Torn: My Top 10 Games of All Time, and Why 10 Was Never Going to Be Enough

Every time somebody asks me for a top 10 games of all time I end up mad at myself. On the pod I said I could go top 25 and I meant it. Ten is not enough for somebody who actually played everything. And that's kind of my point. I feel like a lot of people only play Call of Duty and then want to argue about the best games of all time and you don't have the range for that. Range shows up in your taste. Some of the reason I don't like certain games is the soundtrack and the sound design and you only notice that stuff when you've played a lot of different kinds of games.

I'm a GameCube, Xbox, PS2 baby. That's the blend. So this list is in no order because these are all my babies and I'm not putting one over the other. If you're just getting into games and want somewhere to start, I've got must play games for first time gamers too.

Mass Effect

2007

The first one that came to my head when we started this.

The pick: Mass Effect (2007)

Mortal Kombat: Deception

2004

This one was in my top five from the jump.

The pick: Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

2012

I'm going to jump the shooter out there. Black Ops 2 and World at War are interchangeable for me, the very first World at War. That was my introduction to Call of Duty. I didn't know anything about Call of Duty until that one and I legit thought it was a scary game.

The pick: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (2012), with World at War right next to it

Metroid Fusion

2002 | Game Boy Advance

This one is for the handheld people. Metroid Fusion is the Metroid that stuck with me.

The pick: Metroid Fusion (2002)

Baldur's Gate 3

2023

The newest game on my list and in my opinion it's still a top 10 no matter what year it came out.

The pick: Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)

God of War

2018

I have to give love to God of War. The 2018 one where you first meet his son. That was actually my first introduction to God of War, I didn't know about the game before that and I probably only played it because I played Spider-Man. Ray told me I need to go do a full playthrough of the Greek storyline and I'm down. But this one is fire for me. Kratos is on my list of video game heroes we'd follow into anything for a reason.

The pick: God of War (2018)

Fortnite

2017

You might be asking why Fortnite is on an all time list. It changed gaming. Whether you play it or not you can't talk about the last few years of gaming without it, and somebody else on the pod picked Minecraft for the same reason. I respect that.

The pick: Fortnite (2017)

Sonic Riders

2006 | GameCube

The one with the music and the hoverboards on GameCube. I had to put that one in there. As a GameCube baby this is one of those games that just shows you who I am.

The pick: Sonic Riders (2006)

Tekken 4

2002 | PS2

If I've got to go to the comeback section, we're going to go Tekken 4. That was my introduction to Tekken. Tekken 4 was probably the swaggiest one too, that game had the most style.

The pick: Tekken 4 (2002)

Wii Sports

2006 | Wii

I don't care what anybody says Wii Sports was really one of those games. Nintendo is the only platform in my opinion that has innovative gaming. What other platform has you using a stick to play a video game, and a stick that actually makes you do stuff. The Wii board, you really had to move. No other controller was doing that. And if Nintendo wasn't so bad at online services, I think Xbox and PlayStation would have had heavy competition. No cap.

The pick: Wii Sports (2006)

The ones I couldn't fit

I said I didn't put too much thinking into this and that's exactly why the list fell apart. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, I was playing that on GameCube, collecting the tapes and everything. SSX Tricky too, people try to say that's a cheesy pick but that's OG at this point. I could've included a Lord of the Rings GameCube game. And once we started talking everybody kept naming more. NBA Street, NFL Street, Kingdom Hearts II, Midnight Club, the old SmackDown games, Ghost Recon on PS2. You forget all types of games. I already did the best WWE games of all time if you want the SmackDown argument.

Bottom line

If you made me pick a favorite genre it's racing, and when I say racing I'm including Sonic and Tony Hawk type games. SSX Tricky, Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, Midnight Club. I love those and I didn't even play that much of some of them but they're really tough.

Ten was never going to be enough. So what's your top 10, and what's the one game you're mad you had to cut? Drop it in the CXM Discord.