Be Excellent To Each Other

Eurogamer have just started their round up of their favourite games this gen. So far they've got Red Dead Redemption, Portal and Journey, so can't complain there. What would be your top ten be?

Platforms that qualify:

Xbox 360
PS3
Wii
DS
PSP
PC (2005-2013)

I suppose you could chuck in mobile games (iOS/Android/WP) as well if there are any you'd like to include. I'll have a think about mine and post later.

Hmm. In terms of the ones I've got the most enjoyment out of:

Burny Pee
Left 4 Dead 2
Saint's Row 2
Call of Duty Modern Warfare
Portal 2
Red Dead Redemption

Most of that is down to bezzie involvement, mind.

Try not to fart.

Red Dead Redemption,
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City

LEGO Indiana Jones
Portal
LA Noire
LEGO Batman
Stacking
Quarrel

Bully
Mirror's Edge

I'm trying!

I'll have a real think about this later but I'm putting the Halo series and Batman games on the 360 at the top of my list.

So far my actual list what I have thought of would contain Dark Souls.

and maybe Dead Rising.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: Arkham City
Deadly Premonition
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Fallout 3
Mass Effect 2
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Uncharted 2
Flower
Portal 2
Shadow Complex

Xbox 360: Dark Souls.
PS3: Dark Souls.
Wii: Wii Sports, Super Mario Galaxy
DS: Phoenix Wright, Ouiden and a bunch of others. The stand out console of the generation.
PSP: Outrun 2
PC (2005-2013): Who gives a fuck. Dwarf Fortress

Also: DARK SOULS.

And Dark Souls.

Dark Souls.

Halo 3
COD:MW
COD:MW2
COD:BLOPS
Yu-gi-oh 2009
Yu-gi-oh 2010

Some really strange top tens here.

Here's my provisional list (in no particular order):

Portal 2 (Xbox 360)
The Last of Us (PS3)
Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360)
The Stanley Parable (PC)
Hotline Miami (PS Vita)
Batman Arkham Asylum (Xbox 360)
Fez (Xbox 360)
GTA V (PS3)

-edit- I forgot Fez, FFS.

Off the top of my head

Modern Warfare
Left 4 Dead
Portal 2
Mass Effect 2
Assassins Creed 2
Oblivion
The Last of Us
Fallout 3

I'll need to have a think.

For me, my list would only include games that I have either completed, or if there is no end to them, games I have spent the most time on, so that narrows down the list a lot!

World of Warcraft is easily my most played game ever, so that tops the list.
Battlefield : Bad Company 2
GTA V
I'd put the original Portal in there too I think, was that really this this generation? It seems so long ago.

Other than that, can't think of anything off the top of my head, so that must be indicative of something or other...

2007, so comfortably.

My problem with a list like this one (for example, not picking on ya - sorry), is that bar Portal and TLoU (maybe?) the are all games that have and will have sequels. Identical, superior sequels will exist. For some reason, that future knowledge diminishes them somehow.

Games of the generation, to me, have to be the ones that are perfect nuggets. Like Advance Wars. Sequels exist, but the first, on the gameboy will always be a) definitive and b) the one to play. Or games that are in unloved genres, or explore otherwise untouched mechanics and ideas.

What that you said? "But what about Dark Souls? That's a sequel, with a sequel."

SHUT UP, THATS WHY. It's the most pure thing of pureness ever. Game of my Life.

Except you have airily dismissed an entire platform's output, save Dwarf Fortress, so your opinion probably doesn't count for much. How many perfect nuggets have you missed?

My point and your rebuttal have nothing in common.

It was a joke, because I don't have a PC at the moment. But I edited out when I remembered that Dwarf Fortress is possibly the most exciting game bar



to ever be made.

I'm not sure what that has to do with my point. I assumed me not having a PC was common knowledge, sometimes I forget that I don't post here as often anymore (stupid life) and so Lave knowledge will have slipped away. :(

I agree with slightly modified Lave.

Also: the point of these list is so people champion their perfect nuggets for us who have missed them.

(Aside: How come no one is making perfect nuggets jokes? It's low hanging fruit.)

Nope, haven't heard from you on here or Twitter in ages.

My point was that everyone will have their own criteria; if sdg has put 1000 hours into CoD 15 and loved it, surely it deserves to be in there if that's what she looks for in a game? Not everything has to be innovative or unique.

So every sequel to every game will always be the same and always be better?

Aye my life is 'hectic' at the moment.

Absolutely it does. I'm not criticising an opinion (what a waste of life that would be!) but trying to explain mine. You know, getting a discussion going about 'what is a game of the generation' anyway. Thank you for partaking!

Oh absolutely, but do you get what I'm trying to explain? AC and CoD are diminished by their 'franchiseiness' to me. I play some franchises every year (like CoD), but their frequency in spotlight makes me think slightly less of them.

Logical? Nope. But I can't be alone in thinking that? Am I?

A list which is probably missing lots of stuff - for anyone else here is a wiki page with everything that came out for

The 360 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_360_games
The PS3 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_360_games


Resident Evil 4 - Yes it was last gen but also got an HD remake this gen and even with the slightly dodgy control mechanism its still an amazing game and probably will still hold up in another 9 years (original GC release was Jan 2005)

Call of Duty : Black Ops - I never played COD games until MW2 came along and then for BLOPS everything just clicked for me

PacMan CEDX : Psychedelic wavy lines pacman and chomping down hundreds of ghosts in a few seconds to quote the late Ryan Davis "Pacman Fever has been weaponised"

Burnout Paradise : A great initial game , but one that had so much *free* DLC and content to keep you interested , there were periods when you could come home - boot up the game and get new stuff to do on here on a very regular basis - always best with other players from here (Get in the toll booth Wullie!) but even just doing the challenges for crashes on the individual roads and the leader board integration was great.

Fallout 3 : A massive timesink and a game that showed how you could take some very basic gameplay - the shooting and VATS stuff is fairly basic and the control of your character is really minimal with jump/crouch and shoot being about all you have control over but fleshing that out with a world where things generally made sense and where they really did allow you to go to every spot on the map and discover new things - on the 360 my save game clocked in at around 90 hours and I put the PC version on my laptop so i could go back to the wasteland and wander around again.

Dead Rising : The game that showed what this gen was capable of - a new way to play (time and location) , massive amounts of zombies on screen at the same time and you could just go mad with a baseball bat and cause carnage everywhere !

Dead Space : The first one really was something special , no hud (everything on the screen or in game) , the ability to slow down time , some nicely done set pieces (although dropping necromorphs behind you did get old very quickly) , a story that sorta works , a character who was not just your typical action hero , weapons that were more setup to be tools and then improvised , some missions other than fetch stuff (okay a lot turned into fetch quests at times) - and the near end of the game with moving the marker around on rails was overdone but a really great new IP that was I feel wasted with 2 and 3 :-(

Geometry Wars 2 : A simple concept well executed and the first game I can remember to really 'get' leaderboards - you had the whole thing if you wanted but the top right just showed the friend you were closest to , and changed as you moved up through the ranks.

Left 4 Dead 2 : A 4 player co-op game that worked , the 'director' controlling things behind the scenes ensured the re playability of the basic maps and made every game feel like you could win

Street Fighter IV : Relaunched the one-on-one fighting game , with the original characters re-done but adding new 'balanced' characters into the mix

It's a fair comment, but I think there are franchises that have a definite pinnacle. For example, I would put Modern Warfare 2 at the top of the pile for that franchise, all the sequels just haven't been as good in my opinion.

I probably wouldn't allow this, as a lot of old games got HD remakes this generation. Definitely last gen!

Sequel yes - 'identical / superior' - no

I know that SDG has MW2 in her list , and thats the one she enjoyed , my list has BLOPS1 which i enjoyed more , the fact that I played MW2 / BLOPS2 / MW3 / BLOPS2 doesnt mean that because BLOPS2 is later and has a lot of the stuff thats in 1 that its a better game ?

I also much preferred SF4 to SSF4 , I preferred Fallout 3 to Fallout new vegas - the fact that there is a sequel does not mean that its a better version of the game.

There are some games that came out and were very good and did not get a sequel yet e.g Mirrors Edge - now that theres a planned Mirrors Edge 2 does this mean that the original should just be ignored because a 'identical / superior' sequel will exist ?

No, because the new one will be next gen. You're not very good at this.

FTFY (and yes it was a bit tongue in cheek , however I bought Resi6 and did not enjoy it so bought the remake and it was a much better game even though i'd already played it multiple times)

I can sort of kind of see what you're getting at but only if I squint my eyes a bit and maybe turn my head to the side a bit. I mean not every game will definitely get a sequel and even then the sequel might be significantly worse. Or just iterate a bit while the earlier game pioneered some game design aspect that everyone loved or something.

I mean if someone picked, I dunno, a FIFA game I'd think that a bit weird because they're all just iterations of the same core game stretching back years; but something like Arkham City is arguably different as it married the open world concept to that series' mechanics which are still relatively fresh even now.

I just think you're not only unfairly 'marking down' any game which has, or is likely to get, a sequel by assuming that all game series are as samey as something like CoD has become, but you're also robbing the definitive game in any series of it's potentially much deserved plaudit just because the publisher went on to run the thing into the ground. So, like, if Man Shooter 2 was a genuinely excellent game that really brought some fresh stuff with it then I don't think it's fair to not recognise it just because Man Shoooter 3 though 20 were cynical rehashes.

Ooh, Mirrors edge.

My list now stands at Dark souls, Super meat boy, Dead rising and Mirrors edge. And Dark souls.

I think if there's a stand out game in the series then agreed that stands alone.

But I mean when there are multiple similar games in a series out in a single generation rather than choose between AC, AC2, AC 3, AC Brotherhood or AC4 their interest gets shared amongst them and so no individual game can catagorically stand out. People will argue the merits of each one.

The best franchises of a generation may be a better bet.

And yeah, if Mirror's Edge 2 came out this gen, was really, really similar to ME1 then the vote would be split between them and the ability to put one single game on the pedstal falls.

Game of the generation for me was Left for Dead 2.

Honorable mentions:
Portal 2
GTA 5
Batman: Arkham City
Eve
Mirror's Edge
Geometry Wars 2
That Xbox Live platformer that I always go on about but can never remember the name of
Splinter Cell: Conviction

Shadow Complex

Minecraft

Oh shit yeah, Minecraft should go in my list. For PC, obv.

Modern Warfare 2
Burnout Paradise
Mirror's Edge
Just Cause 2
Minecraft
X-Com
Fallout 3
Left 4 Dead
Braid
Tekken Card Tournament

Skyrim - It's everything Oblivion wasn't. Beautiful and huge. A great achievement

FTL - I just love this game so much. Beautiful artstyle, beautiful soundtrack. It's really the most atmospheric space themed game i've ever played. Too bad there's not more veriety in events.

Rogue Legacy - My favorite game of the year so far. A cross between Spelunky and Castlevania. Incredibly addicting.

Spelunky - I still haven't tried the HD makeover, but the original was such a great experience. Also, the whole roguelike mechanics are ideal for short bursts of gameplay, which is good to feed the addiction.

The Binding of Isaac - This was indeed the generation of roguelikes. Even though the controls were a bit clunky, the game compensates that with pure style. Great artstyle and soundtrack and a very addictiv experience.

Dungeons of Dredmore - A more traditional roguelike, but as addicting as classics like Stone soup and very acessible.

Legend of Grimrock - I never tough i would play a dungeon master clone in 2012, but this one even surpassed the masters of the style and great mod support makes me still play it.

Civilization V - I love Civ, always did since the very first. And unlike most civ fans i think the fifth one was an upgrade over the fourth.

Hotline Miami - This is the anti-"Citizen Kane of videogames". A videogame that knows it's a videogame and explores its simple mechanics with absolute precision. Best soundtrack ever

Braid - I'm not much into puzzle games, but this was probably the most brilliant i've ever played. Also loved the presentation.


So this generation really was really about the indies. Videogaming has never been better.

Surprising lack of Halo mentioned so far (that would be on Chinny and GovernmentYard's lists I think)

Ahem...

Seriously though, they'd factor highly on my list for sure. I think ODST might be my favourite. Odd... I know?

COD:MW
Fallout 3
Skyrim
Minecraft
L4D


Games I got the most enjoyment out of on this generation

<off topic>
nickachu's mention of the original Modern Warfare there made me remember how much I enjoyed the single player campaign of that when I originally played it. Granted I wasn't playing many games at that point in my life so was probably very easily impressed and, with hindsight, it was very 'shooting gallery'-y but I was still incredibly impressed by it at the time right from the opening moments of the intro. It's funny to think of these games that are now just identikit as being actually new and exciting. Was it actually at all ground breaking in terms of modern shooter design at the time or was I just a naive tit?
</off topic>

Burny P: the source of much laughter & good times.

SFIV: one of the few games that lived up to the hype.

BOD: Maudlin Wolfhair: I wasted hours playing that shit. Kangaroo conga death squads & crawly man knife fights in the swimming pool

GTA V: first 3D GTA I've ever truly loved.

Red Dead Redemption: good story, cowboys, wild animals & wild land. Also, acupuncture with Dimrill & Dave

Ketsui Death Label: boss-rush hilarity.

I have no idea what any of that means but it sounds awesome.

It means Cod 4 was fun, particulary when we werent playing Cod 4.

Or when my grenades went wrong.

I think the first MW from the 'real' Infinity Ward was truly something groundbreaking , it took a lot of things that had never been done before and did them very well , although a lot of people are put off by the (6!) sequels so far I do think the first was something special.

(it did not make my list because i missed out on it first time around and by the time i picked it up everyone had moved on to the next thing and it was just filled with hackers)

GTAV
Modern Warfare
Borderlands
Portal
Portal 2
FEAR 2
Halo 3
Fallout New Vegas.

Best single-player game of the generation? Super Mario Galaxy.
Best (online) multi-player game of the generation? Minecraft.

That is all.

EvE
GTA V
Fallout 3
Skyrim
CoD Blops