Top 200 Games of All Time: 80 - 71

80: Warlords II

• Year: 1993
• System: PC

I didn't understand Warlords II for a long time. I had the Shareware version, so a lot of maps and characters were locked and if you clicked on them, you would get the "send a check or money order to this address." But I kept at it because what else was I going to do. I was getting like $5 in allowance, I couldn't exactly afford games. I survived mostly on shareware.

I'd play until inevitably, I would run out of units and die. I couldn't figure out how I was expected to win because the instructions were so obtuse. 

And then I discovered Gamefaqs. 

And then I started realizing checking out the ruins would get you treasure and maybe allies. And then I figured out how to make more units. And eventually I got really good at the game. 

Top 200 Games of All Time: 90 - 81

90: Dead Rising 4

• Year: 2016
• System: Xbox One

Dead Rising 2 and 3 sort of leaned into more mainstream story telling and video gaming. They lost a little of that weird from Dead Rising 1. 

It's a miracle that Dead Rising 4 exists at all. The game was almost finished when they decided to basically scrap it and start over. Not only does it exist, but Dead Rising 4 recaptures that weird from the original perfectly and is able to give you the greatest hits of the good things from DR2 and DR3. 

You start in a mall, which is better designed than the mall in the first one. Weapons crafting sort of took away from DR2, but DR4 finds a way to make it fun. You move through a military encampment, which then opens out into a full realized town, which is better than DR3. There's plenty of opportunity to drive over zombies, make wacky weapons, take the story seriously, or just mess around for a few hours.