Kotaku
These evergreen features are made for weekends: GamesRadar has a list of the 15 best video game stories of all time. It's good for a midafternoon bull session between the hours of whatever you're playing (still hammering on Bully, myself.)
I haven't played many on the list to be quite honest, as lots are PC games and I am one of those lifelong Mac users (sue me). In fact, the only Portal I played was the interactive novel on a Macintosh Plus back in 1987. Not sure if interactive novels qualify, they might be more novel than game, but that one was outstanding.
I'm also a little surprised that neither Sam & Max nor, for that matter, Full Throttle (an extremely underrated game) didn't make the list. Throttle especially, as it had one of the great finales of all time, when Ripburger goes into the chasm clutching a "Can't beat a Corley" license plate. Indeed.
I've put the full list after the jump, if you want to see what made it without going through the whole article, which has some nice YouTube and flash videos of game highlights.
In no order, the 15 best are:
Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC)
Grim Fandango (1998, PC)
The Longest Journey (2000, PC)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004)
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003)
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004)
Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007)
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993)
Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007)
Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999)
Fallout 2 (PC, 1998)
God of War (PS2, 2005)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003)
Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994)
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001)
The Best Video Game Stories Ever [GamesRadar]
Comments
Lol, no.
I LOVE Portal, but I can't agree with it being in the Top 15. Clever story, yes. But not exactly deep.
Bioshock gets the nod for me. The combination of its visual story telling and the concept in itself is fantastic.
No Half life, Halo, COD4?
Epic Fail.
I'm glad they picked VI!
OMg final fantasy 6 had a great story in my opinion. I really wish they made a proper remake unlike some undeserved game that everybody is talking about *cough 7 cough*.
Metal gear is about to finish... supposedly. It brought more questions then answers. I hope it ends with answers. :D
Astro Boy? Seriously? I mean, it was fun...but not exactly a replacement for The Odyssey.
And a definite no to Portal. Best script, maybe.
Xenogears: Why is it not on here? Maybe because the people making this list never played it.
I like how KOTOR is on there but Mass Effect is not. [Damn you, Carth!]
Top X lists are silly.
dragonquest VIII...no...o okey then :(
No Earthbound? No thank you.
Xenogears: Why is it not on here? Maybe because no one making this list ever played it. Damn shame.
ONE Final Fantasy game?? Please.
And God of War 2's story was much better than the first.
Also, Portal doesn't really have a story, just a really funny script.
Blah, list is no good.
I was talking with my friends, half of them played Portal, half of them don't play games in general. The Portal players were talking about how it's so great since it's a puzzle game but has an awesome story too!
I loved Portal, and it had clever writing, but calling it deep or one of the best stories of all games? It was a series of tests run by a killer robot. You get through the level as the robot tells you you shouldn't continue, you do anyway, kill the robot, find out the robot's still alive in the end, and that's it.
Half Life 2 has a better story. At least the world those games have crafted is much more deep.
Xenogears: why is it no on here? Maybe the people making this list never played it. Damn shame.
Portal is like a good short story.
it's good.
(yay! mgs & sh2 are in the list <3)
Normally it'd be foolish to try to discount a list but this one does seem legitimately flawed.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas?? lol
Astro Boy: Omega Factor? God of War? Heh, just a joke.
I completely disagree with GoW being on that list. Halo IMO had a better story and that wasnt much of a story :\
That list pretty much reads like a list of my favourite videogames ever. The Longest Journey would be at #1, with Planescape: Torment and Grim Fandango close behind. Wonderful, wonderful games. It's rare to see a list I agree with quite this much :D
Regarding Sam & Max, I love those games, but they really never have a story... they're more or less just a bunch of jokes in adventure game format. I can never play them for too long because they just don't *go* anywhere...
This is a retarded list.
Wtf? San Andreas? No.
Chrono Trigger, yes.
Max Payne also deserved some sort of special mention. Really took the graphic novel to the next level.
And Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis! Where art thou?
San Andreas on a best story list? Please. It was one of the most entertaining, sure, but its story is just not comparable to Bioshock's or Metal Gear Solid's.
Otherwise, its a pretty solid list. Bioshock and Portal were both great... and I'm a huge MGS fanboy, so this is just fine with me. I'm surprised at the number of games on this list I havent played.
What did you guys think of Silent Hill 2? Was it a fun game to play? Whenever I hear of survival horror genre, the most mentioned game is Resident Evil 4. How does Silent Hill 2 compare to that?
Wow, I couldn't disagree more with this list of games. Oh well...
I think Arcanum should be up there, tho perhaps its the idea behind the world that I like more than the actual story of the game.
No Earthbound? Chrono Trigger? Xenogears? Shin Megami Tensei?
bah
Glad to see Silent Hill 2 on there.
No MGS3? That had the best story of the series, IMHO. It's hard making lists like this, especially with such a limited selection, because no matter what, you're going to miss some.
MGS3 is far better than MGS storyline wise
no Xenogears = fail
Final Fantasy XI has the best story, in my opinion.
@Torusan: of the franchise, of course.
@Green-clad Gamer Dude: Would you like to elaborate your opinion or just troll it around? It's fine to disagree but at least state your reasons.
But on the the note of the list, a lot of those games did have really good stories. Personally I would have switched some out like replacing God of War with Mass Effect or adding a few more games like Anachronox and certain JPRGs but in all fairness there's only so much you can do with fifteen slots.
This list was probably made by people who haven't even played most good story games, and are just choosing random favorites and stuff they played.
No Shenmue? For shame. Beyond Good and Evil though I'm glad is there.
Good to see they picked the right Final Fantasy game.
I haven't much to say in regards to the other choices though seeing as I haven't actually played any of them.
... Yeah, that list... uh... Portal was a great game, possibly even the best game I've ever played, but it wasn't something I'd mark as having a great story.
And Grand Theft Auto, San Andreas? Really? Just... really? I mean, the game was great, I won't say it was a bad game, I've bought it twice even, but... better plot than FFVI? Really?
No sands of time?
No vice city, i liked that story more than san andreas.
@Proto_Man:
heh, nice to see someone on the same page.
Not cool, where is Chrono Trigger??, that has to be one of the best stories ever.
While it wasn´t fully explained I really liked Mega Man X3 story, the whole thing about Megaman having to fight Zero when he becomes evil like all other reploids is just cool.
"Metal Gear Solid"
Are you sure this isn't a list of the games with the most story? I kid, I kid.
How could Zero Wing not make it on such a list?
WOW
this is ... such a sad sad post.
Atleast they got some good ones there =/
No Legacy of Kain?
W.T.F.
@Lilinka: Oh, didn't realize that those weren't in order. Still wouldn't say GTA:SA is anywhere near the top 50 of stories, much less top fifteen. And I have to agree with Proto_Man, MGS3 has a better plot than MGS, but really, yeah, I don't agree with that list.
God of War was epic. Worthy of standing toe to toe with the any of Homer's writings.
GTA: SA was pretty good, too. "Boyz in the Hood" mixed with "Scarface."
Planetscape: Torment is definitely up there for me. Great game.
KOTAR was amazing. The twist in that story would put almost any movie twist of the last twenty years to shame.
And a list about game stories just wouldn't be complete without Grim Fandango, though I wish they would have included at least one Monkey Island.
Grim Fandango, hell yes.
Lack of Shenmue, hell no...
Xenogears > all.
This list fails.
Mafia. Mafia is needed. Yes. That game had such a compelling story. The protagonist captured me and I could feel what he felt, exactly knowing why he made the decisions as he made them. After I beat that game, I thought: "Damn. I would have ended up like that, too."
I was really sad when Paulie died, killed by one of your best friends - Sam. Oh, spoiler, sorry.
Anyhow, just a quick recap of that great game. I recommend it to anybody who likes a good Mafiosi and Gangster story.
Doom needs to be on there, just for spawning Repercussions of Evil. And then spawning the song version of Repercussions of Evil.
Wait....
Scratch my last....
Legacy of Kain series > Xenosaga > Xenogears > all
This list fails.
@Northernsky: Thank you.
No System Shock 2?
@jabedoben:
xenogears> xenosaga
Wow, garbage list.
@iamcool388:
Silent Hill 2 is still the best Survival Horror game in existance imho. If I were to make a top five survival horror list, it would have to be
1. Silent Hill 2
2. Fatal Frame
3. Resident Evil 2
4. Alone in the Dark
5. Fear Effect
special mention - Eternal Darkness
I dont even consider RE4 to be survival horror at all. I really wasn't scared once throughout it. Fucking awesome game, but the scares were left behind.
Of course, you might find Alone to be completely unplayable graphics wise by now. Still, it scared the pants off me as a kid.
I'm still waiting for my Beyond Good & Evil sequel.
Putting God of War and Portal in that list is a travesty. God of War is a rip off/reasembling of Greek myths, and Portal doesn't have the depth to belong.
Silicon Knights is handeling a retelling of ancient myths by totally making it their own while remaining true to the spirit of the stories. God of War just mixed and matched as they pleased, which isn't noteworthy.
I'd say a lot more games deserve to be on that list, I completely disagree with most of the choices.
@Shindokie: Read my Messages: FF6 was really good 7 was equally good just bigger.
I'm an 8 man myself i know not alot of people think the same way but i got completely absorbed into that story.
The same happend with each final fantasy up until 11 (ok, never played it, but i just stopped playing 12 after about 8 hours.) but 8 grabbed me the most and has stuck with me since. (Seriously i don't have a playstation anymore and i still can't sell it.)
I'm amazed there's no elder scrolls on that list.
@Komrade_Kayce: My list would have Silent Hill 2 and Siren tied for number one.
Indeed, where the hell is xenogears. Xenogears might not be the best RPG ever, but the story sure is. Storywise nothing goes above xenogears. Only planescape torment comes close, atleast that one is on the list.
@iamcool388:
Silent Hill 2's story is fabulous. RE4 had a decent story, yes--far better than any other RE, but it comes nowhere near the beautiful, heartbreaking tale of SH2.
Oh yeah, SH2 and RE4 both have good gameplay but SH2 is absolutely terrifying. RE4's a walk in the park in comparison.
Lol, whoever actually said "Halo" needs to take a second look and start thinking about real gaming.
I agree with this list in many aspects. The Metal Gear Solid series by far, BY FAR has the best story out of every video game ever made.
I'm sure MGS4 is going to have some crazy awesome twists in store for us. I'm not sure whether to hope that MGS4 or LittleBigPlanet will be the greatest games ever, so we'll have to wait and see. How about some MGO in the meantime? ^.^