Best of the Decade: Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2

Platforms: Xbox 360, Windows

Release Date: January 26, 2010

Publisher: Electronic Arts

Developer: Bioware

Mass Effect was a terrifically ambitious experiment. Mixing RPG elements with other genres of gameplay has become commonplace, but with this epic title, Bioware approached the gameplay from the other direction, choosing to mix an action game into an RPG. The end result was imperfect, but fascinating on a number of levels. 

It wasn’t until early this year when the potential for the series truly became apparent. Mass Effect introduced many of the concepts its sequel would polish into a fine sheen, but Mass Effect 2 sold me on why this series could be one of the most important and influential the industry has seen. 

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Best of the Decade: Bioshock

Bioshock

Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Release Date: August 21, 2007

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Irrational Games

Bioshock is a masterpiece of interactive storytelling. From the moment your plane mysteriously plummets into the ocean and you're forced to swim through its flaming wreckage to take refuge inside an ominous lighthouse, you know you're in for a special experience. The descent into Rapture in the bathysphere, with Andrew Ryan's captivating speech welcoming you to his dilapidated wonderland, is perhaps my favorite opening in gaming history. 

Luckily, the game doesn't let up after its introduction. Through a mix of subtle environmental clues, creepy audio diaries, and infrequent dialog with the few other humans left alive, Bioshock delivers an engrossing narrative that actually uses the interactive nature of the game to its advantage in one of the best story twists ever seen in a game. 

While you're exploring this fallen paradise, you'll be kept interested by the many ways you can creatively off your enemies. From traditional weapons, which can each be upgraded for added kick, to the bizarre plasmids, which give you powers that would seem nearly magical if it weren't for their dangerous origin, you'll never lack get bored between story revelations. 

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Best of the Decade: Psychonauts

Psychonauts

Platforms: Xbox, Xbox 360, Playstation 2, Windows

Release Date: April 19, 2005 (Xbox version)

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment

Developer: Double Fine Productions

I’m still plagued with Gamer Guilt because of this game. I’ve supported many an underdog of a title in my time. I’m proud of my early purchase of Beyond Good & Evil, even before the price entered its deadly spiral downward after only a few weeks on shelves. I’m proud to have purchased Amplitude, giving me a small part in supporting the brilliant minds at Harmonix that eventually gave us Guitar Hero and Rock Band. 

Psychonauts, sadly, is the one that slipped away.

I rented Psychonauts, though at this point I can only vaguely remember when. I seem to recall it avoiding my radar for some months when finally I tried it on a whim. I devoured it during that rental period and fell in love, but I never properly gave my money to the game. To this day, the only copy I have is a beaten up used Xbox disc I’m lucky to have even found. I know my single purchase wouldn’t have made a difference, especially months after it had been released, but I can’t help it. I feel bad because this masterpiece deserved better, from both myself and the rest of the gaming community. Becoming a cult classic is small comfort when your game is a retail failure.

The nature of gaming doesn’t mesh well with comedy. The two forces seem to be diametrically opposed. On the one hand you have humor, which relies on precise, guided timing. On the other hand you have gaming, which is controlled by the player and in which anything could happen at any time according to the whims of the human holding the controller. Perhaps you can see the fundamental problem. Outside of stuffing funny dialog into cutscenes here and there, which are conveniently outside the player’s control, few games even attempt to be humorous. It’s exceedingly difficult and results in failure more often than success. 

Take the recent game DeathSpank, for example. It tries to parody the hack-and-slash adventure game while relying on the tired tropes it’s lampooning in its dialog. Listening to the chatter between missions is funny, but mashing the attack button thousands of times and completing monotonous fetch quests is not. In other words, like many games that have attempted humor, DeathSpank wraps a layer of lighthearted icing around a fundamentally mediocre action game cake. 

There are a select few games that get the combo right. These elite few manage to work the gameplay and the environment into the humor. Conker’s Bad Fur Day is one, taking players through a hilarious romp around a cartoony platformer world gone horribly wrong. Portal is another, with GLaDOS’ snarky dialog making you laugh even as you incinerate your dear friend the Companion Cube. Psychonauts belongs in the pantheon of titles that manage to get it right. 

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Best of the Decade: Shenmue

Shenmue

Platform: Dreamcast

Release Date: November 6, 2000

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Sega AM2

Technically speaking, Shenmue shouldn’t have quite made this list. I value honesty, so I’ll put that out there before anyone calls me on it. Some people celebrated their best of the decade at the end of 2009. Fair enough. I like round numbers, so I did mine at the end of 2010, where the year ends with a nice zero. 

The downside to this is that the year 2000 was 11 years ago. Eleven years is more than a decade. Well, screw it I say, because I’m not going to let a puny couple of months keep me from celebrating this under-appreciated and influential title.

See, some people would have put Grand Theft Auto III in this spot. Truly it would be deserving, as I can’t think of a single game more influential over the last ten years than Rockstar’s first open-world opus. Hell, half the games on this list wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for Grand Theft Auto III.

But this list isn’t the most important or influential games of the past ten years, it’s those that I consider my favorites. My criteria may be subjective, but I happen to think that makes the list more personal and more interesting. 

So I’m choosing Shenmue. This forgotten Dreamcast classic did “open-world” before it was cool and paired it with a story that was gripping and epic to boot. It’s a story that was never finished because of poor sales and skyrocketing budgets, and that’s a damn shame, but I don’t think that should overshadow what Shenmue accomplished. 

Shenmue was a game before its time. Only later would technology and economics make games of this scale and depth successful on a broader scale, but Sega tried it anyway and forged a path for all to come.

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Best of the Decade: Conker's Bad Fur Day

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Platform: Nintendo 64

Release Date: March 5, 2001

Publisher: Rareware

Developer: Rareware

As I was browsing my memories for candidates to place on this esteemed list, I came across a game that holds a special place in my heart. I lamented that it had the misfortune of being released at the tail end of the 90s, thus depriving me of my opportunity to recognize its brilliance.

Then I looked up the release date.

Turns out, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, despite being on the seemingly ancient Nintendo 64, was actually released in 2001. Who knew? I certainly didn’t remember.

No matter! This realization marked a glorious day for my memories and me. Forget being one of my favorite N64 games or one of my favorites of this decade, the delightful humor of the drunk, furry squirrel and his ridiculous pals is one of my favorites of all time.

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