Which is the best year in video game releases in the past decade?

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JosephKnows

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Poll Which is the best year in video game releases in the past decade? (268 votes)

2005 4%
2006 3%
2007 35%
2008 13%
2009 10%
2010 8%
2011 18%
2012 1%
2013 6%
2014 0%

So the last 10 years in gaming has been pretty awesome IMHO. I wanna know which one the Giant Bomb community thinks is the best in that timespan.

To help you make that decision, I've come up with lists of 10 of the biggest/most important games for each year. I haven't necessarily played all of the games I mention, but that's because I want to represent a broad range of games. AAA and indie, console and portable, Western and Japanese, single player and multiplayer, and genres of all kinds.

Don't be mad at me for including a particular game and leaving out a game you like! I had to leave off some games I genuinely adore to include more popular titles!

2005

Resident Evil 4

God of War

Shadow of the Colossus

Guitar Hero

Civilization IV

Forza Motorsport

Psychonauts

Mario Kart DS

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

2006

Okami

LoZ: Twilight Princess

Gears of War

Kingdom Hearts II

TES: Oblivion

New Super Mario Bros.

Final Fantasy XII

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

Guitar Hero II

Company of Heroes

2007

BioShock

Super Mario Galaxy

Portal

Persona 3

Team Fortress 2

COD: Modern Warfare

God of War II

Halo 3

Rock Band

Mass Effect

2008

GTA IV

MGS4

Fallout 3

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Braid

LittleBigPlanet

Dead Space

Left 4 Dead

Persona 4

Rock Band 2

2009

Uncharted 2

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Assassin's Creed II

Street Fighter IV

Dragon Age: Origins

COD: MW2

Borderlands

GTA: Chinatown Wars

Demon's Souls

Forza Motorsport 3

2010

Mass Effect 2

Red Dead Redemption

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Bayonetta

Starcraft II

Civilization V

Darksiders

Super Meat Boy

Limbo

Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX

2011

TES: Skyrim

Batman: Arkham City

Portal 2

Gears of War 3

Saints Row: The Third

LoZ: Skyward Sword

Rayman Origins

Minecraft

Bastion

Dark Souls

2012

Journey

The Walking Dead

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Far Cry 3

Xenoblade Chronicles

Mass Effect 3

Dishonored

Fez

Hotline Miami

Spelunky

2013

The Last of Us

GTA V

BioShock: Infinite

LoZ: A Link Between Worlds

Super Mario 3D World

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Gone Home

Papers, Please

The Stanley Parable

DOTA 2

2014

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Bayonetta II

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Dark Souls II

Mario Kart 8

SSB Wii U

Shovel Knight

Alien: Isolation

Hearthstone

Divinity: Original Sin

Personally, 2013 is my favorite. TLOU is my personal GOAT, and I love the great mix of awesome AAA and indie games. Speaking "objectively", I can see the arguments for 08, 09, and 11. I love 2012 and I don't think 14 was as bad as some people think. 06 is actually what I think is the weakest year.

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mechakirby

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damn, we had a pretty kickass last generation of games. Aside from 2006 and 2014 you could make a case for any of those years.

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Slag

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2011 is my pick, followed by 2007.

Really though the poll results gets it right. Those 2 years are heads and shoulders above the other years.

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majormitch

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All of those years (save maybe 2014) are really strong and worth arguing for. I'd personally vote for either 2005 (for quality; RE4 + God of War + Civ 4 + Advance Wars: Dual Strike is a powerful quadruple threat), or 2008 (for quantity and variety; from TWEWY to Dead Space to Burnout Paradise to Nuts & Bolts, and many in between, there too many great games of different genres to list from 2008).

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cwal37

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#54  Edited By cwal37

@longmasterwolf: and don't forget TF2, and which is still going strong today, became Valve's testbed for everything they've done, and somehow developed an extensive fiction.

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LongMasterWolf

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@cwal37: For sure!

I was simply talking in generation terms, which is hard to do with PC games, but I feels ya.

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ClairvoyantVibrations

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07!
- Call of Duty 4 influenced so much of the previous generation in terms of game design.
- The Orange Box brought us Team Fortress 2 and Portal, and I still consider it one of the best values ever in video game history. The cake is a lie.
- Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed both came out and ended up birthing generation defining franchises.
- Rock Band evolved the Guitar Hero concept and (in my mind) solidified the concept of DLC.
- Halo made the jump to HD with Halo 3 and evolved the matchmaking and highly customizable game mode concepts from Halo 2.
- BioShock proved (to me at least) that fast paced shooters could be strategic and not just wanton frag fests with no story to speak of.
- Crysis reminded everyone of how amazing video games could look, provided you had a beefty as hell PC.
- God of War II (though I don't particularly enjoy the franchise) was an amazing looking swan song for the Play Station 2.