his head. You are Godzilla.

The story behind Psychonauts is straight forward. You play a psychic boy scout who discovers his fellow scouts are getting their brains stolen. You set out on a quest to recover them by solving puzzles and setting things right inside the brains of dozens of cleverly designed characters.

One level in particular stays in every fan’s memories. Midway through the game, you enter the mind of a security guard. His mind is home to an abnormal suburban town bent and twisted like an M.C. Escher painting. You are then tasked by a group of spies with discovering the hidden location of “The Milkman”.

Who is the milkman you ask? Well that is the real question isn’t it?

What You're Missing: If Tim Burton teamed up with the minds at Laika, got some flat out hilarious writers, and decided to make a video game. This would be that game.

Honorable Mention: Ratchet and Clank

[ThumBlister] 25 Games to Play Before You Die Part 4

The Idea

So you're about to die. The one item left on your bucket list, play your first video game. If this sounds like you, then this is your list.

In order to uphold this quality, every game on the list will be required to stand up, and still be good, based on today's standards.

I will announce the games in order, and deliver them every day this week. Five games will be announced every day, continuing now with Part 4.

Games to Play Before You Die

#10-6

#10. Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - Gamecube

If there were a red headed step child of the Zelda universe, it would be Wind Waker. Reason being, Wind Waker was created with an entirely different art style than any Zelda before it. Instead of basing the graphics on realism, they were instead created to appear hand drawn.

Had it been labeled Disney Presents: The Legend of Zelda, maybe there would have been no backlash. But as it stands, Wind Waker was one of the biggest controversies to ever hit gaming.

In the year 2000, Nintendo showed a beautifully rendered and ‘realistic’ link, which fans assumed would be their next game. Come 2002, Wind Waker arrives with a short childish cartoon Link. Fans felt betrayed, and for good reason at the time.

Upon its release, however; The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker ended up being one of the best critically received entries in the series. Any disappointment towards the graphics faded the second anyone went sailing across the wide expansive ocean. Ten years after its release, what is truly astounding, is that the game is as stunning as ever. The graphics were so original and well implemented no one would bat an eye if it were released today.

What You're Missing: A game that is somehow still graphically relevant and just as enjoyable now 10 years after release.

Honorable Mention: Okami

#9. Red Dead Redemption – PS3/Xbox360

If you are reading this and you have played Red Dead, then you already understand. Those who have not, are likely going to have an issue with what I am about to say. This game blows Grand Theft Auto out of the water. They are both made by the same company, so this isn’t taking much away from GTA, but the fact is Red Dead is leagues ahead of any other Rockstar game.

When Rockstar invented sandbox open world gaming back in 1997, it took the public by storm. So many copycats have show up since. Even games like Elder Scrolls owe their worlds to what Grand Theft Auto started. But GTA was not for everyone. As fun as it could be, the constant controversy surrounding it pushed some players away. Turns out Sandbox Gaming was just peanut butter waiting for its chocolate.

This chocolate came in the form of a spaghetti western. The two formulas mesh so well together, it is impossible to think this idea wasn’t tried earlier. Yes the game has an amazing story, so does GTA4. What makes it special, and sets it apart, is the multiplayer aspect. Riding in a giant open desert on horseback with your friends, while looking for unsuspecting trains or carriages to rob, must be experienced.

What You're Missing: The only game to accurately bring old spaghetti westerns back into the limelight they so deserve. Also, you get an achievement for hog tying a nun and dropping her on the nearest railroad track.

Honorable Mention: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

#8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – PC/PS3/Xbox360

Skyrim is big. Take that back, Skyrim is enormous. Measuring in at 14.3 square miles, it might just be the single largest game on consoles. It is easily the most cram packed. Even on horseback, to run from one end to another non-stop takes nearly an hour. But likely you will be stopped by dozens of random events on the way, and even more random places to explore.

All of these miles barely begin to scratch Skyrim’s surface, literally. Caves, dungeons, and ruins litter the wilderness, each expanding underground into miles of individually designed tunnels. Some expand into the ground so far, just to walk them without a fight or quest would take hours.

If this was all the game had to offer, it would be enough. However, Skyrim manages to stuff hundreds of hours of this content into a nearly realistic graphics engine. On more than one occasion I found myself just stopping to take in the view, or to watch the sun set over a mountaintop. No other game can claim to offer that feeling in such a pretty and full package.

What You're Missing: Video gaming's only living breathing world. Each character goes about their lives whether you are there or not. In a world that takes literally hours to walk across, that means you will miss a lot. Better get it on your next 300 hour play through.

Honorable Mention: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

#7. Shadow of the Colossus – PS2/PS3

The Shadow of the Colossus is in every best of anything video game list ever. So much that it is beginning to become a cliché to include it. I say the opposite, and will bring it up again now. For those of you, anyone, who has not experienced what this game brings to the table, please place this at the top of your list.

There is a reason this game is used by critics to argue that Video Games are art. As much as the next painting, movie, song, or book this game is a work of perfectionist art.

You play a young mute boy, whose love has contracted an illness. The only hope she has to survive is an old god, but he needs something done first. Something dark, so dark it will begin to mutate not only your character of the adventure, but your real self as well.

Giant lumbering behemoths are wandering the countryside, breathtaking in scope as well as design. It has fallen to you to end these mystical creatures lives. Whether you want to or not does not matter, there is only one option ahead of you to save her life; taking theirs.

What You're Missing: The oddly sad emotion of gazing upon something truly astonishing and beautiful. Then making the conscious decision to end it's life.

Honorable Mention: Ico

#6. Journey – PSN/PS3

Journey is the 2012 game of the year. Dozens of games still have yet to release and I can say this with a 100% certainty. Like the best movies, Journey is merely 2 hours long, but will stay with you forever.

Imagine wandering lost across an endless blinding desert. You have just started, and have no idea where to go. A dot appears in the distance, so you go to it. It's another player slowly gliding your way. You say hello, but Journey doesn't allow voice chat, so you speak in only a single musical note.

The two of you come to an agreement to continue your Journey's together. By the end of this 2 hour excursion you will have seen and experienced so much together, your acquaintance will almost feel like a friend. This is only exacerbated by the ending, of which I will not spoil. However I will say that it is very open for interpretation, and means to be on your mind weeks after finishing.

What Journey succeeds in, which no medium but games may do, is something truly beautiful. To put it bluntly; the most racist man in America could end up going on a Journey with a Black Panther, and neither would ever know. In fact they would likely finish it together, feeling as connected as if they had been friends long before meeting.

So go take the Journey. Turn up your sound, and just disappear from the world for a few hours. After you are done, and you find yourself staring at your television in disbelief, remember I said, “Your Welcome”

What You're Missing: That moment you truly connect with someone. Regardless of age, race, or religion, you are on this Journey together. You will push through it together, and you will finish it together.

Honorable Mention: Braid

[ThumBlister] 25 Games to Play Before You Die Part 5

The Idea

So you're about to die. The one item left on your bucket list, play your first video game. If this sounds like you, then this is your list.

In order to uphold this quality, every game on the list will be required to stand up, and still be good, based on today's standards.

I will announce the games in order, and deliver them every day this week. Five games will be announced every day, continuing now with Part 4.

Games to Play Before You Die

#5-1

#5. Minecraft – PC/Xbox360

The addiction of Minecraft isn't one that can really be explained very well unfortunately. It's best explained as a game that focuses on the compulsion to collect, then allows you to use that collection to build anything your heart desires. Don't have the right material to make that bookcase you always wanted? Well go out and get it.

The basis of Minecraft is this. You are living on a giant randomly generated island, so no two players live in the same area. As you explore, either alone or with friends, you find materials. Cut down a tree for wood, turn that into a pickaxe, then pickaxe copper and iron ore to make tools. Everything you collect is always leading towards collecting the next thing.

The twist here is the day/night cycle. Once the sun sets, all heck breaks loose. Monsters roam the wilderness ready to destroy everything you have spent your whole day on. Minecraft turns from a building and collecting game into a survival horror. Your fancy new wooden cottage won't last long against a group of exploding zombies. Once the sun rises, you clean up what remains, and continue collecting.

Simple and addicting at first, Minecraft quickly becomes one of the most advanced games ever made. Your limitations are really only your imagination and patience. For example, a group of players has managed to recreate the entire Star Trek Enterprise to full and complete scale. Another group has built all of middle earth, yet another created the entire city from Game of Thrones. I myself have a glass city in the clouds with a roller coaster track leading down into a city underwater.

Your experience will differ entirely from mine or anyone else, as will what you choose to build. It is entirely up to you.

What You're Missing: Stumbling upon that one ore you have needed for so long to finish your underwater mansion, only to have a Creeper chase you inside and blow up flooding the entire thing.

Closest You Can Get: Building an entire sandcastle city on the beach while Biff Tannen simultaneously tries to destroy it.

#4. Heavy Rain - PS3

How far would you go to save someone you love? This line resonates throughout Heavy Rain, from beginning to end. Of all the games on this list, this is the one game that you will feel has changed you by the end. This is due in part to the hundreds of choices you will make across the game’s winding twists and turns.

Heavy Rain’s game play is like nothing you have ever played or seen before, I can assure you that. You are essentially watching a 10 hour long movie, with four main characters. As the characters progress into their stories, you choose their decisions, not unlike a ‘choose your own adventure’ book.

One moment sets this entire game up perfectly. Your child is kidnapped, and you are following clues to his whereabouts. You are led to an empty room, minus a table littered with tools. The kidnapper informs you that the only way forward, will be to remove one of your fingers with the provided tools. You are given a single minute to not only make this decision, but to do it.

Depending on what decision you come to, that single minute will set in motion dozens of possible coming events. Consider then, that decision is only one single minute out of hours.

No two play-throughs of Heavy Rain will ever be the same. Although your experience may not be the same as mine, it will undoubtedly be one to remember.

What You're Missing: Watching an amazing detective film, only in this movie, you make every decision. Even if it means some characters don't make it out alive.

Closest You Can Get: Setting two televisions side by side and watching a marathon of both Law and Order: SVU and the entire Saw Collection all while playing twister.

#3. Tetris – Everything Ever

Tetris is the biggest phenomenon video games have ever, or will ever see. As of 2010’s last count, Tetris has sold more than 100 million copies. This number would already be mind blowing enough by itself. However those sales are only for mobile devices. That number is shocking. Tetris has been released on nearly every gaming platform in history in some form or another.

Created by Soviet Union’s Alexey Pajitnov in 1984, Tetris took the world by a storm that hasn’t stopped for nearly 3 decades. Tetris has been around so long, and on so many devices, it almost seems pointless to place it on this list. There likely just isn’t anyone alive that hasn’t played it.

If, somehow, you are the one person on the face of the planet who has yet to play Tetris, stop what you are doing. Go to Google, type in Tetris, and play any one of the hundreds of free versions that will show up. Congratulations, you just hopped on the bandwagon.

What You're Missing: The single most addicting yet repetitive music in all of gaming, but you'll be humming it long after you've stopped playing.

Closest You Can Get: Moving from your studio apartment, and trying to make it in only one car load. That speaker is totally gonna fit in the truck with that mini fridge.

#2. Portal – PC, Mac, PS3, Xbox360

Portal is to nerds, what Twilight is to teen girls; annoying to everyone who doesn’t know what is going on. The difference is that everybody who gives Portal a shot falls in love. With such sexy ladies as Glados and the Companion Cube filling the screen, who could resist?

The idea behind Portal is just that. You shoot portals. There is nothing else to the game. It is both the simplest and most intricate device ever. As a test subject for Aperture science, you are awoken by robot handler Glados. She provides you with a gun that shoots, you guessed it, Portals.

The way portal works is ingenious. One portal always leads to the other. Therefore, if one were on the ceiling and another on the floor directly below, you would fall indefinitely through the portals. In fact this particular trick is used to build up speed for multiple puzzles.

Simply put everyone needs to experience what Portal has to deliver. Games like this are why I play video games.

What You're Missing: Everything. This should be an essential introductory game for every non gamer. If you don't know what the “big deal” is about video games. This, this is the big deal.

Closest You Can Get: There's always Portal 2.

#1. Bioshock – PC, PS3, Xbox360

Books have, “Call me Ishmael.” and movies have, “Rosebud.” Nearly 30 years of video games and we lacked for so long that famous line ala, “Luke I am your Father.” That was, until Bioshock.

“Would you Kindly?” is now engrained into the gaming culture more than any other line, minus the arguably equal Portal line, “The cake is a lie.” The difference in the lines though, is how they make the player feel. Once you learn the meaning of those three little words, your entire world flips onto its head. You question every moment of the game you had just played, and second guess every experience you just had. ‘The Sixth Sense’ required another viewing once its ending was revealed. Bioshock requires an instant replay, maybe even two.

That would be enough. Those three words would be all I would need to make this my number 1, but Bioshock brings even more in form of Rapture. The city of Rapture is the most intricate, well designed, and alive city I have had the pleasure to visit in my 20+ years of gaming.

Other games just pale in comparison to the moments this game presents a player. From the city’s introduction, till meeting your first Big Daddy, Bioshock is always guiding you through iconic and never before seen experiences.

Rest assured, you have never experienced anything akin to staring down at a lonely little girl, and deciding whether to harvest her for power, or let her go for nothing.

What You're Missing: Arguably the best most fully realized world every created for a game. What Harry Potter did for books, or what Star Wars saw on film, Bioshock brought to gaming for the first time in history.

Closest You Can Get: I am sorry; you just can't. While it might not be the best game ever made, the fact is no game, book, or movie delivers anything like the truly original experience found in Rapture.

If you disagree with my list, I want to know! Should Portal be #1? Did your game not make the list? Would you kindly comment below and make your case?