The rules:
Normally I wouldn't honor a game that is so new with a spot on a list like this. But GTA 5 has impressed me beyond any expectation. And while it's not my normal M.O. to go from one open world sandbox game right into another for fear of having them be unfairly compared, that is exactly what happened with GTA5. And as much as I enjoyed Saint's Row 4, these games exist in stark contrast to one another. And GTA 5 is good enough that it still manages to stand out, quite favorably I might add.
While I enjoyed every game in the InFamous franchise, the first one was such a fantastic surprise. At the time a sandbox superhero game was an unproven quantity. However where Prototype felt like a rehash of HULK: Ultimate Destruction, InFamous felt fresh, fun, and managed to tell an interesting comic book style narrative as well. I could gush about this game for quite a while if left unchecked, but I'll wrap up by saying that it's one of my favorite games of the gen, and definitely my favorite Sony exclusive of the last several years.
While it's common to expect good Batman games now, it wasn't always the case. Younger gamers may not remember this, but Batman had a slew of lousy games before this one. There were notable standouts like the Batman Begins movie tie-in game that is clearly a progenitor of this one in some of it's FEAR mechanics and the beat-em-up that borrowed from B:TAS, but mostly Batman was a pariah through the PS2 and original XboX gen. Arkham Asylum was a breath of fresh air and a real home run for Warner, for DC, and especially for Rocksteady who set the gold standard for not only superhero video game adaptations, but they've influenced so many action game fighting mechanics at this point that it's becoming ubiquitous.
Another Open-world sandbox game, Saints Row 2 is the game I judge all open world games by to this very day. Crazy, funny, wacky beyond wacky, SR2 did pretty much everything right. And it did it not only better than it's predecessor, it did it better than the biggest guy on the block; GTA4. Unparalleled customization for it's day, enough side quests and distractions to keep you playing for days, and a story with enough meat on the bone to keep you really interested. Plus what other game kept score while you streaked down the boardwalk? What's not to love?
I know a lot of people prefer Fallout: New Vegas. And I'd never argue against them because it's a fool's errand to argue something as subjective as an opinion of a game. But I wasn't a long time fan of Fallout. Not that I didn't care for the old ones, I just didn't have a PC that would play modern games when Fallout and Fallout 2 came out. So I had no experience with Fallout before 3. And as such, this was my first experience with Fallout's post apocalyptic setting. The result was a game I played start to finish at least 7 times and up until the last playthrough I was still finding new interesting things I hadn't seen. This game also set the standard for DLC and what DLC could, and should, be.
Part of the thing for me was the callbacks to the cold war. I grew up in the 80s when the threat of nuclear war was palpable and very scary. It's somber tones really hit me. Where New Vegas is a game of society moving on, 3 showed us how bad it could have gotten. And it's psuedo 50s vibe coupled with cold war iconography was powerful and moving to me.
Halo in general has been a mainstay for me since the first game in 2001. But ODST was a fun story with great voice acting and the version of Firefight that still keeps me interested in playing it to this day. REACH was good too, Halo 3 was great, but ODST was a high water mark in the Halo games of this generation for me.
Dead Rising isn't the best game in the world. It isn't the strongest franchise either. But regardless of this, being a fan of old school Romero films and Dawn of the Dead in particular, Dead Rising is still a stand out for me. I know a lot of people are indifferent to it, and I'd never tell them not to be. But for me it's probably my absolute favorite game of the generation. I still play it about once a year. At least for a couple of hours. The sequels are fun too, but the original is the one I keep coming back to replay.
This one is such a fantastic premise. The gameplay is fun, the setting is funny, and the revisionist history story is a joy to see play out. Great DLC as well. There's really nothing I don't like about this game except that I preferred the name TRENCHED! to Iron Brigade. Brad Muir for the win!
This list is primarily about console titles and I played XCOM on the PC. But I don't give a crap. XCOM is amazing and deserves a place on every list ever made ever. Love it love it love it.
