50. Simcity 4: Deluxe Edition (Maxis, 2003)
Simcity 3000, while solid enough, wasn't as big a leap over 2000 as many fans hoped; it had some new features, yes, but they mostly felt superficial and didn't really add a whole lot to the core gameplay over 2000. So when it came to making Simcity 4, they knew they had to go bigger to make it stand out. Much bigger. And they did - this time around you build up not just one city, but an entire geographical region, sculpting landscapes, building towns and cities on them and connecting them together so that they can all trade resources and collectively thrive. The Rush Hour expansion only makes things better, giving you a ton of new transport options to build (monorails, elevated rails, toll roads and water ferries among them) and even letting you take control of vehicles yourself to complete randomly-generated missions for a boost in approval, money, rewards or to just explore your city. The game also accepts mods, and there's quite a few high-quality ones to choose from - improving existing buildings, adding entirely new ones, fixing a lot of baked-in bugs and even making fundamental changes to core gameplay elements are all represented. You can even import your created characters from The Sims and have them live in your new cities too if that's your thing. Really, the only downsides to SC4 are its high system requirements (even with a beefy machine, performance isn't always great either) and the fact that this is the last great Simcity.
49. Civilization II (Microprose, 1996)
The
first Civilization game was a pretty novel concept - basically an
alternate history where you pick a civilization and take the role of
their leader, guiding their technological advance, fending off or
conquering your foes, and hoping to stand the rest of time. Civ 2 made
some substantial improvements by adding more units and a bit more depth
to battles (no longer just an all-or-nothing coin toss), as well as
networked play for up to 8 players. You win by either conquering all
other civilizations, winning the space race by successfully launching a
rocket to Alpha Centauri, or just having the highest score at the end of
6000 years. The Multiplayer Gold Edition adds in numerous new
scenarios (including a dinosaur world and a Jules Verne inspired
setting), and there's an open-source game heavily modeled after it
called "Freeciv" that allows for massive online play with dozens of
other players and games that can last for months.
48. 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.
47. 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.
46. Blood (Monolith, 1997)
The Build engine may have looked just a bit dated by 1997, especially since Quake was the hot new game on the market, but Blood proved that superior design could more than make up for older tech. Blood is a master class of horror elements, with a grim, creepy atmosphere and enemies like giant spiders, gargoyles, cultists and flame-spewing cerberus dogs, all with the same immersive and surprisingly realistic level design that made Duke Nukem 3D work so well. The weapons are equally inventive, with mundane options like a shotgun and tommy gun taking a back seat to weapons like a flare gun or a spray can/lighter to ignite enemies, a voodoo doll that inflicts extra damage to undead/magical enemies (but will damage you if you stab it when no enemies are onscreen) and a crazy-looking skull staff called the Life Leech that doubles as a stationary sentry gun. The game was exceptionally tough (not aided by a bug that would cause the difficulty level to cycle every time one loaded a save), but the sheer inspiration behind its design is something that must be seen. Oh, and grab the Deathwish map set too, which is a fantastic fan-made addon that rivals, if not surpasses, the main game in quality. It's just a shame the sequel (Blood II: The Chosen) was such a mess. As for the sequel's expansion pack... well, "avoid at all costs" is about the most apt thing that can be said for that.
45. Heroes of Might and Magic III (New World Computing, 1999)
An offshoot of the Might and Magic franchise that eclipsed the original series in popularity, Heroes takes the fantastical science-fantasy worlds of its parent franchises and adds a touch of 4X strategy and tactical combat - gathering resources, upgrading your towns, vanquishing groups of monsters or enemy armies in turn-based battles, and working toward trying to be the last one standing, all while upgrading your heroes with new abilities and equipment to better support their troops. 3 is the one that took the format to perfection, though, building upon its predecessors with multiple map types and goals, substantial rebalancing and new units to create a wonderful and engrossing experience. Avoid the HD remaster, though, as it's missing quite a bit of content; just grab the Complete release off GOG and install the
fan-made HD Patch instead.
44. 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.
43. Worms: Armageddon (Team-17, 1999)
Just one game in the long-running Worms turn-based warfare strategy series, and the one widely regarded as the best in the franchise. Unlike many of its sequels, it gives players the option to have teams larger than four worms (six or eight, depending on the number of players in the game), allows for custom team voices and terrain to be imported and has just the right blend of weapons, gadgets and options to make for lengthy, yet engaging online battles - from airstrikes to poisonous skunks to flamethrowers to Street Fighter style martial arts, you won't be wanting for ways to lay down the pain. Not to mention that it's always more fun dropping a concrete donkey on a bigger group than a smaller one, of course. A standout in the turn-based artillery combat genre.
42. Starcraft (Blizzard, 1998)
Starcraft was definitely a game-changer at the time it launched, tearing down the fledgling
real-time strategy genre and rebuilding it from scratch. No longer
content to have two largely-identical factions battling it out for
dominance, Starcraft had three, and despite all playing very differently
from one another, it was surprisingly well-balanced. Zerg are
individually weak but cheap and fast to produce and excel in swarming
and harassment, the Protoss have quite powerful but costly units but
require careful micromanagement to use effectively, and the Terrans fall
somewhere in the middle, using their versatility and resilience to
their advantage. It also came with a fantastic map editor that allowed for not just custom maps, but event triggers, full unit stat tweaking and even scripted events that allowed for the creation of entirely new
styles of gameplay and even simulating other genres like RPGs.
A fantastic game in 1998 and still fun today.
41. Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (Looking Glass Studios, 1993)
The followup to the groundbreaking original game, which definitely tried to up the ante, taking place across numerous worlds rather than one big, sprawling dungeon. Each has a pretty distinct feel to it, with some fairly similar to Britannia and others just downright bizarre, but all with one thing in common - they're under the thumb of the megalomaniacal Guardian, so it becomes a matter of rallying what resistance you can to try and turn the tables on your persistent and powerful foe. The game plays much as the first one did, though it wasn't as well-refined owing to being developed under heavy crunch. Even with that, though, Labyrinth of Worlds is nevertheless a worthy sequel that's still well worth playing.
