First-person shooter
The Orange Box
The brilliant evergreen Half-Life 2, two expansions, ace puzzler Portal and team shooter Team Fortress 2.
First-person shooter
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
You can’t escape it. One of the most compelling multiplayer experiences ever, even if the lack of dedicated servers grates.
First-person shooter
Left 4 Dead 2
Terrifying, beautifully-balanced co-operative gaming as you and three others try to survive a zombie onslaught.
Real-time strategy
Supreme Commander 2
Wildly imaginative sci-fi strategy fare (robot dinosaurs!), faultlessly constructed.
MMORPG
World of Warcraft
Not so much a game, more a way of life; the best in fantasy online roleplaying.
Driving
DiRT 2
The PC is awash with classic racing games, but Codemasters’ latest hits every high note.
Role-playing game
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The biggest and most convincing single-player fantasy world ever seen on PC.
Real-time strategy
Company of Heroes
Relic’s WW2 strategy triumph is dramatic, exciting and tactically cheek-flushing.
First-person shooter
BioShock
Inventive, thinking-man’s blaster set in an atmospheric undersea city. Its sequel is its equal, too.
Real-time strategy
Napoleon: Total War
You can’t go wrong with any of the Total War RTS games. Napoleon is the latest.
The best PC first-person shooters
1. Half-Life 2
2. Team Fortress 2
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
4. Deus Ex
5. Counter-Strike Source
6. Battlefield Bad Company2
7. BioShock
8. Quake 3: Arena
9. STALKER: Call of Pripyat
10. Left 4 Dead 2
