One of the last bastions of a bygone gaming era, Counter-Strike is the only game that successfully managed to find the balance between the high skill movement shooters of old and the game mechanics and instant gratification of modern shooters. It's not an easy game to pick up by any means, but compared to a game like Quake, it can be fun even when you suck. The only downside? It's a game you need to severely debase yourself to get good at, and that fact really shows at higher levels of play.

Over the years, the things that I’ve appreciated about Team Fortress 2 have changed a lot as I’ve matured. When I discovered the game at eleven, the thing that hooked me was the colorful cast of characters and the unique artstyle. Through my teenage years, it was the wacky and deeply unserious community that gave me a sense of belonging. Though I’ve become frustrated and jaded with the TF2 community over the years, even as an adult, I developed a newfound appreciation for the raw mechanical skill ceiling and beautiful complexity of high level Team Fortress 2. Even if this game never gets another update again, there’s always something that will bring me back to the greatest class based shooter ever created.