Sit down folks, I am about to tell you some things that will shock you. I am being a bit cheeky here but you get the point. It has been 8 years since the Xbox 360 first released in 2005 and 7 years since the PS3 made it onto store shelves. With the next generation of consoles making its way to gamers on November 15th (PS4) and 22nd (Xbox One), this seems like a fitting time for an all time Top 10 list!
While both the Xbox 360 and PS3 had plenty of stumbling blocks over the years, yes I am talking about the Red Ring of Death which ended up costing Microsoft 1 Billion Dollars and the shameful $599 (get a second job) PS3 announcement to name a few, we have come to know and love both of the HD consoles very much. Sorry Wii.
Okay, now to the subject at hand – and this is of course a divisive topic – we will list our very own ‘Top 10 Games of the Generation’ below.
#10 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Undoubtedly, Naughty Dog established themselves as a top tier AAA developer with the second entry into the Uncharted series. Who could forget the incredible cinematics, the train sequence and of course the opening with Drake hanging of the train car in the middle of a blizzard.
#9 – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare – When Infinity Ward stepped out of the tired old tropes of the World War II shooter genre, many wondered if the game in a modern setting could make it in the competitive FPS world. By now we all know that Modern Warfare set a new standard that is still being lived by today. Our favorite moments? We loved the sniper level ‘All Ghillied Up’ and of course the nuke going off.
#8 – Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots – Kojima Productions and Konami had been making epic stealth games for many years before the fourth entry, Guns of the Patriots, finally released on the PS3 with some spectacular graphics and gameplay yo match it. Kojima had created a somewhat convoluted story, as he usually does, but the game had almost too many scenes and sequences to list here.
#7 – Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks had always peaked my interest and its games were usually of high quality but it wasn’t until Fallout 3 released, that I was sold and also completely taken over by the wasteland. Fallout 3 was the first game that stole well over 100 hours of my life as a game filled with exploration, character and of course atmosphere.
#6 – DiRT 3 – When it comes to racing games, I am going to be honest – I am a sucker for rally, and that is why Codemasters’ DiRT 3 made it into our Top 10, even though it only barely edged out the original DiRT for a place on this list. DiRT 3 is a more rally focused experience with the handling and feel of the original games back on the PS One. My final argument here? Have you ever driven in a Lancia Delta HF Interlage Evo II?
#5 – Grand Theft Auto V – Rockstar Games has just released GTA V and followed it up with GTA Online. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the best open world games we have ever played and would be hard to match in almost all aspects. The game features over a hundred hours of gameplay, three playable characters and a world so alive that you don’t want to leave it. GTA Online is merely a cherry on top.
#4 – BioShock – Ken Levine and Irrational Games had an early hit with the original BioShock as it took players way, way down under the sea into a ruined utopia paradise, filled with horror and mystery. When players experienced the failed vision of Andrew Ryan for the first time, it became an unforgettable experience – and that was 2007 folks!
#3 – The Walking Dead – Telltale Games was a good developer who made episodic adventure games. But one day it released The Walking Dead and everything changed. A relatively small team created the best game of 2012 which touched us all emotionally and amazed us equally in its storytelling and vision. It was impossible to pass up for the top 3 of this list.
#2 – Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood – Ubisoft had really started to hit its stride with the Assassin’s Creed series when it released AC 2 but something was missing and remedied with Brotherhood. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood added assassins at Ezio’s fingertips and epic assassinations as well as an even more fleshed out city, characters and of course the multiplayer mode that was groundbreaking to many of us.
#1 – Mass Effect 2 – When BioWare released the original Mass Effect we knew it was something special with incredible promise. This promise finally manifested itself with the second game in the series. Mass Effect 2 was the incredible ‘Band of Brothers’ kind of journey that we always wanted to play – in space! We all had different experiences with Liara, Legion, Garrus and all of the other team members that went to defeat the reapers alongside the magnificent Shepard – or FemShep!
Of course Top 10 lists are hard to do, and when it comes to the All-Time Top 10 games of this generation it isn’t any different. What did you think of this list and what is yours? Tell us in the comments!
(Disclaimer: Yes we played the Halo games and no we didn’t play The Last of Us.)
