My favorite game from each year 2000-2021

[ROOKIE745 607]

Author's note: This was a list I started writing around the end of 2020 if I remember correctly, at some point I lost a bunch progress which killed my mojo for doing this however recently found the energy to work on it again and get it finished. Some of the stuff here I typed up over a year ago and if anything sounds weird or off it's likely because of that gap in time and my writing has changed to some degree over that time. Also sorry if some games after much longer summaries than others, talking about 44 different games is difficult and in some cases I just struggled a little more with what to say, rest assured that I enjoyed every game on this list.

 

This is a list I've actually been meaning to do for some time, like over a year at least. Back when the decade changed from the 2010's to 2020's a lot of people as I'm sure you all know did lists of best movies, games, TV shows and so on of the 2010's. However Gamexplain did a series I thought was cool where they choose a best game from each year (so 2010-2019) before finding out which the viewers thought was the best out of those 10. I won't do that list bit where I rank them but I thought it'd be fun to go back to the start of the millennium and choose my favorite game from each year. It's also just happens to be a good place for me to start, since I'm a kid who was born late in the 90's and haven't had much experience with anything that predates the N64. I've played a lot more games in out current millennium than the one I was born in. Now because video game releases are not always straight forward with re-releases, remasters, remakes, complete editions, and different release dates among consoles and PC, I had to lay out some ground rules for myself to follow otherwise things get confusing and messy. I don't expect every one of these situations to come up in my list.

1. No game can appear on the list twice or be eligible in more than one year no matter if it's the original release, remastered, enhanced re-release, or part of a compilation.

2. Remakes will count as a separate game from their original release

3. I have had to complete the game or put a lot of time into it for it to be eligible for my list.

4. If I played the "remastered" version of a game, I will count it for it's original year of release and not year of release of the remaster.

5. As a console gamer I made the choice that I will be putting a game in the year of it's earliest console release, so Hollow Knight for example was released in 2017 for PC but it's Switch port was in 2018, so I will count it as a 2018 game.

6.In terms of live service games or games with re-releases like a definitive edition, I will count them as part of the year of their original release since that's where the foundation was made, so Destiny 1 for example will still be counted as a 2014 game despite all of the updates and DLC it got through 3 years.

To challenge myself further I will be keeping track of who the developer is, the publisher and the genre the game is in and adding it all up to see any trends. Also I will be including a runner up for every year, in some cases it's really close in others there's a pretty big gap between games. The starting year 2000 is a good example of this, speaking of which! (Side note, I originally called the Runner ups honorable mentions, so if you see that at any point you know what it means.)

 

2000

Paper Mario

Developer: Intelligent Systems     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: RPG

I wouldn't come to play Paper Mario 1 myself till years and years later but had grown up watching a cousin play it. PM is a game I love to death and when I finally played it for my youtube channel I just didn't want to stop. The world, the characters, the places you go were all so great, the game is by no means perfect, I feel the lack of depth in the battle mechanics starts to wear on you as you get deeper into the game but new partners and story always kept me going. Each chapter's location and small stories within each one is great and there's no chapter that I really dislike or feel like it drags on, my highlight would be chapter 3 as I always like the "creepy" chapters. This game could easily top a lot of others but RPG's are not exactly my favorite genre, still one of the best RPG's I have played imo. Oh also the battle music is fantastic!!

 

Runner up

Timesplitters     (this box art man lol, it sure was a different time)

Developer: Free radical design     Publisher: Eidos Interactive     Genre: FPS

I actually started with the second game in the series and would circle around years and years later to get the first game to see how the series started. I ended up disappointed due to the actual lack of a campaign, there is these levels or challenges to do but they don't contain any story elements or cut scenes and some of them where very difficult as well. The real fun I imagine came from multiplayer and the level designer but since I jumped in on this game like 15 years later or something I never experienced any of that and don't exactly have anyone to play it with. Honestly Once I play some more games from 2000 I could see something taking this game's place. I know I haven't said a lot positive here but honestly the game is fine and good-great for it's era, I did have fun I was just disappointed due to having wanted to play it for so many years and it not quite living up to what I thought it had.

2001

Halo: Combat Evolved

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: FPS

2001 had a lot of great games but even so it was a no brainier for my choice of this year. The first FPS game I ever played and the reason I love the genre to this day is because of Halo. I got hundreds if not thousands of hours out of the campaign alone and while I didn't player multiplayer to much it was a fun time when I did, usually with family. The graphics looked so good and the music was epic for my younger self and the music definitely still holds up of all these years later. The wonder and Mystery Halo brought to my four/five year old self is something I'll never forget. The story has well was captivating for younger me and all the cool camera shots and moments kept me hooked, the enemy faction to that you fight was great. Elites are still my favorite alien race to this day and hunters are a close second for sure, I was always intimidated anytime I ran into a pair of them since they always have a buddy with them, of course now I know you can one shot them with the almighty pistol from H1. Halo 1 has a limited selection of weapons, there's eight total weapons, five UNSC and 3 alien weapons, they each are effective in their own way and none of them are useless. Finally we have vehicles, two human and two covenant, as a kid I was always hyped anytime I had a chance to use a vehicle and spent hours trying to take them to places I wasn't meant to. Also it's always been funny to me how the UNSC vehicles are invincible yet the covenant ones are not.

 

Runner up

Sonic Adventure 2 (Battle)

Developer: Sonic Team USA     Publisher: SEGA     Genre: Platformer, Action-adventure

I never owned a dream cast and only have played on one once, SA2 is one if not the most iconic game on the console however a lot of kids, like me, grew up with the 2003 gamecube re-release, I believe there was a bump up to the framerate and some extra stuff for the battle mode (hence the battle added to it) but nothing major was changed. This is one of earliest games I remember playing on our gamecube and one of the ones I played the most, raising chao was something me and my brother loved to do although we never really got into the rather deep mechanics of it (probably felt daunting for us), we just enjoyed leveling them up and watching them fight in chao karate and take part in the races. That's not to say it was the only thing we enjoyed but it was the main reason we kept coming back to it. The game as a great soundtrack and we enjoyed the missions and battle mode, not to mention the secret stuff in the game to, it was a good time.

2002

Serious Sam: Xbox

Developer: Croteam     Publisher: Devolver Digital     Genre: FPS

So in this case we have the console release rule coming into play, Serious Sam Xbox is the First Encounter and Second Encounter put into one package and released for the original Xbox. Much like Halo, Serious Sam is part of the reason I love FPS games. Playing Serious Sam as a kid definitely made me feel more like a bad ass than Halo did, as I take on hordes of enemies with a minigun, laser gun and tons of rockets. Thanks to it being two games in one there's tons of missions as well, not to mention multiplayer to. I loved all the different enemy types and many of the levels are memorable, and again the game looked so good back then as well, and while not quite as good as Halo the music was awesome as well. I also can't not mention the tons and tons of secrets in these games, finding them is always fun and it can reward you with a weapon earlier on or perhaps it's the series staple Serious bomb? Which is a bloody screen nuke if you didn't know.

Runner up

Timesplitters 2

Developer: Free radical design     Publisher: Eidos Interactive     Genre: FPS

Yes Timesplitters two is on here as well. In all fairness I played TS2 pretty early on in my childhood to but I don't have the same level of fondness for this game as I do with Halo 1 and Serious Sam. Regardless TS2 was able to fill the hole nicely when I didn't have access to an Xbox to play Halo or SS, I grew up with the gamecube version but now own the xbox version. basically the game improved upon everything from the first game and gave us an actual story that was a lot of fun, every mission has you in a different time period making every level feel fresh, there's tons of extra content as well with challenges to complete, characters to unlock, multiplayer, map creator, and the harder the difficulty on the campaign, the more objectives you have which I think is really cool. TS2 is the best in the series in my opinion.

2003

Pokemon Ruby

Developer: Game Freak     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: RPG

I wasn't sure if pokemon would get on this list but after looking through 2003, there weren't many games that I played that I really enjoyed from this year. However Pokemon Ruby does have a very special place in my heart, while not the first pokemon game I ever played it was the first one I came to own. Thanks to a cousin of mine who got it from a friend I got the game and it already had a file from my cousin's friend, and when I first opened up that party, there it was, a Salamence and to this day it is still my favorite pokemon. It just got my eye the most and feel in love with it. Anyway the game itself is something I got a lot of enjoyment from, just exploring around and beating the gym leaders, the elite four, catching groudon, team aqua and magma, it was all great. I would transfer some of those pokemon into gen 4 including the Salamence which I still have to this day, after that I restarted the game to actually beat it myself.

Runner up

Mario Kart Double dash!!

Developer: Nintendo Entertainment (and others)     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: Racing

Racing is a genre that ya I get some enjoyment out of but it's never my first choice if I want to choose something to play. Don't get me wrong I've put hundreds of hours into Mario Kart across multiple games, maybe even thousands but I pretty much would always rather play a shooter or 3D platformer. Double Dash is easily one of my favorite racing games though and it's a crying shame they haven't revisited this formal yet. Each play holds an item and you can switch between who's driving and who's attacking, you got more characters, different karts and some really fun tracks not to mention a great battlemode. My only real gripes with double dash now a days is it's control and lack of maps. The control is something I can always adjust to but I find I can never jump right in and fun without some frustration first, in terms of tracks it does have 16 which may seem like a lot but trust me you'll burn through them quick. While I understand there probably wasn't a big enough selection yet in Nintendo's mind (or just haven't thought of it yet) for classic cups, cups that use the old tracks, it really could have done with an extra 4 or 8 tracks. Still though I love the game all the same and I am glad it shows up on my list, again 2003 just doesn't have a lot to choose from for me.

2004

Halo 2

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Micorosft     Genre: FPS

2004 for me has two of my favorite games but Halo 2 was the easy pick because it's in my favorite genre, FPS. While I was never able to play Halo 2 online before the original xbox servers were shut down it doesn't change all the fun I had in the game's campaign and some splitscreen action as well with cousins. Dual wielding was brought in and made you feel even more awesome, energy swords and wraiths were now usable and we got to play as elites for the first time! Again the graphics blew me away and you have more legendary music and a track from one of my favorite bands, Breaking Benjamin. Looking back yea this campaign has some levels that are a slog to get through, overall it isn't the best the Halo series has to offer, but as a six year old it was amazing. Also side not but I didn't know that for years this was actually the first game to have the famous skulls, items you could collect to add modifiers to the game, unlike following games most of them were restricted to legendary difficulty, that was the only way to get most of them, and the only to turn them off was to turn of the game, fun thing to know.

Runner up

Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year door

Developer: Intelligent Systems     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: RPG

PM TTYD is a very strong contender for one of my favorite games ever and could top many other games but it had to face a juggernaut in Halo 2 on 04. Much like Paper Mario 1 I would watch family play the game a lot before I myself played it and beat it years later for my channel. Much like before I didn't want to put the game down, I believe every recording session I did was over 4 hours long and some cases up to 8 hours. Maybe that doesn't sound long for some but for me it was. TTYD improves upon in almost every aspect, better story, deeper characters, more badges, more interesting locals, and most importantly it had a deeper battle system. Party member now had their own HP and wouldn't go down after one flimsy hit and could be swapped in front of Mario to eat up more of the damage if Mario is hurting for HP. The art style has also helped this game age like a fine whine, while yes it doesn't compare to modern games you'd be hard pressed to get me to say it looks bad. For many years I thought TTYD was a textbook example of a sequel done right but after playing it years later I do have some small problems, one is that there aren't as many party members and the members you do get I just don't find as interesting personally. They went more with new species for party members instead of established species, it's a hit or miss kinda thing. My bigger problem though is the map you travel in, there are a lot more pipes to take you from one area to another and traveling from one local to another is cut down but in it's place is lots of backtracking, some chapters reek of it, especially my favorite chapter, chapter 4. The world just feels less connected to me, there were many areas in the first game you would have to travel to first before getting the shortcut but TTYD decides we'll just give you the pipe route and increase back tracking. It's unfortunate but the pros still heavily out weigh the cons in my mind.

2005

Resident Evil 4

Developer Capcom production studio 4     publisher: Capcom     Genre: TPS, survival horror

I really do have to thank my cousin for getting me to play this years and years later. Fun fact is that my brother and I actually owned the game for wii way back when, it was one of the first three games we got XD Anyway like a lot of older games I played the game for my channel and it was very very enjoyable. Horror is not a genre I'm into or care about all the much but when it's not as much of the focus, or is there just in the background it can be great. It may sound weird but I love when a game makes me feel unsettled or uneasy about the area I'm in or the enemy I'm fighting. On top of that I love games with great atmosphere and RE4 is drowning in it. While the mechanics of the game feel a bit dated it was something I still adjusted to easily and loved by the end of the game. The story and lines are all kinds of cheesy but it only adds to the charm of this game. The game easily takes number one of the 2005 year for me.

Runner up

Mario Party 7

Developer: Hudson Soft     Publisher: Nintendo     genre: Party

So if it wasn't for RE4 Mario Party 7 would have taken first place, for me there just wasn't whole lot to choose from in 2005 and I almost forgot about MP7 honestly. But it is my favorite Mario Party game in the series mainly thanks to the fact that I played it the most out of any of the games. From it's simple art style that has helped it age so well, boards, minigames, characters, 8 player mode, and extra features to get in game, I find that there's pretty much always something else to do in the game. I don't have as much to say here because it's a god damn party game but a very good one at that, so congrats MP7, your on this list.

2006

Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

Developer: Nintendo EAD     Publisher: Nintendo     genre: Action-adventure

Alright so here is another case of a game I haven't beaten on the original console, (Gamecube and Wii) I own both versions and have played both versions but never beat either one. The one I beat was the HD port for the Wii U, while there is some small quality of life improvements and such I don't feel that they change enough for me to be uncomfortable putting the game here. I do intend on beating the gamecube version at some point and maybe even the wii version to at some point too, anyway LoZ TP is a lengthy adventure and one I really enjoyed. Tons of places to explore, secrets to find, upgrades to collect and temples to beat. Tons of the bosses were on an epic scale to, just feeling really imposing to face. I don't mind the whole wolf transformation thing in fact I kinda like it, it's cool imo. 2006 wasn't a very strong year for me or I just haven't played enough games from that year but LoZ TP is still a tough one to beat.

 

Runner up

Gears of War

Developer: Epic Games     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: TPS

As stated 2006 isn't a year I've played a lot of games from, I think I've completed 3 or 4 at most? Anyway GoW or simply Gears as it's called now is a game I wouldn't come to play till later, I think I got it in a GoW 1&2 bundle if I remember correctly. If I had played it back then there's a chance it would be number one but because I played it later I don't have much nostalgia for it, I also don't get as much enjoyment out of TPS games compared to FPS games. Regardless I still found it a fun game to play through and enjoyed the length of it's campaign and also it's enemies, the locust is freaking cool if ya ask me. I never played the multiplayer which may also hurt it a lot but It was like 6-7 years after it's release when I played it. What largely hurts the game though is it's control, it's a bit stiff or clunky, mainly aiming your gun. Since aiming and shooting your gun is important to the game and something your going to do a lot of I can't ignore, sure I got used to it but I wouldn't say it's the same as RE4 and getting used to it's tank controls. It by no means makes the game unplayable it's just something that hurts it and it's sequels quickly improved upon. Again though, great game.

2007

Halo 3

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Micorosft     Genre: FPS

This really should be no surprise, Halo 1 and 2 are both on here as my "game of the year" and H3 is no different. Halo 3 finishes the fight for the original trilogy in an epic finale, all levels are memorable in some fashion, whether it's by an epic fight, set piece, cut scene or dialogue. Some other better than others but I find even the worst mission in the game has it's special moment. Ripping off turrets is a new feature that makes you feel even more badass, equipment was added as a new feature as well although this was more of a miss than hit. Multiplayer is fantastic and while not the Halo game I've put the most hours into, I still had a blast in many matches. Theater and forge were introduced as ways to share content with friends, theater being pretty obvious but forge allowed you to create maps for you and your friends to play on. Many, many interesting game modes were thought up and while forge mode is dated and clunky by today for sure, people still did amazing things with it. I do think Halo 3 was the peak of the franchise and was a legendary game.

Runner up

Call of Duty 4:Modern Warfare

Developer: Infinity Ward     Publisher: Activision     Genre: FPS

Honestly I was debating about having this one up here, while I loved the game back when I played it I don't find that I have that level of fondness for it anymore, I enjoy other games in the series a lot more than this one, but in the end I felt it did deserve to be mentioned because it is my entry point into the series just like it was for many others. A pretty good campaign with intel as a collectable that would unlock fun cheats for the game, and a addictive multiplayer that had classes to create by choosing what weapons you wanted to use, what perks to use, and equipment you wanted. Guns had attachments like red dot sights or under barrel grenade launchers. Really I just find the game shallow looking back, basically every cod after this have three modes to choose, campaign, multiplayer and an extra mode, usually zombies or in some cases spec ops. The gun and attachment selection is also just very low for me as well. Still a great game just not one I find myself eager to go back to. Also fun fact I grew up with the Wii version.

2008

Pokemon Platinum

Developer: Game Freak     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: RPG

Pokemon is on here for a second time and it's the one that's still my favorite ans easily put the most time into. Giriatina is a heckin cool pokemon and you could catch Palkia and Dialga in here. I enjoyed exploring Sinnoh and team Plasma, the music was great and it was just a memorable adventure for me. I know now a days it's very very slow, and while it never irked me back then because I usually had nothing better to do and was a little kid I do think it'd bother me now. There also was tons of cool new pokemon and at least for me I still think Sinnoh has some of the best, I think we all know Lucario after all. Sinnoh is my favorite region and this game will always have a special place in my heart.

 

Runner up

Super Smash Bros Brawl

Developer: Sora Ltd.     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: Fighting

No shooters this time around, gotta say 2008 was a pretty great year for Nintendo. SSBB is for sure the smash game I've put the most hours into, from it's story mode witch I still think is pretty great, all the awesome cutscenes and even some secrets to find as well. Characters to unlock, a stage maker, trophies to earn, challenges to do there is plenty of content here to keep ya coming back. I don't think I need say anything about the multiplayer because it's flipping Smash bros, get some friends and get smashing each other. I know for more competitive players Brawl is frustrating to play due to some changes they made, mainly tripping at random being a thing, I agree it's probably the worst in the series if your looking at it from a competitive standpoint but from a casual standpoint I think you can argue it's the best. Also lets not forget this was the game to introduce third party characters like Sonic and Snake to the series!

 

2009

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2

Developer: Infinity Ward     Publisher: Activision     Genre: FPS

My favorite game ever, Modern Warfare 2!! So many good memories with this game, where do I start? Well graphicly even as someone who plays it on the 360 I still think the game looks damn good, sure it's not comparable to modern games but every time I go back I'm still surprised by just the amount of detail in everything. The art style really helps and the color choices are great, everything is vibrant without getting washed out or getting to color happy, it strikes a very nice medium I find. The music, while not on the level of say the Bungie Halo games is still great and has very memorable pieces. The campaign while short is one of most enjoyable I've ever played and I still go back to it this day. The multiplayer does have it's problems, mainly infinite grenade launcher spam with danger close, it's still a lot of fun and I've always found the game is surprisingly balanced, (when looking pass OMA GL's) while there are weapons that are next to useless there is no weapon that outright dominates the game, I would say the UMP45 gets the most use but still players bring a lot of different weapons. Finally spec ops, while not as fun as zombies I still think the missions had there own charm to them and gave you extra challenges to work towards and unlock more missions. To me the overall package of MW2 from the technical side of it to the game modes is fantastic.

Runner up

Halo 3 ODST

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Micorosft     Genre: FPS

Even though it's not my GOTY Halo still finds it's way onto this year, ODST for sure is not as strong as H3 as it lacks it's own multiplayer and forge mode but did introduce firefight. ODST remains one of my favorite games to this day thanks to a very strong atmospheric campaign and one of my favorite characters, the Rookie. (where do you think I got my name from?) The Rookie is your standard silent protagonist with only grunts and such that you'll hear from him but the way he expresses himself in the cutscenes is still one of my favorite things and I wish more video games did it as well. ODST has possibly one of the best soundtracks ever and is some of the best from the Halo franchise. Firefight was a good choice for this game and it's locals, plus since your playing as an ODST and not a spartan your not as strong and things feel more dire when your outnumbered. Due to limited dev team size and time the game wasn't able to reach it's full potential which really sucks as a huge fan of this game, still I love it all the same and am glad it exists.

 

 

Author's note: We're now getting out of my childhood and into my teen years, nostalgia is less of a factor in these games as I began to understand what actually makes for a good game or a bad game. That's not to say any of the previous games are actually bad, I just have rose tinted glasses for them.

 

2010

Halo Reach

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: FPS

Reclaiming top spot is Halo again, Bungie's last outing with the franchise went out on a high note. Their biggest game yet full of content, a prequel to Halo 1 you aren't playing as the Chief here, you play as a spartan where you can fully customize their armor and it shows in the campaign and in the cutscenes, that was heckin sweet for 12 year old me, you got firefight back with now the ability change settings and such, forge is back and bigger than ever, theater is back to share clips and pictures and multiplayer had tons of modes and options to mess around with. Halo 3 was still the peak in the series imo but Halo Reach was still great and it's easily the game in the franchise I put the most time into, from the forge maps I made to the ones I played on from friends, co-op campaign with friends and family, and the hours I sunk into multiplayer, I will never forget just how awesome this game was. Armor abilities were the new thing here, they definitely had a bigger impact than equipment did in H3 and were more fun to play around with, while still not an overall improvement to Halo's core they did allow for some more interesting forge maps and such, armor lock is the only one I really hate and if you've played the game you know why. Sprint was also an ability in this game.

 

Runner up

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal     Publisher: Ubisoft     Genre: Action-adventure, stealth

Besides beating AC3 back in 2012/2013 I've only started completing some of these games more recently, going through the Ezio trilogy was a blast, yes I should add I have not beat the games on my 360 yet but the collection doesn't change anything major, just better res and FR. Brotherhood is often considered one of the best games in the franchise and I can understand why, tons of stuff to do and see, a great story, a city to rebuild, new gadgets to make and use, upgrades to get and all in a world that just felt so fun to play around it. While I didn't 100% it or anything I did go out of my way to do side quests and get most collectibles. The new mechanic introduced here was being able to recruit and send assassins to different locations in Europe to complete missions and such that could earn you money, the more interesting ability was that you could call an assassin in to assist you, this was far more useful and helped make it feel like a "brotherhood". I really do have to say that Ezio is such a likeable character and for sure one of the best characters in any video game series.

 

2011

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal     Publisher: Ubisoft     Genre: Action-adventure, stealth

Yes the AC franchise is back already and GOTY for me, looking through 2011 there honestly wasn't a lot that I enjoyed from this year or perhaps just haven't played enough from that year. Regardless Revelations takes top spot thanks what may still be favorite story in the AC franchise and is the conclusion to Ezio's story, he remains the only character in the series to get multiple games dedicated to him. While the location you have to explore isn't as big and is in stark contrast to AC: Brotherhood location it was still fairly interesting and fun to explore. The start of the game left such an impression on me it still is one of my favorite beginnings to a game. You have a few new things to play around with, the biggest being bombs and the hook blade, some really really fun levels and side missions even but the driving factor all the way through for me was Ezio, I love the guy the most here and it's the main reason this game is number one for me. I wouldn't say it's my favorite in the series, part of that being due to some issues I had with the climbing in the game, I just got stuck in a spot more often or it just wouldn't let me climb when I should have been able to, but it's still top 5 for me in the series.

 

Runner up

Gears of War 3

Developer: Epic Games     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: TPS

I wasn't expecting GoW 3 to be on here but nothing else really stood above it for me, so it gets the HM. GoW3 was the first Gears game I got and played, it definitely left an impression on me with it's enemies and weapons and so on, of course a lot of this I could say for the first game but GoW3 was my entry point into the series. It's campaign was a great deal of fun, getting up to 3 buddies to play along with ya was great and I have some..... very frustrating yet fun memories of playing it on it's hardest difficulty and beating it for achievements. I never got into the multiplayer for any Gears game but did spend a lot of time playing against bots or playing in the horde mode. It may sound weird but the main reason I never got into PvP here is because the time to kill was just faster than I felt it should be? Like all the other modes give you a feel of it being a slower time to kill game but in the multiplayer it's pretty fast. That said I still got a great deal of enjoyment from the game so here it is.

 

2012

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Developer: Treyarch     Publisher: Activision     Genre: FPS

I know I know COD again? We were just in the golden era of cod here, and while I didn't enjoy the last two entries as much BO2 was fantastic. It had quite possibly the best campaign in the series with branching paths and multiple endings, it had new side missions that had some RTS elements in them, and the story itself was deep but understandable. Zombies got even more complicated with it's story and easter eggs but had new items you could craft in each level, like a shield to protect you back or a jump pad, while the maps that came with game weren't that good imo Mob of the Dead and Origins were great and I can't not mention the fan favorite Buried. Multiplayer brought in the pick 10 system for create a class which meant you could load up on perks and just have one gun or load on with two primaries thanks to the new wildcard system and load them up with attachments. It was really fun, my only problem here was the maps, Treyarch has pretty much always used a 3 lane design which here just really drags at points, it makes maps kind of blend together and not stand out as much, it just doesn't feel like there's much room for creative play if that makes sense. Still one of the best in the franchise and I understand some may not sure the same problems I have with it.

 

Runner up

Halo 4

Developer: 343 Industries     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: FPS

Halo and cod again? Yeap, though this is likely the last time Halo will be on here, some may be surprised to even see Halo 4 on here at all but frankly I've never hated this game and even grown a little softer towards it over the years. While I'd still play any Bungie Halo game over it I still had a great time with it. It's campaign is one of the most emotional I've ever played and as someone who grew up with the series since I was a little kid, that ending was a gut punch that I had never felt before, the game had me cry twice through out and it has some of the best voice work I've heard from any video game. While the new art style isn't something I really like graphicly the game was gorgeous and was really pushing the 360 to it's limits, and the music, while not as good was still quality. Spartan Ops while not as fun as firefight imo still was an interesting new mode with it's continued story over multiple updates and such, it was just stuck using the same locations over and over which made it hard to playthrough, no differences just straight up the same map. Multiplayer is the most talked about with a new system in place that would let you call in a random power weapon or power up after you got enough points..... ya it didn't go over well, sprint was now something you could do at any time and armor abilities were back, there was a create a class system that I shouldn't even need to mention on why it doesn't work for a halo game, and at launch the DMR was vastly overpowered, thankfully as time went on and many updates later it did get better but it was still never going to be as good as a previous game. Despite all of that though I did have fun in the multiplayer because I could still play it like a classic Halo game even with all the gunk over the core of it.

 

2013

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal     Publisher: Ubisoft     Genre: Action-adventure, stealth

AC is back with one of their highlight games, again I didn't play it when it was new but when I did eventually get around to it, man was it an adventure! The pirate theme of it, sailing ships and ship combat which had been introduced in the previous game and improved upon here, an engaging story and another great character to connect with and follow along. New activities to do thanks to pirate life that you character partakes in, there's just once again a lot to do here and keep you busying, melee combat is still great and now you carry old school flintlock pistols on you! You also have great supporting characters like black beard for example! I've played any of the multiplayer modes in any AC game, it just doesn't interest me but the campaign and open world have always been enough to keep me busy anyway, which I should add this open world is very fun to explore, with many different islands to visit and towns to go to.

 

Runner up

Battlefield 4

Developer: DICE     Publisher: EA     Genre: FPS

Alright, BF4 was a mess when it launched, multiplayer matches were buggy and you were lucky if you were ever able to actually finish one but as this was the firs BF game I got into, not the first I've played but the first one I really sunk time into and especially as the game got patched up it became a game I really enjoyed. I will also note I had problems with the campaign not saving my progress early on either but that was fixed to. I made sure to get BF4 on the XB1 as I really wanted to experience the large scale battles of 32V32 and man was it something else for me, as someone who had mainly played COD and Halo multiplayer the destruction and scale of the battles was epic, not to mention just the size of the maps alone and the new levolution system was something to behold, watching the skyscraper fall down or flooding the map with water was hella cool. While the campaign is nothing special I do feel it has it's moments and is better than BF3's. I like the characters and some of the missions are cool, it kept me entertained throughout.

 

2014

Destiny

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Activision    Genre: FPS, looter shooter

Alright so 2014 was actually kinda hard to choose, as four games stood out to me, I was considering COD AW and Assassin's creed rogue as well but felt they came a little short compared to the two I did choose. Destiny, Bungie is no longer under MS and finally got to make something new! And that was Destiny, which at the start it was honestly a disappointment, maybe the expectations were to high or some of the troubles at Bungie and reworking of the story and game hurt it, whatever you want to believe (I believe the latter) it wasn't the game the fans or perhaps even the devs were hoping it would be. While it had great gameplay the story was a major let down, filled with bland characters and not having time to explain why they don't even have time to explain. Still thanks to years of continued support and through DLC's and updates the game got a lot better, basically everything was improved from how it was at launch and raids were something totally new for me, working with five other players to conquer them still remains some of my favorite memories and I made great friends. I have to admit that Destiny is tied to some dark days of my life, it just became that game for me that helped me escape from irl when I needed it most, it also has one of my favorite guns ever in the Invective shotgun, that gun never left my side on my titan. Really if I did this list early 2015 no way is Destiny here but thanks to all of it's changes it does take top spot for 2014.

 

Runner up

Farcry 4

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal     Publisher: Ubisoft     Genre: FPS

Farcry 4 is the other game I was considering that wasn't mentioned, while I had started with Farcry 3 and enjoyed that game a lot it was stuck behind BO2 and Halo 4, Farcry 4 battles it's way onto my list thanks to just giving me such a great time, with it being on the newer hardware of the 8th gen consoles it had a very cinematic feel at a lot of points during gameplay, like just lots of times I was like "Damn that looks straight out of a movie!!" As I blow of a enemy vehicle with my grenade launcher while riding in the back of a truck. While I'm sire if I'd say the story was good as Farcry 3 it was still very memorable and there was a lot to do as is the case in most Ubisoft games, just lots of busy work you know? There were secret weapons to find, radio towers to climb which I have to admit always made my hands sweat to some degree and other side quest like activities to partake in, the game never failed in keeping me entertained and I also have to say the DLC Valley of the Yetis was a great time, I streamed that on twitch way back when and got up to 60 viewers! XD Just something I remember, great game and deserves this spot.

 

2015

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

Developer: Treyarch     Publisher: Activision     Genre: FPS

For one last time, yes COD is on the list, I can tell you though this is the last time it will be on here. If I'm to ignore my nostalgia for MW2 BO3 is my favorite Call of Duty game, it took the advanced movement from AW and refined it, it had a very deep story campaign that sadly suffers from just how deep it is, if you aren't willing to dig into it yourself, on the surface it makes no sense, it has a mode where you can play the campaign but it's with zombies instead and the missions are in a different order, it's not great but it's fun as extra content, the dedicated zombies mode is back and at it's best imo, multiplayer is also at it's best and also has these courses you can run through to test your skill with the new wall running mechanic and just being able to get through them as quick as possible while boosting around, wall running, swimming and sliding. The extra year of dev time really let them pact a lot of content in here and the game's graphics are also top notch. Specialist were also new to this game with each one having a special weapon or ability you could choose before a match. While 3 lane maps are still the norm here the boost movement, wall running and water really helps it stay more fresh and I don't get nearly as tired out as I do in BO2. Most importantly though BO3 just manged to capture a fun factor in the series that I hadn't felt since MW2 and that's what to me makes it one of the best in the series.

 

Runner up

Ori and the Blind Forest

Developer: Moon Studios     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: Platform adventure, metroidvania

Considering all the shooters on this list and just in general more 3D combat focused games this probably feels out of place here, but Ori and the Blind Forest has given me an appreciation for 2D platformers that I simply never had before, while I had played a few I grew up in an era where 3D games were all the rage and 2D games always just seemed kind of..... meh? compared next to them, generally I didn't care for them but Ori hit me in all the right places starting with that trailer at E3 which just made 15 year old me cry. When it finally came out omg was it something else for me. Any time I think of Ori three things come to mind right away, gorgeous visuals, amazing music and top notch control. I just loved playing this game and while I don't think the story was that strong or made me cry the music alone was making me cry. I loved exploring the world of this game and getting upgrades and just listening to it's soundtrack, even the damn main menu music was great! Ori for me quickly became my new favorite series when my others were starting to dip or loose my interest. The Definitive edition added two excellent new abilities and a new area to explore, I can't say enough about this game, I want everyone to go out and play it!

 

2016

Titanfall 2

Developer: Respawn Entertainment     Publisher: EA     Genre: FPS

Had Titanfall 1 had a campaign I might of put it in for 2014, as I enjoyed the multiplayer but there was just nothing else to do. TF2 improves upon the game in just about every area, including a rather memorable and enjoyable campaign with some very fun missions and compaion partner in BT. (Your titan AI) The gameplay still feels great and wall running is smooth as butter, titan gameplay is still fantastic, there is always something special about calling down your Titan and jumping into to take control! There's a few more guns and many more new abilities to mess around with, like a graple or sensory darts, more titans to choose from although their presets now and little you can actually change. There's more visual customization and weapons are sill pretty balanced. The horde defense mode is a good bit of fun to, overall an excellent game and I will keep hoping for a Titanfall 3.

 

Runner up

Forza Horizon 3

Developer: Playground Games     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: Racing

I hope you guys are ready to see Forza on here a few times because it's a series that has brought me a lot of enjoyment, FH3 is where I jumped into the franchise, I don't think I got it right at launch but sometime before FH4 came out. Honestly I won't have much to say here because well, it's a racing game, every Forza game is packed with detail in both the environments and vehicles, the games have excellent graphics, lots of events to partake in, lots of cars and trucks to unlock, and tons of collectables. FH3 takes place in Australia and has tons of cool places to see, every FH game from my experience has great player flexibility in how they want to play, in that you can aim for a more arcade like experience or go for more realism. I've always gone for the more arcade feel because it's just what I tend to enjoy more, I wanna have fun and not worry about my car's performance because it's banged up.

Great game and expect these to be shorter for the next ones.

 

(Author's note: We're now into the era where I've graduated from high school and got my first job, leading me to be able to buy all the games I want but also creating a massive back log for myself, in some regard I miss the days when I had a limited allowance and had to choose carefully for what games I wanted, it definitely made getting a new game feel more special.)

 

2017

Destiny 2

Developer: Bungie     Publisher: Activision    Genre: FPS, looter shooter

For like the seventh time Bungie is on here, I was honestly debating on having them up here again but there wasn't much for me to choose from in 2017 that I felt I would be happy with. Destiny 2's launch was kind of the inverse of Destiny 1, D2 actually had a pretty good campaign with characters that had personality and feelings but the post game felt worse. Still it delivered on excellent gameplay once again and the art style got all the right improvements, music was pretty good although a little over dramatic at points when nothing really epic was happening on screen. Again thanks to years of support and updates and changes the game got better in a lot of areas, however I would say that I've taken more issues with some of the changes or things they have added in, like champions for instance and how it basically requires you to change your loadout and perks on your armor to deal with them on high level activities, to me it's just not how I would go about making the game more difficult, it also just breaks the lore to. D2 has a lot more ups and downs over it's many seasons, my favorite being season of the splicer which again got a little bit personal for me as I felt it had parallels with real life, and how covid was effecting me mentally and such, again during that season the game brought me much comfort, at the start of every week I was happy to do what I could to help in game with the story. I won't drag on with this, the only other thing I want to mention is gambit..... which I really enjoyed until they changed it down the road, now it's boring and I barely play it. D2 still deserves this spot but it's more up and down compared to D1 over it's life span.

 

Runner up

Pokemon Ultra Moon

Developer: Game Freak     Publisher: Nintendo     Genre: RPG

How about this? Pokemon is back on this list after 9 years! While I enjoyed most games after gen 4 I just wasn't into pokemon as much I used to be and while I still bought them I just didn't put as much time into them as I used to. Despite Sun and Moon having changed up some things up with how gym battles weren't gym battles any more, but a kind of trial of sort and your helping establish the elite four for Alola, it was a good time. Ultra Moon and Sun made them even better and gave an even deeper story with more end game content (if I remember correctly). HM's had been done away with by this point and I just found myself really enjoying these games, I know there by no means fan favorites (or at least from what I've heard) but I had a blast and it was the most fun I had with pokemon in quite some time, I also just like how weird and strange the story got by the end? With the worm hole to other dimensions and such. To me the series just took a nose dive after it jumped to the Switch with Sword and Shield.

 

2018

Forza Horizon 4

Developer: Playground Games     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: Racing

Oh yes, it's back, and now we're in Great Britain for this entry! The stand out feature here is how the seasons actually change and effect the environment in different ways, like having bodies of water frozen over in winter, lots of rain and mud in spring and leaves just everywhere in fall, it's not something I've seen any other racing games put time and energy into but it does help keep the game fresh and fun. I don't think I need to say that they expanded the car roster and that's there's probably even more to do here. I failed to mention it before but I'll mention it here you do have car customization, you can upgrade every car to handle differently, make them faster or make them better off-road or on roads, you can of course also put decals and change the colors of you cars while being able to download other creations from other players. I wanna say FH4 is the game in the series I've put the most time into, and if not it must be close to FH3, still again great game and even feels weird to me to having racing games as my GOTY.

 

Runner up

Hollow Knight

Developer: Team Cherry     Publisher: Team Cherry     Genre: Action adventure, Metroidvania

Hollow Knight, a game I myself did not get or play when it was brand new on Xbox, and yes this game did come out in 2017 but it's console releases were in 2018 so it falls under this banner for me. Thanks to a cousin that convinced me to buy it and later a friend who finally got me to play it after watching him play it, I quickly came to enjoy it's sorrowful world where nothing happy ever seems to happen and the wonderful soundtrack by Christopher Larkin. Your first playthrough will be full of wonder, always curious whats beyond each pathway, what new enemies could I run into? What new bosses might I face? What new charms could I find? What new and strange characters might I run into? Which pathway do I take? There's a lot of different results you could have on your first playthrough. It was something that really stuck out to me as I am far more use to liner direction, where you always from point A to point B, but in HK you could go from point A to point H, you could stumble upon an area that's not meant for you till much later but hey if you want you can battle through and see where it takes ya. I haven't been bothered to do some of the DLC stuff as it feels targeted towards the hardcore players with boss rushes and such but the main game was more than enough for me, the path of pain is by far one of the hardest 2D platforming sections I've ever done. Also I love the stag, he is the best!

 

2019

Metro Exodus

Developer: 4A Games     Publisher: Deep Silver     Genre: FPS

Remember how I said I love atmospheric video games? It doesn't get much more so than with the Metro series, minimal hud elements, lots of stuff would usually have it's own screen are built into what your character has, like you map and compass for instance are something you pull out. The Metro games have also been some of best looking games of their years, the world is very heavily detailed and they just look fantastic, and it definitely helps with the immersion I get in this series, not many can beat Metro in the immersive department as well. Exodus changed things up from previous games with having most of the game take place above ground compared to the previous which took place mostly underground. There also now these huge expansive levels with side objectives and upgrades to find hidden around the map, the game has multiple endings, I think it's better incorporated here than in previous games. I had a lot of fun and the ending of the game left me feeling like I had failed the character you play as, which isn't something I have felt before, so good job on that.

 

 

Runner up

Gears 5

Developer: The Coalition     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: TPS

Gears is back after 8 years of not being on the list, again though it's just I didn't see anything else to place above it. That said I did enjoy it more than Gears of War 4, GoW 4 I felt had it's campaign dragged down by fighting robots that weren't particularly interesting (at least imo) for most of the campaign and also just being borderline enemy spam at many points, it was just kind of mentally tiring to get through. Gears 5 (which yes they dropped 'of War' I understand why but I still don't like it) thankfully fixed this and also just had a more interesting story. It's got a more impactful story, better missions, more interesting enemies to fight and much like my GOTY of 2019, it now has these big, massive levels with side objectives and items to find off the beaten path. Again I never got into multiplayer with any of the Gears games and I did spend some time on the horde mode for 5 but the campaign was where I put most of my time and left the biggest impact on me.

 

2020

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Developer: Moon Studios     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: Platform adventure, metroidvania

Ori is back baby!! I can't remember the last time I had been so excited for a video game as I was with Ori and the Will of the Wisps. This game was revealed back in 2017 and man was that a painful couple of years waiting for this game to come out, I bought the physical collectors edition for it, something I had never done before for any game. (okay well Blind forest did get a special edition that I bought to, but that was down the road, not when it was new) Will of the Wisps somehow improved on the already gorgeous visuals from the previous games, the game one again had a fantastic sound track and the control was tightened up to god damn perfection. The game is more combat focused now with multiple weapons to get and upgrade, there are new abilities and side quests, one which made me fucking cry. There's also a hub type location to build up and restore to it's formal glory, the story, while still not a strong suit of the game in my opinion is still much better than the first game to. I can't stress how much I love these two games and makes me sad that we probably won't see anything new in this series for a long time if ever.

 

Runner up

Bug Fables: The Ever lasting Sapling

Developer: Moonsprout Games     Publisher: Dangen Entertainment     Genre: RPG

If Bug Fables console release was in 2019 it'd probably at the top of the list, or at least RU, but as it was in 2020 it's stuck behind what was my most hyped game that I was looking forward to. Bug Fables was a game that I had been looking forward to for multiple years as well, a spiritual successor to Paper Mario and Paper Mario TTYD (both on this list!) I had plenty of reasons to be excited, however I never got overly hyped because the trailers for the game always left me kind of underwhelmed, just left me feeling mixed anytime I saw them. That said when I did buy it, I wasn't disappointed. While the game didn't have 6-8 partners you could get in Paper Mario, the 3 characters we did have all get way more time to develop, they all have interesting backstories and personalties. The turned based system got improved upon in all the right ways, being able to swap a party members turn to another member if they can't effect the current enemy, or for other reasons, and a reason to think about your placement of who's in front. There are medals to make use of for different strategies, team attacks and items for consuming or throwing at the enemy. It takes what worked in PM but improves upon it adds it's own flavor into the mix, it was one of my favorites games of the year for sure.

 

2021

Death's Door

Developer: Acid Nerve     Publisher: Devolver Digital     Genre: Action adventure

GOTY for 2021 was a surprise for me, something I've taken to doing in the last year or two is browsing the Xbox store more often, seeing what games make their way onto there. Death's Door was one I had never heard of till I saw it on the store, but from the trailer and screenshots I was impressed and made the purchase. As per usual on this list, I wasn't disappointed, a rather interesting story line, cute but also grim visuals for how twisted some things are in this world, it is about death after all. Challenging combat and good bosses along with new abilities to get the deeper you get into the game kept me going. You can also upgrade your HP and magic points for using your abilities with items you find in the different locals you go to, although the game is a little lighter as you can only upgrade them twice in total, there are also upgrades for your combat abilities that you can purchase with the souls you collect, they can increase your melee damage or increase the power of your dodge move. Also can't forget different weapons to get, like an umbrella, a giant hammer or my favorite, dual daggers. Just an unexpected gem of a game that I bought on a whim, highly recommend it.

 

Runner up

Forza Horizon 5

Developer: Playground Games     Publisher: Microsoft     Genre: Racing

For the final game on this list, he head back to the racing genre for a final time, honestly I don't have much else to say about this franchise, it's been one of best in the genre for about a decade right? Just consistently providing top tier games in the genre and so much fun. This time in the series we head to Mexico with many unique locals, from the desert, to thick, lush forests, to beautiful beaches and even a volcano. You can run into tropical and sandstorms now, there's plenty of the usual in collectables and challenges, of course cars to collect. With the game having been developed for the Xbox consoles to it is an absolute treat for the eyes visually. I don't think I need say much else at this point, and hey this is game number 44 on this list, so I think ya'll understand if I'm a little tired by this point DX. Great game if your a car lover.

 

 

I hope everyone had a good time reading this, it was quite the task to put this together, to look through 22 years and select my favorite two and write about them. For some of you younger than me maybe you look into a few of the older games on here, and I'm sure some will say: "How do you not have (insert game here) It was the best of (insert year here)!!" Sorry to tell ya but I only buy what I'm interested in, and I have a huge backlog to get through, honestly really expecting at least one person to bring up Dark souls or any game like it that's from FS.

 

Developer count:

Bungie x7

Ubisoft Montreal X4

Playground games X3     Game Freak X3

Free Radical Design X2     Intelligent Systems X2     Infinity Ward X2     Treyarch X2     Moon Studios X2     Epic Games X2  

Sonic Team USA     Croteam     Nintendo Entertainment     Capcom production studio 4     Hudson Soft     Nintendo EAD     Sora LTD    

343 Industries     DICE     Respawn Entertainemt     Team Cherry     4A Games     The Coalition     Moonsprout Games     Acid Nerve

 

Yeah this makes sense, I have basically stuck with Bungie sense I played Halo 1 way back when, they have pretty much always made games I enjoy, Ubisoft Montreal surprises me a little bit but hey great to see some Canadian representation on here. A lot of the studios on here make sense and in total 15 different studios made it onto my list.

 

 

Publisher count:

 Microsoft X14

Nintendo X9

Activison X6

 Ubisoft X4

Eidos Interactive X2     EA X2     Devolver Digital X2

SEGA     Capcom     Team Cherry     Deep Silver     Dangen Entertainment

 

It's about what I'd expect, as someone who's main gaming platform is the Xbox it's fairly understandable they'd be up here a number of times, from Halo to Ori and Forza they easily eat up a lot of spots, Nintendo had a big impact on my childhood as they had the gaming platforms I grew up on for the most part, they pretty much disappear once you get into the 2010's though outside of Pokemon Ultra Moon. Activision makes sense, lots of shooters, 4 from COD and 2 from Destiny but It would be wrong of me to not mention that Bungie is no longer under Activison, I only included it since the games released while under them. Ubisoft for it's AC games and one Farcy game on my list checks out. Devolver Digital being on here twice I find funny as there is a 19 year gap between their published games on my list, Serious Sam from 2002 and than Death's Door in 2021.

 

Genre count:

FPS X19
Action adventure X7

RPG X6
TPS X4     Racing X4
Stealth X3     Metroidvania X3     2D X3

Looter Shooter X2     Platformer Adventure X2
Platformer     Survival Horror     Party     Fighting

 

This should be no surprise, my favorite genre is FPS so almost 20 games being in that genre is expected. I did just use each games wiki page for genre while adding looter shooter and 2D. I am slightly amazed that there aren't more third person shooters on my list and 6 role playing games is more than I expected. Looking at the last few years though I have been getting more enjoyment out of racing games and 2D platformers as I just haven't found a lot of FPS games I enjoy, maybe I'm starting to not enjoy the genre as much? Just loosing interest? Who knows. What I do know is that this list is finally done! I talked about 44 games that all mean something to me, yes even Timesplitters 1. This is probably the biggest post I've ever made and the closest I've come to doing a "my favorite games of all time" list, if anything it's a good starting point, a lot of these games would be on that list if I were ever to make it, and how many games would I include on it? Hmmmm questions to be answered in the future I suppose, for now though I need to take a break, this has been mentally exhausting and I'm so glad to finally have it over with after a year of it sitting on the back burner. Cya guys next time! (Apologies for any spelling and grammar mistakes along the way!)

 

 

 

This was over 11,500 words, kill me now

Edited April 3, 2023 by ROOKIE745

[scoop 3,447]

I'm not reading all of this, just looking at pictures and reading the nice things you wrote about the games that I like.

 

• Timesplitters 2 is the only game I played in that series, and damn was it a fun game.
• Paper Mario TTYD is an incredible game and I so wish the Paper Mario series didn't become what it did. Granted, I haven't actually played any of the games since then (or the original, for that matter), but TTYD is one of my favorite Gamecube games for sure.
• Mario Party 7 is the Mario Party game that I have played the most as well, and therefore it is my favorite of the series.
• Bug Fables definitely helped fill the itch for a new Paper Mario game. I don't believe I ever actually finished it. I probably just got busy or something and forgot about it. Now that I'm reminded of it and can probably find time, maybe I'll give it a shot again.

[v.2 1,411]

As a big Pokemon and Bungie fan myself I have to agree with a lot of your list!  Sonic Adventure 2 and Double Dash were peak GameCube as well.

[ROOKIE745 607]

On 4/22/2022 at 5:28 PM, scoop said:

I'm not reading all of this, just looking at pictures and reading the nice things you wrote about the games that I like.

 

• Timesplitters 2 is the only game I played in that series, and damn was it a fun game.
• Paper Mario TTYD is an incredible game and I so wish the Paper Mario series didn't become what it did. Granted, I haven't actually played any of the games since then (or the original, for that matter), but TTYD is one of my favorite Gamecube games for sure.
• Mario Party 7 is the Mario Party game that I have played the most as well, and therefore it is my favorite of the series.
• Bug Fables definitely helped fill the itch for a new Paper Mario game. I don't believe I ever actually finished it. I probably just got busy or something and forgot about it. Now that I'm reminded of it and can probably find time, maybe I'll give it a shot again.

I don't blame ya XD It is indeed a long post.

 

-Timepslitters 2 was indeed very fun, helps that I have a lot of nostalgia for it, both the first the third games are good to imo, TS2 just stands above both of them.

-It is 100% a shame what has happened to the series since then, I've heard the newest game is quite good but still not PM 1 or TTYD in style. If you get the chance though I do recommend playing the first game, it has it's own merits that I think make it worth playing.

-Ditto on that, I do think 6 is really good to though.

-Well what the hell you waiting for? Go and play it!! It is amazing!!

[scoop 3,447]

3 hours ago, ROOKIE745 said:

-Well what the hell you waiting for? Go and play it!! It is amazing!!

I'm currently playing through Breath of the Wild, but I don't have anything else in mind for when I'm done with that. 

[Peace 1,562]

Nice list! 

I'm very fond of a few titles that you've mentioned, but I'm curious how it'll compare to my own favorite titles between 2000 - 2021; using the same rules and conditions you had for your list, I've plugged in my own [with less than a third the effort you had] just to compare between our tastes in games! 

 

2000: 
You had Paper Mario, but I'm going with Perfect Dark here. Goldeneye may have revolutionized first person shooters like DOOM did back in the day, but it was Perfect Dark that perfected them with a more advanced engine and features still used in modern shooters to this day. If I had to nominate a runner up, I'd be hard pressed not to give it to Dues Ex, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 or Spyro: Year of the Dragon. I think it is only fair to rate the games I was able to play, so some of the more successful titles from 2000 won't make my list unfortunately.

 

2001:
It's Halo: Combat Evolved and everyone knows it... or at least it should be; similar to Perfect Dark, Halo: CE raised the standards for first person visuals, gameplay fluidity and accessibility by having quality gameplay on a far more limited console. Bungie wound up proving an entire industry standard wrong, something that we certainly took for granted through the Xbox/Playstation 2 and Xbox 360/Playstation 3 era.

 

2002:

At this point my uncle had moved out of my moms house, taking his Xbox with him and leaving my kid-self with nothing more than the relatively new Gamecube, which I believe I still have somewhere in storage to this day... you want with Serious Sam for the Xbox, sadly I never got a chance to play this title, so I'm going to have to give it to the Gamecube game that entertained me for hours upon hours well after my mom had gone to bed and after I snuck into the living room to play it: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

 

2003:

You chose Mario Kart, but I have to give this one to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. I didn't get to play it often, in fact I only got to play it when I was visiting my uncle, but I remember my vivid imagination going wild for hours after I got off [read: forced off by my uncle so he could play it]. No other game but Halo: Combat Evolved and later Halo 2 led to my youthful adventures outside with a light sabre or cap gun pretending to slay Sith or slaughter the Covenant. Good times.

 

2004:

Halo 2, hands down. I needn't say more.

 

2005:
As a kid my mom refused to buy Resident Evil for me, so I was never able to play RE:4 until I eventually purchased it well into my teenage years for myself. What my mom did surprise me with, however, was my uncles Xbox as he had already purchased a Xbox 360 for himself on its release day. My mom wound up buying his Xbox for pennies, it was essentially a gift from my uncle, but damn Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was hell of a fun time. Yep, that's right, my mom would let me play GTA:SA but not RE:4 because every time she'd walk into the room I'd stop murdering half naked er... workers, and start driving around the city as if it was a racing sim or a half baked flight simulator. Only later did she realize what it really was about, and oooooh by was I in trouble then.

 

2006:

I'm just about to enter my teenage years in 2006, but my mom had cracked down on violent video games, but then again the Xbox had become a forgotten relic after the release of the Xbox 360. The only time I got to experience new games was when we visited my uncle [who had moved in with my grandma due to her deteriorating health] and his 'next gen' console. I'd play the new games, but honestly they're all pretty forgettable as I never got to play Gears of War or Oblivion. My uncle didn't want me ruining his saves, but what I was allowed to play was Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and that pretty much sealed my love for that franchise.

 

2007:

My mom bought a Xbox 360 for my brother and I for Christmas and it came with Halo 3, Oblivion [a game I never go to play at my uncles house] and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I really wanted to give this to Halo 3 since its a childhood memory, but I played the living hell out of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and I credit COD4 as a key piece of my development that was eventually fully realized later on.

 

2008:

I'm going with a game I felt was truly underrated here... Army of Two, although I spent most of 2008 playing COD4 and Halo 3 so it didn't really matter anyway.

 

2009:
Modern Warfare 2 was pre-ordered a day or two after preorders were available, I picked it up on my brothers birthday and hogged it from him and I still don't feel bad about it. Modern Warfare 2 was the game my younger brother and I went nearly pro at, every gamebattle or fragnation team we were on usually placed top five in tournament ladders and we both would have won major money had we been above the minimum age to receive it. Teams we played on would end up winning numerous tournaments. Oh how I wish I still had the reflexes and eyesight of teenage me...

 

2010:

Most of 2010 was slaying nerds on Modern Warfare 2, but there was this neat little game that came out I got addicted too... Mass Effect 2.

 

2011:

Hello, Skyrim... how are you doing, you old classic?

 

2012:
At this point my 'prime' was ending, I had fallen away from the competitive Call of Duty scene in favor of more cinematic story driven games. Mass Effect 3 was my most played game of 2012, I had many many hours and playthroughs trying all the different paths you could take.

 

2013:
In 2014 I started getting back into the competitive FPS scene, although instead of Call of Duty it was Battlefield 4 -- which was released late 2013 -- with modes such as Defuse and Team Deathmatch being introduced, so I have to pick Battlefield 4 for 2013 releases. BF4 didn't have very lucrative competitive scene, but my buddy and I built one of the largest Xbox One platoons to have ever existed. No, I'm not tooting my own horn [okay, I am a little...] and fibbing; six dedicated servers for the platoon, three individual platoons for everyone [they had a max of 100 people] and two competitive rosters that frequently skirmished against one another. To make our competitive roster you had to have a minimum of a 2.50 K/D and a SPM over 1,000; we had two of those, and we dominated Team Deathmatch and Defuse ladders for quite some time. We also had a website with a purchased domain, a full fledged rank system based on the US Marines paygrade structure and more.

 

2014:

BF4 occupied my time, but 2014 also gave me... Alien Isolation!

 

2015:

I abandoned my Xbox One in exchange for a PC and a Blue Yeti, I started streaming War Thunder and consequentially my skill at console FPS absolutely tanked. I realized my time as a competitive reactive player in almost any shooter was long over, although surprisingly none of the games I remember from 2015 were actually released in 2015. The game I did play that was released in 2015 was your victor: Black Ops III, but I can safely state I absolutely hated that game. No other games from 2015 were memorable enough to even mention, and I've yet to play the Witcher series.

 

2016:

What a disappointing year 2016 was for me, but there was one gem: Dues Ex: Mankind Divided, I've desperately wanted a new Dues Ex game but here we are in 2022 and nothing.

 

2017:

Horizon: Zero Dawn, hands down.

 

2018:

It was Far Cry 5 all the way up until Red Dead Redemption 2. 

 

2019:

I agree with Metro: Exodus, it was an amazing experience and a wonderful game.

 

2020:

A lot of people disliked it, but I gotta go with Last of Us Part II.

 

2021:

I haven't really played a game I overly enjoyed in 2021, so I'll give it to Halo: Infinite's campaign despite some of the developers late campaign story decisions.