What's your Perfect 10?

[Pedro]

I've been musing over Richard's Portal 2 review, and his perfect 10 out of 10 score. Before I go further, I should say that this isn't a pop at Richard in any way; that's his score for the game and that's cool. I haven't played it myself.

But I was thinking that of even my favourite games, I personally wouldn't give most of them anywhere near a ten. Some of them would struggle to get a seven, to be honest. I have maybe one game I can think of that could be considered a ten.

What about you, if you were to score a game a perfect ten, what game would it be, and why? If you couldn't in all conscience award a ten to any game, why not?

[Li-Ion]

Lotsa people seem to think a 10 is absolutely perfect and perfection cannot be achieved thus there is no 10. My question is: why don't you make a scale from 1 to 9 then

Games I would award a 10 without hesitation:

UFO - Enemy Unknown
I repeat here what I wrote at the recent podcast: I never felt afraid for any character in a game before UFO. I was getting used to the heroes of the game being more powerful but at least as powerful as the opponent. I was used to the enemies in a game to use simple patterns, with Mega Man being already rather complex (lol). UFO turned this upside down. The invading aliens were cunning, unpredictable and physical superior to the men and women I commanded. When a grenade blew up three of my soldiers I felt like I let them down. Everytime a sniper killed one of my scouts without me seeing him I felt helpless. The first time I finished a mission without loosing anyone was a triumph! When I invaded Cydonia and my best soldier was mind controlled and blew himself and 2 others up I was in shock. When I finished the mission after all I felt like I'm on top of the world.

X-Wing and it's successor Tie Fighter
Some consider Freespace 2 as the pinnacle of space combat games. I think it's these two. The story and cinematics build up the sweet Star Wars feel (pre episode 1, when Star Wars was still sweet ). The gameplay blew Wing Commander out of the water. It was easy to learn but got tough as nails soon and managing engines, shields and weapons was necessary. Finally managing to get to the run at the death star and blowing that damn thing up was just awesome.

Demon's Souls
Best game of this console generation (yes, I said that quite often ). When my main complaint is that some of the fights could have been "a bit more awesome" there is just not much to complain about

Red Baron
Why don't we have more WWI flight sims? Red Baron was such a great game! I can't count the hours I spent over WWI France in dogfight after dogfight after dogfight. Easy to learn with controls that were intuitive and gameplay nicely placed between sim and fun. It also had a campaign mode which was a lot of fun, leading up to the point where von Richthofen himself issued a challenge!

Master of Orion 2
Civ in Space. Do I need to say anything else? Space makes everything better, so what could top Civ in space?

[JLB1987]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

Lotsa people seem to think a 10 is absolutely perfect and perfection cannot be achieved thus there is no 10. My question is: why don't you make a scale from 1 to 9 then

That's what I've thought in the past, to be honest. There is no game I've played that I would give a 10, personally. There are a few games worthy of a 9 this generation though.

Fallout 3, Forza 3, Half Life 2 (not a strictly current gen game, but it's on the Orange Box, so good enough...), maybe Split/Second.

Actually, that's about it, thinking hard about it. The only other games I would give such a high score is Morrowind and KoTOR.

For reference about what goes on in my twisted little mind, Dues Ex would be an 8 (although damn close to a 9), and Portal would be a 4.

[Kin Korn Karn]

Hmm, off the top of my head and certainly depending on the direction the wind is blowing today:

Resident Evil 4
Oblivion

And nostalgia probably has something to do with theses being 10's in my book:

Legend of Zelda
Phantasy Star 1
Herzog Zwei
Ultima 4
Heroes of Might and Magic 3

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

Lotsa people seem to think a 10 is absolutely perfect and perfection cannot be achieved thus there is no 10. My question is: why don't you make a scale from 1 to 9 then

Yeah, I would say that a 10 has to be perfect, but I do think perfection can be achieved in rare cases.

The one game I think has achieved this is Demon's Souls. It's flawless. The only thing I can possibly think of that could have been improved was the ending, but even then that's a personal thing (I'd have liked a cinematic of the fog lifting, and a voiceover like at the start), and is in keeping with the subversion of the genre present in the rest of the game (difficult lead-up, sometimes easy bosses).

Bold ideas, fantastic setting, great gameplay, lots of depth, flawlessly executed.

I wouldn't give the rest of my top 5 a ten though, which begs the question, should you give the games you've enjoyed the most a perfect score, even though they may be games that are ugly/flawed/only a mother could love?

Top 5 games (based on amount of sheer pleasure derived):

1. Mount & Blade
2. Fallout 3
3. Demon's Souls
4. Deadly Premonition
5. Err, I don't have a fifth..maybe Oblivion.

I haven't played many games that are over five years old though, so I'm a bit limited in my selection.

[crackajack]

Looks like i'd give much more "perfect" scores.
I'd say 10 are right when i either don't see important negatives, or really none at all, or it's so much fun that i easily can ignore some flaws.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
Mafia
Max Payne
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Portal
Psychonauts
Resident Evil 4
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Metroid
Team Fortress 2
The Legend Of Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time
TrackMania Nations/United Forever
World In Conflict: Complete Edition
World of Goo

As you might notice, i am no nostalgia fan, so chances are high that this list will look different in 10 years.

[RandomRob]

I second X-Com

also

Sid Meir's Alpha Centauri
Deus Ex
Riven

[Li-Ion]

Just started playing it again on Saturday and now I'm convinced

Vanquish
belongs on my list of 10 as well. Such an extraordinary game. It lets me do things that would only be possible in cutscenes (or QTE at best) in other games. For example sliding into one enemy for a melee attack, emptying a clip of the assault rifle into 3 more robots in slow motion and finishing off the last one in close combat before doing a backflip towards a wall to have a smoke...

[frogofdeath]

Such a loaded question!

I am inclined to say Super Mario 64 would still be considered a perfect 10. Still has a slight edge over Galaxy in my book (why the hell can't Mario punch anymore!?). Only real negative is the graphics, like most N64 games, have not held up too kindly.

World of Goo may also get a "perfect" nod from me. Love the style, the dark humor, the gameplay, everything. So much about this game was just done right; I really can't think of a negative about this gem.

There may be others, but things change on a daily basis so ask me in a couple weeks!

[Crappymeatplow]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

Just started playing it again on Saturday and now I'm convinced

Vanquish
belongs on my list of 10 as well. Such an extraordinary game. It lets me do things that would only be possible in cutscenes (or QTE at best) in other games. For example sliding into one enemy for a melee attack, emptying a clip of the assault rifle into 3 more robots in slow motion and finishing off the last one in close combat before doing a backflip towards a wall to have a smoke...

Yeah Vanquish is pretty damn fun.I have replayed it twice and is still a blast trying different moves and what not.I myself would rate games by how many times would I replay it as one of the main scores.right now the most replay I have had from a game has to be Mass Effect.Other game I had a lotta replay value was Sword of Virmire on the good ol' Genesis.In other words..if my wife comes in the cave and screams at me for playing too much of the same game..it's a 10.

[Stimpack77]

Few games can ever approach 10 simply because it would take too much time and resources to create those games. Human beings are exceedingly limited.

I prefer just naming games that approach greatness in all aspects rather then raw scores, there are only in reality three scores: 1) Avoid, 2) meh, and 3) play it.

Every game you have ever played or have played all the way through falls into the 1-3 scale, so calling a game a "perfect 10" is nonsense.

You should always judge a game by whether you have the urge to go back to it years after you've played it.

One of the few games that approach "perfect 10" is civilization, it is such well designed experience (until Civ 5 that is). Even though every civ is not perfect all of them have that "just one more turn" quality to them.

I always measure a games worth by it's replayability, raw scores are meaningless if you go through the game once or twice and then NEVER touch it again. That means that something about the games design is fundamentally broken.

Any real lasting game that is good you want to play it again. Few games approach this.

A better question to ask players is - what games do you replay the most? That should give us insight that raw scores/reviews don't give us.

[Li-Ion]

Originally Posted by Stimpack77

You should always judge a game by whether you have the urge to go back to it years after you've played it.

I almost never replay games, re-read books or re-watch movies. Thus I don't care for 'replayability'. I want new experiences, not repeat already experienced ad infinitum. Because of that I strongly disagree with this statement. "Replayability" has nothing to do with how good a game is and is something hugely overrated among gamers. It's the same weird concept as judging the quality of a game by the amount of hours that can be spent on it.

[crackajack]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

"Replayability" has nothing to do with how good a game is and is something hugely overrated among gamers.

Depends on the game (and the individual gamer).
A racing game has to have a ton of replayability since the whole purpose of the game is to enjoy replaying 2 or 3 tracks with a bazillion of cars that handle not that differently.

[Kin Korn Karn]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

I almost never replay games, re-read books or re-watch movies. Thus I don't care for 'replayability'. I want new experiences, not repeat already experienced ad infinitum. Because of that I strongly disagree with this statement. "Replayability" has nothing to do with how good a game is and is something hugely overrated among gamers. It's the same weird concept as judging the quality of a game by the amount of hours that can be spent on it.

I couldn't disagree more. Personally, if I really enjoy something (be it a video game, movie, book, heck food, etc.) then I want more. Often on the second go-round I find things that I never would have found the first time.

Liken it to a great restaurant: "man that was good, too bad I'll never go back again"

Too each his own.

[Stimpack77]

Originally Posted by Li-Ion

I almost never replay games, re-read books or re-watch movies. Thus I don't care for 'replayability'. I want new experiences, not repeat already experienced ad infinitum.

Then you are a casual gamer. Going by the current industry most gamers want rehashes of 10 year old games with dumbed down gameplay (first person shooters out the wazoo with merely different coats of paint).