Best game ever is not an easy title to get. That implies games that pound for pound were the highest enjoyment level of anything created. A little background is in my life I have owned Atari 2600, PC's, N64, Dreamcast, PS, PS2, Xbox, Wii, and 360. You'll see an extreme lack of consoles so the games on those were purely at friends houses though I did finish some.
We'll start early and get to recent. Keep in mind I can only declare it if I played it ALL the way through (or a LONG time if it has no end) and liked it. Then I'll narrow it down.
Combat (Atari)
Space Invaders (Atari)
Pole Position (Atari)
Super Mario Bros. (NES)
The Legend of Zelda (NES)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis)
Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest: So You Wanna Be a Hero? (PC)
Megaman (PC)
Megaman 3 (PC)
Star Trek (PC)
Star Trek: A Final Unity (PC)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
Diablo II (PC)
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast)
Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)
Wolfenstein 3D (PC)
Doom 2(PC)
Quake (PC)
Quake II (PC)
Grandia 2 (Dreamcast)
Shenmue (Dreamcast)
Mechwarrior 2 (PC)
Mechwarrior 4 (PC)
Starwars: Galaxies (PC)
City of Heroes/Villians (PC)
Conker's Bad Fur Day (N64)
Starfox 64 (N64)
Pokemon (Gameboy/Gameboy Adv/DS)
Cave Story (PC)
Jill of the Jungle (PC)
Duke Nukem (PC)
Commander Keen (PC)
Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2)
Duke Nukem 3D (PC)
Command and Conquer (PC)
Command and Conquer: Red Alert (PC)
Team Fortress (PC)
SSB:Brawl (Wii)
DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (Wii)
Rock Band 1/2 (360)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Fallout 3 (PC)
Now let's remove anything I did NOT play to gross excess
Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest: So You Wanna Be a Hero? (PC)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
Phantasy Star Online (Dreamcast)
Quake II (PC)
Grandia 2 (Dreamcast)
Mechwarrior 4 (PC)
Starwars: Galaxies (PC)
Pokemon (Gameboy/Gameboy Adv/DS)
Commander Keen (PC)
Command and Conquer (PC)
Rock Band 1/2 (360)
Lost Odyssey (360)
Fallout 3 (PC)
Now lets remove anything that I could not pick up today and still play
Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest: So You Wanna Be a Hero? (PC)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
Starwars: Galaxies (PC)
Commander Keen (PC)
Rock Band 1/2 (360)
Fallout 3 (PC)
Geez, still not there. Ok, lets go further. Anything that did not make it's way into my dreams.
Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest: So You Wanna Be a Hero? (PC)
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (PC)
Starwars: Galaxies (PC)
I guess we're have to do with a top three. I'll base that on overall impact they had to my life.
Number 3: Would be
Morrowind.
I played that sucker and its mods for close to a year. I had a damn DREAM about killing Drow slavers as my Khajiit. I survived a lotta crap due to using that as an escape.
Number 2:
Quest for Glory: So You Wanna Be a Hero.
This little EGA game helped survive visitation with my stupid father. I often caught myself doodling images of it in class elementary/middle school.
Number 1 (Best Game Ever): Star Wars: Galaxies
Star Wars: GalaxiesI can HEAR you groaning. Stop it. I was with this beast since launch and pound for pound I got more out of it than anything else I've ever played. I even survived the "Combat Upgrade" till the "NGE" dumbed the game to a mindless level based faux-fps failure that has all bunch closed down. In the nearly three years I played it I gained friends, escape from stress, even business contacts via the game. It was a truly unique videogame where level was non-existant, insane levels of character customization, non-combat classes that you could literally play through the whole game as, the ability to place your house almost anywhere, and even kept the uber class of jedi rare. It earned it's spot here.