Closing out our Best Of The Decade lists are 7 Great Videogames:
Grand Theft Auto III- Some might argue that Grand Theft Auto III is the reason that videogames get a bad wrap. And they got a legitimate case, there. But how fun it is to try and outrun the cops and feds after going on a rampage in Liberty City while trying to lose your 5 wanted stars. Or picking up a hooker for the sole reason to replenish your health… really… that’s the only reason. There have been a few copycats since the inception of this anti-hero story came out, but none live up to it.
Rock Band- Guitar Hero started off the whole pseudo-rockstar platform. But it wasn’t until Rock Band came along that everyone’s dreams of being a lead singer, drummer or even bassist came to fruition. And the music really rocked… in the beginning that is (now every time I hear Weezer’s Say It Ain’t So, I start hitting phantom green, blue, yellow notes like some sick Pavlov’s dog experiment gone wrong. And though the whole rhythm genre of games seems a bit over-saturated these days, Rock Band created many living room 35-year-old rock gods.
Bioshock- You are Jack, the lone survivor of a plane crash, who has discovered the underwater city of Rapture. Work your way through the game fighting off Splicers and use your stealth to get past the security systems. Modify your body with Plasmids and upgrade your weapons by creating your own ammo. And watch out for Big Daddy, the protector of the Little Sister. There are a few different endings to this game and they all depend on your decisions on what to do with the Little Sisters. Save them all and be the savior of Rapture, or harvest them and bring certain doom to this once beautiful city.
Grand Theft Auto IV- Niko Bellic just got off the boat and landed at Liberty City, fleeing his bleak existence from eastern Europe in hopes of starting over in the U.S. But he quickly finds out that no matter how far he’s travelled, the life he left back home still haunts him. Forced to do the immoral biddings of the Mafia, Feds and other scrupulous characters he encounters, Niko roams the streets of Liberty City in search of vengeance and the American Dream. That’s the story of GTA IV, latest installment in the GTA series. Not only is the story mode the caliber that we’ve come to expect from the series, we’re also introduced to a multiplayer mode in this installment. It offered hours of entertainment for a party of friends to traipse across the city like a gang of thugs in search of the next score. Can’t wait to see what the guys at Rockstar have in store next.
Fallout 3- A nuclear war has destroyed the country and civilization as we know it. The dust has settled and all that is left is the Fallout. Your character, which was born in the bomb shelter Vault 101, must leave the sanctuary of home in search of your father. The landscape that you encounter is full of mutants, raiders, feral ghouls and people in need of help. The story is full and in depth and really gets under your skin. The moment I realized how powerful this game was I had to turn it off because I knew I was too invested in it. It happened while I was walking across the bleak landscape and I came across a S.O.S, radio broadcast of a man asking for help for himself and his sick son. I quickly canvassed the area until I found a hidden entry into the sewer system. It was there that I found the radio that was broadcasting the signal and skeletal remains of the man and his son, who obviously had died quite a long time ago. The radio signal was just a ghost and I obviously was too into this game. Great storytelling.
Skate- For years Tony Hawk has ruled the skateboard videogame niche, with no real challengers on the landscape. Then along came Skate. The control system abandoned the button smashing combo play that everyone was so acquainted with and focused on utilizing the control sticks for a more fluid, natural feel. The physics of the game also felt more realistic. No skater could do a 50-foot ollie or grind a bus. Now learning a trick was similar to what a real skater does… practice.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II- There were and will always be plenty of first person shooters set against the backdrop of war, but COD:MWII puts you right in the middle of the adrenaline fueled action and blows the competition out of the water with a frag grenade. The story mode has a full realistic tale colored by the blood and consequences of war. And then there’s the videogame industry’s most controversial and morally, ambiguous level. The level is so controversial that the developers at Infinity Ward had to implement the option for gamers to skip it during gameplay. And then there’s the multiplayer mode. There’s hour upon hours of online action available for leveling up. Take it from us, we can’t take ourselves away from it.
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