Be Excellent To Each Other

Um, I know people sometimes hate this sort of thing, but I'm itching to do a Top Ten Games of All Time list. Again. I like lists. I have "list geek" as one of my geek subclasses.

So if people are interested, post your top ten games of all time here. With format(s), if possible. Number them from one to ten (with or without some explanatory text) and I'll make a spreadsheet and stuff, giving ten points to the first place game in your list, nine for the second, etc. and then when people stop posting lists I'll post the official list of BETEO's favourite games. Which, as we're great, will no doubt be the best list of best games ever on the Internet.

That sort of thing. You know.

I'm a bit of a crap game player, but I hold a fondness for FF7 and FF8. I also like the C&C series, and Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 are also good games. After you've played the latter for 30 or 40 hours though it does start to drag. It remains mega-fun, however. Deus Ex 1 & 2, also great. In fact, just come to my house and look at my small shelf that has these few games and a couple of others on it. I like those ones.

I'm having trouble choosing the best games from series. I know I want a Civ game. I played 2 most, but is 4 better? I find that a bit complicated. So maybe Civ Rev should be in there. But isn't it a bit soon to include it? Etc.

Elite
Chuckie Egg

That's it.

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - It has guinea pigs.
That is all.

EvE Online
railroad tycoon 3

I don't want to order them, so:

Civ4
Ultima VII Part 1
Ultima VII Part 2
FFVII
Warhammer Shadow of the Horned Rat
CoD4
Fallout
Fallout 2
Colonisation
Warhammer Final Liberation

Kirby's Pinball Land. This topic can now be closed.

[edit]
Others: (Based on how much time I'm guessing I put into them. Surely the best games are the ones I've spent the most time on? Although some are just fav games. Also not in any order. I'm not very good at this.)
2. Street Fighter 2
3. Minesweeper (>Solitaire)
4. Super Mario Kart
5. Guitar Hero 3 (Although I've never played 1 or 2)
6. Chibi-Robo!
7. Tetris
8. Advance Wars
9. Erm, I add more later if I think of any more (Or nick off other people)

Well, this topic has been an unmitigated disaster, then.

Thought it might be.

1. Transport Tycoon
2. Civ 2 (not played 3 & 4, and an improvement on the original)
3. Cannon Fodder
4. Unreal Tournament
5. Theme Park
6. Chip's Challenge (14 years since I started playing it but still not completed)
7. Sim City 2000 ('Reticulating splines')
8. Frozen Bobble (comes with most Linux distros)
9. Repton 3
10. Solitaire (admit it -it's the game we all play the most)

Final Fantasy 7 (PSX)
Final Fantasy 9 (PSX)
Bloody Roar 2 (PSX)
Counter Strike (PC)
Colony Wars (PSX)
Killer Instinct II (arcade)
Max Payne 2 (PC)
Homeworld 2 (PC)
Dawn Of War (PC)
Burnout: Paradise (MP mode) (360)

Not sure about the two 360 games, but they're the ones I've played recently (ish). Did we finish out co-op game, Mr. Dave?

FF7 is a big pile of stinky chocobo poo, you loons.

Do you want some moderator smackdown?

(Hint - choose the 'smoking man' thread icon - it's like crack to us, it really is.

BANNED.

You only think that because Stu told you to.

I was entirely serious about Elite and Chuckie Egg, by the way.

No, even after I specially went and bought a second copy so that we could.

Still willing to do so, though.

1) Panzer Dragon Saga, Sega Saturn. Only Japanese RPG I can still tolerate, and possibly the best game EVAR IMHO.
2) Frontier: First Encounters, PC. Horribly buggy and broken, but still slightly better than the massively awesome Frontier Elite II.
3) Outrun 2006: Coast To Coast, PSP. Greatest arcade racer in virtually flawless handheld glory.
4) GTA IV, Xbox 360. 'Nuff said.
5) Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting, Arcade. The best fighting game there has ever been.
6) Streets Of Rage II, Megadrive. Substitute fighting for beat-em-up in the above comment.
7) Sonic 2, Megadrive. Fact 1: the MD Sonic games are better than any of the Mario games. Fact 2: Sonic 2 is the best Sonic game.
8) Super Mario World, SNES. This one wasn't bad though.
9) Civilization III, PC. Because I can't quite get on with Civ IV.
10) Half-Life 2. FPS perfection.

Disclaimer: Once I've given this more than 5 minutes of thought, I might end up changing all of these. For instance, I'm already wondering how I managed to leave Forza 2 and Test Drive Unlimited off the list.

Edit: removed opening statements as I was clearly far too slow at posting this list.

Who?

It made me grind my teeth a lot. Played most of the way through, but eventually lost interest.
I really, really didn't like the "suddenly being in a fight with a massive monster ten times the size of me that was oddly invisible in the corridor I was walking down" nonsense. Gnnk etc.

You just didnt junction the correct materia, man.

I find that I'm incredibly fickle when it comes to games, something can be the greatest thing ever and then I'll never play it again. Therefore any list I attempt would likely be as meaningless to me by next week as it would be to anyone else right now. Nevertheless here's a few of the ones that have stood up for a while:

X-Wing vs TIE Fighter
Dooms 1+2
Far Cry
GTAIV
Zookeeper
Flight Unlimited series
Forza 2
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
Homeworld
Virus

Gah! List change!

1. Doom (PC/360) - It's still the best game ever. Level design + monster design + controls = BEST.

2. GTA IV (360) - Okay, it lost a lot of things that were magical in San Andreas (country side and country music, mainly) but it gained Nico Bellic. And Roman Bellic. And Brucie. And Dwayne. And LJ. And some great physics. And stuff.

3. Mr Driller: Drill Spirits (DS) - The best version of a great game, simply because it's in English and portable.

4. ICO (PS2) - Though I dread to play it again, just in case time has killed it.

5. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (360) - The world leveling up with you messed things up a bit and fast travel killed some of the sense of adventure that Morrowind had and it had terrible technical issues, but it's still brilliant and worth hundreds of hours of play. The Dark Brotherhood missions are the obvious highlight. Without the problems, it might be serious competition for Doom at number one.

6. Crackdown (360) - Absolutely brilliant hoppy, jumping, orb-hunting fun.

7. OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (Xbox/PSP) - I play the PSP version to this day and would love a slightly enhanced 360 version sometime. Please.

8. Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (PSP) - Playstation version + portability + extras = best version. I love prinnies. Even if they are fairly useless.

9. World of Warcraft (PC/Mac) - I leave for months at a time, but I never leave forever. A fantastic game, somehow, despite it being all about running for several minutes, killing some monsters, and running back again.

10. Civilization Revolution (360) - I'll put this version in as it's the one I'm playing now, but any version could be here. Even the third game. I liked that a lot.


Bubbling under...

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Portal (360), Green Beret (Spec/MAME/360), Resident Evil 4 (GC/Wii)

Hmm... hard this.

R-Type Final - PS2
Shadow of the Colossus - PS2
Ninja Gaiden - Xbox
Resident Evil 4 - GC
GTA4 - 360
REZ HD - 360
Legend of Zelda - Link to the Past - GBA
Advance Wars - GBA
Doom - Multi
Star Craft - Mac/PC

Man, there's heaps more I could list, and I don't know what order to put them in either. Everytime I see someone elses list I think 'Oh yeah! forgot about that', but you have to draw the line somewhere. What a stoopid question

SOTC > Ico then? Hmm.

You asked for 'favourite' rather than 'best' games (the two lists, for me, would be quite different).

OK:

1) Animal Crossing Wild World (DS)
2) Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)
3) Adventures of the Ribbit King (GC)
4) Viva Pinata (360)
5) Super Paper Mario (Wii)
6) Rock Band (360)
7) Gregory Horror Show (PS2)
Luigi's Mansion (GC)
9) Pikmin (GC)
10) Cooking Mama 2 (DS)

It was one or the other, no room for both, so I went with the big monsters.

In no particular order:

Formula One Grand Prix (Amiga)
Crackdown (360)
Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga)
Half-Life (PC)
Doom (PC)
Lemmings (Amiga)
Mario Kart DS (NDS)
Burnout 2 (Xbox)
The Secret of Monkey Island (Amiga)
Monkey Island 2 (Amiga)

im that way inclined aswell.

Im not doing order but I want numbers and a funny face at number 8...

1) Rock Band (360)
2) GTA IV (360)
3) Super Bomberman (SNES)
4) Ape Escape 2 (PS2)
5) ISS Pro: Evolution 2 (PS1)
6) Super Metroid (SNES)
7) Mario Kart: Double Dash (GC)
Warioware (GC)
9) SotC (PS2)
10) Day of the Tentacle (PC)

*RANDOM BATTLE*

The question is interesting, is something I *LOVED* at the time but wouldn't play not entitled, or should I use right now...

I'll have some thoughts.

Also FF7 was the 90's MGS4.

Super subs:

ISS Pro: Evolution 2 (PS1)
Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Half-Life (PC)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Resi 4 (PS2)

FF7 was the 90's MGS1.

In no particular order (unless I change them as I'm just throwing out what I can think of)

Shenmue - Dreamcast
Shenmue 2 - Dreamcast (I think I preferred this to the xbox version)
Final Fantasy IX - PSX
Pro Evolution Soccer - PSX/PS2/xbox/360/PSP - I have no desire to try and work out which one my favourite is, but probably one of the hacked Winning Eleven ones on the PS2.
Secret of Monkey Island - Amiga
Sensible World of Soccer - Amiga
Championship/Football Manager - Amiga/PC - I haven't played one for a few years, but I have to admit I've spent far too much of my life on one version or another.
Pilotwings - SNES - Can we have a wii version please?
Manic Miner - Spectrum - what?
Tekken 2 - PSX - for its multiplayer goodness.

I've probably forgotten loads of games, and this list kind of implies that I don't like anything I'm currently playing as much as the stuff I used to play 5+ years ago (this may be true).

Damocles: Mercenary II, Amiga
Elite, most formats, though Amiga for preference
Impossible Mission, C64
Resident Evil 4, Gamecube
Gran Turismo, Playstation
Mercenary, C64
Freelancer, PC
Trailblazer, C64
Ferrari Formula One, Amiga
GTA III, PS2


Bubbling under - IK+ (Amiga), Wizball (C64), FF IX (PS), Powerdrome (Amiga), Winter Games (C64), Kikstart II (C64), A Bards Tale, Amiga, Subsunk (C64), Portal (PC), Deus Ex (PC)

Man, this is HARD. I am in a PICKLE.

10 - Ace Combat VI (XBox 360)
All my twelve-year-old, Top-Gun, Biggles-Flies-Undone dreams come true at once. Especially when you’ve got Ride Of The Valkyries / the Airwolf theme / Harold Faultermeyer blasting away in the background. Ace Combat 6! You’re still dangerous. You can be my wingman any time. Even if your cutscenes suck like an industrial sucking machine.

9 - Dragon Quest VIII (PS2)
Charm overload. And the best monsters ever.

8 - Championship Manager 99-00 (PC)
Text-o-vison CM > dancing dots 2D match engine CM. Maybe just because it hides the joins better. I don't know. I don't care. It's amazing how attached you can become to a page on a spreadsheet.

7 - Madden 2002 (PS2)
This was the year with the expansion draft. Taking a crappy team to glory is always good fun, but taking your own crappy team that you'd built yourself from castoffs and spare parts to the Super Bowl was sublime.

6 - Shining Force III (Mega Drive)
Tough, brilliant tactical RPG with lovely character design and a nicely ropy Japanese-to-English translation. "If he dies, it doesn't matter. He's old and would have died soon anyway."

5 - Rock Band (XBox 360)
Toniiiiiiiiii-i-i-iiiiiiiiight, I'm a rock 'n roll staaaar...

4 - Portal (PC)
The gaming equivalent of a perfect three-minute pop song.

3 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PS2)
San Andreas had the jetpack and the Harrier. GTA IV had going through your car windscreen and Brucie. Vice City had character, the best art direction and cruising down Ocean Drive at sunset with Billie Jean on the stereo.

2 - Elite (BBC Micro)
I never made it past Dangerous, though.

1 - Civilisation 2 (PC)
The first game I ever played that introduced me to the Bladder Scale of addiction (the longer the wee-wee you have to take at the end of a session, the more compelling the game), and also the Fuck Me, It's Light Outside phenomenon.

All time? Hmmm.....

Does that mean the games I've liked most across my life or the games I like most today?

I'll go for the former. In no order:


Space Harrier - Arcade/CPC

It wowed in the arcade and now you can play it at home. OK it was cut down, but it had the music and was still great fun.


Head Over Heels - CPC

The king of all versions and don't let those grubby Spectrum owners tell you otherwise.


Rainbow Islands - Spectrum 128k

Great music, plays fantastically, and I love it. Sure the Amiga version is more polished but this is just a perfect game for the Speccy. And it has the proper tunes unlike some versions.


Ranarama - CPC

Not an obvious choice but I still enjoy a quick blast on this to this day.


Frontier (Elite 2) - Amiga

It's Elite! It's version 2! It's great!


Premier Manager - Amiga

Best football management simulator up to that point in time. You could sign a player called Gilkes for next to nothing and turn him into a superstar. Also I managed to turn Mickey Hazard into one of the countries top players. Not to mention taking the mighty Woking to be Champions of everything ever.


Populous - Amiga

If you need this explaining to you I'm going to poke your eyes out with a spoon.


Pang - GX4000

You can stuff your 400 quid 16 bit machines up your arse. It takes the original game, makes it a tad more "console" and you end up with something that plays better than the arcade. Some of the tunes have been muddled around but never before has an 8 bit bestrode it's bigger cousins in such a way. Fucking perfection and has a full 2 player mode so it also pisses all over the SNES version.


Switchblade - GX4000

Take a 16 bit hit game and do a dodgy 8 bit port? Not for Gremlin who went all out with this game. Running in the CPC's medium resolution mode the colours were always going to be abit thin on the ground (in fact Amstrad expressed concern at the development stage) but this is a corker. You can play it on a Speccy or standard CPC but the GX4000 version is the one to have because of the extra colour and instant loading.


Sensible Soccer - Amiga

Nuff said?


Invaderload - C64

Often better than the game you were actually loading.


GTA 3 - PC

Sadly it was all downhill from here. The new games have more features but this game had a tighter feel.



Soul Calibre - Dreamcast

For me this has replaced Yie Ar Kung Fu (CPC version natch) as my favourite fighter of all time.




These are the games I have loved the most across my life, but some of those (like Premier Manager) I haven't touched in 10 years.

Ah crap. I wrote a really large post and then lost it.

I can't be arsed to work that all out again right now.

So the important thing is that first place went to....

1. Rhythm Tengoku

as it's joyful.

Wii Sports, Outrun 2006 C2C, Prince of Persia Sands of Time, New Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (Sega Master System version) were some of the others.

I'll rewrite it when I can face it.

Maybe we need to branch off into some more unusual lists like 'Top 10 games set in the UK' or 'Top 10 RPGs that don't feature characters with silly hair'.

1. Resident Evil 4 (GC). Yeah, I know. QI style black and white flashing text should come up but it was great. As a kid all I wanted games to be about was doing stuff until you saw something big you could gawp at. Resi 4 gives you loads to do, loads to see and just amazed me from start to finish. It took around 8 playthroughs for me to get bored.

2. Rebelstar 2 (Speccy). My fave of the five classic Gollop games and it had Hicks and Vasquez in it.

3. King's Bounty (Pocket PC). Specifically the unbelievably ace Pocket PC version which keeps all the gameplay and graphics intact but has a vastly improved interface.

4. Syndicate (Amiga).

5. Dead Rising. A little unforgiving, yes, but this is still the only game on the 360 that wouldn't be possible in some form on the original Xbox. It's just so lovingly crafted. They didn't have to put in the tunnels, or the cinema, or that many shops but they did. The combat is beyond great as well.

6. Pilotwings (SNES). Would be higher if it wasn't for the awful combat missions.

7. ISS Pro Evo Soccer 2 (PS1). Long before the series turned to utter shit. Perfectly balanced with such subtle controls and it kind of made me a bit better at playing actual football. If Fifa 09 improves on Euro 2008 even a little, that'll probably make the list.

8. Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS1). The old top-down one. Quality game with a great story, good (if hammy) voice acting and some clever tricks and twists. Much better than the 3D incarnations in my opinion.

9. Tenchu (PS1). The first one. The rest were shit but this was great. Made you feel like a ninja and gave you far more freedom to accomplish your goals than any GTA game ever did.

10. K240 (Amiga). RTS on tiny little meteors. Brilliant.


NOTE: this list is entirely changable!

Man I didn't even touch on Retro stuff.

I think this thread should be changed to top 3 games on the formats you have owned.

I will pick my ten as the games I have spent the most time, or had the most fun playing. There are no marks for originality, or how well they would stand up against the games of today.

10 - Alien Breed (Amiga)

Not sure which version... Tower Assault was great but had a fatal penultimate level flaw, I think #2 was probbaly the best... one of these, anyway.

9 - Resident Evil (PSX)

You are the master of unlocking! Between that and the dog through the window, it qualifies.

8 - Halo 2 (XBox)

The game that got me into FPS games. I was expecting to be underwhelmed, but I played this SO much over Live that I became a complete addict.

7 - Supercars 2 (Amiga)

Just ridiculously fun. Played this for days and days and days and days...

6 - Tony Hawk's Skateboarding 6 (?) (PS2)

I can't remember which version, and I'm hard pushed to remember the console, but it had a fantastic soundtrack, awesome controls, insanely addictive 2 player, and even an attempt at online play. I spent almost all of 2002 (I think) playing this game with my flatmate.

5 - Civilisation 4 (PC)

Could feasibly have been any of Civ 1,2,3 or 4. I've loved them all, and have gone with this one for no other reason than it's the one I play currently. Epic series of awesomeness.

4 - X-Com: Enemy Unknown (PSX (?))

The amount of hours I plowed into this game was unbelievable. Just an amazing game, perfect turn-based strategy shooter, with research and adventure elements to bulk it out into a very 'complete' game. I used to get very attached to my squad members! It's a shame that nothing as good in the same vein has been made of late, at least that I can find (I have 'Silent Storm', but it has some annoying bugs).

3 - Call of Duty 4 (XBox360)

Heresy! Heh, well, I've been addicted to it for months now, and still love playing it. The one player is fiercely difficult (on higher levels), but has some of the best one players FPS set pieces I've seen. The 'Ghillies in the Mist' mission is fantastic, as is storming the TV station whilst under heavy fire. The multiplayer is delightful, with a perfect mix of challenges and unlockables that make me go back just to get that one more level... Probably artificially high due to the fact that I still love it, but I genuinely believe it's raised the bar for the FPS genre.

2 - Tekken 2 (PSX)

Hell, you could put 1 or 3 in here and be fair. You could even consider the underrated Tag Tournament game, but dear Lord, don't put in #4, which was rubbish. My friends and I spent hours and hours and days and weeks and months playing these games, and it was really the reason why loads of people got the PSX. Beat-'em-up perfection, with enough skill involved so that button bashers could not really prosper, without being overly complicated or reliant on horrible gimmicks.

1 - Final Fantasy VII (PSX)

Some other FFs would get a shout out here too. In fact, most of the ones that I played, other than 9, I think, which I didn't like. That's if 9 was the one with the Black Mage. I liked him, and liked the game, but got stuick at a point where I couldn't get back from, and it ruined it for me as I didn't have the heart to play through again. As it was, FFVII really blew me away, mixing a cool (if ultimately kinda butchered) story with fantastic (for the time) visuals, intriguing characters (Sephiroth FTW!), excellent fighting and power/level up mechanisms and more sub-games and thoroughly unnecessary quests than you could shake a stick at. Hell, we spent weeks just playing the snowboarding games available after you went back to the amusement arcade. It had different unlockable tracks, saved your times, etc etc etc - to find almost a full other game within the game amazed us. And then we went and basically found everything, and killed all the big Weapon things. Before finally getting around to swatting Sephiroth as if he were a fly. Of course, this was our second time around, as first time I whizzed through it as fast as I could, before getting to Sephiroth and having him pulverise me four times in a row, before I somehow fluked a win on my last effort (whilst blind drunk), with all but two of my characters dead, of which one had been turned into a confused frog. I've never played through a game as long twice before or since. Ahhh, the memories...

Lots of honourable mentions to things like Lemmings (Amiga), The Untouchables (C64), Emlyn Hughes International Soccer (C64), Desert Strike (Amiga), Super Mario Kart (SNES), Burnout Series (various), Populous (Amiga), Settlers (Amiga) and the first Tenchu game (PSX). There will undoubtedly be games I have forgotten, too.

I have a stuck key - df9hj - see? In no particular order, with explanatory text to follow:

Syndicate (A1200) - I doubt I've played any 9ame as much as I have this. I played it damn near every ni9ht after school for over a year. American Revolt missions disk FTW.

Half-Life (PC) - better than its sequel, or indeed, any sin9leplayer FPS in the last ten years. Only Stalker and Portal have come close, but still nowhere near close enou9h.

Mario Kart (DS) - one Xmas a few years back, I had to sell every console and ever 9ame that I owned. Really, really quickly - to 9amestation, for whatever they'd 9ive me. I ended up with a 'spare' £100, which I 'rashly' used to buy the Mario Kart DS bundle. That Xmas was entirely miserable, and indeed, the nadir of one of the worst periods of my life. Mario Kart DS 'saved me', and I was *still* playin9 six months later, in multiplayer with a mate on the train to work. Superb 9ame.

Warhead (ST) - no, really. But I'm not sayin9 why. Play it for yourself - download an ST emulator, and try in vain to work out the controls. I *may* do some kind of 'How to play Warhead' pack/doc. some time...

9rand Theft* Auto 3 (PC - all three of them) - because they're as close to perfection as I've ever seen in a 9ame.

Civilization IV (PC) - I played the demo of the first one a lot on my ST, played the third one a *bit*, but the fourth one wrapped itself around me and burrowed its slimy proboscis deep down into my dark, plush interior. I'll never be rid of its influence and I don't really want to be.

Halo 3 (360) - because it's an entirely decent sin9le-player experience, with a thorou9hly fine multiplayer (which is now disliked because 'you have to shoot loads to kill anyone' - whereas CoD4 of course is sometimes berated for 'I shot first but the replay showed me just dancin' around, it's a bloody lottery sometimes', but er, yeah). Oh! And 4-player co-op on the hardest difficulty is THE best FPS experience I've had since Half-Life. But with 4 people.

Manic Miner (Speccy) - because it's the first computer 9ame I ever saw or played, and because I now mostly use my DS to play this and other perfect 8-bit 9ames. See also: Splat!

Day of the Tentacle (PC) - because it's the funniest 9ame ever, EVER.

Doom 1 & 2 (PC) - I watched a school-chum load this up on his Dad's work PC, for the first time for both of us. After about 15 minutes, we went into the second room, and shot some soldiers. About an hour later, the first level was finished. Still the most amazin9 'OMF9!!!' moment for me ever, and a Sony Bravia runnin9 'Click' on Blu-Ray doesn't even start to nearly attempt to come close.

Honourable mentions:
Deus Ex (PC), Burnout 3 (Xbox), Call of Duty 4 (360), The Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2 (A1200), Rebelstar 2 (Speccy), Star9lider II (ST), Mickey Mouse in the Castle of Illusion (SMS), Flashback (A1200), Sensible Soccer (A1200), Satcom & Supercom (Speccy)

* Sounds more to me like Bioshock lolzors! etc.

Nice to see that someone else has actually played these. Some of the later Crash covertapes (they were originally Atlantis games weren't they?) had some dire stuff on but these two kept me busy for a good while.

I played one of them as well (Satcom I think) and really liked it. However, the second time I played it it seemed much, much harder. Adaptive fucking AI Speccy self-awareness. Game didn't get loaded up again.

Elucidate! Level flaws and Alien Breed are two things which fascinate me.

I think that they were Atlantis, ja. They were really quite old, I think it was Your Spectrum that reviewed them both from 'that side'. But were indeed really playable and stuff. I think Crash printed keys to bypass the copy protection, which I couldn't remember when I tried them in an emulator - shame.

You're not incorrect about Crash tapes that had dire stuff on. I recall the later Crash tapes were full of stuff from 'Psychedelic Hed9eho9 Software', which appeared to be one man who made massive, empty Sabre Wulf-esque mazes that were dull and unenjoyable to play; or rubbishy adventures that had only one possible correct action and nowt else to do. Absolute junk.

...Which Sinclair User then later also featured, at the same time as their 'Phone us on this extremely expensive premium line where we'll 'explain' the nasty, impossible riddle that holds the password to playin' the MAIN TITLE ON THE COVERTAPE!' Shockin' stuff.

Yeah, certainly on Supercom, the instructions listed a phone number to dial with a digit missing. I would imagine that World of Spectrum have the instructions though

Hmm. I struggle with the order, but;

Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga)
International Cricket (Spectrum - freebie with Your Sinclair)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Pokemon Sapphire (Gameboy Advance)
Advance Wars (Gameboy Advance)
Colonisation (Amiga)
Civilisation II (PC)
Rebelstar Raiders (Spectrum)
Shadowfire (Spectrum)
Syndicate (Amiga)

Oh lordy, this is going to be difficult. I'm basically listing games that I've played compulsively, obsessively for weeks or months. It's rare that a game sucks me in for very long, but this lot managed it.
Okay, in no order whatsoever...

Ultima Underworld (PC) - Take all your crappy, random battle, Japanese RPG's and stick them, erm, in a cupboard. This is the best RPG ever.

Settlers 2 (PC) - This one probably wins the award for keeping me playing the longest. Idiotically addictive, I even played it when my PC monitor broke and I couldn't tell the blue people from the red ones.

Rebelstar 2 (Spectrum) - Yay for YS covertapes! Stupendously addictive and about 463 times better than its prequel (except only me and Bluce_Ree seem to think so). Just edges out Chaos from the list.

Doom (PC) - I can't even put into words how long I spent playing this and designing levels for it. Utterly magnificent.

Geometry Wars Galaxies (Wii) - It could have been a complete and total disaster, but it actually turned out to be the deepest, most fun shooter I've ever played.

Mario Kart Wii - I. Can't. Stop. Playing. It. Seriously, I think I have a problem. I didn't think for a second they'd improve over MKDS, but MK Wii is the best in the series by miles and miles.

Kaboom (Atari 2600) - Left, left, rightrightright, left, right, leftleftleftleft, right, no LEFT!!! Kaboom! Bugger. Repeat 67 million times. If they could bottle addictiveness, they'd have to extract it from Kaboom.

Elder Scrolls: Morrowind (Xbox) - Lovely stuff, and loads better than Oblivion (which Bethesda buggered completely with that auto-levelling bullshit).

UFO: Enemy Unknown (PC) - The world would be a darker, more depressing place without the Gollop brothers.

Secret of Monkey Island 2 (PC) - The best adventure game ever. Simple as that.

Bubbling Under
Dune 2 (PC), Chaos (Spectrum), Desert Falcon (Atari 2600), Raiden 3 (Playstation 2), Super Mario Galaxy (Wii), Solaris (Atari 2600), Future Cop: LAPD (Playstation), The Beast (Spectrum)