Jared's top 10 games of all time

10. Zelda Ocarina of Time

This game needs no introduction or explanation; it's no stranger to top-ten lists by any means, and for good reason.

9. Half Life 2

The king of shooters. Its predecessor pioneered atmosphere and immersion in video games, and Half Life 2 reinvented that wheel to spectacular results.

8. Starcraft: Brood War

Were it not for Starcraft, the entire real-time genre would have fallen off the map years ago. Its three factions were so diverse and so well balanced, the speed was so tuned and fast, there were big strategies, small tactics, and everything in between. Plus, it came with a very easy-to-use map editor with a ridiculous amount of potential that was so fully realized by the community, there were amazing new things to do for years.

7. Diablo 2

With its randomly-generated environments and loot, near-infinite character customization, and addictively rewarding moment-to-moment gameplay, Diablo 2 kept me fully entertained for months at a time, again and again throughout the years.

6. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

The best edition of the best entry in the series. With 4, Resident Evil had become more than meaningful again. Great action, great thrills and chills. A real winner.

5. Mass Effect

Bioware's always made great RPGs, and their last great RPG, Knights of the Old Republic, might have taken this spot on the list were it not completely blown away by Mass Effect. Fantastic story, characters, universe, skills, combat, acting, choices, and on and on; you name it.

4. Quest for Glory 4

The Quest for Glory series is the lesser-known cousin of great point-and-click adventure games of the early '90s, but unlike its peers, this series provided way more than the standard linear progression. You got to create a character; with a class, stats, skills, and equipment how you choose. You could buy and sell things, fight monsters with blades and magic, and/or explore off the beaten path and find treasure. Almost all of the puzzles had at least three different ways to solve them, geared toward each class, but the way you built your character was unique; you could learn magic as a fighter, learn to sneak as a magic-user, or gain a concience as a theif and become a paladin. Best of all, the story and your character persist through the whole series, letting you see all five games through totally different eyes if you so chose. While they're all lighthearted in nature, Quest for Glory 4 is the best in the series for its darker tone, great and fully-voiced characters, and particularly great story.

3. Rock Band 2

Not much needs to be said about this one. It's a great, feel-good party game anyone can enjoy, and it's the only game I've ever seen that can be played and loved for hours on end... for years on end.

2. System Shock 2

All of Bioshock's qualities are directly lifted from this game. If you know Bioshock, you know pretty much how this game plays, but this is an RPG, too. Probably the creepiest and most atmospheric game ever made, System Shock 2 also provides an engrossing, well-told story with surprising twists.

1. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

This one is going to take some explaining. Normally, I'd have put Super Metroid in this spot, and I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't find that too surprising, even not knowing me personally. But I tried to think of things more objectively, removing any unnecessary nostalgia that may be holding back a more recent but more worthy game. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night sprung to mind immediately, as it was obviously directly inspired by Super Metroid and improved upon it in just about every way possible. But did even that game hold up against more recent Castlevania games? Surely the creative minds behind that incredible game could have the chance to do it again. Turns out they did do it again; while it's hard to go from the big screen TV to a DS, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow did improve upon Symphony in a lot of ways. But then a year later, Portrait of Ruin stole the show and somehow made itself an even more compelling experience. No small feat, to be honest.

Portrait of Ruin is basically like Symphony of the Night, except you had two characters you could switch between at any time, tons more secrets, unlockable characters, and had a huge world to explore, a great story with so many different endings, loads of new enemies, weapons, magic spells, union attacks, great bosses, multiple difficulty levels, astoundingly great-quality, catchy music, and unbeatable, fluid movement and combat minutiae. Hands-down the best game of all time.

For me, at least.