My Gaming Top Ten

The first five are in order, the rest are not.

1. Portal 2 - I hadn’t played the first Portal, but that in no way hampered my enjoyment of the game. Before playing the main campaign, I did about a quarter of the co-op levels with my brother, and we enjoyed it, but when we tried the story mode for the first time, we were blown away. Right out the gate we were wowed by its story and methods. When we were kids, we always tried to do different things to see if the game or NPCs reacted to our actions. When we were kids, we didn’t quite understand video games, and so expected way too much from them. After years of playing video games, Portal 2 was the first that delivered on our child-hood expectations. I don’t leave the room when the NPC asks and he reacts to it! Never had I witnessed such immersive writing!

2. The Stanley Parable - This also is a game that realized my fantasy of what a video game could be or do. Play this game.

3. Bioshock 1 - The atmosphere, setting, combat, and the story. And the good-guy ending.

4. Chivalry 2 (Beta) - I played the first Chivalry, liked it, but I jumped into it too late, so there wasn’t enough player population to continue with it. I was lucky enough to get an Alpha Key for Chivalry 2, and it’s awwwwwsome. (Pre-orders are available.)

5. Half-Life - Do you know how old this game is? Can you imagine how surprising the ending was to me, playing it seventeen years after its initial release? I only played it so that I could get it out of the way before playing Half-Life 2 for the first time.

6. Counter-Strike 1.6 - Lots of LAN games with my Dad and brother.

7. Half-Life 2 - Burning zombies is the best sound in any video game.

8. Left 4 Dead 2 - !!!!!!!!!!!!!

9. Team Fortress 2 - My favorite part is the official comics and videos.

10. Half-Life Alyx - Don’t have VR yet, but I know this game goes here.