It's not only the traditional time of year for us to compile our lists of favourite things, it is the time of the decade for definitive lists of favourite things.
Add this to the fact that geeks, tech-heads and gamers just love to compile definitive lists, and you will understand what a job it has been trying to identify a list of only 12 games that could genuinely be described as 'definitive' of that strange decade we are just leaving which we (always slightly uncomfortably) called the noughties.
The last ten years has seen gaming become the number one mainstream entertainment medium of choice for millions worldwide, with Sony's market dominance with the PlayStation 2 earlier in the decade gradually giving way to the new dominance of Nintendo's Wii, the latest rising (and glowing) star in the most recent round of what we all now call 'the console war'.
And throughout it all, the humble PC has retained its foothold as many true hardcore gamers' format of choice, particularly if you happen to be a fan of strategy-gaming or massively multiplayer online games such as Blizzard's mighty World of Warcraft.
On which note, we debated long and hard about WoW's worthiness for inclusion in the following list, on the back of its sales, its 11 million-plus regular subscribers, its overall scope and its developers sense of ambition for what is possible… but we eventually knocked it off the bottom of the list.
As we then did with about 50 other games that a number of our writers demanded should be on there. Which, if nothing else, is proof positive that the noughties were the decade when videogames really started to matter. And while we cannot wait to see what new gaming tech the Tenties (the Teenties?) serves up, let's pay our dues to the games
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II has now launched, bringing with it some of the most stunning visuals you've ever seen in a game.
Going to be real. I’m playing on my PC and every setting is on high at 60fps locked. The game is beautiful, sounds good in headphones (I’m sorry but Returnal still holds the aural crown), and has an impressive photo mode. Can literally hit that at any time. You won’t have full control at certain times, but it’s impressive. After more than an hour I’ve already started to get bored. The fights are brain dead so far and it is a CRAP ton of walking and listening. I’m over the beginning “theme” of you did this to us (people that have played will get this as not to spoil anything). I literally non stop run every chance I get. Obviously isn’t the whole game but gahdamn. Hopefully it picks up soon. Definitely can’t see this being a 10/10 by any stretch of the imagination because the beginning has gotten so boring. Here’s to a better experience tomorrow or Friday when I pick it back up.
Agreed. I've played about 34 mins & it was boring. I'm going to try again tonight for another half hour or so & see if it gets better.
I felt this way with Alan Wake 2. I lasted four hours and then quit...walking sim with weak combat.
The Hunt: Showdown upgrade to CryEngine 5.11 drops this Aug. 15! Players can expect "a mountain of new content" throughout summer of 2024.
Way of Rhea is a puzzle game that is easy to learn and relaxing to play while also putting your critical thinking skills to the test.
a countdown article I actually agree with
lovely.
overall i agree with everything else, Half Life 2 1st place is well deserved.
I dont think that the Oblivion re-hash Fallout 3 should be on the list, it was not ground breaking in any way. Apart from being a game where you spend more time in a subway that Subway Simulator 2007