Concerning 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

An essential work for those who love overly-assertive book titles. After the jump I discuss its pros and cons and reveal the 20 most acclaimed games that do not appear in the book. If you hate Ico and Ultima, then this is the post for you.


1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die is a new book edited by Tony Mott that I have just finished inputting into my list database for the next update. It was an arduous task to say the least, as it required the addition of several hundred new games to the database. There are certain things that I like about the list. For instance, it includes a host of great indie games that usually go unrecognized in more corporate lists (e.g., IGN, any magazine, etc.). Also, it does not shy away from listing portable titles and even casual games, which I think video game reviewers in general should do a better job of acknowledging. It also features contributions from several very good critics (and believe me, good video game journalists are hard to find). However, my concerns outweigh my compliments. For one, the book focuses too heavily on more recent games (over 100 are from 2009 alone) at the expense of earlier games that, although unpolished, were far more competent from a design standpoint. (The inclusion of Uno, and the acclaim that the adaptation has garnered in general, suggests to me that most critics do not understand what constitutes good game design. But then again, neither do most video game designers.) In any event, I think that it is wrong to call a game great based solely on nostalgia or historical importance (Does anyone actually like Pong anymore?) but succumbing to 'the cult of the new' is almost as bad. Furthermore, the book includes far too many games from single series', such as listing every entry for Sid Meier's Civilization, The Sims, Mario Kart and many others. Certainly those are all great games, but there is no need to play every title in each of their respective franchises. The same criticism can be levied at the number of Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil and Call of Duty games listed, but at least those have unique stories (even if they are not particularly good ones). It also includes essentially every Peter Molyneux designed game (even really dodgy ones like Black & White), which is unsurprising given that he wrote the preface. However, the most obvious flaw is that there are not 1001 games that are truly essential, or, maybe even 1001 games that are good. Of course, this is part of an entire series of 1001 things you must experience before death, but, frankly, there is not a medium or category in existence with 1001 examples that are essential. But that's all meaningless semantics. Regardless, the point is that, considering how many slots are available, a little more variety would have been nice. From a more aesthetic standpoint, the book does look very pretty, but I do not think that I would actually spend my own money on it. Still, for those interested, it is definitely a solid physical resource for finding great games at a very fair price.

Finally, since this blog is all about lists, here are the 20 highest ranked games in my database that are excluded from this book.[1] So if you die before you get a chance to play them, then it's apparently not a big deal:

1. Ico
2. Ultima Underworld
3. Pokemon Red / Blue / Yellow
4. Wolfenstein 3-D
5. Ultima III: Exodus
6. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
7. Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
8. Contra
9. System Shock
10. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
11. Wing Commander
12. Phantasy Star 2
13. Heroes of Might & Magic (series)
14. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
15. Empire, Wargame of the Century
16. Star Fox
17. King's Quest: Quest for the Crown
18. Tetris Attack
19. Castlevania
20. Pitfall!

It is indeed a sad day to be Lord British.

[1] By this I mean the highest ranked games based only on lists that include all platforms. Since my database also includes platform specific lists, this list will not be the same as the overall list of the 200 most acclaimed video games.

Links:
Amazon UK (includes 'look inside' preview)
Amazon US