One week deep into the 2010s and nothing is different! Here's 10 more games I really liked from the past decade. These games tend to be concentrated around the middle of the aughts, covering late last-gen and early next-gen. We also see the most contemporary release on the list, right off the bat...
Killzone 2 remarkably overcame it's predecessor's shortcomings and made good on those E3 2005 expectations. The visuals and sound design are top of the class and the game feels wholly original and thoroughly crafted. Killzone 2 pulls off a sense of warfare like no other game. The weapons have weight and momentum and the bullets have impact, and I'm a huge fan of the overall feel.
The original Guitar Hero built such a solid structure that we really haven't moved very far in the four years since. The guitar controller has a natural pick up and play quality, the note highway is the ultimate display method, the difficulty curve is smart, and the game includes a solid soundtrack with excellent covers. Guitar Hero sparked a genre revolution for good reason.
San Andreas is my favorite installment of the GTA 3 trilogy for an accumulation of personal taste and series progression. Being a GTA-caliber tale set in an early 90s gangsta setting was more than enough to get me on board. Then they went ahead and crafted an entire state rather than a singular city. The gameplay was also completely refined in a much appreciated gesture. The result was 60 enjoyable hours spent in g-funk era.
"Stop n Pop" never caught on as a gaming buzzword, but the third person cover system Gears lifted and improved from Kill.Switch went a long way in influencing the genre. There are campaign hinges and I can't stand the multiplayer, but overall, Gears is a great action game with surprisingly likable characters. The shooting is satisfying, curb stomps and chainsaw kills are twice as much.
In a series that defines itself by straddling the arcade/sim line, PGR3 delivers the best of both worlds, as style goes a long way to enhance substance. Real world locations and a roster of supercars are visually morphed by motion blur and color saturation, and the handling model is tweaked to encourage showboating drifts. Screw the technical, it's fun to look cool
Rainbow Six Vegas is a fun tactical shooter set in fantastic location. Simple and effective command abilities open the door to accessible strategy. Having a third person cover system may weird some people out, but I feel that makes sense for a game where your view of the current situation needs to be enhanced since you're in command. Vegas is a solid package, offline and on.
Though it was a heinous decade for the hedgehog, it wasn't all shit, just mostly. Of the few good 00s entries in the series, Rush stands the tallest. It is a bullet paced adrenaline high that you're actually in control of, where most entries make the mistake of ditching interactivity. Rush is very smart about implementing action and score combo elements in well designed levels that span two screens.
Advance Wars boils down turn based strategy to the basics and builds an excellent war-torn cartoon universe around it. A growing cast of enjoyable command officers drive the campaign's story and each battle finds a new way to test your ability to wisely control an enemy engagement. War should be this fun, vibrant, and addictive when handled on a Gameboy (emulator).
Despite the lackluster critical reception, I couldn't deny how much enjoyable the demo was, and Shadowrun turned out to be a perfect summer title. It's a multiplayer FPS that wisely sets itself apart it the crowded genre. Equippable magic and tech abilities allow strategies to be planned and adjusted instinctively and it's this off the cuff, think and react edge embodied in a fun FPS model that champions Shadowrun as a great multiplayer experience.
Having two characters per kart was a really odd addition for this Mario Kart entry, but it totally worked to create subtle but effective item and weight strategy variations. Double Dash is my favorite iteration in the series thanks to this unique feature and a great overall design. The tracks are very well crafted, the items are better balanced than usual, and the handling feels spot on.
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One week deep into the 2010s and nothing is different! Here's 10 more games I really liked from the past decade. These games tend to be concentrated around the middle of the aughts, covering late last-gen and early next-gen. We also see the most contemporary release on the list, right off the bat...
Killzone 2 remarkably overcame it's predecessor's shortcomings and made good on those E3 2005 expectations. The visuals and sound design are top of the class and the game feels wholly original and thoroughly crafted. Killzone 2 pulls off a sense of warfare like no other game. The weapons have weight and momentum and the bullets have impact, and I'm a huge fan of the overall feel.
The original Guitar Hero built such a solid structure that we really haven't moved very far in the four years since. The guitar controller has a natural pick up and play quality, the note highway is the ultimate display method, the difficulty curve is smart, and the game includes a solid soundtrack with excellent covers. Guitar Hero sparked a genre revolution for good reason.
San Andreas is my favorite installment of the GTA 3 trilogy for an accumulation of personal taste and series progression. Being a GTA-caliber tale set in an early 90s gangsta setting was more than enough to get me on board. Then they went ahead and crafted an entire state rather than a singular city. The gameplay was also completely refined in a much appreciated gesture. The result was 60 enjoyable hours spent in g-funk era.
"Stop n Pop" never caught on as a gaming buzzword, but the third person cover system Gears lifted and improved from Kill.Switch went a long way in influencing the genre. There are campaign hinges and I can't stand the multiplayer, but overall, Gears is a great action game with surprisingly likable characters. The shooting is satisfying, curb stomps and chainsaw kills are twice as much.
In a series that defines itself by straddling the arcade/sim line, PGR3 delivers the best of both worlds, as style goes a long way to enhance substance. Real world locations and a roster of supercars are visually morphed by motion blur and color saturation, and the handling model is tweaked to encourage showboating drifts. Screw the technical, it's fun to look cool
Rainbow Six Vegas is a fun tactical shooter set in fantastic location. Simple and effective command abilities open the door to accessible strategy. Having a third person cover system may weird some people out, but I feel that makes sense for a game where your view of the current situation needs to be enhanced since you're in command. Vegas is a solid package, offline and on.
Though it was a heinous decade for the hedgehog, it wasn't all shit, just mostly. Of the few good 00s entries in the series, Rush stands the tallest. It is a bullet paced adrenaline high that you're actually in control of, where most entries make the mistake of ditching interactivity. Rush is very smart about implementing action and score combo elements in well designed levels that span two screens.
Advance Wars boils down turn based strategy to the basics and builds an excellent war-torn cartoon universe around it. A growing cast of enjoyable command officers drive the campaign's story and each battle finds a new way to test your ability to wisely control an enemy engagement. War should be this fun, vibrant, and addictive when handled on a Gameboy (emulator).
Despite the lackluster critical reception, I couldn't deny how much enjoyable the demo was, and Shadowrun turned out to be a perfect summer title. It's a multiplayer FPS that wisely sets itself apart it the crowded genre. Equippable magic and tech abilities allow strategies to be planned and adjusted instinctively and it's this off the cuff, think and react edge embodied in a fun FPS model that champions Shadowrun as a great multiplayer experience.
Having two characters per kart was a really odd addition for this Mario Kart entry, but it totally worked to create subtle but effective item and weight strategy variations. Double Dash is my favorite iteration in the series thanks to this unique feature and a great overall design. The tracks are very well crafted, the items are better balanced than usual, and the handling feels spot on.
1 Comments