Just saw this over at IGN http://ign.com/articles/2012/08/07/the-top-25-modern-pc-games-2

The top 5 are:

5) Company of Heroes
4) Skyrim
3) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
2) BioShock
1) Half Life 2

I don't like how the top 2 are shooters. Especially those 2. I feel those are 2 of the most overrated games ever.

So, this list doesn't make it into your top 25 list of Top 25 Lists?

I hate lists like this. They just make them to stir up their comment threads and get ad hits. At the end of the day it's just some guy posting his personal opinions on the internet. The guy in question just happens to work for a gaming web site.

I will say that Half-Life 2 is pretty high on my list as well, though. It might not hold up well to some newer games, but for its time it made a mark and influenced how FPS games were made. It upped the storytelling ante in a way similar to the first Half-Life. Bioshock scores big points with me for the art direction, use of music, and overall craftsmanship despite the game-play being a little ho-hum. Skyrim doesn't make any of my "top 25 lists," although I found it to be a fun game. KotOR was a memorable experience for me...it probably makes some of my lists.

I don't even know how The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is considered a modern video game on PC The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim released in 2011 DirectX 11 released in 2009 with Windows 7 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on PC does not run on DirectX 11 from a technical side on PC The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is not a modern PC video game. That's my thoughts .

Pointless list is pointless. All these lists are entirely subjective, usually failing to take into account great under-rated games (especially as it's IGN). And does IGN do a new one of these every 6 months or something?

If they're considering HL2 a modern game, pretty sure Skyrim can count.

HL2 is really bad imo.

I would put it in the top 25 most overrated PC games.

I strongly disagree with that list. As for HL2, I liked it a lot, but I can agree that it's a bit overrated (best game in the world? I don't think so).

It's "games made in the last ten years", not "games made with a particular set of bells & whistles".

Everybody has different tastes, but really bad? Even for 9 years ago? Wow, ok.

I like the respect for KoTOR and CoH. I don't see why a game like Counter-Strike: Source needs to be left off of this list. I think Shogun 2: TW could have made it also.

Any and all "top whatever"-lists regarding games are complete and utter crap so I don't see why this needs even the slightest bit of extended publicity (which I don't think it deserves). And why? Because they usually don't have any good criteria for their lists, it's just a "these are the games I like the most so I'll post them as an objective list as my opinion can't possibly be subjective". If I were to ever create a "top 10 RPG's" list I would provide a damn detailed criteria as to 'why' the games on the list are where they and why others were excluded.

To give you some ideas of the criteria is: An RPG needs to have multiple dialogue options, it needs to have multiple quest solutions, it needs to allow the player to define the characters morals, personality, strengths and weaknesses and it needs to have reactionary gameplay/story and choice and consequence. This means that despite that I really like Chrono Trigger it has no reason for being on the list as it doesn't meet several of the criteria.

Not to say that my view of what an RPG is is what a proper RPG is, the RPG genre is so diverse that we will never reach a conclusion as to what constitutes as an RPG, but at least by posting a criteria you'd know what these games need to meet and exceed that certain criteria in order to be put on the list for that specific variation of RPG's. This also means that my own personal bias towards Fallout won't get in the way as I have to objectively anolyze it and other RPG's in each criteria to see which meets the most of them and which excels the most.

But from what I've seen most "top whatever"-lists are just someone listing their personal favorites without really giving them all a thorough dissection. And top 25 modern PC games? How vague can this/these guy(s)/gal(s) be? How does a game qualify for a "modern PC game"?

Yeah, I actually disliked the game itself, and then when you factor in Alyx, I hated it with a passion.

No where near as good as HL1 to me.

I've never really understood all the praise for HL2. The physics puzzles were cool for the time, but the gameplay is standard shooter fare, and the characters/story aren't that compelling.

I agree about Alyx, and I think that some of the vehicle sequences were too long. There should have been more weapons, but does anyone remember NOT being impressed with the Source Engine or the Gravity Gun when they played HL2 for the first time? That was awesome.

I disliked the gravity gun slightly less than my brother.

As far as the engine goes, I've never played a game and thought "wow this engine is ______."

I think the praise for Half-Life 2 (like the original Half-Life) largely comes from the forward-thinking design and overall quality of craftsmanship. The integration of the in-engine storytelling, cinematic game-play moments, interactive NPCs, tons of variety in the game mechanics and meta-games, artwork, quality voice acting, etc. were things that most developers weren't pulling all together that way in 2004. At least not nearly as well. I've been a gamer since the early '80s and I remember being impressed with the way they'd pulled so many individual elements (many of which were practically the basis for entire games at that time) together into a cohesive whole. The overall fit-and-finish of the game was simply something that wasn't done at the time (again, 9 years ago).

I'll admit that it's over-hyped, and that hurts a lot of peoples' perception of it.

I've only ever read one overrated games article and they didn't even touch sacred cows like HL2. When somebody mentioned it in the comments they got massively downvoted.

It sure would gather a lot of clicks, though.

Agreed. It's akin to BioShock Infinite, which I believe is the most overrated game this gen.

Exactly. Nothing else to add really.

I have my own N list of top M games.