User:Shard/Topten

Everyone else has one, and I'm bored, so here are my top ten lists. The games here are listed due to their overall enjoyability, longevity, and how much I personally liked them.

10. The Sims series
Not putting the world's best selling game on a top ten list would be foolish. I have the first two, and have played the third installation, and I have to say the series is pretty addicting. The ability to add user-made content to your sims' homes allows for tons of replay value. If you're the kind of person who likes architecture, you'll have plenty to do in the way of building houses. If you'd rather watch your creations live their lives, or perhaps even meddle with them yourself, then by all means, do so. Maxis was always coming out with new genres, and this one stuck instantly.

9. Street Fighter (generation 2)
I'm lumping all of the SF2 games into one slot. SSF2T is the most played fighting game in the world, and the first to spawn massive worldwide tournaments. While capcom wasn't the first studio to make a fighting game, it was the first and only studio that perfected the genre.

8. Source (engine)
This is probably cheating, since it's not actually a game, but who cares, it's my list and I can do what I want. The Source engine has been used in TONS of games, most of them made by the modding community. CS:S is by far the most popular game utilizing this engine, but there's a Source game out there for everyone who likes FPS.

7. Nox
I know what a lot of you are thinking. "What the hell is Nox?" Well, a long time ago, Westwood (then the makers of the Command and Conquer series) made a little game called Nox. It's an adventure-RPG like Diablo 2. When you start the game, you choose one of three classes. No matter which one you choose, the story is exactly the same, but the path you take through it is completely separate from the others until you near the end of the game. This means you can play the game 3 times to see the story from 3 perspectives. Nox has all the amenities of any other adventure RPG - hidden areas, magic items, dungeons full of traps, and an evil boss to defeat at the climax. If you haven't played Nox, I highly suggest you check it out.

6. Metal Gear Solid
Snaaaaaaaaake! Konami's tactical action-espionage struck gold when it was released. You follow the spy/soldier Solid Snake as he infiltrates a terrorist facility to find out what new technology they plan to control the world with. Rather than being a "Run in and shoot everyone" game, MGS makes you use your head to avoid detection by the enemy. The ways in which you can avoid detection are so realistic, you can forget you're playing a game. I haven't played many of the newer MGS games, but I hear this one's the best.

5. Goldeneye 007 / Perfect Dark
I put these in the same slot because they're basically the same game, but with different missions and weapons. Everything about single-player and multi-player is still the same. Anyone who's into third person shooters has no doubt spent hundreds if not thousands of hours shooting their friends in the face or planting proximity mines under the ramps on the Stack level. These games are classics that paved the way for the newer competitive FPS that people play today. You can even find some Source engine conversions for these games.

4. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
I was debating putting Ocarina of Time here instead, but I believe LTTP deserves it more. LTTP was the first Zelda game that really solidified the lore of the Zelda Universe. You weren't just some elf fighting skeletons and saving a princess anymore. Hyrule was being taken over by an evil wizard, and you are the last in a bloodline of heroes that can save the world. This game also introduced a lot of staples the Zelda series would go on to keep. The ocarina (which is called a flute in the English version), bottles, equipment that you can level up, the "dark world," and many other pieces of this game have been used in every successive Zelda title. Just like the Mario series, Nintendo has time and time again proven that you can put the same story in many different games and have each still be unique. In addition to the great gameplay, wonderful graphics, and memorable musical score, it's always fun to try to find all the game's secrets, heart containers, and bonus items.

3. Planescape: Torment
You wouldn't initially know by playing it, but this game is built on the D&D ruleset. Never before has a game system disguised itself as something completely original and still be so captivating. Bioware's Infinity Engine gets pushed to its limits through a unique, original story that has now become cult DnD mythology. There isn't one boring minute in this game. The characters are deep, the combat is exciting, and you travel with a floating skull that tells jokes! Planescape: Torment delivers a deep, believable storyline that keeps you playing for hours on end.

2. Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII has, without a doubt, the best storyline of any video game ever made. This game even beats out most movies. From the first 5 seconds of playing this game, you feel the anguish of the people living under Shinra's political tyranny. You can feel the conflict Cloud, Tifa, and Barret experience as they try to discover the truth about their pasts. The character cast is the most memorable in the series by far, so is the music. The graphics were top-notch for the game's time, and the battle system was brilliantly designed. Bottom line: Everything about this game is sublime, which is probably why Square-Enix has made like 10 spin-off projects about it.

1. Starcraft: Brood War
What is there to say about this game that everyone doesn't already know? The uniqueness of the three races gives you a lot to choose from and a lot to experience every time you play, yet despite their vast differences, the races are exceptionally well balanced. StarCraft: BW still has one of the largest player-bases in the gaming community, more than ten years after its initial release, and is on Xfire's top-100 hours-played list this week (Starcraft 2 is number 26 tonight, even though it's not out yet). Just remember this piece of advice: Whenever you're feeling like you can't do something in life, it's because you require more vespene gas.

Movies
These are my personal 10 favorite movies, not to be confused with your personal movies. No, none of these movies starred Harold Ramis. Sorry Yasmin.

7. Merlin (miniseries)
While not technically a full-length movie, I consider it one. If you watch the whole thing without interruption, it feels like a movie. There have been many Merlin/Arthur movies, but this one is much deeper than the others. Merlin's character is more developed than those from other movies, and his interactions with the other characters are a lot more meaningful.

6. The Fifth Element
Chris Tucker, Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, in the future. Guns, Bruce Willis, explosions, Bruce Willis, aliens, and Bruce Willis. How can you say no to that? This movie is a comedic, dramatic masterpiece. All of the elements of action, suspense, mystery, love, conflict, character development, and plot development are done exceptionally well. The story is set a few hundred years in the future, where humanity still eats McDonald's and the government still has no idea what it's doing. It's a satire at heart, with a very cool hollywood-style action movie on its skin.

5. Schindler's List
This film (which is based on a true story) takes you inside WW2 Germany as Oskar Schindler saves thousands of Jews from concentration camps by employing them in his factories. It's been a while since I've seen it, but it stuck with me. Even though the movie was made very recently, it is shown in black and white. If you haven't seen this movie yet, I won't tell you why, but you'll appreciate what a subtle thing like color can do for a film.

4. A Clockwork Orange
This is honestly one of the darkest movies I've ever seen. This cult classic starts slow, like many of Kubrick's movies, and gets to the meat about halfway through. The leader of a London-based violent gang is arrested and is given experimental treatments that are supposed to curb his violence. These experiments work a little too well, and the subject spends the entire second half of the movie in agony as the people he's hurt now have a means to get back at him. Despite its darkness - the movie does have a happy ending, in more ways than one.

3. A Time to Kill
I had trouble finding the name of this movie. It's very similar to "To Kill A Mockingbird" in that it's about racial and legal struggles in a south where segregation is taking place. A black Carl Lee is on trial for killing two white men that raped his daughter. The movie is about the growing relationship and learning experiences between him and his lawyer Jake, and the murder trial they are trying to win.

2. The Silence of the Lambs
Everyone's favorite cannibal, Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Lector, helps a detective stumped by a series of serial killings. This movie really has two stories in one - Lector's story and attempt to escape from prison, and the Buffalo Bill case the protagonist is trying to crack. This movie is exactly what all suspense films should be. The climax makes your heart pound faster. Even after having seen it about ten times, I still fear the killer is going to kill Clarice at the end.

1. Forrest Gump
"Momma always told me life is like a box of chocolates; You never know what you're gonna get until you open it." The movie follows the synonymous character's life as he grows up. Despite being born with mental retardation, Forrest manages to become a larger than life character, having saved the lives of many squad mates in the Vietnam War and becoming a war hero, winning table-tennis tournaments, running across the United States multiple times, creating the most successful shrimping companies in the world, and all while seeking his longtime crush Jenny. If this movie doesn't make you cry at least once, there is something wrong with you.