The 50 Best Video Games of All Time

 The 50 Best Video Games of All Time

From arcade classics to recent console hits, these are the 50 greatest games ever.

Whether you play video games The Info Blogs or not, they’ve become an integral part of our culture. For some, it’s hard to imagine a world without video games—the chip-up-loop of an arcade legend like Space Invaders or the growling “Finish Him!” immortal Kombat can be as evocative as a Michael Jackson or Beatles tune.

Representing multiple generations of gamers, TIME’s tech team put over 150 nominees through a multistage ranking process to compile a cross-section of gaming’s best ideas across nearly four decades. Here are our picks for the 50 greatest video games of all time.

1. King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human

Video Game

In the 1980s, the years leading up to Nintendo’s reign were dominated by PC titles, which were better imagined than Sierra’s. Critics typically laud the original King’s Quest when honoring their adventure line. But the third installment, released in 1986, deserves the most acclaim because it was also twice as big as the first two installments and as clever as any in the series. Following the adventures of Daventry’s 17-year-old Prince Alexander, the game hit closer to home with its primary players, who, like it or not, were pretty much boys. Yet despite the outmoded graphics (or maybe because of them), the keyboard-controlled adventure is still a joy to play (try it yourself). From amassing all the ingredients to make potions, avoiding the wizard’s evil black cat, and stealing the pirate’s treasure, it’s pure magic.

READ MORE :

2. Dota 2

The improbable sequel to a fan mod for a Blizzard game came out in 2002; Dota 2 stormed the e-sports scene in 2013 with its sophisticated twist on real-time resource management and turf control. Arguably the pinnacle of the multiplayer online battle arena genre (or MOBA, which is just another way of saying “competitive real-time strategy game”), it sees two teams of five jockey for sway over lush jungle terrain beset by ever-spawning computer armies, locking horns at a river that cuts diagonally across the asymmetric map. Difficult to master but thrilling to watch. Dota 2 matches unfold like frenetic attention-deficit sprees, camera views pinballing around battlefields flush with antagonists converging on dozens of flashpoints as players battle to demolish the other team’s “ancient.”

3. Angry Birds

Rovio’s debut 2009 mobile game, now one of the most recognizable franchises globally, definitely benefitted from being one of the earliest titles for the iPhone. But the studio’s quirky avian-flinging physics puzzler—players have to slingshot roly-poly birds at likewise round, entrenched pigs—also honed in on key elements of smartphone gaming’s then-nascent purview: bite-sized levels for on-the-go play, easy to pick up (if grueling to master) gameplay, and eventually a free-to-play biz model built on microtransactions. It’s safe to say Angry Birds established the template for all the untold numbers of mobile games vying for our e-wallets since.

4. Guitar Hero

Guitar Hero reanimated the music video game genre when it launched in 2005, magically transmogrifying players into bona fide fret-shredding, tremolo-slapping Rock Gods. Sure, you had to provide your sweatbands, eyeliner, and hair extensions. But for the game’s price and its eponymous accessory, players hammering buttons on faux guitars could rhythmically glimpse what it might feel like to be a Stevie Ray Vaughan or Jake E. Lee. While games like Dance Dance Revolution had proven popular with smaller audiences, Guitar Hero‘s rolling collection of classic and modern rock anthems drove it to mainstream accolades (to say nothing of all the impromptu house parties).

Dennis Bailey

https://extraupdate.com

Professional beer geek. Alcohol ninja. Social media scholar. Award-winning twitter fanatic. Writer. Basketball fan, mother of 2, audiophile, Saul Bass fan and communicator, collector, connector, creator. Producing at the sweet spot between simplicity and purpose to create strong, lasting and remarkable design. I'm a designer and this is my work.