So it’s come to that time of year when magazines and websites have started to lay out their ‘top ten games of the year’ lists.
So it’s come to that time of year when magazines and websites have started to lay out their ‘top ten games of the year’ lists. It has also (as you may have noticed) come to that time of the decade where everyone can say their top ten somethings of the past ten years, and so, here is my personal top ten games of the decade.
I say personal because many of these games are in this list for purely personal reasons; there are some extremely noteworthy games that have not made it in: Diablo II, none of the Halo games, there is no Call of Duty and no Real Time Strategy games have made the cut. This doesn’t mean I haven’t liked these games and sunk too many hours into them, it’s just they haven’t affected me significantly. So here we go.
Number 10 – World of Warcraft
I just added this game’s name to my office word dictionary, because let’s face it, this game is everywhere and I will be mentioning it again. This is the precise reason it has made it onto the list, it is absolutely mammoth and has no doubt defined a new way to play games this decade, with approximately 0.1% of people on the planet playing it.
I don’t have a lot to say about this game because I am too scared of playing it for long periods of time, but it is safe to say this game is a phenomenon and will be recognised as one of the biggest pop culture items of the decade.
Number 9 – The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker
I had to pick between this game and the ‘Twilight Princess’. Wind Waker triumphed partly because I loved the cutesy game boy games of the 90’s and it was great to see a Zelda game jump back to that; even if you hated the perhaps childishness cell shading, underneath there was a great game. This also features because I never forget seeing it for the first time, at a sleepover one of my friends decided to try it out after watching a movie. Three of us sat there watching him play it and when he finally stopped the game informed us he had been playing for eight hours. I watched my friend play this for the equivalent of a 9-5 day at work. It is pretty good.
Number 8 – Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance
I’ll be honest, this game isn’t very good. There aren’t many attacks, the story is corny and it brings nothing new to the table. But dammit it will make you and one friend sit at that table for hours. This game is here because me and one poor soul couldn’t stop playing it, we just had to get that next bit of armour. You know what we did when we couldn’t beat the last boss? We played the whole game again so we could level up and walk up and down his ass.
Number 7 – Half Life 2
You know, ‘Half Life 2’ may not seem so great now, but you have got to remember how awesome it was to use a gravity gun to pick something up for the first time, how scary it looked, how cool it was throwing circular saw blades at aliens and how you could finally break a box into pieces and then break up those pieces. You know, Half Life 2.
Number 6 – The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
So this game pretty much let you live in a ‘ye olde’ fantasy world, making your own character before letting you toddle off to do something with your life. Some people hated it; there was little variation in core gameplay and controls after all. Despite this I played this game a lot and I loved it. So much so I had to confess to a girl, whom I met two years after playing the game, that for a few days I couldn’t help but play it for six hours consecutively. Don’t be concerned for me, I have had it hidden.
Number 5 – Super Smash Bros. Melee
This game was an absolute dream for when you couldn’t afford to go out, it doesn’t matter if you’re a nerd or not, you want to see Mario kick Pikachu in the face. This game was the blissful mix of genius and madness and it is here for the sofa filled hilarity that it has supplied for everyone over the past ten years.
Number 4 – Braid
Released for download on Xbox live this puzzle game astounded me, the story was amazing and it looked gorgeous. This is the kind of game that makes you think Video Games could one day be seen as some kind of art. I had a brilliant time playing this and showing it to anyone I could, playing this game made me think in ways that felt like I was stretching and using muscles I never knew I had for the first time. If you like games or not you will be in awe.
Number 3 – Metal gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
As soon as you play some games you just know you’re going to have to complete it, this is no doubt one of them. It is truly cinematic without appearing too over indulgent; the cut scenes alone stitched together dwarfed most movies in length, and often in quality. So along with the amazing story and the feeling you should be sat in a cinema, this game had the ability to drag you into a scene you thought you could comfortably watch from a distance and force you to make a plot turning decision. Great story and often flawless gameplay makes this a game to remember.
Number 2 – Resident Evil 4
Holy shit, this game was good. Not only did it bring back Resident Evil like never before but it treated us to a horror game like never before. This was not for the squeamish or for the faint hearted; this was not a relaxing game, this was absolutely terrifying. Excellent pacing and a brilliant placement of friends and foes made this a heart pounding game to play, I’m getting excited just thinking about it. You won’t forget this game, no matter how much you might want to.
Number 1 – Portal
So this is my top game of the decade, I wrestled with every other number on this list, but there was never a doubt in my mind which game screamed ahead into the number one slot. This is a puzzle game where you can create an entrance portal and an exit portal, you go in one hole you come out the other. I cannot explain how this will bend your mind and even have you taking philosophical issue in the first few minutes; it is a scarily close to perfection in puzzle games.
It does not stop there though, there is a sudden injection of personality part of the way through which has you cowering at the frailty of your situation, angry at the choices you have to make and even lust… With comic undertones all the way through it is the funniest game I’ve ever played, no matter how many times it toyed with my feelings, expect to shed a tear in the end credits. Portal, a puzzle game, is my game of the decade and might be one of the top games I have ever played.
Merry Christmas!
By Daniel Rowbotham
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