close by: beyond good and evil ( never happened before that i installed a game i heard like nothing before - and played right through it .... mind, i hardly ever really play a game till the end )
dreamfall is ( kinda sadly ) almost more an interactive story - especially the further you proceed, the less you have to do other than go from A to B... but anyway, its a very good story, very emotional.
beyond good and evil was simply awesome. i didn t know much about it, but purchased it cause i liked the coverart - and it was a bargain price. - absolutely stunning game ( and i don t really usually like this kind of game much, i lack the patience )
Deus Ex: A very open ended first person adventure/shooter/rpg. The second installation in the series was as terrible as the first is amazing.
Civilization Series: This game is my absolute favorite strategy game. It's a turn based game where you control most every detail of your burgeoning nation. Dictate war, policy towards your citizens, and research. Dominate with an iron fist, spy on your enemies, research your way to interstellar space travel, or even become the political leader of your world. Not to mention the modifications available for this game. Check out "Fall from Heaven" as well as "Rhye's and Fall of Civilization."
Tie Fighter - omg i still play this game sometimes nowadays. Its epic still! Seriously nothing felt better than jumping into a Tie Interceptor and mowing down Rebellion scum in your unshielded tiny little craft. Great missions with big space battles, lots of fighters, useful squad commands, just plain awesome.
Freespace 2 - probably had one of the most interesting story's in a game I have ever played. Match that with the fact there were a ton of different ships to fly, with as many guns, and missiles available to you. Awesomeness. Plus, caps in that game were something else. The multiplayer was pretty fun too. Doing coop missions with a bunch of people was a lot of fun. And there were plenty of additional user created campaigns that were very very fun to play.
Tachyon the Fringe (This was epic for me) - this was seriously a fun game that didn't get enough credit I felt. Really cool ships with varied weapons were available. The best part was that multiplayer combat was awesome. It had a normal duel mode where you square off against players but it also had this Base Wars mode where players join two teams and attack each others' respective bases or gather minerals (big shiny floating rocks that you just fly through to catch) so their base can be upgraded and they receive better equipment and weapons. I have to say the fun thing is that combat in the game was really fun. I think this was the most strafe happy flight sim ever. Which made combat very interesting and fun to watch.
I don't like to count Freelancer as a true Space Flight Simulation game because its more like a twitch shooter than a flight sim. Doesn't mean it isn't still epic.