We thought picking the ten best games of 2009 was difficult. Try selecting ten titles that best sum up an entire decade. A decade, we might add, that has seen video games rise as a legitimate form of entertainment, one that has become even more profitable than Hollywood. So when deciding what the ten "best" games from 2000-2009 have been, we decided to select the games that have had the largest influence on their respective industry. Sure, some of these titles might not represent our staff's all time favorite gaming experiences, but no one here can deny their influence. Further admitting that some of our favorite titles wouldn't have been possible without these titles paving the way. Also, we've listed these titles in no particular order. Cause when push comes to shove, these are the ten best titles of the past ten years, isn't that a high enough honor without having to get into semantics?
Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
The grand-daddy of open-world action games. When the GTA series made the leap from top-down 2D graphics to a fully-fledged 3D open world many wondered if Rockstar could pull it off. Looking back, how could we have doubted them? Not only did the boys and girls of Rockstar make the world of Liberty City a living, breathing entity, but they also managed to seamlessly tie everything together so the story of GTA III became one of the most nail bitingly intense experiences in gaming, at the time. And while it's debatable that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, or GTA IV, perfected the series, it's no question that those titles wouldn't exist without the success GTA III brought Rockstar.
Halo: Combat Evolved (2001)
The game that changed the face of console first person shooters. Halo: Combat Evolved's greatest gift to gaming is it showed that it's possible to make an fps work smoothly on a console controller. Sure, reaction time and precision might be easier with a mouse and keyboard, but with how well Bungie tweaked the controls and movement of the characters in Halo, players were able to become deadly accurate with just two thumb sticks, something many thought impossible. And let us not forget, Halo brought us Master Chief, one of the most recognizable characters in gaming. Halo: Combat Evolved has made Bungie millions and millions of dollars and was so successful that an entire franchise launched out of it that has now produced two direct sequels and two spin-offs, with a third on the way. And there is still no sign of the franchise dying off, all thanks to the original Halo which made buying the original Xbox a necessity.
