GameSided Roundtable: Our Favorite 10/10 Games

Greetings! This is our weekly GameSided Roundtable feature, where our writers converge to provide their opinions, wishes, statements or critical thought on one general topic centered around video games. Sometimes it can be funny, sometimes it can be serious. Contemporary, classic; we hope to cover a wide variety of things in this segment as a group. If you wish to submit an idea for a GameSided Roundtable discussion topic, you can leave the editor an email at: daniel.george@fansided.com. We’ll totally give you (and your Twitter account, if applicable) a shoutout!

This week’s GameSided Roundtable topic: What video game is your personal favorite 10/10?”

Georgina Young (Twitter)

For me, Pokemon Heart Gold is not only my favourite game, but is possibly one of the most perfect games of all time. I know plenty of people who would disagree with me. However, I played Pokemon Heart Gold for over 200 hours, when I first purchased it, in one play through. Not only is it a great Pokemon game as always, but with all the in game legendaries, tournaments and mini games there will always be something that can keep you going, without being forced to grind. I honestly cannot think of a single flaw of the title. It is complete perfection.

Jon McSwain (Twitter)

As I was thinking back to some of the spectacular games I have played throughout the years, one that I would have assuredly given a perfect score was Grand Theft Auto III. It was nothing like I had ever played before. In fact, it was probably nothing like most of us had ever played. GTA III was really the first completely open-world game where you could literally do just about anything. It had a truly enthralling story, with characters that were as intriguing as they were ruthless. I can vividly remember being completely blown away by the fact that if I wanted to walk down the street and rob random people, hijack cars or get in fist fights it was completely possible. The reactions of random people throughout the world was not only impressive, but quite revolutionary when remembering it was only 2001.

Not only was the main story terrific, but there was also tons of side missions. You could play police, firetruck, paramedic, taxi cab and lets not forget the TOYZ missions where you drove miniature cars into different areas strapped with explosives. How awesome was that?! They had so many different cars, from SUV’s to limousines, to semi-trucks and every time you entered a different one there was a different radio station playing. GTA III had several different radio channels you could chose between, which seemed so ahead of its time. Of course their most notable station was the talk-radio channel that would even have callers calling in to give their opinions on the topics being discussed. It was just fantastic.

I am still amazed at the level of forward thinking Rockstar Games had when creating GTA III. I spent hundreds of hours entrenched in Liberty City and this was the game that really sparked my love of the genre. Rockstar Games really expanded on what we know as open-world games and Grand Theft Auto III set the gold standard for them. What truly stood out about this game was that it hadn’t been done before. There was nothing else to compare with it and from that perspective, (coupled with the story, environment, mechanics and gameplay) I would have given this game a perfect 10/10.

Barrett Womack (Twitter)

To me, rating a game on a number can be a challenge. Nine out of ten can mean different things for different games – as could a four or a six. But for me, the game that has been closest to a “perfect 10” is Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. I feel this way for several reasons. The first, and most personally compelling, is that I love the game, and I love playing it. It has an excellent, personality-filled story that made me want to learn even more about the Mario universe. Pacing and gameplay were near perfect – I never felt like I needed to grind to get through battles, nor did they ever feel easy. Likewise, puzzles took clever thinking without ever feeling unfair or ‘cheap.’

But what makes it most compelling to me, and such a “perfect” title, is that there is no way to break the game. Using power-ups and special moves and grinding to high levels made the battles easier, but everyone who played Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door got the same amazing experience, and I think that means a lot. It’s a well-crafted RPG with signature Nintendo charm, and I can’t think of any technical issues with the game whatsoever. Which is saying something: I’ve played through it six times, one of which was last week.