Best of the Decade: Portal

Portal

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Playstation 3, Xbox 360

Release Date: October 9, 2007 (PC and 360 versions of The Orange Box)

Publisher: Valve Corporation

Developer: Valve Corporation

The phrase “short but sweet” isn’t often applied to video games. Most of the time there’s a perfectly good reason for this. Retail games tend to be expensive investments and most gamers expect a certain amount of length for their money. This doesn’t leave much room for those that wish to experiment with conciseness, but it’s an understandable concern. Spending $60 on a game that lasts two hours is rarely fun.

Portal slightly predates the downloadable game revolution that has made it possible for games such as Limbo and Costume Quest to experiment with providing less length for less money, but perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the movement.

Originally debuting as part of The Orange Box, Valve threw Portal into the mix as an experiment. Valve knew they had something good on their hands but didn’t know what to do with it. Downloadable games certainly existed at the time, but hadn’t quite proven themselves like they have in the last couple of years. They decided to stuff it into a compilation of proven successes as an added bonus and see what happened.

What happened was it turned into a verifiable phenomenon and solidified its place in the hearts of gamers everywhere.

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Best of the Decade: Super Meat Boy

Super Meat Boy

Platforms: Xbox 360; Windows

Release Date: October 20, 2010 (360)

Publisher: N/A

Developer: Team Meat

I will readily admit that I’m a modernist when it comes to gaming. As I hope to demonstrate with this list, the last decade has been a tremendous one for my favorite hobby. Nearly every aspect of game design has improved by leaps and bounds over the last few generations. 

This development has come at a cost, however. I often find that it is difficult for me to appreciate games that were once thrilling and cutting-edge. They simply seem dated to me because of how far games have come over the years and I have trouble enjoying these games in a modern context.

I have great love and appreciation for classic games. I spent many hours playing retro titles of all sorts back when they were the latest and greatest. When it comes time to set aside my 360 and fire up my SNES, however, I usually find myself more frustrated than enthralled.

I have no lack of respect for retro games or the gamers that play them; quite the opposite in fact. My personal predilections simply relegate my love for these titles to that of distant spectator, save for the rare glorious exception.

This tenuous relationship with older titles is precisely what makes Super Meat Boy so special to me.

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Best of the Decade - Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Platform: Playstation 3

Release Date: October 13, 2009

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Developer: Naughty Dog

There’s a lot of fuss in the gaming industry these days about “innovation”, and rightfully so. In an industry full of needless sequels, cheap cash-ins, and budgets so gigantic that safety takes priority over creativity, it’s important to celebrate those that dare to do something different. One of the reasons Geometry Wars is on this list is because the era of downloadable console games it ushered in allows for a great deal more creative freedom than was previously possible.

Not every game has to forge a new path, however. Sometimes, with enough attention to detail and a passionate development team, amazing new things can be crafted using parts we’ve seen many times before. Uncharted 2 is a spectacular example of this.

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Best of the Decade - Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved

Platform: Xbox 360

Release Date: November 22, 2005

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios

Developer: Bizarre Creations

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved has many honorable traits worthy of mentioning all on its own. During a time period where there was a notable drought of quality retail Xbox 360 games, it provided an oasis of cheap, downloadable fun. Its simple design hid an addicting game that could eat up hours of your time without you even realizing it. Its single-minded focus on topping your score and testing your reflexes channeled the simplistic appeal of the arcade games of yore, but brought the experience right to the living room and updated it with modern features and a fresh coat of paint.

You didn’t need a bag full of quarters from your mom to enjoy this gem. For a measly $10 or so, you could download it right to your console and play to your heart’s desire, whether for 5 minutes or 5 hours.

As laudable as Geometry Wars was, and its sequel surpassed it in nearly every way, what it represented in a more philosophical sense is why it’s on this list.

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Best of the Decade: Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime

Platform: GameCube

Release Date: November 17, 2002

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Retro Studios

We’ve been in the 3D era for so long now that the painful memories of awkward transitions into the third dimension are starting to fade. Save for perhaps the lingering spectre of controversial Castlevania adaptations, most franchises have either made the move into 3D, made their position on maintaining their 2D purity clear, or been forgotten entirely.

I’m sure every gamer old enough remembers the magic of firing up Super Mario 64 for the first time though. The sheer amazement at the revolution in control and design that game brought is almost certainly unmatched in scale and importance. That Nintendo pulled off the trick again a number of years later with The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and transitioned another of their classic franchises into 3D while making one of the most loved games of all time is simply stunning.

So who would have thought, one console generation later, that they could do it all over again? 

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