50. Loom (LucasArts, 1990)
Another excellent point-and-click adventure from LucasArts, Loom takes the player on a trip through a wonderfully-realized dark fantasy world full of striking visuals, dense lore and an unforgettable cast of characters. Some surprisingly unique mechanics, too, as you don't really follow the usual pick-up-an-item-and-use-it-elsewhere format seen in most games of this type. Instead, you utilize Bobbin's distaff and play magical 'drafts' with a variety of effects; turning straw into gold, opening things, dyeing objects, and so forth, and often you can play them backwards to get the opposite effect (though some are palindromic and thus cannot be used this way). Some inspired voiceover and detailed VGA visuals (for the later versions) completed the package and made it a delightful experience.
49. Lode Runner On-Line: The Mad Monks' Revenge (Presage Software, 1995)
Lode Runner is a classic fast-paced puzzle platformer from 1983 where the player must maneuver around a maze avoiding enemies, collecting all the gold and escaping up the ladder that appears once it's all collected - a bit like Pac-Man in premise. Besides avoiding enemies, you can also dig holes to temporarily trap them or fall through one yourself to reach buried gold pieces or make a quick escape to a lower level, though you also had to be careful not to trap yourself in the process. Mad Monks' Revenge is an update of 1994's Lode Runner: the Legend Returns, rewriting it in 32-bit code and fixing several of its bugs, adding new features like keys, doors, bombs and vanishing blocks and enabling two player co-op, and a level editor allows for not only custom stages, but branching paths through said stages. A fun, addictive little title; so much so that it's gotten a full fan-remake that adds even more features (including co-op for up to four players!).48. Shadowrun: Dragonfall/Hong Kong (Harebrained Schemes, 2014/2015)
The second and third games in the rebooted Shadowrun franchise, and easily my favorite ones so far, expanding on everything the original brought to the table while losing nothing that made it great. The story is nothing short of brilliant, bringing together a cast of diverse and complex characters to solve the mystery of their friend's deaths and the underlying conspiracies behind them. Throughout the game, every choice you make seems to be the wrong one, making you new enemies and seemingly digging you deeper into a pit you can't escape from, while the combat only gets more intense with enemies bringing out bigger guns, setting up nastier traps and summoning bigger monsters to get in your way. Stellar stuff all around, and a perfect example of how to do a grim, atmospheric game experience right.
47. Toonstruck (Burst Studios, 1996)
I've played more than a handful of point-and-click adventure games that operate on cartoonish logic, but it always felt rather out of place when they were trying to build a serious atmosphere and story. Toonstruck definitely broke that mold by putting the player in, well, a cartoon. Bright, colorful and slightly off-kilter environments, professionally animated characters voiced by big-name actors like Tim Curry, Tress MacNeille, Dan Castellaneta and April Winchell, and starring none other than Christopher Lloyd, digitized and superimposed atop the action like Roger Rabbit in reverse. There's a lot of genuine talent and brilliant humor on display throughout; it's just a shame that it ends on a very abrupt cliffhanger and, owing to copyright issues, the second part of the story has yet to be released.
46. Sam & Max Hit the Road (LucasArts, 1993)
One of the many LucasArts point-and-click adventure games that surfaced in the 80s and 90s, and still regarded as one of the best in the genre even today. Sam and Max was nothing short of hilarious with its kitschy American setting, irreverent protagonists and some surprisingly good voiceover throughout adding to the ridiculous scenarios. They worked in quite a few minigames too - some required to progress while others are just for fun. As popular and successful as it was, it was little surprise that people were pining for a followup; however despite numerous attempts one never actually came to be until 2006, when Telltale Games got ahold of the license and produced three episodic sequels.
45. Ultima VII Part 2: the Serpent Isle (Origin Systems, 1993)
The direct followup to Ultima VII (and the spinoff game Ultima Underworld II), Serpent Isle was also a callback to the franchise's earliest days, returning to worlds not seen since Ultima 1 and showing a world very different and considerably more troubled than the Britannia we've come to know. The stakes were higher too; not just with the looming threat of the Guardian and his underlings, but a cosmic imbalance is causing reality itself to slowly unravel, adding considerably to your woes. Unfortunately the game was also the first to really suffer from the EA buyout, as the world feels much more barren and the latter half in particular very rushed and definitely not up to the series' high standards in design. Nevertheless, the story is captivating and the solid engine of 7 is tuned up in quite a few ways, making it another very worthwhile Ultima adventure.
44. Deus Ex (Ion Storm, 2000)
Ion Storm was a company as well-known for the names on its payroll as for its comically extravagant office space and outlandish development costs. But despite some questionable management decisions, they managed to turn out several high profile titles in their short existence. The one that easily stole the show was Deus Ex - a cyberpunk tale set in a world where every conspiracy theory imaginable is real. It was also an early example of a game where one's choices actually matter, with significantly different play styles depending upon the player's choice of skills, story events changing based on choices and even three different endings. A compelling dark tale in a surprisingly credible dystopian future, there's a good reason that it's the centerpiece of a meme: "Every time someone mentions Deus Ex, someone reinstalls Deus Ex. "
43. Diablo II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2000)
The followup to Blizzard's mega-hit Diablo, the second game in the franchise upped the ante in almost every way. Featuring faster gameplay, a choice of five new classes (seven in the expansion) each with their own variety of skill sets and equipment choices, and of course a plethora of new quests, items, bosses and challenges to undertake. It also featured multiplayer for up to eight simultaneous players, who could choose to tackle dungeons, gain levels or just duke it out in battles to the death. Other new features, like "Rune words" and the ability to combine items and reroll equipment properties would also become staples of other games in the genre. Once again, a major hit for Blizzard that continues to be fun even today. There are even a few killer fan mods available for those tired of the stock game.
42. Starcraft II (Blizzard, 2010)
The original Starcraft was a game-changer with its three very distinct but balanced factions and fast paced, yet surprisingly deep design. Starcraft II keeps that philosophy intact but also massively improves the original 's clunky pathfinding, AI and interface, adds in many new units, co-op missions and a well-crafted three-part episodic campaign with team customization, branching story paths and many new unit types to experiment with. Despite lacking a few prominent features of the original (like, y'know, LAN support?), Starcraft II is a brilliant experience both online and solo, and is still one of the finest real time strategy games ever made.
41. Sid Meier's Civilization IV (Firaxis Games, 2005)
Sid Meier's Civilization series has always been a genre defining classic, and many fans consider IV to be the pinnacle of the series. It isn't hard to see why, either, as it takes everything great about its predecessors and gives it an immaculate level of polish and balance. It supports player customization for virtually every element and a number of high-quality expansions; Beyond the Sword in particular adds fun things like corporations that can generate tons of resources (and gum up your opponents' economies when used well). Still, the core concept remains much the same - build cities and armies, research new technologies, build world wonders, and reach one of the win conditions before your opponents do. But as the old saying goes: Don't fix what ain't broken! Plus, it has
Leonard Nimoy doing the narration; you just can't argue with that kind of awesome.
