Top 5 Video Game Franchises

[Dark Victory]

What franchises are in your personal top five?


1. Metal Gear Solid - While the storyline can be hard to follow and tedious, the presentation of it is like no other, with memorable characters and excellent gameplay, involving innovative bossfights and graphics that always impress.

2. Half-Life - While I was too young to play the first in 1998, it gave birth to scripted moments in gaming which now makes us feel that much closer to being in a hollywood film. With an interesting post-apocalyptic, science-fiction narrative and great first-person gameplay elements, Valve had created one of the greatest franchises in history which still lives up to the hype today. If you include Portal and Counter-Strike, you have arguably the greatest of all-time.

3. God of War - An excellent spin-off of Greek mythology nailing key characters and introducing one great bad ass. Not to mention the awesome, gory gameplay full of "OH SNAP!" moments.

4. Grand Theft Auto - The one and only that gave birth to the three-dimesional, open world sandbox. While many others have used the same concept, none have executed it as well as the guys at Rockstar North. Combining a long, near-impeccable story with extremely fun, gratuitous gameplay -- at least in this aspect -- created a game that was the cat's pajamas in 2001. The franchise is still strong today, created ways to 'wow' us in big, immersive cities that keep calling back. Even if you're not a fan, you have to admire it for being one of the main sources for moral panic and controversy.

5. Call of Duty - While I don't really care for two entries, the first one released in 2003 blew my mind away. In fact, I remember faking sick just to continue playing. While I do think the two most popular ones of the franchise are a tad overrated, the quality of the single-player and online modes are fantastic and create one hell of a gaming experience.


Honorable Mentions
Hitman
Rock Band
Jak and Daxter
Max Payne
Brothers in Arms

 

[Addendum]

Deus Ex
Thief
Baldur's Gate
Splinter Cell
GTA

 

[Addendum]

new year and the double posts continue. Thanks hype.

 

[YoungE808]

God of War
Kingdom Hearts
Elder's Scroll
Ratchet
Call of Duty

Granted, I've only played one Elder's Scroll game (Oblivion) and one Call of Duty (MW).

 

[Jick]

God of War
Devil May Cry
Call of Duty
Medal of Honor
Megaman X

 

[Soapy]

Half-Life
Metal Gear
Oddworld
Age of Empires
The Legend of Zelda

 

[StrainedEyes]

Super Mario
Legend of Zelda
Grand Theft Auto
Half Life
Assassin's Creed

Honorable Mentions-
Mass Effect
Call of Duty
Metal Gear Solid
Pokemon
Hitman

 

[Tron Bonne]

Metal Gear
Devil May Cry
Half-Life
Kingdom Hearts

Hm, not so sure on a fifth. There's plenty of other franchises out there, I suppose, but those are the ones I've enjoyed very much consistently

 

[Speedball]

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic
Final Fantasy
Prince of Persia
Assassin's Creed
Legend of Zelda

 

[SuperFerret]

Kirby (Simplicity at it's best.)
Pokemon (Ate up FAR too much of my time and money, but I still love it.)
Mario Kart (Promotes the most amount of cursing of any game series I've EVER played)
WWF/E Smackdown/Smackdown vs. Raw (I've played it even when I haven't watched wrestling)
Rock Band (I like goofing off and singing fake words, even if I'm drumming or playing one of the guitars)

 

[Donnie Darko]

Super Mario

so very much agreed!

Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned Street Fighter. Besides being some of the most wildly popular games ever (especially in the early-mid 90s), they have spawned action figures, cartoon series, a live action movie, and all types of stuff.

 

[Superhero 101]

-Metal Gear
-Halo
-Call Of Duty
-God of War
-Grand Theft Auto

A Few More
-Zelda
-Super Mario Bros
-Final Fantasy
-Gears of War
-Resident Evil

 

[Oscorp]

1) God Of War
2) Crash Bandicoot (the first 3 for PSX)
3) Tekken
4) Gears Of War
5) Battle For Middle-Earth

 

[Ipodman]

HALO
Burnout
KOF
Dead Or Alive
Command and Conquer

 

[Electro UK]

I found this list surprisingly hard after a load of my favorite franchises having sequels that I didn't care for. As a result, this list might appear n00bish, but just check my other entries down the bottom. So here goes.

5. Dead Space - The first was the most wonderful surprise of 2008, a terrifying adventure that played buttery smooth. It proved that all you needed was polish and a whole lot of love to make one of the generation's best games. Amazingly, Extraction kept that feel despite the limitations of its light-gun genre. 2 amazing entries, don't let us down next time Visceral.

4. LucasArts Point and Clicks - Not really a franchise I know, but Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Sam & Max Hit the Road. These are the games of my childhood, and I will always remember and ALWAYS love them.

3. Resident Evil - 1-3 are uncompromising classics that spread fear into every room, every step you take. Then 4 came along and oh BOY. One of the defining games of all time, one of the best games of all time. 5, not as good but still a great game, just stopping short of placing it with the other games at the bottom.

2. Uncharted - 2 near faultless games in my eyes. The first was a love letter to gaming, 1980s action movies, and even older adventure movies. It was a perfect blend of gameplay, story, and atmosphere I feel. With 2's larger scale, it perhaps loses some of this, but that doesn't stop it from being what I feel is the 2nd greatest game of this decade. You can love Uncharted for just about any reason. I never forget all the times I run out of ammo, so dive for an enemy with my fists and pull it off, or blind fire round a corner with my last bullet and land a headshot on the last guy, or make a sprint for someone's gun as I finish him off, only for it to bounce off the train. So many moments like these are what makes Uncharted the definition of gaming.

1. Metal Gear Solid - I've been with it since the first Solid, and played every game in the entire series now. Sure, the twisted plot brings 2 and 4 down a few notches perhaps, but the free gameplay shows that us fans aren't just in it for the story. 4 is a brilliant blend of Hitman, Assassin's Creed etc letting you do what you want. 3, my favorite game of all time is a hardened stealth thriller, and a complete classic. Unbeatable.

Other mentions -

Fallout - Would easily have the 2 spot if it wasn't for Tactics, Brotherhood of Steel, and Fallout 3.

Command and Conquer - Amazing games up until Generals, and has fallen short ever since

Jak and Daxter - First game is one of the best ever, but after that only Daxter on PSP kept me entertained

Rainbow Six - Brilliant for a time, then lost it, then back to brilliance with Vegas, then lost it again with Vegas 2

Zelda - Hasn't been able to top itself since Orcarina, but still delivers on the "incredible" side by most videogame standards.

Smash Bros series - First 2 are utterly incredible, but for some reason I just couldn't get into Brawl. I know on paper it's easily the best in the series, but the bum characters, terrible campaign, and not-so-brilliant maps mean I wasn't playing for long

Crash Bandicoot - 4 brilliant games in 1, 2, 3, and CTR and then... yeah

 

[ttotheusher]

Good question dude. I always have to question the nature of any "favourite" lists, because are we taking the entirety of the franchise/band/film series into account, or can an individual game/album/film make up for other failures? Regardless, I had a brief think (as I think that gut reactions are always the right one's ) and so onto the list:

1. Uncharted. Yea, alright, theres only been two games (with a pinball game to come folks! SCORE!) but no other games have given me that warm feeling inside that I get when spending time with good ol' Nate and friends. It's astounding how right these games are.
2. Tomb Raider. Without a shadow of a doubt, THE games of my childhood. She's let herself go a little bit, with Underworld being a bit crap (and then Uncharted coming along and basically destroying the adventure genre) but I still have faith that the Queen of video games can make a glorious comeback.
3. God of War. The fact that I played the demo for the 3rd one again today has no baring whatsoever on this decision. Well maybe a tad. But in all seriousness, GOW has contantly amazed me, frustrated me, raped my eyeballs with its awesomeness, and made me shout "COOL!" more times than any other game whenever Kratos ripped someones head off. What a legend. I look forward to seeing you again in March mate.
4. Soul Calibur. If Tomb Raider is my childhood franchise, Soul Calibur was my individual childhood game. From making me laugh whenever Voldo dances, to the pure, unadulterated sense of accomplishment I got from whenever I completed someones story or unlocked a new character, I have some bloody good memories of that game. The second game on the PS2 kept me busy for weeks and weeks (I still maintain that Heichima from Tekken is the best character from any Soul game when he guested in the second). My favourite fighting games of all time, easy. I can still remember the smell of the carpet in my cousins study from whenever I went over there to play on his beautiful Dreamcast.
5. TimeSplitters. I say this is my favourite franchise, but in actuality, I really just mean the 2nd one. I can honestly say I've spent more time on this game than any other. From creating my own maps to playing through the ace story to shooting those damn monkeys awesome I freaking love this game so much. The 3rd was a real letdown, and I blame EA for that, but nothing will ever deny the beauty of the 1st and 2nd games. Too bad we'll never get a 4th one.

Honourable Mentions:

Max Payne - Just missed out on the top 5, but still a fantastic series. I'm cautiously optimistic for the 3rd.
Tiger Woods - For my money, the best sports game on the market, made all the better for knowing exactly why Tiger is so smiley all the time.
GTA - The classics may look basic now, but they still fill me with joy whenever someone mentions them. The more recent 3D games are very enjoyable, but they'll never top the classics for sure brillance. What was better than riding round 60's London doing whatever you wanted?
Dino Crisis - I'm gonna go against type here and say that even though the 1st and 2nd were the only good games in the series, I enjoy them more than the first Resident Evil games. Dinosaurs > Zombies in my mind.
Tekken - If they had stopped at 4, it would of been in the top 5. As it is, I cant include it. They just lost me after that edition. But 2 still kicks monumental arse.

 

[eternalinferno]

1. Metal Gear Solid
2.Uncharted
3.Final Fantasy
4.God of War
5.Devil May Cry (I know 2 sucked, but 1 and 3 are all time favs for me)

honorable mention: legend of zelda
damn this list was harder than I thought it would be to make

 

[Fading]

You think it's going to be easy making a list like this until you actually go to do it.

1. Legend of Zelda.
2. Metal Gear Solid.
3. Final Fantasy.
4. Uncharted.
5. Half-Life.

It's much easier to pick the titles than put them in a specific order. LOZ gets #1 tho, not because of a LOZ title being my favorite game or anything (tho Ocarina and Link to the past are up there), but because it's an older series that always produces a solid gaming experience. It's the main reason I bought an N64 and a Gamecube. Even if I've gotten tired of Mario, Zelda still gives me 1 consistant reason to buy a Nintendo console.

MGS gets second for much the same reason. Each title felt epic, and gave amazing gameplay moments. Final Fantasy is constantly reinventing itself, and USUALLY is what shows us what the console it's on is capable of (FF 7 was amazing at launch, and 9 the best looking PS1 game, and X took PS2 graphics to another level at launch with XII looking great late in the PS2 life cycle).

Uncharted would get higher, I mean 2 is my favorite game with 1 being top 5 as well, but it's still too new. It's had 2 awesome releases, but both have been this gen only. As for Half-Life, I don't think I've sunk more time in any other game (counting it's mods). It's not like I felt Half-Life 1 was the greatest game, but it did help push the FPS genre futher. Plus Counter-Strike was the perfect game to play at LAN parties with tons of friends in a basement while chugging beer, and eating pizza. And Half-Life 2 (to me) ushered in next gen gaming with it's physics and graphics. Then theres portal, I'll never believe in cake again .

 

[webhead731]

Hannah Montana the game.

 

[VenomVsSpidey]

Street Fighter
Mario
Zelda
Tekken


....that's about it for franchises for me...

 

[Rukus]

Resident Evil
Metal Gear Solid
Splinter Cell
Street Fighter
Hitman

Honorable mention: Twisted Metal, Rainbow Six Vegas, Condemned, Max Payne.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

Resident Evil
Metal Gear Solid
Splinter Cell
Street Fighter
Hitman

Damn, nice list.

Thats pretty much what id put.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

From the top of my head

Halo
Half-Life
God Of War
Assassin´s Creed
Warcraft

 

[Jennifer Walters]

Resident Evil
Super Mario
Final Fantasy
Legend of Zelda
Soul Calibur

 

[Spider-Vader]

Halo
Call of Duty
God of War
Super Mario
Marvel Ultimate Alliance/ X-Men Legends