Ground breakers.

Every so often, sometimes between perpetual time lapses of mediocrity and formulaic finesse, there comes a game that truly shakes the earth beneath it. There are games that have set examples for many to follow. Pioneers, that have over the years created such immense cultural impact and/or impeccable artistic merit, that if you didn't play them, you'd be faced with the flying daggers of a thousand sceptics. This is my list of games that have culminated as some of the greatest and most important titles of all time.

List items

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  1. Doom

  There isn't a PC gamer in the world that hasn't heard of Doom. One of id's earliest titles, when Carmack and Romero were both buccaneering the unfathomably enormous boat of mass distribution in the great seas of computing. As Gabe Newell touched upon in 'Reflections of a Video Game Maker', Doom outsold Windows at one point. It outsold the operating system that you now use as a platform for every game that you play. Not only did it outsell Microsoft, but the engine that id provided served as a canvass for many, many developers.

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  2. Grand Theft Auto III

  I know, I know. Vice City and San Andreas were the more refined versions. But Grand Theft Auto III introduced a concept that no-one had ever seen before, an open-world action adventure in a fully 3-d world. Sleeping Dogs, Scarface: The World Is Yours and Saint's Row, would have never existed if it wasn't for the influential concepts displayed in this game.

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  3. Diablo

  My favourite Diablo game is Diablo II, but this is the beast that brought hell to our computer screens in 1996. Games that were similar from an aesthetic and skill advancement/stat point standpoint such as Baldur's Gate and Fallout had the same bright ideas, but the combat was turn-based. Diablo was about battling ravenous demons in a rogue-like environment, with fast paced hack-and-slash sword and spell play. Diablo could be defined as the first ever ARPG.

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  4. Half-Life: Counter-Strike

  Counter strike. The simple tale of good and evil. Screaming hostages begging to be freed, innovative map design, and heavy emphasis on team-based tactics. Team Deathmatch was already a familiar term by 2000, but Counter-Strike was one of the first games that made you feel like part of a team. Communication and tactical thinking are key to success, if you wish to survive. Counter-strike has sold over 3 million copies since its release and has proved itself as one of the most influential online games of all time.

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  5. Half-Life 2

  Half-Life 2 is a true accomplishment. Its character development is superb, the plot is unpredictable and the game really immerses you and allows you to believe that you are genuinely a part of the fiction that is happening on your screen. Half-Life 2, like it's predecessor, implemented physics puzzles, innovative weapon design and tense scenes. Ravenholm is still in my scariest game moments, and Half-Life 2 served as a great showcase for Valve's development skills. This was the game that made people realize that Valve meant business, and that they were not only a developer to be reckoned with but a company that could potentially dominate the gaming market with their new digital-distribution platform, Steam. You'll never guess what happened...