PCPowerPlay Magazine Top 100 Games

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THE TOP 100 GAMES OF ALL TIME Join us as we count down the greatest PC games ever made!

DEUS EX

Ten years on – does it still have what it takes?

DOOM

Can one lone space marine fend off an entire Battlefield army?

S:t R E NG e bu yon en VA n a ev es y Do h on it?

Ant ember m re

DUKE NUKEM

Is he all outta gum?

STARCRAFT OR WARCRAFT Which RTS is Blizzard’s finest hour?

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deus ex: INVISIBLE WAR

Lemmings

No One Lives Forever

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ion storm • 2004

dma design • 1991

monolith • 2000

It may be a little cramped, and there may not be skills or lockpicks anymore, but Invisible War improved upon the Deus Ex design philosophy by offering players far more narrative freedom.

Don’t let the cutesiness fool you: even today, Lemmings is a simple yet surprisingly deep puzzler. Try to finish it without losing a single Lemming, and before too long you’ll be hopelessly addicted.

With style, sex appeal and a smart sense of humour, Cate Archer remains one of PC’s most empowering female leads - even when leaping from an exploding plane without a parachute.

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One Must Fall 2097

Diversions entertainment • 1994 The PC fighting genre isn’t exactly booming, but it’s hard to go past the metal-on-metal clang of giant robots sparring to the last scrap of steel.

The best 2D fighter that you don’t need an arcade stick to enjoy!

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Mirror’s Edge

93

Freelancer

bullfrog • 1997

When scope and ambition exceed the ability to realise them, you end up with titles whose possibilities often outweigh their flaws.

Freelancer is one of them - and its entire galaxy is just waiting for you to explore it.

When Peter Molyneux took your basic base-builder and dipped it in evil, a classic was born. The joys of overseeing the demise of intruding adventurers while balancing the needs of your dungeon’s creatures and exploding chickens with a well-timed backhand are quite unlike anything we’ve seen since.

92

Arcanum

troika • 2001

No other PC game captures the sensation of movement and flow of momentum quite like DICE’s first-person platformer. It was bold. It was brave. And in a world of military shooters, it dared to be different.

“Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura” says a lot about this game, really. A typical Troika game, in that it was buggy and unintuitive but contained some incredible writing, a compelling story, and a hell of a lot of player choice.

Omikron: The Nomad Soul

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Dawn of Discovery

quantic dream • 1999

related designs • 2009

What is Omikron? It’s pretty much every kind of game ever, rolled into one.

And somehow, that works.

Plus, it’s the only PC game to feature a virtual concert by David Bowie. That counts for a lot!

The best of the civil and economic management sims. Strategy without the warfare - which is good, when you consider just how damn beautiful your city looks. You don’t want it getting sieged!

96

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

raven • 2002

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Descent

parallax • 1995 Six degrees of freedom is something rarely explored outside this claustrophobic shooter. There’s a certain thrill to not knowing which way is up, and the scramble for the exit as the mine explodes is a formative PC gaming experience.

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Baldur’s Gate II

bioware • 2000 The Force Unleashed may be flash, but intelligent lightsaber duels make Jedi Outcast PC’s ultimate Star Wars game outside of an X-Wing.

Dungeon Keeper

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digital anvil • 2003

dice • 2009

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Although the plot followed on closely from the first, several tweaks to the engine and ruleset kept the game feeling fresh. Also, there’s butt-kicking for goodness.

89

Puzzle Quest

infinite interactive • 2007 There are two sure-fire ways to ensnare the obsessivecompulsive: RPG stats, and match-three gaming. Put those two together and you have Puzzle Quest, a game that took over our lives for far too long.

86

Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising

rage games • 2001 Just what the hell is this thing? A crazy mix of real-time strategy, thirdperson action, with direct control over your units and a whole lot of stuff to blow up.

Hostile Waters is an amalgamation of strategy and action like no other PC gaming. Well, yes, it was heavily inspired

by Carrier Command, but things explode so much better when they’re not made out of vectors.

Boy, the things we’d do for a highdefinition remake...

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WORLD OF GOO

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Plants vs Zombies

2d boy • 2008

POPCAP • 2009

There’s a subtle message at the heart of World of Goo, but shies away from preaching to deliver some unmatched goo-based puzzles that manage to get more and more creative with every level.

Taking the tower defence game, stripping it down to its core and building upon those fundamentals to create something accessible and full of character, Plants vs Zombies remains the jewel in PopCap’s crown.

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Anachronox

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Tribes 2

ion storm • 2001

DYNAMIX • 2001

A JRPG designed specifically for PC? Unheard of! But Anachronox was more than that - it was a crazy foray into a quirky sci-fi world, with depth and character unlike any other. It was also incredibly funny.

Impossibly open for its time, Tribes 2 was faster and greater in scope than any multiplayer shooter. Skiing down hills, launching into jetpack leaps and hitting trick shots with the disc launcher are classic Tribes experiences.

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Dawn of War

relic • 2004

77

Trackmania

nadeo • 2004

Planetside The sadly neglected MMOFPS found its champion in Planetside, a game so awesome that nobody has yet stepped up into the same niche.

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F1 2010

CODEMASTERS • 2010 A racing game that’s driven entirely by the community, where it’s just as fun to build a loop-de-loop as it is to speed down it!

81

TIE Fighter

Incredible graphics, dense atmosphere and some of the most realistic simulation make this an F1 fan’s dream game 75

TOTALLY GAMES • 1994 This was it. This was every Star Wars fan’s dream - the ability to get into the cockpit of a bad-arse TIE Fighter - not those nancy X-Wings. More of an actual sim than its puzzle-like brethren, TIE Fighter showed us just how hard it is to pilot one of the damn things - and why they blow up so easily.

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Heroes of Might & Magic III

new world computing • 1999 With new units, towns, heroes, abilities and much larger maps, HOMMIII was an improvement over its predecessors in every way – except for the lack of an operatic soundtrack. Despite this, it expanded on the addictive formula established in the previous game smartly. Its strategic depth and incessant charm make this one the turn-based strategy icon for fantasy fans.

SOE • 2003 The ultimate realisation of every Warhammer 40,000 miniature-painting geek’s fantasy, and a true evolution of the RTS genre.

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Jagged Alliance 2

T he Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay

STARBREEZE • 2004 Could this be one of the best tie-in games ever? Its Deus Ex-like approach to progression through areas gave it an unexpected intelligence, while its exploration of canon makes it essential playing for Riddick fans.

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IL-2 Sturmovik

SIR-TECH • 1999

MADDOX • 2001

Crazy-detailed battles are complemented by equally deep meta-strategy and a healthy dose of gun porn.

And let’s not forget the sheer amount of character present, with the attimes unintentionally hilarious voice actoring and broad range of mercenaries for hire.

Combining an incredible flight model with a sorely unexplored theatre of war, IL-2 is the definitive World War II flight sim. With a plethora of expansions and mission packs, the game has only gotten bigger and better with time.

72

Blade Runner

westwood • 1997 Branching plots based on real-time gameplay? Unheard of in an adventure game. Blade Runner avoided recreating the film, instead crafting a parallel tale that stands on its own. As much a cinematic masterpiece as its source.

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Call of Duty 4

INFINITY WARD • 2007 Nowadays it’s the game that everyone loves to hate, but nevertheless, Call of Duty 4 brought a new level of cinematic intensity to the first-person shooter. Its multiplayer component drew the best from everything that came before it, then crafted a formula that ever shooter day seeks to replicate.

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DIRT 2

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codmasters • 2009

Uplink

introversion • 2001 An addictive cycle of car upgrades, unlocks and high-fidelity visuals make this our platform’s ultimate rally sim.

DEFCON

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introversion • 2006 When your first nuke detonates, you’ll feel physically ill - did you really just kill 6.5 million people with the press of a button? Yes, you horrible person.

That’s the power of DEFCON - its lo-fi visuals are enough to convey the horrors of nuclear exchange.

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LEFT 4 DEAD 2

valve • 2009 Rushed sequel accusations aside, Left 4 Dead 2 is simply a better game than the original Left 4 Dead – and the entire thing is getting ported into L4D2 anyway, so why are you guys still complaining? Admittedly, the series

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Ultima Underworld

Subtle, subdued and surprisingly hardcore, uplink is a hacker sim that makes the player one with its virtual world.

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Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee

oddworld inhabitants • 1997 Oddworld’s heart, soul and charm is bolstered by the fact that Abe is actually the weakest creature in the world.

Beautiful backdrops contrast the game’s incredibly morbid sense of humour.

This is platforming with feeling.

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A stunning example of how with indie games, more often than not, simplicity is king.

A single button to reverse gravity makes for some dastardly puzzles!

A mix of real-time strategy and third-person action like no other, with an art direction just as out-there as its concept. Overflowing with creativity, style and wackiness.

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Nethack

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Operation Flashpoint

bohemia interactive • 2001 The one, true combined arms military simulation.

Huge levels let you tackle missions however you want, while hardcore AI makes tactical decisions more important than ever.

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The Sims 2

nethack devteam • 1987

maxis • 2004

The pinnacle of the Roguelike genre, NetHack pairs unprecedented depth of RPG mechanics with inscrutable ASCII graphics.

Mods, ports and engine rewrite keep it fresh.

This shouldn’t be a guilty pleasure for us, because it’s good fun. The best of the series, before the focus on simulating an entire neighbourhood took away the intimacy.

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The Witcher

cd projekt • 2007 Look, forget the sex cards for a second. We’re all about choice and consequences here at PCPP, and that’s the main reason why we like The Witcher, okay? Stop talking about the sex cards!

VVVVVV

Games like Morrowind owe a lot to Ultima Underworld – the first first-person RPG with a real 3D engine. Blue Sky channelled years of effort into producing the most realistic dungeon simulation possible.

shiny • 2001

One only needs to play this at night, with the lights off, and the sound up, to realise that this is the scariest and most atmospheric game ever made.

isn’t quite up to the insanely high quality of Half-Life, Portal or TF2 - being a little more niche, and a mite more technical - but it’s still a boatload of fun to chill out with your friends while surviving the zombie apocalypse. Don’t get us started on Versus mode either, and that guy who never knows how to control the damn Tank. Of course, the Classification Board didn’t see it our way, but there were always some easy workarounds for that...

terry cavanagh • 2010

Sacrifice

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

frictional • 2010

blue sky • 1992

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Outcast

appeal • 1999 An incredible actionadventure set in a gorgeous sandbox world that brought voxels back in style and set a new standard for cinematic quality and technical trailblazing.

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The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

bethesda • 2006 The moment you emerge from the sewers into the gorgeous fantasy landscape is powerful. A game of pure possibility.

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Unreal Tournament 2004

Company of Heroes

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Indiana Jones & the Fate of Atlantis

epic • 2004

relic • 2006

lucasarts • 1992

Where Quake III secured its place as the king of deathmatch, Unreal Tournament dominated the creative team-based modes.

When you’re sick of them, add some mutators and the game becomes entirely fresh. And let’s not forget the vehicles. Pancake!

Effortlessly balancing the hardcore tactics of Men of War with Dawn of War’s accessibility, Company of Heroes is PC’s definitive World War II RTS - and it only gets better with the standalone expansions. Still a multiplayer favourite five years on!

We’re pretty sick of Nazis these days. Even so, it’s rare to see them crop up in an adventure game, and rarer still for that game to cater to a range of playstyles by allowing you to choose from three paths that are weighted towards either more fiendish puzzles or numpad-mashing combat.

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Age of Empires II

ensemble • 1999

firaxis • 1999 Bruce Shelley and his Ensemble cohorts found the perfect balance between the C&C-style action and the chin-stroking strategy of Civ.

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Alpha Centauri

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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

For a while there, Brian Reynolds looked to have beaten Sid Meier at his own game. With credible AI, an inventive tech-tree and sharp diplomacy, Alpha Centauri was the best Civ ever... until Civ IV came along, that is.

ubisoft • 2003 The ultimate modernisation of retro platforming gameplay, and overflowing with charm. The time manipulation mechanics brought something truly new, while the platforming sparked Ubisoft’s love of parkour.

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Audiosurf

dylan fitterer • 2008 The psychedelic visualisations forgive the basic gameplay. Audiosurf is a pure and true audio-visual experience, and a landmark title for Steam and the indie movement.

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Star Control II

toys for bob • 1992 Only on PC will you see a mish-mash of genres like StarCon II. Part adventure game, part space combat, part strategy and wholly awesome, this is the kind of game that, even today, stands as a truly unique experience.

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BioShock

irrational • 2007 An incredible underwater world with one hell of a plot twist, BioShock showed the games industry that there was still room in shooters for a shot of creativity.

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SWAT 4

irrational • 2005 Essentially X-Com with a visceral FPS punch. Rainbow Six may have done the planning and shooting thing first, but SWAT 4 did it best.

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Beyond Good & Evil

ubisoft • 2003 47

The Last Express

smoking car • 1997 Though on the surface The Last Express’s most unique feature is its painstakingly rotoscoped art-style, the game’s core adventure mechanics were tied to a complex system of real-time events. Characters had motivations, and would act those out in real-time, while player choices rippled through this system like a butterfly effect, allowing the adaptive storyline to continue to one of its many dramatic conclusions.

More than anything, The Last Express is testament to the power of interactive storytelling. Captivating stuff.

While Jade represents the game’s heart and soul, her anthropomorphic cousin defines its characteristic French weirdness. Everything about this game is beautiful.

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The Longest Journey

funcom • 1999 Just like April Ryan, we had no idea this would be the longest journey of our life - for this is a game that stays with you long after the fade to black.

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Grand Theft Auto III

rockstar • 2001 Before the series became so full of itself thinking it was the next cinematic masterpiece, Grand Theft Auto III was pure, open-world fun. This is Rockstar at its best 41

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

ubisoft • 2005 The high point of the series’ and the epitome of techno-stealth. It’s co-operative experience will never be matched, and the versus multiplayer requires both intelligence and finesse.

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Ultima VII

X-COM: UFO Defence

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Day of the Tentacle

origin • 1992

MYTHOS GAMES • 1994

lucasarts • 1993

Ultima VII’s shift to real-time gameplay, a wholly mousedriven interface and more freedom of movement and dimension to the gameworld made this the best of Richard Garriot’s oeuvre.

A turn-based strategy classic, the first of the X-COM series and still the best. Brutally difficult, but don’t let that deter you - or else those alien bastards win! Still holds up brilliantly today, and the basis of many an incredible Let’s Play. We seriously desire a high-res updated turn-based version instead of this FPS malarkey 2K’s making...

DOTT gave us three wonderful things: tentacles, time travelling toilets and Tim Schafer. Flushing items back and forth through history made for some of LucasArts’ most memorable puzzles.

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Batman: Arkham Asylum

rocksteady • 2009 The best superhero game ever made, thanks to its mature treatment of, and dedication to, its source material. A lesson in environmental narrative.

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Braid

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Thief: Deadly Shadows

ion storm • 2004 Though the hub world was constrained by the tech, this is a more than worthy conclusion to the trilogy.

Just don’t make us play the Shalebridge Cradle again!

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Hitman: Blood Money

jonathan blow • 2009

IO Interactive • 2006

Devious puzzles, beautiful art and an incredible use of gameplay as narrative that has yet to be touched by anyone else. And something about a nuclear bomb. Maybe.

A puzzle game where you kill people for money. A game where murder is an artform, not something just... random.

Unless you want it to be, of course. That’s the beauty of sandboxes.

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Mass Effect 2

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Dawn of War II

bioware • 2010

relic • 2009

Though it shaved off the RPG elements, trawling the galaxy for its best and brightest still makes for a worthy follow-up to its slightly more consistent predecessor.

More squad tactics and less base-building. Results in a more technical and more intimate realisation of the 40K universe. And we sure do love our wargear drops!

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Mass Effect

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Counter-Strike

bioware • 2008

valve • 1999

Bringing a new level of cinematic fidelity to the RPG, BioWare builds a unique sci-fi universe. Disguising itself as a squad-based shooter, Mass Effect introduced a whole new generation to the joy of choice and consequence.

There’s a reason this is still played competitively the world over. A heart-pounding combination of pure twitch skills and group tactics.

Pure, straightforward point and shoot - no crazy kill-streaks or overpowered artillery.

Essential multiplayer gaming.

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World of Warcraft

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StarCraft

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Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

UBISOFT MONTREAL • 2011 Free-running across rooftops and shanking people - what more could you ask for? How about some delicious cat-andmouse multiplayer and some trainees to help? This is the Assassin’s Creed formula perfected, and a master class in open-world gameplay.

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Dwarf Fortress

blizzard • 2004

blizzard • 1998

Bay12 Games • 2006

The game that all other MMOs aspire to be. But should they? Well, 12 million people can’t be wrong! World of Warcraft built upon the foundations of EverQuest to create a truly accessible MMO. Blizzard’s quest design has only gotten better with each expansion pack.

Why has this game not just stuck around so long, but become a global eSports sensation? Because it’s just so damn solid. Incredibly balanced for a game with three assymetrical races, the sheer options for strategy here are unparalleled.

The wonkiest interface ever and a ridiculously steep learning cliff can’t hide the wonderful, insane complexity hidden beneath this ASCII skin.

Chances are the game will probably simulate every system in the entire known universe when development is done.

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Psychonauts

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Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines

blizzard • 2000

DOUBLE FINE • 2005

TROIKA • 2004

Bypassing the critical lobes and heading directly to the pleasure centres, Diablo II is pure rewardcycle bliss, delivered with characteristic Blizzard polish.

An above-average platformer that became a must-have classic by virtue of witty, hilarious writing, a bizarre artstyle, and general Schaferean weirdness. Go Double Fine!

Buggy as all hell, but ignore that: Troika’s swansong delivers some of the best writing and voice acting you’ll ever see (well, hear). Not to mention the story’s myriad twists and turns...

Fallout 2

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Team Fortress 2

BLACK ISLE • 1998

VALVE • 2007

Superior quests structure and a more strongly realised world makes this the best of the Fallout series. Post-apocalyptic role-playing perfection.

Nowadays better known for its plethora of silly hats than the astonishingly wellbalanced gameplay and visual design, TF2 remains our cartoonishly violent multiplayer FPS of choice.

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EVE Online

ccp • 2003 It’s impossible to stare at the screenshots and not feel a tug of the heartstrings.

EVE brings to life the most romantic ideals of space travel - but also its turmoils.

This is one of the only MMOs where player agency has a genuine effect on

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System Shock 2

irrational • 1999

the world - EVE pilots truly own their corner of the galaxy.

This also makes it one of the most involving, demanding and terrifying gameplay experiences on PC. EVE is more than a game; it’s a lifestyle. Those who have the dedication to devote to it emerge with stories of corruption, deceit, betrayal and exhilaration. This is a game that exists in a world of its own, and will continue to evolve into something we can only dream of today.

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BioShock 2

2k marin • 2010 The best PC villain ever?

An awesome combination of shooter and RPG? The fact that it’s totally freaking terrifying? All these are why we love SS2.

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Half-Life 2

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Quake III Arena

id software • 1999 A compelling narrative arc less about a single plot twist and more the trials of parenthood make BioShock 2 that much better than the first.

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FreeSpace 2

Pure deathmatch perfection, and the last bastion of twitch-based FPS. And now it even runs in your browser!

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STALKER: Call of Pripyat

VALVE • 2004

volition • 1999

gsc game world • 2010

A tightly scripted, superlinear masterpiece of design, Half-Life 2 isn’t the most innovative game ever created (bar the physics) but what it does, it does incredibly well.

Colossal capital ships, sizzling beam cannons and chilling narrative deliver y combine to make the ultimate space opera.

Dive, dive, dive!

Third time lucky! Finally, a living, breathing world with emergent gameplay like no other, and a complexity that evokes the very best of PC gaming.

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Thief II

looking glass • 2000 Dropping the monsters and expanding the levels, Thief II is a subtle iteration of the stealth gameplay perfected in its predecessor.

Life of the Party still stands as one of the best singleplayer missions ever designed.

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Total War: Shogun 2

the creative assembly • 2011 A return to the golden Total War formula, taking advantage of all the modern tweaks learned over the series. Superior AI, naval battles and progression. A definitive grand strategy masterpiece.

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Far Cry 2

ubisoft • 2008 A shooter that bravely gives itself over to its systemic elements, creating a unique experience that’s just as fun when it all goes belly-up as when executed perfectly. A worthy evolution of Crytek’s design philosophy.

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Half-Life

valve • 1998 The beginning of the narrative-heavy first-person shooter. Half-Life introduced us to a new and subtle form of interactive storytelling – one that blended plot and setpieces with a tight balance of scripted sequences and player exploration. As Gordon Freeman, our escape from Black Mesa is peppered with clues to the greater mystery surrounding the alien invasion and the government’s decisive response to its containment. And it’s when the government solution arrives that HalfLife’s other brilliant quality comes to light.

Without Oblivion’s level scaling, character growth mattered. There were areas of the world you simply could not enter until you had become stronger. Just... play it with a mod to remove the cliff racers.

Seriously.

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doom

id software • 1993 The first time you hear a demon roar as you blast it with a shotgun, then pump a new round into the chamber, you know you’re in for something special. Doom made first-person shooters what they are today, thanks to its visceral weapon feedback and untamed violence.

And then came the memes. No other game has become an internet sensation quite like Portal. It’s quotable; you can dance to it; you can play it on your guitar.

Portal has become more than a game, and will live on forever as the game with the cake and the song at the end.

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Battlefield 2

dice • 2005

The AI of the enemy marines was so strong that players had to adapt and outsmart them like no other game. Grenades would sail over crates while others would flank to flush you out. But really, it’s the blast pit we’ll forever remember - tread softly.

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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

bethesda • 2002 Morrowind’s most stellar accomplishment is its ability to make you feel like a stranger in a strange land. The world it created was wholly alien. Around each corner, and in each new town, would be the bizarre, the unexpected and the downright odd. But this wasn’t just for show: Morrowind was deeply grounded in rich lore and history.

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But Doom was not just mindless running and gunning. Its level design required considerable smarts to overcome, while the arcade-like nature of enemy projectiles meant players couldn’t simply cower behind a crate and recuperate – they always had to be on the move. And let’s not forget it introduced us to the world of network multiplayer!

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There’s a reason the fanfare from the PC gaming community was so strong when DICE announced it was finally following up Battlefield 2 with a true sequel: this is the definitive PC multiplayer FPS. Huge in scope yet nuanced in design, Battlefield 2 presented players with a plethora of deadly toys - and massive open maps to play with them in - and told them to wage war.

Portal

valve • 2007 Whether or not the impact of Portal was largely due to its completely unexpected nature, its quality is undeniable. This was not just a game that existed to show off its brain-bending central mechanic; it was a genuine narrative – witty, hilarious and oftentimes disturbing.

Portal is a title that showed us games don’t have to be sprawling, fifteen-hour epics. Sometimes, smaller is better, and within its mere three hours Portal contained more innovation than games four or five times its length.

It’s also a game responsible for introducing many of the persistent features that multiplayer shooters of today rely on. Weapon unlocks, ranks, experience points and complex stats that track every kill and death then compare them to the rest of the world. Squadbased voice communication. A hierarchy of players in battle, with abilities conferred to those up the chain.

Six years on, and no PC FPS has come close to reaching this game’s heights. It seems like only Battlefield 3 has a chance of knocking this off the list.

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Planescape: Torment

black isle • 1999 Role-playing is – at its heart – not about loot, dungeons, XP, or character levels. Roleplaying is about exploring an interesting universe where your choices have consequences, where what you do defines who you are, and where words have power. And no game since has ever managed to match Planescape: Torment’s strange, unique setting, where just about anything and everything could happen; a world where cranium rats warred with the undead, where things always came in threes, and where beliefs ultimately shape reality. Nor has any game ever come close to Torment’s incredible exploration of character and identity,

toying with the concept of a ‘blank slate’ player avatar as you investigate the complex, layered tale of the Nameless One’s mysterious past.

The writing – all 800,000 words of it – is brilliant, nuanced, and powerful. Slightly clunky combat doesn’t prevent Planescape from being the single best-written game of all time, one that deals with issues above and beyond the standard save-theworld fare that remains endemic to the genre.

What can change the nature of a man?

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Thief

looking glass • 1998 Establishing our love of all things stealthy, Thief taught us that subtlety and subterfuge are both highly risky and incredibly rewarding.

Garrett, the playercharacter, is one of the coolest, smoothest dudes in PC gaming. Neither a hero nor clichéd anti-hero, he is conniving, selfcentred and bitter, desiring only the means to pay the rent.

He is also the best at his trade. Putting you in the shoes of a master thief from the outset emboldens and encourages the player. Thief actively rewards you for

avoiding any and all conflict, so much so that it is possible to finish entire levels without ever being seen. In this regard, light becomes your greatest enemy, creating an engrossing game of hide-and-seek where your ability to manipulate your environment will keep you alive.

The addition of Great People and religion create a unique twist to the formula, while the revamped AI means they no longer cheat and have to explore just like the rest of us chumps.

Ultimately, when it comes to PC strategy games, the bigger the better. No other game handles the concept of global conquest with such charm, accessibility and downright mischievousness.

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Minecraft

mojang • 2009

The story is told through fantastically stylised animations and hand-drawn briefing montages which give the game itself so much character. Things start out simple enough, but soon unravel into a poignant tale of religious fantaticism and dark magick.

What do all these elements add up to? The most atmospheric and immersive game we’ve ever played, and the king of the stealth genre. We miss you Looking Glass, each and every day.

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Civilization IV

firaxis • 2005 There’s no doubt about it – Civilization IV is PC’s best strategy game. Its “just one more turn” mindset instils a hopeless addictiveness, the roots of which stem from just how deep and involving this grand turn-based strategy game can get.

With so many possible strategies, so many paths to victory, Civilization IV promotes player creativity and deviousness.

Wipe out your enemies. Conquer the land.

Negotiate world peace. Hell, launch a rocket to Alpha Centauri!

Why is this blocky little thing one of the greatest games of all time? It’s become an office obsession here at PCPP, and we all have our own reasons.

Patrick loves it because it allows him to explore infinitely, finding and mapping landscapes and cave systems as beautiful as they are deadly.

Sarah’s more into punching cute animals in the face with their own wool, while Matt prefers planning and executing megaprojects with a precision he normally reserves for tech-benching and team deathmatch.

Richie – HYPER’s art director – enjoys creating little works of art, elegant architectural pieces that showcase his sense of style. Dan’s happiest when he’s deep beneath the earth, spelunking away,

discovering lavafalls and dungeons and precious, precious diamonds.

Joel, our ad manager, is finally the master of his own domain; a castle, a church, a mansion, a world to call his own.

And David is busy playing his own little survival-horror game, one where you create a bastion to endure against all the terrors that the night brings.

Minecraft is many things to many people; what you get out of it depends what you put into it. And a lot of people put a hell of a lot of things into Minecraft.

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NUMBER

01 Ion Storm, 2000

E

veryone loves a conspiracy. Shadowy government figures, secret military installations, aliens, cover-ups, covert organisations, world domination – the lot. This game does not feature one of these conspiracies, but all of them. There is so much conspiring that even your office snack machine is the subject of an investigation. And at the heart of all these conspiracies and mysteries is you.

Deus Ex is a masterpiece of interactive entertainment. The best elements of firstperson shooters, role-playing games and adventures are harmoniously fused to create a game that is all about one thing: choice.

These extend beyond character generation and skill selection: you choose how you want to play at nearly every turn. These are not pre-scripted events, nor branching

to is what kind of character you want to play and just what kind of conscience you have.

What makes Deus Ex truly majestic is the fact that your choices affect the narrative, the people and the world around you. Like a butterfly effect, actions you may or may not have taken will elicit emotional responses from other characters accordingly. They can be incredibly minor, such as being yelled at for peeking into the women’s restroom; or overbearing plot-arcs that determine the fate of those you trust (if indeed they can be trusted!).

There is a wealth of reading material littered about the game world that provides valuable and informative

“There is so much conspiring that even your office snack machine is the subject of an investigation” paths where you must choose from A, B or C. These are the ways entire levels are designed. The game’s introductory mission upon Liberty Island is a perfect example.

There are no less than five ways to gain access to your first objective.

Your choices are not limited to gameplay, but extend into the game’s narrative. Do you show mercy to your enemies in order to gleam valuable information, or cap them to put an end to the bullshit? Do you leave an important official to interrogate your prisoners, or silently observe the massacre?

Do you kill a terrorist leader in cold blood who knows the truth about your past, or your sadistic partner who is ordering the murder?

Do you fight to save your brother’s life, or flee to save your own?

The story of Deus Ex is packed with difficult moral choices. It is impossible to see them in black and white, as there is no real right or wrong. All it comes down

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insights into the state of affairs, other characters and even yourself.

Nearly every computer in the game can be hacked, and personal email correspondence between characters can be discovered.

These characters have lives, relationships and dynamics between one another that creates an incredible level of immersion.

Stumbling upon your pilot Jock’s apartment in Hong Kong is a great example of superfluous story that also supplements the narrative and gives a greater insight into a minor yet important individual.

More than anything, the game’s plot is thrilling, keeping the player at the forefront of events as they unfold.

The story twists and turns as you detective your way through, stakes constantly rising as the apocalypse approaches, upon which you decide the ultimate fate of the world.

Cyberpunk epic at its best.

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