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Guardian's List of the Top Games of the 21st Century


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I have played Papers plz, Ass Creed 2, Guitar Hero, the GTAs, Skyrim and RDR 2 and I liked them all for different reasons. I must admit I have dreadful taste in games, and if I had to pick a favourite I might be inclined to say the Paris, London or Rome Assassin's Creed, because I like the experience of wandering around a reasonably accurate historical city and the sense of immersion is enough to mitigate any repetitiveness in gameplay.

Other ones I really liked were RDR 2 and Cricket 19. I played quite a few games that came out earlier but I forget what they are like.

Edited by metalman
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As far as industry influence goes, I think that list is mostly pretty spot on, especially the top 10.

I'd have put the Last of Us and Silent Hill 2 way higher and I would've switched out MGSV for basically any other MGS game (probably 3) but other than that it's a pretty solid list.

 

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I was surprised to see MGS V as Metal Gear's only representative on the list. I was sure Snake Eater would be on there above that.

There's a noticeable lack of PC games too. World of Warcraft is there, as you'd imagine, but it would have been nice to see some strategy games, like Total War, Civilization and Crusader Kings. Also, even though they're not my thing, I was really expecting Starcraft 2 and League of Legends.

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I was quite surprised at how many of them I've played, forgetting I was still young and cool at the turn of the century. Really pleased to see Burnout 3 in there, I still occasionally play it now. It also has the greatest soundtrack of any game ever.

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4 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I was surprised to see MGS V as Metal Gear's only representative on the list. I was sure Snake Eater would be on there above that.

 

5 minutes ago, Ollie said:

I would've switched out MGSV for basically any other MGS game (probably 3)

Essentially my take away from this. I enjoyed the gameplay of Phantom Pain but the rest of it was such a mess. It literally doesn't even have a real ending, how the hell is it the only MGS on the list, let alone being above MGS3?

 

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13 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

I was surprised to see MGS V as Metal Gear's only representative on the list. I was sure Snake Eater would be on there above that.

There's a noticeable lack of PC games too. World of Warcraft is there, as you'd imagine, but it would have been nice to see some strategy games, like Total War, Civilization and Crusader Kings. Also, even though they're not my thing, I was really expecting Starcraft 2 and League of Legends.

Yeah, I'm surprised there's no League or Dota2. I've not played either of them but there's no denying their scope, and considering this entire list leans more on influence rather than actual quality, those two should absolutely be present, likely even in the top 10.

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MGSV

Level 1: Infiltrate this base

Level 6: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. You've got a horse.

Level 14: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. There's a helicopter that flies over every five minutes.

Level 42: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. You've got an invisible suit.

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8 minutes ago, Gazz said:

MGSV

Level 1: Infiltrate this base

Level 6: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. You've got a horse.

Level 14: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. There's a helicopter that flies over every five minutes.

Level 42: Infiltrate that base from level 1 again. You've got an invisible suit.

I bet Level 42 is funky as hell though.

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Just now, Liam Mk2 said:

In fairness, I really enjoyed the Phantom Pain. Not for the story, but I thought the gameplay mechanics were as good as they ever were in the series. 

I spent a good few hours purely planning my method of attack and it never really got repetitive in terms of approach. 

I agree with this. In terms of raw fun, it's the pinnacle of the MGS series. In every other regard, though, it's a long way below its predecessors.

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Similar to what everybody else is saying about MGSV, I would chuck GTA4 out and replace it with GTA3.

It may still not be as good as Vice City etc., but for the sake of influence and whatnot.

(Obviously I will leave GTAV alone on account of its ridiculous success.)

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12 minutes ago, stokeriño said:

but for the sake of influence and whatnot.

This is an interesting point, and I'm pretty sure we've discussed it before. In music, an album that was influential or enjoyed 50 years ago can still be enjoyed now. Whereas whenever I play a game from more than ten years ago (with very few exceptions: mainly strategy games and the like) I find the whole experience pretty unbearable. Even though I loved it at the time.

And I loved GTA III at the time (well, actually I loved GTA in 2003 because I've always been pretty late to catch on to things) but I imagine if I were to play it now I'd find it tedious and ugly.

Edited by metalman
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41 minutes ago, metalman said:

This is an interesting point, and I'm pretty sure we've discussed it before. In music, an album that was influential or enjoyed 50 years ago can still be enjoyed now. Whereas whenever I play a game from more than ten years ago (with very few exceptions: mainly strategy games and the like) I find the whole experience pretty unbearable. Even though I loved it at the time.

And I loved GTA III at the time (well, actually I loved GTA in 2003 because I've always been pretty late to catch on to things) but I imagine if I were to play it now I'd find it tedious and ugly.

Totally depends on the game. A lot of those PS1/2 era games where developers were first working with 3D modeling and open world design are incredibly rough to play now purely because of how much innovation came afterwards, we're only recently hitting the point where 10 year old games in those sort of genres are still playable. The likes of Bioshock and Dead Space are still playable and feel just as good as they did when they first released, whereas if you go ten years before that and the likes of the the early Resident Evil's or Grand Theft Auto III/VC/SA have aged pretty terribly.

However, some games are ageless. Super Metroid or Super Mario World still hold up as well as they always have done. The first few Sonic games are excellent. As you said, a lot of strategy games have aged very well, because the innovation for them came earlier and thus the mechanics were perfected very early on. Same with a lot of RPG's, Final Fantasy I is a bit of a dumpster fire now but VI and Chrono Trigger and a few others are still 9-10/10s.

The same will be said for the current crop of VR games, they're amazing now because we don't know any better. But when that better comes in the next decade, they'll be relics of the past.

The last twenty years have been the awkward teenage phase of gaming, and it's only in the last five years or so that they've matured into something that I believe will stand the test of time.

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Yeah those are all very good points. It was those  early 2000s games that were on the cusp of this list I had in mind: I can appreciate GTA III for its innovation but wouldn’t want to play it, whereas I imagine I’d be perfectly happy to play an early 90s Mario game.

Edited by metalman
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