Since the late 1970s, games have slowly risen to become more and more culturally significant with each passing decade. In the modern day, video games influence everything from movies, to politics to memes.
With the advancement of technology, online slots and casino games have become highly popular, including slots based on familiar topics and movie franchises.
Whether you love or hate them, you simply can’t ignore games anymore and for that reason, we have chosen to curate the top 10 games of all time.
10) Minecraft
We begin with an entry that is still immensely popular in the modern day, despite being almost a decade old. Minecraft transformed the gaming experience after its initial release in 2011, helping to shift perceptions of the industry in the process. Suddenly, games could be educational, as Minecraft helped young children to use logic, and to be creative with the way they assembled blocks.
9) Grand Theft Auto
GTA may be divisive, but just about every metric suggests that it is one of the most significant video game franchises in history. As of 2018, GTA V is the most profitable entertainment product ever, beating out the likes of Call of Duty and FIFA in the process. Since the very first edition of the game, which was released in 1997, Grand Theft Auto has been steadily increasing in popularity, year on year.
8) Gonzo’s Quest
We simply couldn’t compile this list without paying homage to online slot games, which have also played a huge role in shaping the industry landscape. Slots have been pushing the technological envelope for decades – laying the foundation for games like Candy Crash to flourish in the 21st century. Gonzo’s Quest has been one of the most consistently excellent online slots games over the past few years – and hence, we thought it was more than worthy of a mention here.
7) Cleopatra Slot
Another Hall of Fame slot is Cleopatra, which has attained similar success to that of Gonzo’s Quest. With five reels and 20 winning paylines, it’s a slot that will take on a trip down the Nile and right to the heart of Egypt. This mystery-filled slot is extremely popular in land-based casinos all over the UK, and so, it was only natural for it to eventually morph into one of the best online slots too!
6) Super Mario Bros
To a younger generation of gamers, the cultural impact of Super Mario Bros may not be fully appreciated. Yes, we’ve all heard the name, but it’s crucial to remember just what a game-changing title this was for the time. After its initial release in 1985, Super Mario Bros has consistently been one of the most adored franchises in entertainment history. And yet, for all that we remember Mario and Luigi, this was the game that first put Nintendo on the map.
5) Call of Duty
There hasn’t been a 1st person shooter quite like Call of Duty. The series had a modest start to life, but the release of Modern Warfare in 2007 changed everything. From that point onwards, the game was a phenomenon – you simply had to own a copy. In more recent years, Infinity Ward has moved to freshen up the game, mainly by introducing titles such as Warzone – a Battle Royale variation of the traditional game.
4) World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft makes this list for being a technological marvel that created a whole new genre of games. It’s sandbox world seductively reeled players in, as the game offered an experience that few others could at the time. ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Worlds’ arguably wouldn’t exist to the same extent, had it not been for World of Warcraft’s creation in 2004.
3) Sims
Much like WOW, the Sims is included for changing the entire gaming landscape. Sims allowed players to live vicariously through an animated version of themselves on screen. At the time, the game was impressive enough, but in the age of social media, it did feel as if the Sims had hit upon something much bigger. Now we are the Sims, living vicariously through our social media accounts, rather than our computer-animated avatars.
2) Ms Pac-Man
The first of two absolute classics – as a list of this nature wouldn’t be complete without it. Ms Pac-Man may have tailed off since its initial success in the 80s and 90s, but its legacy is already complete on account of its seismic impact globally. Back in 1982, the game helped establish Japan as a global entertainment powerhouse – a position from which they’ve never looked back.
1) Tetris
Could there really be any other? Tetris is so deeply embedded into our culture that it’s hard to remember a time when the minimalist game wasn’t around. Designed by a Soviet computer scientist, the title was actually distributed by an up and coming Japanese tech company in 1989 – Nintendo. Soon after, Tetris was added to the Game Boy, and the rest was history.
