Top 50 PC games of all time. 50-41

Now that I am back in the PC gaming world it is only natural to look back at the all the great games made for the PC platform. Today PC exclusives are almost an oxymoron as developers desperately want that piece of the console pie that is known as the mass market. Game industry has changed it is no longer a niche market and while most indie companies still chooses PC as its starting point, most big name developer have profits in mind.

50. Flight Simulator X (2006)

-developer: Microsoft Game Studio

Its rare seeing a quality game from Microsoft Game Studio, or any game for that matter but the flight sim series that started in 1982 is truly the best aircraft simulation game on the market. It has won numerous awards and held the test of time as Microsoft tends to push out a new one every a few years to update its engine. If you want to virtually pilot a plane across the country as realistic as possible, then this game is it.

49. Sim City 2000 (1993)

-developer: Maxis

Lets be honest, there are a lot of sim city games and I could have easily picked anyone of them but this is the first one that had all the details modern sim city games would have. All the cool buildings to build, a neighboring city to trade with and entertaining newspaper to read. It felt like a real live city that is in control of you hands.

48. The Sims (2000)

-developer: Maxis

Okay so there are a lot of simulation games on the PC and that genre was a big part of PC game back in the day. They are usually huge in size, expensive in the details and well played best with a keyboard and mouse. Lastly they were almost all made by Maxis. The sims let you live a virtual life from day to day stand point in a customized neighborhood. Like your real life does not suck enough you have to endure the same issues in this virtual life like getting married, eating, sleeping and even go to bathroom for godsakes. But overall its another step toward virtual life style like many other simulation games.

47. Grand Theft Auto (1997)

-developer: Rockstar

Before all the controversies and news reports Rockstar North made a little niche game on PC called Grand Theft Auto. It was nice little game that allowed you to run around in couple of the city streets killing pedestrians and fighting cops. It was a pretty violent game even back then but it never was very realistic and popular in a sense that not many people knew about Rockstar or this PC game. The game later was ported to PS1 and Gameboy but as far as I know the franchise started this crusade against violent video games started on PC.

46. Need for Speed (1994)

-developer: EA

This was a time when EA still made games rather than just buying bunch other game studios and destroy their games. Need for Speed was one of the first big time racing game on the PC with realistic cars and realistic mechanics. Nowadays every other game allows you to drive a dream car but back then this was the one and only that had cars like a Lambo or Porsche. It eventually sprouted into many other different versions of Need speed and with time just like every other EA franchise, it turned into shit.

45. Star Wars TIE fighter (1994)

-developer: Totally Games

Space dog fights and Star Wars, what could go wrong with that concept? Actually it goes wrong quit often for Star Wars related games. But this wasn't one of them as the game was very balanced on the game play and the Star Wars setting helped its cause as well. Several things such as the HUD and flight mechanics made it feel very real like what piloting a TIE fighter in Star Wars would feel like. It also helps that you are playing as the bad guys.

44. Monkey Island 2 (1991)

-developer: Lucas Arts

Its unthinkable that studios like Lucas Arts and EA used make games, and good ones at that. The secrete of Monkey Island is one of the most acclaimed point and click adventure game series on PC, it had good action and puzzles and it was one of the first to pave the way for this genre on PC. I mean think about it, how hard would it to play a point and click adventure game on a console?

43. Sid Meier's Pirates (1987)

-developer: Microprose

this game should probably be rated a lot higher on this list but most gamers today don't even know about this game or who Sid Meier is. He is a legend in PC gaming and this game is the first game with a open ended world with non-linear story line. Today games like that is like a given but Pirates is the first to pave that road making action/adventure game focus on a good experience overall rather than the shallow go through a corridor and kill everything that moves types of game it had been to that point.

42. Call of Duty (2003)

-developer: Infinity Ward

At a time when PC gaming seemed to be defined and only defined by its vast and unoriginal backlogs of First Person Shooters, Activision decided it was necessary to make another one and based on the overly done WWII theme none the less. Well it went head on with the popular Battlefield Franchise from EA and it was truly a battle of the Titans, not the two games but the two corporation that made gaming into a business rather than entertainment. Its hard to say who has won in the end after about 80 billion literation of both franchises but they sure have made their mark in gaming history, good or bad.

41. Dawn of War (2004)

-developer: Relic Entertainment

Warhammer is one of the oldest PC fantasy setting and Dawn of War is one of the most acclaimed real time strategy games on PC but you cant help but feel that they have been overshadowed by someone else doing exactly the same thing. I am not here to argue who stole whos idea but its hard to dismiss the similarities between Warcraft with Warhammer and Dawn of War with Starcraft. However we can all agree Relic is still that same niche PC developer from day one that makes incredible RTS games.