This is by no means a "best ten games of all time" list, but rather a list of games most influential on my life as a gamer. With countless hours spent behind a controller (or keyboard) it's tough to choose between only 10 in my past, but I think these games are a fairly accurate representation of the games that truly belong here.
10. Heavy Rain - The newest to make it to my top ten list; this game changed my view on what a video game 'should be'. The only reason this makes it to the list at all is that I hope it will be a precursor to the games in my future. While so many games out there carry the claim that any action you take will affect the outcome of the game, this is the first time I felt that my actions had more of an influence than the final cut scene in the game. Mistakes in the game allow the story to continue even if you happen to lose a main character or two.
9. Contra III: Alien Wars - This game I missed when I was young but discovered in the age of emulators. The difficulty is turned way up on Contra games and in order to beat the game (without using the 99 lives cheat) you have to either know each level like the back of your hand or have super human abilities. My college roommate and I made it our mission to complete this game without taking advantage of the cheat.
8. Counter-Strike - The game that brought me into the world of competitive gaming. This game tied me close to a number of players from around the country. We called each other teammates, knew each other by first name and spent hours a day together.
7. Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - A timeless classic. Very few games of its time have the depth of story or game play offered here. The game is just put together so well with enjoyable puzzles from beginning to end. This belongs on everyone's list. I hate to not have Ocarina of Time also, so here's an honorable mention.
6. Unreal Tournament - This is the reason high speed internet came into existence.
5. Super Smash Brothers: Melee - At the time before and after I was involved with this game, I was playing first person shooters. This was the only game to tear me away from trying to prove I have the best accuracy and could get faster head-shots than my opponents. Now I had the opportunity to beat people up and throw them off a level instead.
4. Halo 2 - The advent of match making made my obsessive gaming almost feel like it mattered. To win in games, and go up in rank, you could prove that you're on the upper tier of gamers; that you're the best there is. The only problem to that theory is that once you get up to the higher levels, you just realize it's a battle to find out who the best cheater is.
3. New Super Mario Brothers - This game looked like nothing more than an old style Mario game with the option of playing with four people simultaneously. When I found this to be the truth I also discovered how much fun old style Mario game is while playing with foru players simultaneously. This game brought me and a group of friends together every night for a few weeks to beat this game a few levels at a time. The only thing disappointing about this game is that it ended.
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Total play time: 18 days, 13 hours, 24 minutes. Total useful experience: 0. In my opinion, nothing will ever compare to the perfection that was put together to create this game. This game turned into an absolute obsession and had a very literal, very detrimental effect on my grades and my life as a whole. This is the first game that allowed me to see the downside to video games that over-concerned mothers cry about on dateline.
1. Mega Man X - The one game I've beaten more times than I can count. I know and love every detail about this game. The little bit of story telling involved in this game is heart breaking and a great setup for the series. What really drew me to this game was the secrets scattered throughout each level and I didn't give up until I find them all. The game-play is so solid that I can still play from beginning to end and enjoy every minute.
