It's a sad fact that most of us won't ever be any good at football, but the best games can take you into a fantasy world in which you're a world beater.

Amazingly, that applies whether you're controlling a stick figure on an 8-bit computer or a fully realised 3D model with ultra-realistic stubble on a PlayStation 4. Seriously - we've shed real tears at a line of text on a screen describing how the opposition stick figure has just put us out of the cup.

But then that's football: it has the power to reduce otherwise sensible people to mere shells of their former selves. And game makers soon realised they were on to something good when they created the first footie sims, because in no time they were flying off the shelf.

As a result, there have been hundreds of football games over the years - so many, in fact, that narrowing down our selection to a mere 25 titles was near impossible. Arguments raged across the office - FIFA or Pro Evo? Sensi or Kick Off? - and that's exactly as it should be.

So, whether you agree or disagree with our list, we hope it'll spark plenty of memories. Let the arguments begin.