MarquisMark's Top Ten Games of the Decade

Having discussed the top ten films and albums of the decade with some friends, I decided I'd put some thought into a list of my personal best games of the past decade. In my post-exam euphoria, I finally got them sorted. So, without further adieu...

The top three games on this list are all first person shooters. This is odd for me, as I generally don't enjoy first-person shooters. These three are rather unconventional, and more importantly, innovative in different ways.

1.) BioShock (2007) – This game restored my faith in first person shooters. Well, not really, but it was a solid first person shooter that restored my faith in videogame storytelling. Intelligent but action-packed, this game brought the question “are videogames art?” to everyone’s lips.

2.) Fallout 3 (2008) – This game is fucking massive, and ate up so much of my time. A giant post-nuclear world to explore, so many things to do, and I never get bored of slow motion head explosions.

3.) Portal (2007) – This game contains the best game mechanic of the year, and, though short, is a quirky, memorable experience that should be held up with BioShock as a standard for storytelling for games to come.

4.) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2005) - Hilarious dialogue, a solid set of stories, and probably the best game soundtrack in recent memory. The closest I'll ever be to being a real lawy-...oh, wait now...

5.) Tetris DS (2006) – Addictive as fuck. This is the pinnacle of portable gaming.

6.) NHL 10 (2009) – Every hockey game EA has released this console generation has led up to this. The franchise wins game-of-the-year awards like gangbusters, and deservedly.

7.) Rock Band (2007) – Potentially the best party game of all time. Harmonix got it right.

8.) Perfect Dark (2000) – There was so much content packed into this cartridge, and every scrap of it was worth enjoying. The multiplayer perfected what started with Goldeneye.

9.) Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) – There was so much that could have gone wrong here, and instead, it’s the ultimate comic book game: combat, stealth, story, voice acting – all way above average.

10.) Braid (2008) – This game makes the list over some biggies because it’s the little independent title that could. A neat time-travel mechanic turning standard platforming on its head. Great little puzzler.

Honourable mentions:

- The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000)
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002)
- Mario Kart DS (2006)
- New Super Mario Bros. (2006)
- Wii Sports (2006)
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006)
- Wii Sports (2006)
- Etrian Odyssey (2007)
- Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (2007)
- Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)

(Note: I would have added Chrono Trigger DS as an honourable mention as well, but it is essentially a remake, which I decided to leave out.)