Day 4 of NaBloPoMo finds me aping the Player One Podcast's latest episode, focusing on the hosts' top 10 games for the years 2000-2009. I enjoyed listening to it so much, I thought I would take the time to compile my list and share it here.
Well here it is, another useless list for your reading pleasure. This is my stab at naming the top 10 games of the decade, filtered through my experiences, games played, systems owned and interests. I'm fairly positive that this will be one of the more offbeat lists you'll read on this topic, as I lost most of 2000-2004 playing MMO's and not actually owning a console. This definitely colors my choices, as you'll see. On to the list...
10. Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS) - For me, this game came out of nowhere, because at the time of its release, I had never played Bejeweled or any of its numerous clones and knockoffs. The personal draw for me came from the RPG trappings and the promise of simple yet addictive game mechanics attached to all aspects of the game. On these two promises, Puzzle Quest delivered in spades. From my best guess, I probably sank 20-30 hours into the adventure, from working through the story quests, to capturing towns, creating new items, training mounts, learning new spells, and everything else the game offered. The DS touchscreen provided the perfect input method, as using the stylus to choose and swap gems couldn't have been more intuitive. I keep hoping for another experience of this type to capture the same magic (Galactrix, Gyromancer), but so far none have lived up to the original.
9. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 (PS2) - Now wait, stop rolling your eyes. While thinking about this list, I was shocked as to how many fond memories I had of this particular game, just one of many iterations in an admittedly fantastic sports franchise. There have been many games since that improved on the mechanics, the graphics, and the overall feel, but none of those will hold the same place in my heart as this one. This fact is due to the method in which I experienced it, and that was with friends. At the time of this game's release, I was living with a couple of buddies from work, and one of them owned the PS2 and this game. Before long, we had all created golfers, and would spend our evenings passing the controller around, watching each other play rounds against computer opponents, or engaging in links warfare between ourselves. Simply sharing the trash talk, the disbelief at an incredible shot or bounce, and enjoying the game for what it was, will have this game holding a special place from here on out. I tried to recapture the magic with later versions of the game but, after moving out of that apartment and not having anyone to share the experience with on a regular basis, they couldn't hold a candle to the '04 version.
8. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (360) - The first game I bought when I picked up my 360, this game gave me everything I could have wanted and more. When the dust settled, I had sunk more than 140 hours into the game, and didn't even complete the main storyline! There were just too many sidequests, too many DLC addon packs to explore, too many distractions for me to focus on the what amounted to completing the game. The graphics were admittedly a bit muddy and the character models left a lot to be desired (there wasn't an attractive person to be found in that world), but these shortcomings took a backseat to all of the things that you could do. By the time I finally had my fill and drifted away from it, my character had completed the quests for all five of the guilds in the land and had explored nearly every structure, cave, building, etc. to be found. If only I had taken the time to complete the main story...
7. Everquest (PC) - This game, and others like it, is one of the reasons that my list doesn't contain many games from the earlier half of the decade. While I was not consuming individual games at the pace I attempt to now, my gaming time was more than occupied by this MMORPG, the first king of the hill before being dethroned by World of Warcraft. While I never saw any of the endgame content, I thoroughly enjoyed making character after character and working my way through their early development, only to start yet another race and class to see what they had to offer. My gaming ADD, and the fact that I did my absolute best not to let MMO gaming rule my life (you can ask my wife how well I did with that) never afforded me the opportunity to see the large raids or be a part of a large guild. Nevertheless, the memories created in that time still cause me to smile.
6. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (PC) - During the holiday season of 2003 my brother-in-law, who was living with my wife and I at the time, asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I had been hearing about a new Star Wars game that was getting great reviews, so I asked him for that. The game turned out to be KOTOR, and it really opened my eyes to what a single-player RPG could be, with the backing of an incredible license and the right developer putting everything together. The visuals, the combat, the moral choices (albeit very binary and not affecting the outcome of the story at all), the companions, and the story wove a tapestry that I just couldn't pull myself away from. All told, my playthrough took me somewhere around 40 hours, and when it was over I wished I could play it again without knowing all of the plot points and twists. The genius of the approach Bioware took with this game lies in the fact that they set the story so far removed from the events of the movies that they had the ability to create a fantastic narrative free of the shackles of the movies' history. I absolutely loved the tactical combat, and the fact that I had a lightsaber. It was my 6 year old self being able to live out his dream (well, almost).
Tomorrow: my top 5 games of the decade.
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