JCC Gaming [It's Joever] The JCC's Top 100 Video Games of All Time - #5-1

I started playing Breath of the Wild for the first time. The game world is beautiful. I have no idea where to go first for the quest. I like the game not being on rails and exploring and learning on my own but also don’t feel the instant story hook.

 

Sadly... no.

Oh, the story's great but much else? Nope. That all the final boss guides boil down to "overdose on stims and hulk smash" is telling.

 

If we voted for something that didn't make the rankings, will we be able to see how well it did?

 

Yes sweet Wocky. Yes.

 

I think it’s pretty obvious that they did “not well enough.”

 

Top 10 time!

10. Tetris (1985, Alexey Pajitnov, Every computer/console ever)

17 points (6 votes)
Voter comments: the go-to road trip gameboy game. -tom

It's so simple and so perfect. -Jedi_Sith_Smuggler_Droid

The original Russian puzzle game that came with the Gameboy. There's been so many popular mobile games released over the years, but this one has just withstood the test of time - going on nearly 40 years strong. -Ahsoka's Tano

Puzzle game. Need I say more? -Autumnlight91

I don't remember what year I first played it. -Rylo Ken

9. Fallout: New Vegas (2010, Obsidian Entertainment, PC/PS3/Xbox 360)

18 points (6 votes)
Voter comments: It’s a classic and I love it. Really nothing more to it. And the fact they made it in 18 months will never not astound me. -Jedi Knight Fett

The best Fallout game, love the story, the world building, everything. -Lord Vivec

For a long while I was of the opinion that Fallout 3 was better than New Vegas. I thought the map was better and I enjoyed the setting more. But as the years have gone on New Vegas has aged like a fine wine. Not so much in terms of it’s visuals, but in it’s writing. Obsidian crafted a far more compelling and rich world for New Vegas that I’m much more inclined to want to revisit. My hope is that should the Microsoft purchase of ActiBlizz goes through that we can have Obsidian back in the Fallout universe. -Mustafar_66

Please, for the love of god, give Obsidian another crack at the franchise. Also has the perfect quadfecta of DLCs, from the zany fun of Old World Blues, the survival horror and sadness of Dead Money, the unveiling of the Courier's past in Lonesome Road, and the best setting of Honest Hearts. -Point Given

Despite the bugs, this is the best Fallout experience I've ever had. The main storyline, the DLC, all of it excellent. All his fault aside, Mr. House is the way to go, btw... -Wang Chi

8. Mass Effect 2 (2010, BioWare, PC/PS3/Xbox 360)

19 points (8 votes)
Voter comments: The original Mass Effect was sci-fi rpg that featured strong characters and world building, but was held back by lackluster combat. The sequel kept the quality of the writing, and added a combat system that actually felt fun, and the result is one of Bioware's best titles. Love you forever, Garrus. We'll always have that rooftop on the presidium."It's been a long journey, and no one's coming out without scars. But it all comes down to this moment. We win or lose it all in the next few minutes. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud." -Adam of Nuchtern

One of the harder picks for me, because the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3 is really the best, but the combination of companion characters, writing, cinematics, and the design of the suicide mission pushes this over the top juuuuuuust a bit. -dp4m

The suicide mission. That is all. -solojones

The apex of bioware game making. -Lord Vivec

Yeah. Mass Effect 2. 'nuff said. Best companion is Thane. Worst is Miranda. End of discussion. -Wang Chi

It's hard ranking them, since they're all good in their own way, but I like the character driven focus in ME2 the most, even if ME3 has the best combat, and ME1 the best RPG style. -Point Given

Whilst I personally prefer ME3, the second game is an absolute triumph in video game storytelling. From it’s incredible opening it doesn’t ever really let up. Putting together a disparate group of specialists, both familiar faces and new, to try and resolve the mystery of the Collectors is captivating. ME2 introduces a number of fan favourite characters, particularly the Salarian scientist Mordin Solus. It also expands on the romance options significantly, with the Garrus romance being particularly sweet and rewarding. The suicide mission at the end remains one of the all-time great video game levels, with your decisions having a tangible impact on who on your crew survives.The Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC is excellent as well. I think the only real drawback is the stripping down of the RPG systems. Also, on a personal level, I didn’t gel with some of the crew as much as some people. Grunt, Thane and Jack especially did very little for me in the second game. Whilst all three would have their moments in ME3, in 2 they left me cold. -Mustafar_66

Fun fact: This was not in anyone's individual top 5. Quite fitting that it ends up outside of it on the final list as well.

7. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991/1992, Nintendo, SNES)

21 points (6 votes)
Voter comments: I'm not a Zelda connoisseur, with my only two Nintendo consoles being an N64 and Gamecube, and the only games I've ever played in the series being this (thanks to the SNES Classic), Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker (never finished) and Twilight Princess... LttP stands out to me. Having gone back to it relatively recently, OoT suffers a bit from being in that prototype 3D stage. It did what it could (and is absolutely great), but LttP is pure, top down, 2D gaming perfection. A masterclass in game design. -Wang Chi

My first official Zelda game as I never played the NES ones until later in life. Again, I simply fell in love with this game and the logical progression built into it. The story is simple and it's easy to get invested. Also, it's a lot of fun to play over and over again. -TiniTinyTony

My Hot (ish?) take: the only reason people like Ocarina of Time better than A Link to the Past is the updated graphics. ALTTP is a better game. It introduces more concepts with sticking power. It is more fun to explore. The difficult dungeon doesn't make you want to find the developer that created it and haunt them. The game strikes the balance of feeling simple and complex. The secrets are challenging, but not impossible. The time mechanics are balanced and not overbearing. Just a perfect Zelda game. -DarthIntegral

6. Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018, Rockstar Studios, PS4/Xbox One/PC)

21 points (7 votes)
Voter comments: All the games in my top 5 have made me cry. This is the only one that made me sob. -solojones

See Last of Us comment, (sans Arthur Morgan and plus Ellie and Joel) -Point Given

Graphically stunning. With a story that builds from a slow burn to a blaze in the hills. I still go for an occasional wander in the Ambarino hills when the mood strikes. -Fatburt

Having never played the original RD games, this was a surprisingly fun and addicting game with a thorough story and even though Rockstar has ceased any more expansions with their online mode, I still find myself hopping on every so often just helping out newbies in co-op Story Mode. -Ahsoka's Tano

This game damn near broke my heart at the end of chapter 6. A Western tragedy epic that takes a lot of what made the first Red Dead Redemption so good and leans into it. The character of Arthur Morgan can be as cold hearted and ruthless as you wish, but I think it makes for a better story to play him as an outlaw with a heart of gold. Playing with the knowledge of what Dutch becomes and seeing how this group of people falls apart is tragic and unlike anything I’ve ever really played before. The only real slight against the game is chapter 5, which feels like an unnecessary diversion. However, it does little to dent the triumph that is the rest of the game. If there is a Red Dead Redemption 3 it’s got some incredibly big cowboy boots to fill. -Mustafar_66

This was not a game I had particuarly high expectations for. I liked the first game well enough, but doing a prequel to it didn't seem all that interesting to me, and it didn't help that I kind of hated GTA V. So I was more than a little suprised at how much I ended up loving this one. The story features some of Rockstar's most mature writing to date, and Arthur and Sadie are two of the best characters they've ever created. "We're thieves in a world that don't want us no more." -Adam of Nuchtern

 

RDR2 is a magnificent game and Mustafar is 100% accurate calling out the utterly pointless and very annoying 5th chapter.

Mass Effect 2, also a great game

Tetris is beyond addictive and has indeed been added to my Switch for those trips away (and for when I don't want to play Mario Kart)

Never played the other 2

 

Tetris and Link to the Past are near perfect games. Nice to see them in the top 10. Mass Effect 2 is excellent. Really enjoyed Red Dead 1, never played 2 as the 360 is my most modern system.

 

My pointless specificity on Tetris versions cost it the top five, neat.

 

You may be playing ME2 as mostly Paragon but then a Renegade interrupt comes up, with a guy on a ledge, and it's one very few players said no to.

 

Literally the only Renegade thing I did on my first play through. It’s just like… come ooooooon, it’s right there.

 

Spoiler: language

“I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favorite game in the Mass Effect franchise.”

 

You stood firm for the Puyo. I hope they remember you.

 

I regret that I have but one vote to give for the mean beans.

 

The gameplay in RDR2 could be better, but the story is so good I don't even care.

 

I forgot to put RDR2 on my list. Here are my favorite parts of the game (no spoilers):




Regarding Fallout New Vegas, imagine what the team could have done with more time and with an engine that wasn't made of matchsticks.

 

I had Ocarina higher (though both in my top 5) simply because Ocarina was the first game I ever remember completely losing time to. The first time I played it, there just never seemed a natural stopping point so I'd just keep going and then look up like 5 hours later.

The Fallout games have never quite appealed to me for some reason. I recognize this as a personal failing and not a fault of the games themselves.

Amazing.

 

A Link to the Past, I think, ranks up with Super Mario Bros. 3 as one of the two foundational games of my youth. My mind was blown wide open with this game. It's the perfect Zelda game. And it was a treat to play Link's Awakening last year for the first time and get to spend another game with this Link. My Link. Consciously or not I think I've compared every game I've played after to this one, and few come out above it.

And one of those is RDR2. I ****ing love this game. It's my favourite. GoldenEye has the youthful memories, but I really conneted with this, maybe because my mum loves old western, or maybe because Rockstar told a good story. I've played through the story 3 times. Chapter 5 does suck, but the reward at the end is that ride back to Shady Belle with D'Angelo singing "Unshaken" and that was imcredible.

Making this list caused me to go back to it, finish the hunting and exotics missions and now I'm at 98.4% completion on one of my games and I've got a few challenges to go. I'm also going to kill one more moose and a half dozen rats to have all the craftable clothing items.

If they do another Red Dead, I think I'd be fine if they moved away from the Van Der Linde gang. Maybe Red Dead Gold Rush?

 

Okay, let's talk about Fallout: New Vegas
Don't get me wrong, I love the game. But what's my issue? It's... not really 'post-apocalyptic'. It's 'post-post-apocalyptic', where the world has rebuilt enough that we have a town on the frontier of two new empires. Weapons and ammo are plenty; fresh water is plenty. Radiation is not really that much of a hazard.
But of course I'm talking about the main game here. All four of the DLCs - which tell a story, in order - are all post-apocalyptic, and even give you a chance to revert some of the world to post-apocalypse (the image of the NCR soldier reenacting the end of Planet of the Apes with the Ranger Unification statue is hilarious).

 

And btw Jazib the reason I prefer OOT to ALTTP is because I never had a SNES at all but did have an N64 growing up. Not all of us are about graphics, some of us are simply completely ignorant

 

Which means that at that point 3 out of 5 Fallout games had that exact same conceit, so what?

 

That was Inty who said that not me lol. B did a quote inside a quote.

Also I've never played OOT.

 

Tetris and Red Dead Redemption 2 being in the same block perfectly illustrates why video games are so great, and so damn hard to rank. Two vastly different experiences that can both be considered perfect examples of the power of the medium.

I’m sure I’ve played the original Tetris at some point in my life. Certainly I’ve played many variations of it on many different platforms. Tetris Effect made my list because of the way it combines that perfect gameplay loop with hypnotizing visuals and mesmerizing music. But even without all that dressing, it’s still the perfect puzzle game at its core. Maybe the singular best video game ever made. I wouldn’t argue with that.

It’s been so long since I’ve played through Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas that they both sort of blend into one big title for me. I know they’re different, I vaguely remember specific things about each of them. But to be perfectly honest, whenever people talk about how much better New Vegas is, I just kinda take their word for it. I’m sure they’re right. I couldn’t tell you why. They’re both incredible games. But Fallout 3 was the revelation. New Vegas feels like an expansion of that. An iteration that improved on just about everything? Sure. I guess I believe it.

Mass Effect 2 feels like more of a proper sequel, though. It had such clear improvements on the gameplay front, feeling more like a competent third person shooter, but at the sacrifice of some of the deeper RPG mechanics of its predecessor. It also had the best cast of characters of the trilogy, well written and compelling. It’s certainly held up over the years, and features both one of the great opening and ending sequences in gaming history.

I’ve been playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past since I was a kid, but I only actually beat the thing a few years ago after Breath of the Wild really sparked my interest in the franchise. Growing up, the openness of ALttP didn’t appeal to me. I couldn’t figure out where to go, what to do. I needed the clear conciseness of games like Mario and Donkey Kong Country. But when I did revisit it all those years later, hearing that iconic music, it was easy to understand why this was such a revered title. But I still needed a guide.

Like Tetris, I wouldn’t argue against anyone claiming Red Dead Redemption II is the best video game ever made. Breath of the Wild may have the best open world from a creative standpoint, but RDR2’s is just immaculate in its real world early 19th/late 20th century western setting. It’s still the most beautiful game I’ve ever played, and feels more next gen than titles releasing today. Setting aside the brilliance of the story and the raw believability of the characters for a moment, this is the first and only game I ever felt like I was truly living in. I hardly ever used the fast travel system, and when I did use an AI driven stagecoach to travel from one place to another, I rarely skipped ahead to my destination, opting instead to take in the sights and the sounds of the world around me. At one point in the game, a traumatic sequence of events happens to Arthur Morgan, one of the great protagonists the medium’s ever had (though, unpopular opinion, the second best of this franchise). Afterward, I retreated to the mountains for a week. My hair grew long, my beard thick. I hunted for food. I camped out under the clear starry skies, falling asleep to the sounds of the stream near my tent. I woke up and put on a pot of coffee before I headed out to fish for my lunch. I returned to society on horseback, headed to the barber for a shave and a haircut, to the store for a fresh set of clothes, and made my way back to the Van Der Linde gang to resume my duties as their second-in-command. The release of RDR2 serendipitously fell at a time when I had several days off from work, and my wife (girlfriend at the time) understood what Red Dead Redemption meant to me and didn’t question my desire to lock myself in my apartment for that time and play this game from sun up to sun down. I couldn’t have asked for a better game to do that with. An absolute masterpiece.

Current tally: 53/95

Current rankings:

Spoiler

Red Dead Redemption*
Red Dead Redemption II
Donkey Kong Country*
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Mass Effect
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Hitman 3
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
Tetris
Fallout: New Vegas
God of War (2018)
Dishonored
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Portal 2
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
Mass Effect 2
Batman: Arkham City
Halo 3
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
The Last of Us
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Bloodborne
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Dragon Age: Origins
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Secret of Monkey Island
Kentucky Route Zero
Grand Theft Auto V
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
BioShock
Dishonored 2
Hollow Knight
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
The Walking Dead: Season One
Ms. Pac-Man
Mass Effect 3
Half-Life
Diablo III
Final Fantasy VI
Persona 5 Royal
Elden Ring
Planescape: Torment
Star Wars: Dark Forces
Super Metroid
Mario Kart 64
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Final Fantasy VII
Assassin’s Creed II
Space Invaders
Portal
Microsoft Minesweeper
Outer Wilds
The Last of Us Part II

 

I absolutely loved A Link to the Past when it came out and I loved playing it again in recent years.

I think Link’s Awakening maybe the better game because it is more straightforward and a bit shorter. Also no travel to alternate dimensions or time travel. No master sword. And the other staples ALTTP added and most future games picked up. LA is much more like the original A Legend of Zelda made in the style of A Link to the Past.

Shout out to A Link to the Past’s music which is phenomenal.