10/10 games

[Fishin]

After creating a backloggery I've found that I've played about 160 games over around 15 years, but there are only a couple I've liked enough to give a 10/10 to. I'm curious, what games would you describe as "perfect"?


Final Fantasy VI:
Some people prefer Chrono Trigger (also great) but this is pretty easily my favorite classic RPG. Everything is done great; story, characters, music, and most of all gameplay.

Donkey Kong Country 2:
Forget Mario, this is the best platformer out there. It looked amazing for a SNES game, the music was fantastic, and the gameplay was rock solid. There were also a ton of secrets to find with more difficult unlockable levels (and the ability to finally stick it to Cranky) as a reward.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past:
I'm of the opinion that the 2D Zelda games are a lot better than the 3D and this one's the best of the bunch. The dungeons are a blast, the world is filled with tons of secrets, the music is a bit repetitive but good, and the two worlds mechanic is executed excellently.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence:
Perfect stealth gameplay, great environments, fantastic story, and graphics that push the PS2 to its limits. The only real gripes I had were the somewhat clunky cure/camo screens. MGS4 is also amazing and would definitely be here if it just had more gameplay.

Persona 4:
A different type of RPG, you're a high school student who's just moved to a rural country town where mysterious murders are happening. There's traditional RPG gameplay in the form of exploring an alternate world inside of a TV screen (which ties in to the murders) with an awesome monster fusion system but the other half of the game involves simply living your life and developing relationships with your party members and the other residents of the town. This ties in with the aforementioned fusions as getting to know different people powers up your Personas and is required to unlock some of the best ones. The story and characters are great with the one flaw being that the plot moves rather slowly, which isn't surprising once you realize that the game takes probably a good 70 hours to beat.

Demon's Souls:
Put simply, this has probably the best gameplay in any action RPG. You pick from a bunch of classes, and then you're set free to develop your character as you please and explore the 5 different worlds in whatever order you want. The story involves a kingdom that's been overrun by demons where you're the only one left who can stop them and is pretty simple overall. The atmosphere is extremely bleak and you only encounter a handful of sane humans, some of whom will still happily stab you in the back. Then there's the difficulty, which while high by today's standards, is also very fair. The game does punish you for dying beyond just the standard "revive at the last checkpoint" by leaving your accumulated souls (which function as both money and experience points) at your point of death, but that's about it.

HMs: too many to list

 

[CaptKirby]

I like games that are more like "charming", so Super Mario RPG/Chrono Cross/Earthbound are probably going to be my top three for a long time. Perfect dialogue, great art styles (Chrono Cross is actually really the worst on this, makes up for it with more substance), at least one or more amazingly fun/funny characters...SMRPG is weird in that it is probably objectively the weakest in terms of substance, and the playthrough is way, way too easy, but how many games have had a personality like that? Games like Donkey Kong Country 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3 are obviously near perfection, but do not quite match the level of personality the other games do even if they come 90% or 95% of the way.

 

[Iamslow]

Timesplitters 2 was my favorite game for years because they gave you so damn much to do with a nice array of weapons in lots of different modes. It was a first person shooter that offered way more than your typical shooter of the time did. Aside from it's story mode, there were dozens of these "Arcade League" levels which were often piss easy but sometimes a goddamn nightmare to complete especially if you were trying to get earn gold trophies. Additionally, there was a challenge mode which was often even harder. There was also a Mapmaker mode (though primitive) that I spent hours messing around with.

So yeah I'd give it a 10/10, especially for being just the right amounts of difficult and fun to keep me interested.

I also thought Link to the Past was fantastic. It was one of the first games I ever played and inspired my interest in the Zelda series. In fact when I was little I remember drawing a laughably bad mural for art class of all the dark world monsters standing around the Great Pyramid with Link like they were posing for a photo or something. XD

Resident Evil 4 was also hella boss, I must have played through it like 6 times. I loved Mercenary mode and got 5 stars on all the stages with all the characters but I never got around to using the Hand Cannon.

 

[Vineon]

Mega Man Powered Up. Nothing was more satisfying to me in years of gaming than picking up that game and playing the very first megaman as each one of the old Robot Masters.

Too bad I'm the only one that really loved this game, it didn't sell much.

(and agreeing with FF6)

 

[vonFiedler]

I think "perfect" is a very nitpicky standard for 10/10 or 5/5, but I can name a few games without flaws (not necessarily the best games ever made).

Devil May Cry
I always preferred this game over DMC3 because everything about the design is so tight. DMC3 is like a stuffed suitcase with so many goodies that don't all work right. In this game, you had two Devil Arms and they both had their uses and none of their upgrades were wasted. The combo system was very technical and every move had a time to be used against certain enemies, and I miss the parrying oriented gameplay. Some enemies really made you think about how to beat them, and I loved how you really got to know each boss and grow in power with them. The challenges made you better at the game, and every collection item was well placed. The escalating mood of the game was just brilliant, especially if you played it at night. I love the castle getting exponentially more nightmarish as the game goes on.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
There have been better platformers since (read below), but none that you could always pick up and play and have fun with as if it was your first time again. Physics never felt so right as they did in this game, which is why Sonic 4 was so shit. The side-scrolling level design here is just unparalleled.

Shadow of the Colossus
I don't think a more immersive game exists. In Shadow of the Colossus, you are the character. You can feel your grip failing as you cling to gigantic monsters; you have sensations of weight, momentum, and exhaustion like you don't get in other video games. Shadow of the Colossus is perfect because from start to finish you never realize you are playing a video game.

Chrono Trigger
I am one of said people who prefer Chrono Trigger. It just seemed to me like everytime I had a given a boss all that I had and was about to lose, I would strike the final blow and win. I've never played an RPG that felt so balanced, not even close.

Ape Escape
More perfect collection, here's another game with nothing wasted. Other platform games only dream of having the class and level design of this game; especially later Ape Escape games. You will never have so much fun completing a game 100%, even multiple times. In fact if I replay any other platform game I'll be like "meh, I've gotten every game before, why put myself through it again?", but with Ape Escape it's not even a question of completion. It's just that much fun to catch every monkey.

 

[Hipmonlee]

I dont play much, but the games that have come to my mind so far are:

Cave Story - the perfect platformer. It's just flawless, I am trying to think of things to say about this game, but the fact is everything is perfect. I could pick any aspect of the game at all and rave about it.

Mother 3 - Again, I am finding it difficult to say something good about it, because everything is just so good. Hilarious, and as much fun as any game will ever be.

Torment - a D&D based RPG, that, it's really like, the story is basically every fantasy rpg cliche, while at the same time being nothing at all like any other fantasy rpg, and incredibly compelling. What I am trying to say, is if I explained the plot of this game to you, you would say "this is retarded" but when you actually play it, everything about it just grabs you. Or grabbed me at least. I find it hard to play games like dragonage, because torment has completely blown my expectations to an impossible level.

Have a nice day.

 

[Aerodactyl Legend]

In no particular order.

Fire Emblem 7 - My number one game of all time. Enough said.

Paper Mario - Man, the second one was...alright, didn't touch the third one (real time, c'mon...). The first PM was easily the best and was a great way for the N64 to close off. Story's involved (not cringing, like later games), the music was some of the best I've ever heard, and you also get the best partners ever.

Mario Kart 64 - The definitive MK game. Time tested gameplay, memorable courses (which the later games lack), and a simple-but-tough learning curve to truly master. Despite the simplicity of kart racing mixed with items, the racing here is quite complex and strategic. And Battle Mode in this game is the best too. Forget the Wii game (which sucks ass). This is way better to play with other people. It's honestly completely superior in my opinion.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - I'm sinking hours and hours into this game (still) with aIW on PC and don't see myself stopping until MW3 is released.

Chrono Trigger - What to add here...? Unlike other similar RPG's, the quests you do within the bulk of the game are actually relevent to the story.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - So much to see, so much to do, so many people to kill, haha.

 

[Lord Jesseus]

So much agreement on Donkey Kong Country 2. Chrono Trigger I am also quite a fan of.

I think though my favourite game ever would have to be Jak II. So many things I love about it. It's pretty hard too I found, at least the first playthrough or two but admittedly that was years ago...

 

[FlareBlitz]

Metroid Prime
To really appreciate why this game is a 10/10, you have to know the background. An unknown, unproven studio translating an almost universally loved 2D classic into 3D, in the wake of catastrophic attempts to do so with other franchises. Playing the game for the first time on the Gamecube was filled with equal parts excitement and trepidation, but within 30 minutes (specifically, when you first land on the brilliant rain-soaked planet the game is set on) you know you have a masterpiece on your hands.
It says a lot that the game has literally not aged at all in the years since it was released. If you own a Wii, for gods sakes go pick up the Metroid Prime Trilogy and appreciate it for yourself.

Knights of the Old Republic
If I had to name a single game that turned me from "guy who plays games sometimes" to "an actual, honest-to-goodness gamer", it would be this. I had never played anything like this before, ever, and it turned gaming from a hobby into a full-on passion for me. The game was "cinematic" in the old way (evocative and immersive) as opposed to the new way (full of linear setpieces and quick time events). The plot is sublime, with a completely organic and brilliant twist that took me entirely by surprise. The characters are some of the most memorable ever created in a videogame, and even now I can recall the debates on love with Jolee and the flirtatious teasing with Ballista. I just..I can't say enough good things about this game. In my mind, it is still the pinnacle of storytelling in video games, perhaps matched only by its equally brilliant (if structurally flawed) sequel.
And now you know the reason why every announcement about The Old Republic breaks my heart a little...

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II
Full disclosure if you hadn't already figured it out: I'm a huge star wars nerd and I think the Gamecube was one of the best consoles ever, and this game exemplifies the reason for both of those opinions. Now, the first Rogue Squadron was really great too, but Rogue Squadron II was just on a wholly different level. The graphics were jawdropping (this is another game that has barely aged), the enemy AI was better, the levels themselves were much grander, and the production values in general elevated the experience from "excellent" to "grandiose". I believe that games are most relevantly judged by their ability to immerse you fully into a fleshed out world, and by this standard, Rogue Squadron II is a hard 10. You absolutely felt like a pilot rushing headfirst into impossible odds - the mission where you take on a star destroyer, for example, demonstrates the sheer folly of your decision by immediately greeting your ship with a massive volley of turbolaser fire, and one of the missions has you dodging asteroids while piloting the most clumsy spacecraft in the entirety of science fiction.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
You know those reasons everyone gives when asked why they love Ocarina of Time? All of those apply to Majora's Mask, and in addition, you have a much more thematically mature story, more balanced dungeons, a really neat time traveling mechanic that somewhat reminded me of Chrono Trigger (another one of my favorites that others have already covered). Criminally underrated in comparison to Ocarina of Time, almost as much as Wind Waker, although both are getting the recognition they deserve these days.

Wow that was way more than I expected to write...

 

[Minwu]

Mother 3 - Awesome story. Really took barely any grinding; once you got the more important PSIs the stat gains from leveling were negligible, combat just took brains(or perfect combos lol) no matter how you went about it.

Quake Live - SO much funner than any of those HD console/multiplatform shooters. Pretty much all guns are perfectly accurate -- no frustration with spread. Hitscan, splash, and shotgun weapons are all that exist. The firing rates are out the wazoo. And guess what? It's balanced.

Team Fortress 2 - It's honestly just team quake. Wider variety of weapons, 9 classes, and a chill pace. The only way I could really enjoy it more is if I got a better rig.


edit: MAJORA'S MASK

 

[DrCrashMD]

I agree Vineon, Powered Up was great!

I just wish the sales were good enough to constitute making Powered Up 2... I want to play MM2 as Crash Man, dammit!

Maybe if the stars align we'll see PU2 on the Vita? :o

 

[Trax]

Warcraft 2
Graphics are amazing for the era, music is better than any game I've played, the voice acting was amazing (especially considering it was all in house without paid voice actors - all the voice acting was done by the developers, artists and managers at Blizzard), and the online play was pretty incredible with a lot of subtle intricacies and traps you could use to beat someone who was better in terms of purely building units and a base. Add onto this a fantastic campaign mode (over 30 levels) and generally awesome game play and to me this is the best RTS I've played and the best game Blizzard created by a very wide margin.


Fire Emblem AKA Fire Emblem Rekka no Ken​, Fire Emblem 7
This game was my second experience with the Turn Based Tactics genre having played Final Fantasy Tactics, and honestly I was blown away; the gameplay is simple yet complex and has a number of things you completely miss on your first few times playing the game - the characters are fairly interesting and the plot was pretty great (especially how more stuff is revealed on Hard Mode and in Hectors story) which helped keep me playing to see what happened.

 

[Steelicks]

ah, the much sought after perfect game... here are games that i consider to be perfect or, if not that, then very damn close:

Shadow of the Colossus: practically anyone who has played this would agree its just perfect. i hate myself for not having a working ps2 or ps3 to play this on

Fallout: this whole series is RPG perfection but if i had to choose just one title, i would go with the 1997 original. a game with an actual moral choice system that should be experienced by any RPG fan

Mother 3 (followed closely by Earthbound): hilariously funny RPG's that are both totally unique. Mother 3 is heartwarming at times while Earthbound is just completely off the wall. an acquired taste, this series

Donkey Kong Country 2: platforming at its finest. the soundtrack alone almost makes it a perfect game

Super Mario RPG: charming, funny, and the perfect length. almost limitless replay value for me

honorable mentions include Zelda: Link to the Past, Half Life 2, Megaman 2, Chrono Trigger and Bioshock 2

 

[Charro]

Meh ok some of my favorites have been mentioned, but i will like to point this :U

Golden Sun 1 & 2: I was stunned the first time that I played this thing on my GBA, the graphics were awesome, the story was awesome, everything just felt awesome about Golden Sun, it's one of those games that pop out of nowhere and you say "meh ok, I'm gonna give it a try" and before you even notice you're collecting djinns and fighting badass bosses, may not be the best RPG ever, but it is, still perfect

 

[Firesong]

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess.
couldn't decide which i like most. they're all flawless in my opinion.

Resident Evil 4.
this is the only game i can remember completing, then straightaway playing through again on a harder difficulty, and again on the next hardest difficulty. i came very close to completing it a 4th time on the hardest difficulty but i stopped. it's pretty rare (if i've actually ever done it at all) for me to complete a game and want to play it through again right away, normally it's quite a while before my second playthrough of a game. i don't even know why it's so good, it just is.

honourable mentions: tales of symphonia, the world ends with you, paper mario 2 (the only thing holding it back is probably it's dumb name and flurrie), super smash bros melee (brawl won't work on my wii :( ) and bioshock. i'm also quite partial to a bit of fire emblem.

 

[popemobile]

Here are a few that I would definitely give 10/10:

Warcraft 3 RoC/TFT - Single player was solid, but I'd give it a 10/10 simply because of the hours and hours upon hours that I spent on battle.net with this. And no DOTA either because that game was boring. I don't think there's a single game that even comes close to the amount of time that I spent on this one. Probably the only ones that do are Guitar Hero 1/2 lol. With that said...

Guitar Hero 1/2 - Another couple of games that I spent a TON of time on. I got pretty goddamn good at them too, even to the point of playing competitively (at least online).

Spyro: Year of the Dragon - Game has too much charm and is just too much goddamn fun. The first three Spyro games are some of my favorites ever and this is definitely the best of those three for me.

The Legend of Dragoon - Most people would probably disagree with me on this one, and I wouldn't be surprised either. Can't deny that this is my favorite RPG ever, though. Not that I've played all that many but still, I love this game.

Resident Evil 4 - Phenomenal game. Also about as tense a game as I can tolerate (I'm a wuss when it comes to horror games), so bonus points for finding the perfect balance between action and horror, at least for me.

Others that I'd give 10/10 but don't feel like writing up anything about:
Uncharted 2
Jak II
Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal (probably a few more from this series, too)
Metal Gear Solid 3
Call of Duty: World at War (ZOMBIES, MOTHERFUCKER)
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
probably a handful of others that I'm forgetting

 

[MK Ultra]

Fallout 3 - already been named but probably the best game ever. I can think of almost nothing to fault.

 

[Zeromus EG]

Metroid Prime

Knights of the Old Republic

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II

+ 10000000

Completely agree with everything you say here. Metroid Prime was an absolute masterpiece, Retro Studios were a complete unknown who managed to solidify themselves as a brilliant game developer with this game. They took a huge risk going from 2D side-scrolling to a 3D FPS with Metroid Prime, and it paid off tenfold. The music, graphics, enemies... Everything about this game had me in awe at the time and still does even now.

KOTOR was also a brilliant game, bringing together the Star Wars that everyone knows and loves and adding it to a great RPG engine. Between the character development, witty humour and great storyline I was absolutely hooked. I don't want to imagine how many hours I've played on this game...

Rogue Squadron 2 was the game I bought with my Gamecube on release day, and I don't regret it. Again, the graphics were great, doing some great work with what many viewed as an inferior console at the time. Everyone knows Star Wars, so getting a chance to fly around at the battles through the films was great and the developers managed to do it without it looking like some lame movie tie in.


I'll also add Metroid Fusion to the list. This game blew my mind. Probably the best GBA game I ever bought. Brilliant storyline, they managed to add a new edge to the Metroid universe without making it cheesy or shit. Between the lack of Metroids (for the most part of the game), the unfamiliar setting and the ever present SA-X, you truly felt like you had no idea what was going on and were alone. Nothing was more scary than entering a room to hear nothing but silence, before you hear a door open and the slow footsteps of the SA-X coming to kill you... I got such a rush from this game and it easily gets 10/10 in my book.

 

[BIG loven]

Resident Evil 4- one of my favorite games of all times. There was a good simple story with shit loads of variety in enemy's, weapons, puzzles. Plus it was pretty challenging and suspenseful (at times)

 

[latinoheat]

Another vote for Resident Evil 4 probably the best single player game i have ever played.

Most the recent(ish) games i have played have been disappointing, but i thought Batman:Arkham Asylum was excellent in pretty much every department, i am not even close to a Batman or comic book fan but i thought this was brilliant and by far the best game i have played this gen.

Tony Hawks 3 is a fantastic game and for the time it was released i cannot think of anything that could improve it.

Timesplitters 2 was mentioned its a great game, that doesn't get enough love.

 

[akuchi]

SWIV, Pirates! Gold, Beneath a Steel Sky, Mario Golf, PGA Tiger Woods 2012.

SWIV is the king of shootemups - simple, fiendishly difficult, glorious fun
Pirates - hours sunk into this beyond belief. I used to be able to identify anywhere in the game through the smallest fragment of map :(
BASS - awesome story, art by Dave Gibbons, cyberpunk postapoc-cy dystopia, what's not to love?
Mario Golf is one of the best multiplayer games ever; Tiger Woods is just a graphical improvement on that as far as I'm concerned (though obviously it's a totally different game).

 

[More Cowbell]

I'm a 'new' gamer, and most games I have played/finished have come out in the past 10 years. There's still some good stuff out there too -

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Probably the best game I've ever played. The combat is great, the story is great, the atmosphere is great, the looks are great... There is pretty much nothing about this game that isn't great.

Super Mario Sunshine: Yup. Sunshine used to be my favourite game when I was a kid, and it still is one of my favourites. I don't get why people call this one of the worst Super Mario-entries. The ever-present ''collect 120 stars''-formula is there, but the game looked fresh, and locations and bosses (yeah Petey Piranha) were great fun.

Pokémon Diamond: The first Pokémon-game I seriously played. The formula of collecting hundreds of monsters just works fantastic, and I just liked the general look and appeal of the game. Over 200 hours have gone into this game, and I loved every single one of it.


I think the first two of these might just be my favourite games ever. There are many games in many different categories that I enjoy, but these two take the crown. Pokémon Diamond I enjoyed and deserves its 10/10, but Twilight Princess and Sunshine just sit on that 11/10 level for me.

I also feel quite bad for never beating Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Chrono Trigger. I started on Chrono Trigger, but never found the time to finish. I have OoT and MM on my Wii (Virtual Console or whatever), but never really played them either. I have some work to do during summer holidays, so it seems.

 

[DM]

I agree with tons already listed (Chrono Trigger/DKC2/OoT/etc.), but I'm taking mine in a different direction and naming Silent Hill 2. The soundtrack is the best in the entire series, eerie and haunting and fitting perfectly to each scene. The storyline has thus far (in the 10 years and numerous SH games since) been unmatched in its intensity and complexity, and I still get shivers during many parts (Angela on the stairs, James in the hotel room, face to face with the two Pyramid Heads). Just an utterly perfect game from start to finish.

 

[kc4444]

I'd like to say that with smartphones, short fun games are becoming more popular. This point is also proved by XBox arcade etc. So, my 10/10 games are predominantly smartphone games, simply because I have an Iphone, and I'm too lazy to be committed to finish a game (bar Pokemon, which I cbs beating Elite 4 again)
Three 10/10 games are

Tilt To Live

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This game fully uses the Iphone's tilt sensors. Its simple, unique and addictive, something which these games have to be. The premise is simple, kill all the red dots and don't die. Its achievement system is a reason to get the game, with references to pop culture, and makes a mockery of itself. More achievements, means you get access to better weapons, such as the Black Hole and Lightning. The loading screen is a bit of fun, telling me that I would look stupid playing this game in public (true). It has five game modes+ one co-op mode which doesnt work for me because I'm with a dodgy phone network. Defs worth getting, 0.99 USD I think.

Bloons Tower Defense 4

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One of the best Tower Defense games ever. Its free on the computer, but I play the iphone version cos its portable (DERP!). And its got more levels. If you havnt played it, you should. Its rather cute, and really hectic. If you're computer/smartphone is older, its gonna lag when you take on the air balloons. The graphics makes it look childish, but it becomes frustratingly difficult, and it has a lot of variety, without becoming utterly cluttered. BTD 5 is coming out later this year, so I'm defs buying that.

Pokemon White

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jks ... seriously.
This is never gonna 10/10. Its good, but its full of flaws. Usually third installation is better.
Number 3 of my 10/10 is
Angry Birds
I'm talking about smartphone games. This is the pinnacle. Pioneered the gaming industry, especially for Iphones, much like Mario did for consoles, Pong did for games, and Zelda for in-game maps. But it is frustrating, I'm done a level over 50 times for the three stars. I've given up. These birds are the beasts. And the Mighty Eagle is more OP than Speed Boost Blaziken. Plus, I love the theme tune.

This is merely opinion

 

[ivar]

Final Fantasy IX--the most criminally underrated of the series. An actually charming, eclectic group of characters (instead of the recent melodramatic ones), with brilliant pacing and lots of neat collectibles (chocobo hot and cold anyone?, coins, stealing). Battling was a little slow, but other than that this is my fav of the series (and I've played all but 3, 11 and 14, two of which are online versions).

Majora's Mask--hauntingly brilliant world, masks were awesome, chock full of side quests. Also, moderately difficult as well, which is refreshing from a 3d zelda game.

Braid--though not amongst my favourite games, it is perfect in terms of what it sets out to do. Provides clever puzzles that give immense satisfaction at completion, insane hidden goody in terms of the stars and that ending... if you've played this game you know exactly what i'm talking about.

Deus Ex--mature and interesting storyline with branching paths, so many ways to complete a level it borders on ridiculous(ly awesome).

Lots of games I really like but I'm too lazy to mention them all.