[Seth]

1. Battlefield 1942 When this game came out, nothing really had much on it. The reticule controls were finicky and unusually unreliable compared to MoH or CoD, and the strategy of incorporating armoured vehicles into control capture and other game modes simply offered more fun than what other gen shooters could. Made me want to try the Tribe series. Looking forward to the new one (Tribes and BF3).

2. Unreal Tournament This game encapsulates the emergence of PC gaming as being a highly customizable, mod-friendly, and a more advanced alternative. I'd share this with valve's same gen offerings, but simply counterstrike never approached the original UT for ambience and 'bout fighting' goodness.

3. Half Life 2. Took ragdoll and advanced the notion of phsyics boundaries in game environments. Pretty solid cutscenes, animations of the new variety, and appropriate level progression make this an all-around winner.

4. RtcW (2001) This flamethrower spectacular totally blew me away. The role oriented multiplayer was awesome and the single player had some of the most impressive AI guises I have ever experienced. Fluid animations and appropriate nazi locales made this a far superior game than EA's alternatives.

5. NHL (series) / Crimson Skies I've spent a lot of time on the NHL games, particularly '98 since my first PC couldn't play 99'. Lots of fun. I also really enjoyed NBA live 95 and 96. Van Grizzlies : (

Crimson Skies holds a special place because it took the alternate history and did it in a partitioned america way that just works well. zeppelins? air pirates? proper protagonist? killer graphics? had it all.


Honourable mention goes to Warcraft II and III. Also the original Age of Empires took lots of my time.