Best Games of the Decade - Pre-nomination Discussion.

Mr E

The Games of the Decade nomination threads will go up midweek, but it mightn't be a bad idea to jog some memories and have a chat about it before the threads go up.

Which games stood out for you as being the best of the decade?

All categories will be covered (Action Adventure, RPG, Strategy etc.), as well as some fun categories (most disappointing, best boss battle, best sound/music, etc.)

Should be really fun to see what turns up to be the best and worst of the last decade, so let the speculation commence.

Individual threads will go up midweek.

rizzla

This should be good and give me alot of games to add to my must play list.

Silent Hill 2 better win something.

Retr0gamer

I suspect some undeserving great but not world shattering games will get ignored in this ahead of the more deserving niche games. Also I predict it will mostly be games from the last 5 years. Too many newbies here that only got their first taste of gaming recently. Suppose thats how a public vote goes though.

ShaneU

Mr E wrote: »

Which games stood out for you as being the best of the decade?

Oblivion
Half-Life 2
Bioshock
Portal
Okami
Shadow of the Colossus
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Super Mario Galaxy
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Persona 4
Metal Gear Solid 3

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I suspect some undeserving great but not world shattering games will get ignored in this ahead of the more deserving niche games. Also I predict it will mostly be games from the last 5 years. Too many newbies here that only got their first taste of gaming recently. Suppose thats how a public vote goes though.

True, I'm expecting most of the votes to be for 2008 and 2009 games.

Slugs

Although I'll have to have a think about the last decade to decide on a game. I believe there should be Fail of the Decade Award. And the ONLY nominee should be Bulletwitch :P

Retr0gamer

ShaneU wrote: »

Oblivion
Half-Life 2
Bioshock
Portal
Okami
Shadow of the Colossus
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Super Mario Galaxy
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Persona 4
Metal Gear Solid 3

I'd add:

Shin Megami Tensei: Lucifiers Call
Persona 3 (better than 4 imo)
Deus Ex
Metroid Prime
F-zero GX
Silent Hill 2
Resident Evil 4
Crackdown
Ikaruga
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!
World of Goo
Braid
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Fallout 3 (found Oblivions low fantasy boring as hell)

And I'm still probably forgetting loads.

Mr E

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I suspect some undeserving great but not world shattering games will get ignored in this ahead of the more deserving niche games. Also I predict it will mostly be games from the last 5 years.

Good point, Retro. Since its such a wide open category, we could do one of two things:

1. Split the main awards (best game etc.) into 2 groups - 2000-2004 and 2005-2009, and accept separate nominations for both. Those of us who are old enough will happily nominate in the 2000-2004 group. Trouble is it's not representative of the whole decade - part of me wants to see the how the likes of Deus Ex and Ico fare against the COD4s and Halos....

2. Maybe accept 4 nominations for all groups in the Decade categories, where 2 must be from the first half of the decade, and 2 from the second half? That'd give a good representation of the decade as a whole.

3. Something else?

Open to suggestions here..... doing something of this scale (and timespan) hasn't been done here before. A lot of people either have goldfish memories (only remembering the last couple of years), or are too young to appreciate what came out 5-10 years ago. The number of people who have loved and finished COD4 will dwarf the number that finished Ico (and Ico was in many ways a better game)

James Howlett

Computer and Videogame.com did a nice retrospective for game of the decade during christmas.
The following might help jog memories;

2001;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=229626

2002;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230377

2003;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=229804

2004;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230440

2005;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230423

2006;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=229792

2007;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230403

2008;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=229677

2009;
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=230445

Also gamesradar have a nice "20 most important games of the decade" feature here;
http://www.gamesradar.com/f/the-top-20-most-important-games-of-the-decade/a-2009122310326146077

Hope this helps.

Mindkiller

I love Lucifer's Call. Or Nocturne, w/e you want to call it. That would probably be my GoTD.
Much better than Persona imo. Dragon Quest VIII would be my runner up

Rez, Snake Eater and Gears of War are all deserving of honourable mentions.
Bayonetta would probably be there as well if it were released a week earlier

Dustaz

In terms of Multiplayer:


Counterstrike
World of Warcraft
Halo 1/2
(I'd be tempted to include Starcraft even though it was released in 99 )

Each one of these shaped online gaming for the entire decade. There simply are no more important titles than these when it comes to the multiplayer world.

tman

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I'd add:
Metroid Prime
Resident Evil 4
Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

Those were the 3 I already had in mind... I'm going to have to do a bit of head scratching and see what else I can come up with.

PGR4 definitely deserves a mention
Vice City (San Andreas and IV were poo)
Twilight Princess (Would have included Wind Waker, but the fetch quests put me off ever finishing it)
Portal
Geometry Wars Evolved 2

Bayonetta would probably be there as well if it were released a week earlier

We're allowing import games as long as they are playable on an unmodified PAL console (which all PS3 games are)
Therefore the PS3 version of Bayonetta and Demon's Souls are bother eligible for nomination

super_furry

World of Warcraft - 16 million players can't be wrong. Brilliantly simple to get into and so deep and expansive that you could litterally lose months of your life to it, and it still shows no sign of slowing down.

Halo 2 - Proved that online console gaming was not only now a real possibility but set a new standard for how it should be done. Justified the existance and viability of Xbox Live in one fell swoop.

Grand Theft Auto III - While Mario 64 proved that 3D gaming was the future, GTA III made good on that promise by offering you a full living and breathing world and let you loose to do whatever you wanted. The unprecidented freedom set a new standard for gaming and it's influence can be felt in so many games today.

Other personal favourites include:
Rogue Galaxy
Morrowind
Thief III
Outrun 2
Final Fantasy IX
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas
Left 4 Dead
ICO
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of Earth
Dragon Age: Origins

Retr0gamer

Halo 2 wouldn't get anywhere near the top games of the decade. The single player was terrible and it may have been a watershed moment for online gaming but all it was was a generic deathmatch game which I'd been playing since Quake 1. Rainbow 6 3 was a much better xbl game anyway.

I also couldn't put the GTA games there either. Most influential game yes but as a game experience free roaming games just aren't their yet. They are still evolving and flawed and have a long way to go before I'd rank them up with something like Metroid Prime or Resi 4.

johnny_ultimate

tman wrote: »

Therefore the PS3 version of Bayonetta...eligible for nomination

Totally walking away with the 'best emulation of a game that runs smoother on another console award' (I kid, I kid - if I didn't feel that it might be a bit too soon to nominate it as game of the decade - as opposed to the years I've had to reflect on others - I'd consider it a very close contender).

Definitely going to find it hard to pick a few games to sum up a decade. However, if anyone wishes to join me, the campaign to get We Love Katamari voted as game of the decade starts here (I'd even make a sig if I wasn't lazy).

F1ngers

Retr0gamer wrote: »

And I'm still probably forgetting loads.

MGS4...:D:p

My choices would be:

Beyond Good and Evil.
MGS3: Snake Eater.
Final Fantasy XII.
Super Mario Galaxy World.
Ico.

GothPunk

I've been playing through Deus Ex again recently, and I'm struck with the fact that it's still my favourite game. It's nearly ten years old and I don't feel like it's been surpassed with the level of choice and how immersive it feels to me. It hasn't aged well at all graphically and the control system is somewhat 'clunky', the dialogue is stilted in parts and combat isn't that great at times... but it just has so many little touches (I always loved how you could log into the security consoles and mess around) that make the game world more believable.

So tell me Boardsies, Deus Ex is a great game, one of the best of the decade I'm sure you'll agree, but it's ten years old, surely it has been surpassed? I'm thinking that I must be wrong, I must have missed a game that offers more or "out Deus Ex's" Deus Ex?

Shadow of the Colossus will be another big contender I think. It resonated very strongly with me on an emotional level that I don't think any other game has achieved. Sure some games are sad or scary, but Shadow of the Colossus goes beyond that I think. It doesn't hurt that it's a lot of fun to play and beautiful at that.

Demon's Souls is the only 'this-gen' game I think I'd bother nominating, it stands out for me as it goes against the trend lately of making games too easy. It's a great single player experience mixed with an excellent multiplayer. I've never been as scared as I have playing Demon's Souls when my world gets invaded by a Black Phantom - and then if you take them down you feel great.

I'd love to nominate a Shin Megami Tensei game, choosing one above all others though is pretty tough. Lucifer's Call and Digital Devil Saga, together with Persona 3 and 4, are some of the best games I've ever played. I haven't finished them all though so I'd feel like a sham nominating one I haven't seen all the way through.

If The Orange Box is eligible for nomination I might just pick that. :pac:

Retr0gamer

GothPunk wrote: »

So tell me Boardsies, Deus Ex is a great game, one of the best of the decade I'm sure you'll agree, but it's ten years old, surely it has been surpassed? I'm thinking that I must be wrong, I must have missed a game that offers more or "out Deus Ex's" Deus Ex?

Unfortunately I fear it will be dumbed down shooters from now on. The closest we got was Bioshock and even that was a dumbed down system shock 2. It's a shame we won't see a developer take a big budget and try to craft a thinking mans FPS with RPG elements and choice fora while. Nothing has come close to the choice available in Deus Ex. Maybe a russian or eastern european developer will giveus something to live up to it but with stalker we saw they were capable but also that their QA was terrible.

johnny_ultimate

I think nostalgia can sometimes distort opinion a little. I adore SotC, but even know the controls and 'platforming' are extremely awkward compared to Assassin's Creed 2. I'd probably still put SotC ahead of AC2, of course, but that isn't to say mechanics and game design haven't advanced. Using your example of Deus Ex (one of my favourite games too), many elements have clearly been improved upon in the games that followed - from Bioshock to Fallout 3. But Deus Ex was there first, laying the foundations others would build upon. The graphics and interface may have improved, but the customisation options and RPG / Shooter hybrid gameplay probably haven't. The mix of decent storytelling, gameplay and overall design was probably more surprising and innovative in the early 2000s that Fallout 3 was a year ago, despite the latter being a smoother experience on contemporary machines.

So: I guess what I'm trying to say is that nostalgia is sometimes rose-tinted, but you can't deny that things may have improved since 2000. The engine may be stronger in Prince of Persia '08, but the puzzles and storyline were superior in SoT. The atmosphere and bosses in SotC still hold up, but the controls and technology is sometimes awkward. Older games lay foundations, newer ones build upon them. Hopefully this will be reflected in the results here! We can't forget how atmospheric, tense and original Ico was close to a decade ago, but you also can't really forget how smooth, engaging and entertaining Arkham Asylum was six months ago either!

Lands Leaving

For me ir was a weak decade, both the 80's and 90's were full of new ideas and innovation, as well as classic fun games. The 2000's were the era of marketing killing smaller games and a general homogenisation of the industry. There seems to be a lot less choice now. Mass market appeal hasn't helped games as much as it should have. More money seems to equal more standardised rubbish. It's the same with music and movies, the publishers are afraid to release anything thats not a cookie cutter shooter because they think the public want the same thing over and over. As much as I enjoyed say, Call of Duty 4, it has no place being considered with Half Life 2 or Bioshock in discussions like this. But it sold far more and that means less companies will want to make innovative games, they'll just want to copy it. (New Medal of Honour anyone) Plus the Dreamcast died.

Despite a lot of let downs (Final Fantasy X is the biggest for me. No world map??? Underwaterball? Tidus???) there were some great games, just nothing in terms of SNES or PS1 era releases. My favourites were :

Shadow of The Colossus - For being just a special and different piece of entertainment

Resident Evil 4 - One of the best takes on the action game ever, always fun. Totally revived a franchise that left a bad taste in my mouth after 3.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Still the only reason to own a wii, best Zelda since Ocarina of time.

Halo: Combat Evolved - If only for the level with the tank. Large scale battles, lots of character and a fresh take on the genre, fun.

Portal - Just amazing, it's ridiculously challenging, but never frustrating. It's also home to some of the most impressive physics/graphics ever. Making a portal that you can look into and see it go on forever was an astounding technical achievement.

Fallout 3 - The game I most enjoyed this decade and the game I played the most that was actually released this decade. Great story (not the main quest, the backstory) massive world to explore which was alive with character. Great sound and music. Fantastic graphics. I was totally immersed in this, it hooked me like nothing else has in years. It did everything that Oblivion did right, took out what it did wrong and gave me some Morrowind minus the bugs (mostly) and minus the swords and sorcery setting, which is just not my thing. I know it's a lot like System Shock, but it does the same thing better iin my opinion. The second you step out of the vault and see the barren but beautiful world waiting to be explored this game grabs you.

Vegeta

The Forza franchise deserves a mention (except 3) It was the next logical progression in console sim racing.

Retr0gamer

I only played and finished system shock 2 and started Deus Ex this year and I can safely say that the RPG mechanics and choice in those two games are far superior to the mechanics in Bioshock and Fallout 3 where the only option is to specialise in combat or you will end up frustrated. I'm finding a lot of new games instead of streamlining clunky mechanics are just simplifying them so they can appeal to a more casual market. My problem is that Bioware and Atlus showed that even a complicated and hardcore RPG can still be a hit if marketed properly.

TheDoc

Very simply world of warcraft for me.

We all know why its so good, so i dont need to go into it, but it very much took mmorpgs mainstream, and has become an absolute juggernaut.

It is probably the best game of the decade, its definitly the most influencial (its success spawned a rake of wannabes) and blizzard has become a business model many have tried to emulate.

James Howlett

I find myself torn between Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band 2.

corcaigh07

shenmue 2
Shadow of the colossus
Ico
Jet Set Radio
Vice City
Pro Evo 6
Capcom Vs Snk 2
Super Mario Galaxy

that said, my top two are easily SOTC and shenmue 2. Ill probably have to buy a PS3 for Last Guardian(not a sequel as such but similiar) and i would absolutely buy a new console if Shenmue 3 was ever to rise from the dead.

AnCapaillMor

Obviously demons souls for me, i've never been addicted to a game so much.

Portal has to go in there as well.

cherryghost

Twisted Metal Back


ooooh yeaaah!

GothPunk

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I only played and finished system shock 2 and started Deus Ex this year and I can safely say that the RPG mechanics and choice in those two games are far superior to the mechanics in Bioshock and Fallout 3 where the only option is to specialise in combat or you will end up frustrated. I'm finding a lot of new games instead of streamlining clunky mechanics are just simplifying them so they can appeal to a more casual market. My problem is that Bioware and Atlus showed that even a complicated and hardcore RPG can still be a hit if marketed properly.

I find myself agreeing a lot more with you lately Retr0, what up with that?

I recall a report by some analyst group in the US that it was marketing dollars, and not critical reception (based on Metacritic averages if I remember correctly) that determine how successful a game is. I think marketing has had a big effect on gaming the past decade. It's quite the position to be in to have grown up gaming and see the hobby become more mainstream as the years go by. So long as publishers like Atlus can live in harmony with the big boys like ActiBlizzard, I think all will be well with the gaming world. Maybe Deus Ex 3 will be a return to form and be the best game of the 2010's, heh.

James Howlett

I just submitted my vote for this but I think 3 is too low for game of the decade. I know the games that deserve it (SoTC and RE4) but there are games I really love playing regularly, like Gears of War and Guitar Hero, and feel they deserve some credit too... eh?

RandolphEsq

Unfortunately I do not play RPG games which rules out a lot of beautiful games. Half Life 2, Episode 1 and 2, for me stand out (as one who isn't a hardcore gamer). I just cannot get over the gameplay and story (general plot as well as characters;Alyx). As a huge physics fan though I love the whole bending of time and space, warping of reality etc. Amazing.

I agree with a poster above who said that the winner will be a generic, heavily marketed game that is not necessarily the 'best' (incorporating all the elements of a wonderful game). E.g. Crash Team Racing has been nominated; whilst a lot of fun, it is very inside the box and repetitive.