P&B Ranks: The Top 42 Video Games of All-Time

[Lofarl]

Wow was one of my picks.  Never played the original, I started during burning crusade.  Pretty much because that’s what everyone on my team speak server did.  For that expansion and wrath I did mostly raiding and I think the game was at its peak in that time.  During cataclysm I got into pvp.  I was pretty good at it.  Hard not to when playing Rogue.  But my interest dropped rapid after that stupid panda expansion.  But after that I hardly played it.  I tried it again in Legion and hated what they did to Rogues.  Tried Shadowlands and got bored rapid.  I hate that they make you such a big deal in the story, instead of a cog in the machine.

 

I did enjoy classic wow and I can’t wait for the Burning Crusade to be released so I can go back to stomping in arenas on my rogue.

[Slacker]

4 hours ago, madwullie said:

Actually, one thing about FM - it's really too easy in the end to win stuff with a shite team.

Definitely find this to be the case with the mobile version.

Although I got Scotland to the semis of the Euros, knocking England out along the way, losing 1-0 in extra time to Germany. And got sacked! That was two years ago now and I’m still annoyed about it, and think about what I could’ve done differently (not sub Stevie Mallan on for his international debut being the main thing).

[madwullie]

1 hour ago, Lofarl said:

Wow was one of my picks.  Never played the original, I started during burning crusade.  Pretty much because that’s what everyone on my team speak server did.  For that expansion and wrath I did mostly raiding and I think the game was at its peak in that time.  During cataclysm I got into pvp.  I was pretty good at it.  Hard not to when playing Rogue.  But my interest dropped rapid after that stupid panda expansion.  But after that I hardly played it.  I tried it again in Legion and hated what they did to Rogues.  Tried Shadowlands and got bored rapid.  I hate that they make you such a big deal in the story, instead of a cog in the machine.

 

I did enjoy classic wow and I can’t wait for the Burning Crusade to be released so I can go back to stomping in arenas on my rogue.

PvP really was excellent back in the day. I much preferred it old skool in the early levels when you were just running about on foot - felt so fucking daft riding about on tigers and shit.

Edited March 23, 2021 by madwullie

[BFTD]

5 hours ago, Gaz said:

In fairness, a lot of that stuff in SA was optional. You didn't need to bother with haircuts and all of that stuff whereas in GTA4 how you played the game depended on your relationships with the other characters.

I must have just had bad luck with San Andreas. Past a certain point, it seemed like I was forever getting prompts that I couldn't start a mission unless I went and got a tattoo of a spunking cock, or get jheri curls put in, and the bloody women were forever complaining that I was too fat or too muscly, or that I had a tattoo of a spunking cock on my face. And I seriously hate QTEs, which was the main reason I was glad they didn't bother with that Hot Coffee shite, other than the cringiness of it.

...I might be misremembering the spunking cock tattoo, thinking about it.

Edit: the Vice City soundtrack was mindblowing at the time, as games just didn't use A-list licenced music like that, never mind in such quantities. They even released a box set with each station on CD. That maybe marks the moment when I realised that games had become as big an industry as films and TV.

Edited March 23, 2021 by BFTD

[Stellaboz]

I got tired of GTA SA when I was constantly called to a fight for territory. Totally got in the way of any missions and put me off. 

[Lofarl]

The best radio stations in all GTA games where the talk radio ones.  The Freddie needs a nanny in GTA3 was great.  There was so many funny ones.  The guy starting the Crips, Nonce holiday tours, The pimp guy.  But the Adverts...

 

 

[Gaz]

KILLER BEES

[Miguel Sanchez]

My abiding memory of San Andreas was near the end when the story's reaching its climax. You're watching the telly with your pals as events happen, and the story mirroring the Rodney King riots play out. There's genuine outrage and anguish in equal measure from your companions. You go out to a city which is rioting in protest at a sensitive and emotive issue, then an old woman hits you around the head with a giant purple dildo. A truly stunning moment.

[Gaz]

Jack Howitzer is Special Needs Cop

[BFTD]

I just love the batter...all over my face.

[yoda]

KTI Radio in LA Noire 

[forameus]

On the subject of radio stations in games, Watch Dogs Legion sounded like they were doing a really good job.  Decent mix of songs, and a few of the talk radio stations were down in a podcast style pretty well, discussing the issues present in the game world.  All good, right?

As soon as you leave the car, or go to a cutscene, it brings your radio station back to the start.  Every time.  All that work, and even the journey across London won't let you listen to the whole thing...

[19QOS19]

On the subject of radio stations in games, Watch Dogs Legion sounded like they were doing a really good job.  Decent mix of songs, and a few of the talk radio stations were down in a podcast style pretty well, discussing the issues present in the game world.  All good, right?
As soon as you leave the car, or go to a cutscene, it brings your radio station back to the start.  Every time.  All that work, and even the journey across London won't let you listen to the whole thing...

Aye I was forever trying to flick channels. Ended up giving up. Every so often a song would come on I liked to take me by surprise.

[BFTD]

Cyberpunk 2077 made the odd choice of putting all the good stuff on one station.

I appreciate that's the least of the odd decisions made on that game.

[DA Baracus]

San Andreas was/is the best GTA. Cracking soundtrack as well.

The wee plane missions were pretty easy.

f**k Big Smoke and Officer Tenpenny.

Edited March 23, 2021 by DA Baracus

[Loki]

12 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

My number 1 is the game I'm saying I've actively played the most in my life, but FM 2007 probably beats it if you added all my save files together, purely because of how easy it is to just have it on constantly.

That's the greatest FM game as I was in it.  My friend offered to the data for Ross County, he asked me to come over and check it's accuracy.  I said it was just about spot on got him to make a couple of tweaks to the data, and then he went for a shite.  Big mistake, I edited myself in, as a young up and comer with finishing 20, and when he came back I watched him email the data file away.  I never confessed until the game was officially out.

[NotThePars]

12 hours ago, forameus said:

On the subject of radio stations in games, Watch Dogs Legion sounded like they were doing a really good job.  Decent mix of songs, and a few of the talk radio stations were down in a podcast style pretty well, discussing the issues present in the game world.  All good, right?

As soon as you leave the car, or go to a cutscene, it brings your radio station back to the start.  Every time.  All that work, and even the journey across London won't let you listen to the whole thing...

They even pissed Helen Lewis off by adding and then punting her from the game. Good lads.

11 hours ago, BFTD said:

Cyberpunk 2077 made the odd choice of putting all the good stuff on one station.

I appreciate that's the least of the odd decisions made on that game.

The music in general is pretty good in that game. A lot of quality banging techno.

[Miguel Sanchez]

This is going to be the last update of games before the top 43 start. For the top 43 I'll include a bit more detail about the games when I post rather than dumping in the bare bones like I have done so far. With that in mind, the following games are the 10 pointers which all received one vote. 11 people voted for their favourite game and were the only person to do so. A few of them here aren't exactly niche games or genres, but I find it interesting that so many big names and so many classics in their genres can be this popular with an individual, and seemingly nobody else. 

IN JOINT 44TH PLACE, WITH 10 POINTS FROM 1 VOTE

Game: Resident Evil
Platform: PlayStation, PC
Release date: 1996
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo7XyBFHtAs
User comments: "Game terrified me as a kid. Cheesy voice acting, the much maligned tank controls and jump scares. Absolute perfection. Still love it to this day."

Game: Portal 2
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
Release date: 2011
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0K5EXfgJnk
Zero Punctuation review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvhjczPD1DA

Game: Halo 2
Platform: Xbox
Release date: 2004
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl5J-rqJa3o

Game: Silent Hill
Platform: PlayStation
Release date: 1999
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtSTETZYkxE

Game: Dota 2
Platform: PC
Release date: 9th July 2013
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrQRnkSXzE

Game: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Platform: PC
Release date: 2004
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyEaBpYvCQ0&list=PLj_Goi54wf0f7XsuAi8xs85sfK9g-TtDg
Poll-maker comments: I recognise the girl with the tits but I'm not sure where from.

Game: Final Fantasy VII Remake
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 10th April 2020
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4o7eSKLN40
Zero Punctuation review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsAltEgYnbE
Jim Sterling Jimquisition on the subject of remakes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZcHLliNjI4
User comments: "fixes the issues the opening hours of VII had, maybe has the best soundtrack in a video game (only rivalled by another of my picks), takes enormous risks with the narrative that fully pay off, and is maybe the best combat system Final Fantasy, or any JRPG, has ever produced."
Poll-maker comments: Since this is on PlayStation Plus I can now play it. Should I bother, and should I bother with VII first?

Game: Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
Platform: PC
Release date: 2011
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohl1FYNNXZE
User comments: "probably my most played game of all time. Would make me suicidal if I totted up all the hours I threw away playing these. One caveat - don't really like Vietnam."

Game: Championship Manager 2
Platform: PC
Release date: 22nd September 1995
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dA85aYWVEA

Game: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release date: 20th December 2017
Gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sctOYN2pMs4
Zero Punctuation review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiPecsN-t3g

Game: Gran Turismo Sport
Platform: PlayStation 4
Release date: 17th October 2017
Gameplay: 

Poll-maker comments: This was my vote. For the longest time I would always have just assumed that Gran Turismo 4 was on my list. I watched a video called Relaxing Gran Turismo Music the other day and a comment on it summed up my GT4 thoughts: "It's Sunday. You are browsing through the list of cars in your garage. Everything is perfect. No bills, no nothing. You know school starts tomorrow but you don't care until you've passed the license course." But when I actually thought about my list a realisation came to me - it's been 13 years since I've played GT4. It (and 3) may well have been monumental games in my life but can I fairly put them on this list when it's been so long?

At the same time I've known for quite some time that I'm going to earn the platinum trophy in GT Sport and consider it time to write it up. I don't know how I'm going to do that. It's going to take some time and it's probably going to be very rambling, but I'll try. For the purposes of this list though, I knew voting for it would be a waste of time in terms of the final results. I was going to be the only person to vote for it. But I couldn't leave it off, and I couldn't deny that it's the most important game I've ever played. By every measure I judge video games by it's probably the best too.

Previous Gran Turismos were single-player focused. There's a sequence of races and championships you can enter, you earn money to buy and upgrade cars. Straightforward formula, almost hypnotic in how easy it is to just sink hours into it over time. GT Sport is online multiplayer focused. There's online matchmaking based on a driver rating which goes up and down depending on your results. There are FIA-sanctioned championship races where you can earn points and potentially qualify for live events around the world like in the video above. 

Since November 2017 (and since August 2018 where I started playing consistently) I have finished 1298 online races in GT Sport. That number will be higher by the end of today. I've spent the equivalent of 42 and a half days driving in that time. I've spent probably the same amount of time watching live events, watching videos and streams of people racing, and more since reading about people's races. I got my PS4 in November 2017 when this came out and after spending four years feeling like I was missing out on expanding and exploding online games with online communities, in GT Sport I found mine. It's been many years since and it's sort of wild to think how much I've put into this game, but I couldn't avoid placing it highly here as a result. 

In late 2019 I was in a race with a now semi-notable youtuber. After a guy I was racing against went nuts and ruined the race I decided to get a wheel and pedals to play with rather than the controller. Since Black Friday 2019 I've been using a Logitech G29 mounted on a £9.99 folding wooden table from B&M to play this, Project Cars and Assetto Corsa. I know I'm not getting the best out of sim-racing and I know I'm not getting the best out of what I'm playing, but I don't care. The thrill of the challenge when I'm racing against other people, the almost meditative state I go into when I'm racing against the AI and just trying to perfect my driving and lap times as much as possible, I can't look past GT Sport for its influence in starting all of this for me. 

Since I'm going for self-indulgence here I'm going to show you my Group 3 Nissan GT-R. One of the championships I mentioned is the Manufacturer Series where you pick a manufacturer and only drive their cars. Ever since I started playing regularly I've driven for Nissan. Of the two car classes you drive both cars have pretty glaring faults, but when the opportunity comes up they can dominate. The satisfaction in succeeding with cars so under-valued is amazing, and despite their faults I do love the turbo brick and the bus:

 

God knows how I'm properly writing this up when the time comes.

[BFTD]

• Like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil looked revolutionary at the time, but hasn't aged well at all. Thoroughly enjoyable, however, and I'm tempted to dig it out and see if anyone's been making mods to update it for modern machines. I know the Gamecube remake is still kicking about for PC, but I couldn't get into it for some reason. Also, Christ, the English language dialogue.
• Portal 2 was never going to be as good as the original, but is still fun. Apparently they had trouble with the story during production, as it was originally supposed to be about Cave Johnson and they had to sandwich GLaDOS in, so it has a slightly unfocused feel as a result. Plus, stretching out the length of a game presents its own problems. Still a good game, just not the condensed hit of sliced perfection that was the original.
• Shocking nobody else voted for Vampire Bloodlines. Get it bought, you heathens; it's regularly reduced to less than £4, is still getting regular updates, and is one of the few games that actually gives a different experience when played through as different character classes. I'd recommend leaving Nosferatu and Malkavian 'til last.
• CM2 was a revelation for football management games. A huge leap from the original, and light years ahead of the other games around at the time, which were still pretty shallow and focused on weird things like advertising hoardings and stadium expansion. CM went the other route and tried to make the games play out like actual football, with an extensive database of players that tried to be as accurate as possible, instead of just an afterthought. Also, this was the only version of the game that tried audio commentary, with lines from Clive Tyldesley, but after the original novelty I think most players just increased the game speed to get through matches quicker.

[NotThePars]

Halo 2 is the daddy. The first ever game I played on Xbox Live. Was obsessed with it as the only games I had on 360 were Halo 2, Call of Duty 2 and Oblivion and since Cod was broken for months after release it was the only thing I could play. So much fun in random custom games whether it was Zombies, the never ending games, Tower of Power or ranked multiplayer that felt like I could actually compete pretty well. Campaign was class as well and also could be easily broken. Still play it to this day.

I voted Final Fantasy VII Remake. I could've picked a load of other stuff that I've loved for longer but I'm still amazed at how audacious and successful a remake it is. The only other IP that comes close in trying to do something interesting with a remake are the Resident Evil ones and they still are nowhere near as much of a risk take as this was and didn't have the enormous pressure that about 15 years of expectations threw on it. It also pissed off all the right nostalgic nerds by deviating pretty significantly from the original game and it's made the potential for the sequels enormous even if I'm certain I know what they're going to do with a specific character. It's writing is terrific that improves on the original's characters and resolves a lot of the issues around a lack of individuality in the battle systems and has one of the most revolutionary stories I've seen in a big budget game. It's essentially a Bush did 9/11 and terrorism is justified if the systems are rotten story in a AAA title.

Also it looks amazing and is the culmination of an often painful attempt by the series to modernise its battle system which I think has been a big success in this. It moves at a rapid pace but doesn't feel like it's slipping away from your control. Stoked to play the DLC and upgraded version on the PS5 hopefully in 4K. Still have a ton of shit to do but I want to experience it on a console that isn't creaking.

Barret is a king as well.