Allow me to clarify the parameters of this list. Do I mean the "best," "most influential," or most "personally beloved" games? Yes. Somewhere, deep in my gut, the criteria for admittance is gestating, and I will allow that inner voice to guide me. Then again, it's more of a gurgle than a voice and could be "digesting" rather than "gestating." (Specifically, the TVP nuggets I just dined on.)


10. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
What: FPS/3rd-person action game following a Jedi exile on his quest to regain his abilities and save something. (Girl? Galaxy? The Universe's Ultimate Curry? I can't remember, which goes to show the plot really stays with you.)
Why: Enter a room filled with stormtroopers. Force pull half-a-dozen into the air and watch them drop. Lightning blast two dozen, and throw your lightsaber in a circular arc through their stunned bodies. Somersault over the lone Sith adversary and strike a critical blow where his defenses are weak--from above him. Land before all your opponents have even finished slumping to the floor and feel the adrenaline rush as you realize you are one of the most formidable forces (get it?) in the galaxy: a Jedi.

Apart from the slow-to-start but ultimately pitch perfect campaign, I sunk dozens of hours playing multiplayer at LAN parties, and my positive memories are wrapped up with fond recollections of some of my oldest friends. If all that's not enough, JKII employed the considerable talents of Mark Hamil to reprise his role as the Joker.


9. Dawn of War
What: Sci-fi RTS based of the established IP of a...table-top strategy game?
Why: The harshness of 00's (Oh-Oh's) towards RTS's was only surpassed by their abuse for the endangered-species adventure genre. While the 90's ended on a high of creativity with the three-dimensional Homeworld, stagnation and audience decline have troubled this once celebrated category and most developers are content to release variations on the harvest resources/pump out units/engage in rock/paper/scissors combat formula. At least with DoW, Relic (who also developed Homeworld...hmmm...I just now noticed the connection) brought the "assault" mode of FPSes to real-time strategy and tried something different. It's a formula that works, and I spent many hours with friends attempting (and failing) to become adept at the small-squad micromanagement required for victory.


8. Sam & Max Save the World
What: Telltale Games resurrect both Lucasart's classic not-franchise and the very undead Adventure games themselves.
Why: Most developers can manage to make a good adventure game (Grim Fandango) or a profitable one (Nancy Drew Does Something Generic in a Mansion Like Saving Lost Shoes and This Isn't a Real Title But I Can't Be Bothered to Research an Authentic One), but not both at once. Telltale Games, however, have managed to combine both adequate/good gameplay and a business-savvy episodic content model, allowing them to churn out product-after-product of above-mediocre titles in a much-cherished but formerly presumed dead category. This spot really goes to Telltale Games, but since a company isn't technically a "game," I'm giving it to the first release to pioneer their technique. Perhaps it should have been titled Sam & Max Save Adventure Gaming.

(Naw. Who would've bought into that far-fetched premise?)

7. Knights of the Old Republic
What: A soldier from a galaxy far, far away and a long, long, long, long, extra-long time ago must choose what path to tread between light and dark on the quest to save--or rule--the galaxy.
Why: Solid RPG gameplay makes this entry fun, virtuoso storytelling makes this game transcendent. The expansive plot takes you across multiple worlds, while also finding space to give dimension to even the smallest characters. Excellent voice-acting and music service the experience, which is not only the best Star Wars tale written this decade (for any medium, natch), but one of the best sci-fi stories period. The jaw-dropping twist also makes this a Sixth Sense for the aughts, of sorts.


6. Portal
What: Test-subject in scientific lab attempts escape demented AI captor via ingenious use of dimension-warping experimental technology.
Why: It's the marriage of innovation coupled with unpredictable, hilarious, and compelling narrative. The writing is top-notch, brilliant sci-fi. The conceptually-simple game mechanic (or maybe not; it's about bending two physically separated locations to a single point via the use of additional dimensions) has legs that carry it to endless applications. It's broad appeal (no violence! Just puzzle-solving and turret disarming!) has led quotes like "The cake is a lie" to enter our mass culture and be printed on our t-shirts. Finally, the poignant and heart-rending resolution between a woman and her companion cube haunts me to this day.


5. Half-Life 2
This was another genre-advancing entry from Gabe Newell and the team at Valve. While their commitment to story is always trumpeted, I appreciate them more for the techniques they contribute than actual plot and characters. Lifelike animation, seamless lip-syncing, and the much-used peripheral scripted scene (a giant walker lumbers down the street just in the corner of your vision) are standard, now, but Valve set the bar.

Like a full-length technical demo, Valve showcased physics-based gameplay done right and proved that beautiful, hardware-pushing engines need not be unscalable to half-a-decade old equipment. That you could run the game on your ancient eMachine with a smooth framerate was a subtle achievement, but I think an important one, emphasizing some positive message about inclusivity or eco-friendliness or something. I'm tired and bitter about games making me purchase new video cards every two years. There.

You can read my original review here.

4. World of Warcraft
What: I don't know, I've never played it.
Why: Millions upon millions of people pay exorbitant subscriber fees to do repetitive virtual tasks in a dated graphical environment. And I'm afraid to even install the trial (which comes bundled free with video cards, mice, laser printers, pizzas, sunglasses, and shampoo) because of the habit-forming reputation this game/modus vivendi has. This is a significant contribution to the industry, much in the way tobacco contributes to the GDP or lotteries contribute to financing public education. I don't have to form an addiction to appreciate all three of these things exist. Like the War on Drugs needs marijuana, so the PC Gaming sector probably is dependent upon this gem for its survival.


3. Bioshock
What: Crash survivor ventures into underwater failed art-deco Randian social Utopian experiment, where philosophical questions are as dangerous as bullets.
Why: This is the first game I have encountered that uses the intrinsic nature of videogaming itself to make a point about free will. This clever utilization of the medium--which has been a long time coming--is a significant advance for the domain, and will hopefully inspire further ambitious and mature treatments of "mere" games. When coupled with immersive (and chilling) atmosphere, fantastic art direction, genius-level writing and dialog, and competent technical achievements Bioshock serves as a standout entry for the decade.


2. Halo (the original)
What: The Master Captain--or somebody--has to fight...oh...things in...the future? And there's a ring, like a really BIG one.
Why: Despite its underwhelming basis (I still have not played a Halo campaign to completion, and they're brief), it somehow overcomes this shortcoming in multiplayer which is nothing less than an addictive, polished, and finely balanced experience. This is Goldeneye for the New Millennium, and so much more, the game that made bringing bigscreen tvs to LAN parties something that actually happens and is not all that unheard-of. Countless hours have been spent with friends building our team coordination and honing our solo abilities. Halo gave me the excuse I needed to see other people in the new decade, and for that reason I will be eternally indebted to Bungie. (Just as Microsoft may be; Halo in large part could be responsible for making them a contender in the console business.)

1. Wii Sports
What: Use vaguely reality-corresponding movements to play a selection of virtual sports.
Why: Arguably responsible for catapulting the flagging Nintendo Entertainment Company (or am I just making that name up?) from its distant-third to market share dominance over competitors Microsoft and Sony. The best-selling game of all time (take that, cousin Mario!), Sports gets credit for introducing gaming to the non-gamers, the grandpas and elderly and supercilious art snobs. Or so the hype goes. But the numbers don't lie, and fifty million copies suggests more games were moved than there are gamers in existence. Maybe I'm just making that up, too.

(Sports comes bundled with the Wii; see how I did that, making sales appear more significant than they are?)

Honorable mentions, or Games I Really Liked, or Wasted Hours of my Life, or Nostalgia Valley:
1. Guild Wars. (170 - 180 hours)
2. Oblivion. (80 - 90 hours)
3. Knights of the Old Republic II. (c. 70 - 80 hours over two play-throughs, plus my sleep-deprived immune system caught the flu during finals week)
4. Prince of Persia series (had to give 70 - 80 hours over four installments)
5. Dragon Age: Origins (67 hours, not counting the many battles I lost)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (c. 40 hours)
7. Tales of Vesperia (c. 40 hours)
8. Eternal Sonata (c. 40 hours, see review here.)

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