No other form of entertainment has the ability to suck up so much of our free time and make hours pass by like seconds. Most people who read this will agree that they have spent more time blowing their games wide open, than on more worthwhile pursuits such as....gardening.
In honour of the countless hours of entertainment gaming can give I have compiled a list of the five most life consuming games and have taken a look at what makes them so addictive.

1. World of Warcraft:   It would be wrong to start any list of life consuming games without paying homage to the worldwide MMORPG phenomenon that is World of Warcraft. Since its release in September of 2001, Blizzard entertainment’s “pay to play,” open world RPG has gone on to have over 11 million monthly subscribers. While perhaps the entire MMORPG genre could be given a rightful place in this list, no other game of its type has sucked people in quite as much as Warcraft. With numerous expansion packs to extend the games already limitless lifespan and horror stories of people dying at their computers after playing marathon five day sessions, Warcraft is probably the most worthy of the five games in this list to be labelled life consuming, literally.

2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas:   Every game in the Grand Theft Auto series has been famous for their length and added depth, afforded by the numerous collectibles to find, or in the case of GTA4, shoot! However, no other game in the series matched the colossal size and scale of Rockstar’s final Playstation 2 offering. Not only was the game’s main story guaranteed to last at least sixteen hours but the gangsta tinged epic was packed with enough collectibles and extra missions to almost double this. Add to this the countless hours of fun that could be found in tapping in to the games numerous cheats, flying around with a jet pack, battering bystanders with oversized sex toys, and you have a game that’s still as fun and hour sucking as it was five years ago.

3. Call of Duty 4:   While this modern classic may be cursed with a tragically short, if albeit tense and adrenaline fuelled campaign, this game is still capable of making hours feel like minutes. From a single player perspective, whilst the games’ campaign can be dusted off in about ten hours, the hard as nails and highly frustrating veteran difficulty level will see this time easily tripled. On the online front, Call of Duty 4 has quickly become the most successful online console game of all time with almost anyone with an online account playing the game. The game’s experience and prestige system has seen gamers clock over thirty days worth of hours just on the multiplayer games alone, a definite case for the growing importance of the multiplayer option in console gaming and a perfect example of a life consuming title. With only another four months until the release of Modern Warfare 2, it’s not long until we`re all hooked again.

4. Fallout 3:   Although Bethesda’s other title Oblivion is also a major contender for a spot on this list, its sister, Fallout 3, takes its crown as the most complex and engrossing RPG of recent times. Although wandering through the post nuclear ruins of Washington DC may sound distressing, the game offered an adventure so deep and enjoyable that players could easily chalk up sixty hours of game time in one play through. Add to this the incentive for multiple play troughs in the form of shiny achievement points and the multitude of ever improving DLC and you’re looking at a title that’s definitely going to be worth its price tag.

5. Guitar Hero World Tour:   Although this may be a controversial choice to include in a list comprised primarily of lengthy games, few games have the ability to consume so much of our time as Guitar Hero. Both Guitar Hero and its arch nemesis Rockband have the ability to steal precious hours of our lives, as gamers noodle away, attempting to become masters of the tiny plastic instruments. Once passed the initial “I have no idea what I’m doing!” phase, the game quickly becomes a challenge to beat the highest difficulties and scores around, both online and offline with friends. The competitive element of Guitar Hero that makes gamers want to be able to amaze a roomful of drunken mates is what makes it so life consuming. Add to this the ability to download extra tracks from an ever growing library of music and you’ve got a title that can always be depended on to kill a few hours.  It can’t be played for sixty hours straight and it’s not the deepest experience in the world, but it is one you’ll keep coming back to, time and time again

There are hundreds of games that can be considered life consuming, although  with much of gaming, it comes down to how much we enjoy them as individuals as to whether we judge them to be worth our spending our free time on. However, the five games here all guaranteed to provide hours of entertainment and each in their own special way, will pass the time with ease.