Best Video Games of All Time

No one will ever be able to agree on a list of the best video games of all time. But I think I can make one that at least some people will like. After all, there are, in my opinion, certain obvious games that can be appreciated by everyone.

One of the most obvious choices is "Prince of Persia." No, not the most recent version, although that one is great in its own right. I'm talking about its predecessor, the side-scrolling dungeon puzzle game from the early years of video games. I played the version that was put out on the Sega Genesis. Maddening and frustrating, this game required a good memory and a lot of patience. It also had the best graphics of its time and was easily the most fun that could be had in a video game. It's easy to see why they had to re-make it.

"Tomb Raider" owes a lot to "Prince of Persia," but it also set some precedents of its own. Lara Croft took puzzle-solving acrobatics to the next level, and she also benefited from the best graphics of her day. The depth of the environments available to explore and the details of the story made "Tomb Raider" the best thing since, well, "Prince of Persia." Of course, it spawned numerous sequels, but none could ever quite recapture the awe and excitement gamers felt playing the first one.

Old-school computer gamers everywhere will agree with me when I say that "Myst" is the best computer game ever. It was every bit as puzzling as "Tomb Raider," but the puzzles were of the mental variety, rather than acrobatic. The story could be as confusing as the puzzles, but the sheer amount of detail that went into it was awe-inspiring. Taking the idea of putting the gamer right into the game one step further, "Myst" was played entirely from the first-person perspective, and everything looked as real as if you were looking out your bedroom window.