Most important games of the decade

The 200Xs are almost over (I refuse to call 2000 to 2009 the 'Noughties') and I've been thinking, what were the most important games of the last 10 years? This isn't to say what were the best games or the most successful, but the most influential to their respective genres. Here's my votes (obviously, going outside the XBox brand for this):

FPS - Halo. This is the game that made people take console shooters seriously. I know COD4 and MW2 were huge, but I believe their success on the 360 and PS3 was because of the audience Halo created. (Runner up COD4.)

RPG - Mass Effect. To me, RPGs should be as much about the story and characters as the combat, and Mass Effect's dialogue system made the story more involving and the characters more intriguing than anything else I've ever played. (Runner up Fallout 3)

RTS - Dawn of War. Dawn of War took numerous RTS conventions and threw them out the window, then set the benchmaark for how future RTS games should be made. (Runner up End War)

Driving - Burnout 3: Take Down. In recent years, the arcade racer has lost a lot of ground to games like Gran Turismo and Forza. However, Burnout 3's take down system gave the genre the kick in the ass it needed. Paradise is arguably the best game in the series, but Take Down was the one that broke the ice. (Runner up Forza Motorsport)

Sandbox - GTA III. Vice City might be the daddy, but GTA III was the one that took the series into 3D and set a new benchmark for sandbox games. (runner up Crack Down)

Action/Adventure - Resident Evil 4. As with GTA III and Burnout 3, RE4 was a major change for the series, but that's not why it'll be remembered. It'll be remembered for making Resident Evil relevant again and closing the gap between survival horror and traditional action games. (Runner up Gears of War)

Sports - Wii Sports. It's the game even your gran will play and it's still the best thing on the Wii. Wii Sports has made "gamers" out of millions and is genuinely fun for those of us who do prefer analogue sticks to arm-waving (runner up Tony Hawk's Pro Skater)

Platformer - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Before Sands of Time, we were used to our heroes being able to double jump and grab a ledge when falling, but that was about it. The free running-inspired agility of the Prince in Sands of Time was genius and made platformers feel grown up for the first time ever. (Runner up Super Mario Galaxy)

Puzzle - Portal. In 50 years time, if you ask me what games have stuck with me the most, Portal will be right up there with Elite, Tetris, Lemmings and Street Fighter 2. Aside from the ingenius teleportion puzzles, the game is one of the funniest ever too. (Runner up Puzzle Quest)

MMO - World of Warcraft. Nothing in the MMO world quite compares to WoW. Before it came along, having a subscriber base in the 100,000s was considered good; WoW's got 11,000,000. Other games are closing down as a result and upcoming games are admitting to not even trying to best Blizzard's beast. (Runner up Guild Wars)

Adventure - Sam and Max Save the World. Adventure games, remember them? Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, etc? Well, we all thought they were dead, until Telltale Games brought Sam and Max back in episodic form. Since then they've given the same treatment to Wallace and Gromit, Strong Bad and even the legendary Monkey Island and spawned some cracking new comers as a result, such as my runner up. (Runner up Machinarium)

Beat 'Em Up - God of War. Beat 'em ups were another dying genre, but one game made people pay attention again for the first time since Turtles in Time and that was God of War. (Runner up Street Fighter IV)

Has anybody any better suggestions?

That's quite a list you have there.

I don't know about all those catagories, gonna have to thunk about that but for me one of the most important game was Gears of War 1. It was one of the first games I bought for my xbox and I was instantly blown away by the graphics and story of he game.

It was also the game that got me really hooked on online gaming, I played it pretty much every night for about a year and half. It really showed me power of his gen of consoles. GOW I salute you.

For me its Resident Evil 4. Completely raised the bar for games as far as I am concerned and the best game by miles on the last gen of consoles. Completely redefined my expectations of gaming and what can be achieved through a mix of great action and story telling

Bioshock.....in terms of design and storytelling, I don't think I've played a better game.....possibly ever. The plane crash, and the moment you first see Rapture with the whale passing through.....those two moments are just jaw dropping and will stay with me for years to come.

Rock Band is another one I have to mention. Guitar Hero may have taken music games to the masses, but Rock Band refined it into the best multiplayer experiences around. Nothing better than getting a few mates together, having a few cans and playing some tunes. There's something here that I can't quite put my finger on that always seems to be lacking in the more recent Guitar Hero games. Plus.....it's probably the best example of how to do DLC right.

you can explain Bioshock's appeal to me from now until the end of time and I'll just never get it!

Resi 4 on the other hand.... awesome. it set the bar so high, no game has come close.

Easy choice, the greatest game of all time is................ Championship manager 00/01
Totally redefined football manager games and I must have played it all year until 01/02 came out!

Resi 4 also awesome and played it to death on my gamecube.

Have to mention the Dynasty warriors series of games, I started with number 3 on my PS2 and played every version since.

On the 360 Ridge Racer 6, Dynasty warriors games, Football Manager

GrahamOfTheDead wrote:
Rock Band is another one I have to mention. Guitar Hero may have taken music games to the masses, but Rock Band refined it into the best multiplayer experiences around. Nothing better than getting a few mates together, having a few cans and playing some tunes. There's something here that I can't quite put my finger on that always seems to be lacking in the more recent Guitar Hero games. Plus.....it's probably the best example of how to do DLC right.

I split my list up by genre, but that was a mistake, because it meant I totally over looked rhythm games. Now I think about it, there were rhythm games before 2000 (Dance Dance Revolution, Samba De Amigo, Space Channel 5), but the genre didn't really take off until Guitar Hero appeared. However, if I were to go back and add the rhythm genre (which is one of the more important genres of the decade, after FPS and MMO), I'd probably put Frequency (also be Harmonix) at the top. The game is almost identical to Guitar Hero/Rock Band, but was more complex, because you had to build up vocals, bass, guitar, keyboard and drums.

MDub wrote:RPG - Mass Effect. To me, RPGs should be as much about the story and characters as the combat, and Mass Effect's dialogue system made the story more involving and the characters more intriguing than anything else I've ever played. (Runner up Fallout 3)

Whilst Mass Effect was good and the main story and character were compelling I found it a bit lacking in that special something overall. The side quests were on the whole awful and it was like they were bolted on as an after thought (there were a few exceptions to this but they were indeed few).

Baldur's Gate 2 would have to get my vote for the RPG section, that game was everything an RPG should be and then some!

MDub wrote:RTS - Dawn of War. Dawn of War took numerous RTS conventions and threw them out the window, then set the benchmaark for how future RTS games should be made. (Runner up End War)

I would have to say that Supreme Commander (the PC version of and not the shite 360 port... sorry folks but the 360 just can't do a decent strategy game) would get my vote here. It took the genre defining concepts from Total Annihilation and upped the ante further. With such great features as the strategic zoom, 3 unique and well balanced factions and the in built dual screen support this game to the strategy in RTS to new heights. It's one draw back was the beastly system requirements it had Dawn of War would however be a very close second!

Bluce_Ree wrote:you can explain Bioshock's appeal to me from now until the end of time and I'll just never get it!

Resi 4 on the other hand.... awesome. it set the bar so high, no game has come close.

I'm completely the opposite, I loved Bioshock immensely but couldn't stand Resi 4... I though it was just horrible, in fact all of them after the second in my eyes have just been a horrible stain one what was once a grand game!