Games With the Best Stories Ever

[wraggster]

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)

http://kotaku.com/381799/games-with-the-best-stories-ever

[**1_Man_Matrix**]

No Half-life? NO HALF-LIFE?

Fallout and GoW are fantastic choices, but c'mon... Half-life is the most epic saga!

pfft :p

[royvedas]

Yeah- where is Halfife 2?

And why is shitty God of War on the list?

Sure it's nice graphics and stuff, but boring story, boring gameplay.

[Penguinator]

LOL!
San Andreas with best story?
That is just wrong. Where are all the Half Lifes?
And Deus Ex?
Some deserve their place but there's just too many lame ones.

[masterchief929]

there was a typo... FF7 was supposed to be on the top of the list! THEN HALO 1-3!!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

[____anders____]

seiken densetsu 3? :D

[gold2040]

I'm not a hardcore video gamer but IMHO Metal Gear Solid pwns any other story, in any other game. It has action, emotion, love, pain, death, betrayal and has a movie quality feel, that no other games can breath. Only Final Fantasy, could probably be on the same level IMO to connect you with so many emotions.........this is only what i've played so far though

[robocelot]

Uh.... Halflife?

Snatcher?

[DarthPaul]

Lol @ San Andreas!

Metal Gear Solid has to be there for sure. God of War has an awesome story, and BioShock... extremely amazing story. But where's Kingdom Hearts?

From there, I've played:

- Star Wars: KOTOR - not so good story at all in my opinion.
- God of War: As mentioned, epic, awesome story
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Come on! A gangster who got his mom killed and is seeking for revenge? This is everywhere!
- BioShock - Unique, and amazing story.
- Metal Gear Solid - Simply the best video-games of all times.
- Portal - I really don't know about this story... I can't beat the 18th stage of the tutorial!

[goity]

This list is dreadful. The fact that Portal is on there makes it immediately obvious that it's just trying to bait the illogical fanboys of the internets. Where the hell are things like FFX, Heavenly Sword or Vagrant Story?

[dejkirkby]

What about Resident Evil?

[Graxer0419]

I agree with MGS and Grim Fandango!

[Eviltaco64]

Where's Shaq-Fu :p

[Axelius]

What about Max Payne 1 and 2? They were really the only games that made me feel that there is in fact something like a story. Even though the story is as little as in an action movie from the 80s, at least there is one.

[jamotto]

No, Freespace, The Journeyman Project, Deus Ex and Thief.

[watupgroupie]

there was a typo... FF7 was supposed to be on the top of the list! THEN HALO 1-3!!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Okay, I agree with FF7 but halo 1-3 thats sad :(
Maybe halo 1(it still doesn't belong on best storyline list though) but 2 and 3 were obviously not even focused on the story and campaign turned into a flying piece of crap.

[robman84]

Shenmue?
ICO?
Ocarina of Time?

[alanparker05]

i've never seen such a crappy list the fact they completely left out final fantasy 7 means they are deliberately trying to annoy people so they will talk about this and aim for the people who only play the latest games and have a 5 minute attention span

[Toadzter17]

This list is dreadful. The fact that Portal is on there makes it immediately obvious that it's just trying to bait the illogical fanboys of the internets. Where the hell are things like FFX, Heavenly Sword or Vagrant Story?

Second that, and where the hell is Shadows of the Colossus? This list fails big time

[Shadowblind]

i've never seen such a crappy list the fact they completely left out final fantasy 7 means they are deliberately trying to annoy people so they will talk about this and aim for the people who only play the latest games and have a 5 minute attention span

FFVII had a generic story like every other Final Fantasy before it. Again.

Bioshock, good job on that list, but Portal? San Andreas? KOTOR?

Pft. Tales of Phantasia should be there, as well as Mass Effect. God of War was pretty epic.

[Sp3ct0r]

What?!? No Donkey Kong Country? But the horde of bananas was so compelling! lol :D

[limming]

WTF GRAND THEFT AUTO?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
LMFAO!!!
Wasn't Astroboy based off of a cartoon??

That list sucks so much. Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X need to be on there. I could think of others but I just woke up and am tired.

[Stealth Kill]

Beyond Good & Evil for EVER!!!!!!!!!

[oooooomonkeys]

wheres shenmue, and san andreas????? wtf it was cr@p

[bumfacekilla]

Xenogears. One of my fave RPGs, it had an awesome storyline.

[mike_jmg]

God of War

[Triv1um]

I agree with Portal, that has a very deep and interesting storyline for a puzzley sort of game. (weighted companion cube FTW. Haha)

Assassins Creed had a great storyline, even though the game wasnt that grand.

Half life 2 should be in there.

All the MGS's.

There are many more which should be on the list :(

And San Andreas? WTF?

[**1_Man_Matrix**]

Only two games have ever made me feel like crap, and that, for me, conveys how good the stories really are.

The Half-life saga, at the end of Episode 2. For those of you who haven't finished it, if you've been with Gordon the whole way through, you'll see what I mean.

And Splinter Cell: Double Agent, after the first mission something terrible happens to Sam, and they do a really good job of conveying the hell he goes through from it.

Anyway, there are plenty of good games with great stories that aren't so negative, but you see what I'm getting at :) It's the ones that make you feel something, anything...

[Joe88]

this thread attracted fanboys from all around
specially the halo and FF7 fanboys

[Dorian]

Sigh,I love how no one even chooses to acknowledge that Star Control 2 isnt on this list.
But seriously,

Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC)--Good game,terrible story.
Grim Fandango (1998, PC)--Excellent
The Longest Journey (2000, PC)--Meh,so so.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004)--primitive and minimal story
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003) --Meh,so so
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004)--What crack were these people smoking?
Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007) --Excellent
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993) --Ok,but too long and tedious
Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007) --Excellent
Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999) --Crap
Fallout 2 (PC, 1998)--Great game
God of War (PS2, 2005) --No story,just slashing
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003) --Evercrack for star wars fans
Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994) --Ok it was good.
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001) --Meh,so so

[Pilot_51]

I don't entirely agree with the list.

Portal, while it's a great game, it doesn't have a deep storyline at all.

One of the first games I thought of before I even looked at the list was System Shock 2, the predecessor to Bioshock and possibly one of the most underrated games of all time.

I agree with MGS and Final Fantasy (even though I've never played through a FF game), but the rest I don't know enough about to form any conclusion.

At least one of the Zelda's deserve a spot on that list.

The list looks more like the favorite games for a single person than it does a list compiled by multiple people of games with the best storylines.

My list would look something like this:
Metal Gear Solid [PS1]
System Shock 2 [PC]
Zelda: Twilight Princess [Wii]
Command and Conquer [PC] (I can't decide on any one so I'll just say the whole series)
Half-Life [PC] (um... the series)
XIII [PC]
Golden Sun [GBA] (both of course since they form a single story)
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass [DS]

To fit in with the poor choices of the 'master list', here's some of my favorite games with weak storylines, most of them simply because the story doesn't blend with the gameplay:
Quake 2 [PC]
Battlefield 1942 [PC]
Unreal Tournament 2004 [PC]
Rogue Spear [GBA, PC]
Portal [PC]
Metroid Prime: Hunters [DS]
Zelda: Link's Awakening [GB] (not a bad storyline but I just didn't feel absorbed in it enough)
Steel Reign [PS1]
Nuclear Strike [PS1]

[Yrkoon]

planescape has the best story of any rpg i have ever played :)

[ReoEagle]

With all the reviews for a remake, I'm quite surprised that Star Control 2 isn't on here.
Though I'm more surprised that System Shock 2 isn't on there yet the inferior yet WAY prettier Spiritual successor. Do they not understand that there is no equalivent to anything as freaky as SHODAN in Bioshock. =(

[Yrkoon]

been a while since i played star control 2 but from what i remember the story is better than half the games on the list.

planescape torment beats all though for sick and twisted story that makes ff7 look like the teletubbies :)

i admit i have played a fair bit of bio shock and stopped playing it i have also done the same with system shock 2 a few times and found ss2 to be better :P

[Joe88]

Sigh,I love how no one even chooses to acknowledge that Star Control 2 isnt on this list.
But seriously,

Metal Gear Solid (1998, PlayStation, PC)--Good game,terrible story.
Grim Fandango (1998, PC)--Excellent
The Longest Journey (2000, PC)--Meh,so so.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC, 2004)--primitive and minimal story
Beyond Good & Evil (PS2, Xbox, GameCube, PC, 2003) --Meh,so so
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance, 2004)--What crack were these people smoking?
Portal (Xbox 360, PC, PS3, 2007) --Excellent
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (PC, 1993) --Ok,but too long and tedious
Bioshock (Xbox 360, 2007) --Excellent
Planescape: Torment (PC, 1999) --Crap
Fallout 2 (PC, 1998)--Great game
God of War (PS2, 2005) --No story,just slashing
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox, PC, 2003) --Evercrack for star wars fans
Final Fantasy VI (Super Nintendo, 1994) --Ok it was good.
Silent Hill 2 (Xbox, PS2, PC, 2001) --Meh,so so
MGS- just because you couldnt understand the story doesnt mean it has a bad story, I had to play MGS2 a few times before I full understood it, first time I was just left scratching my head in confusion???
the other ones was pretty easy to understand

GoW - where you even wacthing the cut scenes or just did you just skip them???, one of the reason GoW succeeded over DMC and most other games was because of its incredible story

Portal - so epic it didnt even need a story to get on a top 10 list for games for best in game story
lulz

[bluenewt]

No Ultima VII?

Tsk.

[IWantMyMTV]

List is weighted towards newer and console games so I'm not sure these work...

Sanitarium - PC Adventure...probably the best story I have ever come across in a game...very memorable...however, great story meant limited interactivity in the day...scroll all over the screen to find 'hot' objects and then solve the puzzle...little more interactive than 'Myst' bu what an awesome story...

Ultima III - I played it on a Commodore 64...The ultimate bad guy (gal) in Ultima III is a ???, the offspring of Mondain and Minax? Who saw that coming? Maybe not a whole lot of story driving you to the end conclusion, but a fully fleshed-out world...with towns and people that had history and references to the first two games...

Warcraft - PC...Look at what happened here...who needed a story for the first two? Orcs and trolls vs humans and elves...good enough...Warcraft 2 gave you some story and some personalities...and then Warcraft 3 hit and we had heroes to protect and level up and the heroes had stories...and then World of Warcraft came along...and voila...we have blogs, and internet sites, and youtube episodes, and novels devoted to the gameworld (story) of Warcraft...people even debating what's canonical and what's not as if there was some form of Blizzard scripture with apocryphal prophets out there suggesting that Illidan is tougher than Arthas...almost rivals Tolkien...excepted Tolkien did all his framework before writing his story not as he was writing the story...

Command and Conquer - PC...Bread and butter RTS play...but who didn't want to finish the next mission just to see the cheesy FMV? The computer generated cutscenes with military equipment always looked great...but to this day, even Michael Ironsides and the girl who plays 'Boomer' on Battlestar: Galactica continue the cheesy, but addicting story...and this was the first game where the installation routine already brought you into the story...

Return to Castle Wolfenstein - PC...FPS's always seem more like a series of chapters than a book meant to be read from start to finish...you're going to have to kill a bad guy/gal/thing...and you're alone for whatever reason but you're no slouch...find a weapon and off you go killing some minor and major baddies along the way to the apocalyptic final battle...Half-Life broke the mold with its in-game intro and 'just another day at work' feel with a wimpy scientist...but Return to Castle Wolfenstein had an awesome intro movie with demons and arcane magic...and then you throw in Nazis and super-weapons...hi-end tech alongside killer cyborgs and undead...and you have an everything but the kitchen sink sci-fi, horror approach to WW2 before 'Hellboy' the movie came out...still one of my favorite 'stories' for an FPS outside the already mentioned Half-Life/Half-Life 2...

[greenlight]

I am a player .
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[darkeclipse7243]

The Legend of Zelda:Ocarina of Time and the Kingdom Hearts games have good stories too :thumbup:

[vetrox]

Most of these games doesn't gave that good stories imo, just a powerful way of conveying them.
That, or just a great amount of story, which most gamers seem to think is equal to a good story... of course, I don't mean all of the listed games! GTA: SA isn't hard to point at, though :)

A game with a great story, for example, would be the Marathon series. This would be as good a story I've seen in games, and that's just sci-fi without any greater message. It did, however, excel in plot, immersion and complexity. Especially towards the end of Infinity, the third and last game of the series.


Do they not understand that there is no equalivent to anything as freaky as SHODAN in Bioshock. =(
If you enjoy SHODAN in SS, you'll love Marathon. It features an AI almost as scary :)