Five Most Influential Games (2000-2009)

In the world of videogames there really is no more sincere compliment than copying. In fact, you could go as far as to say that the industry thrives on one developer using the ideas of others.

If this were the practice in any other industry, there would be a number of lawsuits flying about the place, but not in our industry. As such, The Newb Review thought it was time to honour five titles that have contributed the most to the realm of videogames over the past decade.

So, in no particular order, let’s get this party started.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Game: Halo: Combat Evolved
Format: Xbox, PC
Developer: Bungie Studios
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios

When Microsoft’s first foray in to console gaming; The Xbox, was released, there was only one title that made the machine worth getting at launch. That game was Halo: Combat Evolved (or just plain Halo to the kids). But what exactly was so revolutionary about this first person shooter?

Those of us that are old enough can cast our minds back to the early days of console first person shooters, with titles such as Goldeneye, Medal of Honour, or the various ports of Doom or Duke Nukem. As great as they were, they do not exactly stand the test of time.

Halo, however is still infinitely replayable, as it has effectively defined the console first person shooting experience.

A revolution... Vehicle Combat that is actually fun!

Major innovations:

 Gigantic open levels: While the opening act of the game featured typical corridor based shooting, the game completely changed once the ship crashed on the Halo world. Remember the exhilaration of venturing out of the escape pod and finding a massive world for you to explore? It was mind blowing.

 Vehicle combat: Sure, plenty of games had vehicle sections in them, but more often than not these seemed like an afterthought. Where Halo differed is that the vehicular combat actually felt like an integral part of the game. The smooth controls you associate with first person shooters were successfully transferred over to the vehicles, which made coming across an abandoned Warthog something to look forward to, rather than dread.

 Recharging health: Before Halo if you were unfortunate enough to get shot then the only way you could recover was by using health packs. Not only did Halo introduce the recharging shield, but they also introduced the idea of recharging health. You know the drill. Shot up? Crouch behind cover and wait for your health to come back. It was, and still is, an empowering thing of beauty.

 Intelligent enemies: Gone were the days of enemies simply charging at you down a corridor. No, the artificial intelligence was astounding; enemies would regroup together, hide behind cover and even discuss tactics with each other.

 Incidental character dialogue: Every character that you came across, be they friend or foe, had their own voice and dialogue. Sure a lot of the time it would just be generic military jargon related to the mission, but compare that to the dialogue in previous first person shooters. Perfect Dark’s infamous “why… me?” springs to mind.

Game: Grand Theft Auto 3
Format: Playstation 2, PC, Xbox
Developer: DMA Design (Now Rockstar North)
Publisher: Rockstar Games

It is hard to believe that the Grand Theft Auto series was anything but a 3D open world game. Yet it wasn’t until the fifth game in the series, GTA: 3, that we saw the arrival of the ultimate 3D open world game. A sprawling environment full of people in which you could do anything you wanted. Is it any wonder so many other titles took inspiration from it?

The epitomy of freedom.

Without GTA:3 it is likely that we would never have seen games such as Saints Row, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, The Godfather, Spiderman 2, or Crackdown.

Major Innovations:

 Absolute Freedom: Playing as the nameless and voiceless thug who escapes from Prison after being set up by his girlfriend on a bank job, you could do almost whatever you wanted. You did not have to do the missions, you could just wander the streets taking in the atmosphere. Or, you know, you could just fire off a ton of rockets at passing traffic.

 Celebrity Voice Acting: While subsequent games have had big names such as Sam Jackson and Dennis Hopper lending their vocal talent, GTA 3 started the trend by hiring actual actors, such as Michael Madsen, to bring the characters to life. What a difference it made.

 Unmatched Atmosphere: Liberty City actually felt like a real breathing city. The streets were populated with people, and there were always cars on the streets, even late at night. Every street in town had its own feel, and after a few hours driving around it became easy to navigate your way around town.

 Licensed Music: GTA:3 featured an unprecedented number of real world songs on the in-game radio station, which was pretty much unheard of at the time. I’ll never forget getting in to my first car and being treated to Paul Engemann’s “Push it to the limit” from the movie Scarface. Pure. Genius.

Game: Shenmue
Format: Dreamcast
Developer: Sega AM2
Publisher: Sega

Technically, Shenmue was originally released in Japan in 1999, so it is slightly outside our time frame. However, the European version of the game did not appear until December 2000, so we’ll let it slide.

Playing as Ryo Hazuki, you were on a quest to discover the identity of your father’s murderer, and to get revenge. The game itself revolved around walking through town and asking the residents questions. If GTA:3 is the representation of western inner city life, then Shenmue is the embodiment of a quiet sleepy Japanese town; slow and dreary for some, but a real gem to others.

Press A to jump, or alternatively you can just watch Ryo stymble over the boxes.

Major Innovations:

 Quick Time Events: Love them or hate them, without Shenmue we would not have the quick time event. A symbol flashes on screen, giving you a few moments to press the corresponding button or face disaster.

 A real working town: The town of Yokosuka was populated with dozens of characters, each with their own voices. Sure, some would brush you off if you tried talking to them, but they all felt like real people. They even had their own schedule that they stuck to, so you wouldn’t come across kids playing baseball in the streets at 2am for instance.

 Life as we know it: Ryo felt like a real living person. He had to eat, sleep, and even get a job. To some, this was a headache that got in the way of the quest, but to me it really made me believe that Ryo was an actual person.

Game: Gears of War
Format: Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Epic Games
Publisher: Microsoft Games Studios

Another flagship Xbox title, although this time a flagship title for the second Xbox, the Xbox 360. Taking on the role of Marcus Fenix, a grizzled rectangular pile of man meat, you must fight against the underground menace of the Locust; an equally burley, pale race of beasties that are trying to wipe out humanity. So far so generic, but what Gears of War lacks in terms of narrative it makes up for with some truly influential gameplay.

Meet generic space grunt 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Major Innovations:

 Cover: Do I need to say anything more than duck and cover? Sure, Gears of War did not invent the idea of a cover system, whereby the character you control ducks behind an object and uses it to shield from enemy fire, but it certainly popularised it.

 Burly Space Marines: It seems every game these days has burley space marines covered from head to toe in generic looking armour. Thanks Gears. Thank you very much.

 Co-op: As our consoles have become more and more complicated it seems developers have favoured leaving out a once mandatory feature: split-screen and local co-operative play. Not Gears of War; as well has having two player split-screen co-op throughout the entire game, you could also team up with a friend over Xbox live. Before Gears it was rare, now it is an industry standard.

Game: Resident Evil 4
Format: Gamecube, Wii, PC
Developer: Capcom Studio 4
Publisher: Capcom

Capcom’s fifth console Resident Evil game (The Resident Evil Survivor series don’t count, thank you very much) Resident Evil 4 saw the franchise getting a major overhaul in terms of gameplay. Gone were the static camera angles, rigid controls, and ammunition conservation and in came a new over the shoulder camera angle, and a plethora of amply supplied weapons.

This was a good thing too because we no longer had the shambling zombies of days gone by. In their stead we were given Los Ganados; frantic, deadly and all too human. Not only did Resident Evil 4 breathe new life in to the flagging series, it also reinvented the third person shooter.

Shooting the heads off of the Spanish has never been so easy

Major Innovations:

 Over the Shoulder: Before Resident Evil 4, the camera angle in third person games tended to be squarely behind the protagonist’s head, which often made fast paced combat situations difficult to say the least. Now, with this shifted camera angle, combat could become more manageable.

 Wii Motion Controls: When Resident Evil 4 was re-released on the Nintendo Wii and came with all new motion controls. Before this point the Wii did not have a decent third person shooter, and some speculated that it was impossible. Resident Evil 4 not only demonstrated that motion controls worked perfectly well in an action game, but may very well make the gameplay even better.

And there we have it, our pick for the Five Most Influential Games of the Past Decade. Of course, with any such subject there are bound to be a few titles that we felt were incredibly influential but just did not quite manage to make it past the finish line in time.

Let us present our Runners Up:

Game: Jet Set Radio
Format: Dreamcast
Developer: SmileBit
Publisher: Sega

This game inspired the likes of XIII, Borderlands… Wacky Races. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly revolutionary, but the first cel-shaded game certainly caused quite a stir and goes down as one of the greatest Dreamcast titles of all time.

The game follows a gang of “rudies”; young people who skate around town spraying graffiti as a form of self-expression. Along the way, you can bolster the ranks of your gang with new members by completing skating challenges against them and ultimately uncover a plot involving a mystical vinyl record with the power to summon demons.

The life of a street punk is a glamourous one

I know it sounds crazy; kids on roller skates graffiti-ing up the place whilst being chased by cops and gangsters, but that’s exactly the point. This is charming, Japanese fantasy, superbly implemented and incredibly fun.

Rumours of an XBLA release have caused quite a storm on the forums and especially amongst the staff here at The Newb Review. If this doesn’t get the re-release we all want it to, I strongly recommend you pick up a second hand Dreamcast and a copy. You can thank me later.

- Tom “tom01255″ Wallis

Game: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii
Developer: Infinity Ward
Publisher: Activision

Modern Warfare presented the culmination of a growing relationship between the once loved publisher and Infinity Ward. Seemingly grasping the Holy Grail of simultaneous critical acclaim and astronomic sales, it was clear that this game was something special.

Infinity Ward’s legacy seems to be entwined with this title; whenever anyone mentions the COD series, it’s inevitably the Modern Warfare franchise they talk about over any of the World War II based outings.

One of the most successful (and imitated) games of all time.

The story was short, but epic; placing you in the shoes of several different operatives involved in a war against Russian terrorists. The narrative also managed to shock on an emotional level; invoking a strange feeling of grief when a playable character witnesses a nuclear explosion and kicks the bucket.

However, it was the multiplayer where the game really shined. Still a fantastically popular title online, Modern Warfare tapped into a need for all gamers to feel as though they were bettering themselves; by having unlockable guns and attachments, the game enticed gamers to spend hour upon hour improving their account and reaching that 10th prestige level.

With Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward built an empire. It’s just a shame Modern Warfare 2 couldn’t amaze us in the same way.

- Tom “tom01255″ Wallis

Game: God of War
Format: Playstation 2
Developer: SCE Studios Santa Monica
Publisher: Sony

It’s hard to believe that there have only been four God of War games over the past decade. I say that because there has been a seemingly endless number of games that have taken inspiration from this brilliant series of games.

Just take a look at EA’s recent release Dante’s Inferno; would that even exist without God of War? It could be argued that God of War almost singlehandedly revitalised the hack and slash genre (although some credit must be given to Capcom’s Devil May Cry series too).

The format is simple: A burley man (in this case Kratos) runs around fairly large yet linear levels, armed with a plethora of bladed weapons, and cuts a sea of mythical enemies into mince meat.

Chuck in some light logic-based puzzles, usually involving cranks and pullies, and have the player search off the beaten path for collectables that upgrade your abilities and there we have it, the epitome of the hack and slash genre.

Kratos is pretty tasty.

The God of War series is also known for its epic boss battles, which always culminate in the Quick Time Event finale, complete with suitably gory conclusion. And don’t forget the health dosage of quick time sex mini games and an ample showing of breasts.

Actually when put that way, you can completely see why so many game developers have reacted the way they have to God of War. It is the ultimate teenage boy fantasy game. And God (of war) bless it.

Tags: Call of Duty, combat evolved, dreamcast, everybody loves lists, gears of war, god of war, GTA3, Halo, Jet Grind Radio, jet set radio, Kratos, leon kennedy, marcus fenix, master chief, Microsoft, Mightyles, Modern Warfare, PC, Playstation, Resi, Resident, Review, ryo hazuki, sega, shenmue, Sony, Theft, three, Tom Wallis, Tom01255, top 5, xbox, XBox 360, zombies

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