What are the greatest games of the 21st century?

[RPS]

A year or two ago, I did an experiment in the Ring where we as a community came together to passionately debate who were the greatest wrestlers of the 21st century. We decided through consensus and discussion - people would suggest a wrestler and we would talk about whether they were in the elite group or not. Lists are fine and well, but I think it is more fun for people to engage and talk these things through. People are free to posts lists if they like and believe it may be helpful, but what ideally happens is as productive, thoughtful discussion.

We are talking about games who were released after January 1, 2000. No re-releases or anniversary editions for games that came out before this date. Anything that has been released since that point can be considered, including newer games such as the new Zelda game. We have no set number of games we can include on the list. It could be 5 or could be 20. Depends on 

For the purpose of this thread, use likes as much as possible and quote each other. When discussing and debating the games, try to be as productive as possible. Don't simply say "Half Life 2 sucks". Give reasons why - "the story was too slow" or "games before and after had better game play". Review scores and Metacritic averages are good discussion points, but it should not taken as gospel. Obviously if you are going to make an impassioned plea about a game, try to situate what you consider to be a great game. 

I'll help to try and moderate and keep things on the rails. I'll obviously contribute to the discussion as well, but no game will be put on the list until there is a clear consensus from y'all that it is indeed one of the greatest. 

So for the purposes of kicking things off, I'll just recommend three potential "franchises" we should consider. Grand Theft Auto is definitely one that is going to pop up. I would guess that probably the greatest of the franchise is likely going to be 3, Vice City or 5. Another franchise to consider is the Bethesda open world RPG's - Elder World and Fallout franchises. I would guess that our discussion will focus on Skyrim, Fallout 3 or New Vegas, but I am certain that more people enjoyed Fallout 4 than me. And lastly, Mario is always a focal point for great games. The Mario Galaxy series were fantastic and Super Mario 3D World was lots of multi player fun.

Obviously the discussion does not have to revolve around these games - I am just predicting that probably one of these franchises will be represented. 

Quote

1. The Sims
2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
3. Grand Theft Auto V

 

[Liam]

There will be people who come in here who care more about games and have more of a knowledge than me, but I will just posit one suggestion - The Sims. In terms of sales, wider interest, etc etc, it is definitely at least one of the biggest franchises that has ever existed. Whilst I don't know which game would be best to put forward, as I never personally liked it, I though suggesting it might give someone who knows a bit more about the quality of each release to potentially further my suggestion.

[TEOL]

Well Undertale was released in the 21st century and it already won a greatest game of all time poll so.

[peteypirahna]

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Timesplitters 2 and Fallout New Vegas.

Age of Empires II came so close by being released in October '99.

[Liam]

16 minutes ago, The EvEl Idoloverlord said:

Well Undertale was released in the 21st century and it already won a greatest game of all time poll so.

Which one?

[TEOL]

1 minute ago, Liam said:

Which one?

GameFAQs. I mean I know a bunch of it was trolling the 'a game can't be great unless it's at least twenty years old' crowd but the way the fandom united behind it was pretty impressive.

[Mick]

Well, from a financial standpoint, it's pretty hard to beat World of Warcraft, which has made damn near four billion dollars. 

 

And not to ride the Blizzard bus, but there's also Diablo II. 

Half-Life 2 and the games built off of it.

The entire Sims franchise (except for all Sims 3 expansions after Generations  ) . 

The only console games I had extensive experience with would have been the GTA3 games. Of those, III, VC and SA were amazing, and I'm constantly battling in my mind between VC or SA in terms of pure enjoyment. LCS was shit though  . 

 

[Schlitzbrille]

No Minecraft mention? Vilhelm Baconshield is sad

[MDK]

I wouldn't know where to start.

For sheer multiplayer fun back in the day I would go with TimeSplitters (2/Future Perfect), Mario Kart Double Dash, and No Mercy. Just because of how much me and my friends played them when we were younger. First two on GameCube and the latter on the 64. Seriously, with No Mercy, hour long ladder matches with truces and alliances that were made and broken within the same breath. We would sit and play these games for hours and chat shit. Honestly, the banter was just as good as the games. Nintendo was made for local multiplayer and I think it peaked with the GameCube. Honourable mention to Worms.

On my jacks I would say that the GTA series, Fallout series (notably New Vegas), and slightly controversially, Assassins Creed: Black Flag. GTA speaks for itself. San Andreas was and will always be my favourite because I adored the story, I loved the setting, I loved the music. It blew me away when I first played it and I think I have bought it on three different platforms and clocked it three times. Fallout I love because of the story. There is so much depth to it and I am a sucker for the post apocalypse media. New Vegas is clearly the best of the 3D ones. And AC: BF is a strange choice because I know a lot of people don't really like the game but I have to say I enjoyed it and I loved the story.

And if we are going for sheer amount of time spent playing then Football Manager, Civilisation series and FIFA series. 

@RPS I haven't ranked them because I cant bear to pick one over the other. I'll let you rank them because I love it when you rank me off. 

[JasonM]

Deus Ex - It revolutionized open world adventure/action games with a brilliant futuristic world, plot, and characters. And it even gave multiple endings, which was unheard of back then.

[RPS]

41 minutes ago, MDK said:

 

@RPS I haven't ranked them because I cant bear to pick one over the other. I'll let you rank them because I love it when you rank me off. 

I'm not ranking them, we are deciding as a group. 

So we've gotten a few mentions for Grand Theft Auto - which is the greatest of the series? Do we include multiple entries? 

Having played every single Grand Theft Auto game, I honestly believe 3 is the best. I can still to this day recall precisely how the map was laid out, the fastest vehicles, the cheat codes for invincibility, etc. 5 has more to do, but there is something about Grand Theft Auto 3 that is so enduring. But I assume there is probably many people who think 5 is infinitely better than 3 or who think SA or VC are better than both. 

We've also got multiple mentions of Fallout New Vegas, Timesplitters 2 and The Sims. I have played all of these games and think that the one that stands out for me is The Sims. The Sims sold a lot of copies, people spent endless hours playing it and really took a different approach to simulation games. Timesplitters 2 is weird to think about, because the space it occupied (local FPS co-op) is a genre that is forgotten. Timesplitters 2 was insanely fun though. With Fallout New Vegas, I am sort of on the fence. I think it is a very good game but maybe not an excellent game. 

[Kaney]

Timesplitters 2 is probably my favourite FPS ever but as far as GOAT goes I can't look past The Last Of Us.

[MDK]

1 minute ago, RPS said:

Having played every single Grand Theft Auto game, I honestly believe 3 is the best. I can still to this day recall precisely how the map was laid out, the fastest vehicles, the cheat codes for invincibility, etc. 5 has more to do, but there is something about Grand Theft Auto 3 that is so enduring. But I assume there is probably many people who think 5 is infinitely better than 3 or who think SA or VC are better than both. 

Maybe GTA: III has more of a nostalgia value, I know San Andreas does for me. In every way V is the best apart from the nostalgia. Graphics, story, feel, the open world is just beautiful. I'm split between San Andreas and V but V edges it because of how perfect it feels and the little nods to San Andreas. 

6 minutes ago, RPS said:

Timesplitters 2 is weird to think about, because the space it occupied (local FPS co-op) is a genre that is forgotten

A simpler time. Local co-op was brilliant but internet play has killed local FPS and beat-em-ups stone dead.

6 minutes ago, RPS said:

With Fallout New Vegas, I am sort of on the fence. I think it is a very good game but maybe not an excellent game. 

For me the reason I loved it so was the depth of the story. So many little things to find while playing. And when you get bored of the missions you can just go wandering. And I love finding out about the different vaults, there are a few that really put the willies up me.

4 minutes ago, Kaney said:

Timesplitters 2 is probably my favourite FPS ever

This is why I love you and your silly skirt. 

[Rich]

GTA V for me has to be up there, the storyline is great, gameplay is great and it's made something like $2billion in revenues alone. Hell of a game

[GoGo Yubari]

For GTA, I would definitely second San Andreas. That game basically defines what GTA is to me; it has the best story, probably the best cast of characters, very arguably the best soundtrack, and it really opened the world of the game up in a way III and Vice City couldn't. I would much sooner joyride through the countryside listening to "Amos Moses" or Radio X than do any other non-story thing in III, Vice City, or IV. I also think it controls the best, for me at least. When I tried replaying Vice City the year V came out, I enjoyed it but definitely felt like it was a little too fast and loose. When I moved on to San Andreas, it had aged amazingly well for a game that had come out like a decade ago.

Vice City does have my favorite overall style and Tommy Vercetti hit the balance between Only Sane Man in an Insane World and Total Monster Just Like You, The Player, better than any GTA protagonist, though. And IV and V are both really great games but they don't hold a spot in my fondest memories the way III, Vice, and San Andreas do.

[Benji]

GTA3 is still great and one of the most influential games ever (I'd argue despite it not being the first, it is the influence for so many games being open world in the current day and age), but it has not aged well gameplay wise. Still a cracking game, but picked it up a few months back and on console at least it is very dated.

Edited March 5, 2017 by Benji

[lanky316]

I'm having a hard time trying to actually narrow down a personal list on this. It started off easy enough but then it dawned on me that we're now 17 years in and it suddenly got harder. I mean a game like Half Life only just misses the deadline, and that feels like forever (guys... Most of us are getting old... ) .On that note I'd put in Counterstrike : Source since the team based terrorists vs counter-terrorist format has pretty much defined FPS games in the current era. 

Most time spent probably goes between the Football Manager series (in particular I've got a soft spot for 2011, no idea why that one...) and the Civilization series going strong still, Civ IV probably my favourite. Sadly the only of the original series to fit in to this one would be the awful Enforcer but the XCOM reboot and sequel have been fantastic as well.

I've not even really thought about the rise of how Indie gaming has reached probably the best spell since the Speccy days too, Minecraft has been a massive phenomenon and whether it's just creating shit freestyle or playing in survival mode has surprised me by justifying it's hype even if it's not for everyone. It didn't appeal to me much but the cult of Undertale would put it up there possibly.

 

That's mainly PC stuff that has struck me and I've not been much of a PC gamer for years. I'm struggling to not monologue for 36460 pages about console games since the turn of the millennium. That's three generations of Playstation alone to think of there...

[MDK]

37 minutes ago, lanky316 said:

Counterstrike : Source

It also taught us that you don't need to reload when you have 29 bullets. Because when you reload, you die.

[Rocky]

Going off games I've had greater experiences plating

1. GTA: San Andreas (PS2/Xbox). For the time, this game was perfect. As others may have mentioned. GTA:V is equally as good but I haven't put in as much time on V

2. Minecraft (PC): The amount of things that have come out of this game. Creative. Educational. Adventurous. All allow a great time if in the right mood.

3. GoldenEye (N64): I still play this occasionally to this day. Just for sheer multiplayer mayhem with friends growing up was intense.

[maddog]

I'm not sure if I'm surprised or not, but the EWD-EWR-TEW series has literally been one of the few games I've played consistently over the past 17 years. Crusader Kings I/II is a close second but nothing has ever kept me coming back as much as EWD-EWR-TEW. Of course, I might just be addicted....

One of the best console games I ever played would be GTA3. It was so different, so new. VC/SA/4/5 was better but being 12 and loading GTA3 and just going through the story that first time was so epic. I played through it on Thanksgiving Weekend, slept like 3 hours each night and had it beat (not 100%, but beat) by Sunday night. Nowadays, it takes me about 10 hours just to learn the controls of a game... :/