20) Deus Ex
Developer: Ion Storm
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Year Released: 2000

Synopsis: Ion Storm's first-person RPG gave the player power. Not just in the form of deadly weaponry, which was certainly present, but also over the game itself. In each expansive level multiple routes to the end were available. With hacking skills you could take control of security bots to wipe out enemy patrols, or if concentrated more on raw firepower, you could blast your way to the end instead. With an intriguing science fiction storyline, vivid characters, plenty of ways to augment your character skills and armaments, and some really great level design, this game was as entertaining as it was thought-provoking. Ultimately, Deus Ex stands out for accommodating player desires for complex ways to control their gameplay experiences, instead of being forced along a linear path. An unforgettable experience.


19) Warcraft 2: The Tides of Darkness
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Year Released: 1995

Synopsis: There are a few iconic genre games that are hard to pass over when it comes to a top 25 list. We had to pass some of them over this time around in the hopes of adding newer, sleeker models, but we had too much trouble passing some of them up. One we couldn't overlook was Warcraft II. Not only did it really begin the move to multiplayer over the Internet, but really helped drive the RTS genre home as not only viable, but hugely successful. Besides that, playing Warcraft II today is still pretty enjoyable thanks to stylized cartoon graphics and wonderful, if simple by today's standards, sound. While a bit goofier than your average RTS, the world is still vibrant and units well realized. Who knew that a war between Orcs and Humans, a war that had raged through countless pieces of fiction, would spawn into a gazillion dollar franchise in a completely different genre series. There are so many good memories with this game that all three of us PC editors insisted it be somewhere on the list.


18) Call of Duty
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision
Year Released: 2003

Synopsis: World War 2 shooters had been done to death when Infinity Ward honed the genre to razor sharp perfection with Call of Duty. From the initial paratrooper drops in the hours before D-Day to the final struggle for Berlin, gamers were instantly transported to a world that was at once both thrillingly cinematic and eerily real. The game's realistic AI and squad based combat makes you feel more like part of an actual unit rather than a one-man killing machine. Add in some of the best sound design we've seen and Call of Duty is one of the most convincing and exciting simulations of FPS warfare we've ever seen. Better still, the game offers up a wide range of multiplayer battles that are still our first choice when it comes to online action.


17) World of Warcraft
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
Year Released: 2004

Synopsis: You'd have to have been living in a cave on Mars for the last five years not to know about Blizzard's World of Warcraft. The company, widely known as the creators of one of the industry's leading RTS franchises proved that it could crush the competition just as easily in the world of online RPGs. The subscription numbers (and server queues) alone are more than enough evidence of the title's success but if you need further proof, you only have to consider the inviting design, stylish graphics and richly storied, quest filled game world to see why it's inclusion on our list of the best games ever is a foregone conclusion. While it doesn't eliminate the grinding and downtime that are part and parcel of the MMO experience, World of Warcraft hides them better than most games and also offers up enough rewards to keep us questing long after we should have gone to bed.


16) Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Developer: Bethesda Softworks
Publisher: 2K Games
Year Released: 2006

Synopsis: The Elder Scrolls series has always delivered something unique to players: choice. The games aren't MMOs, but basically the single player equivalent; open worlds where you can follow a main story, or get lost in a titanic amount of side quests and hidden content. Deciding which game in the prodigious series to squeeze onto our top 25 list was a heated subject, literally. Scalding coffee was being flung around for fifteen minutes straight during the meeting. "Arena forever!," "Morrowind is way more interesting than Cyrodiil!" they shouted. While they're all great games, the most recent entry, Oblivion, wound up taking the Elder Scrolls crown, since it brought along one feature the series had always lacked: accessibility. Though such a statement will likely cause the hardcore to shatter their teeth in frustration, such design and interface changes as Oblivion employed sliced up the unwieldy Elder Scrolls of the past into much more digestible chunks of RPG goodness. Hate on the auto-leveling all you want, Oblivion ranks in as the most important of the series, and among the titles most worthy of recognition in PC gaming.


15) Grim Fandango
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Year Released: 1998

Synopsis: It may be hard for the younger crowd to believe but there was a time when LucasArts was known as the industry's best adventure game developer. With a roster of superlative titles, the company had already cemented it's reputation in the annals of gaming. Then they went one step further with a game that many consider the greatest adventure game of all time. Grim Fandango succeeds on a number of levels. On the surface, there's a tremendous concept for the world that involves a Dia de los Muertos aesthetic and a bureaucratic take on the afterlife. These are merely backdrops however for a compelling story full of memorable characters and a series of challenging puzzles that are so well integrated into the plot that you almost forget that you're playing a game. Great music and genuinely funny humor round out the package nicely. Even if you don't normally like adventure games, you'll love this one.


14) Company of Heroes
Developer: Relic Studios
Publisher: THQ
Year Released: 2006

Synopsis: If there's a modern game that shows the potential for tactic heavy strategy titles, Relic's Company of Heroes is it. This is about as complete an RTS game as we've seen in history and will probably be the benchmark to which other new RTS titles are compared. There's very little wrong with the game at all. It provided a stunningly exciting and interesting campaign nearly the entire way through, offered a wealth of skirmish and multiplayer fun, and did so with two very unique sides where none of the units ever become obsolete on the battlefield. Add masterful production values, sound composition, and brilliant visual effects and you've got one hell of an entertainment piece. While a lot of the ideas in Company of Heroes have been taken from other games, they've all been polished so bright and shiny that most strategy gamers will keep wanting more.


13) System Shock 2
Developer: Looking Glass/Irrational Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Year Released: 1999

Synopsis: Looking Glass and Irrational Games' System Shock 2 excelled in many ways, but perhaps the strongest was the genuinely frightening atmosphere and that pervaded throughout every polygon. Pitted against a seemingly ubiquitous Artificial Intelligence with a singularly haunting speaking voice, your character had to escape the clutches of monstrosities and altered crewmates aboard the space vessels Rickenbacker and Von Braun. The game, like many others on our list, emphasized player choice over strict, predetermined progress. A widely varied and upgradeable skill set, as well as a large range of weapons and tools were at the players' disposal. It was a game that demanded precision as well, where player decisions had noticeable and lasting repercussions, since items degraded quickly with use, ammunition was difficult to come across, and there were multiple ways of tackling nearly every obstacle. System Shock 2 wove together compelling storytelling, oppressive atmosphere, a wide range of abilities, and addictive first-person RPG gameplay to create an experience impossible to forget, and still remains one of the most cohesive, affective games out there.


12) Battlefield 1942
Developer: Digital Illusions CE
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Year Released: 2002

Synopsis: If true addiction has ever had a name in the offices of IGN, it's name was Battlefield 1942. No other game has inspired so many editors to give up their Friday nights in search of the perfect match in Stalingrad, Wake Island, or at the Battle of the Bulge. When you leave the office on Saturday morning and the sun is starting to come up, you know you have a good game on your hands. BF 1942 was that game. It was the perfect blend of action and strategy across large maps filled to the brim with different types of vehicles and weapons. There's huge amounts of fun to be had whether you're playing a serious match or just screwing around having jeep races between capture points. No, the game was not perfect, but it ushered in a new era of large team-based first-person shooters and showed how much fun the chaoticly comic nature of a video game battlefield could be.


11) Sid Meier's Pirates!
Developer: Microprose
Publisher: Microprose
Year Released: 1987

Synopsis: It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since we first played through Sid Meier's Pirates!. Standing as one of the singularly most innovative and all-encompassing game experiences, the original Pirates! maintained it's position as one of the most beloved games of all time. Fortunately, an exciting remake a few years ago introduced a whole new generation to the joys of virtual swashbuckling. Players choose whether to serve a European nation or whether to engage in a life of piracy and have to build their fortunes amid the turbulent waters of the Caribbean during the 17th and 18th centuries. Engaging in ship-to-ship combat and boarding actions, dueling with a whole cast of villains, trading goods and recruiting sailors at exotic ports, seeking out lost treasures and rescuing your kidnapped family members, romancing governors' daughters, this game really has it all.