Favorite modern games last decade

[louisg]

Well, we've got a favorite films thread, why not a favorite games one? What were the games you spent the most time with which were released last decade?

I'll go first: I spent most of my gaming time with retro games, discovered the Duo, and played lots of other 16-bit and 8-bit games. But, other than that, here are the games I spent the most time with:

Under Defeat - I blew an entire spring break and then some with this game

Super Mario Galaxy 1 - Until this game out, my idea of a 3d platformer was a slow paced game where you had to annoyingly collect items and struggle with a busted camera

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - .. and this one added enemies

Super Monkey Ball - I was pretty obsessed with this one. Way better imo than its sequels.

Mars Matrix - This elevated my expectations of manic shmups quite a lot

Metroid Prime - The only Prime game I was into; I loved that they nailed the Metroid atmosphere perfectly (no small feat considering how screwed up so many 2d->3d attempts were). Few complaints about this one (mostly having to do with that damn elevator bug and some repeating enemy encounters).. maybe it could have had more action.

Ikaruga - Nothing to say about this that hasn't been said

F-Zero GX and AX (non-story mode, of course) - If you haven't played the arcade version yet, track it down

3d Grand Theft Autos - the missions bored me to death, but I loved just rampaging!

And.. a retrospective:

The last decade started with arcades on the decline but still a prominent part of the gaming landscape, and ended with arcades not really figuring into anything at all. During this time, Sega called it quits for hardware, Neo Geo was toast, Microsoft became a console maker, "shmups" entered the gaming lexicon (thanks Malc ), Sony managed to completely blow it repeatedly (seems like a pattern in console history-- company becomes popular, becomes arrogant, and makes dumb mistakes), and Nintendo somehow pulled themselves back from the brink after the GameCube and N64 with.. with a freaking *remote control* of all things.

On consoles, FPSses went from being a niche genre about demons and crap to being a hugely popular genre about patriotic bald soldier dudes. Independent games became very popular, which was a big shift from the previous Shareware scene. Online gaming also became feasible for the majority of players due to cheap broadband. Games on smartphones also became popular, and for once, millions of ordinary people were carrying electronic devices in their pocket capable of playing some pretty decent games.

I'm not sure if this changed gaming more than the 90s did, but it's fairly dramatic to look back and see what we take for granted now that didn't exist in 2000.

[ED-057]

Mount&Blade

[kengou]

Half-Life 2 - I consider this the absolute best singleplayer game ever created, and the episodes only get better. For FPSes this takes the cake.

Portal - Yeah, I do love Valve. Their games deserve it, damnit! Portal is brilliant in design and hilarious in writing. Everyone ought to play it.

Shadow of the Colossus - This game is a deep and emotional experience for anyone that plays it seriously, and it made a huge impact on me when I played it. Truly legendary.

Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast - I picked this strictly for the multiplayer, which I played quite seriously in a clan for something like 4 years daily. I haven't found a multiplayer game that has enthralled me so much until perhaps Starcraft 2. Speaking of...

Starcraft 2 - The best RTS ever made and the future of esports. Shame that battle.net is so shitty, but the game itself more than makes up for it.

Dodonpachi Daioujou - My favorite shmup gets on this list, obviously. It's fast, furious and tightly designed. I love it!

Metroid Prime - Unparalleled exploration and adventure experience, I shouldn't need to explain this one.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - More of the same from Mario Galaxy 1? That would be great. Yoshi? Icing on the cake. Best 3D platformer ever made, far as I'm concerned.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - Best RPG of this decade. My second favorite RPG of all time behind Chrono Trigger. I love the fantastic real-time turn-based battles and it's just so polished! The sequel, on the other hand...

Red Dead Redemption - It was hard to think of the final spot here, but I had to pick RDR mainly for the ending, which has to be the most badass gaming moment I can ever recall. I love the western theme, and the hilarious glitches aside this has seriously polished story, characters and gameplay.

edit: runners-up:

MGS-series
Crysis series
Supreme Commander
Team Fortress 2
Assassin's Creed series
Little Big Planet
BlazBlu series
Virtua Fighter series
Mechwarrior 4 (with Mektek's re-release only)

[Despatche]

During this time, Sega called it quits for hardware

They continue to make arcade hardware.

Neo Geo was toast

The Neo*Geo was not "dead" until the Gamecube and the Xbox began to die.

FPSses went from being a niche genre about demons and crap to being a hugely popular genre about patriotic bald soldier dudes.

FPS games rose above "niche" long before the millennium.

[dcharlie]

Half-Life 2 - I consider this the absolute best singleplayer game ever created, and the episodes only get better. For FPSes this takes the cake.

Portal - Yeah, I do love Valve. Their games deserve it, damnit! Portal is brilliant in design and hilarious in writing. Everyone ought to play it.

Shadow of the Colossus - This game is a deep and emotional experience for anyone that plays it seriously, and it made a huge impact on me when I played it. Truly legendary.

i started making a list and these were the exact first three i put down. All great choices and i agree with everything you said.

I've lost count of how many times i've played through Portal. Utterly brilliant game.

[Acid King]

Counter Strike - I don't know how the modern incarnation is, but the original game running on the Half Life engine can't be beat as far as tight, skillful first person gameplay goes.

Max Payne 2 - Easily my favorite third person shooter of all time and one of the most cinematic games in existence.

The Warriors - The best movie-to-game conversion ever and one of the most fun coop games of the past decade.

Serious Sam - This is the direction I had always hoped first person shooters would go in: Taking Doom to the next level. Sadly, the genre seems to be under the yoke of pseudo-realism for the foreseeable future.

Capcom vs. SNK 2 - Second favorite fighting game after Samurai Shodown IV.

NFL BLitz 2001 - The best arcade sports game ever. Period. Ever.

Rallisport Challenge 2 - Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Xbox 360 for me is the severe lack of a Rallisport Challenge 3. It looks like we'll never see another one either now that the devs are owned by EA and are firmly trapped in Battlefield hell.

[1up]

games that I spent a lot of time on or totally blew me away:

early 2000s:
PC:
GTA3 and Vice City
Mafia
Day of Defeat (HL Mod)
- played this every damn day, clan matches etc., for 3 years

Console
Zelda Wind Waker
Metroid Prime
Time Splitters 2
Black
Burnout 3
Jak & Daxter
Mercenaries

mid 2000s till now:
Crackdown
Dead Rising, this game made me buy a 360
Guitar Hero 3
Bioshock
Skate
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

edit:
forgot about Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead

[mesh control]

Off the top of my head:

Demon's Souls
Half Life 2
Timesplitters 2
Devil May Cry
Resident Evil 4
Bayonetta
Silent Hill 2
Metal Gear Solid 2

[kernow]

Metal Gear Solid 3 + 4
Uncharted Series
Vanquish
erm..

yeah fuck modern games

edit: I forgot RE4
edit: and Borderlands

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Off the top of my head and not including shmups: Grand Tourismo 2 (while J/ U released in DEC 99, the EU version was released in jan 2000 ), Eve Online, HL2, Serious Sam, Jak and Dexter, Mass Effect, Cave Story, X2, Oblivion, Total War Shogun/ Rome, Wipeout Fusion, Devil May Cry. ICO

[louisg]

Holy smokes, how could I have forgotten Timesplitters 2 & 3? I spent an unreal amount of time with their deathmatch modes last decade Especially that train yard level.. with the flare guns...

During this time, Sega called it quits for hardware

They continue to make arcade hardware.

True, but it is much less customized than their previous efforts, probably constrained by a shrinking hardware department and shrinking returns from arcade games. For non-Windows, non-Linux arcade machines, their Naomi and related systems are the last (afaik).

Neo Geo was toast

The Neo*Geo was not "dead" until the Gamecube and the Xbox began to die.

Oh, I meant the company; the hardware survived several years after even that! Yeah, the Neo Geo hardware went an unreal amount of time.
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/099/099540p1.html has the "goodbye" wallpaper pic that they released after they went under.

FPSses went from being a niche genre about demons and crap to being a hugely popular genre about patriotic bald soldier dudes.

FPS games rose above "niche" long before the millennium.

Yep, on PCs. I was specifying consoles, which really expands the audience (not that that's necessarily a good thing). On consoles, I can probably count the number of hit 90s FPSses on two fingers! Of course, these days, they're ubiquitous. This is really a big shift.

[Skykid]

Wah, another list.

Resident Evil 4
Shadow of The Colossus
Ico
Sin & Punishment 2
Super Mario Galaxy (1 & 2)
F-Zero GX
Metroid Prime
Gears of War
DDP DOJ
Progear
Espgaluda II
Mushihimesama
Homura

[Elixir]

I'm a happy person and I enjoyed a lot of games this decade.

http://d.hatena.ne.jp/elixir68k/20110106

Too long to list here. I would probably consider this "a lot", seeing as how it's above everyone else's lists in this thread. I think I actually prefer games that aren't so complex (I like Daioujou even if it is complex <-> I dislike Galuda II's complexity), but also games that can be as complex as the skill of the person (Bomberman, Counter-Strike, etc).

I would really like to discover more of the PC-Engine and retro library. Lucky for me, there's already a whole bunch of them available for PS3.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Max Payne (the PC version) - 10 out of 10 material back in the day, although it's been a while since the last time I played it. For my money there was just nothing to dislike about that labour of love.

Disciples II: Rise of the Elves - gorgeous, addictive, helped me endure foul mood times.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - preferably on the PC (there's something very special about wreaking havoc on the streets to the accompaniment of Evangelion tunes).

Shin MegaTen: Digital Devil Saga 1&2 - good to play a classic jRPG done right after all those big elephants in the room.

Shin MegaTen III: Nocturne/Lucifer's Call - see above. Quite possibly THE grand jRPG of the last gen.

Suikoden III - good storytelling in a video game, and a jRPG to boot? This gotta be Suikoden. Shame about the graphics, but at least the character models look good.

Gothic - a cRPG like none other. Even numerous bugs (better save frequently in different slots) and lack of plot worth speaking about didn't spoil it for me.

Cave Story - who cares about big time game development growing bigger than it's good for it, when you can play the likes of Cave Story for free?

World of Goo - see above, except it's not freeware (but I got my boxed copy for peanuts).

Ōkami - you have to be rich in free time to appreciate it fully (like, unemployed or retired), but it's a thing of astonishment and beauty. If you can play only one PS2 game in your life, it should be - depending on how much time you can spend - either Ōkami or

Ico - cult-hyped to death, turned out to be really that good when I finally got to play it.

Blood Will Tell - just remember to use double tap (rather than L3) for dash. Reportedly default controls are not healthy for joypads.

Jak II - despite its awful animations and some winceworthy humour, it's one hell of a ride.

Gradius V - oh, the moment when I got the hang of type 2 multiple lasers...

Contra: Shattered Soldier - brings back memories of the NES Contra I used to play long time ago. I thought Metal Slug series rendered Contra games obsolete, only to be proven wrong by Shattered Soldier.

Raiden III - pretty much every time I put my CRT monitor on its side, Raiden III gets some playtime.

Zanac Neo - mesmerising. Compile games put me into trance. Zanac Neo in particular I could play all day long. Honourable mention goes to Zanac Special Version - the ultimate iteration of Zanac.

God Hand - among all excellent fighting games by Capcom I played in the last decade, this one is arguably the finest.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - never liked the character back in the nineties. TSoT, with its creepy mugs and ridiculously looking combat didn't look great at the first glance to me. Nevertheless, when I reached the chamber where dagger was being kept, the magic started to work. Marvelous architecture and animations, and the gameplay making the most of both. Dreamy soft lighting and sound design (great environmental effects in the PC version), captivating ambience.

Beyond Good & Evil - it was such a breath of fresh air, especially on the PC.

[CStarFlare]

Silent Hill 2
TES 4: Oblivion
Dead Rising (2 was better, but I have to give props to 1)
Mushi Futari
Mega Man 9
Beatmania IIDX 11
Star Ocean: Till the End of Time
Mother 3
Bejewelled 2

[BulletMagnet]

I'm actually replaying Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure now, to GET HYPE for Monster Tale - still loving it, arguably my favorite portable game ever.

Seconding the vote for Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - no RPG has ever sucked me in like this one has...

...though the Shadow Hearts series came close. Most people consider Covenant the best, though I lean towards From the New World.

For the heck of it I'l also toss the Katamari Damacy series out there (tempted to cite We Love Katamari as my individual pick) - not as technically impressive as the rest, but I've spent too much time on the darn things to ignore them.

Might tack on one or two more if I think of 'em.

EDIT: Yeah, I'll probably have to back up Portal as well.

[BIL]

Devil May Cry - brought 2D action's precision and ruthless difficulty into 3D, with a bone-crushing sense of impact that keeps me revisiting it a decade later. I was happy to read, years after its release, that Hideki Kamiya had considered it his "challenge" to us in the audience. I love it when you know a game is made for the hardcore action fiends.

Silent Hill 2 - Absorbingly melancholic atmosphere with a refreshingly simple, affecting story. I love relaxing with this game as much as I love slaving after scores in the usual arcade stuff.

Shinobi - the speed-killing system is pure arcade joy. The levels and enemies are overly simplistic and repetitive, but the frenetic pace (regularly punctuated by explosions of gore) addicted me immediately.

[drauch]

This is too hard/overwhelming for me to convey my real thoughts.

Things that instantly pop into my head are...

-Half-life 2 and it's universe/expansions (Episodes, portal, etc)

-Shadow of the Colossus

-DEAD OR ALIVE XTREME BEACH VOLLEYBALL 1 & 2

-Tomb Raider: Legend and Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Big fan of the series, and absolutely loved both. Still need to complete Underworld

-Cave shit.

-S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

-Bioshock

-Resident Evil 4

-Swan Song

-Elder Scrolls III & IV

-The Sims

Whoa. I didn't realize I don't play that many newer games at all...Whatevs, this is what came to mind. Surely missing out on tons of crap. So much crap I need to play as well. Probably doesn't help i'm kinda drunk.

[Battletoad]

Shmups:
Zero Gunner 2
Mars Matrix
Giga Wing 2
XOP Black

Others:
MDK 2 - Hard, funny, varied, gigantic, action-packed, weird, brilliant!
Gothic I & II - German RPGs with a cool hero, even cooler NPCs and a great amotosphere and world to explore.
Max Payne 1 & 2 -
Thief II: The Metal Age - I should finally play the last level... Was stuck when playing the game some years ago. Not as good as The Dark Project in terms of atmosphere, but improved gameplay.
Resident Evil - Code: Veronica - My first and still only RE. Love it.
FlatOut 2 - Has almost everything which I want from a fun racer. Just annoying when you just drive through some heavy things, but small things get your car out of control at times.
Stronghold & Stronghold Crusader - Nicely designed strategy games.
SpellForce: The Order of Dawn - RPG & strategy. Dunno. Game has a lot of flaws, but I found it fun somehow.

Yeah almost every game is from the early years of the decade. I simply don't own a system for newer games and I'm not that interested, too.