The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (35-31) – That’s Gaming

The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (100-96)
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The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (85-81)
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The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (50-46)
The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (45-41)
The 100 best games of all time (2024)! (40-36)

35. Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (2006)

At the launch of Microsoft’s second console (Xbox 360), the launch games disappointed us somewhat, with the exception of Project Gotham Racing 3. Despite being blown away by the graphics of that racing game, “next-gen” for us only began with Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter. As soon as you put the game in your new Xbox you were immediately grabbed by the proverbial claws and not let go. The streets of Mexico City are tremendously atmospheric, at least for a wonderfully tactical shooter, where you also control a number of warfighters.

Of course, this game’s story comes from writer Tom Clancy, as with so many of Ubisoft’s tactical shooters. Despite the fact that I’m sure you can find people who consider his writing style a welcome addition to games, we were more concerned with the type of gameplay you could expect when a game came out with his name attached to it. It often comes down to a conflict with a group of bad guys and you get to solve it with a suspiciously small group (in the case of Splinter Cell, even by yourself).

Of course, I’m sure there are purists who found the first three volumes and their associated expansions a lot more tactical and difficult than Advanced Warfighter, which we don’t even disagree with. Still, for us it comes down to the overall package of tactical action, spectacular graphics, modern gadgets like screen-in-screen moments and the outstanding atmosphere. And frankly, we think the Ghost Recon series has become a lot less exciting and tactical after that, although the second part of Advanced Warfighter is still quite nice, especially on PC. How we would love it if the Ghost Recon series went back to this kind of gameplay and atmosphere. Do it, Ubisoft!

34. FIFA 11/ PES 2021 (2010/2020)

What the hell? Two games in one place? Yes indeed! Both FIFA and PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) have had many editions because, like other sports games, they come out annually. The very first FIFA game came out on the Sega Mega Drive and managed to attract many soccer fans even then. That was quite clever, because at the time there were actually a lot of soccer game series on the market. You should play some old soccer games for fun, by far most of them are barely playable anymore. Later came Japan’s Winning Eleven, which managed to find a way to the West as Pro Evolution Soccer.

Both series were very popular, with FIFA seen more as arcade in terms of gameplay and PES more as simulation. In addition, EA spent much more money on licensing than Konami, allowing you to play soccer with many more “real” players and clubs. The quality of both series caused many other soccer game series to die over the years. FIFA has pretty much always sold more copies than the PES games, although it came pretty close in 2006 and 2007. The only problem is that not every edition is equally strong, and at the moment when PES became more popular, PES 2008 came out, and that is also the low point of that series as far as we are concerned. After that, it never came close in terms of sales and that eventually led to the fact that the PES series has now died. In its place came the terrible eFootball, a free-to-play monstrosity served on a bed of a middle finger to the fans.

The FIFA series has also seen many bad games, how about FIFA 2004, with the introduction of “Off-the-ball. This allows you to control multiple players at once, but the effect caused a lot of annoyance. This is written by a soccer game fan who has played both series to pieces, but personally feels that FIFA had its best time between 1994 and 2000, as well as from 2009 to 2015. In that, FIFA 11 is the best FIFA game with wonderful gameplay, many features and the ability to control passes manually with less help was well done. The PES series was extremely good from PES 3 to 6 and from PES 2017 to 2021, also because of the delightful gameplay and the amount of features. PES 2021, by the way, lives on in a free version of the game, under the name Football Life 2025 and if you sit down to install the right mods, this is crazily the best soccer game ever made.

33. Fallout 3 (2008)

Walking freely across a post-apocalyptic landscape, who wouldn’t want that? The world of Fallout is very atmospheric and plays with the idea that we were so afraid of nuclear bombs during the cold war. The entire series has gone with that fact and always has you starting in a bunker. Where the series started with an isometric view of the world, Fallout 3 was the first in the series with full 3D graphics. Now there were other series that had made such a switch, often with varying degrees of success, which is why people were skeptical of developer and publisher Bethesda’s ambitions.

Once you are finally allowed to go outside in Fallout 3, a world truly opens up for you! You get to go wherever you want, although you are always in danger of crossing paths with some mutant beast. Fortunately, you have your Pip-Boy with you, which, in addition to all sorts of menus and information, allows you to aim at certain parts of your enemy. Then you get to see a real-time video of the impact. After all these years later, it may look less spectacular, but it’s still pretty atmospheric.

Do know that there are whole groups of people who actually like Fallout: New Vegas better, but it simply did not impress us as much as Fallout 3. We also like the fourth part a lot less, but that shouldn’t spoil the fun. The sense of freedom in the third is very great and the story a bit more balanced. Oh well, there is also an MMO of Fallout, called Fallout 76 and by now it is also a lot of fun to play, despite the fair criticisms the game received at launch. In addition, the TV series is also of a high standard, which is not normal for real life adaptations of games.

32. Duke Nukem 3D (1996)

‘I come here to kick ass and chew gum and my gum is up’. In Dutch, that phrase is a lot less cool than in English, and actually, that phrase also comes from a movie called “They Live. Duke Nukem may not have been very original in that respect at first glance, but you should think of it more as an ode to cool quotes from movies. Go figure; all those great one-liners from Duke Nukem 3D come from movies like “Army of Darkness” and even Star Wars. But then again, Duke Nukem 3D players had often never been around many movies, so they often didn’t see the homage.

The Duke Nukem series itself has several volumes, but for us, they all don’t live up to the greatness of Duke Nukem 3D. The humor, the graphics, the gameplay were all of a high standard. Well, maybe for the time it came out. In the ’90s, everything was “bad” and “rad” or “cool” and the game plays well to that. It would all get even better with Duke Nukem Forever, the next installment in the series. That game went through terrible development hell, so it kept getting delayed or even completely dropped from the news. It even became a “running gag” with gamers joking annually about the perpetual absence of Duke Nukem Forever. Another company dusted off the game after nine years and released it after all, but the final product was very poor and the humor didn’t seem to work anymore. It’s kind of funny in hindsight, because nowadays there are more games that take nine or even more years to be finished.

Of course, there were also a lot of worried parents, because there was a lot of nudity in the game. That too is very funny to see back, as it involves a number of pixels that are then supposed to represent a stripper. It’s definitely not shocking anymore, but back then it was part of kicking against sacred cows we think. Duke Nukem 3D may not be as strong anymore if you include today’s standard of humor and games, but its impact is the 90s was so great and iconic that we can’t help but include this title in the list.

31. Ducktales (1989)

Capcom games were already popular on Nintendo’s first console, the NES. The Mega Man series was very hot even then, and that was mainly because of its strong gameplay. Yes, it was a bit on the difficult side, but that was kind of the standard back then. Games were much smaller, and if you make it too easy, you finish the game way too quickly. In any case, that time was different from now, because back then a game based on a movie or series could even be good. Capcom provided many quality licensed games in the 8-bit and 16-bit period and if we are honest, Ducktales is their very best game of that time.

You’re probably familiar with Ducktales, either because you’re as old as the old-timers on our editorial staff or because you watched the modern reboot a few years back. On the editorial staff, there can still be quite an argument with yelling and possible physical measures if you dare to state that the more modern version of the TV series even comes close in quality to the old series. And rightfully so! Regardless, Capcom did see fit to make a game around Ducktales and the end result is of a high standard!

You are Dagobert Duck, the richest duck in the universe. Of course, you never have enough money, so you set out to find five treasures of high values. See, you can go do that as a very rich figure, too, instead of trying to influence the political landscape or giving your children the most bizarre names (we’re looking at you, Elon Musk!). No, this duck just goes off on his own adventure, despite not being the youngest. This is how you go all over the world with your walking stick, which you use to jump higher in addition to striking. And did we say all over the world? You even go looking for treasure on the fucking moon! When it comes to money, nothing is too extreme for the beaked elite, as it turns out. Speaking of that moon, we think the soundtrack to that level is one of the best songs in games ever!