A good singleplayer campaign can be fun, but many games have an emphasis on multiplayer competition. And unsurprisingly, some players like dynamic and sense of wining more than anything.
Keep in mind that winning is not the same as completing something - that's the main difference between regular games and competitive games. While with the first there is an option of comfort and pausing whenever we like, in competitive games, that is rarely an option. From racing cars, or achieving the highest possible level with a character, to finding and killing other players, these are the ten highest rated competitive PC games on Metacritic.
10 Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was once a popular eSports game, but today, almost two decades after its release, the only place the game can be played competitively is the battle.net server. The game is old, but that doesn't change the fact that is good - it holds a rating of 88 on Metacritic.
The single-player campaign is highly impressive and worth replaying, while multiplayer offers 1 vs. 1, or battles with more players - up to 12 on one map. The game requires skill, speed, and above all knowledge to succeed in and achieve a high ranking in the battle.net ladder system.
9 F1 2017
The game holds a rating of 89 on Metacritic, which is a little bit overblown. Despite the fact that the game is quite good, its setting is not for everyone - those who are not fans of Formula 1 will get bored after completing singleplayer mode and few races in multiplayer mode.
However, F1 2017 actually won the award for the Best Racing Game at The Independent Game Development Association Awards 2018.
8 Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead is a 2008 survival horror video game developed by Valve on its own source engine. The player plays as one of the four survivors: Francis, Bill, Zoey, or Louis. While the game does feature a singleplayer campaign, the games main emphasis is on multiplayer, where players can play as one of the previously mentioned characters against four infected characters, Boomer, Hunter, Smoker, and Tank - also controlled by the player.
The game was critically welly well-received and holds a rating of 89 on Metacritic. The popularity of the game actually led to the development of the sequel.
7 Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead 2 was published just a year after the first game, so nothing much was changed. The game is still a first-person shooter survival game that features cooperative gameplay. Like its predecessor, it has a rating of 89 on Metacritic.
The game feature five different modes: Campaign, Singleplayer, Versus, Survivor, and Scavenge. The last mode is the new addition to the game, and in the mode, surviving players need to fill up the power generator while infected players try to stop them. As for infected players, there are also new characters to choose from - Charger, Spitter, and Jockey.
6 Overwatch
The game holds a high ranking of 91 on Metacritic, with good reason - it is one the best first-person shooters available. Overwatch is not just a game, it also managed to spawn a whole eSports league called Overwatch League, where the players are guaranteed to have a minimum annual salary, benefits, portions of the game winnings, and revenue-sharing based on the team performance.
For example, in 2017, the highest-paid player was Jay Won with 150,000 dollars salary and 50% of team bonuses. With all that being said, that should be enough reason for some Overwatch players to turn their passion into profit.
5 Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is an original game of The Frozen Throne expansion at the beginning of the list. It was an extremely popular eSports game, but in time the interest and the community almost disappeared.
The game is still played competitively on battle.net where players can clash their skills using four different races, Orcs, Humans, Undead, and Night Elves. Also, there is an ever-popular mode - Defense of the Ancients, that can be played. The game was a commercial and critical success with 4.4 million copies sold and a rating of 92 on Metacritic.
4 Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare features a short but interesting 7 hours-long singleplayer campaign, where the player must stop Russian ultranationalist leader Imran Zakhaev. Considering its short campaign, it is evident that the game is more focused on the multiplayer, which features team-based and deathmatch modes.
As of 2019, and as inspiration from Overwatch League, Activision's plans for Call of Duty League have been established, but because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the league did not start yet. The game holds an impressive rating of 92 on Metacritic.
3 World Of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is the most popular MMORPG on the planet. It's grinding to the highest level is not easy to achieve, and the players can be killed by AI-controlled creatures or by other players. Some players are looking for easier ways to achieve that goal. For example, in 2007, a person bought an account with a high-level character for 9,900 dollars. Blizzard later banned the account five days after the purchase.
Aside from being extremely profitable, World of Warcraft holds an impressive rating 93 on Metacritic, enough to be the third on this list.
2 Starcraft II: Wings Of Liberty
Blizzard Entertainment is dominating things with five games on this list. Starcraft: Wings of Liberty is basically Warcraft III in space, but without the heroes. The game with its expansions is extensively played in eSports, with very big prize pools.
In 2017 the game went free-to-play, which saw an increased interest in Starcraft II tournaments. The game requires knowledge, skill, and speed if the players plan to achieve success in the professional environment. As for the beginners, the battle.net is a good start. Like World of Warcraft, it holds a rating of 93 on Metacritic.
1 Unreal Tournament 2004
The game was published back in 2004 to critical acclaim and was made primarily for multiplayer gaming. There are more than 100 maps available in the game, and the multiplayer modes available to play are Assault, Onslaught, Bombing Run, Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Invasion, Double Domination, Last Man Standing, and Mutant.
The game holds the same rating as the last two entries on the list - 93. With that in consideration, it seems that World of Warcraft is the best RPG, the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty the best RTS, and the Unreal Tournament 2004 the best FPS.