GMES Top 10 Games Of The Generation

I know, I know. Just ten? Seems like a herculean task. For the all the flak I give this generation for going a bit long in the tooth in the tail end it has by far got to by one of the best video game eras we have had. Nevermind all the bad things, what matters most is the games. What matters at the end of the day is the quality software you pop into your machine, that magical place a true masterpiece of a videogame can transport you to. This is our place. Mine, yours, everyone who loves videogames. No other media can reach the levels of immersion and experiences we can get.

I always said the best games really take you somewhere. Let you see, hear, feel and experience things that would be otherwise completely missed in most peoples day to day ordinary lives. The catch is that it doesn’t have to be the graphics,  the artstyle, the number of polygons on screen that accomplish this.  Gameplay itself can take you to that place as well. That one serene spot where everything clicks and you think to yourself. Yeah.... this is it right here, this is what it’s all about.

I know also that the generation isn’t over yet but it more or less is. The only games this year that I could see making this list maybe are Bioshock Infinite and GTA V. Well as good as i’m sure they will be i’m gonna hedge my bets anyways and go with what has tickled me pink so far.

I had to leave out a lot of good games from this list. I mean i’m not just talking about culling the wheat from the chaff, I mean leaving piles of it behind for someone else to champion. For me this is my list, my best of the best. This list is not in any way supposed to be objective, so keep that in mind. Anyways enough with the blabbing lets get onto the list!

First a look at my top 10 almost made it list, then on to the real thing:

Top 10 Almost Made The List:

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Assassins Creed 2

Borderlands 2

Call Of Duty: Black Ops

Castlevania Lords Of Shadow

Dead Rising

Infamous

Silent Hill Homecoming

Skyrim

The Walking Dead

10. Super Meat Boy

If you are an early generation gamer, say a NES or a SNES child, then chances are high that you grew up cutting your teeth on platformers. That was truly the golden age for the genre. The pinacle of which in my opinion was Super Mario Brothers 3. As gaming (and gamers) aged more and more platformers became less and less relevant, or just recycled and uninteresting.

After many years without a truly great platforming title, here we are. This is, in my opinion the greatest platformer of the entire generation, and I would say almost the greatest platformer of all time. There were a few other great platformers this generation don’t get me wrong. I’m sure most of you reading this are like uuuummm Mario Galaxy motherfvcker it’s a thing. Donkey Kong Country Returns was also pretty damn amazing.

Meatboy to me was just pure magic though. I have never, ever, ever in my entire life felt so proud of having beat a videogame as when I beat the final level in this. Angels floated down from on high, cascading me in sparkling fountains of celebratory beer, a marching band strolled by my house trumpeting my praises, and in a sheer aura of awesomeness ladies for miles around were impregnated by my greatness.

Yeah this game was that hard. That is what made it FUN though. Somewhere in this generation we lost sight of that feeling of accomplishment gained through overcoming great adversity and were lulled into handholding me too cinematic experiences, while not necessarily bad left a gaping void waiting to be filled.

The entire first world of this game is basically teaching you everything you the skillset you need to conquer later levels. The level design is brilliant, and you never feel like you have been cheated because the controls are so perfect. They need to be for a game this demanding. For what started as a flash game spirialed into a huge success for Team Meat who at the time of making this were just two or three guys.

If you grew up with the generations of old and even have a passing interest in platformers you owe it to yourself to play this. You will need a set of big brass testes to finish it, but you should certainly see what all the fuss is about.  Don’t worry Dvader i’m sure one day you’ll be as good at platformers as I am.

9. Street Fighter IV

Before this game was released fighting games were in a long dormant slumber.  Some would argue they were dead, other on life support, regardless though they were really missing from the mainstream for quite sometime.

Then SONIC BOOM. This badboy was released. Just as Street Fighter 2 really launced the genre into sucess back in the day it managed to accomplish the same this generations later. This game isn’t just good, it is easily one of my favorite all time fighters.

Sporting a slick new cel shaded artstyle, a great online mode (in which I recieved many insults and death threat messages from surly 14 year olds) fantastic controls, tons of fighters this game was the ultimate package. When it came out me and a couple friends would try to get together a lot for nights of drinking and fighting. Lots of great memories from this game.

I will kick your ass with Blanka anyday!

8.) Dragon Age Origins

One of my favorite RPGS on the whole generation and a real return to form for Bioware. Well at least until they sh1t over themselves with the sequel (but hey 3 should be awesome!) this game was a unique, interesting fantasy world with interesting characters. Alistar, Morrigan, that dwarf that farted a lot... so awesome.

The gameplay was a lot of fun with it’s semi tactical nature, pausing and issuing  orders and choosing from many fun spells and abilities made the combat always interesting. The locations were diverse and the plot was deep and interesting. The lore was really fun to dive into as well.

Not a whole lot else to say about this one other than I played through it like three times, which is something almost unheard of for me to do.

7.) Heavy Rain

This game gets so much hate. I feel like a lot of people just don’t “get it” It is hard to put my finger on just what it is that makes it one of my favorite games of the generation but it does so many things right. First of all I felt like I was taking place in an interactive serial killer movie the entire time. It was exciting, fresh and new!

The gameplay was intriguing and I really enjoyed the franticness and epicness (for lack of a better term) that some of the scenarios exhibted. Like being trapped underwater in a car while being tied up. Oh crap, oh crap you don’t got long... what to do ..... then boom. Failure means you are dead and you continue on the story without that character. This gave the whole game such a tense and exciting feeling to it.

The graphics were amazing, the story was great, the gameplay was fun and it was one of those rare games that felt like it was actually made for adults and not teenagers living out power fantasys of shooting wave after wave of cardboard cutout enemys in a sh1t story barely there just to hold the violence together. This was different, and it worked. I cannot wait to see what else this team does.

6.) Fallout 3

This was probably the best RPG of the entire generation. Yeah the story wasn’t very good I know, blah blah build the worlds biggest brita water filter, blah blah. But it just dosen’t really hold this game back. The locations and “dungeons” are all unique and well designed, the lore is great and the characters are awesome.

Howabout a huge shootout with a gang in a ruined supermarket, a school, a church.... or washington overrun with gatling gun weilding supermutants.  From the great V.A.T.S gameplay (shoot off enemy limbs) to the fantastic leveling system (perks are all fun) to the moral choices, to the vast amount of exploration and immersion this is a game you can get lost in for a long time.

5.) Demon Souls

This game came out of nowhere and floored a lot of people. This game hates you and wants you dead. This game is brilliant and is worth the sharp learning curve. Sporting a hub area called the nexus players took one of five portals to different levels spread across the land in a quest to..... umm... Y’know... mend the world and stuff?

Ok I never got the story to this game at all ( or it’s sequel... bonfires = good?) but the gameplay is what is king here. Sporting incredible combat that stresses paitence and caution instead of headlong rushing, varied and tough boss battles ( diiiiiiieee maneater!) a fun magic system, incredible atmosphere, immersive graphics... this game is an instant classic.

Like Super Meat Boy it does away with the handholding. Whiny casual gamers should stay clear, this game is for someone who wants a challenge and the feeling of pure accomplishment and greatness that comes with clearing it.

4.) Resident Evil 5

Oh em gee I love this fvcking game. /gush. No seriously this is another game that get copious amounts of hate that I just don’t get. It is everything RE4 was only better. I played through this game FOUR TIMES BACK TO BACK. I don’t think I have ever done that with a game before or since.

The graphics are crisp and sexy, the gameplay is RE4 dialed to 11 and then injected with steroids (no really i’m pretty sure chris “boulder punching” roidrage has a d1ck the size of a baby carrot now) and the immersion is high. The story is silly but fun, bringing closure to the long running RE storyline. Wesker was one of the greatest villians of the generation, and his boss fights in this game were pure amazing.

I still attest that the coop aspect of this game was unessecary (noone gives a sh!t about Sheva let’s be honest) but that does not hold back what is here at all.  This game is a masterpiece, probably better than part four, and easily destroys part six.

3.) Deus Ex Human Revolution

Wow. That is this game in one word. Some of the best stealth all generation, one of the better stories, adult gameplay and situations. Meaningful choices and interesting characters and setting. It’s hard to say anything about the game that hasn’t already been said but I mostly enjoyed sneaking up behind b!tches and giving them the dirtnap.

This game like almost no other this generation makes you feel like a badass, while still being vulnerable and having to be careful. It is a huge rush “ghosting” through areas, or taking people out  alike.  You get a variety of powers and augmentations that you can upgrade in any order you want, whether it’s seeing through walls, punching through walls (lol hulk smash grrr), falling from any height, jumping higher...etc.

This game is damn near perfect and helped fill the hole of “actual adult games made for adults” that has persisted so much for the generation.

2.) Bioshock

Unrivaled atmosphere and immersion. An awesome story featuring one of the most interesting locations in all of gaming. Fantastic use of powers and special abilitys. Great exploration. Everything about this game was fun

(ok the ending was wrinkled ballsacks)

That did not take away from the pure bliss and enjoyment of the game that came before it however

1. Uncharted 2

I had to think hard on what was the most fun this generation for me. It is hard enough even trying to quantify “fun” into a measurable thing to be analyzed and weighed against other “fun” but after some thought here it is. In my opinion the best game of this generation.

Interestingly I thought the first game was only just ok, and didn’t bother to play the sequel for quite some time. Thankfully my younger brother pestered me enough to give the game a chance because wow. The differences between the first game and the sequel are night and day. This game feels like you are playing through an Indiana Jones movie (if Indy was to murder about 400 more people than usual that is)

It has the best opening section to a game probably ever. Awesome graphics, gameplay, incredible setpiece scenarios that are exciting and diverse. This is it guys (and gals) this is why we play videogames so that once every few years or so we can experience that perfection, that pure magic of being in a near flawless game.

Also Cloe. I would so hit it.

Awesome list! I was planning to do the exact same thing and was going to say the exact same thing about this years games.  Your list is missing MGS4 though.

I give a shit about Sheva, Foolz, for the record.  And co-op in RE5.

GME, your list makes me want to reconsider some games I've tried and failed at, like Heavy Rain and Deus Ex.  I'll read more in detail later.  Your UC2 pick is an interesting one, because as much as I don;t want to love a block buster so far this gen I have beaten UC1 3 times, UC2 twice and UC1 once (along with the Vita game) and it sounds like a cop-out, but.... but... They are just FUN!

Foolz said:

Didn't you say you judged games more harshly than others? This list does not make sense with that statement in mind.

"I still attest that the coop aspect of this game was unessecary (noone gives a sh!t about Sheva let’s be honest) but that does not hold back what is here at all.  This game is a masterpiece, probably better than part four, and easily destroys part six."

This does not compute. Which is good. This list is boring until you read the reasons for the games.

I do tend to judge games more critically than most people. Doesn't mean I hate everything otherwise why the fuck would I bother with this hobby. These are the games that made my nipple hard. Let's see your "exciting" list then if mine is so boring!

Probably be a list filled with 9 spots of journey and 1 spot of Braid. It will be the most pretentious list in the history of listsss!!!!12kmk12m

This is an interesting list as each game on it is one I have either played or tried to do so but stopped.

10.  Super Meat Boy.  I played through a fair bit of it.  Got through at least the first three maybe four worlds.  Not sure why I didn't finish it, maybe I would have if I had it on console instead of PC

09.  Street Fighter IV.  I was a legend playing SFII at the arcades as a teenager.  Was really excited and really looking forward to this but it didn't rekindle my passion for fighters.

08. Dragon Age: Origins.  I'm not sure I'm cut out for WRPGs.  When a game bogs me down with questions and options before I've even left my home town ... I just get bored.  I'd rather play the role of a spiky haired metro-sexual orphan in an s-m outfit trying to save the world again.

07.  Heavy Rain.  I loved it.  Played it twice, completely differently each time.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and looking forward to Beyond: Two Souls

06.  Fallout 3.  Same as Dragon Age.  I couldn't even get through the starting section before I wanted to be playing something else entirely

05.  Demon's Souls.  I loved this game very passionately.  Played through it with 3 very different characters and loved it every time.  Shame about the sequel which managed to piss me off too much.

04.  Resident Evil 5.  Played about two or three hours into the game.  I don't know that there's anything wrong with this game per se, it just failed to grab me like RE4 did.  I just kinda lost interest.

03.  Deus Ex 3.  Maybe I should give this one another try.  I gave up very quickly after I kept dying on the very first level.

02.  Bioshock.  I really liked it but I didn't finish it.  I hope to go back to it and play to the end.

01.  Uncharted 2.  Like you I went into this reluctantly precisely because U1 for me was decent but unremarkable.  I really ejoyed U2.  It's not deep, nor subtle but it doesn't have to be.  Summer blockbuster type games are alright sometimes.  Shame about U3, I just can't get into it, it seems the magic is all gone.

Dvader said:

gamingeek said:

Bioshock is in your list, your opinion is NULL AND VOID ON ALL MATTERS HENCEFORTH

What kind of madness makes people not like Bioshock.

Yeah, the ending sucked ass, especially the cheesy plot twist, which I saw coming from a mile away. It felt like they had no idea how to end the game properly, so they went with the stereotypical end boss nonsense. That being said, I still enjoyed most of Bioshock.