#5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
This still remains the best GTA to date. Everything about it is perfect. The three distinctly themed cities to represent Vegas, East LA and San Fran. They also NAILED the era just as well as GTA: Vice City. The story in this one is actually pretty good too! I've easily played this GTA way more than other installments.
#4. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)
I've never seen a game pull off the atmosphere in a game so well to this day. The time is the 1960's in the cold war, you're an american agent and you're in the jungle. You must eat the animals around to survive, and use camouflage to hide from the enemies. Seriously this game could replace the top 3 spots at any point for me. The gameplay and story from an MGS game is top notch, and the third installment is sometimes referred to s "the best MGS". I've easily beaten this game 100+ times.
#3. Halo CE (2001)
Pretty obvious this would be on the list. I remember being in 2nd grade and going to my friends house for a sleep over. When I got there I was told his mom had gone out to purchase an Xbox for us. She was also told to buy a little game called Halo. From then on I was playing at least one level of H1 campaign a day, and signing in my extra controllers and killing them in multiplayer when I was playing by myself at my house.
#2. Halo 2 (2004)
Again, a pretty obvious choice. H2 was the first game I had ever played online. Without this game I wouldn't be posting this thread, or even on this website. It's fairly obvious why this sits at #2
#1. Metal Gear Solid (1999)
If I had to choose one game to live with the rest of my life, it would be this one. I still remember being a 5 year old playing the demo of this game that was on a Pizza Hut demo disc. This game remains my favorite because every time I play it, I have fun no matter what. The story, the gameplay everything in this game is absolutely timeless. I wouldn't even know how to count how many times this was beaten.
Honorable Mention: Tony Hawk's Underground (2003)
I'm honesty not sure why I love this game so much. It was the first time they shoved story into a Tony Hawk game. Tony Hawk games were alway extremely fun. This game captured the story of one skater from jersey making it to pro status. If theres one Tony Hawk game that deserves re release after THPS1, it's this one.