Your Top 10 Games From The Last Decade

[Vaco Deus]

Its 2011 and the start of a new decade. I thought it'd be fun if we list our top 10 from 2000-2010 and give a little explanation as to why they're our favorite. Please note this a SPOILER ZONE AND SPOILERS WILL NOT BE MARKED

Here are my top ten, in no particular order
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Harvest Moon: Back To Nature
I bought the first SNES HM off of eBay when I was a teenager and fell in love. HM64 improved the formula and BTN perfected it. There is something satisfying about harvesting over 100 turnips, upgrading your tools with ore you mined, woo a local girl, and milk your cows. All in the same day! You can forage the forest for herbs and seasonal growings, mine for ore, enter your chickens and cows in festivals, participate in local traditions, upgrade your farm buildings, get married, have a child, be a master chef; its never ending the stuff you can do. It’s a nice change of pace from fighting your personal demons, saving the world, or shooting Russians in the face.

Chrono Cross
This game is prolly my top favorite traditional RPG. Amazing story, astounding music, colorful characters; its everything an RPG should be.

Silent Hill 2
Best SH in the series in my book: Next to no mention of the silly cult, great characters, music, layers of symbolism. They really hit the nail on the head with this one.

Fallout 3 (+ All DLC Expansions)
Fallout 3 was my first Fallout and as the saying goes, the first one is always special, which is why Final Fantasy VIII is still my top rated FF. New Vegas offers new combat mechanics such as iron sights, damage thresholds of armor, and varying ammo types but it’s the setting that puts the Capital Wastes above the Mojave. The bleak greys, blues, and greens are more appealing than the bleached browns and tans. I don’t know if it’s the famous landmarks, the sense of hopelessness, or what but Fallout 3’s setting is just more appealing. NV has a slightly better story but not by much. Its also a much more serious game than NV. You have raiders with camps that portray horrific acts of violence and cannibalism. The DLC adds varied new environments from the industrious Pitt to the swamp laden Point Lookout and dozens of new quests, weapons and armor. With the amount of time I’ve put into Fallout 3 I could easily call the DC Wastes home.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
San Andreas really stepped it up from Vice City. 3 cities, a vast and fun country side and desert to explore, over the top story. Me and my friends spent hours just driving vehicles and bicycles (which could climb damn near vertical sections) up Mt. Chiliad and driving off the ramp at the top. Great times.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
This game proves that a great sound design can make a game scary. Just from the whispers in hallways to the cries in the night this game continues to scare the poop outta me.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots
The culmination of more than a decade worth of games and storyline. Who’s thumbs DIDN’T hurt after making Snake crawl through the final hallway of Outer Haven? After the dust had settled and the final dialog had been said I found it a fine sendoff to one of videogames more prolific heroes.

Dark Cloud 2
Not only did this game boast one of the better uses of cell shade graphics but the battle system, weapon creation, and town creation made it damn near impossible to set down.

Kingdom Hearts II
KHII totally surprised me with its story. It brought the enigmatic Organization XIII and the concept of what happens to the body and soul when the persons heart is lost to the darkness. You have these shells of people who desperately want to be whole again and will destroy whole worlds just to find their hearts. I thought it was a wonderful concept.

Assassin’s Cred II
The AC series has the wonderful quirk exploring your genes and able to relive your ancestors lives through your genetic code. Altair lived in the crusades and was dull as dirt. Ezio lived in the Italian Renaissance and had something called a personality. The gameplay also added a second hidden blade for dual assassinations and the developers learned that doing the same 3 tasks before a kill got boring after the second go.

[Dwz]

In no particular order:

1. Shadow of Colossus ... need I say more? If you haven't played it at least watch a video review somewhere and see what a great game it is.

2. Digital Devil Saga ... loved this RPG to death, it wasn't anything new but it had a distinct feel to it and it took me over.

3. Persona 4 ... I would've included P3 but I liked the fourth one much more because it was what every sequel should be: a huge improvement over a successful formula

4. Burnout Revenge ... this is probably STILL the best racer to this day in my opinion. The sheer mayhem around every turn was amazing

5. Fatal Frame 3 ... the third one added little to the game from the previous ones but it was the most enjoyable seeing apparitions seep into the real world from the dreams

6. Odin Sphere ... I never thought I'd like let alone love a sidescroller game but Odin Sphere blew me away with its story and awesome game mechanics like alchemy, growing health items etc.

7. Silent Hill 3 ... the best in the series IMO

8. God of War ... the first one was the one that made me go WOW

9. Batman: Arkham Asylum ... a perfectly crafted game that had intense fighting and sneaking with a sprinkle of puzzle solving

10. Alan Wake ... definitely a game that held me restrained in my couch and forced me to play it way way into the night and I'm glad did for there isn't any other game like it out there.

P.S. Strangely most of the games from my list were on the PS2, the new console generation just doesn't seem to make impressive games as often as they used to, damn those sky-high costs to make games >_<

[Redemption]

Wow, this is tough. I hate trying to remember when Games came out. But lets get this started. And shouldn't it be between 2001 and 2010? If its 2000 till 2010, thats 11 years, isn't it?

Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time

This game was like, wow to me. The story, the voice acting, the game play. Unlike a lot of others, i quite liked the combat, heavy on defense and waiting for the right time to attack. It was like a fantasy tale.

Mirrors Edge

Freaking love this game. I became completely Emmered in the game, i would actually loose my breath after running for awhile and looking for the next platform to jump to. It really sucked me into the experience, and i love a bit of parkour in my gaming.

Shadow of the Colossus
Doesn't really need a explination, like Dwz said. But i'll give one anyway. The game always left me with a sense of accomplishment having taken down a colossus. Killer tunes in it as well.

Zone of the Enders 2 : The second Runner
Fast paced flying robot action, with a overly dramatic story line produced by Lord Kojima. I went back and played it again recently, and it still holds up pretty well.

Spider Man 2
Easily one of my Favorite Sandbox games, It had some fantastic action just roaming the city, that i don't think the other games have managed to replicate. Mind you, i wouldn't mind checking out the other spider-man games that game out in the last few years.

Metal Gear Solid : Guns of the Patriots
Despite my dislike of the extended endings, Guns of the Patriots was a great game that i really enjoyed and had some fantastic moments. It was a real reward for series fans.

Sam and Max : Seasons
Great music, and classic Point and click adventures. I've bought all 3 seasons so far, as well as several other Telltale seasons. All great.

Hotel Dusk : Room 215
This game is probably the reason i still have a DS. Great little adventure that really took advantage of all the features the DS has to offer. Still need to pick up the follow up.

Silent Hill 2
A silent hill game is the reason were all here from some point or another. nothing more needs to be said really.

Uncharted 2
I always strugle with the last position on any list. I was going to put Little Big Planet here, but i don't think i really spent that much time with it. Final Fantasy XII for its very customisable gameplay in combat and taking the series in a really fresh direction. But its Uncharted 2 i'm going with, for fun gunplay, fun story, and fun platforming. Just a good old fun game.

[dreggnog]

I was almost finished with this but backspaced accidentally (when the stupid curser was not in the stupid thing, I hate everything about computers) so now I have to start all over. My descriptions last time were longer and had stories.

Anyway, these lists are usually pretty easy for me, I can even put them in order:

1. Silent Hill 2. My favorite game, best graphics music style and scenes. Laura is my favorite game character, James watching the video is my favorite game scene and "Leave her alone! Leave us both the hell alone!" is my favorite game quote.

2. Persona 3 FES. Absorbed me like no other game. Junpei, Aigis, Chidori, Kaz, Maya, Everyone Else, I'll never forget you.

3. Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando: I love platformers and the controls and story in this one topped the first. Really really fun.

4. Ratchet and Clank: Thought this would be some stupid sci-fi shit but turned out to be an awesome platformer! Great style, instantly likable with great worlds.

5. Final Fantasy X: Beautiful graphics and great focus on story, first FF I beat and my fourth favorite FF. And I liked Tidus and the laughing scene.

6. Dragon Quest VIII: Better gameplay than the above and a great big world to explore. Also a very long quest.

7. Gran Turismo 3: Favorite racing game. Listening to my own music makes it more immersive. Some of the most amazing graphics ever, better than GT4.

8. Spider-Man 2: My favorite open-world game, and I don't even like the genre. Just feels great being Spidey. And the Mysterio fight was halarious.

9. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Best HP game, can't see how anyone thinks the later ones are better (feel the same way about the movies).

10. The sims ps2: My first sims game. Logged hours and hours and hours into it.

There ya go. And yep those were ALL on ps2. Of course I don't own a next-gen system but . . . I'm really not sure how much different that would make since I don't like open-world games or shooters. Oh, and I didn't count ports, otherwise FFT: The War of the Lions would be on there.

Honorable Mentions:
Resident Evil 4
Etrian Odyssey
Mario Kart DS
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

[AlexY]

Well, the last decade is half of my life anyway, so most of my favourites come from this decade...

Silent Hill 2 - duh.

Killer7 - it's Suda51 at his best. Flower, Sun and Rain also gets an honorable mention. I have Michigan on my backlog too.

Amnesia/Penumbra - the only survival horror lately... Which is kind of sad.

Mirror's Edge - THAT SPEED. THAT RUSH.

Final Fantasy XII - Oh God, I want more of Ivalice sooooo baaaaaaad. I LOVE EVERYTHING about it.

Katamari Damacy (series) - NA NAAAAAAAAAAAAA NA NA NA NAAAA NA NAAAAAAA NA NAAAA NAAAAA NAAAA NA NAAAAAAAA!

Minecraft - I'm not that good at it (well, if you *can* be good at it), and it's not even that good itself - but the hype around it, the community, the ideas, the potential, the marketing strategy, everything smells of genius.

Metal Gear Solid 4 - Actually, the whole series, because MGS4 is pointless without the former parts. It's beautiful, tragic, complete.

LittleBigPlanet - the concept AND the execution is excellent, and the devs actually CARE about their audience. That alone makes it wonderful. Also, DLC done right.

The Witcher - The only RPG of these times I consider a fully fleshed title worthy of the genre's name. It's amazing how good it feels (and I still haven't beaten the second chapter!), fresh, new, yet traditional enough to feel familiar.

Shadow of The Colossus/ICO - These are special.

Honourable mentions:

Morrowind/Oblivion modded
Mass Effect series
The Path
The Void
Sleep is Death
Persona 3: FES

And one other thing that isn't technically a game, but still a favourite is GOGcom..

[Toadkiller Dog]

Here we go, in no particular order.


1: Silent Hill 2 (What honestly needs to be said about this?)

2: Silent Hill 3 (A close second in my favorite game in this series, at times I almost want to say I like it better than 2.)

3: World of Warcraft (I've played many MMOs, but none have captivated and addicted me quite like WoW. I already loved the world and lore of Warcraft, so I guess it's a natural fit.)

4: Heavy Rain (Hands down the best game of 2010 for me, and best so far of this system generation. Captivating and emotionally stirring story and characters, an overall masterpiece.

5: Batman: Arkham Asylum (As a HARDCORE Batman fan this game was seriously like a wet dream. I had literally NOTHING to complain about with this game. Amazing.)

6: Demon's Souls (Never before have I played anything quite like this game. It's lengthy, offers a ton of content, and a nice, steep difficulty/learning curve. A very amazing game that tried to be different and bold, and succeeded where most fail.)

7: Hotel Dusk (Something about this game. Hard to put my finger on just one thing, so many somethings about it. It drew me in like few other games can, and left me wanting more. The atmosphere, art style, dialogue, story, characters, and especially the music...all top notch.)

8: Super Street Fighter IV (Best fighting game ever made, EVER. Tons to do and unlock, tons of characters, nice balance, and a robust online experience. Catering to the hardcore, but accessible on an entry level at the same time. Amazing.)

9: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth (There has never been any media form outside of literature to EVER capture the essence of the Lovecraftian "Chulhu mythos" more so, and better than this game. Despite bugs aplenty and sometimes frustrating difficulty, this game was a true gem.)

10: Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (I picked this version of the game because it included the original Metal Gear Online, as well as an enhanced camera angle. But the story of this game was mind blowing. The ending literally made me shed real tears. Everything about this game was amazing. Then we come to MGO, I played MGO into the ground. Lost a lot of sleep over it.)