Check out Part 1
Year 2006:
Company of Heroes
One of the greatest RTS ever made, introduced heavy micro management and good cover system in a RTS.Encourage players to move out and secure new area as resources. Awesome character animations, destructible buildings, epicexplosions. It's like pretty much a play-able "Band of Brothers" and "Saving Private Ryan" game. The developers really should ditch the Warhammer series and make a "Modern Warfare" RTS.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
It's already a great RPG and it's even better with tons of awesome mods. Skip the fast travel feature and just roam around the wilderness looking for stuff to kill is awesome. Not many games allows you to play as an angry ORC with a huge axe that blocks half of your screen and still able to buy stuff in a shop.
RACE: The WTCC Game
Closest racing simulation to the Gran Tourismo series on the PlayStation. Get a decent racing wheel and you'll be hooked for a long long time. The advanced tuning option requires an actual degree in mechanical engineering.
Other great games from 2006:
Xpand Rally,Hitman: Blood Money,Half-Life 2: Episode One
Year 2007: (Crazy good year for the PC gamer)
Crysis
A hard lesson to people who think they have a good "gaming PC". Not a person in the world can run this game at max detail back then. This game really helped in the "PC hardware development" of our era.
Portal
Just when you thought video games can not get anymore creative and Portal comes out. Game developers around the world were scratching their head trying to figure out how the valve genius pulled this one off. It's simply a technical marvel at the time. Also, "the cake is a lie" community quickly turned into a cult.
BioShock
Simply the best atmosphere and immersive environment ever created. I don't even need to mention the awesome use of genetics alteration and awesome weapons. Also gave the word "Big Daddy" a whole new meaning.
Other great games from 2007:
The Orange Box,Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,Half Life 2: Episode 2,Gears of War,Supreme Commander,Peggle,Puzzle Quest,DiRT,Unreal Tournament III,RACE 07,S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl,The Wticher,Aquaria,Test Drive Unlimited
Year 2008: (Another crazy good year for the PC gamer)
Dead Space
In the future, a mere plasma cutting tool might just be the most powerful weapon in the universe. Also the first shooter that ignored "headshot", you wanna kill an alien? Cut off their limbs and stomp on them like a boss. Grab an engineer tool and go save the entire universe.
Left 4 Dead
The first shooter that really pulled off the multiplayer co-op elements. The in game "Director" system works so well to keep the game's perfect pacing. Each campaign is perfect in length and surviving a chapter at the end is extremely satisfying.
Sins of a Solar Empire
A easy to learn but hard to master space RTS. The scale of this game is just epic, hundreds of planets and thousands of units on screen at the same time. The one and only game that defines "epic space battle". Zoom from the window of a small spaceship to a view of the entire universe with a flick of your mouse wheel.
Other great games from 2008:
World of Goo,Grand Theft Auto IV,Mass Effect,Grid,Bionic Commando Rearmed,Far Cry 2,AudioSurf,Crysis Warhead
Year 2009: (Yet another good year for a PC gamer)
Plants vs. zombies
Some dude sitting in an office and just thought: "Hmm... I have an idea for a new game, I want zombies and plants in it". That dude's crazy idea turns out to be one of the best video game ever created. If you haven't play this game or played it but didn't enjoy it, please end yourself now.
Dragon Age: Origins
The developers promise it's the replacement of Baldur's gate II. Enough Said.
MineCraft
In my humble opinion... This is definitely one of the best game in the world. It's not even released yet! The game is still in beta but more than 3 million copies are sold already, the company did it without spending a penny on advertisement. It's all word of mouth by the awesome community and play through videos on YouTube. I don't even know where to start with this game... There's just too many things to cover, there's endless amount of mods, texture packs and multiplayer servers out there. Just go to YouTube a watch some minecraft video to find out why it's so awesome. (I recommendBlueXephos'schannel)
Other great games from 2009:
Braid,Street Fighter IV,Left 4 Dead 2,Osmos,DiRT 2,Batman: Arkham Asylum,The Sims 3,EVE Online,Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2,Machinarium,Torchlight,Borderlands,Mirror's Edge,Trine
Year 2010:
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Poker is already a legit international sport. I swear soon or later Starcraft will be a legit sport in the Olympic. It's already a legit national sport and profession in South Korea and parts of United States. You don't even have to play the game to enjoy it's awesomeness. Just watch some tournament cast online and you'll know why. (Try HDstarcraft, LAG TV and Husky on YouTube)
Just Cause 2
Most people might not agree with me on this game. However, this is a perfect example for excellent game developing. This game is so well coded and optimized it will run extremely smooth even on an older PC. (Thanks to the talented software engineers at Square Enix) Over the top action, crazy stunts and a HUGE environment to explore. The developers even included the island from "LOST" in the game just for you to mess around. I tried sky diving from the very top and it took me a good 15 minutes to get to the ground, that pretty much sums up the game. There's also endless amount of stuff to do, getting 100% in this game is impossible in one life time.
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
The one and only fun Lara Croft game ever. Great control, beautiful visual, innovative puzzle and very good pacing. The co-op mode is a must play if you like games in general. If they added online mode, RPG elements and randomly generated map, this will be better than Diablo 3. Yeah, it's that good.
Other great games from 2010:
BioShock 2,Battlefield: Bad Company 2,Mass Effect 2,Fallout: New Vegas,Assassin's Creed II,Darksiders,Super Meat Boy,Call of Duty: Black Ops (for the single player only),Toki Tori
Year 2011 so far:
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
For serious gamer only. If you're a causal gamer you probably couldn't even get pass the prologue. This is a very well made action RPG, could use a bit moreo ptimizationand better menu design but other than that, it's about perfect.
LIMBO
I don't have the PC version but I played it on the PS3 and I assumed they are exactly the same. This is honestly the best side scroller/platformer I've even played, better than Braid, little big planet and even Mario in my opinion. You just pick up the game and starts playing, no introduction, no tutorial, just pick up your controller and try to figure things out. It gets better and better, I don't wanna spoiled it, just go play. (Warning, the game can be hard but fair and it might be a little bit short for some gamers.)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
The most intense and scariest game I've played since Silent Hill and fatal frame. The fact that you don't know what happened and who's after you is the best part. Turn off the lights, put on your headphone and enjoy the ride.
Other great games from 2011:
Shogun 2: Total War,Assassin's Creed Brotherhood,Portal 2,Dead Space 2,Crysis 2,DiRT 3,Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition,Terraria,Bulletstorm,Frozen Synapse
-Epic Hot Cheese
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