Best Games of the Generation
With this current generation of consoles winding down, I thought now might be a good time to make this thread.
Just go ahead and list what you think are the best games of this generation. I know there's still a few games coming out over the next year that may crack some top 10 lists, but most of what's going to be done this generation has already happened. So, list away. List your top 5, top 10, 20, whatever. Thought it would be interested to see people's opinions on this.
Here's mine.
10. Braid:
A fun platformer with the workings of true art. Thoughtful, elegant, clever and moving.
9. Portal:
The best bonus to every come with a game. Few people knew what this would be when The Orange Box came out. Even fewer knew how it would completely change the gaming landscape, spawning one of the most memorable and quotable lines in gaming history. That one about the cake. Brilliant levels and greatly benefiting from its short length, leaving you wanting much more by the time it's done. One of the best puzzle games of all time.
8. The Walking Dead - The Game
I remember several years ago there was a lot of discussion among developers in the industry if there'd ever be a game truly capable of making mass gamers cry. It was a topic discussed in any number of gaming publications, on forums, in magazines. Years later we have that game.
One of the most profoundly powerful stories ever told in the medium, with one of the most memorable characters I've encountered - the little girl Clemintine. The desire to protect her is absurdly powerful, and the connection you feel towards her - remarkable. Also has perhaps the most potent sense of dread I've played in a game. Relentlessly dark. But capable of gripping even the coldest human heart.
7. Mass Effect:
The start of something great. Taking the idea of meaningful choice and making it feel truly important. Mass Effect captured imaginations in a way I've never seen before by creating the potential for player choice to play a huge role in the story on a scale that we've never seen before. Introduces us to many great characters that blossum as the series progresses.
6. Arkham City:
The ultimate batman simulator. A great combination of story, fullfilling gameplay and a wonderfully developed world that is great fun to explore. Part GTA, part Zelda, part beat em up and part puzzle game, Arkham City succeeds by offering an almost dizzying amount of unique content, each individual portion better than that of most games that concentrate solely on that style of gameplay.
5. Bioshock:
Would you kindly...need I say more? Rapture is one of the most well realized game worlds ever created. While the story falters and slips into cliches, the world is something both horrifying and beautiful. A world you can lose yourself in. A place worth exploring.
4. Bioshock Infinite
Takes the quality world building of the first game and improves on the gameplay and the story. While many may prefer Rapture to Columbia, the story here is leagues better than the first. Extremely heady and borderline pretentious, but thought provoking and artful. If every there was a game to convince someone that games can be art, this is it.
3. Mass Effect 3
Controversial, but only because of how invested so many were in this series. It may have its flaws in regards to the overal plotline, but it's the quiet, moving and funny character moments on the Normandy that will in time define this game. By the time it all ends, you will be deeply invested.
2. Skyrim
The best world ever created. Begging to be explored in an almost obnoxious way. This is less a game than it is a playset. It gives you all the tools to have a great experience and lets you go find them yourself. Respects the player. Respects their desire to be let free and do what they wish. The sense of wonder that I felt when I first set foot out into the world after the short introduction is something I'll never forget. A whole world fully alive and realized. Living and breathing just for me.
1. Mass Effect 2
By the end of Mass Effect 2 I knew I was playing something special. I felt so heavily invested into the plight of Shepard and his crew that I was unsure I wanted it to end. I loved the characters, and the world. From the fiery walls of Omega to the sprawling landscape of Illium - it all felt so rich and pulsing with life.
I've always said that Mass Effect 1 sets up the characters and the events of the trilogy, and Mass Effect 3 puts the universe you now care deeply for in legitimate and unimaginable danger, but Mass Effect 2 makes you care about the universe and the characters. That is its purpose. And it excels. It also has probably the best cliffhanger ending I've seen. Sets up the third game beautifully. I'll never forget roaming the Normandy, talking to the characters who by the end of the game felt not like characters but true friends and allies. I felt like I knew them. And it made me care almost beyond bearing about what happened to them.
