by Richard Winterton

Created on: December 09, 2009

The Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 might be dominating the console world as of late, but the PC will never lose its edge. With thousands, if not millions, of games to choose from, the PC has a more diverse library than any console. If I had to list all my favorites and why I love them, this article would be longer than the extended rules for Magic: The Gathering. Therefore, here are but a few favorite PC games I would consider classic.

Diablo II: Yes, I could have said the first Diablo, but to be fair the second installment of Blizzard’s dungeon crawler RPG had a lot to add to the series. There was enough variety in gameplay to keep both button mashers and minmaxing RPG fanatics happy for months. Furthermore, the amount of dungeons and items in Diablo II spanned four discs and kept players addicted. It even boast the original “Nightmare Mode”, which offered greater challenge at the reward of more gold and better items. Yet the biggest draw was online mode. At this time, MMORPGs existed and were getting popular, but most gamers were iffy about spending 15 bucks a month to play a game. So a game allowing friends to team up and tackle quests together without a monthly fee was a definite draw.

Counter-Strike: It’s the game that made “boom headshot” an Internet phenomenon. Originally a full conversion mod for Half-life, the grass roots community around this game exploded into a full-blown gaming phenomena. Intense gun battles, tactical squad warfare and tense last minute explosive defusal encapsulates every 5-minute round. Eventually, Valve found the mod to be so popular, they purchased the rights and made various new versions, including Counter-Strike: Source, a full remake which was released alongside Half-Life 2. Even so, with its 1999 era graphics and scratchy voiced announcer declaring “counter-terrorists win”, nothing beats an original.

Rome: Total War: I debated which of the Total War games to put in this list and ultimately decided on this one. While most strategy games focus on resource management and stylized depictions of battle, this game focuses on one thing: realistic massive real-time combat. The game encourages you to understand how warfare worked in this period and furthermore allows for some massive scale warfare. You can set up some ranged infantry and siege engines to pummel the enemy from afar, or feel free to set up a defensive line of heavy infantry to distract the enemy advance while your cavalry swings around and attacks their tender rear. What further made it stand out was its focus on squad morale and how it affected combat. If the enemy obliterated one squad, it would damage the morale of the rest of the army. It might even cause a chain reaction that would cause your entire army to route. It definitely made for some interesting strategies in battle.

There is nothing like watching an enemy force bigger than you turning white with fear and breaking rank to flee for their lives.

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