If I had a dime for every time a new ‘Best Games Ever’ list appeared before me, I’d have at least thirty-five bucks. So when Guinness World Records set out to find the 50 greatest game series ever, it decided to take a different approach: rather than ask game critics, developers, and industry folk, it asked gamers. The consumers. The fans.
As it turns out, the fans know jack.
I can live with the Halo series at #1. I mean, I wouldn’t pick it in my top ten, personally – I vastly prefer the Half-Life (#14) games, for example – but I can see why people would pick Halo . It’s highly polished, does what it sets out to achieve well, and the first Halo was a genuinely revelatory game. But there’s also some serious nonsense in this list – Killzone (#33) above Mario Kart (#47)? Skate (#34) above the brilliant Diablo games (#45)?
Debates of taste aside, Guinness readers also seem to struggle with the concept of what a “series” is . For example, quite a few games here ( Goldeneye 007 , Chrono Trigger ) are single games . Honestly, the stupid is making my head hurt. Here’s the sloppy list in its entirety:
1. Halo 2. Call of Duty 3. The Legend of Zelda 4. Guitar Hero 5. Metal Gear 6. Super Mario Bros. 7. World of Warcraft 8. Gears of War 9. Super Smash Bros. 10. Grand Theft Auto 11. Pokémon 12. Resident Evil 13. Fallout 14. Half-Life 15. Sonic the Hedgehog 16. Counter-Strike 17. Runescape 18. FIFA 19. Kingdom Hearts 20. Final Fantasy 21. Pac-Man 22. Madden NFL 23. The Sims 24. Tomb Raider 25. WWE Smackdown Vs. RAW 26. Rock Band 27. LittleBigPlanet 28. Saints Row 29. The Elder Scrolls 30. God of War 31. GoldenEye 007 32. Bioshock 33. KillZone 34. Skate 35. Left 4 Dead 36. Need for Speed 37. Chrono Trigger 38. Gran Turismo 39. StarCraft 40. Ratchet Clank 41. Pong 42. Tom Clancy’s 43. Star Wars: Battlefront 44. Battlefield 45. Diablo 46. Lego Batman 47. Mario Kart 48. Burnout 49. Crash Bandicoot 50. Pro Evolution Soccer
See also: Batman: Arkham Asylum sets dubious world record
[Via VG247 ]