Top Ten of the Decade: Part 2
By Greg Giddens
This week, a collective of Resolution regulars will be penning their own personal top-ten lists. The theme? Favourite games of the decade. Not the best, not the most polished, not the most influential. Just favourite. Here’s Greg, with the ten titles he remembers most fondly…
10. Crazy Taxi (2000)
Crazy Taxi was entertaining at the time, there’s no doubt about that – but let’s be honest: the fun was short-lived and more appropriate in its native arcade form. So my wonderful memories of Crazy Taxi will always be for one single reason: it introduced me to my now all time favourite band, Bad Religion.
Crazy Taxi’s soundtrack, consisting of The Offspring and Bad Religion, made the game an instant hit for me. I was already a huge fan of The Offspring, and Bad Religion caught my attention straight away. For that, Crazy Taxi, I thank you. You introduced me to the greatest band in the world.
9. Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors (2000)
Age of Empire 2 was a great game, but The Conquerors expansion made significant improvements to the experience, turning it into one of the finest RTS games on the PC.
(And, of course, making special mention of the expansion allows me to mention Age of Empires 2 in this feature at all.)
We were lucky enough to have two computers in our household at the time of The Conquerors’ release, and so the inevitable war between my father and I began. Nothing brings a father and son closer than the mutual want – no, need – to see the other obliterated by a superior force, and that’s why Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors is so important to me. The exceptional multiplayer allowed me to vent my want of genocide in a healthy way, and as such deserves to be on all greatest games lists – not just because it’s a great game, but also because it saved millions of lives from my tyranny.
8. Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
Halo introduced us all to a deep and intriguing universe full of history and future potential, as well as providing the console crowd with a definitive FPS to compete with the high quality of PC shooters that had previously dominated the genre. But its not the game alone that makes me worship it so much. It’s the fact it inspired and gave a canvas to the hugely successful Red vs Blue machinima series.
I’m a huge fan of Red vs Blue and all productions from creators Rooster Teeth, and their machinima using the Halo series is the prefect example of a game transcending a single medium.
7. Mass Effect (2007)
The sheer depth of Mass Effect’s back-story is phenomenal; Bioware truly out did themselves with its conception. When this much effort is poured into any project, the result is usually mind-blowing – and Mass Effect, for me, is certainly that, proving how critically important narrative is to the creation of a game. That’s what made Mass Effect special: the depth. When playing a RPG you need immersion to play out your role. Mass Effect provided that, without a shadow of a doubt.
6. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
As far as I was concerned, the platform genre was dead, perished at the turn of 3D or possibly evolved into the action-adventure genre. Mario Galaxy proved me completely wrong.
Having found no joy even in the much revered Mario 64, I could never have guessed how much I would love Mario Galaxy. The platforming was smooth and enjoyable, the quirks of reversed gravity and additional suits to wear were hugely imaginative, and the 3D environments were exceptionally designed. I am very much looking forward to the next instalment in the series.
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