It had to be done. Let's get it out of the way quickly.

So, what do you think is the best game EVER? Not greatest, not favorite. BEST.

What constitutes "best"? I think it's a combination of innovation, influence/impact, critical acclaim and... just pure fun.

Personally, I think Deus Ex by Ion Storm is the most genius piece of creativity ever devised by mankind. I sincerely think a game has never been done more perfect and flawlessly (excluding the AI... I guess), than Deus Ex.

Plus, the music was freaking awesome.

Now, what's yours?

Super Mario Galaxy.

A bit unproductive, really. Deciding upon a criterion for "best" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. It varies depending on a whole bunch of factors.

The best game for kids? Probably a LEGO title. The best game for RPG fans who like conspiracy theories? Deus Ex? The best game for the murderously insane? You get the picture.

While Deus Ex is a spellbinding title, probably still in my top five favourites, I'd say you could do to look around a bit more for the most ingenious piece of creativity designed by mankind :-|

Uhh... thanks.

Zelda: Orcarina of Time for sure! It was innovative, beautiful, big and it did almost everything perfect!

If we talk about influence games like Tetris, Pong and GTA III come up in my mind. GTA III was the first 3D GTA, Tetris is a very old game and still everyone plays it and talks about it and the same goes for Pong.

Man, this one is too hard. I already had brain freeze from my B&J's Fossil Fuel. Everytime someone askes me what the best game is, I can't answer it. I do know it's NOT Kane & Lynch!

Best game ever for me, has to be Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Just for the sheer experience it put me through.
At the time it was mind blowing, and I just wanted everyone to experience playing it.

The funny thing is though, if I had a bunch of friends round, I wouldn't get out a serious cinematic RPG like Panzer Dragoon Saga though. A multiplayer game of Bomberman would go down much better. And whilst PDS was a mindblowing experience, making it the first game to spring to mind when asked what the best game ever is, I don't think it was the most *fun* I've ever had with a game. So I think some games are more fun. But as an experience...!? As an experience...playing through Panzer Dragoon Saga has probably been one of the most incredible I've had through gaming.

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....[to be continued...]....

P.S. Never played Deus Ex, but a reviewer, Will Jenkins, gave it the highest award we had in United Games at the time, and we had a team debate about why it deserved such an accolade, so am hearing the original poster's point there.

I love how everyone chose a different game haha.

Trog

You should really get on playing it.

No-one is going to agree on a best game ever. Unless you go by popular vote where I imagine FF7 will win.

I love lots of games for different reasons, Metal Gear for the immersion, Tomb Radier for... Tomb raiding, Zoo Keeper for my spare 5-10 minutes, Age of Conan for teaming up with people and killing things, Gran Turismo for driving cars. I couldn't decide on a best game ever.

The biggest problem with trying to decide on a best game is because the field has transformed so much in the past twenty years alone. The NES itself change a lot of the approach of creating a game. The developers went from being one or two guys to a dozen, and later to fifty, to one-hundred and onward. We're now at a point where it takes longer for the credits of a game to complete than the credits of a film. Design has changed, the abilities have changed, the audiences have changed, everything has constantly changed. To try and rank a best is near impossible.

You'd have to wait until video games become more consistent. If you look at films since the time of Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock, not much has changed aside from special effects. Otherwise, there is a lot of work certain directors put into each shot, and then other directors that only put what is needed for the script to go. A film from the 40's can stand toe-to-toe with a film from today, special effects or none.

That said, Final Fantasy Tactics would be my bet in the end. The gameplay is so good that I can't really enjoy most tactical RPG's that similarly mimic the original Tactics Ogre. There is customization to each character, multiple-ways to go about each battle, and so many small stats and details to keep in mind that planning a move in that game is like Chess on crack cocaine. Whenever my friends and I talk about FFTactics it's like we're old veterans discussing old war stories, with similar but vastly different experiences at the same battlefields. In addition, the story is incredibly deep and compares to a lot of classical literature. You could have a college course on that game's story it's just so deep and good. It goes far beyond what most games can even manage.

Keep in mind that I'm not much of a fan of Square-Enix anymore, so this isn't coming from the mouth of a fanboy. I don't hate them, either. But no matter what you believe of their quality then and now, FFTactics is really the best work they've ever done, and definitely one of the top games of all time.

Ocarina of Time for sure.

That said, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon on the N64 was a brilliant game, not the best, but easily one of my favourites.

Metal Gear Solid without a doubt.

I got meself a follower, huuray!

Just so I'm contributing more than venom to this discussion, some games I feel worthy of a mention in this sort of thing.

DEUS EX - For being totally, ludicrously ahead of everything else in terms of ambition; for creating a self-consistent universe and ruleset that allowed people to involve themselves and feel immersed, without resorting to total realism; for understanding how games work, how that's unique to this medium, and capitalising on that. Also for being ultra-cool.

OCARINA OF TIME - For being still probably the most finely crafted, balanced, well-paced "traditional" videogame in the world.

VAMPIRE: BLOODLINES - For having the finest script, characters and general storytelling in any game, ever, bar none. Yes, even Planescape, before someone chips in with that. Also for creating a world where your role-playing actually has a tangible effect, instead of just number-juggling.

PATHOLOGIC - For being so broken, fucked up, totally wrong, stupid, boring and ugly, yet still managing to fascinate me at every turn for months.

BIOSHOCK - For its bloody good go at social commentary; and for Rapture, the finest videogame world I've ever explored.

GRAND THEFT AUTO III - The game that mattered to the mainstream, in so many ways.  The first time I felt my hobby was being taken seriously by the public, even if it was generally negative feedback.  Also, for just being utterly stunning in every conceivable way.

HALF-LIFE - For cementing the first-person shooter as a storytelling medium; for showing how to create a tight, linear set of levels that felt like a real place.  Actually, Black Mesa is better than Rapture. But only BioShock's come close.

ICO - For nearly making me cry.

I'm gonna have to say Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time as well. It was just so innovative.

Neverwinter Nights. I find no flaws within it. >:(

If I had to take one game to desert island I would pick Advance Wars: Dark Conflict

Choice is maybe a little bit influenced by the fact I play it nowadays during commuting and it's very replayable...

Best game ever? Darts. But you need one of the special, wall-mounted, consoles. And a set of dart's answer to the wii-mote 'arras'...

If I really need to choose a single game as best-ever, let me know... but http://bit.ly/a9VIen will do as my explanation of best games ever in the meantime.

Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars.

Like it' s predecessor, it made me think about video game media as something more than pure fun. And was better than The Smoking Mirror.

Adventure game Teen Agent - first adventure game what I played and thats reason why I love classic adventure games :)

Monkey Island 1 & 2
Sensible World of Soccer 96/97
Total Annihilation

Elite :)

I've launched a brand new aggregator to find the most innovative games and the greatest innovations in video gaming here at http://videogamecanon.com ... Not sure what the best video game is but I'd throw SimCity and GTA in the mix.

Hands down I would place my vote for Ocarina of Time, but right now FF13 has captivated me and I can't seem to put the controller down until I have beaten it, if the ending satisfies me I will consider putting it on my top 5.

Top 5

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Final Fantasy 10
Super Mario World
GT3 (Didn't buy 4, waiting for 5)
Kingdom Hearts (No I am not a pussy, it was the Square Enix aspect that put it here!)

Metal Gear Solid

While I'm not saying its the best game, I wholeheartedly second this as fantastic fun, ESPECIALLY amongst friends.  Add in a little inebriation, remove a little inhibition, and this easily becomes the best party game ever.  Just the depth and breadth of the competitive shit-talking that ensues is enough to cause rip-roaring laughter.  And lemme tell ya from personal experience, it gets way more fun once you mix in some competitive wagering as well.

As for the best game ever, thats easy . . . Duke Nukem Forever! 

Duke Nukem Forever? Really?

Woo! ^_^ Bomberman love, =).

=P I've 10 Saturn controllers sitting idly in a box downstairs, with a couple of multitaps. ^_^ Need to take this to an event or something, and get 10 player bomberman happening, ^_^.

Lol @ Duke Nukem. ^_^

Yeah, and if you don't like that then I might have to deny you review units in the future!  Lolz

You hear that people?  PARTAY at Andrew's flat!!!

BTW, not saying that the DNF is the worst game ever.  That honor belongs to an old PC title called Postal 2.  But DNF could easily give Postal 2 a good run for it's money, and that's quite an "achievement" there.