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Brad’s 10 best games of the decade

Brad’s 10 best games of the decade

It’s time for endless top 10 lists.  So what makes my list special? The answer is that while other top 10 lists are merely the opinions of people, this list has been put together by teams of scientists working in laboratories for months on a new super computer to determine the definitive list of the 10 best games released in the decade based on their quality, design, and impact.

Here they are:

#10 Bejeweled

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This game has sold over 47 trillion copies in over 5 million countries on 3 million devices.  It has single handedly helped replace Solitaire as the game people spend crazy amounts of time on without admitting it.

 

 

#9 Call of Duty 4

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Call of Duty 4 was the very first game that featured the player holding a weapon of some sort from the “first person” perspective and then shooting other people.

Or not.  What made Call of Duty 4 special is that it helped mainstream these types of games in a way nothing before it had.  Sure, you reading this have played Counterstrike endlessly. Heck, I probably shot you through a wall (damn punk buster).  But normal people play Call of Duty. Even people who watch the footed ball sport game on TV.

 

#8 The Orange Box

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Half-Life, Counterstrike, Portal. These are the games you must play to be a man – even if you’re a woman.  Without their success, the 3D engine that powers them, Source, wouldn’t have been able to be used on other titles that we enjoy today. Titles that involve killing zombies.  Moreover, the success of the Orange Box helped launch the increasingly ubiquitous Steam digital distribution platform.

Can you imagine life without Team Fortress? Do you want to live that life? I didn’t think so.

#7 Wii Sports

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Without the Wii thousands of children whose parents happily let them watch hours of Sponge Bob would be deprived of playing video games on the basis of it not being “active”.  Wii Sports helped get millions of Wii’s into people’s houses where children could quickly migrate to games that were more fun.

#6 Knights of the Old Republic

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Okay: Watch this: JAR JAR.  Note the involuntary tremor you just experienced. Knights of the Old Republic was so good that helped save the Star Wars universe. Moreover, apparently there was a way to win the game as a good guy…

JAR JAR!

 

#5 Halo

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Halo demonstrated that yes, a first person shooter on the console can be fun.  Not for me. But for other people anyway and that opened the consoles to a whole new world of awesome games.

 

#4 The Sims

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Allegedly not everyone plays The Sims to lock up their Sims in a room and watch them starve to death. At least, that’s what my team of therapists claim.

 

#3 Guitar Hero

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A court order prevents me from playing this game again but it and its similar “Rock Band” have become a genre of their own that has really helped expand the realm of gaming to another level.

 

#2  Grand Theft Auto III

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This urban training tool took on a life of its own. Social services continues to complain that I allow my children to play the games but as my driveway full of stolen sports cars indicates, it can pay dividends.

 

#1 World of Warcraft

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Pretty much everyone has played this game at one time or other. Sure, games like Ultima Online and Everquest were first but nothing in that genre has had the impact of World of Warcraft.

Consider this, World of Warcraft allegedly grossed approximately $1 billion in 2008. If World of Warcraft was a country, it would be richer than Liberia.

 

Now, I’m sure this list doesn’t have every favorite game of all time. No Super Mario Galaxy? No Metroid Prime? What about Soul Calibur? Resident Evil 4?  Don’t blame me, blame the scientists and their sentient machines!

See you next decade!

132,977 views 56 replies
Reply #27 Top

Being a pure strategy gamer, Sins of a Solar Empire gets tops for me. And I'd say that anywhere, not just here.

 

BTW, I've never played any of those, with the exception of Portal.

Reply #28 Top

hmm.. not a single game on this list that would be on my list...

Reply #29 Top

Hmmm......this seems to be more of a most successful games of the decade thing, but that doesn't mean I disagree with the list. However, mine is wildly different;

1. Half Life 2.     2. God of War 2.    3. Shadow of the Colossus.      4. Grand Theft Auto 3.     5. Knights of the Old Republic.     6. Halo.      7. Bioshock.     8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.      9. Rome: Total War.       10. Mass Effect.

Bias aside, I agree wholly with several of those games, even if they weren't my favourite games. HL2 was the modern FPS revolution, God of War 2 was frickin brilliant in every way, Shadow of the Colossus was the most artistic and amazing game I have ever played, GTA3 was the one that started the whole open-world craze with Grand Theft Auto, Knights of the Old Republic had to be the most loved RPG I've seen, Halo was simply an astoundingly good game that didn't do anything new, Bioshock has the best story out of any game I've ever known and is masterful in every way, Modern Warfare was always going to surge to greatness even though it didn't do anything new, Rome: TW was the best strategy game of the decade for me and Mass Effect has got to be my most favourite game ever. My list will probably change after this year though, when the decade is truly over. I'm thinking The Last Guardian and God of War 3 are going to infiltrate that list, and there are several games I think should be on my list but are beaten slightly (Gran Turismo 3 for example). This is just my opinion.

Reply #30 Top

Quoting Shunmaha, reply 24
Shit list! lol

I hate world of warcraft.

But I have to agree it is probably the most successful game out there, And if youve played it before you will know how greatly optimized and great the graphics look too. It also has many many quests. A HUGE world. And a massive Realm vs realm pvp. You can swim, you can fly, you can ride mounts, you can climb on top of castles, and you can get drunk. Theres just so many stuff you can do.

 

 

CoD4 is a rip off.  It only made it on the list because so many kids LOVE it. It's nothing more than just a normal FPS game though.

Wii sports is amazing, no, Wii is amazing. Nintendo people are so smart. PS3 and Xbox went for better graphics, while Wii developed a new style of playing games.

Kind of like how Final fantasy improves graphic every new FF game, but the gameplay doesn't become better.  Btw i do not play Wii, PS3, or the Xbox either. Im Computer all the way. uheeeheee

 

 

You think us FF fans only play it because its graphics gets better? No we play it because FF has some of the best stories of the gaming industry.

 

Quoting Splitshadow, reply 21
I have no idea how 5 casual games ended up on the best games of the decade. That's like checking which artists made the most money to determine who the best musicians of the decade were.

Micheal jackson!

Reply #31 Top

Quoting synnworld, reply 30

You think us FF fans only play it because its graphics gets better? No we play it because FF has some of the best stories of the gaming industry.
Speaking of which can't wait till march

Reply #32 Top

Here's my take on the top 10 list:

10. Bejeweled - casual game, not notworthy

09. Call of Duty 4 - one of my PS3 favorites and a high ranker for me too!

08. The Orange Box - this whole package is a definitely a high ranker, the Half-Life 2 games are one of my personal top favorites in PC gaming

07. Wii Sports - a casual game and NOT one of my favorites but noteworthy for bringing casual gaming to the masses since this seems to be what most older Wii owners play

06. Knights of the Old Republic - One of the best Western RPGs and Bioware is an excellent developer.  This is one of my all-time favorites.

05. Halo - A big favorite of mine.  I like this game more than Halo 2, and Halo 3 is of no interest to me.  The Halo storyline and gameplay got old with Halo 2.  The PC version is the best version to play after all the patches and with today's PCs.

04. The Sims - a casual game that made PC gaming more interesting to non-gamers and a game that holds no interest to me.  Very noteworthy for it's sales and popularity, and is the best game of it's type.

03. Guitar Hero - Brought good old rock and roll and metal to the younger generation!

02. Grand Theft Auto III - Not one of my favorites and has no appeal to me.  An excellent game for those that like this type of game.  This game set the standard for open sandbox type games.  A very noteworthy title and definitely deserving being one of the top games even if it's not a game I am fond of.

01. World of Warcraft - A game I find myself dwindling a way lot of my free time on when I do have an active subscription.  It brought MMORPG gaming to the masses but still a very deep and hardcore game.

Reply #33 Top

Brad, were you even 30 in 2000?  :) 

C'mon these might be the BEST MARKETED games.  How could you leave out MechWarrior 3. 1-the first Direct3D game (that I'm aware of), 2-pushed the envelope with multi-axis joysticks. 3-realtime multiplayer.

Reply #34 Top

Gazes at list, blink something in my eye..Gazes back ugh!  Somebody take him to the doctor please!!  He has a case of incuriable post traumatic gaming disorder.

Reply #35 Top

Intersting factoid:

Computer games (like most in the Orange Box, CoD4 & the GTA series) get constant misguided scorn heaped on them about leading the yooff of today towards violence.

And then along comes a nice game like The Sims.  Good, clean, harmless family entertainment.

Which is why, on being introduced to The Sims, my pre-teen nieces who hadn't really played any computer games before figured out within minutes how much fun it is to give you sims a nice swimming pool with a lovely diving board, watch them jump into the pool and splash around having fun - just before they realise that you have just taken away the ladder and they start drowning.

:D

Reply #36 Top

Quoting Splitshadow, reply 21
I have no idea how 5 casual games ended up on the best games of the decade. That's like checking which artists made the most money to determine who the best musicians of the decade were.

Probably because there were "casual" games that transformed the industry this decade, which Random Shooter #85482717212 didn't do. Is the "best" game one that does the same thing for the same small hardcore crowd, or one that draws in millions of new gamers?

Reply #37 Top

Brad, your list is far better than most of the legit magazine lists I've seen.  They tend to leave out games that changed things like Bejewelled and Guitar Hero. And simply put games they liked in there, like Deus Ex...

Reply #38 Top

Casual games don't do anything but pollute the industry. Making crappy games that appeal to a large audience doesn't do anything but expose more stupid people to videogames. If you wish to contend that Miley Cyrus did more for the genre of rock music than Thin Lizzy because Miley Cyrus brought rock music to more people, brace for laughter beyond the comfortable decibel range of your ears.

Reply #39 Top

[mod edit: don't quote spam]

Goddamn spambot.  Bad enough you invaded the Matrix forums yesterday, now you have to come here too? 

Bah.  Begone! 

 

Reply #40 Top

Quoting Splitshadow, reply 39
Casual games don't do anything but pollute the industry. Making crappy games that appeal to a large audience doesn't do anything but expose more stupid people to videogames. If you wish to contend that Miley Cyrus did more for the genre of rock music than Thin Lizzy because Miley Cyrus brought rock music to more people, brace for laughter beyond the comfortable decibel range of your ears.
This.

Reply #42 Top

Casual games don't do anything but pollute the industry. Making crappy games that appeal to a large audience doesn't do anything but expose more stupid people to videogames.

That means they're a good thing. The more people "exposed" to videogames, and the larger the audience, the more money there is in videogames, which means companies can make more money producing videogames, in turn leading more companies to produce games/existing companies to produce more, and be able to spend more on producing them, meaning we get a wider selection of games to choose from, as well as more games which have had more money spent on them, meaning better quality ones as well.

Reply #43 Top

Quoting aeortar, reply 43
That means they're a good thing. The more people "exposed" to videogames, and the larger the audience, the more money there is in videogames, which means companies can make more money producing videogames, in turn leading more companies to produce games/existing companies to produce more, and be able to spend more on producing them, meaning we get a wider selection of games to choose from, as well as more games which have had more money spent on them, meaning better quality ones as well.
You'd THINK that was true, but it's not. While a more money can be put into developing games, they also have to appeal to an ever-increasing variety of people to stay profitable. Games that appeal to the wider audience inevitably becomes more profitable thus allowing companies in charge of these games to aquire more studios and developers, where they are once again pressed into produce wide-appealing games in efforts aimed at profit maximization.

In the end, all you end up with is an endless sea of bland.

The games that aren't bland aren't as profitable, since they are aimed at a specific market, thus the same amount of money will never be put into them. The bulk of money produced by bland games, will be put into the development of even more bland games.

Reply #44 Top

OK. I'll bite here's my list:

  1. Civilization III
  2. Colonization
  3. Sins of a Solar Empire
  4. GalCiv II
  5. Dawn of War
  6. Supreme Commander
  7. The Witcher
  8. Europa Universalis II
  9. Space Rangers 2
  10. World of Goo

I had a better list for the previous couple of decades (geez getting old) but these are the ones that stand out for me. While Brad's top 10 have mass appeal I could never get into them.

Reply #45 Top

What a stupid list, Brad. Where's Galciv? B)

Reply #46 Top

The issue with most of the lists we have been tossing up to counter the OP list is that, while we may love some of those games, they just don't have any impact. GalCiv was an amazing game, but it wasn't widley played in the mainstream and didn't really effect anyone beyond its niche. Same with many other great games. Sad to say but Madden NFL probably had more impact than master of magic. It hurts, but we just have to accept that the best games around get passed over because they don't have a bunch of football players in them. :'(

Reply #47 Top

I'm going to add a vote for Neverwinter Nights (I, not II).  This game was pretty darn revolutionary, IMHO, and still has a HUGE following and a heavily active community.

Reply #48 Top

NWN1 made me sleep for 18 hours.

Reply #49 Top

Quoting Luckmann, reply 43
In the end, all you end up with is an endless sea of bland.

You mean as opposed to the lists that are full of random shooter #9284904393, right? Nothing bland about that at all.

Reply #50 Top

WHY THE HELL IS WOW FIRST!!!