PC Gamer - March 2012

19 Minecraft Release: 2011 Tim: Yeah, some- one’s trying to recre- ate Game of Thrones’ continent of Weste-ros in Minecraft. Yes, someone else made a to-scale replica of the starship Enterprise. But I think there’s more fun in making a more humble thing in your private or shared world. A little amphitheater crafted from a natural cave. Maybe a railroad down into your mine. Maybe a lighthouse. Playing and making, with your friends, is one of the most rewarding pastimes in gaming.

the to-the-point occult story.

And most of all, I love that when I think of the musty dungeons I explored, the undead monsters I killed, the items I collected, and the characters I played, the best word I can think of to describe it all is “neat.” Everything in Diablo II is just really damn neat.

Shepard makes a galaxy-defin-ing decision or a companion’s fate is sealed are more arresting than ever.

Logan: What’s more, you’re not simply asked to make a tough call and then everybody takes a deep breath and moves on.

Instead, you have to grapple— intellectually, emotionally, politically—with the consequences of those decisions. And no matter what you do, innocent people who had no choice or influence in the matter are likely to suffer as a result of your decisions.

For me, those “ character-defining” moments define the entire Mass Effect series.

9 Civilization IV Release: 2005

Rob: Civ IV takes everything that was clever and addicting about the series and fixes or removes everything that fell short of perfection. It remains the pinnacle, and it is every bit as good today thanks to two things: several satisfying paths to victory, and the moddability that gave us gems like Fall From Heaven. As Civilization V proved, Firaxis broke the mold after making this one. Tyler: We all love to joke about Civilization IV’s life-consuming nature, but for those who have been ensnared, it’s not a joke. Nor do we regret any of the hundreds of hours we’ve spent building nations. At least I don’t.

14 Portal 2 Release: 2011 Rob: It’s funnier and even more endearing than its predecessor, and invents several new types of puzzle that make the Portal gun seem even more amazing. Perhaps Portal was perfect, but it’s tough to go back to Aperture without Wheatley, GlaDOS, and Cave Johnson. Cooperative puzzle-solving is just the icing on the cake. Tyler: Portal 2 couldn’t recapture the surprise of Portal—that would be like sneaking up on someone and catching them off guard, then trying to do it again while looking them in the eye and grinning. So it did the next best thing: it sat us down and told us a completely charming story, pulling back the curtain enough to satisfy the curiosity Portal inspired without revealing enough to kill its subtleties.

broad strokes of SC2 in place. And all the units are different for each side. And there are dozens of different boards. And you don’t take it in turns to play. And like Evan said, the animation is superior. Screw you, chess. We’ve got something much better. Tom: Actually since the en passant rule was added in the 15th century, White has been OP.

magic lady with ferocious tiger guards. Another had you launching yourself via catapult onto the back of a tank while the rest of your teammates poked it with dwarven APCs. WoW feels harder, more hardcore now and for that reason I’ve paused playing. But I miss it terribly. Josh: With powerful contenders like The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2 entering the field, Blizzard’s starting to take big risks and tackle long-requested features to keep its playerbase. That pressure should lead to some very exciting developments to keep the game fresh for vets like us. Here’s to the only other game besides FarmVille that our grandmas have ever heard of!

18Half-Life 2 Release: 2004 Nathan: Half-Life 2 managed to both create the blueprint for the modern single-player shooter and be the genre’s high water mark. It was first and, arguably, still is the best at what it does. Ravenholm still makes me yelp like a frightened puppy, Dog is still the reason my pets have crippling self-esteem issues, and I still keep a crowbar in my car’s trunk. You know, just in case.

17Half-Life 2: Episode 2 Release: 2007 Rob: Episode 2 just does everything per- fectly. You have an adventure in a mining complex with a hilariously tame Vortigaunt companion, a frantic last-stand against hordes of antlions, an ambush where Combine troops destroy a mansion around you, and finally: a battle with a legion of Striders.

16 BioShock Release: 2007 Chris A: To this day, horror games remain little more than jump scares and sudden sound blasts. BioShock’s submerged tomb of forgotten dreams and broken promises consistently cranks out an ambiance far more discomforting than any blood-drenched wall or hulked-out zombie could ever hope for.

13 Quake Release: 1996 Chris C: Quake isn’t a game, it’s a phenome- non. Without it, TF2 wouldn’t exist. Fatal1ty would be stocking groceries at Costco. QuakeCon would be…uh, StuffCon. And it’s still amazingly playable. Perforating Fiends with Nine-Inch Nails and blasting Shamblers with quad-rockets is every bit as fun now as it was in ‘ 96. Dedicated servers still exist, and for good reason: Quake is the Dom Pérignon of FPS deathmatch.

11 Counter-Strike: SourceRelease: 2004 Evan: From what dark magic does CS source its lasting appeal? Purity. It’s one of the few modern multiplayer shooters that doesn’t jangle with bells and whistles when it walks— there’s no cover system, iron-sights, kill-streak rewards, airstrikes, vehicles, or unlockable anything—just you, some ballistic weapons, level geometry, and a few grenades.

I love the way dying in Counter-Strike stirs critical thinking. That time-out between respawns gives you a chance to iterate on tactics and change things up—camping instead of rushing, left instead of right, an AWP instead of an AK.

12 Mass Effect 2 Release: 2010 Josh: It’s been two years, and I still cannot hear Shakespeare’s name or any reference to his work without the voice of an Elcor reciting the most moving lines in Hamlet (with less emotion than the tiny Australian lady trapped inside my GPS) popping into my head. ME2 matched the incredible story of the original, and raised it with perhaps the best ending sequence ever made in a game. With the trilogy capper just around the corner ready to accept our saved game files, those poignant moments where

10StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Release: 2010 Evan: It’s the current foundation of eSports. I love StarCraft II because people— North American people—are gathering together in bars to watch it ( www.reddit.com/r/ barcraft). I love StarCraft II because IdrA, a player from my home state of Michigan, has a t-shirt that I can buy (http://bit. ly/gracken). And let’s have a moment to celebrate SC2’s readability. The way armies animate and express players’ intentions shows Blizzard’s careful thinking and Frankensteinian craftsmanship; they imbue life and true personality into unit models. Without SC2’s ease-of-spectat-ing, it’d simply be a game, not a rising culture that anyone can participate in. Tim: I look at the design of the Zerg, Protoss and Terrans and just gaze in awe. It took thousands of years to balance chess. It took Blizzard just half a year following release to get the

7Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Release: 2006 Chris C: There’re those that boast about free- dom and player choice, and then there’s Oblivion. “Freedom” is putting it too lightly. Wanna ignore the main quest and butcher every single person in Cyrodiil? Go for it. Wanna spend 300 hours collecting Daedric weaponry to display in your corpse-rugged mansion? No problem. Punch bears down cliffs? Please do! Endlessly moddable and dizzyingly enormous, Oblivion is what happens when you let players create their own unique adventures, wholly independent of developer intent.

5 Dragon Age: Origins Release: 2009 Chris C: Dragon Age took all the clichéd fan- tasy motifs and twis- ted them up delightfully. Instead of beautiful castles filled with nobles, we got filthy, racist cities populated by selfish elves and morally corrupted dwarves—and it was amazing. Each of your party’s companions had their own agenda and motivations, and I’d often field opposing characters just to hear them banter and prod each other. If only every RPG after it had adopted the brilliant real-time/pause-able battle system. Nathan: Dragon Age made me miserable. I was playing a “good” character, but I screwed up at every turn. By the time the credits rolled, I’d sacrificed my best friend in a moment of cowardice and driven away a woman I cared deeply about. But I accepted the guilt. I never once reloaded a save to “fix” a dumb mistake. Dragon Age’s world and characters were so convincing that I felt like they deserved me at my most authentic—even if that meant making some really stupid decisions.

15 Diablo II Release: 2000 Tyler: I love Diablo II ’s aesthetic, which makes me feel like I’m living in a miniature model world like the kind once used to create film effects. I love

6 World of Warcraft Release: 2004 Tim: There was a time, during the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, where raiding was the most fun you could have in any game, ever. Delving into Ulduar— still the best dungeon the Wo W team have created, was an adventure you looked for ward to all week. The fights felt hard, but the mechanics understandable. One had you split your team— half to hold a gladiator’s arena, the other to run a gauntlet of baddies to knock a boss off his pedestal. One saw you fighting a

4 Fallout 3 Release: 2008 Nathan: One of the (few) downsides of cri- tiquing games for a living is that I can’t really lose myself in them anymore. Most people watch the puppet show, but all I see are the strings. Fallout 3 put the magic back in games for me. It gave me this giant, personality-packed universe to just live in. I still go back and wander the landscape when I need an escape. Most importantly, though, it taught me a very valuable life lesson: Tunnel Snakes rule.