I can’t say that video games have played a major part in my life, but I have definitely experienced many games with attached dedicated hours of screen watching (i.e. 100+ hours on Civilization). I always go through “phases” where games become a bigger part of my life by not allowing me to have a life (irony can be a bitch), such a period is occurring now. So I decided to make a post of my top 5 favorite games from over the years and some reasons why. I hope you all enjoy. Note: my top 5 are on equal levels because they are all so different, so my choice for order will be alphabetically (thank OCD).

Conker’s Bad Fur Day (2001, N64)

This foul mouthed squirrel stole my heart and innocence at the age of 10. For those who don’t know, CBFD is a platform game where you play as Conker the Squirrel, trying to find your way home through a series of crude, hilarious and crafty puzzles/missions after a night of debauchery. The all over experience of the game was unlike anything I had previously played on a N64, and was one of the few titles with a strong M rating for the system. The charming cartoon graphics mixed with the outrageous dialogue (not to mention many odes to famous films) just added fun fuel to an already burning fire. The Xbox remake, Conker: Live and Reloaded, featured turn of the century graphics and was a well done remake, though nothing could have lived up to the original experience.

HλLF-LIFE (series) (1998-present, PC)

I began my gaming career as a PC gamer, being introduced to titles such as Quake III Arena, and I am one of the few people I know who played the original Battlefield 1942, Call of Duty and Medal of Honor when they first were on store shelves (so I think my say is valid when it comes to these franchises and their current directions). Another collection that blew me away was the Half-Life series, a big part playing on my intrigue of realism and sharp storytelling (which I am currently working on an adapted screenplay for Half-Life). Many people can state which game they prefer, if any, where as I see them as all products of their time keeping on the same story-line, though, let’s be honest that Half-Life 2 blew everyone out of the water, with it’s overall performance and well developed characters. I’m also in envy of the persistence and hard work that Valve put into each game, like most of their games (though no one can beat Blizzard).

More to come in Part II…