the best ever? Planetside. that was a first person shooter set in a massively multiplayer world, 400+ players duking it out at once. 3 armies, lots of ground and air vehicles... it was perfect, until sony ruined it by replacing the producer every 8 months or so, and by nerfing all the guns... but it was good while it lasted. i was totally addicted to it for 2 years.
honourable mentions:
- the original gran turismo. not really a simulator as sony would have you believe, but a lot of fun nonetheless
- metal gear solid
- san francisco rush 2049 in the arcardes. i had all 5 lap records and all 5 fastest race records, but i lost count of how many quarters that cost me
- civilization 2, biggest time waster ever
- mario on the NES, i could beat that without losing a life. there's a video of a guy on youtube doing the whole game in around 6 minutes or so

- daytona USA
- battlefield 2, smaller in scope than planetside, but a lot of fun and better than its sequel.
there's gotta be a lot more but i just woke up so my head is empty
