Top 10 PC Games of All Time

I'm a pc game addict. I've always been. I love pc games. I've been playing games on my or somebody else's pc for 19 years now, although I'm only 23. I'm a human being, thus I have preferences and a unique taste. Yet I think many of you will enjoy reading this list of the top 10 pc games ever made. I'll give a very short description on all of the games, and add my own thoughts to show you why I like that game and why did it make the top ten.

Please note that I took several things into consideration when I constructed this list. These factors are: emotional bonds, replay value, impact on pc gaming, gameplay experience, popularity and atmosphere. Two games are on the list simply because of their extreme popularity. They aren't my personal favorites, but they are games that must be on a top 10 pc games list. Also note that most of these games are more than 5 years old. This is due to the fact that I don't have a very fast PC, so I can't play the newest games. And the other thing is, I hate the hype surrounding some new games. A game has to be memorable, replayable and enjoyable after several years to make it on to the top 10 pc games.

Without further introduction, here comes number 10:

Top 10 PC Games -
#10: Heroes of Might and Magic 3

Gender: Turn based strategy
World: Medieval fantasy
Pros: Beautiful and well detailed world, excellent music, complex yet very entertaining gameplay, many campaigns, exciting story, lots of units and strategies, very high replay value
Cons: Some imbalance issues, long multiplayer sessions

Let's start the list of top 10 pc games with an old favorite. My first PC-CD game was its predecessor HOMM2, which I still consider the most beautiful and magical game ever created. HOMM3 brought nothing but improvements, with almost twice as many units, a lot more campaigns and dozens of new strategies. It still has a huge fan base who actively play the game. Unfortunately the successors (especially HOMM4) changed the game mechanics in the wrong way.

Gender: Role-playing game
World: Post-apocalyptic
Pros: Huge world that can be roamed in freely, plenty of character development opportunities, very interesting storyline with a wide variety of role-playing choices, visual and language humor, unique atmosphere that makes you rethink your life
Cons: Thousands of bugs that make it almost impossible to finish the game in one run.

Fallout is a unique game in many ways. This game takes us into a world that brings up very depressing thoughts in most people. Sometimes the people, the situations are so realistic that they bring up strong emotions in the player. If you don't like tough decisions, this game is not for you. Nothing is black or white in Fallout. The only unquestionable thing about Fallout is its place among the top 10 pc games.

Gender: First person shooter
World: Sci-fi
Pros: Unique atmosphere, exciting and diverse gameplay, great storyline, terrific graphics and design, memorable scenes
Cons: Boring NPCs.

Half life 2 takes you into a world where aliens have enslaved humanity. As the only hope of our species, we have to fight through City 17 with weapons like .357 Magnum, MP7 or the two trademarks of Half Life universe: the crowbar and the gravity gun. Although there aren't many types of enemies in the game, all of them require different strategies to defeat. This game has currently the highest average review rating among pc games on www.gamerankings.com: 95.44%.

Gender: Third person shooter
World: Present day urban
Pros: Diverse and extremely long gameplay, large are where we can roam freely, funny characters and storyline, great music and sounds.
Cons: No real game ending, poor AI, poor graphics.

The favorite of 14 year-old kids, the nightmare of their mothers and the modern Antichrist in media. This game is full of violence, and the player can practically do anything he wants. Stealing cars, flying planes and helicopters, driving boats or simply robbing people with the help of a baseball bat - you can do all of these in GTA 3. The freedom is real, the atmosphere is familiar from gangster movies and hip-hop video clips. I think seventh place in the list of top 10 pc games is well deserved. Teenager boys love it.

Gender: The Sims (yeah, it's unique)
World: Present day, realistic (most of the time)
Pros: Thousands of items, hundreds of situations and dozens of lifestyle choices in one game. Girls love it.
Cons: Boys get bored with it pretty soon.

The Sims series is unique in many ways. It is the single most successful series in the history of video games. Tens of millions have bought this game worldwide. Sims 2 is probably the game with the most expansions ever made (8 expansions + 10 'stuff packs'). The game is about creating Sims (virtual people) and managing their lives: building their home, getting a job, eating, taking a shower, interacting with other sims, making love, having children, learning and practicing various skills and getting abducted by UFOs. Your Sim can be anything you ever wanted to be. If I constructed the top 10 pc games list based upon the number of sales, it would be first. Sixth place is not bad either.

Gender: Realtime strategy
World: Alternative present
Pros: Diverse and epic missions, exciting campaign, cool movies with real actors, terrific music by Frank Klepacki, awesome unit sounds.
Cons: Few strategies that actually work, poor AI.

In my opinion, the best part of the whole Command & Conquer series. The units, the story, the music, the sounds and the atmosphere of the game is the best in the series' history. Many missions are epic and memorable, just like the characters in the movies. Oh and that moment when the multiplayer starts and your room fills with the beats of the soundtrack Big foot... It gives me an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.

Gender: Hack & slash
World: Medieval fantasy
Pros: Infinite number of items, excellent game controls, exciting and diverse world, zillions of monsters to slay, many viable character development strategies.
Cons: Poor graphics (without the LoD expansion), repetitive gameplay (if you want to get the best items).

As the sequel of Diablo - the first game I played online - Diablo II takes us to brand new areas of the fantasy world called Sanctuary. Five playable characters (plus two in the expansion), balanced and unique skill tree, random generated items along with some uniques and item sets give you a million ways to kill hordes of monsters. This game is pure fun, very good for stress relief. The enemies' death sounds and animations are very satisfying. Almost made it to the top 3.

Gender: Turn-based strategy
World: Sci-fi
Pros: Complex, diverse gameplay, endless amount of strategies, best tech tree ever created, awesome battle animations and sounds, extremely high replay value
Cons: Looks ugly on a 22" LCD display.

This game is the best space-strategy ever created. It was released in 1996, and despite the fact that 13 years have passed since then, there are still people playing it online. You can create any space-faring race you can dream up and conquer the galaxy (this galaxy...) in many different ways: rushing, tech supremacy, diplomacy, flooding the enemy with ships or even mind control. Heck, you can also win by being elected the ruler of the universe! I know you love the sound of a stellar converter in the morning...

Gender: Role-playing game
World: Medieval fantasy
Pros: EPIC story, EPIC characters, EPIC spells, EPIC music, EPIC sounds, EPIC gameplay.
Cons: None, except a few rare bugs.

If I wasn't afraid of the millions of people who're still playing World of Warcraft, I would put Baldur's Gate 2 on top of my top 10 pc games list. This is the best game I've ever played. It's full of emotions, and playing this game is an experience you will never ever forget. This game gives you lifetime memories. If you are a man, you're gonna fall in love with Aerie. Period. Every scene in Baldur's Gate 2 humbles the best directors and scriptwriters in Hollywood, not to mention the music of Jeremy Soule. If you decide to play the whole game, expect to go through all the emotions a human being can feel in his lifetime. The characters? Each and all of them deserve a whole novel series. There are hundreds of stories in this game, told and untold. To make my point and describe my number one pc game in one word: EPIC.

Gender: Action Role-playing game
World: Medieval fantasy
Pros: Huge world, thousands of items, thousands of monsters, thousands of other players, unique events, exciting battles, hundreds of strategies.
Cons: It never ends. It's just playing for the sake of playing. Oh, and it has a monthly fee.

It's hard for me to say anything good about this game after Baldur's Gate 2. This game has an atmosphere of stupidity and immaturity that just won't go away, no matter how deep are you in Onyxia's lair. Maybe I'm too old for this, but I can't stand seeing "LOLZ sry rec" in the middle of a supposedly epic battle. I played this game for two months, then I realized it's just a waste of time. It will never give you full satisfaction, since it doesn't have an end. Even if it had, it would be something 'funny'. Nah, I'll skip that, thanks.
So why did I put in on top of my top 10 pc games list? Because I can't cope with receiving hatemails through the rest of my life. For all non-wowwers: Baldur's Gate 2 is the best pc game ever. WoW is for teenagers.