Game of the Decade (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Sunday, September 08, 2019, 21:48 (2020 days ago) @ Cody Miller
edited by Ragashingo, Sunday, September 08, 2019, 22:12

My picks would be something like:

God of War - The story of Kratos and his son traveling to a distant mountain top to scatter his dead wife's ashes trades in the revenge stories of the previous God of Wars for a tale of regret, and fatherhood, and of taking responsibility for one's past and present that is quite simply unmatched in any medium. The gameplay is extremely well done, but when matched with the story and characters, this game rises above just about everything else I've ever played or watched. This isn't a "best of the decade" game. It is a "best of all time" game. Gameplay, cutscenes, acting, effects, scale, fun, sound, graphics... basically you name it and God of War is right up there with any other game in the named category.

Witcher 3 - This game does so much right in terms of story and characters. Not only is its open world far more detailed and realistic than things like Skyrim, it is grounded in a more mature reality. Wars between nations leave battlefields of wounded and dead. Victory for one side means poverty, political upheaval, and mass displacement for the others. And witch hunts grow and grow until they threaten to plunge even wealthy, well off cities into flames. The main character, Gearlt, is something like a mix of the Master Chief and Batman. He was taken at a young age and made into a sorta super soldier monster hunter, but now he kinda does his own thing mostly siding on the side of truth and justice. His dry sense of humor and seen it all gruffness play well against the more colorful characters he often comes in contact with. The cutscenes are fabulous. The voice acting is superb. And the 2nd DLC, Blood and Wine, is the absolute epitome of what any and every DLC should be. It's practically a 2nd full game that trades the war torn lands you've spent all your time in for a bright, colorful, almost fairytale reality that has its own dark twists and happenings. Witcher 3 should be mandatory for anyone looking to make an open world game.

Mass Effect 3 - Ok... the ending sucked, but everything else about this game was great. The gameplay was better than ever. The graphics were great. And the way it handled story and characters was special, even when talking about the other games in this list. Mass Effect 3 took full advantage of being the third game in a series that told you it was going to take your choices into account. There are so many great, optional encounters that you may never even see, but all of which are affected by what you did in Mass Effect 1 and 2. There's also a great sense of familiarity and sometimes even playfulness in that the writers knew their audience and knew that their audience probably played through the previous two games. They weren't afraid to reference things silly and serious that happened in the past games and some of the moments, both silly and serious, are surprisingly touching because they relate to things you choose in previous games. It was also a game that fulfilled its promise to make your choices matter. Certain best case outcomes really did require you do the right key things the previous titles. Very few games can actually make that claim.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - This game is smaller than the others. It is shorter. It's gameplay is certainly serviceable but is only what it needs to be and nothing more. I liked the gameplay, but it isn't really the draw here. What this game did better than any other was instill, if not force, a superb sense of a character upon the player. Senua, in particular, is, I think, the pinnacle of any video game character in terms of acting and realistic portrayals of emotions both happy and sad. As much as studios like Quantic Dream try to create the best of the best in terms of realistic human portrayals, this little game blew them out of the water. We often talk about voice acting, but Senua came to life with something more akin to full character acting that can be both wonderfully uplifting at times and purposely unnerving at others. Performances like what the actress did for Senua are the future of well done gaming characters.

The Last of Us - I did not like this game's gameplay. I grew tired of running from zombies and humans pretty quickly and especially of being nearly out of ammo pretty much all of the time. But even I'm forced to admit that between its gameplay, its cutscenes, and its in-game character and story moments, this game was and is special.