Destructoid Posts Top 50 Games of the Decade

sotc-2List time! We all know how lists put gamers in such a frenzy, and this newest entry from Destructoid is no different. The dudes (and a few ladies, I’m sure) have put together their comprehensive list of what they feel are the best 50 games of the last 10 years, running from 2000 to now.

While I generally don’t get my panties in a bunch over a list, I do like to take the things that they are measuring and think about how I would have ranked them on my own. I do have to admit that their top 50 list has some quality entries (Half-Life 2, Portal, Shadow of the Colossus are in some great positions), it also has a few things that I feel are misplaced. Valkyria Chronicles, for one, seems just a bit high at number 8, while Knights of the Old Republic is shockingly low at the 49 spot. Beyond that, the omission of both the Halo franchise as a whole as well as Fallout 3/Oblivion certainly raise an eyebrow or several hundred.

So what do you guys think of this list? And what are some of your best games of the last decade?

Source- Destructoid

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

19 thoughts on “Destructoid Posts Top 50 Games of the Decade”

  1. I actually quite liked this list, I would have swapped around some of the games in the top 15 but it’s obvious a lot of effort has gone into this.

    As for Halo, reading the comments it appears Destructoid understands Halo for what it is. A mediocre game that bastardized the FPS generation.

  2. 2 Valve games on the top 10. Just as it should be. Good list, Surprised Deus Ex only made it down to 16. Easily in the top 5 for me.

    They also missed The Longest Journey, Assassin’s Creed could have been in the upper part.

    GTA III > San Andreas
    Metal Gear Solid > Subsistance

    Meh. A few things to change and a lot of the other games I haven’t played. Cool list.

  3. They seem to have made the list and discounted which games are fun. Shadow of the Colossus is amazing, but I have played better games.

    I play games to have fun. This list seems to think that is a secondary function, which is fine, but not for me.

  4. It bothers me that people have such a massive rage-on for Halo, a game that, while it’s not the pinnacle of shooters that it’s made out to be, single-handedly launched Microsoft into the console game. Not to mention that the Chief is a cultural icon now. I know that Halo’s contribution to gaming is more of a popularity amplifier than a shining example of what the medium can accomplish narrative and game-play wise, but Halo: Combat Evolved was (and still is) awesome.

    I mean, they have World of Warcraft on there. Anyways, I have to say that I appreciate how high Metroid Prime and Subsitence are.

  5. Yeah the thing about Halo is, you can’t deny that it gave Microsoft’s console legs, which nobody thought was going to be possible when battling both Nintendo and Sony. Hate on the game all you want, but to me if you’re going to leave it off a list like this, you’re just trying to seal up some extra geek cred for yourself.

  6. Did I miss Mass Effect? Fallout 3? and was Knights of the Old Republic really worse than Super Smash Bros melee???

    I think this was a phail-list.

  7. Don’t get me wrong, I use the PC port of Halo on my old laptop to pass the time on journeys and I agree it’s a fun game. I just don’t think it deserves as much as the hype and publicity as it gets when there are hundreds of small game companies producing far better games only selling a fraction of what the Halo’s do.

    As to all the other missed games, there are so many that have been excluded from this list that I think a top 100 would have been better, I’m still quite satisfied with the top 50 though.

    I think what they were going for in this list was games as an art form, I can already see most these games being turned into a crappy movie!

  8. Sorry for the double post/comment but I was reading the comments and saw a great line:

    “Halo isn’t a game of the decade though… It’s more like marketing product of the decade.”

    I’m definitely not going to argue that it pretty much launched Microsoft as competition.

  9. Yeah I mean, I don’t want to argue about Halo living up to its hype, that’s a separate issue… but honestly, they’ve got Lost Odyssey on this list, and not Halo. Like I said, I don’t care that much, but it just seems to me like they’re trying to get some more nerd cred by not having it there.

    I also really think Valkyria Chronicles was a tad high, and I’ve never been that big of a fan of the God of War series.

  10. Ima give a comment (aka essay) on each game on the list just because I can. (And I finished my homework, so I got time. :D)

    50. Metal Gear Slug 3 – See what I did there? Anyway, meh. I never played MS3, so I can’t say much.

    49. KOTOR – I never really played KOTOR, aside from a couple hours of gameplay on a friend’s computer, and I really liked it, and plus all the rave reviews and nostalgia of the game, I’m also shocked that it’s this low.

    48. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attourney – I loved the game, but it deserves the relatively low but still considerably high (compared to the other million games in the world) spot of 48. I loved the game, story, and memes.

    47. Vagrant Error: Sounds cool, but I never played it. I might just go out and get it actually.

    46. SSB Melee – Melee was fun, if a bit broken, but at least it wasn’t as ghey as Brawl. Plus it was during the time when Nintendo was still awesome.

    45. TEAM FORTRESS 2 MUST BE HIGHER!!! Well whatever, even though it’s big on the PC, apparently that doesn’t matter. If they put the Orange Box on this list, it should be in the Top 10 because it was just such an amazing deal of a game. Well, FIVE games.

    44. Warioware Twisted – I absolutely loved the Warioware games on the handhelds, so I’ll substitute those in Twisted’s spot. They seriously improved my reflexes so well, I was able to SAVE A POT FROM FALLING OFF A STAND like you see in movies or comics! I love you Warioware. If the games that come after Warioware are awesome, I’ll understand its low rating, but honestly it should be a bit higher.

    43. Never played Banjo-Tooie except at my relatives’ house. It was fun, but it always felt like a rip-off of Zelda and such. I liked it, but it deserves its spot this low. So suck it.

    42. I didn’t play Psychonauts – I know, I’m a heathen – but it seemed amazing, so I’m pretty sure it needs to be higher.

    41. Psh, Braid was good but not better than Warioware.

    40. Kingdom Hearts was…meh. Meh.

    39. Rock Band 2 – I guess, yeah.

    38. Marvel VS Capcom 2: Oh HALLZ YEEAH. I loved pouring quarters into this game at the arcades that we used to live near. Man, those were the days…

    37. Nobody cares about Lost Odyssey. 😛

    36. Yeah! President of Iran: Sands of Time was awesome. It was one of my first games on the Gamecube that made me feel like a badass. As in Rated M Badass. Graet times. 36 is pretty fair, but Billy Hatcher better not beat it…

    35. Psh, Tony Hawk can go count his DICK. 😀

    34. NO. HIGHER. HIGHER. HIGHER. CoD4 deserves at least low 20’s.

    33. Bioshock. Yeah, I only played the demo (still haven’t gotten the full game) and I KNOW it needs to be in the Top 10. Come on.

    32. lol Katamari. How you can both creep me out and entertain me at the same time like no one else.

    31. Civ 3: Meh, the originals are where it’s at! lol

    30. My mom didn’t let me get Grand Theft Auto. rofl Apparently people liked it, so there you go.

    29. Shenmue 2…never played it.

    28. Left 4 Dead: Ah yeah, that’s good! I think that’s a fair placement because it was the first FPS that made me feel confident about playing a good, cooperative game via online matchmaking.

    27. Never got around to playing Skies of Arcadia, but perhaps I will in the future.

    26. Paper Mario! Ah yeah! I didn’t play the first one except at a friend’s house, but it was still awesome. I got Thousand Year Door and loved that to death and back again, so Paper Mario definitely deserves this spot. I loved all of the Mario RPG’s actually. Just so fun and hilarious.

    25. Uncharted 2 – It didn’t make me get a PS3, but it almost did.

    24. Eight? Really?

    23. I have to go find a copy of Cave Story. I hear it’s free online or some craziness like that.

    22. Ico – I’m ashamed to have never played it, but I know it was awesome.

    21. I played Ikaruga and loved it. Best Shump ever.

    20. FF9 – Yeah I liked the story and the combat, so it was good times. Plus it had that cursor that told you where you were in the field of huge pixels after a cutscene played.

    19. WoW – Hm, never heard of it.

    18. Persona 4! Woooot! I loved P4, but I’m kinda torn between P4 and P3, mainly because P3 didn’t have FUCKING TEDDY. Oh my god, let’s kill that bitch.

    17. Pikmin 2 was pure bliss. So simple yet so fun. And plus, it was back when Nintendo was awesome. Excellent game, but I wonder if it deserves such a high spot. Maybe you could squeeze it under CoD4…

    16. Never played Deus Ex, but apparently it was incredible, so alrighty then.

    15. I was and am too scared to play the Silent Hill games. There, I’m being honest!

    14. Okami was excellent. It really took me back to the days of Zelda with its story and gameplay. I loved the cell-shading and stuff. Okami was and still is a fantastic game.

    13. Metroid Prime was my first FPS and I’ll never forget it’s incredible story-telling method: no talking.

    12. Metar Solid 3: See what I did there? I never played…any of the MGS’s, but OH WELL. At least MGS3 wasn’t a g’damn movie!

    11. Wind Waker was fun and great, but I still liked Twilight Princess better.

    10. RE-4. Apparently people liked it. Yeah, I never played it, but it looked cool.

    9. Psh, Galaxy my left asscheek.

    8. Valkyria Chronicles. I never played it because I don’t have a PS3, but really? 8th place? I don’t think so. It should be on this list, sure, but not at 8.

    7. Diablo 2 – Everyone loves hack-‘n-slash.

    6. Beyond Good & Evil – GAAAH! NEVER PLAYED IT! I HAVE TO!!!

    5. Gears of War 2 – Kratos was a COG. lol GoW2 was supposedly gory or something.

    4. Portal. It was AWESOOOOOME but I don’t think it deserves 4th. I mean, Half-Life 2 anyone?

    3. Mother 3. Wasn’t this a Japan-only game? Psh, lame.

    2. There we go! HL2.

    1. Shadow of the Colossus. Okay. SotC was awesome. It was incredible. It was moving, fun, and epic. BUT IT WASN’T THE BEST GAME EVER. It should be #2 or #3 on this list, but come on. Well whatever, I’m happy for the game, and I’m never good at choosing #1 slots.

    As for Halo, it should seriously have been up here. Despite what people say about it, it was awesome and really affected gaming culture. Everyone knows what Halo is. Halo shoulda been in the Top 10. And Fallout 3 should also be up there. Definitely.

    Anyway, not a bad list. Not bad at all.

  11. Bioshock only ranks a 33? C’mon, it was great! And i have to agree, there are some incredible omissions from this list. I mean, theres never going to be a list that satisfies everyone, but some of these choices were dumb.

  12. I’m going to say what i’ve always said about these kind of posts:

    God forbid someone have a different opinion than yours.

  13. Of course everyone is going to have different opinions, lol. To have the EXACT SAME LIST would be impossible. But the least you can do is talk about some games you’d put up there instead. Especially on the top 10.

    I havent played 8 of the 10 games on the Top 10, how could I possibly agree =).

  14. I’m pretty sure GamerSushi is the only place I have had a discussion about Halo that didn’t include the seven dirty words (badly spelt).

  15. [quote comment=”9381″]I’m going to say what i’ve always said about these kind of posts:

    God forbid someone have a different opinion than yours.[/quote]

    Which is why we allow comments, such as yours: so we can hear different opinions. If we just wanted to rant, we would disable comments.

  16. @ Cossack, wow. You’ve got lots of free time on yours hands!
    Just to voice my opinion: Chuck Mario Galaxies out, throw Twilight Princess in, bump CoD4 up a notch (BAM!), throw in some Farenheit/Indigo Prophecy and add a dash of Hitman: Blood Money. *Tilts head to right, sees a few more* SSX3, Timesplitters 2 and Dark Chronicle wherever as long as they’re somewhere. Phew.

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