The Game Boy: My Favorite Games of the Decade, Part Two
The Game Boy: My Favorite Games of the Decade, Part Two
Posted 12/31/2009 at 9:38pm
| by Nathan Grayson
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Part two? Part two? Oh my goodness, you're totally lost, aren't you? Part one's right here, and it ended with this really rad cliffhanger with a car chase and everything. Basically, you have to read it, or part two won't make a lick of sense to you. So get to it. Or try your luck with part two. But you'd have to be, like, some kind of mega-genius to even begin to comprehend the complexities of an ordered list like this one without proper introduction.
Metal Gear Solid 3
“Eh. Metal Gear’s all right, I guess.”
No one has ever said this. You either love the zany stealth franchise and all its fat men on rollerskates, nanotech vampires, and cyborg ninjas -- despite their tendency to speak in cryptic psycho-babble for 45 minutes at a time – or you completely reject it as the human body would an amputated arm that occasionally takes control of your brain and tries to conquer the world. Point is, Metal Gear’s crazy, Japanese, and crazy.
And I love it.
Metal Gear Solid 3, in my opinion, is the height of Snake and co.’s adventures, with creator Hideo Kojima’s eccentricities toned down just enough to create an emotionally captivating tale that’s still unabashedly strange – but not mind-bogglingly so. The game mixed tense “hide in plain sight” stealth sections, battles with everything from masochistic bee men to ancient wheelchair-bound snipers, and a backstab-heavy plot that’d make even James Bond’s head spin to create a balanced concoction of Kojima’s mad science that actually didn’t eventually explode in players’ faces. (The game's bosses, however, did.) After Metal Gear Solid 2’s many missteps, I kept waiting for MGS3 to take a colossal leap off the deep end, but it never did. Instead, it upped the ante at a near-perfect pace, culminating in my favorite boss fight of all time.
The battle with “The End,” as the aforementioned seemingly comatose oldster was known, absolutely blew me away. In a single confrontation, I was forced to make use of nearly every skill Metal Gear Solid had ever taught me. He used a sniper rifle, so naturally, I evaded, gave him the slip, and tip-toed until I was right behind him. Metal Gear Stealth 101, in other words. But then he did something that surprised me: he sprinted like a six-legged cheetah. On his brittle old stick-legs. So much for the wheelchair.
Eventually, after ducking Lord only knows how many shots and scrambling into the underbrush every time I saw the sun glint off anything even resembling a sniper scope, I took him by surprise again. But this time, I went for broke. I hastily fumbled for a grenade, pulled the pin, and chucked it – just in time to see that The End had the same idea. Two tree-rattling explosions later, he was covered in leaves and sprawled out on the ground, and I was thanking my lucky stars that his was only a flash grenade.
And then I took a breath for the first time in an hour. Epic.
Fallout 3
I’ve written more about Fallout 3 than any other single game in history. Of everything in life, this is the thing of which I am most certain. Simply put, Fallout 3 is everything I’ve ever wanted from a videogame. Well, so long as you steer clear of the main quest, anyway.
The game world is the sort of thing I’ve dreamed of since I was a child. Not the “earth destroyed by bombs” part, mind you, but the sprawling world full of eccentric characters and tiny nooks and crannies that – at first – seemed innocuous enough, but actually teemed with all the carrots and sticks an adventurer could ever want. Fallout 3’s world was its main character, and everywhere I looked, I saw different facets of its personality. For a couple weeks, I toured the world five hours at a time, and each time, I had the privilege of sinking my senses into something strange and new. Everywhere I looked – from dank caves to abandoned office buildings – I found treasure troves of information. I’d spend hours hunting for clues, wondering “What was this place like before the bomb dropped?,” “Why are these people dead?” or “What kind of person used to live here?” Rarely did Fallout 3 leave my questions unanswered.
Fallout 3 reveled in the idea that it’s not the destination that counts; rather, it’s how you get there that matters. It single-handedly brought the wide-eyed, slack-jawed magic back to videogames that’d gone missing after I came to understand the simple 1’s and 0’s that actually comprise videogame worlds. If I had to pick a favorite game of all time, right now, it’d probably be Fallout 3.
Guitar Hero
I’m actually more of a Rock Band kind of guy, myself, but Guitar Hero set this rolling stone into motion, so I’m giving credit where credit’s due. Like it or not, Guitar Hero was one of the most significant gaming events of the last decade – in part giving rise to the casual revolution, and contributing greatly to one of its central tenets: looking utterly ridiculous. But despite the goofy-looking plastic instruments and most players’ tendency to stand completely still and stare directly at the screen as though its scrolling notes were oncoming 18-wheelers, the game’s incredibly fun.
Sure, it looks silly, but I’ll be damned if I don’t feel like an audience-awing, camera-punching rockstar after nailing a tough solo. On top of that, Guitar Hero took huge strides in broadening my then-meager musical horizons, and also inspired me to pick up an actual guitar in an (admittedly sad) attempt to unlock its melodic mysteries. So yes, I suck at guitar, but Guitar Hero got me interested in the wider world of music, and I’m forever thankful for that.
The Darkness
There’s no way to do this without sounding incredibly cheesy, so I’m just gonna throw it out there: The Darkness is my darkhorse pick on this list. Geddit? Yeah. Anyway, despite initially being born in the shadow of Starbreeze’s previous (and excellent) game – The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay – The Darkness was its own creature; far-removed from Riddick, sure, but arguably better for it. As far as videogame stories go, The Darkness was incredibly forward-thinking, conjuring up some of the most memorable scenes in all of gaming.
Those of you who’ve followed this column in the past will likely remember the scene in which tough-as-nails mafia bad boy Jackie Estacado and his girlfriend spend an evening together watching old movies. In real time. If you so choose, you can sit curled up on a dusty, coming-apart-at-the-seams sofa watching a grainy version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” for more than an hour. And it’s brilliant. Eventually, Jackie’s girlfriend falls asleep on his shoulder, and you can choose to stay or leave. It’s up to you. I stayed. In my opinion, this is the most authentic instance of romance ever conveyed in a videogame. It’s simple and mundane, as romance often is. And when the game’s story takes a turn for the tragic, it stokes your emotional fires that much more.
Of course, the first-person person-shooting and creepy Darkness powers were equal parts brutal and thrilling, but The Darkness is one of the few games I’ll remember not for the action, but for an uneventful hour of downtime that I willingly endured. And, better still, enjoyed.
Crackdown
Crackdown’s an odd duck among today’s overproduced, overindulgently cinematic triple-A videogames. Even Microsoft knew this, so – in an act that proved its total lack of faith – the publisher bundled Crackdown with Halo 3’s public beta test, delicious bait meant to disguise the proverbial hook. For my money, though, Crackdown stole the show. Halo 3 was nice and all, but Crackdown’s superheroic-antics and addictive upgrade system could have actually stabbed me in the mouth – as hooks are wont to do – and I still would have kept on coming back for more.
Crackdown was refreshing precisely because it chose to eschew cut-scenes, characterization, or – indeed – a plot in favor of simply laying down a few basic laws and letting you run wild. Time and time again, its gameplay conceits defied reason and logic in favor of fun. Instead of trying to be something that it wasn’t, Crackdown was a videogame, pure and simple. While many modern videogames get complex novelizations and things of the like, if Crackdown were a book, it’d be one page long, and it’d read, “Jumping high is hella fun.”
So yeah. It’d be a pretty horrible book.
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age made me do things in a videogame that I’ve never done before. Ridiculous things. Things that I’d rather not talk about for fear of being approached on the street and summarily laughed at, then hung from a flagpole. But I’m going to tell you anyway, because I’m making a point.
At one point during my time with the game, I weighed my options and ultimately decided to delete my then-current save file in favor of one from four hours before. Four hours of my life wasted, with the knowledge that I’d have to spend another four hours doing everything nearly the same way all over again. And why, you ask, would I commit such a cardinal sin against time, progress, and common sense? Because I regretted a choice I’d made concerning one of my party members, and I was so heartbroken that I couldn’t bear to continue without rectifying the problem.
Dragon Age’s cast of characters was so well developed that even rubbing one of them the wrong way crushed me under a mountain of actual, honest-to-God regret. And occasionally – as in the above situation – grief. The game’s genius, then, lies in its knowledge of your bond with its characters, and its manipulations of your emotions based on that. Party members in Dragon Age aren’t blindly loyal drones. In previous BioWare games, party members would buck on occasion, but after a bit of smooth-talking, they’d once again trot along happily in your wake. Dragon Age, meanwhile, uses its incredibly memorable cast as the impetus for many of the toughest choices you’ll have to make over the course of the game.
I’ll admit it: Dragon Age made me cry. And I loved it.
BEFORE ANGRILY COMMENTING, READ THIS:
Where’s Deus Ex? Or Classic Videogame X, for that matter? Well, I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t played those. I really, really, really want to, but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Therefore, all of my opinions are wrong. As is this list. Yes – that’s right – my opinions are wrong. Just like all other opinions that conflict with your own. So why not let me know about your favorite games of the decade? Preferably without calling my intelligence/integrity into question every other sentence, since I’ve already done that myself. Thanks for reading!
More like this
rired48
March 23, 2010 at 5:34pm
In no particular order, my 10 favorite PC games of all time:
Aces Over Europe
Doom
Links 2003
Grand Prix Legends
Total Annihilation
Quake 3
Rybka 3 (chess)
Desktop Tower Defense
Call of Duty: World at War
Warcraft II
SSquirrel
January 05, 2010 at 9:29am
No particular order:
Diablo II
World of Warcraft
Star Wars Galaxies (pre-hologrinding)
Bejewled
Not afraid to say Bejewled has been lots of fun over the years. My epilepsy doesn't allow me to play FPSes, but I've never found them very interesting either, so no great loss IMO. Far less time for gaming now w/kids too.
Hagen
Littleman29
January 04, 2010 at 10:09pm
You know what? I did the EXACT same thing with my Dragon Age profile. I forgot to recieve Lelianna AND Sten in Lothering my first run through and I sat there wondering where I would find these guys half-way through the game. After finding out I skipped them, I deleted EVERYTHING post-Lothering and gave it another go. I do not regret any decision I've made dealing with deleting saved game files when it comes to DA:O.
I have played DA:O for countless hours. I cried. I sat there on my desk, the salty drops rolling down my chin onto the sweat-drenched keys of my saitek eclipse II keyboard and thought This is what life is about. I felt like Alistair, Lelianna, and even heartless Morrigan were right there and I could just reach out to my monitor and... touch them...
Bah.
Alright, here's my top 10 and most played PC games of the decade in no particular order (except for Dragon Age because it is AWESOME)!
Dragon Age: Origins
Half-Life (1, 2, and all mods)
Age of Empires II (1999? I'll say it's 2000 X P)
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
KotOR
Delta Force
World of Warcraft
Battlefield 1942
Oblivion
Guild Wars
Hella-D
January 04, 2010 at 2:53pm
I Didnt Like Fallout, But All Other FPSs I Have Played I Loved, Yes... Even Crysis Witch Looks Awsome On My PC On High Detail, No AA, 4x AF @ 1280x1024. My Favorites Are; Call Of Duty And Call Of Duty 2, HL2, And The Orginal FEAR (By The Way I Still Have The Game And Am Missing One Of The Disks, Anyone Know Where I Could Obtain One Withouth Having To Pay To Get The ENTIRE Game Again??)
I Dont Care Much About Consoles Ither (Only Console I Ever Truly Liked Was The Nitendo 64) HOWEVER Can Say That I Can Still See The Point Of Throwing In Console Games, But He Could Have Made The Articale Longer And Thrown In A Few More Of The PC "Gems"
AMD Athlon X2 4400+ (2.3GHz Stock) @ 2.76GHz
OC4GB CAS4 DDR2-800
Nvidia Geforce 9600GSO 768MB (96SPUs) @ 665/1550/550 OC
500GB And 80GB WD Hard Drives
Windows7 Professional 64-Bit
20" Dell 2001FP S-IPS & 19" Sanyo LCDTV Dual-Display
Taz0
January 05, 2010 at 10:38am
Just following rules #1 and #2 would make a huge difference:
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/capital.asp
big_montana
January 03, 2010 at 10:19am
How could you leave Bioshock off the list? One of my personal favorites is also Loast Planet. Maybe it is just me, but I happen to like games that have an actual story line.
bathtbgin
January 03, 2010 at 3:48pm
Because Bioshock wasnt originally released in the past decade, it
came out in the 90's but back then they called it System Shock 2.
big_montana
January 04, 2010 at 5:49am
Sorry have to disagree with you on this as they are totally different games. System Shock was scheduled for a sequel last year, Irrational was the original manufacturer, now 2k games, but it was helved. Bioshock is considered a spiritual successor to System Shock 2, but is not an actual sequel. And so what if it was a sequel, it still released in teh past decade, which is the point of this article, games released in the past decade, which would include 1999, which is when System Shock 2 released, so you could even include that game on the list. And no this decade still has one year left if you mean this decade as 2010 is the final year of the decade.
damiananderson
January 03, 2010 at 9:09am
Plants vs zombies
Zuma
Peggle
Rsedent Evil 5
deadspace
KOTOR 1
Modern Warefare 1
Phoenix wright ace attorney
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (shut up i got it in 2000 and best game ever)
and any "shmups" that create bullet hell (google it)
K0BALT
January 02, 2010 at 9:31pm
.... the 7th Guest and 11th Hour. Couldn't resist bringing them up even though they're waay old. :D
arkweld
January 02, 2010 at 3:23pm
there shouldn't even be console games on this list.
This is supposed to be a PC enthusiasts site or has everyone forgotten? If you can't pick ten games on the PC platform from ten years of stellar titles then it's pitiful and sad. I don't care if the article picked games I don't like as long as they are on the damned platform the magazine is about. Put down the thumbsticks.
When the supposed supporter of the PC platform isn't promoting it, then there's something very wrong editorially. No wonder there's been a resurgence of "is PC gaming dying articles" when this is what MPC post on their own site.
It's like a PS3 magazine picking the best games of the decade that are all for the 360 written by someone who mostly plays games on a Wii.
Taz0
January 03, 2010 at 10:06am
I have to agree, at least with the first half of your post.
-- BUT --
1. This is not Maximum PC. It may have the same name, it may share some of its editors and articles, but let's face it, the website is geared towards a larger audience. You wouldn't find such an article in the magazine.
2. This column ("The Game Boy") has always been purely about games, completely detached from the politics of hardware, platform and brand. It's about video games and it doesn't let anything else get in the way. Which is what I like about it.
Yes, I'd rather see Nathan put in the extra effort to make this a PC-only list (even at the cost of the absence of some of his favorite non-PC games), since PCs and PC games are what I care about, but nevertheless I understand where this is coming from, and I take it as-is, without any dissatisfaction.
But in the end, what you said had to be said, lest we forget.
Devo85x
January 03, 2010 at 9:32am
It says "Best Games" not "Best PC Games" last time I checked, this mag does articles on Cellphones, TVs, etc... do you get pissed at those? This mag can be categorized as a 'TECH' mag... in which case, having console games would be good. Not only that, but just becase a game is on PC doesn't make it good. Some of my favorite games are console only, or better on the console (right now, Assassins Creed 2 and Forza 3 are the games I am playing). Do I love the PC, yes, but I also know that the PC isn't right for every type of game. I would rather have a list that shows me the best games for ALL consoles (even PS3, even though I only own a PC and Xbox360!) along with PC, not just PC, or just a console. Not only that, but THE MAG IS NOT WRITTEN FOR YOU! It is written for the majority, and the majority of people enjoy having choices, if you don't, then go buy a mac cause you would love the closed platform.
Quakindude
January 03, 2010 at 3:14am
If there was a PC you could stick in your pocket to do some "On-The-Go" gaming, I'd agree with your remarks. But there isn't. So PC Enthusiasts who want to game on the road when no PC is present also like to hear of alternate platforms that will allow them to do just that.
MaximumPC Moderator
***The views I express are my own and do not represent the views of MaximumPC Magazine or Future US.***
DBsantos77
January 02, 2010 at 4:18pm
Doesn't matter if they're not JUST Console games, most of these games have been ported to the PC regardless. Quit ranting.
-Santos
tomastaz
January 02, 2010 at 6:12pm
Yeah, they have been ported to the PC, that's why they suck!
All your base are belong to us!
DBsantos77
January 02, 2010 at 8:13pm
So what you're saying is that Fallout 3, TES IV Oblivion, BioShock, The Orange Box, and Modern Warfare 2 all suck?
-Santos
tomastaz
January 27, 2010 at 8:08pm
by all means no, just that they're mostly dumbed down for pc when ported, which is offensive for some of us, and COD MOD2 does suck
All your base are belong to us!
DBsantos77
January 02, 2010 at 11:18am
What I'm really waiting for is the Elder Scrolls V, hopefully it's just as amazing as the last two. If Bethesda adopts DX11..ohhh man it's gonna look ridiculous, imagine the cobblestones! Lol
-Santos
m1k3_flrs
January 02, 2010 at 11:15am
My list only goes up to 5 games...
1.- Call Of Duty World at War. This was the first call of duty game I played and change my toughts towards FPS games.
2.- Modern Warfare 2
3.- Killzone 2
4.- Fear 2 Great camapign, but multiplayer didn't kept me from playing other games.
5.- Heavenly Sword, a short game but with really great graphics.
dukki7
January 02, 2010 at 10:16am
I wanted to echo the comments about Mafia from the earlier post. Mafia is one of the greatest, most well designed and laid out games ever made. Many big budget games have the downer of being short, like MW-2 for instance; epic game, but too short. With Mafia, this is not the case. The game plunks you down in the Capone era 30's where you become involved with a Don who ends up sending you on a bevvy of insane missions as you work your way up to his right hand. If I could describe the game in 1 word, that word is epic. If you don't play Mafia, you're missing something really good.
q6600 @ 3.2. evga 680i evga 295gtx (also highly recommended, this card freaking shreds Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, chryostasis and whatever else I've been able to throw at it)
xRadeon
January 02, 2010 at 9:54am
1. Mass Effect (Best game I've ever played)
2. Diablo II
3. Half-Life series
4. Battlefield 1942
5. Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
6. Age of Empires II
7. Fable
8. Medal of Honor series
9. Sins of a Solar Empire
10. Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun (close enough, Aug 1999)
11. World in Conflict
12. Doom III
13. Halo
14. Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth
15. Portal
MaximumMike
January 02, 2010 at 9:25am
Although Some of these are a little out of the decade marker they're still over the top awesome so I had to include them
1. Total Annihilation (greatest game ever!)
2. Supreme Commander (2nd greatest game ever!)
3. Fallout 3
4. Baldur's Gate I
5. Baldur's Gate II
6. Elder Scrolls of Morrowind
7. Half Life 2
8. Counter Strike Source
9. Unreal Tournament (any version)
10. Evony
Shckr57
January 02, 2010 at 9:21am
why does everyone hate it, it is so much better than the first. looks better, feels better, BETTER. just cause you cant lean and no dedi's, doesn't make it a bad game, it can be annoying at times, but the game by far is one of the best ever to come out to date. for what it lake it makes up everywhere else. stop hating, shut up and play it. ITS GREAT. at first there where a lot of cheaters and no way to ban them, but you dont see them at all that much anymore.
aCi11i3s
January 02, 2010 at 8:58am
I'm not going to spend my time or yours with a top 10, so I'll just give a top 5.
1. Half Life 2 (and all the episodes...doesn't get much better)
2. WoW (still playin...here I come Arthas)
3. UT2004 (still miss the action, mods, and maps)
4. CODMW (definitely not MW2...)
5. Portal (blown away)
mattman059
January 02, 2010 at 4:14am
1) Elder Scrolls IV : Oblivion
2) Star Ocean : The Second Story
3) Star Ocean 4
4) Assassins Creed
5) Half Life 2
6) Fallout 3 (just started it, but its already amazing)
7) Modern Warfare 1
8) Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction
9) Theif 3 : Deadly Shadows
10) Eternal Darkness (gamecube...dont judge me)That list took forever to make..i could probably have done a top 100, cause i feel bad for leaving out so many good games
K0BALT
January 02, 2010 at 3:58am
-Crysis
-MW2
-Borderlands
-HL2
-Fallout 3
-CoD 4
-GRID
-GTAIV
-Red Faction: Guerilla
-Mirror's Edge
And just because...
"Corei7 920 @ 4.4GHz, (2)GTX 295's/Quad-SLI, EVGA 3X SLI X58, 6GB OCZ Gold"
Shckr57
January 02, 2010 at 9:16am
i hate you, i can get 4.4 np, but the 295 in quad are just jaw jropping, i almost upgraded to them, but decided to just wait till the 300 series and get thos. but i must say, atm, you win. grats
I LIED I HATE YOU
K0BALT
January 02, 2010 at 9:28pm
I was running a couple 260's but "stumbled" onto a free 295, (long story), and when bonus day came at work, I went and bought everything for a Core i7 setup and another 295. I'll be upgrading when the Hexacore i9 gets released, along with a couple 300-series as well. :D
jasonbourn48
January 01, 2010 at 10:31pm
1. Left 4 Dead 2 (with L4D1 stuff)
2. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1
3. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
4. NBA 2K10
5. Guitar Hero
6. World in Conflict
7. The Sims 3
8. Far Cry
9. Flight Simulation X
10. i don't know...
DBsantos77
January 01, 2010 at 7:16pm
Thought I posted under Part 2 lol
1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
2. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
3. HALO: Combat Evolved
4. Splinter Cell 1 & 3 (Shenghai game programmers took a crap on Splinter Cell 2..most horrible out of the 3.)
5. The Orange Box (Is this like...+5?Lol)
6. Star Wars: KOTOR
7. GRID (Amazing graphics on even the cruddiest of systems. Still play to this day.)
8. GTA IV (Greatest story game since Oblivion.)
9. Fallout 3 (Haven't beaten it yet.)
10. Left for Dead (Too much fun. Till you get into a server where people are glitching through console. /rant.)
I love Bethesda..:O
-Santos
DBsantos77
January 01, 2010 at 7:08pm
It's okay, MGS 3 on the list isn't on the PC either lol. :)
-Santos
Teh Rig:
AMD Phenom II X4 720 (Unlocked to 965 Black Ed. @ 3.6 Ghz 1.47v.)
CPU-Validation - http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=904672
HIS HD5850 @ 1 Ghz/1.2 Ghz!!! 1.25v
G
Shckr57
January 01, 2010 at 7:24pm
didnt even realize that till now, also love when everyone puts there computer specs below there comments, just make my computer seam that much better, lol, jk. i actually regret spending all the money on it that i did. here ya go :
intel core i7 920 oced to 4.2GHz watercooled on a duel-loop system, asus rampage II extreme with north and south bridge water cooled, 12 gigs OCZ 1600 MHz ram, 2 9800GX2's in quad SLI, creative fatality sound card, tritton AX pro headset, ACER 21.5 in monitor HDMI 1080p, logitech G9x mouse and G19 keyboard, 2 WD 300GB velociraptors in raid 0, 2 320GB samsung hdd in raid 0, 2 DVD/CD drives 22x, corsair 750TX psu, 12 120mm green led fans, cosmos s case
and yea, it sounds like a jet engine when it turn on, for some reason that always makes me smile :)
DBsantos77
January 01, 2010 at 7:45pm
LOL, I actually just took the sig out, rather put it somewhere more appealing, kick ass rig, as for the jet sound, at least you know it's alive and not fried from a leak!
-Santos
Shckr57
January 01, 2010 at 7:09pm
1. Ratchet & Clank (all of them)
2. Mass Effect
3. MW2
4. Ace Combat (all of them)
5. CnC Generals Zero Hour
6. Portal
7. BF 2142
8. UT 2004
9. CoD4
10. Crysis
11. BF2
12. Stalker clear sky
13. CnC Red Alert 2
14. Counter Strike : Source
15. World in Conflict
there are others i liked but these i would have to say are my favorites, MINE, don't argue with me, lol, i also know that 2 arnt on the pc but they are just so good i had to put them up, and i couldn't make it 10, just cause. :)
Ace of Spades
January 01, 2010 at 7:00pm
Metal Gear Solid 4 was the best game of the decade in my opinion. Like everything it said about war was on point, some thing Modern Warfare 2 couldn't achieve and doesn't want to achieve for a reason. Think about that reason for a while so you know what I mean. And oh, Super Smash Bros. Brawl was the funnist multiplayer game for me.
Post your favorite games of the decade.
andy_wh2000
January 01, 2010 at 3:18pm
I haven't had the pleasure of some of the latest gems in gaming because of my my aged system but I've fallen for a few jems not mentioned. One my most memorable games that I plan to revist is Tron 2.0. it was graphicly pleasing. The ugrade system was fun and unique to each player's like and the story I felt was one of the most engaging. The character alone were so unique to all other games.
Another was Mafia. Simply a pleasure. Gta set in the 30's. I loved the music, the city, it all.
A favor for unique story, weapons, and comedy is Armed & Dangerous. Nothing quite like the shark gun or the topsy turvy gun. I just recently watched all the cut scenes alone. Nearly an hour of good humor.
Battlefield 1942: Desert Combat. One of my favorite games of all. 64 players a map, tons of maps, and constant updates. Very few things are as memorable as firing a hellfire into a squad of men from an apache. I really believe that is what drove in battlefield 2 and the modern warefare series.
I simply do need to give Call of Duty 1 & 2 their dues. While I hadn't played much of the Medal of Honor series you wouldn't have World at War and Modern Warfare today. Those first two really pushed me into the heat of each gun fight and mission.
There are others to be mentioned but these are among my best.
jcseely
January 01, 2010 at 2:11pm
Good list, I like a list that has stuff I've never heard of before. And of course Deus Ex deserves to be on there, but if you haven't played it, ya haven't played it. I wonder how it holds up after all these years. Probably not too well.
But you must have missed playing Psychonauts as well to not have it on this list. I can't recall the last time I had so much just plain old FUN while playing a videogame. The design is epically brilliant.
Baer
January 01, 2010 at 9:19am
My facorite games are RPG and I get bored by shooters so my comments may not be for some of you.
I find Dragon age to be the most enjoyable game I have played in 20 years. I used to love the old Ultima series, that is until E A bought them, screwed it up and then burried the series. Since then I have only found a few RPG's that truly imerse you and provide that alternate life experience. Of those (Oblivion was one of them) I find that Dragon Age comes closest to the feelings evoked by the best of the Ultima series (Ultima 6 and 7).
If you like RPG's try it. You will not be sorry.
MuppetMower
January 01, 2010 at 11:33pm
You insult this guys list because he didnt include a completely average shooter from a decade filled with exponentially better games than it... Please kill yourself.
www.game-central.org
Tobe_Dog
January 01, 2010 at 8:10am
I am kind of disappointed that Battlefield 2 didn't make the list. But like you said, you can't comment about a game you didn't play or haven't played in depth to understand it. I like BF2 cuz it was the first of its kind to be about modern warfare and have all the different options of gameplay built into it. Infantry, Flying jets and Choppers, or Cruising in a Land Vehicle. But then again, not every game I like will always be on the games of the decade. You could also make a case for Bioshock, that game was so much fun. Can't wait for Bioshock 2.
ThunderBolt
January 01, 2010 at 6:55am
I started playing it last week, and I'm loving it. The story, the fights, the character design and how they react with each other is so deep I cant stop playing. On Monday last week I didn't go to work because of the game. I literally played from 7am to 9pm, nonstop. I've had gaming streaks, but that's my record. The game is that good.
robopm
January 01, 2010 at 6:38am
i honestly cant say that i disagree with the list. alot of the games iv found myself playin for HOURS beyond what was expected. On the other hand, im dissapointed that psychonauts was not on the list. it was the cult following game of the decade for sure. almost like rocky horror picture show, but in a game, and not all sexed up.
Dick Motorman
January 01, 2010 at 12:15am
MGS3 was the begining of the end for the Metal Gear series. MG2, MGS, and MGS2 collectively are the height of the series, MGS3, while it was a good game, was watered down, esspecially in comparison to the previous three games.
When is comes to Metal Gear games of the past decade there is no question that MGS2 is hands down the best.
But really this is your list for the best of the DECADE? Really? MGS2, Deus Ex, God of War(s), FF(s), Morrowind, Metroid Prime, Devil May Cry, Rez, Ico, Shadow of the Collosus, Metroid Fusion, Psychonaust, Just to name a few.
At least you had Half Life 2...
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