Now that the new decade is well underway in more ways than one, I took some time to reflect on what 5 games were the most influential from the 00's. This article is intended to provoke discussion, not arguments. You may or may not agree with a word I say, and that's alright. Keep in mind that these are the most influentialgames, not the greatest games of the most recently concluded decade. They are listed in no particular order.
1. Grand Theft Auto III
When I think of the birthplace of the modern sandbox style of game play, I immediately think about Grand Theft Auto III. Certainly the first two Grand Theft Autos broached sandbox game play, but III simply got it right. At the time the playing environment was absolutely massive. No one had successfully created a 3D city that let you, the player, do whatever you wanted to. Even the details we take for granted nowadays were well orchestrated. The change in time in day, the lack of loading screens (except for moving from island to island), the generic realism of a living city. Considering the evolution of the series, numerous spin-offs, and elements in games of other genres puts this game on the list.
2. Halo 2
Online gaming had been around on PC and on consoles in sporadic cases for a while and PC was always the king of online gaming. Halo 2 was able to take the best elements of online PC gaming and adapt them to the consoles. Halo 2's campaign was good too, but what I think stands out the most was the multiplayer aspect. It was king on Xbox Live for years, it was addictive, and it caused more than a few hilarious rage rants on YouTube. All in all, Halo 2 made developers look at consoles and say "You know, maybe online gaming for consoles can work. Let's give it a shot". While I still prefer to play online for PC, the Xbox Live experience thanks to Halo 2 is a close second.
3.Resident Evil 4
One of my favorite games, Resident Evil 4 was a phenomenal game that unlocked potential in storytelling, how to correctly execute an escort mission, but most importantly, the over-the-shoulder camera view. The story in Resident Evil 4 was great. It was nice to see that the enemies you were fighting weren't just generic zombies again. The AI for los ganados was really pretty good considering their influence from las plagas. The escort aspect wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I remember rescuing Ashley and then thinking, 'Oh great. I have to lug this chick around for the rest of the game'. The breaks in escorting were nice. The over-the-shoulder camera, however, was the best part though. It had been tried in games before, but failed. Resident Evil 4 got it right. Seeing it in games like Gears of War and Backbreaker makes me think about the success of Resident Evil 4.
4. World of Warcraft
What an intimidating force to compete with in regards to MMO's. I can't remember a time when World at Warcraft hasn't been the number 1 played game each day on Xfire. With numerous friends on Xfire reaching over 4, 5 and 6 thousand hours of playing time, it's hard to not include this in the list. People may gripe about how paying to play is stupid, but by paying you're giving someone the incentive to keep World of Warcraft the best MMO on the market right now. The nearly unlimited number of things to do, whether it's quests or dungeons is near unbelievable. The formula for a good MMO has been written in the form of World of Warcraft. MMO's of the future that look promising (*cough* The Old Republic *cough*) appear to be following the basic principles established by World of Warcraft.
5. Guitar Hero
I can't think of a better party game than Guitar Hero. Guitar Hero has just about spawned a cultural revolution by inspiring kids to throw down their real guitars and play a plastic one. I for one was inspired to pick up a real guitar after I bought Guitar Hero. Whenever you go hang out at a friends house, I would bet money on the fact that Guitar Hero, one of it's sequels, or the Rock Band series is available for you to play. It became an instant classic, bringing in millions upon millions of dollars in profit to Activision and will not be going away anytime soon.
Honorable Mentions:
Half-Life 2
BioShock
Call of Duty
Wii Sports
Unreal Tournament 2004