List of must play games

[MattyBoy]

I've got System Shock 2, but sadly have not installed it.
One day I will, but I gather that I need at least 2 days clear before I begin.

[St Leo]

Europa Universalis 2
Warlords Battlecry 2
Serious Sam (either one)

[Mr. President]

Alpha Centauri
SimCity 3000
Older SimGames, particularly SimAnt, SimEarth, SimTower

[Maquiladora]

Caesar III/Pharaoh
Ground Control
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Deus Ex (again)

Caesar and Pharaoh are old games but they draw you in like no other (bar civ). Ground Control would look/run great on a geforce 4, plays even better.

[August Borms]

Europa Universalis 2
Medal of Honour: Allied Assault

[Urban Ranger]

Age of Wonders, Age of Wonders 2.

IMO you can skip Tropico

Probably SimCity 4000 when it comes out. BTW if you have never played the original UFO: Enemy Unknown I highly recommend it.

[SnowFire]

I played the demo of System Shock II and was unimpressed. Maybe it just takes some time to get going.

And I will say this: the idea of Chrono Cross's plot is decent. The problem is in the execution. You're required to do pointless fetch questy stuff, yet some vital plot information is optional and nigh-on-impossible to find. And some of the revelations on Disc 2 manage to, at the same time, be cheap and implausible; make one of the main villians look like an utter moron; screw with CT's plot offstage (ie not shown or you affect it in anyway), they just mention "Oh, by the way, we decided to make life suck on some characters in CT for no apperant reason"); and compress about 10 hours worth of gameplay into some screens of text revealing a skeleton of an idea for an endgame. And oh yes, the good ending has some really stupid philosophy to it as well (Although I will credit the game that the way to get the good ending is completely innovative, and I like that. I just think that the good ending is actually worse than the bad ending, if that makes any sense).

[dunk]

Ultima IV through VII.

[Sandman]

Europa Universalis 2: Redefined the historical strategy genre. So many great innovations.

Deus Ex: Looking a bit dated, and the early levels are rather drab, but it really picks up, and has some nifty features such as a flexible storyline and character development.

Chrono Trigger: A wonderful 16-bit RPG. Best things include the plot, the villain, the characters and the battle system. Unlike the Final Fantasy games, it doesn't have any mind-numbing 'random monster encounters'.

Homeworld: RTS set in space. A bit old, but the presentation is still wonderful. The nebula section is particularly cool.

[Rasbelin]

Listed in alphabetic order.

Civ
Civ II
Civ III
Gettysburg
MOHAA
Pacific General
Panzer General
Railroad Tycoon
Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
Railroad Tycoon II
Railroad Tycoon II TSC
SimCity 2000

[Urban Ranger]

I personally don't like RR II. The original is a classic, but PopTop screwed around with it too much. And I don't understand how the stock prices of a completely privatised company can change.

[Grumbold]

If you like RPG's I would add Wizardry 8 to your list.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by dunk
Ultima IV through VII.

Ultima II is fun as well, in a cheesy way.

[Moral Hazard]

Hmm so many games I've loved so I'll try to keep it short.

Role-Playing.
Fallout.
Fallout 2.
Planescape Torment.

Single player FPS.
No One Lives Forever.
Operation Flashpoint.
Giants.
Deus Ex.


Multi-Player FPS.
Giants.
Unreal Tournament (UT2003 is probably better but my GeForce 2 MX can't really handle it )
Counter Strike.

Strategy.
AOW.

near misses
CTP must be patched and modded however(Wes's), wonders if I should buy CTP2. It must be cheap by now if I can find it.
I'd like to say The Corporate Machine but I just started playing it.

Other.
Tie-Fighter. (There might be a better space game now, not sure, will be looking into it)
Mech-Warrior 3. (haven't got 4)
Sim-City 2000. (Sim City 3000 is probably better but it didn't look worth the upgrade)

I left out games which I think (thought) were great but have a hard time recommending because I think they've been eclipsed therefore I wouldn't play them today. (Civ 2, Ultima 4-7, Half-Life) Actually I probably should include Half-Life but It's not as good as the three I've listed (CS is the only reason it's still touted.) I also recommend the Ultimas if you have time.

[Adagio]

Here's my list of "Must play" games:

SimCity 4 (When it comes out) (Until then, play some SC3k)
The Settlers 2 - Gold edition (The best Settlers game ever made)
RollerCoaster Tycoon (The sequel will be released later this year, with only few changes in graphics...Take a look here)
Seious Sam (1 & 2) (The comedy they are using is just hilarious)
SoF2 (Great MP game...haven't played SP that much)
GTA3 (If you liked the first two in the series)